Parachuting in the ULOTC is growing fast, with most finding themselves hooked after their first jump. Through the ULOTC Ocdt’s are able to complete their first jump course for free, and receive a significant military discount on follow up jumps. The ULOTC uses the Joint Services Parachute Centre Drop zone in Netheravon (JSPC) (N), near Salisbury, which boasts some of the best equipment, instructors and planes in the country, and most importantly for student jumpers- the largest drop zone in Europe! It also boasts themed partys or discos on some Saturday nights at the well stocked bar, and if not then Ocdt’s can be found partying in the clubs of Salisbury!

All Ocdts use the Static Line Ram-Air Progression System (RAPS) to get into the sport, it allows the student to perform a solo jump right from their first jump, and also spreads the training and costs over a longer period of time.

The instructor of your first jump course a JSPC(N) will:
• Give you a minimum of six hours ground training, teaching you the skills needed for your first solo jump.
• Provide you with all the equipment for your jump
• Put you in a plane and fly you to 3,500ft
• Throw you out- And before you know it you will be yelling: “one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, check canopy” louder than ever before!

Within four seconds the static-line will open your parachute for you (so even if you forget what you're supposed to be doing, you'll be fine!), then you can use your newly acquired skills to fly down into the landing area.

Once you have completed two successful static line jumps (exiting the plane in a controlled manner), you can progress to the next level.
As you go through the RAPS system you will be progressing and improving with each jump. After these two jumps you do a 'dummy pull' - that is you pretend that you don't have a static line (though you will have) and pull a dummy ripcord handle to show that you would open your parachute if you weren't on a static line. When you have performed this 3 times to the instructor's satisfaction, you are on to the real thing, freefall.
Freefall starts at 3 seconds and goes up through 5, 10 and 15 second delays (the delay is how long you freefall for before opening or 'pulling' your parachute) until you are comfortable with falling through the air stably. And then onto the real fun stuff!

The next step is to learn to manoeuvre in the air with precision, performing turns, back loops, tracking, recovering from an unstable position and doing dive exits from the plane. After all this, you have to do a Category 8 (CAT 8) qualifying jump and, congratulations, you're eligible for your FAI A licence - your passport to skydive alone and with others and ditch your student jumper status.

1st jump courses are offered throughout the year, and Ocdt’s who have completed their course regularly organise return trips to the dropzone at weekends.

Dropzone website: www.netheravon.com

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