UK Parachuting

did my AFF here in 2016 and still going back , everyone was really helpful and encouraging . the instructors and club jumpers really make this place great . i have dropzones closer to my home in the midlands but prefer UK PARACHUTING .
They have an onsite cafe and bunkhouse , loads of parking and the views are absolutely amazing ,
can`t recommend this DZ enough .

Where do I start... I did my AFF here at Beccles and I haven't looked back. I have other dropzones pretty much a stones throw away from my house but i decide to travel 2 hours just to get to Beccles, that's how awesome the place is.

The aircraft (C208) is kept in tip-top condition. It is cleaned everyday by the pilot (Ben) and serviced often. The clubies welcomed me from the 1st step I took at the dropzone. My instructors (Nader, Gavin, Tomo and Stu) were AWESOME and they made me feel completely safe and at ease. They told me exactly what to do, what to expect and what I would feel. I didn't have time to be scared!

The ladies that manifest you, try and get fun jumpers on every lift. The vibe around the dz is very good and clubbies will talk to you and jump with you if you.

The bunkhouse showers/toilets are in a very decent shape (it's only £5 a night to stay there so don't expect 5* accommodation for that price). Some peeps also love to pitch up a tent and camp which is free.

Now the down sides... Its quite far from where I live (which is not really the dz fault). The main toilets (Chemical toilets) are not the best but there are good toilets located at the cafe which is about 1 min walk. During hot weather, there tends to be quite a lot of bees/wasps around and seen as I'm allergic to them, it's no ideal.

Overall I would highly recommend to come and jump here whether it's for a tandem or AFF or fun jumping. UKPS Beccles is the place to jump

Recently completed my AFF here. The instructors Nader, Stu and Gav were great. Very patient with me asking a lot of questions, really put me at ease with jumping out of a plane for the first time! And the other staff are very helpful and friendly as well. If it weren't for one of the Cameramen giving me a signal to relax in the plane ride up, I probably would not have completed my first jump, he obviously realized I was bloody nervous! The facilities are fine, and the club scene appears to be getting better and better from what I've gathered in my short time there.
The landing area is huge, it's just embarrassing if you miss it (Yes, I missed once, over estimated the wind speed slightly)
Fun jumpers get put on as many lifts as they can manage, and despite what other reviews have said, fun jumpers will get put on lifts all day, with clubbie only lifts going up between breaks in tandem students and continuing into the evening until everyone is either too tired to jump any more, run out of money or the sun is getting too low.
Their proximity to the coast makes for a spectacular view every time.
I'd recommend it to anyone looking to do their AFF in the UK or thinking of completing their first tandem skydive.

I am an experienced skydiver and I decided to introduce my girlfriend to this wonderful sport via AFF, and decided on Beccles as it is very close to where we live and has a cessna caravan.

I really do not understand where all these good reviews have come from. I don't really know where to start with this negative experience. My girlfriend completed AFF ground school on a Friday, and we arranged to come back on Sunday at 9am because the weather was good that day.

We turned up at 9am or shortly after and were told when we turned up that she would most likely not get jumping that day, as 11 other AFF students had turned up at 7.30. We would have turned up at that time if we were told.

On every lift, only 1 AFF student was taken up and a few tandems. Obviously generating revenue is more important to them.

On top of that, the place was far from clean. There was bugs everywhere for some reason, and there is bound to be a way that they could deal with that.

After about 2pm, the only toilets available were chemical toilets as they closed the cafe at 2pm, where they sell extremely expensive coffees and food, with extremely slow service.

This weekend, we decided to ring before going, and were told only 1 AFF instructor was available as there were 65 tandems to get through. We were told to ring tomorrow, but I am not getting my hopes up.

The ginger guy who keeps breaking the bad news to us has a really bad attitude and he makes my girlfriend feel very uneasy.

All in all, do not choose this place for anything except a tandem. For anything else, just suck it up and drive further to a decent dropzone. That is all.

If you are local and you have the right connections it might be alright. If you don't have the right connections you might loose your money without jumping. I paid for AFF course and didn't finish it as them told me the weather is not good! Although the wind was within the limit. There is nothing you can do if they decide to tell you it is not.

I started going to UK Para because a buddy of mine got his AFF done there and said the DZ was very relaxed and friendly to foreign jumpers. The moment I got there Tomo and Grant took me in and put me on a lift right away. Quite nice being a foreign servicemember overseas who did mostly military jumps. Theres definitley something for everyone here, and people to do it with! People are more than open to let you jump in their group with them so if you go solo don't be worried about doing only a solo skydive. They have both USPA and BPA qualified instructors and were very helpful with helping me accomplish my B license USPA as well as for the BPA so I'll have that when I return to the states, HUGE for visiting US servicemember! Can't say enough good things about this DZ and staff. Absolutley no clique type environment and plan on coming there every weekend even after they move to Beccles at the end of this year. (Twice the drive now!)

