Skydive Atlanta

Not going back. Avoid. Much better DZs in Atlanta. Long turn-around with tandems... wouldn't bring family or friends here.

Visited this place with a military buddy of mine. The in processing was a little arduous with the girl at the front desk not knowing to much about what was going on. Once we in processed and rented our rigs,(which rent by the day which is awesome). We got on the next load and loved how fast the King Air was. We jumped for the whole day and left for home. After we returned back to the base, we found out that both of our government credit cards had been stolen out of our wallets that we had left in our locked truck. Someone had waited until we got up in the air, took the keys out of our gear, and stole our credit cards. At least they didn't take our whole wallets and left us with our identification. I suggest if you go there, jump with your keys and keep your valuables locked up.

Beginning AFF training at 55 yrs old :). Tandem jumped twice & was so overwhemed with the adrenaline & helpfulness of the staff absolutely had to tackle my skydiving certification. Very relaxed when I took my first Level 1 jump because of Gary & Rich. Even though the plane was full, it was as if it were just the 3 of us...they totally had me focused & prepared for the ride of my life. Now just need to convince my husband to join me :)

I and a friend of mine made the trip to Thomaston to check out Skydive Atlanta. We were not disappointed. Although it was a holiday weekend and a bit slow it didn’t matter. We felt welcomed almost from the moment we arrived. We got through manifest in no time and were on the second load of the day. Their King Air gets up to 14 grand in about 8 minutes so don’t get to comfortable. They are very adamant about all canopies flying left hand patterns for landing which is a very good thing in my opinion. Although I didn’t have an off landing it wouldn’t be an issue because there is nothing but open fields for miles around the DZ. My friend who needed to do her A license check dive was met with nothing but enthusiasm from the staff to help her get it done. I was approached a few times from other jumpers organizing some skydives to see if I was interested. I didn’t get a chance to this time but I can assure you I will when I return again very soon. The packing area is huge. No waiting for an area of mat to pack on. A whuffo friend of ours who tagged along even got packing lessons for free. My only regret is that they are a 5 hour drive away. I guess I’m just going to have to wait until the next long weekend.

I'm about to graduate my AAF course at Skydive atlanta. I'm on level 6 and it's been a great time there. The staff is cool and professional. Lots of couches and chairs to sit on while waiting. The instructors actually care about how you are doing and care for your safety.

I would recommend that you either bring something to eat or have money on you to order chinese/pizza while you're there. Since it's only open on the weekends, a lot of loads are filled with tandems, so if you're doing AAF, sometimes you might have to wait a little while before an instructor is able to go with you. But once you hit level 4 you only need 1 instructor so it's pretty good from there.

Lots of friendly people there. can't wait to graduate AAF and get my A license

I am an A licensed skydiver with about 50 jumps. I was passing this dropzone on my business trip and decided to give it a shot. Regularly, I jump at another place, which I eventually ended up going to (though it was a 3 hour drive. ) This short review is in no way a payback it's rather a suggestion on how to improve things. I was greeted by an office girl, who did not seem to know anything about skydiving, her only concern was that I fill out the paperwork correctly and show her my USPA card. After that I was ushered in the hangar and was told that somebody will be with me. That took about 40 minutes and only when I went back to the office and spoke with them again. I was pointed in the direction of one of the skydivers and was told to go and get instructed. Instruction consisted of saying "hello" and showing me the landing pattern. Then, I waited again. Finally, I was told that next load is full and I have to wait till next one (which is another hour). Things seem to be really slow there, although it was Saturday and loads usually go pretty quick at all the drop zones that I know. And then the girl from the office came to me and said that I will need to go through the coaching, because according to my logbook, I jumped 4 months ago. Which was not true, I jumped about 2 weeks ago and just forgot to date my record. She said my dropzone would need to FAX!!! them confirmation, and that was enough for me, I left. I drove 3 hours to my regular dropzone and had a blast with lots of cheerful people and loads turning every 30 minutes. Whoever owns that place needs right (skydivers preferably) people in the office, not 8 dollars an hour soulless ghosts. Second, what happened to friendly professional instructors? I felt there that nobody cared about me or anything for that matter. Go to another dropzone.

I went for my first jump (tandem) here this Sunday. It was a first rate experience. The staff was very friendly yet thoroughly professional. Safety seemed to be on every one's mind which was very reassuring specially for a first time jumper. Very professional admin staff, well managed manifest. I would recommend this place to everyone!

