A “high level” formation skydiving event is taking place in Co Derry this bank holiday weekend to mark 40 years of the sport in Northern Ireland.
Skydive Ireland, based at an airfield at Garvagh in Co Derry, are holding an invitational event with elite skydivers from across Europe taking part.
There is a decades long history of skydiving from the site at Garvagh, but it fell out of use in 2001 when the previous owners - Wild Geese - decided to close down.
Read more: Watch: Co Derry school children perform anti-bullying song
Skydiving Ireland got up and running in Garvagh around a year ago with the first jump taking place in April 2022 under the ownership of Aaron and Ailbhe Cosbey.
Chief instructor Nick Robinson, speaking to Belfast Live about this weekend's event, said: "It’s a high level formation skydiving event. It’s an invitational event with top level skydivers from the United Kingdom and Europe, including members of the British national team. A formation skydiving event is fairly technical. It’s not competitive, it’s a purely showcase event to show high quality, highly technical skydives."
Pamela Anderson, also from Skydive Ireland, said: "The current owners acquired the site after the old company closed down. March or April last year was the first weekend they jumped.
"It was owned by Wild Geese previously, but they decided to close down at the end of 2001.
"Since the new owners have taken over we have a new plane that takes up 14 people. We have a cafe, a spectators are, the facilities here are probably some of the best.
"We are trying to get skydiving recognised more as a sport in Northern Ireland."
She continued: “We normally operate on a Friday afternoon from 2pm, on a Saturday and a Sunday. It is open to the public. People can call in and watch the tandems. We have video footage uploaded on to the screens so people can follow along if it’s hard to see from the ground.
"The café and spectator area is open to the public, family friendly and in an ideal position to watch the take of and landing of the plane, as well as the tandem and fun jumper landings."
READ NEXT:
- Co Derry town named by Which? as one of the UK's 'favourite seaside destinations'
- Co Derry parents giving back to neonatal unit after baby son's life saved
- Complaints lodged over alleged mistreatment of mental health patients at Derry facility
- Tap water 'safe to drink' insist NI Water despite concerns raised in Derry
To get the latest breaking news from Co Derry straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.