This may be one of the friendliest DZs in the country. Everything is clean, tidy, and well presented. The few times I have jumped there I have never been asked how many jumps I have by the regulars. Just "do you want to do something on this one?" There also seems to be a few Americans stationed at the nearby airbase who come out regularly to give it sort of an "international" vibe.

There is a small canteen that has everything you need to keep you going for a day out jumping. The landing area is huge with a separate area for experienced and students and only a short walk back to packing/manifest.

There does seem to be a lot of tandems and their videographers but this is countered with club jumper only loads. The packing area is quite small and crowded but that's where all the club jumpers talk about celebrity gossip and tell dirty jokes. Overall a very casual and friendly DZ.

I cannot praise this DZ enough, I went there for a one-off tandem, 2 years and 100 jumps later I'm still there! Everyone was super friendly from the word go and it's not at all cliquey, you really can just talk to anyone.

There's something for everyone here, free flyers, FS coaches, CP coaches, and regular FS coaching days are held for those that want to get into FS or big ways. They have a brand new Cessna Caravan that gets to 13k with a quick turnaround, and there's a nice balance between club jumpers and tandems. The rigger there is awesome, one of the best, and will often do minor repairs free of charge. The camping is free for those that want to stay overnight.

All in all this is a brilliant DZ with a good vibe and I highly recommend it!

Well, after getting a bit disheartened with other clubs I took the advice of a few friends I met on DZ.com and went up to Old Buckenham (UK Parachuting) to jump with them and check the place out. After initially getting my bearings and figuring out who was who I was greeted and had a mini tour of the site and had a DZ briefing.
To my shock people I had never met before actually made conversation with me, there wasn't the clique feel that you get at a lot of DZs and instead was really friendly. After making a few jumps I loved the place. I was reliant on packers at the time and they were efficient with quick turn arounds. The DZO even hurrying them up to get my rig ready so I could get on another load at one point! On another occasion my rig was grounded and they allowed me use of club kit rent free. Now that's service! Despite the two and a half hour drive there and back I returned a number of times. I'm not a big fan of the UK scene but I have to say I will return to UK Parachuting in a heartbeat as their attitude was a breath of fresh air.
The riggers there are friendly too, a few times they pointed things out to me and repaired minor issues immediately for me without charge. I might not be jumping in the UK at the moment but I will still be taking my rig to UK Parachuting for reserve inspection and repacks.

I decided to do my AFF here after trailing through a few online places that offered it.
I had business near the area so decided upon there as a choice.
Unfortunately when I first attended the weather was not ideal so only managed to do the ground training.
But by the end of the week the weather became ideal and during the brief time that I had available to jump, I managed to complete all jumps, including the consoles, in one long weekend.
This couldn't have happened without the re-assurance of all the guys, Stu with the ground training, Tomo, Tim and Grant in the air.
These guys made me feel really welcome and as such I joined the club immediately and have continued jumping there.
The vibe here if excellent and everyone really is interested in how you are getting on.
If the weather is not ideal, the regular packers Aaron and Warren, are always willing to show newbies like me, how they pack the parachutes.
In fact this made me feel even more at ease about jumping considering how exact and methodical they were.
Whether you are in the area or not (you can camp over free of charge) make an effort to come here.
No real downside, and as for the negative review, a bit sad considering Grant and Tomo are not gods and cannot control the weather.

Impressed with the reception I have had here. Before 2nd visit I called to check no problems for the weekend and mentioned I may want coaching for FF1. On arrival 4 people said they remembered I wanted coaching and I qualified FF1 on the 2nd jump. The enthusiasm is infectious.

Like the best bits of the army, a very organised but friendly fun place. Would benefit from a bigger core of experienced jumpers, which they are bound to develop.

I transfered over to uk para from Errol. When I got there everybody was friendly and made me feel right at home. They have navigators for students and as somebody who's only flown mantas before, WOW! The ride to altitude in the nomad was a LOT shorter than in a 182 and I could feel my legs :)

The only down side was the first weekend I went there there were loads of aff students so it took a while to get my docs sorted/refreshers/briefs etc. So if you are a raps student who wants to change DZ's I'd get everything sorted on a weekday when it's quieter.

All in all an awesome DZ.

One of the best things about this DZ is the friendly nature of everyone who works and jumps there, regardless of how many jumps you have. There's a great fun-jumper vibe if you just want to jump your ass off, and coaches if you want coaching, too.

Although it's a fairly small DZ, the gear shop and rigging facility is great - it would not be at all out of place at a DZ many times the size it is! The rental gear is also top-notch and well maintained if you need to hire it.

I would definitely head back there more regularly myself if it weren't at the other end of the country!

