Author: admin

When I first set out to Madrid, there was thunder and lightning at London Heathrow, my flight was delayed for 2 hours due to “technical difficulties”, and the thought that “This isn’t meant to be” did cross my mind once or twice. However on arriving at the dropzone in Ocana the next morning, and feeling the buzz of excitement and anticipation from the other AFF students, hearing the enthusiasm from the instructors for the sport who literally live and breathe skydiving, it was suddenly contagious to not shut up about jumping!

The first jump came around pretty quickly, and for me personnally, I was more concerned with what I needed to do in order to pass the first level of the AFF course rather than the nerves of throwing myself out of a perfectly good aeroplane. Thankfully, the first jump went very well, and then the pace of the course really took off, doing a further two jumps that day, and four on the next which meant I completed the AFF course in 2 days(intense, but really satsifying). I could now start jumping solo and get my consoladation jumps in, which made skydiving a simply immense expereince in my mind. I completed the week doing twenty jumps, including my CATEGORY-8, and even managed to get myself on one of the sunset jumps which was one of my most treasured moments in the air, doing somersaults and tracking through the sky while the sun was setting, turned the sky into a mixture of orange and dark blue is something that you just have to experience. I met some great people during the week I was in Spain, and will be keeping in touch with them as much as I can, especially Ian ‘Ironman’ Newland, who in all honesty is a complete nutter, but a good laugh if you get the opportunity to jump with him. As for me now, I’m going to try practicing the things I’ve learnt and some advanced manuerves in the wind tunnel in Milton Keynes, and I think another trip out to Ocana isn’t too far away either. Thanks to David and all the instructors at Ocana, and the staff who work at the airfield. It was a great expereience I’ll never forget and try to repeat always.

Cheers

Phil McGaw

Before coming to the Freefall University I was a bit nervous about the whole thing I’ve done seven static line jumps in the UK but had no freefall experience. The night before I left home I hardly slept a wink but deep down I was still up-for-it even though I was leaving my wife and three children for a week. Once we got staring training I started to relax into it a bit. Levels 1, 2 and 3 were nerve-wracking but Uli and Paula instill a lot of confidence, especially when you see the footage of them letting go for the first time, absolutely awesome!! That’s when I started to think that I really could become a skydiver. LEvels 4, 5, 6 and 7 were when I really started to enjoy it. My most enjoyable jump was Level 7, rolling out a plane at 13000 feet is cool!! The whole experience is awesome. Flying through the air at 110-120 mph, shaking hands with Uli. This is the stuff of dreams! My whole advice to anyone thinking of becoming a skydiver is to go for it! All the staff and instructors are cool and will help with anything. Thanks to all the staff specially to Uli, Paula, Robert (the dodgy dutchy) and everyone else who I met. Hopefully I’ll be back in the summer. That’s if watching the video doesn’t finally convince my wife that I am crazy!! Blue skies

I only had 3 days to spare to do the AFF course and i got it done ! The Freefall University is one of the best Dropzones I’ve seen from profesionalism to cleaninless. The massive landing area is brilliant for those who are learning and everyone was very friendly and glad to give advice for any question we had. The fact we finished our course in one day was amazing and the videos we got at the end were brilliant, Cheers Andy.

The Freefall University in Spain, it was a great idea to get our AFF there. I was qualified in two days , which was very good. The instructors at the University are well experienced, friendly and good to have a laugh with. I am sure I will be coming back to the Freefall University over and over again. Thanks for the fun.

To anyone who, like I was, is currently trying but failing to progress though RAPS, I would hightly recommend AFF and the Freefall University. The cost of the course is very reasonable and when you consider that you got your own personal instructor its actually really good value. This allows the instructor to concentrate on your own specific challenges and potential problems with progession. My instructor Ulli really put me at ease and, as a result, this improved my self-confidence and ability to relax in freefall.

Ultimately, coming to the FFU as someone who had previously struggled with RAPS for about 18 months, I flew through the course with no problems in the sapce of 3 days. If I can do it, so could you.

This was for me an Excellent course and a great place to skydive. Everybody just gels there. I worked with Paula and Ulli (instructors) and found them great to learn with. If you want to do an AFF course then do it at Freefall University, you won’t go wrong. A big “irish” cheers to everyone I met and made friends with. See you soon.

