Flight-1 provides top-quality canopy flight instruction for skydivers of all experience levels. We'll teach you everything from control familiarization to acrobatic 2-way exercises.

Essential Skills Course
Are you having problems landing? Are you a novice jumper who wants to feel more confident under canopy? Or are you an experienced jumper who just wants to polish your skills and learn more about your canopy...

The Essential Skills Course focuses on important canopy skills that every skydiver should develop. We can teach you how to get consistent, soft landings in all types of conditions, even on those no-wind days that many jumpers find challenging. We can help you fly more effective landing patterns, judge your approaches better, and land on the target more often. You'll learn how to make it back to the target after a bad spot. You'll learn how to deal with other canopy traffic, and to avoid collisions and close calls. We'll also show you how to avoid the type of "low turn" accidents that have become a serious problem in our sport.

The Essential Skills Course is a five-jump program with video debrief and ground training sessions between each jump. The course can normally be completed in one day.

Advanced Skills Course
Once you have completed the Essential Skills Course you can continue to develop your skills with an additional day of instruction. Like the Essential Skills Course, the Advanced Course consists of five jumps with classroom training between each jump. Depending on your current skill level and goals, you will be able to focus on one of two different skill areas:

High-Performance Landings
This course focuses on the theory and skills needed to perform consistent, controlled high-speed landing approaches. The goal in this course is to teach you how to gain maximum performance while minimizing the risks to yourself and others.

This course can help you avoid common mistakes and develop advanced skills more quickly than the traditional "trial and femur" method that many of us endured. If you are already practicing high-performance landings, we can help you refine your technique, make more consistent approaches, and get longer, more precise swoops.

It can take hundreds or even thousands of jumps to master advanced canopy piloting techniques, but an experienced coach can help you learn more quickly and get better results from the start. All Flight-1 canopy coaches are experienced swoop competitors and test jumpers who have flown a variety of canopy types and sizes.

Advanced Accuracy
Not interested in swooping? No problem! Spend a day improving your accuracy instead! Building on the skills developed in the Essential Skills Course, you will learn the techniques used to perform "stand-up" or "sport" accuracy landings. How small of a target do you want to hit? The only limit is your desire to learn.

What if I'm ready to downsize?
Don't wait to get your new canopy before taking a Flight-1 course! If you transition to a smaller canopy you'll need to develop your skills even further in order to handle your new canopy safely and effectively. The skills you develop in our courses will apply to any canopy you jump, and will actually help you "dial in" your next canopy more quickly!

How do these courses work?
During most of your training jumps, you'll exit from 5000 ft and deploy immediately so you can completely focus on flying your canopy. A coach will watch your entire canopy flight and video your approach and landing. There will be a video debrief and ground training session between each jump.

If you're a beginner who's never jumped from 5000 ft, don't worry. We have certified AFF Instructors on staff who can train you for your first "hop and pop."

Advanced jumpers flying very small or highly loaded canopies may need to exit and deploy at higher altitudes on some jumps to have enough time to complete the required maneuvers.

Are there special requirements to take the courses?
There is no minumum number of jumps required before you can attend an Essential Skills Course. Anyone who has been "cleared to self-supervise" by a qualified instructor may attend a course. "Cleared to self-supervise" normally means you have completed "Category E" of the USPA Integrated Student Program, the last "level" of a traditional AFF program, or the "graduation jump" of an equivalent training program.

There is also no minumum number of jumps required to attend an Advanced Skills Course. However, this course focuses on advanced landing techniques such as high-speed and low-speed approaches. You will be required to demonstrate proficiency with basic canopy piloting skills before you begin practicing advanced techniques.

Come to the course ready to jump!
Make sure your reserve is in-date. If it is not, make sure you can get it repacked before the day of the course. If it has been a while since your last jump, make sure you meet the Recurrency Training requirements listed in Section 5-2 of the USPA Skydiver's Information Manual. You can usually find a copy of the SIM at your local DZ or download it from USPA's web site.

Do you offer any other courses?
The Essential and Advanced Skills Courses are designed to meet most jumpers' training needs, but we have other options for those who want additional training or have more specific goals. Other training options include, "Air-2-Air" Training, Individual "One-on-One" Instruction, Coach and Instructor Training, and Flight-1 Canopy Skills Camps.

What does it cost?

Note: The prices above are "Cash Discounted Prices" and are for coaching at Skydive Elsinore. The courses and camps that are run at other drop zones may be priced differently. If you are interested in the training programs for coaches and instructors, please contact us for pricing information.

When can we get started?
If you would like more information or want to schedule some coaching, please e-mail Jonathan Tagle (jonathan@flight-1.com), or call 1-877-THE-JUMP. Air-2-Air and 1-on-1 coaching is available by appointment based on instructor availablility.

For more information, check out the website >>