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Progression
HOW TO BECOME A FULLY-FLEDGED SKYDIVER...
This is how it works following your Basic Skydiving Course. For every
jump, your Instructors will assess your performance both as you skydive, and as
you fly and land your parachute. This assessment is entered on to your Log Card
(the record of your jumps). What you do on each jump depends on your previous
performance - when your Instructor considers that you are ready, you will be
moved on to the next training exercise.
Once you have demonstrated that you are switched-on and in control while
falling, you will be trained to perform 'Dummy Ripcord Pulls' (or 'DRP's). These
involve further drops using an automatically opened main parachute, during which
you must pull a dummy ripcord (while also remaining in control). Each time your
Instructor clears you for a new exercise, you undergo additional training and
practice prior to the next jump. After a minimum of five descents, including
three good consecutive DRP jumps, you can be cleared for your first fully
free-falling descent!
Initial freefall jumps take place from an altitude of between 4,000 to 5,000
feet - and after that, every two jumps, we take you a little higher and allow
you to fall a little longer. Later jumps, taking place from up to 10,000 feet or
so, teach you controlled manoeuvres in freefall (turns, backflips, and
'tracking' - fast movement across the sky). After a minimum of sixteen jumps,
and having achieved a satisfactory performance at each level, you will gain
'Category Eight' status - and be awarded your first International Skydiving
Licence! After that, the sky's the limit: you'll buy your own parachute gear and
start to learn Formation Skydiving, Freestyle, and eventually even Sky Surfing
or Freefall Photography - and you could even become an Instructor yourself!
Whether you want to try just one jump, or you want to take up the most exciting
sport off(!) the planet, book yourself onto a Basic Skydiving
Course right away!