AFF in the UK, anywhere cheap?

[bazelos 0]

Hi guys, I'v been wanting to go skydiving for, well two years now, but as it costs alot, well I haven't. Now, it's around £1500 for the full course, and another 400 for the 20 jumps needed to get certificate 8, so all together it's going to be around £2200 (including going to the dropzone, etc.).

Is there any place I can do it for a lesser price, say, with a student discount?

Thanks :)

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

[Mike111 0]

Depends where you live i guess.

Check out the BPA dropzone website... find a DZ near you or one that suits yuor fancy and ring them up if you need to and make comparisons.

[FFAddict 0]

The longer you spend in the sport the more you will realise nothing is cheap, and if you find summit that is it may not be safe.

Just to clarify to get qualified you will have to do AFF, which is 8 levels (8 jumps) and then 10 consolidation jumps not 20.

Having said that everything is expensive i just had a very quick look at the first dz that came to mind they charge 1250 for the full course not 1500. so if you have a look around you will find a cheaper deal. For a list of uk dz's look at the dropzones section of this site, all the dz's have diff good and bad points and will have to do a forum search if you want details on that.

You will definately find a cheaper course if you look abroad at spain... although with flights... it will end up costing about the same as the UK you will get a holiday to boot.

If your a uni student then its pritty likely your uni will have a skydive club and you may beable to get a small discount if you book through them or if a group frm the club do AFF together

keep safe
stephen

[monkycndo 0]

Quite a few people from the UK come over to the States and knock out their A licence in a short time. Even with plane ticket, it can be cheaper. Plus you get great weather and a vacation to boot. Florida, Eloy and Perris are all places that can help you with this and each have tunnels on site or close by.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[bazelos 0]

Ah, I though it was 20, fair enough if it's 10 jumps, I haven't had a look at dropzones or courses for a year and half so I have forgotten a lot about it.

Now I don't expect it to be cheap, but after the AFF, I can go to langar and jump for £20, which isn't much, I work part time and I make around £100 a week (student life!) so I can always save half of that for skydiving, but saving around £2k is not easy at all.

I will have a look about what people think of the dz's in England (I am in Bradford so Langar is the closest one for me) but idealy I'd like something close by as well, as the train tickets have gone sky high for some reason.

I did had a look about going to the States to do it, but I think, if I put the cost of staying there, it's going to be more expensive. In Langar you can stay at the dz during the training for like a tenner a day or so, but in the US? Also, I am not British, I am Greek and I don't know how easy it is to get a visa, I always wanted to visit the US so it might be worth looking at it, but I have a feeling it's going to cost a lot more!

As per my university having a team, unfortunately not, we are not a big uni, Leeds (it's the next city, 10 minute drive away) does have a team but they don't offer AFF, aparently they are a pretty good team as I read somewhere that they represented the UK in some international competition.

One thing I'd like to know for sure is that training is safe everywhere, nomatter the cost, right? I don't want to pay half the price to get a total equipment failure or whatever!

Also, in a couple of year's time I will be joining the military, where I hope to join the parachute regiment, so I'd like to have some background before joining.

Thanks guys :)

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

[bazelos 0]

Ok, I check again with Langley, it's £1450 for the AFF course, and £25 for each consolidation jump, so all together £1700, £5 per day to stay at the dz, and another, say, £10 for going there so everything would be £1800, which sounds ok, can I really beat the price by going to the US?

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

[skytash 0]

Not sure about prices, but I would recommend you speak to the dropzone you are most likely to be jumping at before going to the US. In Spain, a lot of the AFF instructors are BPA rated, so you would get a BPA A-licence. There are fewer BPA rated AFF instructors in the US and you would get a USPA A-liecence, which has various other problems. You would have to be a member of the USPA for licence reasons, and everyone has to be a member of the BPA to be able to jump in the UK. Therefore if you don't get a BPA A-licence, you could find yourself having to pay membership to two associations. If cash is an issue you may want to avoid that.

The other thing to think about (and talk to the UK DZ about) is mutual recognition pre-A licence if for weather reasons you don't get through your AFF before you get back (happened to me). Again, Spain can be easier for that as a lot of the BPA instructors in Spain are Brits who are known by CCIs in the UK who will comfortably recognise the achievements under particular Spain based instructors.

tash

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

[AshDeBash 0]

I think you'll find there's also an equipment charge for each of the consolidations to be added into your budget.

[altichick 0]

If you have a small but regular income and saving is a problem you could always do a static line (RAPS) course instead.

The initial course is cheaper and each jump is cheaper compared to AFF. You'll get more jumps for the same money, get more canopy experience for the same money and still be able to jump if the cloud base is 4000ft

Don't sweat the petty things... and don't pet the sweaty things!

[Yossarian 0]

yeah id say do raps, in the long run it may be slightly more expensive (depends how good you are) but the cost is spread over a long time, it took me 28jumps at £35 a pop to qualify through raps, plus the extra canopy time you dont get through aff.

[jurgencamps 0]

I do not understand the problem. Do your AFF in the States or in Europe. Is it necessary that your instructors are BPA rated? I have problems to believe this.
If you do your AFF course in Spain, Belgium, USA ... , you do not need a license. As long as you have passed with success your level 7 and your logbook is signed. Maybe they ask you to do a consolidation jump.

Prices in Europe are cheaper than in the UK (Belgium 1050 €, Empuria ...).

[TrickyDicky 0]

Leeds have a very good skydiving club and they jump at hibaldstow, which might be closer to you than langar. I personally think its the best DZ in the UK too and theres a big uni crowd there (leeds and york, plus couple of others I think).