I did the skydiving course because I dont want to have any regrets when im old. THe dropzone had a great mix of professionalism and a nice relaxed atmosphere. IT was nice to have the swimming pool and the restaraunt together. The hard part about skydiving is deciding to come and making the decision to do the first jump. Its easy though after that ..maybe the excellent instructors?? Soon they are not your instructors , they are your good friends.. everybody is really friendly. Maybe thats why almost everybody here returns to jump again and again….

One thing you will never learn is to be as cool as Ulli , Paula , Pedro and the rest of the staff.. they are ace.. The best jumps for me were my first solo., first jump when my instructor didnt hold me and my first unstable …lots of best jumps !!

My first jump from a plane was in 2003 with the University of Portsmouth Skydiving Club. I completed 4 static line jumps in total that year but on the last, hurt my ankle quite badly and decided to stop for a while… 2 Years later (2005) I decided that I was going to do AFF in the UK and booked it. I managed to get to level 6 but was made to feel that I wasn’t good enough to be a skydiver as I could not seem to get the whole turning thing so, I basically gave up.

This was exactly 1 year ago. A couple of months ago I decided to myself that I was good enough to be a skydiver but just wasn’t given the support that I needed, so I called David at the FFU and booked a course for July. As soon as I booked it, I also booked 40 minutes in Milton Keynes wind tunnel to make sure that I had a good preparation for the course (purely because last year I was a very slow learner and I had to repeat quite a few levels). After 40 minutes in the wind tunnel I knew there and then that I was good enough to be a skydiver. Exactly one week later, I would be in Spain jumping for real!

Finally, the day came – 8th July 2006! I was up at 2am to get to the airport for my flight at 6am. I was greeted at Madrid airport by the lovely Aimee who drove me straight to the DZ. Once there, I immediately met my instructor, Luci. We started ground school straight away without hesitation. I completed my 1st jump at around 8pm the very same day. After knowing how bad I was last year, it was understandable that I had a few nerves before getting into the plane. On my previous AFF attempt, my nerves whilst in the plane and climbing to altitude were always completely shot and would feel physically sick. This time however, it was totally different. As soon as I got on the plane and we took off, my nerves just disappeared and I felt an overwhelming sense of euphoria flow through my entire body. I couldn’t believe it – Surely I couldn’t be excited when all previous attempts left me with a feeling of dread? Surely not? But I was, I was excited! My heart was obviously pounding quite fast but it was a nice feeling. This confidence, I believe came from a mixture of 2 sources. Firstly; the time in the wind tunnel made me completely believe that I was able to stay stable and turn when I wanted i.e. I COULD skydive!! – Second; Luci, my instructor, never at any point made me feel inadequate and was always very positive about my progression. I managed to complete the course in less than 2 days which, in my opinion is a complete credit to Luci.

By the end of the week I had managed to complete 25 skydives, including 1 Formation Skydiving (FS) coaching jump with Luci. Thank you so much Luci, you really are a star! Credit must also go to all of the instructors that were present at the time including Paula, Ulli, Tim, Pedro and Carlos. All of which gave me fantastic advice. I will be back for some more Ocana action in September/October to finish of my FS1 course with Luci. I am now totally hooked and I know that skydiving will now be a very large part in my life for a very long time to come!! Thank you everyone for a wonderful andmemorable time. It really was the best week of my life!!

Link to Mikeys AFF Course Skydiving video . This was made by Mikey from footage on his AFF DVD which is standard in our AFF courses.

I bet I am not the first person to watch an action film or extreme sports channel and say “wow, I would love to do that”. Well, after far too many years I finally picked up the phone, paid my money, took my choice and went skydiving at the Freefall University. Simply the best thing I have ever done. Period. Everything was taken care of for me. Flights, hotel, transfers, the lot. All I had to do was turn up and get my head around jumping out of a plane. This was made a good bit easier by Andy my instructor. He knew when to push me and when to ease off. After level 2 I could hardly walk let alone talk. Tired? I never knew the meaning of the word until that morning. Needless to say I cracked 5 levels that day.

Andy was a great judge of character and made the different levels and tasks safe but fun for me. Just so you know, level 4, when your instructor comes off you and round in front of you is unreal. Exiting a plane in a forward roll on level 7 watching your horizon change from earth-sky-plane-sky-earth is something I will not forget! The people at the DropZone are really friendly. The FFU and local Spanish staff are friendly and will always stop to help and give you a gear check. Nothing is too much trouble. I met a lot of great, like-minded people at the FFU, I am already planning a return trip and hope to jump with them once I have my next qualification. You only get one life, make the most of it. If you are reading this then you are considering skydiving. Stop considering, make the call.

