Get Licensed

Doing a tandem is awesome, doing your first solo jump is even better, but ultimately the world of skydiving and parachuting is much, much bigger. And the only way to experience it is to get licensed.

Accelerated Freefall is the training method used by the UC Skydiving Club and most skydiving centers in the United States to teach students how to jump out of a plane, control your body in free and deploy and land your parachute safely. AFF is broken down into categories A-H, with specific learning objectives in each category which will challenge you abilities and build upon previous skills learned. For example, during your 2 category D jumps, you will be practicing your ability to make 90, 190 and 360 degree turns. Upon completing the AFF program, which typically lasts 8-9 jumps, you are cleared for self-supervision, meaning you are now permitted to jump 100% by yourself, with no instructors! From there on, students do what is called coach jumps which develops your group freefall skills. These skills are crucial towards being able to skydive with others, and include things such as swooping and docking, or diving down to a group of skydivers and linking up with you. You earn your first license, your A-license, after your 25th skydive.

The UC Skydiving Club works in many ways to help students prepare for the AFF program. Not only do we teach students many of the skills they need during Skydiving 101 every spring, but we also have coaches in the club who can help reduce the financial responsibility after completing the AFF program. As always, feel free to talk to any of the club members if you have any questions and we will be happy to help you find your answers. Read the pages from the logbook on the next tab to see what a former student thought of his training!

Tyler McDonough smiles on his Cat A AFF Skydive