The British Parachute Association was setup to organise, govern and further the advancement of parachuting in the UK. In order to skydive at a BPA affiliated drop zone in the UK, you must have been on a BPA approved course, given by BPA Rated Instructors.

Skydive Spain is the only drop zone outside of the UK operated by BPA Rated Instructors, so all the Qualifications you gain abroad are valid in the UK upon your return, see below.

 

If you wish to learn to skydive abroad and then return to jump in the UK Please read this !

You will find a large number of drop zones throughout the world offering AFF skydiving courses. Many of these foreign courses are not rated by the BPA as such they are not run to the BPA guidelines.

Often after qualifying on these non BPA recognised courses, when you return to the UK, more often than not you will have to complete a conversion course which can even mean taking the entire course again to enable you to jump at a BPA affiliated DZ. This further instruction can be very costly.

Don't waste your money , be smart , be informed, train with BPA rated instructors

BPA Incident reports written by Allan Hewitt on behalf of the BPA