Thoughts on the course, about time I got round to that… Superb. Everyone on the DZ… the FFU instructors, the guys from the spainish school, the other students and more experienced skydivers, the manifest, the guys packing, the pilots, and of course the resident bus driving Sylvan, are all incredibly friendly and helpful. The instructors especially helped you feel relaxed, I always had complete confidence in Luci and she made the experience a lot of fun.

The atmosphere at the DZ is very laid back, it doesn’t take long to sit back in to the pace. The only exception, for me, was the rate that Luci had me manifested for my levels! If you’re the kinda student that needs motivating to keep you progressing (can be tempting to sit back and chill for the afternoon) then Luci’s the instructor for you! The course itself… the ground school is intense. I found myself thinking I couldn’t possibly be taking it all in… but the following morning I had a chat with Jenn on the phone and without even thinking about it ran her through the plan for a jump, from exit to touch down, including the drills and emergency procedures… when I finished I stopped and said “bloody hell, I obviously do remember it all then!”. Its amazing that we can absorb so much information, but its also a credit to the course and instructors. To anyone heading out there… it will seem repetitive and a strain on the brain at times… but there’s a good reason for that! It works! There is no doubt at all that the very first jump you make is a totally fear filled experience. You don’t even know it at the time, but after a few more jumps when you start getting more comfortable with it all, and more aware… you realise just how you felt on jump 1. The rush is incredible. And the really great part is that there are milestones all along where you get a similar rush, but each is a bit different. For me, the best jumps were L1, my L3 repeat, my L7 repeat, and the first solo… and whichever level it was that Luci came round the front for the first time, the one where I have a massive grin on the video!! I would recommend the experience to anyone that wants to be a skydiver, it WILL get you hooked, and you’ll enjoy the whole experience. Ocana is a great place to learn and I don’t think you’ll find better instructors than those at FFU. For me one of the biggest things that persuaded me that this was a good place to go was the number of repeat visits. I will absolutely definitely be heading back! I hope people find my “review” useful. Sure I’ll see some of you out there soon..

I found the course really amazing. Uli was the most fantastic instructor, couldn’t have asked for more!! Come out here to join my brother and was interested on doing a tandem. The addiction took over and I ended up doing ground school and Level 1-7 in two days.

I ould not hesitate in recommending Ulli and Freefall University to anyone!! It has been the most amazing two days ever!!! Thank you to Ulli and everyone else at the Freefall University. I will definitely be back soon!!!

Always wanted to and never had the time in the army.

Now What can i say… Excelent, great, fantastic, brilliant, superb…I love it!!!

Nothing was too much trouble. All the staff were very polite and helpful. I would like to say thank you to everybody, all the staff including the packers who always got my rig ready when needed.

Uli my instructor helped me so much and did more for me in days than the UK did in months!! Thanks Uli!! I would recomend the Freefall University to anyone. I loved it. I will be back and all I can say is a big thank you to everyone for all their help. It was a pleasure to come here and as stated I will be back. Special thnks to Paula and Samantha who always sorted any problems.

If you want to learn to skydive then the Freefall University is the place to come and learn. All I can say is thank you!!!

I wanted to do it from young age, 10-11, when my father was doing a charity jump. I didn’t do a jump till I was 21, my aff stage, but could not afford to carry on. Sorted out and here I am.
Skydiving is one of the best things I’ve done. It was great to be away for a week and learn this fantastic sport in the sun. The ground school and preparation for 1st jump really gives you the confidence to jump out of a perfectly good plane. Of course I was nervous but that’s all part of the rush. Once you are in freefall the nervs go and there is no better feeling.

My instructor was Ulli, who was fantastic and got me through the course in just over a day, though all instructors are good and friendly making the Freefall University a great place to learn. Just get out here and do it.

I decided to become a skydiver cause it’s cool man!! I wanted to skydive since doing some static line jumps a couple of years ago. I loved it. My first jumps were a bit skethy but from nmber 3 onwards loved it. Number 7 was the best.The weather is ace, the people are ace and the skydiving is ace.

Awesome just do it!

.