history of the IPC
The Irish Parachute Club was founded in 1956 by an adventure sports enthusiast and Irish skydiving pioneer called Freddie Bond. His vision for the club was to promote parachuting in Ireland and basically get more people skydiving. In the words of a previous Chief Club Instructor; Colman Brouder: "He wanted this to be a fun business not a money-making machine."
Fifty Four years later the Irish Parachute Club is still run as a not for profit organisation, ploughing all funds back into the purchase and maintenance of equipment and promoting the sport of Skydiving in Ireland while ensuring the highest standards of safety.
the background
Noel Larragy, a skydiving veteran with over 1,800 jumps under his belt and member of the club since 1971 explains:
When the club got started we were basically an itinerant group of about 15, we spent our free time trekking around the country borrowing planes to jump out of. Darby Kennedy, a pilot from the Weston Aerodrome near Lucan (where the club was originally situated) was a great friend of the club in its infancy. He loved flying and was passionate about promoting aviation for everybody," Noel says. "Paddy Robinson was another from a procession of great early-day pilots who flew for the Irish Parachute Club
"In the 1960's," Noel explains, "skydiving was an embryonic sport. Most of the emphasis was on landing accurately at that stage. A disc about 5 centimetres in diameter was used to judge these landings and there was no slow motion replays. Video equipment was unheard of at that stage but it slowly crept in by the 1970's, when the crew began to use a wind-up camera and capture images on reel-to-reel film."
"Since then," Noel says, "sports parachuting has evolved steadily as equipment, style and technique have developed. One of the biggest advances," he reckons, "is the re-engineering of the old-school round parachutes into a more compact and manoeuvrable shape. Modern Ram Air parachutes are wing shaped and look more like kites than the dome shaped chutes of the 60's."
the club today
We now support around 200 members and operate 2 full-time aircraft including a new Pilatus Turbo Porter which can ascend to 13,000 ft in just 13 minutes.
The club is open 5 days a week, with events, competitions and courses occurring every month. The buzz is electric and contagiously attracting jumpers from all over the world. Full time professional pilots with thousands of hours are on-site and eager to fly!
the future of the club
We are committed to our ethos of ongoing investment in our skydivers and equipment. We believe we are on par with any drop zone in the world, our fleet of aircraft and professional pilots are already attracting skydivers from all over the world; the club will continue to grow as the home of Skydiving in Ireland.