Jon Foster's Skydiving Page  
  Skydiving Tandem Photos AFF5 Photos AFF7 Photos 
 

This site has some pictures of my skydiving, for family and friends.

For my first jump, I did a tandem at Headcorn Parachute Club. I was strapped to the front of the instructor and he had a parachute big enough for both of us. This is the easiest way to jump, and it's also completely safe. The instructor does all the work, and he knows what he's doing. As he said, "it's as easy as falling out of an aeroplane!"

Jon skydiving

We jumped from 12000 feet, then we had about 45 seconds of freefall at up to 120 mph, before the instructor opened the canopy at 5000 feet. The line you will see in the photos is not the main parachute, it's just a tiny drogue parachute, which stops us from tumbling all over the place (like we're doing in the first two photos, before it opened). Gliding down under the parachute was amazing! And yes, we had a nice soft landing (sitting down, but still OK).

See the photos!

Over New Year 2000-2001 I went to Florida to do AFF training. This is Accellerated FreeFall. There are 8 AFF levels, each of which can be done in one jump, although most people fail at least one level and have to repeat it.

For levels 1 and 2, you jump out with two instructors holding on to you for the whole freefall. Under canopy you have a radio to guide you in to land. Level 3 is the release dive - you still have the two instructors, but they let you go after you have left the aircraft. Levels 4 and 5 you have only one instructor, who lets you go as soon as you are out of the aircraft, and you practice basic manouvers such as turns. Levels 6 and 7 the instructor is following you but doesn't touch you for the whole dive, and you practise more advanced manouvers such as delta tracking and backflips.

There are photos of my level 5 and level 7 jumps on this site.