Boddington

Cleaning wasn't really a part of my plan! I live in a great part of the country, within 5 mins drive I have the Silverstone Motor Racing Circuit, within 30 minutes drive there is the Airkix tunnel, an indoor real snow ski slope, one of the best outdoor karting tracks in the country, and the Bedford tunnel is less than one hour away ....... so there is no shortage of ways to amuse the family (just a shortage of cash to pay for it all!). With ref to the comment about insurance earlier, can one of the Brits tell me what the BPA cover, is it injury and life, loss of earnings etc or just a 3rd party liability? Thanks.

Thanks for all these responses, now I've really got something to work with. I'm lucky in that my wife has also done a tandem (same load as me) and the tunnel time but fortunately sees both as a great experience but a one-off ....... I'm the one that seems to like the adrenalin rush (Tried parasailing in Morzine, owned a couple of motorcycles, and although never in the military managed to have loads of flights hanging out the back of a Herc watching the RAF Falcons do their stuff (Long story but related to a 'Press' role). It's the latter that gives me the confidence to know I would enjoy this, I've stood on the ramp at 12,000ft watching the team jump out thinking I could easily put on on one of the spare kits and hop out with them. Unfortunately that link has been lost now otherwise this decision would have been easier. For those of you in California, what is Andy Witcomb doing now? As I mentioned in my first post, he took me on the tandem and following his move to San Diego I probably would have signed up for an AFF programme over there, but then found out that my wife was pregnant which kind of changed the plan! Once again, thanks for all the advice, it's all very useful

Thanks everyone for the overnight responses, I guess on this site I was never going to get anyone say 'Don't do it'. I'm happy with the safety side of things, and fully understand the physical and financial risks and am quite convinced that I would love every minute of it. But, before I commit to anything I guess I'm more interested to know what impact the decision made to the family; I can imagine my kids being happy to spend time at the DZ, but when the novelty wears off and you've spent all day waiting for some good weather things must get tense.......

I'm looking for advice from anyone that took up this sport when they already had kids. I'm 42 in a few weeks, married with 2 boys aged 5 & 2. I've completed 1 tandem which I loved, about 7 years ago at Weston here in the UK (TM was Andy Witcomb, whilst he was in the RAF Falcons so I had a good intro!), I've tried the Airkix tunnel (and got on quite well in there, although I guess they always say that!). Basically, since completing the tandem there has always been something nagging away in the back of my mind telling me I have to do more with this sport. I'm no exercise junkie, and wouldn't say that I'm a risk taker, but with two DZ's within about 15 mins of where I live, the sport is never very far away. I work near Weston so the Hercs are always buzzing around, and when I'm at home over the weekend I find my eyes constantly gazing upwards when the aircraft from Hinton is climbing overhead, and quite often take my boys up there so 'they can watch' (I think you can work out what I really mean!). If I take this further I think I would go the static line route first, as it's relatively cheap and gives me some quick feedback as to how I can handle the canopy and landing etc. I know if I was 100% certain about this I would just book an AFF1, but I'm not, so I figure the static line is a better option. So, is there anyone out there who started jumping in their 40's, once they had kids? What were your concerns? injury (or worse), upsetting the family by spending all of your spare time hanging around an old airfield. Or did you think of the benefits, enjoy the experience, get qualified and take advantage of the fresh air, exercise and stress relief and become a better person (... I don't think I'm a bad one now!) Hopefully, some of you must have been through this, I'm keen to know what you were thinking.

And I look forward to visiting you at some point soon. Two tunnels within one hour of home (and for that matter, two DZ's within 15 mins!), I just need to win the lottery..........

Nothing outrageous about the comment, and as someone who will probably be the type of person you refer to I'm happy to share my thoughts. I've lurked around here for a long time and enjoyed reading the comments and learning more about the sport, however, I'm 41, with two little kids, a wife and a demanding job and therefore taking up skydiving now is not really a sensible option for me. I've done one tandem and loved it. However, the reality of my situation is that skydiving is too risky to take-up now. However, last Sunday I flew at Airkix, which is around 30 mins from where I live, and was absolutely amazed at how good that felt. This is something that only has financial barriers, my wife tried it and was impressed and when my eldest son is 5 in February he can also join in. I'm sure there's an element of the skydiving community that will resent the (perceived) erosion of 'their' territory, but I guess the reality is, the tunnels could generate a lot of business for DZ Operators. I've got many colleagues and friends who are very keen to try the tunnel, but think I was mad to do the tandem. To qualify this, they think the tunnel sounds expensive, £38 for 2 or 2.5 minutes is a lot, and as they never intend to jump out of an aircraft the comparison costs mean nothing. It will be interesting to see what happens to pricing in the UK once the novelty wears off. With apologies to Bodyflight at Bedford, the guys at Airkix have done a brilliant job in generating publicity for their tunnel and their location will generate tremendous interest from other people visiting Xscape to ski, but generating business 7 days a week, 364 days a year will require a lot of creative thinking - and I'm sure 'deals' will arise. So, will there be a whole generation of flyers who will probably never skydive? Yes, most definately, and I hope to be one of them!

During the afternoon of September 15th 2004 the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team are hosting a charity karting race in support of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. The event is taking place at Daytona Racing in Milton Keynes and team entries cost £400 (up to 6 drivers) with all profits going to the charity. We are hoping that members of this community based in the UK could ask their employer if they are willing to enter a team, or simply pass the details to anyone they think may be interested. The charity is close to the team as one of the former team memebrs lost his brother to the condition. Any support would be appreciated. If you would like additional information please send me an e-mail and I will respond ASAP. Many thanks to sangiro for allowing this post. Mark Yates