Our Skydiving Durham experiences let you go for that big leap! Whether you choose a tandem or a static line jump this small and friendly skydive centre just 10 miles from Durham is a fabulous place to make your first free-fall foray into the blue.
Based at Shotton Airfield an ex-RAF station on the edge of Peterlee this is actually the only skydiving school in the whole of the north east so as you can imagine this centre attracts hundreds of budding skydivers from the Durham area and beyond to have a go at throwing themselves out of a plane.
So what skydiving options for those who fancy a bit of freefalling fantasticness? Well you can choose from a tandem skydive or a static line jump here at Shotton. But of course before you can dive into the sky above Durham you’ll need some intensive training from the in-house experts.
On arrival at the base you’ll be met by the skydive team and introduced to the instructors before tackling your first challenge of the day the Documentation Orientation and Training programme. If you’re on the tandem experience the next hour and a half is spent being taught all the basics you need to know to be safe in the air; from learning what to expect once you’re in the plane how to exit the aircraft and the position to adopt during free fall and how to land safely.
You will then be taken up in the school’s Cessna 182 or the Grand Caravan. You and your fellow jumpers will be feeling the anticipation kick in almost as fast as you climb to a dizzying 13 000ft. With your harness on you’ll be attached to your tandem instructor and before you know it you’re on the ledge of the aircraft looking down over the patchwork Durham countryside ready to go skydiving!
Those who choose a static line experience will need to have nerves of steel as you will be jumping solo with instructors by your side but you are essential responsible for your own canopy! Static Line is a quite a different discipline to other forms of sky diving offered here in Durham as it requires a minimum of six hours ground instruction. The way static line works is that a secure line will be attached to an anchor point in the aircraft which will automatically deploy the parachute that’s on your back. Once opened you then float back down to Terra Firma remembering what you’ve been taught about how to land smoothly and safely…
There’s skydiving at Durham all year round subject to the weather on midweek and weekend/bank holiday dates. The vast majority of tandem skydivers get to train and jump on the same day here at Durham whilst on the static line course this may not always be possible with the jump scheduled for the following day or a forthcoming date. Worth noting though is that fact that this Durham skydive school offers free overnight camping and caravanning on the airfield!
