Parachuting in Ireland

bog_savage

So you want to learn to skydive and earn your A licence ?
Your options are

AFF : currently €1080 in the Irish parachute club for the 7 levels ,
You don't have to pay all up front , you can pay jump by jump .
includes all instruction , membership for 1 year , gear rental and 7 one way flights to 13,000 feet ;p

Once you have completed AFF and are cleared to jump on your own ,
you do 10 console jumps
You will be supervised by an instructor but will be jumping solo , practicing what you learned during AFF and getting used to taking care of yourself .

Then a "hop & pop" from 4,000 and one from 2,500 . This is to practice low level exits and immediately opening the parachute . Incase you need to exit low if there is an aircraft problem of for the days when its cloudy and you need a fix

All jumps after you finish AFF are only €25 each from 13,000 and €12.50 up to 4,000( +15 for gear rental , and if you pack it after you get €7 back )

Static Line : currently €288 for instruction , membership for 1 year ,1 jump from 3,200 feet and gear rental . all jumps after cost €25 +€15gear rental I think ???
Usually takes 25 jumps approx .
Even though Static line takes more jumps to complete , the jumps are cheaper , and its a jump ! its fun !

* The person who does static line will have better canopy skills when they finish their course because they have 25jumps v 7jumps when finished AFF . Canopy skills will be the same when comparing same no of jumps !

* The static line progression will make you a more self reliant v the AFF graduate who always had an instructor beside him to save his ass !

* Aff graduates usually have better freefall skills because they had instructor right there in freefall to give instant correction .

* After 100 jumps most differences will have evened out between graduated from either system

* Doing a canopy course has nothing to do with how good you are now , its about how good you want to be . I have 1350 jumps and still do courses to improve my piloting .

bog_savage

The 6 jump course comes after you have learned to take care of yourself on solo jumps and is not a requirement for the A licence.
Over the 6 jumps you learn how to safely fly with other people on multi-way jumps .


The requirements for A licence are ,

• 25 freefall jumps
• 5 minutes of freefall time
• Have made 5 formation skydives (FS) involving at least two participants, or have made 5 free-fly (FF) jumps, either option having been under the supervision of an Instructor
• Have demonstrated control of the body in all axes (back-loops, turns, barrel rolls, etc.)
• Be able to pack a main parachute
• Have demonstrated the ability to land a parachute within 50 metres of a target, on at least 10 jumps

AkiThePirate

Thanks a million for the info, guys.

I'll almost certainly signing up for an SL course once the days get a bit longer.
Now to sort out transport. :P

bog_savage

re transport , try looking for a lift here

www.irishskydivers.com/forums/

Fredrik

I was thinking of doing an AFF course in IPC, but realized, only transport there and back would probably double the cost if I go by myself. Is there anyone from Cork that goes to the IPC drop zone regularly? I have a car, but going by myself seem a waste of good money that can be used for more jumps

ps. that forum in last reply doesnt have much of activites on it (im not gonna go to portugal )

bog_savage

There are a bunch who come up from cork regularly .
The Irishskydivers website is a little quiet at the moment

You could also try posting on http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150121627084460&set=at.10150121283274460.321435.630319459.630319459&ref=nf#!/TheIrishParachuteClub

or the guys at University of Limerick Skydiving Club , I know there are a few Corkonians come up from there

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=487458161237&set=a.487458086237.264662.622261237&ref=nf#!/pages/Skydive-UL/135071881357

Fredrik

Great, thanks for the links. The IPC facebook was a fairly obvious place to post in, not sure why I didn't think of that one.

bog_savage

actually this might be even better

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000427441938

jimmurt

Does anyone know if there are people who travel to the IPC from Kilkenny/Waterford area? I completed the AFF course abroad recently and want to do the 6 jump course.