Growing as an Instructor, One Year at a Time By Emily Aucutt As I write this article, Christmas is only a few days away. The new year is right around the corner. However, as you’re reading this it’s probably closer to the start of the 2024 season – still a good time to be setting some jumping based intentions. This time of year often makes a person reflective. It’s always nice to see people’s social media posts around this time, summarising the year they have had – not only the experienced jumpers, but also freshly A-licenced skydivers that, this time last year, hadn’t even booked a ground sch ..read more

Seven Tunnel Flying Resolutions for 2024 By Connor Figg As the clock strikes midnight and we look towards the new year, it’s traditional to think about our resolutions and plan out how we wish to be better for this lap of the sun than we were for the last. So for this article, we’ll touch upon some personal resolutions for the tunnel that can help anyone make the most of their time. STRETCH! (BECAUSE PRE-FLIGHT SHOELACE TYING SHOULDN’T BE THE EXTREME SPORT) You’ve probably heard this a thousand times now, but before you get in the wind, it’s crucial to make sure your limbs are as ready to pa ..read more

  To Skill Up as an Instructor, Skill Up as a Communicator By Emily Aucutt I wrote my first article for this mag at the start of the summer. In it, I spoke about the power of opening up conversations about inclusivity – and leading discussions that investigate the obstacles that could potentially block the path to an A licence. It may be that I’m becoming more aware of the conversations that are already happening. Perhaps this is a conversation that is being more openly and frequently approached on the dropzones. Either way, since the beginning of this summer, I’ve seen an increasingly po ..read more

Your Guide to Handling Fear & Frustration By Connor Figg Tunnel flying is as rewarding as it is frustrating. We spend huge amounts of time trying to hone our physical movements and control, watching and rewatching videos to try to eke every last drop of potential skill out of our meatbags. But the grey stuff up top that controls everything is often overlooked. There is a mental game to play in the tunnel, and those who understand this best will be the most prepared when things stop feeling easy, and the going gets tough. This article will cover two of the most challenging aspects of learni ..read more

  All images courtesy Susan del Toro Sue Del Toro – once the Admin Secretary for what was then the BPA – met Richard in a pub. Okay, that’s not strictly true. She met him seven years before that, when she was working behind the reception desk at De Montford University – and again, a few years later, from behind yet another desk at yet another company. She was married to someone else at the time, so she didn’t remember either interaction. He, however, very much did – and, on that momentous night at the pub, the wait for her attention was over. “He told me he remembered me from all those ye ..read more

How to Use the Concept of “Planform” To Make Good Decisions Without Melting Your Brain By Karen Saunders The vocabulary we use to talk about our nylon is, at best, complicated. No? And, in order to understand all the wacky configurations we stitch together to get down, it could be argued that it basically has to be. But how do we start to understand what people on the dropzone are talking about when they refer to a canopy as “semi-elliptical” vs. “elliptical”? (For that matter, why do we assume everyone with an A-licence knows the difference?) Remember: there was a time when jumping out of a p ..read more

By Anthony Eve, D8392 It’s bright at 41,000ft – diamond-bright, and diamond-cold. There’s no warmth from the eye-narrowing bite of the sun’s early rays. It’s almost eerie. Six of us are about to leave the relative warmth of a modified Piper Cheyenne 400LS aircraft: its metal walls; its landing gear; its safe supply of oxygen. The world outside that door is 54 degrees below freezing, and nearly airless. I am keenly aware of that fact when crew member Paul switches off the aircraft oxygen and, as part of the handover effect, it suddenly becomes almost impossible to exhale. We’d been warned about ..read more

  Get to know Royal Navy skydiver, Emma Reynolds Name – Emma Reynolds Birthplace – Headcorn Home DZ – Netheravon Jump Numbers – 1,187 Sponsors – My current team is Royal Navy Kraken, a two-way VFS team. I haven’t thought about sponsorship – maybe I should! I’m a dealer for Vertex Sky Sports because I love the suits they make, the customer service and their development process. Container – Javelin Odyssey Main Canopy – Katana 107, primary; Storm 120, backup; Sabre 2 150/170, for demos Reserve Canopy  – Optimum 113 AAD – CYPRES Where, when and why did you make your very first jump ..read more

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