Learning to Skydive

 The AFP program was instituted in 1982 as an “accelerated” learning process as compared to the traditional static line progression. The AFP program will give you a true taste of modern sport skydiving. The ground training is an intensive event because the student will be doing a 50 second freefall (that’s right!) on his/her very first jump. The student will exit the aircraft at 13,000 feet along with two AFP instructors who will assist the student during freefall. The instructors maintain grips on the student from the moment they leave the aircraft until opening, assisting the student as necessary to fall stable, perform practice ripcord pulls, monitor altitude, etc. The student then pulls his/her own ripcord at about 5000 ft.

The official AFP program is a 7 level program. Levels 1, 2, & 3 require two AFP instructors to accompany the student. These dives concentrate on teaching basic safety skills such as altitude awareness, body position, stability during freefall and during the pull sequence, and most importantly- successful parachute deployment. On level 3, the instructors will release the student in freefall for the first time, to fly completely on their own.

Levels 4, 5, 6, & 7 require only one freefall and teach the student air skills such as turns, forward movement and docking on other people, moving forward, “superman” exits from the plane, etc.

Each AFP level is designed to take one jump, and requires about 45 minutes of training. After successfully performing the objectives of each level, the student moves on to the next level. 

After graduating Level 7, the student enters a consolidation program of 10 skydives with learning objectives on each one. Once all 18 jumps are achieved the student will be awarded an A license.