Unusually for one of our interviews, we’ve got an introduction from the main star, Karl Peart.
We’ve known him since he was a young-adult at 16 years old. Karl has risen up the ranks and is now our newly appointed and talented Chief Instructor. So we thought it was high time to interview him and learn all about his epic skydiving story. There’s also a gallery with a “best of” Karl at the bottom to smile at.
Introduction
I’m Karl Peart, Chief Instructor at Hibaldstow, and I’ve been skydiving for over half my life now. Starting as a teenager and have worked as a packer, cleaner, instructor, rigger, eventually achieving my Advanced Instructor qualification allowing me to become Hibaldstow’s chief instructor. I’m passionate about my job and sharing skydiving with everyone and hopefully help keep fun jumpers in the sport.
Outside of skydiving, I love travelling with my fiancée Emily. Having been to over 54 countries but with a lot more on the list. I also enjoy going to the cinema and walking, preferably with a cute coffee shop and a snack somewhere in the middle though.
The Main Interview
1. Firstly, the most obvious questions – how did you get into skydiving, when did you start?
I started when I was 16 years and three days old. I knew I wanted to be a skydiver from around the age of 15. I went through a phase where every week it was something different. One week it was learning to scuba dive, the next becoming a ski instructor, and so on and so on. One week it was skydiving as I had seen something on T.V (Blue Peter I think). I researched how old and how much it might cost and then asked my parents if they would sign the forms (as I was under the age of 18!). Most importantly, I asked if they would pay for it. My mum jokingly said that if I could pay for it myself she would sign. So I got a Saturday job, saved every penny and when the time came to jump, she couldn’t really go back on her word.
2. Did you find it easy to get your basic skydiving qualification?
I did my Accelerated Freefall AFF ground school training and first jump in the summer of 2009, in-between finishing my GCSEs and starting my A-levels. I would love to say I was a perfect student, but at first I was just very average, only repeating my 2nd level out of the 8 level course. In freefall and under canopy I was fine, but exiting the plane without cartwheeling was another story! I am sure I hold the Hibaldstow record for the most consolidation jumps (after your basic AFF course, you are expected to do 10 consolidation jumps signed off by an instructor) done at 23 before finally passing my level 8 (on the second attempt) and gaining finally my A-licence. I then went on to get my B-licence while I was still 16.
3. During your early skydives, which disciplines did you take part in?
When I first started jumping, formation skydiving interested me the most because that is what most people did at the time. I was never a fan of competitions or doing 4-way, I always enjoyed the group jumps, when they went to plan and sometimes even more when they didn’t. For my first hundred or so jumps I borrowed an all-white jumpsuit, and I still stand by it. An all-white suit makes your landings a lot better as you cannot fall over!
4. At what point did you decide that you wanted to become a full-time skydiver and why?
While still an AFF student, I learnt to pack parachutes. I still had my Saturday job, so I could only jump on Sundays. The head packer mentioned that if I wanted to help out when they were busy and pack a few student rigs, I could, so I eventually left my Saturday job and started slowly helping pack a few rigs here and there on the weekends to get paid in jump tickets. My original career plan was to join the navy and become a naval officer. Halfway through my first year of A-levels, I realised I didn’t want to be a naval officer,but wanted to be a full-time skydiver. My parents were concerned it was just a phase and that I’d end up living in a caravan on the airfield. They soon accepted it was happening once they saw how happy it made me.
I never I asked for a job; I just kept turning up on weekends and helping out. Then with my first year of A-Levels over and summer about to start, I spent the summer living on-site in a three-man tent, packing, jumping and learning about skydiving and life. It was great. Eventually I was given a staff T-shirt, which became my favourite possession and I would wear it as much as I could. Later, my parents’ concerns came true. They gave me a caravan so I could stay on-site through the colder months, paying rent by doing the cleaning.
Always trust a CI who is good with a toilet brush and a mop, it means they came up from the bottom. Then I just never really left and no one said anything. I eventually went on to run the packing team and at 18, I became a basic instructor. The rest is history.
5.The UK has a notoriously difficult tandem instruction qualification path, what were your experiences of the course?
I would disagree with the idea that the UK tandem instructor qualification is a difficult course. The standards are rightly very high, but if people have the right attitude and some good mentoring before the course, they should succeed.
One thing I hope to see and will champion is more tandem instructors from more diverse backgrounds. For example we already have some fantastic tandem instructors in the UK (who also happen to be women). They’re excellent at what they do and their visibility (shout out to Sky Divas) continues to show other female jumpers that tandems are absolutely a path open to them. Things are very slowly improving, but the percentage is still too low and change too slow.
