Frequently Asked Questions

AFF is the quickest method of becoming a qualified parachute jumper or skydiver and is also the easiest way to learn with approximately 50 seconds of free fall on every jump guided by our expert instructors. All jumps are made from at least 12,000ft and AFF usually turns out to be much cheaper in the long run and much more fun than the outdated static line method which so many cannot get to grips with.


There are many benefits but two of the main ones are the continuous exposure to free fall, that means that you are in free fall for a long time giving you the time to practice your free fall techniques. Another is our ability to teach you in free fall using hand signals to adjust your body position thereby giving you a better result.


If you do not have a British Skydiving instructor you cannot be awarded UK qualifications, it is as simple as that. Many other countries have a qualifying system that does not have the same requirement as ours and we have some British instructors who do not hold UK qualifications for various reasons. One of the big problems in the industry is foreign qualified instructors advertising for UK students.


As well as your debriefs we film your jumps on digital video, these videos are used to show you how well you are doing and are also combined for you to have and take with you as a record of the whole trip. There is no extra cost for this with us (most centres charge extra for video).


Free Fall is not the stomach churning feeling of a fun fair ride; because you are falling on a cushion of air like a hovercraft it is a feeling of buoyancy similar to being in the water but with a much greater thrill.


The opening of the parachute is a very simple affair where you take a toggle attached to a pilot chute and throw it into the airflow; the parachute then opens in sequence. If you lost altitude awareness we would guide you through hand signals telling you to open the parachute and if you did not respond we would open it for you. You should also recognise that our parachutes are fitted with a computerised automatic activation device, which would open the parachute for you if all else failed.


This worries many people but everyone finds this easy, after teaching you exactly what to do we give you a helmet-mounted radio and talk you down till you are confident and competent to fly and land yourself. Our canopies fly at approximately 20mph and are great fun to steer across the sky.


We now use the latest ram air canopies, which allow you to land like a fairies fluff! Even the big guys are afforded soft landings.


Everyone experience some fear throughout the course, some find the first jump the most frightening whereas others feel more relaxed about the first then feel it later in the course. This is part of the adrenalin buzz of this course. One of the things you will achieve is the ability to confront and control your fear, when you get past this stage you can really start to relax and enjoy the sport.


In my experience it is great to Skydive in the UK but frequently the weather is not consistently good enough to allow for jumping almost every day, this is required to allow for the rapid progression which the AFF course is designed for. At the same time you will also have a terrific holiday and meet many new friends, with cheap flights and good times we are delighted to find that more of our students return again and again to enjoy second or subsequent trips and progress to the next stage in skydiving. We can usually access much bigger and more interesting aircraft on our trips than we have in UK.


Once you have completed the 8 AFF levels you must make a further 10 solo jumps called consolidation jumps to gain the BPA (British Parachute Association) Category 8 and at the same time the international FAI (Federation Aeronautique International) A Licence. This is like getting your driving licence where you would be free to arrive at any club and conduct yourself safely in a solo free fall.


Please feel free contact us with any further questions you may have by e-mailing us or by using our contact form. Get UK qualifications with UK’s most experienced instructors.