a skydiving instructor
In the early stages of our lives, it would be fair to say that we are often influenced by all that surrounds us to include our parents. That’s certainly the case in Ben’s life and this is his story.
Ben can recall from an early age that he spent nearly every weekend travelling around the country with his father to either skydiving clubs or venues. That was because his father was a member of the RAF Falcons parachute team. Ben would travel to those venues in the team ground crew minibus and then spend his time watching his father skydiving for all the crowd to see and admire. It seemed inevitable then that watching his father clearly impacted on him with regards to what he wanted to do with his own life. Ben told me, “It was the one and only future career choice I ever listed in every school report”. 3 days after Ben’s 16th birthday, he did his first tandem skydive and his dad followed him out of the plane and flew down beside him. “I’m not sure which one of us had the biggest smile” Ben commented.
“I never intended to serve the 33 years as my dad had though”
6 months after his first tandem skydive, he completed his solo Accelerated Free fall course (AFF) and he became a licensed skydiver himself. He was still at college at this time, so when his classes finished each Friday, he would catch the bus to the local airfield. In order to skydive further, he’d raise money by packing other peoples parachutes for them, work in the canteen and even empty the bins just to raise the funds he needed.
Then came a point in Bens life where he decided to follow in his fathers footsteps and join the RAF. What better way to further his skydiving experience than to dive with the best. He told me “I never intended to serve the 33 years as my dad had though” So, Ben joined up, did his basic training followed with some further training and became a military parachute jumping instructor. He served 9 years in the RAF.
Cornwall for Ben holds so many lovely family holiday memories and his mum and dad often spoke of retiring down here one day. His father often mentioned he’d love to own his own skydiving club in Cornwall if ever an airfield came up one day. It would also have to have a beach and a golf course close by so I’m told. It turns out he happened to mention it to someone and they said they knew just the place, Perranporth Airfield.
And so that’s where I found Ben, his father and mother by his side - the rest is history. He’s now been running his family skydiving club here in Cornwall for the past 16 years.
When it comes to skydiving experience, Ben has just under 8500 jumps under his belt. I’m told he’s creeping closer to his fathers total. I watched over what Ben does for a living one recent Sunday morning. From the first stage of that meet and greet process, the dry land instruction, his jump with his customers, it was totally professional all the way. My impression of Ben was that he is very passionate about what he does for a living and passes that passion onto others. He has the love of his family around him whilst he works away and lives in this lovely land that we all call home - No better place to be….
Thanks for your time Ben. RD
