BLACKPOOL soldier Chris Byrne, pictured, of 7th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery has spent a week jumping out of planes as part of the Armed Forces parachute competition in Wiltshire.

The event required competitors to put their physical and mental skills to the ultimate test and one section even asked jumpers to land on a pressure-sensitive target that could measure their success down to a centimetre.

Ex-Hodgson High School pupil Chris, 24 (left) said jumping out of the plane was all in a day's work.

He explained: "I did my first jump in 1997 -- when I first joined the Army parachuting was what I wanted to do.

"The fear has calmed down a lot since the first time I did free falling, but I am learning. You can have some scary moments if something goes wrong or something happens with the canopy."