Skydive Suffolk Training Center

Skydive Suffolk what a place! My family and I moved to the area and before I could find a grocery store I sought out this place. For years I had wanted to get my license after doing a few tandems but the location the military had me stationed in just never worked out for really getting into the sport. I started with the ground school, and they were very thorough and professional in every aspect. When I showed up for AFF everyone made me feel welcome and made sure I was comfortable with every aspect of my upcoming jumps and following the jump they would sit down and really debrief and make sure they covered everything. One thing I will say about their training I was completely impressed with was that there attention to detail and professionalism was so impressive. I quickly learned this place caters to a lot of spec war community so that made sense that they would run such a top notch place with super attention to detail on their gear, briefing and debriefing and every other aspect. I completed the license and learned so much and one thing I learned that I had no clue about was the Sky Family that I would create along the way. Being a new jumper can be intimidating but they take you right in and there are so many jumpers with hundreds or thousands of jumps that will ask you if you want to jump and just work on some basics that are within your level to help you in your progression and after the jump really take the time to go over everything. This place is incredible from the early morning yoga, breakfast and jumping to the bond fires. The facility is really kept up as well as the multiple aircraft just a world class place and I am so grateful that this is where I started my skydiving journey. The owner really has a solid family business even as large as the DZ is. The DZO’s wife and children will be usually be working through out various parts of the DZ like rentals, packing, the front desk or maybe even jumping with you and are all super nice helpful and incredibly friendly. I have brought a ton of friends and family to do tandems and come out for jumps and to just hang out on a nice day while I complete a few jumps and see what the vibe and place is all about. I will retire soon and sail the world, skydiving everywhere I can and even though Virginia is not my home state, Skydive Suffolk will always be considered my home DZ and will have a place in my heart and I thought they more than deserved a updated review on here. Blue Skies!!Skydive Suffolk what a place! 

I visited Skydive Suffolk on my quest to jump in all 50 States…Ross Leventhal runs a professional operation that combines a well-run business with a collegial atmosphere. The vibe is open and friendly and the processes are efficient. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and my jump at Skydive  Suffolk.

I didn't have a great experience with this place.

I tried to do a first timer AFF jump. I found them very disorganized as to when the classroom course would be taught. They told me at the last minute when to go.

I did the AFF classroom but wasn't able to jump because the weather. They said call back the next day. I called the next day when the weather was good but they had no AFF instructors to do the jump in the morning. I was in town for business and had to leave that afternoon.

They refunded me everything but $50 claiming I had to pay for the classroom portion and that I could take their little book to any other skydive place and do my first dive. The places I called where I would be would require me to do the whole classroom portion over for liability reasons. I explained this to Larry the owner of Suffolk Skydive and he still refused to refund the $50. I disputed it with my credit card company and got my back.

I liked the looks of the plane and the staff. The AFF classroom instruction was too informal for me. They taught you how not to die but did simply quizzed us orally as a group on the written AFF test. They didn't have enough chairs. Maybe that's what Larry wanted to keep my $50 for???

Great dropzone with plenty of friendly people. Also, great airplane and landing area. Thank you, Larry, Don & Robin for helping my wife, our friends, and myself have such an awesome Suffolk experience this past weekend.

Larry Stringer

This is my home dropzone, but now that I have been able to visit other dropzones over my first year of jumping, the more I consider myself lucky to have this as my home dropzone.

My favorite policy at this dropzone is that you after you do 5 jumps in a day, tickets are half price for the rest of the day. Usually I'll do about 10 jumps a day for $175, which over time saves alot for experienced jumpers. Also, because the PAC 750XL is so fuel efficient, it doesn't require alot of jumpers to start the plane and run hot loads which is great for slow business days. The dz only requires a single AFF or tandem student, or 7 fun jumpers to get the plane started (and then only 5 fun jumpers to keep the loads hot). I've been on loads with just a single tandem student, and the ride to altitude was incredibly fast, even for a PAC.

Like any other dropzone, there are some things I'd like to see improved upon. However, despite any drawbacks, I'm still having a ton of fun at this dropzone. Although my student training progressed a little slow at this dropzone (mainly due to wind holds last summer), my jump numbers rocketed once I had my A license and my own rig. I've been able to do over 300 jumps in my first year jumping at this weekend only dropzone, and at a pretty good discount.

This dropzone is excellent for any fun jumpers looking for a home. Plenty of skillful jumpers, spaceball jumps (if the jump run allows), and a friendly atmosphere. I plan on calling this my home dropzone for a long time.

Suffolk is very welcoming to new people (both new to them and new to the sport). There are no cliques and everyone is willing to jump with each other. The folks with 1000s of jumps have no problems taking out the newbies and showing them the ropes or helping to organize/plan a dive.

The PAC is a great plane that climbs quickly and has a large enough door to put some RW together.

The landing area is large and forgiving.

They are very safety conscious but with a good time in mind (a real focus on personal responsibility).

I'd definitely go back!

I have just begun my journey into the world of skydiving and I am glad I started it at suffolk. the staff have been nothing but friendly and polite and answered all my questions, no matter how ridiculous they may have seemed at the time. my instructors for my first aff jump sat down with me and explained everything that went on before, during and after the jump. several times on the plane I was quizzed as to what happened at this altitude and so on. I am going to continue my education there at suffolk and eventually move on to other dz's but will always call suffolk home...

I'm new to skydiving and just brought myself, girlfriend and couple of friends out. Everything about the facility and the people left us feeling welcomed. Very nice jump masters who had a great sense of humor throughout the whole process. Im actually now planning to do a second jump sometime soon. Great Experience with Suffolk Skydive !!

I have done two jumps since June and plan on my third next week. This is a great place to jump. The staff is top notch! Thank You to everyone at Skydive Suffolk!You guys are terrific!

