The Freefall University

OK - the following may be a little bit over enthusiastic, but i really like the place !

I'm just back from FS1 and for the second time, it turned out to be a great trip.

Flights to Madrid are plentiful & cheap, especially for a long weekend, and public transport is easy to negotiate & takes you to Aranjuez (the town local to the DZ)

From here the only slight "con" is getting to the DZ - its about 20 mins by car & there is no direct public transport (as far as I'm aware) - but Freefall university will pick up & drop off for a very reasonable fee.

When there, the atmosphere is very relaxed, but manifest is well run & efficient and there should be plenty of lifts a day from now until the end of summer (I guess this depends on the number of people around)

Depending what your there for & if you know the place, manifest will take your money & let you jump or the FFU will be on hand to make you feel welcome, check your kit, give DZ briefs, get you started on courses etc.

During the day, there is a real buzz about the place - plenty of students from AFF to FF2 & BASE groundschool (and all in between), swoopers, insructors, visiting teams.

The plane (at the mo) is a little porter -gets a bit crowded with the combinations of students & FS but that just adds to the character of the place.

The top is usually around 13k, usually no clouds & great spots - but with a field as big as theyve got, its difficult to really land off !

If you miss one lift, dont worry, chill in the sun & wait just 15 minutes for the next one !

By the way - landings really are soft as can be - especially the brown fields which are ploughed regularly but green ones less so, so when your setting up - go for a brown one !

The down side is plenty of dust in the summer & clay like mud in the winter - youll walk back about 3 inches taller than usual with it sticking to your shoes ! It brushes off easily when dry - as I've found out !.

Packing area is pretty big - room enough for about 8 inside & 4-6 outside plus plenty of grassed areas if you dont mind a bit of dirt.

By the way - the DZ is 2.5k ASL so the landings can be a bit swift but get it right & the glide is great !

If your up for it, nighlife is great but very smokey - brilliant craic with the folks from the DZ, great tapas bars & full bellies. The local hostels are cheap, clean & whats needed.

If your considering a trip, stop considering & get it booked - you wont be dissappointed. If youve been there before, get back & get a warm welcome-return.

In short, it's a shame that Dropzone.com doesnt let you rate a DZ higher than 5 stars. From literally the second of arrival, I was made to feel extremely welcome by the staff from the Freefall University.

The atmosphere at the dropzone is completely relaxed. The instructors and staff there really make you feel at home. You can pick up straight away that all of the staff at FFU really enjoy what they do - this, no doubt, eases any nerves that you may have. Also, the nightlife in and around the area is great! Perfect for a weeks holiday!

The course runs at your pace, not anyone elses. The ground school is well organized and very safety oriented. The landing area is huge and free of hazards. The packing area is also very big. The classroom environment is comfortable to learn in also. You get a full brief with high quality coaching before and after every jump - as well as a DVD of all your jumps of the entire course afterwards.

I have also been very impressed on how they have followed up - some people may express concerns on learning to skydive in Spain as you may have to restart AFF on return back to England. I have found it to be the complete opposite with the Freefall University.

Since I left, they have been in contact with me and local dropzone and have made all the arrangements for me to apply for my 'A' license and start jumping here. Great customer service!!

All I can say is how great a sport skydiving is, and I wouldn't have wanted to learn to do it anywhere other than at FFU.

If you are thinking of doing an AFF course, don't do it anywhere else.

Fantastic. If you are a student, then this place is for you. The AFF course is set at your pace, and you really do get a dedicated one to one instructor. The atmosphere is great, everyone is friendly and there is no language barrier. I will definitely be back there again.

Just finished my AFF in Ocana and I can positively reccomend it. Save for the odd day, the weather for jumping was fantastic. The incredibly relaxed and informal attitude of the instructors and all other staff create an amazingly relaxed atmosphere which is instantly enjoyable. By the end of the first day, you feel as though you've known everyone there for years. The experience and professionalism of all the instructors and staff here is instantly recognisable but never intimidating, you're never made to feel like a dickhead newbie. The first jump terrified the shit out of me as did the last jump. The difference is that whilst being equally terrified, by the last 10 jumps I was jumping out with a smile on my face (and somtimes laughing my head off). This place and the people there are bloody great.