First, the review below was not written by the customer, but the customer's father who had come to watch. Second, all customers are informed that it is a 2 to 4 hour process from the time you arrive until you leave. These folks were in and out in 3 hours. They would've been finished sooner but we had to take some extra time to arrange for all of the jumpers to be on the same load together. We are consistently faster than any facility in the country. We regularly hear of folks waiting 8 hours at our competitors. We also took extra time to include every jumper on the video, a lot of extra time and work at no extra charge. There was some offensive language on the customers video, a "chant/cheer" led by one of the other non-staff jumpers. The customer was asked if it would be ok before we filmed it. Even so, we have re-edited the video for free and sent him the revised non-offending copy.
The "humping dog" occured in a staff office marked "Staff Only". However, we regret the father was exposed to this and the staff member was disciplined. This waiting area was possibly messy due to the fact it was the end of a busy day. There are several waiting areas, however.
Lastly, the father had actually jumped with us in the past and found us to be professional enough to bring his family back. We take pride in being a professional organization and hope you, the prospective customer, will see the positives from the many thousands that jump with us each year and not the negatives from one persons bad experience.
-Skydive Atlanta management

We did have a good skydive, however, besides the long wait from our appointment time of 1pm till our actual jump time of 3:30pm, the area where we were to wait was very nasty: dog hair all over the seating area, no food vending machine, a non-air-conditioning room (like an aircraft hanger). The people working there used inappropriate and offensive language as we waited again for our DVD to be made.(ex. one of the instructors had a toy humping dog strapped to his leg and made sure we knew his name was Jesus) This type of behavior or twisted humor we feel is totally inexcusable. Even on our DVD the camera man had all the “professional” jumpers drop the “f” bomb so now we have to have it edited after paying $100 for this.

I am sure there is a cleaner and more appropriate place to skydive with the same quality of equipment and skilled jumpers.

Dean Smith, McDonough, Ga.

I took my AFF courses here and have been jumping with Skydive Atlanta ever since.

The staff is very experienced, the people here really watch out for each other. Expect someone to check your rig without you having to ask if you are new. If you are experienced, people will still watch out for you, there's no bitching if you ask for a pin check even on a full load.

The aircraft is one of the highlights. The Super King Air gets loads to 14,000 feet in 8 minutes, or even less if the plane isn't fully loaded. GPS equipped plane makes spotting that much easier. The pilots are all very experinced jumpers so they take that into consideraton on every jump run. (I.E. they won't just dump you out somewhere so they can go home- the spots are very good before you even check them). Plane has A/C for those hot days, and a really cool purple suede lineing.

HUGE indoor area to hang out- two very large padded packing areas in hangar. Big screen TV to watch your last jump- nice sound system for listening to music while packing. They've got about 10 couches to relax on in between jumps.

The landing zone is very large and there are a TON of outs all around the DZ. If the spot was off by several miles you could still easily find a nice field to land in any direction.

Only down side is the remote location (like all DZ's) and if you're doing AFF expect to be there all day. Someone doing a tandem can probably be in and out in a few hours with a smile on their face and video in hand.

Overall just a good place to jump. I respect and trust all the instructors, all the other jumpers are great people as well. With a fresh "A" license I was jumping with groups of the very experienced local guys- because they asked me. very friendl people. Outside jumpers are easily accepted, and will have a great time for a weekend trip or a new home DZ.

Awsome people, awsome skydives. What more could you want?

I've done a lot of traveling to drop zones and I always end up back here. This is a full service drop zone, and if youre a local or a visitor, you're treated like family. 8 minutes to 14,500 in an air conditioned King Air.. lots of landing room.. seperate landing area for swoopers.. lots of local talent.. just a great place to jump.

Made a long trip from N.C. to visit but it was worth every second

Tandems are fun, ask for Micheal if he still works there!

There were about 10 of us that went there from Long Island New York for the FreeFly Festival.. I have to say, for southerners they were great lol Trey helped us with anything we needed..There was NO wait for a plane. 9 minutes to altitude! The Saturday night party was very festive. The facilities were great...over 250 people and still enough room to pack. Hospitality from all were unbelievable! including from local jumpers. Everybody was willing to help. Can't wait to go again next year!!

Stopped in for a weekend visit, met many very nice and welcoming people and "DZ dog". The ficilities are top notch, clean,well kept, nice layout and a big ass big screen with sound system and disco lights for the after hour fun.
Wide open LZ with lot's of outs if you need them. Student rigs all looked brand new and well maintained.
Super fast king air with A/C, love the velvet inside.
This DZ has a lot to offer, and everyone was way cool and fun to hang out with, can wait to visit again, when your in the atlanta area, this is one place to go jump.

Ive called a few DZs home over my short career, but when I first visited SDA I knew it was to be my next home DZ. One of the many reasons I moved to Atlanta was to jump at this DZ.
I've been jumping there since July and it seems like its been years. SDA has a large freefly population with all skill leves and many people willing to jump with you for fun or for coaching. The number of RW jumpers has increased slightly, but its still a bit small. I would say its a rare occasion that one couldnt do a few 4 or 6 ways on Saturday. The plane is super fast. I dont think you'd know the difference from that other super fast king air without a race or stop watch!
Night life is awsome too. From the months of April to October theres a cookout almost every Satuday night, followed by the usual legenday parties.
SDA has some of the usual problems associated with a DZ and this number of people: there never enough showers in July after a day of jumping, sleeping arrangements are pretty much a hotel, tent or crash in the hangar. I hear some of the hotels give a discount if you mention your a skydiver.

