Instructors And Staff at the Club
Name: Dave Wood Job Title: DZ Owner/CCI
Time in Sport: 37 Years Jump Numbers: 7500+
Ratings: CCI/Advanced Instructor/Tandem Instructor/AFF Instructor/Formation Skydiving Coach/Display Team Leader
Dave is the Club Chief Instructor (CCI) and a Director of the Cornish Parachute Club (CPC). He has over 7,500 jumps from both his military and civilian skydiving career. For over 32 years he served in the Royal Airforce as a Physical Training Instructor and Parachute Jumping Instructor. Those 32years as an Instructor and jumper have not changed his passion for the Sport of Skydiving. During his Skydiving career he has taken part in promotional events and TV programmes which has advertised the British Parachute Association and Skydiving in the UK. Dave has been a Chief Instructor at a number of different parachute centres, one of which was the Cyprus Parachute Club. However, the most exciting and demanding job as Chief Instructor was a Skydiving adventure in Nepal. This Extreme Skydiving expedition in the Himalayan Mountains close to Everest took place in 2008 and was a truly awesome experience. The Skydiving program was jumping from 29,500ft and landing at 12,350ft which was a record for the history books. It has become a regular Skydiving event since the first jump on to the air strip in May 2008 by Ben, Dave and Andy Montriou. As a Club Chief Instructor Dave is a member of the BPA Safety and Training Committee which helps to promote and regulate Skydiving in the UK.
Name: Ben Wood Job Title: DZ Owner
Time in Sport: 17 Years Jump Numbers: 4400
Ratings: Tandem Instructor/AFF Instructor / Category System Instructor / Canopy Piloting Coach / Canopy Handling Coach / Formation Skydiving Coach.
At the age of 16 I completed my first Tandem skydive and have never looked back. My AFF course followed shortly after and I carried out 200 + jumps in my first year. I spent 9 years in the RAF as a physical training instructor and parachute jumping instructor teaching parachuting techniques to Airborne forces. I’m a multiple National champion in formation skydiving winning competitions in the UK and abroad. In May 2008 I became the worlds first person to skydive in front of Mount Everest landing a parachute at a remote airstrip 12,350ft above sea level in the Himalayas. I became a full time professional skydiver in 2005 when I left the RAF to set up Skydive Cornwall as a business. Working out of the Cornish parachute club, I quickly became chief camera man ( as they didn’t have anyone else) having completed over 1200 camera jumps I now coach potential cameramen. In 2009 there was a change in the set up of the Cornish parachute club which enabled skydive cornwall to amalgamate making it a family run business. Having also my Tandem and AFF ratings along with Dave we can run the DZ 7 days a week along with the rest of the staff here at CPC. As I am also a formation skydiving coach, canopy handling & piloting coach we seem to have most bases covered.
Name: Christine Wood Job Title: DZ Owner/Office Manager
Chris is the third Director of the Cornish Parachute Club and runs the office, dealing with all the bookings from various agencies. Her other duties include all the paperwork required to run the business from manifesting to doing the accounts (Dave and Ben don’t do paperwork!). She has been involved in the skydiving world for over 30 years quietly in the background ( or not always so quietly). She has followed Dave whilst he has been CCI at various Dropzones heading up the office staff at Weston on the Green, the Joint Service Parachute Centre in Cyprus and now since 2005 here at CPC. As a non jumper she is an integral part of the business on a daily basis allowing the jumping team to concentrate on the skydiving aspects.
Name: Steve Clark Job Title: Chief Pilot / BPA Pilot Examiner
Started Parachuting at Netheravon in 1979 while in the army. Completed 2,987 descents. Steve has over 2000 hours flying, 1,400 hours of which have been flying parachute aircraft. He started flying for the Cornish Parachute Club in 2006 and became the Chief Pilot in 2007. Steve also has his advanced packing certificate which means he can keep all the skydiving kit in date with the required reserve packing certificates.
Name: Ross Houlston Job Title: Cameraman/DZ Control
Time in Sport: 7 Years Jump Numbers: 700+
I got into skydiving by doing a tandem whilst travelling in new Zealand. I fell in love with the sport and got a job at the dropzone, packing tandem parachutes. In 5 months, I packed over 1000 tandems and completed my AFF training. Returning to the uk, I joined the Cornish parachute club. On the first day of opening in March 2006, with 51 skydives. Helping out and learning about the sport, I continued to fun jump and learn new skills, completing a course in canopy formation . With 200 jumps behind me, I started to jump with a camera. In 2008 with 400 jumps Ben gave me 10 minutes notice that today, July 8th, was the day that I become employed as a cameraman, working alongside him. I have also run DZ Control since 2007 on the airfield and also on all Demo DZ’s where I inform the jumpers when it is safe to skydive, via radio from the ground to the air.
Name: Tom Chater Job Title: Pilot
Tom is from the Falkland Islands and qualified as a commercial pilot in 1996. Now 35, he spent 10 years flying the BN Islander in the Falklands in a variety of roles and has over 6500 flying hours including 100 hours as a jump pilot. Currently a full time dad he has been flying for the Cornish Parachute Club since 2009.
Name: Laura Khot Job Title: Pilot
Laura has been flying for nearly ten years after being introduced to it by a friend at university. She is a fully qualified flyng instructor and spends most of the week being surprised by what her students can do! She started flying for us in 2010 and thoroughly enjoyed her first season as a jump pilot, and hopes to have many more ahead (weather dependant of course!).
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