Formation Skydiving (FS)

These skills are learned by easy stages, starting with 2-person (“two-way”) skydives and progressing up to 4-person dives over a 10 level programme. On successful completion of the program, you will be awarded BPA Formation Skydiving Grade 1, generally referred to as FS1.

The two-way skills are also a pre-requisite for undertaking coaching for BPA Grade 1 in Freeflying – the basic safety and escape skills taught are applicable to all freefall skydiving disciplines.

Before you start FS training, you should be confident in your own solo skydiving abilities. In order to make best use of your FS Coach, (for whose slot you will be paying), you must first have progressed beyond the basic Category 8 skills:

You should have already completed your conversion onto a throwaway deployment system;

You should be happy to start your wave-off and deployment at 3500 feet (not higher);

You must also be able to perform good dive exits, and have practised centre- and rear-float exits by yourself.

If you have not yet done these things, make sure you get a brief (from your FS Coach or an Instructor) before trying anything new - there are always points you wouldn't think of yourself.

You need a Coach who is compatible with you: if you are a very small or light person, you will not get far with a big, heavy, fast-falling Coach, and vice versa. Also, once you have chosen your Coach, stick with him/her: you will progress better this way. Try not to change Coach from jump to jump. However, if your Coach thinks it will help, you may be recommended to continue your training with another Coach.

Your FS Coach should:

Brief you on all the necessary skills and safety points for the dive prior to each jump.

Communicate with you in freefall via hand signals (and facial expressions!) - in-air teaching (this uses the same hand signals used for AFF dives).

Debrief you after each jump, pointing out both the good and not so good points.

Provide any corrective teaching and advice as necessary.

Recommend what you should do on your next jump.

Give you a good deal!

The work content of each coaching level is laid down as a guideline only: your Coach may vary the dive sequence or the content of any dive, may add extra dives as necessary, and may require you repeat any level. However, all the skills listed within the programme must be successfully completed. The object is to make you a reasonably competent and safe Formation Skydiver: so you have to achieve all the goals to make it worthwhile!

It is important that you listen to your Coach, and act upon the information given. Skydiving techniques are developing all the time – there are always varying techniques to achieve the same end, some more effective than others. You should expect your Coach to be teaching up-to-date techniques. Coaching in a vertical wind tunnel is often beneficial, but you need an FS Coach who is also a Tunnel Coach to get the correct teaching for what we do.

Basic FS training is designed to teach you to: fall straight down, turn on the spot, take grips and escape into free space to deploy your parachute.

That's it. Simple, eh? If you can do that you can handle Formation Skydiving! Of course there are a few other skills you'll need, like controlled linked exits, diving ('swooping') down to a formation and so on, and that is all included in the training levels.

Information on some of the Basic FS Techniques can be found here.