The skydive itself was a very wonderful experience in which I will definitely do again. However, I will not go back to Skydive Atlanta for my next jump.

We made reservations in advance for a group of 12. We were told by office staff we could jump together, or closely together. We ended up on 7 separate loads ranging from 1 jumper in our group to 3 jumpers over 8 hours (2 hour cloud delay). I paid $105 for a cameraman and he didn't get on the plane, so I missed out on getting my DVD. The office staff were not very concerned or apologetic by any means about the mix-up. BTW, if you choose Skydive Atlanta and want a video, please ask for the price difference between DVD and VHS. This increased my bill by $30. We were originally told video was $75, but a DVD ended up $105, and the increase in price was not explained when the option was given by office staff. Also, other skydive places charge around $85 for DVD and let you edit and choose music when Skydive ATL does not. We had to wait around 2 hours after our final jump for the last of our DVD's; which was ridiculous!

When it was time for my jump, my instructor didn't have a parachuet packed and we were waiting for a packer to rush and get a parachuet ready. As a first time jumper it was nerve racking to watch 2 people fumble around to get my parachuet packed; lucky for me the parachuet deployed and all went well. Better planning on the parachuet repacking is a suggestion for Skydive Atlanta to consider. This happened to 2 other people in our group.

The tandem instructors were great and very knowledgeable and friendly. The instructors need more support from office management for smooth flow of jumpers and paracheut packing.

Due to the lack of organization, our group will take our business elsewhere. We all plan on getting certified, but not at Skydive Atlanta...

I hate making the hour long drive getting harrassed by all the Barney Fifes in the sticks that sourround this place. I was even arrested and later realeased after it was discovered that they screwed up and had no reason to hold me.
The facilities themselves are great as far as I'm concerned. I'm fairly new to the sport and i have no basis for comparison but they have a King Air which seems to be a sound Aircraft. There is alot of space to land in (even if you really screw up there are plenty of cow pastures around).
I went through the AFF program there and i was pleased with the friendly staff and proffesionalism they diplayed.
I do have to say that they seem a bit unorganized. If you need AFF lessons you should come expecting to wait a few hours before you are trained.
I would definetly recomend them.

14,500' in 8 minutes - are you kidding me? No - and that was with a full load and just getting gas during a hot, summer day in Georgia! Jack runs a great DZ - and very helpful... guided me in on a late Friday night and offered a place to crash. Very safety conscious staff and motivated, fast packers - AJ rocks! You've got to try out this DZ. I got in five jumps in four hours, and I wasn't doing back-to-backs on Saturday! If you don't like big, flat landing areas, this place might not be for you! :) Really great people - got several 3 to 7 ways in, and they even tracked me down when I left my altimeter there.

In search of jumpable weather, I drove 200 slow miles north from Florida to Thomaston,GA getting a very expensive speeding ticket along the way.

However, upon arrival I was greeted with the sight of canopies in the air, a professional staff, and real friendly up-jumpers.

After the sunset load things continued to rock. The gang sat around on couches drinking beer, eating dinner, and watching jump flicks. The onsite dinner offered was the most delicious & healthy food I have ever had at a dropzone. Plus the staff immediately offered me a spot to crash for the night.

Thanks Skydive Atlanta for a great time!!

~Tom
Sky~Frogs

Skydive Atlanta is the safest skydiving operation around. The JM's provide training with the highest regard for safety. They have an outstanding safety record which serves to highlight their excellent student training. Because of our desire to provide the highest level of safety for our students, the Georgia Tech Sport Parachute Club is proud to call Skydive Atlanta home.

So Generally this is a great DZ although I've only been there a few times. I'm sure I'll go back but I might wait until I've decided to start freeflying. Because as someone that pretty much only does RW it isn't the best choice. I was there on a Saturday and there appeared to be only two of us RW jumpers at the dropzone (and the other guy left before the skys cleared.)

I know the KingAir isn't the best plane for RW but the DZ doesn't seem to try and involve RW jumpers...

I want to thank everyone involved with my first jump yesterday, March 19, 2005! I was the girl with the purple hair:). Thank you for making my friend Thomas and I the coolest people we know... Besides you guys, of course!!!!!!!!
We will be back. Bank on that.

The crew at SDA is one of the nicest around. Took me to dinner my first night there. They have a PIMP King Air that is only slightly slower then Mullins. Lots of skilled Freefliers, RW and CRW jumpers around to jump with.

They have a full hanger to pack and creep in. Short waits for the plane since its so fast.

I'd go back to Skydive Atlanta in a heartbeat!

We were evacuated from Florida due to hurricanes and travelled to Thomaston which was a great choice. The people were very friendly and the owner was one of the friendliest nicest people i have met here. Very impressed overall with the level of coaches, the Dz facilities and of course, the Big Screeen TV, love your work guys :)