YAY!!! Skydiving is the way forward in life....
Not sure what has been posted on the various courses on offer on here but I'll give you a wee run down....These prices are VERY rough and off the top of my head and they can vary widely from dropzone to dropzone.
TANDEM (£220-£300)
I'm sure you've seen this on the TV or something, you are strapped to the front of an instructor and are taken to between 8000ft and 15000ft (entirely depending on the dropzone you go to). You get to fell freefall on your first jump, get to scream your lungs out and smile for the camera (if you pay for that too). This is okay for a "one off" thing or charity etc but if you ask me seems a waste of money, more of a glimpse of the real thing. You don't really learn anything about skydiving and for the thrill it’s great but if you know its something you want to take up and thoroughly enjoy I suggest one of the following methods to learn and get into the skydiving world.
STATIC LINE RAPS course (£120-£180 for the day course then ~£35 per jump until you qualify)
Your first jump is solo, from approx. 3500ft. Your parachute deploys instantly as you leave the plane - like the military paratroopers you see in the movies and from old war footage. For this you undergo a full day’s training where instructors will teach you everything you need to know about how a parachute works, what to do in the plane, how to get out the plane properly, how to fly the parachute, how to land and what to do in an emergency. Following this course you are equipped with the knowledge to carry out your first jump.
This is called RAPS (Ram Air Progression System) as you will be using modern square parachutes (instead of the old style round ones) which are highly maneuverable and fun to fly. You will start with your first static line jump to which is a COMPLETE BLAST!!! I have never been so scared yet so exhilarated at the same time – truly memorable. After this one and you will want to do another one (which you will cos you just had so much fun) which is just the same again. You progress through various categories of jumps, reaching freefall after demonstrating your ability to exit the plane correctly. Each jump teaches you more skills in freefall for example how to fall stable to how to turn around, how to do back flips, exit the plane unstably and then get stable, dive out the plane, track across the sky amongst other things. The culmination is “CAT8” which means you are a qualifies skydiver, you don’t need an instructor anymore and you can start to REALLY have fun!!
This is the way I learnt and this really sets you up for meeting everybody at the dropzone and gets you into the skydiving mindset as you hang about with other jumpers all weekend. The number of jumps it will take you to qualify depends on your ability, it took me 30 jumps, I know someone who has done it in the minimum possible of 18. Just depends on whether you need to repeat a level or not.
AFF (Accelerated Freefall) – circa £1200 - £1600
This is a more intensive course where your first solo jump is from altitude with 2 instructors jumping out alongside you merely gripping you to help keep you stable. In the UK this tends to be less common – but many places do offer it. It needs good weather as you need altitude for it and many people like to go abroad to Spain to learn this way. With this method you can become a qualified skydiver in about 2-3days of solid jumping – compared with several months it took me with the RAPS course. The downside of this is the sheer price of it! I can’t give too much more detail about AFF as I haven’t been through it but it gets you to the same level of competency as a skydiver, just a different route.
So if you really want to learn to be a skydiver you can choose between the RAPS course and AFF. Both will probably amount to the same cost (roughly) but RAPS is much more spread out instead of the up front cash associated with AFF.
Around the London area there is a few dropzones to choose from, have a look at the map here to find them :
http://www.bpa.org.uk/dropzone/dzone.htm
Also I recommend you visit
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/forum/ and have a look around there and meet some of the people and instructors who will be at the centre you choose to jump at. Everywhere is very friendly and will look after ya.
This is all I can think of just now, hope it’s been of help to you and if you have any more questions please ask!
Blue skies…..
p.s wish I could write 850 words this fast for uni !!!!!!!!!!!!
