Parachuting since the year 1969 – Oulu Skydive Center
THE PUREST FORM OF FLYING
The skies are open for you! Enthusiastic, curious mind and a will to learn a new element – AIR – is enough. The dream of a mankind, flying with no aid, comes true during freefall. In the freefall where you can fly with other jumpers, the howling airflow turns into a soft element. A better way of getting a rid of the ordinary weekly routines is hard to imagine!
HOW DO YOU BECOME A PARACHUTIST?
Your skydiving career begins by attending to a parachuting course held by a skydiving club which is a part of the Finnish Aeronautical Association. In Oulu these courses are organized by the Oulu Skydive Center.
During the course you will be given all the information that you need to be able to jump the first jumps safely. You will learn for example how to steer the canopy, how to operate on a jump flight, parachute gear etc. During the exercises you practice a correct exit position, how to use the reserve canopy etc. On the first jumps you’ll have a radio with you so that you can be given instructions while you are under canopy.
First jumps are made from 1000 meters and the parachute is opened automatically (by a static-line). After few jumps you’ll jump from a higher altitude and open the parachute yourself. Fall-rate in the freefall is about 200 km/h. In the freefall you’ll learn a new element – air, where you can make different kinds of moves like for example turns, flips or formation jumps with others. Parachuting is an experience which can be understood only by those who have tried it.
You can begin parachuting at the age of 15, there is no upper age limit. You don’t have to be a superman, you’ll just have to learn the right techniques and that can be done by anyone. The only requirement is a normal health. Glasses, for example, are no obstacle.
The Oulu Skydive Center organizes about 10 parachuting courses every year, more specific dates are announced at the local newspapers. The course includes all training and material you need, two jumps, a logbook, the right to use the club’s parachutes and other gear and the membership fee for the starting year.
The course lasts about one week: usually Saturday & Sunday and a couple of evenings during the next week. The first jump is at the next weekend. All courses begin with an introduction and you are welcome to listen to it even if you wouldn’t want to come to the course. You are also invited to come to the club at any time to see the jumping.
HOW DOES OUR CLUB OPERATE?
The Oulu Skydive Center operates at the Oulu airport where the club has it’s own club-house. In the club-house we have rooms for packing, repairing and storing of the parachutes. There’s also a buffet and a classroom. We jump from a Cessna C-182 which takes 5 jumpers/load. Our pilots are highly experienced and especially trained for jump flights.
The club owns 8 parachutes. You will also find helmets, radios, overalls, jump shoes and automatic openers at the club – in other words: everything you need in parachuting.
COMPETITIONS
Parachuting is a many-sited hobby and it offers a chance to compete either in single- or team events. The competition events are: formation skydiving, accuracy landing, canopy formations, para-ski (the event unites accuracy landing and skiing) and freestyle.
TANDEM COURSES
A ”shortcut to happiness” is a tandem course which takes you to freefall on your first jump. The jump is made from 4000 meters together with an experienced jumpmaster. You will be attached with a special harness to the jumpmaster’s tandem parachute. The freefall lasts about 50 seconds and after that the parachute is opened in 1600 meters. Flying down under canopy lasts about 6 to 8 minutes and you get to steer the parachute together with the jumpmaster. Finally you land softly on the ground. The price includes video recording.
The tandem course lasts an hour (and after that you get to climb to the aircraft!) and they are organized whenever there’s need for that – call and make an arrangement.