Big 5 Military Skydiving Club

The Big 5 Military Skydiving Club was started as a military skydiving club by 5 Special Forces Regiment in Phalaborwa in May 1996.  This brought skydiving to the Lowveld and was at that stage the only skydiving club North of Pretoria. In the beginning the club made use of military aircraft, such as the Porter, the Caravan, Dacotas and sometimes even Casas.  The club grew from strength to strength, but due to military budget constraints the military aircraft got less available.  It reached the point where the club had to hire private planes.  The club operated from Hopper's Valley situated at 5 Special Forces Regiment.  At times no planes were available and the club came to a standstill.  The club was revived with the help of an ex-military Kudu and moved to a new dropzone at the Tzaneen Airfield with Hopper's Valley as a go-away DZ.

Static line over Hopper's Valley

At Tzaneen the club looked promising and grew from strength to strength with more and more students enrolling for the first jump course.  The Kudu was later sold and the club could not continue operating.  With the Tzaneen airfield and Letaba Flying Club becoming more active, planes once again became available and the opportunity arose to revive the Big 5 Military Skydiving Club.  Currently a Cessna 182 with a 235hp Millennium engine and a Cessna 206 is available as jump planes.

Static line over Tzaneen Airfield

The official re-opening of the Big 5 Military Skydiving Club will be at the Tzaneen Bushpilot's Airshow on 26 June 2004, where members of the club will perform a showjump from a military Casa.  This will be a formal welcome to the Tzaneen Airfield.

Jaco Marais as captured by Pierre vd Heever

Any interrested person is welcome to contact them at the show, or contact them at the following numbers.