Doing a tandem skydive is the easiest and most sensible way to get to jump, most people who want to experience a skydive and fly a parachute want to make just a single jump in their lifetime. Tandem was invented to allow normal people to do just this. You get a short briefing on aircraft safety etc, a ride in the plane and the tandem instructor does all the necessary work.

What you get is the unbelievable rush of freefall, followed by a slow, sedate parachute ride to the ground. Although the experience is different for everyone, if you want to know what a tandem really is like and what happens when you jump then there is more information on this site, from my own true life experience 15 years ago here in Kent, Tandem Skydiving in Kent.

If you don’t want to skydive yourself, giving a tandem as a birthday gift is always an option. Or if you want to do a skydive but don’t want to pay for it, why not jump for charity.

For more details, call Headcorn Parachute Club directly on 01622 890 862.

Accelerated freefall AFF courses are designed to take the student from complete novice to competent skydiver within a short number of jumps. Whilst this course is expensive, once you graduate you can basically do what you like and just pay the raw price for the jump which is much cheaper.

What makes it expensive is paying for the two instructors that jump with you on the first jumps, AFF instructors aren’t cheap as they are usually world class and experts with the experience of thousands of jumps.

On the first few jumps, (or levels as they are called), two instructors hold on to you. They won’t let you go until you pull the chute. As you learn more skills and gain control you progress through to the final level 8, most people do one jump and go on to the next level, but they also often get stuck on one level and have to do a re-jump. After level three you start jumping with just one instructor so it gets cheaper.

RAPS is a modern system that has evolved from the old round parachute methods that have now thankfully been sacked. This is a proven course that gets you qualified, it takes more jumps than AFF but ends up costing around the same even though the jumps are a lot cheaper. The reason is you start off on a static line and progress gradually to freefall with increasing heights.

Static line is where the parachute opens automatically on leaving the aircraft. After doing a couple of static lines you do practice pulls, then after practice pulls you do real pulls, so you can experience freefall after just a handful of jumps.

Tip - if you do either RAPS or AFF, pay someone to pack for you. Packing takes experts between 3 and 20 minutes but it will take you hours and it is HARD work. Get graduated, spend your energy on learning to skydive and learn how to pack afterwards, when it’s winter and raining.

For all enquires about AFF or RAPS student courses call Headcorn Parachute Club on 01622 890 862 or you can find out more on their website - Learning to Skydive in London and the South East.

*Note - There are weight, age and fitness related issues that could affect you, please ask when phoning.