Ground School: Learning to Leave the Airplane

September 23, 2026

Packing hangar at Skydive New England with a blue packing mat, a wall of student rigs, and a USPA Group Member banner — The packing hangar. Most of the day happened in the classroom and training room.

Before your first jump at Skydive New England, you spend a day on the ground. Mine was the first day of AFF Boot Camp. It covered what I’d need on my first jump: how to leave the airplane, how to fall stable, how to open the parachute, what to do when something goes wrong, and how to land.

The banner on the hangar wall says Skydive New England is a USPA Group Member. That means the dropzone has agreed to follow USPA’s Basic Safety Requirements. It’s the first thing I’d look for if I were picking a place to learn.

The classroom

Small classroom with a wall-mounted screen, a table, and a whiteboard map of the landing area — The classroom. The map on the right shows the landing pattern.

The morning started in the classroom. We went through Category A of the USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual. That’s the first stage of AFF. It covers gear, body position, altitude awareness, emergency procedures, and landing.

The whiteboard map shows the landing area with the pattern drawn on it: downwind leg at 900 feet, base at 600, final at 300. Written under the map are three words: altitude, position, traffic. That’s the order you check things once your canopy is open and flying.

This part felt familiar. My private pilot training was also built on set altitudes and a set pattern. The difference is what happens when things aren’t right. In an airplane, if the approach looks wrong, you go around. Under a canopy, there is no go-around. You fly the pattern you’ve got and land.

Exits and body position

Training room with a mock aircraft door and a padded body-position trainer on a cable spool — The aircraft door mockup (right) and the arch trainer (center).

Next was the training room. The white structure on the right is a mockup of the airplane door. We practiced climbing into position and leaving it the same way every time, with the exit count said out loud.

The padded board on top of the cable spool is for body position. You lie on it belly-down and practice the arch: hips forward, head up, arms and legs out. Staying stable in freefall depends on it.

Emergency procedures

Suspended training harnesses hanging from a wooden beam next to a post covered in handwritten A-license numbers — Hanging harnesses for emergency drills. The post on the right is covered in A-license numbers.

The hanging harnesses are where we practiced emergencies. You hang in a harness and run through the procedures until they’re automatic: find your handles, look, pull, and do it in the right order.

The post on the right is covered in A-license numbers written by skydivers who got their license here. That’s where I’m trying to end up.

The gear

A parachute rig on the blue packing mat with the canopy and lines stretched out — An unpacked rig on the mat, so we could see every part of the system.

After the classroom, we went out to the packing mat. An instructor unpacked a rig so we could see the whole system laid out: canopy, lines, risers, and container.

Rows of student parachute rigs on a wall with a sign reminding jumpers to check the whiteboard — The student rig wall.

Student rigs hang on this wall. The sign says to always check the whiteboard when picking up gear. Every rig gets checked more than once before you jump, by you and by your instructors.

Rack of colorful student jumpsuits under a clock styled like an altimeter — Student jumpsuits, under a clock that looks like an altimeter.

Student jumpsuits hang across the room, under a clock designed to look like an altimeter.

End of the day

The last slide on the classroom screen told us to finish the dropzone tour and take a class picture. After a full day on the ground, the next step was the airplane. That’s the next entry.

This is one student’s experience, not training advice. If you want to learn to skydive, train with USPA-rated instructors at a USPA Group Member dropzone.

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