UK Skydiver for all your UK skydiving needs.

[ps5601 0]

If you go out of the UK to do AFF, there are several different scenarios.

You do the AFF course, plus a load of other jumps (10+). Returning to the UK should pose no problems as long as you have it all signed in a log book etc.

You do the AFF course and do no more jumps. If you have done the hop n pop, but no more jumps then you will not have completed the requirements for the British AFF which is level 8, hop n pop plus 10 consolidation jumps. In the UK you will still be a student until these are done. Most UK DZs will be able to help you out. Some will charge you a bit more. If you went through a recognized system (USPA or BPA instructor etc) and have it documented you SHOULD be OK.

If you do the AFF (level 7) but haven't done the hop n pop then you haven't completed the basic part of the British AFF course. Some UK DZs will give you a hard time and not let you jump there unless you start again. If you had a BPA instructor things will generally be easier.

If you do not complete the AFF course (level 7), then several UK DZs will not let you jump unless you start from scratch. Make sure you get everything documented, with video if you can. Having a BPA instructor often helps a lot here.

Check with your local DZ what the situation would be if you came back from abroad. In any case you will have to be a member of the BPA and pay a stupidly large amount for it as we run a crazy insurance thing.

No place in the UK will give you cheap AFF unless you are military. You can generally go abroad for 1 or 2 weeks have a holiday and do AFF for a very similar cost to doing it in the UK.

Where ever you go, my (personal) advice would be to try and use a turbine DZ. If you can get 12000+ feet on every jump rather than 10000ft for a piston DZ the extra working time makes a difference.

Blue skies

Paul

[Tintin 0]

Quick question. If you do your 8 Aff jumps and 10 consols under USPA you will get your 'A' , right ?
Then what would you have to do when you came back to the UK to convert that 'A' to BPA equiverlent, bearing in mind I think you now need CH1 for a BPA 'A' license ?

-------------------------------------------------
Please forgive the sp errors, I have dyslexia. Don't laugh ... the last time i went to a toga party, I went dressed as a goat !!

[altichick 0]

USPA 'A' is a minimum of 25 jumps and covers freefall skills, canopy skills and general skydiving knowledge.

Don't sweat the petty things... and don't pet the sweaty things!

[Katherine 0]

Whats the rush with AFF? Spread the cost with RAPs, if you do AFF will you be able to afford to jump once you get your licence? Also if you are planning on going down to a DZ and stay while you do AFF then your budget could easily be mucked up by bad weather, you could loose days to cloud / wind ect.

Leeds University Skydiving Club
www.skydiveleeds.co.uk

[Scoop 0]

I went straight for AFF, no tandem, no SL or anything. It was great experience but in hindsight I wouldnt have minded doing a static line course.

I know it might seem stupid but id like to experience a static line jump. I might make an enquiry once I got all my consols out the way

[daniel_owen_uk 0]

I went to the US, it cost me less than £1800 with flights, hotels, travel insurance and car hire. Plus it was 25 degrees celcius all week :) With the value of hindsight I would have stayed on the dropzone.

17 jumps in a week you just aren't gonna get that in the UK.

Save some money do it in the USA get video so you can show the CCI when you get back to UK.

I did mine at skydive city in florida, they were great, can't recommend them enough, but I am sure there are lots of great place's in florida and california.

__________________

BOOM Headshot

[sweep 0]

Those scenarios are no longer correct : in order to receive a UK (FAI/BPA) A Licence you need to have completed your training (AFF+consols or RAPS) and achieved your Canopy Handling Grade 1 requirements.

Therefore even if you complete the AFF and the consols overseas but not the CH1, you could be treated as a student until the CH1 is achieved.

However, the situation for integrating foreign-trained student parachutists into the BPA system is significantly stricter than that for integrating foreign-trained experienced jumpers.

Therefore, it is vital that anyone considering going overseas to do AFF makes contact with the Club Chief Instructor at the UK DZ they wish to return to prior to booking in order to ensure that they understand what they need to achieve during the course and how they can be integrated into the UK system on their return.

Otherwise the scenarios include :
- having the AFF not recognised at all and having to do it again with a UK instructor.
- paying student jump prices while you complete your CH1 training.

This can mean that what looks like a cheaper option overseas may end up costing more. Sorting out the details with a UK DZ before going abroad [I]should[/I] mean that this is avoided.

Sweep

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Yay! I'm now a 200 jump wonder.... Still a know-it-all tho..

[thourb 0]

I'm going to be doing my AFF in about a month in Spain (freefall university).

Flights are about £50 return
Accommodation for 10 days is about £100
AFF Course costs are £850

Total course cost: £1000

Consolodation jumps at FFU are £200 for a block of 10.

From what i've been told, you can integrate the costs of doing the CH1 course with your AFF and consols, so the CH1 course only costs about £200 for 10 jumps.

Total price: £1400
Total Jumps: 28 (8 aff, 10 consols, 10 ch1)

I thought that was a pretty good deal, so thats why I went for it. I'll let you all know how it goes :)

*edit* - FFU has BPA qualified instructors too, so should be less chance of problems when trying to jump here.

[bazelos 0]

Thanks to everyone for their help, I'v decided to go for RAPS, it's £150 and £36 per jump, I think it's better if I have two jumps every Sunday or so, instead of saving up for the AFF and the cons. It's easier as I make around £120 a week, so in a month's time I can start going.

Good luck thourb, let us know how it goes!

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

[bob.dino 0]

Sounds sensible. Have fun and let us know how it goes

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