Skydiving

What to expect

Skydiving is where you jump from an aeroplane and freefall through the air for a little bit, before pulling your parachute to gently glide down to the ground. This can either be done independently or attached to an instructor, but a certain level of training has to be completed before anyone’s allowed to jump on their own. This adventure is only suitable for people aged 16 and older due to the nature of the activity.

What you’ll learn

Doing this you’ll gain courage, determination and strength. Skydiving is a physical activity, as you have to remain in a specific position while freefalling to manage your speed. It takes a lot of courage and determination to jump out of a plane and fall through the sky, but many enjoy the experience and see the world in a new way. Why not have a talk to an instructor about the aerodynamics of the parachute and the optimum position to stay in to see how they work? That might make you feel a bit better about what’s to come!

Fun facts

Skydiving is typically completed from 4000m and can be done from an aeroplane, a helicopter or a hot air balloon.
Skydiving can be completed indoors (as a zero-gravity simulation) at specially designed centres around the country.
Skydiving competitions are held every two years and cover both indoor and outdoor events, including formation skydiving and accuracy landing.

Handy hints

Don’t forget your camera. A small action camera that can be securely attached to your body is a must if you’d like to record your experience, so be sure to bring one along if you have one.
Bring some hair bobbles. Some places will ask anyone with long hair to tie it back, so bring some spares along just in case.

Safety

You must always:

Complete a risk assessment
Have the right ratios of number of adults to provide suitable supervision
Set up an InTouch process
Know what to do in an emergency
Share information with parents and carers with an activity information form
Get approval from your commissioner

Be safe outdoors:

Check the weather forecast

Preparing for your flying activities:

Follow the general rules for air activities
Make sure you have permission to access the airfield and it's safe to do so
Make sure the pilot meets the requirements for the activity and have appropriate insurance in place
Make sure everyone is appropriately briefed before the activity starts
Stay safe when doing air activities, follow the air activities safeguarding guidance
Notify HQ of your air activity.

Parachuting:

Always follow rule 9.10.8 Parachuting.

This activity can be led by you or someone else in Scouts:

Acceptable instructor qualifications

Pilot or flying instructor - as outlined in POR rule 9.10.8

You can go to a centre or use an activity leader who is not part of Scouting:

You must find a suitable provider who meets the following requirements:

The centre/instructor should hold one of these:

Pilot or flying instructor - as outlined in POR rule 9.10.8

The provider must have public liability insurance.

Guidance

Access to airfields

Air Activities Safeguarding Guidance

Air Activities FAQ's

Reflection

Skydiving allowed you to experience the feeling of falling, but safely and in a controlled manner. What did that feel like? This adventure is all about being brave and getting over the hard bit. Jumping out of a plane can be a really big step for some people. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t manage it; it takes courage to put on the equipment and even go up in the aeroplane, so be proud of how far you got.

While flying through the air, you got to experience the world below from a new perspective. Did you look around much when you were in the air? What did you see? Could you see people at the landing site waiting for you? What did it feel like to get your feet back on the ground?