Was in Ocana there recently, and was great fun. I enjoyed my time there and would certainly go back. I think the facilities were good, hotels were all organised for me, and had some great jumps. The landing area is huge, really can't miss!! I will be back soon...

FFU is not a dropzone as such - it's a business run by Barry Maple out of Skydive Lillo, which is the DZ proper. I'll probably copy-n-paste much of this into my SDL review later.

If you're looking at this review, then you're almost certainly wanting to do AFF there, and all I can say to you is: Do it. Do it now. The instructors (some shared with the DZ) are all incredible, and their advertised progress rate of three days from arrival to solo is neither exaggerated nor overly fast. You have one instructor from beginning to end, and they are extremely thorough in the training and debrief. Someone has clearly thought about what's been wrong with AFF programs and gone out to rectify it: video with every jump, very personal training, and the students are around until the course is done.

You probably won't be able to go out across a few weekends and do a stage here, a stage there, and that's all to the good. You're focused on the task at hand - learning to skydive - and they give you what you need to achieve that goal quickly. Lamorna, who will be your first point of contact when you get in touch online, will have you, your trip and your entire life sorted in no time.

It's definitely nice to be in a place with so many other students, too. Immediately you have people sharing the same experiences, and it quickly becomes a very social place, with everyone cheering everyone else on. Since Lillo is a very small town, fun at night is generally had with the same people you train with during the day, and that's all good. I highly recommend the pigs' ears at Cafe Latino, with its odd assortment of Bulgarian staff and shockingly cold beer.

Aside from the students, the DZ has quite a few fun jumpers and longer-term residents training for competition and whatnot. None of these people gave me even the slightest hint of Elite Skydiver attitude, despite the fact that there were ironically some genuinely Elite Skydivers there. In the hangar, in the bar, in the plane, everybody was kind and fun and never too busy to give a student a pin check or just a slap on the head out the door. Max praise to the locals.

The bunkhouse is actually pretty good, despite looking like some sort of lunchbox. Plenty of space and nowhere near as hot as it looks, and hey - the price is right. I'd actually suggest taking a sleeping bag, because it somehow manages to get cold at night! Bring a pillow too.

The bar is really good. You will spend a lot of time there, so make sure you get along with the staff. They'll teach you Spanish at no charge, at least enough to cover the menu (food plentiful and tasty, BTW) :D

My one complaint? It's a small one: they really need to replace the shower head in the male shower.

Oh, yeah. Take a car. The town is less than a klick away but the sun is baking. I'm from Adelaide, I know that of which I speak. If you're not going to be jumping all day every day (and you should, but I ran out of cash because they got me through AFF so damn fast - curse the perfect weather!), you will want to take them up on their offer of car rental.

Despite first jumping out of a neato Caravan, I find I really miss that Porter and its denizens. I'll be back, sooner rather than later.

[edit: As the author, I am bound to admit that the entity that was the Freefall University when I attended bears no relation to the current iteration other than the owner. Different instructors, different DZ, different everything. Skydive Lillo still rocks without FFU. Make of this what you will. J.]

Did AFF there last year, all the instructors are fantastic, and the student gear is better then most. Facilities on the DZ are real good. Not too much to do in the village itself in the evenings, but with the right people good nights can be had, and most people there are willing to go out and have fun. Nice landing area, nice plane, nice atmosphere. Recommended.

Learning to skydive at FFU is the best thing that i've ever done.

the atmosphere/instrutors/all the staff/the weather/ the location/ the equipment/ facilites are amazing!

I would recommend the FFU to anyone- whether as a beginner or anyone wanting courses/coaching