Static Line Course

Static Line was the first course invented for teaching the sport of parachuting. Developed in the 1960s, the course is primarily about parachuting, with a gradual lead up to freefall. All jumps are made solo, with your Instructor dispatching you from the aircraft. For the first 6-8 jumps of the course you are connected to the aircraft by the static line and when you exit, the static line stays with the aircraft but pulls out your parachute for you.

This course is a 20-jump program, with the first jumps commencing from 4,000 feet, no freefall. Over a series of jumps, you eventually go to a higher altitude of 8,000 feet and experience some freefall. Again, your Instructor is in the plane, not jumping with you.

However, learning to skydive by the Accelerated Freefall method has many advantages over the Static Line Course. Firstly the Static Line Course has very little freefall! Skydivers believe Freefall is everything – this is essentially why we take it up as a sport, it is the addictive part. Also, in a Static Line Course, your learning curve is a very small and long one. Basically you are on your own in the sky, with your Instructor left in the plane watching you from a great distance. The debriefing of your jumps can only be limited, as the Instructor witnesses only a small part of your jump. Basically, the 20 jumps of the Static Line Course will teach you the same as you will learn in 3 jumps of the AFF course.

Although we still teach this method very successfully to the Air Training Corps and the Military types, we generally try to encourage aspiring skydivers to choose the AFF option because of the fun of the freefall.

Information above courtesy of Susie McEvoy, member of the Ramblers Skydiving Club and the editor of the Australian Skydiver Magazine.