7 minute read
Armed Forces ParachuteChampionships 2022
Picturesque views at Pinta Golf
results for the combined golf between members of 13AASR GS were: • Closest to the pin won by Lt Oli
Advertisement
Measey x 2 • Longest drive won by WO2 (AQMS)
Matt Baron x 3, SSgt Lewis Haddon x 1 • Overall winner (Stableford) won by
WO1 (ASM) Guy Sargeant • 2nd place Lt Keiran Garroway • 3rd place Lt Oli Measey • Pairs winners WO1 (ASM) Guy
Sargeant and Lt Keiran Garroway
Ex BIRDIE 22 was thoroughly enjoyed by all those who took part. The team bonding events provided a structure for the evenings along with and some golf practice with the simulator and mini golf. The four rounds played at picturesque golf courses with ideal weather conditions have set up members of 13AASR GS ready for the remaining Corps events for this 22/23 golf season and beyond.
REME Sport
Armed Forces Parachute Championships 2022
Scribe: Maj Steve Murfin
REME FS Single A Team in action
July saw the return of the annual Armed Forces Parachuting Championships (AFPC) hosted by the Army Parachute Association, Netheravon. This Tri-Service event allows all Regular and Reservist Skydivers to represent their Service and Corps. This year the Corps team entered the following categories: Formation Skydiving. Teams of four Skydivers fall ‘belly to earth’ and attach themselves to one another by grabbing each other’s limbs or ‘grippers’ on their jumpsuit. The aim is to complete as many pre-determined formations as possible within the allotted time. Freefly. A Skydiving discipline which includes the traditional ‘belly to earth’ positions but extends into vertical flight where the flyer is in an upright position (falling feet first) or in an inverted position (falling headfirst). These positions increase freefall speeds and make new types of formations and routines possible. Canopy Relative Work. Called CReW for short, teams of two open their parachutes very quickly after leaving the aircraft to remain in close proximity to each other. The goal is to repeatedly create canopy formations by ‘docking’ their parachute onto the legs of the other jumper. Sport Accuracy. An individual and team event held over four rounds with five jumpers on each team. Competitors exit the aircraft from around 4,000ft. Upon landing, their score is measured in meters from ‘dead centre’ of a pre-marked target. The best score for each round is 0 meters, with other possible scores being zones of 1,5,10,15 or 20
AFPC REME Team 2022
metres. Scores for each round are added together, and the scores count both as individual scores and as part of the team score.
With little chance to get together prior to the competition for specific team training, the Corps team brought home: • Formation Skydiving AAA (SSgt Sei Hughes with Army
Voltage) - Gold • Senior individual accuracy (SSgt Sei Hughes) - Bronze • Wingsuit rookie (Maj Murfin as RLC camera flyer) - Gold • Rookie accuracy (Cfn Owen Alyward) - Bronze • Formation Skydiving A team (Maj Murfin, SSgt Glass,
SSgt Hughes, Sgt Cordery, Sgt Nuttall) – Silver • Freefly rookie team – (SSgt Glass, Sgt Nuttall) - Silver • Senior team accuracy (Maj Murfin, SSgt Glass, SSgt
Hughes, Sgt Cordery, Cpl Sharman) – Silver • During the competition Cpl Will Lawrence completed his 200th jump and Cpl Rob Mears completed his 500th.
Cfn Owen Aylward and the TEE experience
Having been posted to 75 Engineer Regt, 23 Sqn LAD in Minden, Germany working alongside NATO forces with the M3 Amphibious Rigs, I came across a once in a lifetime opportunity to work at the Joint Service Parachute Wing (Netheravon). This is a 13-month Temporary Employed Elsewhere (TEE) assignment, in my case from Nov 21 – Dec 22. As soon as our new batch of TEEs arrived, we were shown how the parachute system works, and introduced to parachute packing. After achieving my packing certificate, the following week we were straight on Ex KIPROS FALL which was a very intense condensed week long Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) course - the end result being me gaining my A licence which allows me to safely free fall through the sky on my own. Cyprus is a beautiful drop zone; the landing area is a ploughed field which at the time had hay bales all over the place which were causing some issues on landing. Half of the TEE landed inside the hay bales at some point, fortunately I wasn’t one of them. The weather was a little bit hit and miss the winds did slow us down.
We flew back to the UK with 9 out of the 12 of us gaining A
Cpl Lawrence and the FS Rookie Team in action
Licence. The AFF course would cost a civilian £2k - £3k and we got to do it for free, in Cyprus whilst still being paid our wage! On return to Netheravon, we learned the duties of a TEE and enjoyed a good amount of wind tunnel training prior to going on Christmas leave.
Being a Junior Assistant Parachute Instructor is a privileged job, you get to watch students going from knowing absolutely nothing about parachuting to jumping out of an aeroplane on their own within 24hrs. The majority absolutely love it, the less enthusiastic are coached and mentored through their fears by the staff. AT really is challenging when it comes to parachuting; you need to remain calm & controlled under an extreme amount of pressure and then go up do it again and again.
The other TEE staff and I quickly obtained Formation Skydiving (FS) 1 & Tracking (TR) 1 qualifications allowing us to jump safely with others. B licence soon followed which enables you to dispatch jumpers out of the aircraft and wear a full-face helmet.
I can’t recommend joining the wing enough, it’s a great opportunity and shouldn’t be missed.
Cfn Ayleward in Cyprus
Cpl William Lawrence First AFPC with the team
This was my first opportunity to take part in the Armed Forces Parachuting Competition. My team mates and I, Cfn Owen Aylward, Cpl Robert Mears & Lt Jamie Oliver had never flown 4-way Formation Skydiving together. This meant that there was a very steep learning curve for the team. Our first jump together was round one of the competitions where we attempted to fly a ‘stair step diamond’ formation which immediately collapsed upon exit. Despite this we broke apart and reformed into our first point of the competition. Throughout the week we bonded as a team, grew together, learned from each other and improved our flying skills as we progressed through the competition. Once the FS competition had finished, we moved onto sport accuracy.
On my first accuracy jump I noticed other competitors falling sort of the target and adjusted my flight path accordingly, unfortunately I over corrected and overshot the target. On my second attempt I modified my flight path once again and fell just short. On my third attempt the winds had drastically changed meaning my flight plan had to change. This led to me once again just overshooting the target. On my fourth and final attempt after seeing other competitors falling short, I extended into wind leg and just before touching down in the centre on the target I flared my canopy a little too aggressively and glided over the top of the target landing just outside the 15 metre zone.
Cfn Paige Smith - First year of skydiving
I heard about skydiving at my old unit where I thought it would be a great opportunity to put myself out my comfort zone. I had never even been in an aeroplane before, let alone jumped out of one!
I started in May 2021 with a basic course at Joint Service Parachute Wing (Netheravon) (JSPW(N)) where I did three static line jumps. Following that I applied for an intermediate course the week after where I completed another seven jumps. After getting in touch with the REME parachute team I also started to get involved with the REME Lightning Bolts Army Parachute display team. In 2021 I entered my first Armed Forces Parachuting Championships where I won gold in rookie accuracy.
Fast forward to 2022 I continued my progression towards being a licenced Skydiver. I switched from static line to Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) to gain faster progression and completed AFF and gained my A licence in Cyprus. I competed in novice accuracy at the AFPC in July however as I had moved from a student canopy to a smaller, more experienced canopy, I narrowly missed out on medalling again.
I have now completed my B licence and I am working towards my C licence, being a display jumper for the REME Lightning Bolts and gaining coaching and instructor ratings.