This was to be a special present. After call upon call to check the jump would take place, reassurance was given. Then 24hrs before it was cancelled. New part. NO offer of an alternative which would fit the days we had planned despite hotels being booked. Owner would not refund, just kept quoting T&Cs (which are poorly worded) and would not refund when they were unable to offer a suitable date.
Waste time and money.

This was the first dropzone i've visited apart from my home DZ and it was absolutely great.

Tommo the CCI was quick to welcome us and from there it was straight down to business, jumping.

If you did find anything wrong with the place it just didnt matter because of all the positives. Everyone was quick to make you feel welcome with smiles and handshakes.

As for the landing area...i could of got out in Iraq and made it back. Very big but with lots of air traffic you had to keep a watch around.

All in all this place is ran with one thing in mind, to look after the guys and girls who are going to be coming back week after week.

Highly recommended.

I've only been to this DZ twice. The first time I was on student status and turned up to do a static-line jump. They were very friendly and welcoming, despite the fact that I usually jumped elsewhere and had swung by for a one-off visit. It is a small DZ with a cosy vibe...I think you'd be made very welcome if you turned up to jump.

All I can say is phone them the day before you turn up. I drove 45 miles to this DZ to do some fun-jumping a few weeks ago & was told they'd lent the plane to another dropzone at the last minute (so I couldn't jump). This happened despite the fact I had emailed them earlier in the week to arrange a good day to turn up (and they had reccommended this date to me as they had work booked in) :-(

I would definately consider going back to this DZ in the future because it's in a convenient location when I'm visiting family & my previous experience there was so positive. However, I learnt the lesson the hard way about how different the operation of small DZs is to that of larger DZs...I have been spoilt!

UK Parachuting at Old Buckenham is an excellent up-and-coming drop zone! It is a genuinely friendly DZ for both experienced and first timers. The new owners, Grant and Tomo, are working really hard to grow the club and doing a great job. There are Tandems but plenty of AFF too, which is nice to see because they really are the future of the sport. I saw almost an entire Turbolet load of AFF consoles last summer, all of whom appeared very motivated by the training they received.

There are riggers and there are r-i-g-g-e-r-s, personally I choose mine very carefully these days. You’ll find it hard to beat anybody more conscientious and technically knowledgeable than the resident rigger Andy.

The airport is well suited for running Skydiving operations. The boarding area is literally just outside the packing hanger and the landing area is only about one minute walk. The concrete runway ensures no water-logging problems in the winter and the altitude is unrestricted. The café located in the main airport building is really good but a bit of a walk from the packing hanger. The toilets are also in the main building, so also a bit of a trek, unless you have no dignity and opt for the hedge (I’ll let you decide whether this applies to you).

I had a couple of excellent Turbine weekends in 2005, really packing in the jumps. I’d give them a 5/5 rating but I know they are still working on improvements. The Nomad arrives in March and I’m looking forward to a kick ass summer at Old Buckenham!

www.chrishines.com

Have to reweite review.

Previous one said it was excellent, but now I need a new word better than that!!!

Grant + Tomo work extremely hard, and run the DZ exceptionally well. Even with it being winter one can still can bang out 4 consols in one day!!! the gear and training is excellent, as shown by the continous wave of new students pouring in to start jumping.

Their friendliness is unmatched, this place is easily 100/10, and I cannot think of a better place where I would have rather learned or continue to jump.

With a 15 seater coming in march... it can only get better (which seems impossible as its alreayd perfect), and fulyl recommend anyone , regardless of where they live, to come and check it out.

youre guaranteed a fab time!

on a personal note - a very big thankyou to everyone there who helpd me get through AFF.

Mike

This is where i done my AFF course and if you are a student wishing to progress this is the place for you,they will take the time to help you to progress. Tomo and Grant (Instructors) very helpful and this place is getting BIGGER and BETTER every weekend.....

Nice Tidy DZ, Everybody there makes you feel welcolm, The new owners realy know what they are doing, with safety & having fun
And best of all its in Norfolk, Gods own country !!!

Been jumping here since late last year. recently got taken over by these two crazy doods and they've turned it around 10 fold. now offering AFF and static line where it wasn't offered before and the place has some kewl events already planned for the year. night jumps, canopy courses, air showes and demo's... there's heaps in the pipeline! There's a huge shop in there as well now with all the clothing and gear you can ever want. There's something for all experiences, and these guys know how to have fun!

This place is going to be huge!

I've been jumping here for a couple of years because its my nearest DZ. Until recently it was largely a tandem DZ with the occasional slot or load for experienced jumpers, but its expanding. Now AFF, static line, WARP, FS and so on. The folk are extremely friendly and helpful and it has that really nice laid-back feeling in a Norfolk-kind-of-way.

Rigging services are excellent and the tandem experiences seem to be pretty good.