AeCI Membership After Your First Skydiving License

Earning your ENAC skydiving license is the finish line of your training course, but it doesn't cover all the administrative steps for those who want to take part in organized sport skydiving. Joining the Aero Club d'Italia (AeCI) is a separate, distinct process that comes next — one that opens access to national competitions, FAI records, and the national sport federation system. Let's break down what these two things actually are, why they shouldn't be confused, and what to do in practical terms in the months after your first license.

ENAC License and AeCI Membership: Two Different Things

The basic distinction is this: your ENAC skydiving license is the document that legally authorizes you to make jumps in Italy. It is issued by ENAC — the Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile — and is the only license recognized under the ENAC 'Parachuting Licenses' Regulation (Ed. 3). Without it, you cannot jump independently at any ENAC-certified dropzone in Italy.

AeCI membership, on the other hand, is a sport instrument. The Aero Club d'Italia is the national aeronautical federation recognized by CONI and affiliated with the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale). Through its Commissione Nazionale Paracadutismo (CNP), AeCI manages national competitions, record ratification, Italy's representation within the FAI, and athlete registration. Someone with only an AeCI membership card but no ENAC license cannot jump; someone with only an ENAC license but no AeCI membership cannot compete at federation level.

A common mistake among newcomers is looking to AeCI for information about the skydiving license, or conversely expecting their ENAC school to handle competition registration. The two paths involve different bodies, different procedures, and different costs. Your ENAC-certified school guides you through the license process; for the sport side, you need to contact an AeCI-affiliated aero club.

How AeCI Membership Works

Membership is obtained through a local AeCI-affiliated aero club. In many cases, the dropzone where you trained is already an affiliated aero club, or has an arrangement with one nearby. The first step is to check directly with your manifest or school director. If your DZ is not affiliated, you can find a list of affiliated aero clubs on the official website aeci.it.

The standard procedure involves filling out a membership form, paying the annual membership fee (which includes the AeCI federation fee), and presenting a valid ENAC license. Some aero clubs also require a copy of your ENAC Class 2 medical certificate, which is already a requirement for the license itself. Fees vary from club to club; for up-to-date figures, contact the relevant club directly or check aeci.it.

Once registered, you receive your AeCI membership card, which identifies you as a federation athlete. This card is the access requirement for national competitions organized under AeCI, and — through AeCI — for international FAI events.

What AeCI Membership Gives You That an ENAC License Alone Does Not

With your ENAC license you can jump. With AeCI membership you can compete, ratify records, and participate in organized sport skydiving. In more detail:

First: access to national competitions. The Italian skydiving championships — across disciplines including FS (Formation Skydiving), freefly, canopy formation, canopy piloting, and others — are organized under AeCI through the CNP. To enter these events you must be a registered member.

Second: record ratification. If your team wants to attempt an Italian or FAI record, the ratification process goes through AeCI as Italy's FAI representative. Without membership, the record cannot be officially recognized at federation level.

Third: FAI sport licenses. The international FAI/USPA standard uses an experience convention commonly referred to by the letters A, B, C, D — a system used in schools and among skydivers worldwide to communicate experience level. Important note: these letters do not correspond to ENAC license levels (ENAC issues a single license, not divided into A/B/C/D categories); they are an FAI/USPA convention. AeCI membership places you within the system that recognizes this standard internationally.

Your ENAC License: Keeping It Current Is the Priority

Before thinking about sport membership, any newcomer with 50–200 jumps needs a clear understanding of how to keep their ENAC license current. The regulation sets specific recency requirements: at least 15 jumps in the last 12 months, including at least 1 in the last 3 months, and at least 10 minutes of freefall every 12 months. On top of that, you must maintain a valid ENAC Class 2 medical certificate, issued by an authorized ENAC-certified medical examiner — not your family doctor.

If your license lapses because you haven't jumped enough, returning to currency requires check jumps with an instructor following the procedures of an ENAC-certified school. This is something many newcomers underestimate: a long winter break, or a year with very few jumps, can trigger a formal return-to-currency procedure. Always check the current version of the regulation at enac.gov.it or directly with your school.

Practical Progression in Your First 200 Jumps: Where Membership Fits In

With 50–200 jumps, the priority is building solid fundamentals: stability in freefall, altimeter awareness, canopy management in the landing pattern, and the ability to jump with others without creating hazards. At this stage, AeCI membership is worthwhile if you already have a clear competitive goal — for example, you want to enter 4-way or 8-way FS events — but it's not urgent if your focus is individual technical progression.

It's worth noting that many newcomers register with AeCI right after their first license out of habit or on the school's advice, then don't enter a single competition in their first year. That's not a mistake, but it's useful to know that membership carries an annual cost: consider whether you genuinely need it in the short term, or whether you can wait until you have a concrete sport goal in mind.

If, on the other hand, you want to compete in the coming season, register straight away: some competitions have early entry deadlines and require a valid AeCI membership card at the time of registration, not just at the event itself.

In Summary

The picture is straightforward once you separate the two tracks. ENAC issues the skydiving license and regulates operational activity: without an ENAC license, you cannot jump. AeCI manages organized sport skydiving: without AeCI membership, you cannot compete at federation level or have FAI records ratified. The two are not interchangeable — they work alongside each other. For anyone who has just earned their first license, the priority is keeping that ENAC license current — meeting the recency requirements and maintaining a valid Class 2 medical certificate — and building experience. AeCI membership becomes the logical next step once you have a specific sport objective. For up-to-date information on fees and procedures, the references are enac.gov.it and aeci.it, as well as your own ENAC-certified skydiving school.