Basic Parachute Course

The Basic Parachute Course for members of the British Armed Forces is conducted by the Static Line Training Squadron of No.1 Parachute Training School RAF, based at RAF Brize Norton.

The Basic Parachute Course is 4 weeks long for regular troops. During that time trainees are instructed in exit, flight and landing techniques. They are required to complete eight descents, one at night, to qualify for their 'wings'. Exit training is carried out from full-size mock ups of C-130 Hercules fuselages. In groups of eight, each with its own RAF parachute jumping instructor (PJI), trainees are taught the techniques of jumping individually and in 'sticks', both with and without equipment. trainees are taught fight drills while suspended from the hanger roof in parachute harnesses on cables. They learn to control their parachutes while descending, and to carry out emergency measures such as untwisting their rigging lines, taking the necessary action on colliding with another parachutist, and landing in water. Techniques for landing safely are taught using rubber mats. As trainees become more proficient, the hight from which they jump is increased by the use of steps and eventually ramps up which they run and jump off. Forward, side and backwards landings are practiced on a six-sided trapeze from which the trainees hang by their hands while being swung in the air. On the command of the PJI, trainees let go and perform the appropriate roll on landing.

The next stage involves the fan trainer. Wearing a harness connected to a cable wound round a drum fitted with fan blades, trainees jump from a platform located near the roof of the hanger; as they fall, their rate of descent is controlled to simulate that with a parachute. More advanced training comes with the exit trainer, designed to simulate the effect of slipstream as the parachutist exits the aircraft. The trainer consists of a wooden cabin, mounted on a structure of girders, equipped with doors representing those on the port and starboard side of the Hercules. On either side cables run from above the trainer to a point near the ground some 55 yards away. Wearing harnesses suspended from them, trainees jump from the trainer and travel the length of the cables in a gradual descent towards the ground, where their progress is arrested by an instructor.

The next stage of the course consists of a parachute descent from a balloon at the dropping zone at Weston-on-the-Green. This is carried out from a height of 800m in what is known as "clean fatigue" - without equipment. Subsequently trainees carry out their first descent from a C-130 Hercules in single 'sticks' of six without equipment from one door of the aircraft. Their second descent is again in 'clean fatigue', in single 'sticks' of eight or ten. Trainees then make their third descent, jumping in simultaneous 'sticks' of six from both sides of a Hercules. This is followed by a night descent without equipment. Thereafter, descents are made with equipment, initially in a single 'stick' of six, subsequently in simultaneous 'sticks' of eight or ten and finally in the maximum size of 'stick' possible, depending upon the number of personnel on the course. On successful completion of their eight descents, trainees are presented with their 'wings' by the Officer Commanding No. 1 Parachute Training School, and return to their units as qualified parachutists.

The course for members of Territorial Army units and Royal Marines Reserve lasts only two weeks, and trainees are required to complete only seven descents without one at night. Before taking the course, however, they will have gone a considerable amount of synthetic training to enable them to be of a sufficient standard to carry out their balloon descent and their first aircraft descent by the end of the first week at Brize Norton. The rest of their descents are carried out during the second week of the course.

Bibliography

*Harclerode, Peter, ' PARA! Fifty Years of the Parachute Regiment, Orion Books Ltd, London, 1992, ISBN 0-75280-395-6