I started coming here in May of 2006 and loved it. I was traveling from NY at the time and was visiting a lot of different dropzones. This one caught my eye for so many reasons.
First, the people there are super friendly. You are not walking around long before getting asked to join someone on a load and getting advice and coaching from the people you jump with. You will often find someone grilling food. It's better than a family reunion. It's is rare to not hear the staff and funjumpers laughing together. There are no cliques here.
Second, the PAC-750! This plane is great! If you are not familiar with this plane, look it up, or come out here and jump it! Not many places where you can get to 13,800 feet in under 10 minutes. It's a rocket ship to altitude, then can slow way down to a crawl to give everyone time to get out safely. And the pilot is one of the coolest people you will ever meet. Mike Lucker has got a story that you will want to hear...
Third, the DZ itself. Looks sleepy and friendly on the end of a Large Airport...if you can't see this from the air, you're not in Virginia! Outs galore! Plenty of off landing areas in the event you need one...Even at night, you can't miss this DZ, and yes, the night jumps here are awesome! The packing shed is big enough, and they currently have a great packer. A young kid named Adam. He's fast, cheap and good at what he does. He has packed over 100 jumps for me and all were close to identical in heading and opening. If the heat is getting to you, there are several airconditioned hideouts you can sit relax. A restaurant on the Airport. It's not part of the DZ, but I know it's there. I have never been to it, since I usually bring my own, but in a pinch...it's there for you. Actually, someone usually is either grilling or goes on a lunch or dinner run and pizza, fried chicken, will just sorta show up!
Fourth, it's really easy to get to. I have come from every direction to get to the place and all are pretty simple and straight forward.
Ok, so you probably guessed that I really like the place. I even made it my new home DZ when I came to Virginia from New York. And it's not the closest DZ to where I live either. One of the only down sides to this DZ is that if there are not a lot of students or tandems, there will not be that many loads. You could get 7 jumps in on a Friday, or none at all, depending on who shows up. Saturdays and Sundays are pretty consistant. I rarely get less than 10 jumps on a Saturday, and Sundays are mostly funjumper days so the freefly and RW groups are filling the plane...It's not uncommon to see a wingsuit jumper or a CRW group go out. The showers don't work, but the bathrooms are well kept. No truck stop bathrooms here! I have to periodically update this profile since I keep finding more things I like...all BSing aside, this is a good, fun, safe place to jump...

Skydive Suffolk is a great place to skydive. I loved the large "picnic area" between the packing shed and manifest. Kids were playing there and folks were lounging. As it is off limits for landing it makes for a nice place to spread a blanket. The staff is very nice and friendly. The PAC climbs fast. Take your favorite chair and setup under the trees.

This DZ was a rare treat for me. My partner and I were in the state of Virginia overnite on business. Instead of a movie we went SKY DIVING! Even though it was last minute, the people at this DZ were awesome to us. Never had I had a better time! My partner went tandem and I went solo! Even though I was a little uncomfortable with jumping in a different environment, the JM made me feel at ease and gave me a complete orientation. It was totally excellent! and the scenery was superb! Even though time limited us to only one jump and the altitude was only 10K, I would recommend this DZ to beginners, like me.

the dropzone is really nice a smaller one than some others in va and the longest drive from where i live but i still go there and working on getting my licens but you just feel like you are a part of the family and it is a good feeling and everyone there is the best of the best alot of marines and navy seals and you will never question there safty in there hands but over all this is just the best dz to jump out of nice friendly place with lots of new people to meet and you don't have to wait long to jump when you go down there you just need to go there and jump for your self or visit skydivesuffolk.com

I found Skydive Suffolk on this web site, I was relocating from central California and needed to find a new DZ home. I HAVE FOUND IT!!!

Within 30 seconds (literally) of me walking on the DZ, I was met by a staff member (Kristie) and welcomed immediately. She gave me the lay of the land, introduced me to the locals that where there and many of the staff members.

Manifest is friendly, coaches always willing to help and HANDS ON ownership by Larry and Robin.

Rigging you ask.. AWESOME!!! Matched? maybe.. Better Maybe.. but none that I've seen.

Student gear! NOTHING USED HERE!! ALL top quality and Master Rigger Maintained DAILY. Neither the Tandem rigs or any student gear are packed by ANYONE not qualified (or locally certified under direct master rigger supervision) to pack!

Aircraft? King Air B90 and Cessna 206 which are IMMACULATE!!! Matching paint jobs and all the bells and whitles!

Land area? Large and unobstructed! There are safe outs EVERYWHERE!!!!!

Safety?? You don't jump a thing until the DZO or an ST&A verify what your jumping on and whether or not they think your ready to downsize.. and for the newer aggressive jumper.. this is a good thing! Trust me!

Join the crowd?? With rare exception... even the novice will always be brought into RW. The way it was put to me was "Solo's are for P*%%y's get in here and do your best, we'll see what we need to work on!

Freefliers? There a pleanty and always willing to work with a new wanna be freeflier!

Video... As good as anywhere.. starting to offer DVD instead of VHS tapes!

Facilities?

Indoor packing or if you can not wait, canvass packing outdoors under shaded areas

Restrooms with showers...

Video..

An awesome LOFT with the best Master Rigger there is (and always willing to sit and talk about gear)

Atmosphere? AWESOME! Talk about a home away from home! It's Not Deland.. It's not Perris... it's a small town DZ heaven. Everyone knows everyone and if your new (as I was 3 months ago) you'll be a welcomed member into a great family.

I found the GEM of East Coast DZ's in a small little town of Suffolk, VA. If your in the area and your a skydiver or want to be skydiver, your missing a great skydiving opportunity if you do not visit www.skydivesuffolk.com