6. What do you like about being a tandem instructor? Do you ever get bored of it?
What I should say is that it is amazing to be able to take someone off the street and give them a small glimpse of this incredible sport and its fantastic community of people. One one jump, you could be taking a 16-year-old on their birthday and then on the next jump, it’s a 90-year-old scattering their late husband’s ashes. There are a million laughs and emotions that go with tandem skydiving. But to be honest, I just love telling the same really rubbish jokes day in day out, I’ve got a captive audience so to speak!
It has been my first day for the last ten years. And yes I love my job, but it has its ups and downs..
I get asked this all the time if I get bored of it and the honest and short answer is, no. I do still love it because every person we meet is different and has a different reaction and reason for jumping. Now we have started using handicam it’s not just me that gets to see that that raw, unfiltered first impression when the canopy opens (hopefully) and they hear another rubbish joke of mine.
7. What has been your biggest challenge in the sport?
My biggest challenge in the sport has probably been stagnation if that’s the right word. There have been times in my ‘career’ where I felt stuck in a rut and didn’t have something to work towards. I overcame that by always finding something new to learn or achieve. For example, I learnt how to pack reserves, becoming a rigger, flying a wingsuit or becoming a tandem instructor.
But on a personal level starting so young, I was lucky that the DZ (dropzone) gave me the opportunity to spend my early winters doing different things helped as well. I became a PADI divemaster one winter and another winter, I did a ski season and completed my ski instructor qualification. Also having the opportunity to work for our sister DZ’s in Spain and Portugal over the years and I worked out in Australia too.
Experience of different drop zones and gaining other sports professional qualifications has given me great a practical experience into different ways of teaching, training, and mentoring new coaches and instructors. You can learn a lot from seeing other leaders in similar sports.
This is something I think has been invaluable to me not only growing as a person but as an instructor and now a leader.
8. If you could send an email of advice to 16-year old Karl, what would it say?
It’s going to sound lame, but I would say don’t do too much differently.
Listen to the skydiving (and life) advice of your peers, do the scary jumps that push your skills level, and enjoy every single minute growing up in the middle of an amazing (and weird) community that makes a up a DZ.
Oh, and don’t bring the dog bowl! As much as you know it makes perfect sense, that thing will haunt you Karl.
9. You recently became our Chief Instructor. The role involves taking on a lot of responsibility, how did you decide to go for your Advanced Instructor qualification?
I decided to go for my Advanced Instructor qualification because I always admired my early Chief Instructor(s) when I first started skydiving. They just seemed to know everything, made all the decisions on weather and safety, and were always passing that knowledge on (if you wanted it or not). I thought it was the coolest job.
Years later I knew I always wanted to do my Advanced Instructor Qualification. I started working on it and was booked onto my first course, which was cancelled because of Covid. After that it went on the back burner for a while, but this year I finished it. The course involves a lot of preparation and rehearsing presentations and making PowerPoints to be delivered to new instructors on their basic instructor course.
It also involved getting to know the drop zones where these courses would be held. I spent time at two lovely drop zones, one near Newcastle and one up in Scotland. The courses are a real testament to the community because so many people, staff, instructors, and examiners offered their time and that key local knowledge.
Its learning all the small things that I really enjoyed, getting to know the little things that makes that dropzone tick, so I could answer any question the examiners but more importantly the candidates could throw at it me.
10. Do you still do fun jumps, or is it all work-related?
I rarely do fun jumps these days and it is something more difficult to find time for. So if you ever see me fun jumping, feel free to invite yourself along.
11. What do you see yourself doing in the future?
The future is always an exciting question because you never know for sure, but I hope to be Hibaldstow’s Chief Instructor for as long as they will have me.
But more importantly, the future is with the Real love of my life, my fiancée, Emily. We met at the dropzone, and she is the reason and driving force behind everything I do. And Depending on when this comes out, I may already be a husband as we get married in October. I see a family in my future and hopefully a dropzone dog or two, and I look forward to finding and coaching my eventual replacement when I retire.
12. Last question, do you have any funny stories from your 16 years in the sport?
There are plenty of funny stories from my years in the sport. I was young and impressionable, so there are lots of bar stories I probably should not share. From wrestling in 200 litres of lukewarm homemade custard to some of my more out-there Halloween costumes, to the ‘night of the sicky bin’ there is no shortage of adventures. I once went to work at our sister drop zone for two weeks. With only hand luggage, so I filled it with the essentials: rig, helmet, jumpsuit, and ended up living out there for five months, safe to say I had to buy some more pants and socks.
My party days are long in the past now, but buy me a non-alcoholic beer and I might just tell you more about the infamous saga’s of the ‘hot-tub time machine’, the sicky bin or even that damn dog bowl.
