Load organising is the term used to describe group skydives which are planned, briefed and debriefed by a load organiser, or ‘LO’. Load organising happens across disciplines and here at Langar, we regularly host ‘invitational’ load organising (where participants receive an invite to join) and ‘walk up’ load organising, which is where you simply turn up on the day and join in.
It’s a great way to improve your flying skills and get to know more people. Load organising at Langar includes briefing and debriefing, which means you’ll learn lots as well as having a great time!
The aim of this post is to give you more information about what it means to be part of a load organised group, and how you can become a load organiser yourself.
Getting started with load organising
Load organising is a great way to improve your skills and meet new people, so for anyone just starting out in a sport, we’d highly recommend getting involved with our walk up load organising events.
Formation skydiving (FS) load organising is open to anyone with FS1+ (or just FS1 if you got the qualification before February 2022). The way it works is that we’ll ask everyone to turn up first thing, around 8-8.15am, and put your name on the whiteboard to let us know you’d like to join in.
The load organiser(s) will then gather everyone together and either take everyone as one group or, if more appropriate, split the group into smaller groups.
Expect the LO to ask you about your experience. Remember, everyone is welcome, no matter your experience level, but we need to know what you’ve done before and what you’re comfortable with so we can put you in a group best suited to you.
We also offer LO in other disciplines, such as Freefly and Tracking, and the same system applies, though admittedly the frequency of walk up for these more advanced disciplines is less than it is for FS. Check our Facebook page for a list of upcoming events.
What happens on the day?
A big part of the LO’s job – other than briefing and debriefing – is to organise the structure of the day. They will be responsible for manifesting the group and will set a pace that suits the people in the group.
For lesser experienced groups, expect slightly longer between jumps – though you may still need to use one of our expert packing team if you tend to take a little while to pack. For more experienced groups, we tend to get more jumps per day because we can pack a bit faster. The LO will set your expectation at the start of the day and, importantly, briefing and debriefing will not be comprimed regardless of turnaround times.
You can jump all day, or drop out at any point if you prefer. Just be sure to let the LO know so they can plan around you.
You should expect for every jump to be briefed in full, with clear plans for the jump as well as safety briefs on how to exit, approach the formation and break off / land. The LO will also debrief the jump, ideally using video, to ensure everyone has the opportunity to learn and develop (as well as see themselves and their awesomeness on camera!).
In between jumps, you’ll have time to get to know other participants and relax!
Advanced / invitational LO
Load organising is a great starting point for less experienced jumpers and for those with more advanced skills, it provides an opportunity to get together with similar level skydivers to develop even further.
By making some load organising events ‘invitational’, we can create groups that are matched by experience. Usually, that means the focus of invitational LO is at the more advanced end – events like the Sky Games, the Vertex TR events, Jim Bradwell and Krystian Groom’s events and so on – so that the more experienced / similarly skilled jumpers can push their skills even further.
The best way to get invited to invitational load organised events is to participate in walk up load organising, so our LOs get the chance to see you in action and get to know you. We also post all upcoming invitational events so you can reach out to the LOs directly if you’d like to be considered.
How to become a load organiser
We’re always open to welcoming new load organisers, whether that’s someone with lots of experience organising at other drop zones, or brand new load organisers.
Technically, there are no regulations around becoming an LO, according to British Skydiving. Which, in some ways, is a good thing, such as in FS LO, where someone with FS1 / FS1+ can technically become an LO before they can become a Coach. Technically.
With that said, we believe that anyone being load organised at Langar deserves the highest standard of organisation – specifically safety, good plans and efficient processes – and therefore that our organisers should be of a high standard, too.
That’s why we ask everyone looking to load organise at Langar to reach out to us and let us know your intention. In return for this, we can offer free slots for load organisers as well as free videographer slots to capture the magic, depending on the group size.
Load organising and the Progression School
Our Progression School is our unique offering that sets a higher standard than that set by BS, and which incentivises Coaches and LOs to maintain the highest possible standards.
You can find out more about the Progression School here.
For Load Organisers, the benefits of the Progression School are the same as they are for Coaches which means, in return for a successful evaluation, LOs can unlock free pack jobs, staff rates on jump tickets and free jumps.
Load Organisers are evaluated in the same way as Coaches in that we look at content and delivery, as described in the LO Handbook (which includes all the scoring criteria too):
Load Organisers need to be evaluated on the following aspects of their briefs:
- Exits and a safe approach
- Flying safely with others and the jump plan
- Break off and canopy flight
Load organisers must be evaluated on each of the disciplines they plan to organise in, because each discipline has its own considerations. The evaluation can be of a formal brief, or if you prefer/is easier for you and the evaluator, we are happy to just talk through what you’d include in the briefs. Expect that, once successfully evaluated, we will ‘pop a head in’ to your live briefs, too – just to make sure everything is being covered for every group.
You can find the LO evaluation form, used by our Progression School Trainers, here:
If you have any questions, or would like to become a load organiser here at Langar, please get in touch! Email laura.hampton@skydivelangar.co.uk in the first instance, Facebook message me or find me at the drop zone.