£ Vs $

[fungi3001 0]

Skydiving in england seems to be way more expensive than the USA. i know generally england is more expensive but from looking around it appears to be at least double most of the time Eg a tandem jump in england is abour £220 plus another £80 for the camera. howver in USA ive seen jumps for less that $150 which is roughy just over £100. also AFF in englnad costs about £1500 while ive found it in Usa for teh equivilant of about £650. is there a particular reason for this or is it just the english jackin up the prices for no particular reason.

i could fly out to america to do AFF and it woul be cheaper than doing it here???

[towerrat 0]

wow, $ 650 bucks for AFF sounds really cheap. I paid $280 for my ground course and first jump, camera not included. Are you sure that is right? I'm pretty sure packages at my dZ run somewhere around $1500.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[fungi3001 0]

thats £650 not dollars - i wish it were

however i htink that may have been with out all the extras etc, but still even if it is $1500 then its still a hell of a lot cheaper than over here

[robskydiv 0]

Hi fungi. Your money will go alot further over here. So come on over and jump. Harry

[skytash 0]

There are a couple of reasons contributing to jumping in the UK being more expensive than in the US:

1 - Fuel costs are higher, which I think is mainly because of the tax on fuel (might be wrong on that bit)
2 - because of the weather, planes tend to fly less often, generating less money per year despite needing annual checks which cost money. So more money needs to be made per jump to generate enough money over the year to cover the cost of annual checks and maintenance.

Beware about going outside the UK for an AFF. If you have done your AFF under a different system (ie not the BPA Ops manual) it may not be recognised as sufficient to get off student status in the UK. The best way out of this is to go somewhere where there is a BPA rated AFF instructor who will train you under the Ops manual. This will be more expensive than the cheapest US/S. African AFF courses, but could be cheaper than UK based courses. The other advantage of doing your AFF this way, is that you may be able to get it done in less time due to better weather conditions in say FL, CA or France.

tash

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

[quade 3]

The United States is one of the least expensive countries on the planet to fly an aircraft.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[mikkey 0]

My home dropzone here "down under" was full of "Poms" (that is what we call British people ) all summer (that is southern hemisphere summer = northern winter).
I think it has to do with that a lot of Brits like to visit Australia for a long "back packing" holiday anyway and combine it with jumping. The weather is better and it is cheaper. I also belive they have no problems getting APF licenses accepted in Britain (?).
Our price level is: lift 14 K: A$ 32 ~ £ 12 or US$ 19
AFF course with 9 stages and around 10 jumps will cost you around A$ 2000 ~ £ 780 or US$1200

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When people look like ants - pull. When ants look like people - pray.

[Jib 0]

Doesn't the VAT tax get your equipment too?

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the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[Galen 0]

It was just this past summer that I did AFF. I bought the package that took me from ground school through level 7 for between $1100 and $1200. That didn't include any video or re-jumps (luckily I didn't need them).

Respect the Dolphin

[fungi3001 0]

we get VAT on pretty much everything (expct book and food and a few other things) and its at 17.5% which just jacks up prices alot. so im guessing it is on equipment too.

i have another question too - if you do aff under a particular organistain are you restricted to jump in that country or are you able to jump anywhere

Eg if i held a BPA license would i be able to jump in the USA???

thanks

guy

[skytash 0]

As long as you make sure you have an FAI licence you should be able to jump anywhere.

The issue with doing an AFF outside the UK mainly relates to if you have not been able to complete it to get an A-licence from the relevant country. If you have 'just' got an A-licence, a DZ may still want you to do a check-out jump with an instructor. These things vary from DZ to DZ, so it is worth finding out what the policy is of the DZ you are most likely to be jumping at when you return to the UK.

tash

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