Saratoga skydiving at first was going to be the DZ for me due to its close proximity. But as I went to the DZ a couple times to jump, I realized that I could not continue jumping here. The packing area is very small, and very dirty. The planes are old and in need of updating. If these 2 alone were fixed I might be able to go back as a fun jumper. Other issues I encountered were through their resident "expert" Jimmy. I received a lot of grief from Jimmy due to me opening low and landing off on my first jump at the DZ (which I did open low, I will admit that). But the week after, I waited around for an hour being told that the next load up was going to altitude, but never did. When we finally went up, only to 4.5k, I was on a load with a static line student where Jimmy was the instructor. Prior to the jump, he decided to get high. Apparently, he also does this with tandems. After his static jumped and then him, I did. After I pulled and started making my way back, he landed downwind, when he didn't need to. I was always told that landing downwind was a serious no-no, and still maintain that mentality. On top of all this, the student who was doing the static line jumps, did at least seven jumps as a static line, and almost failed the jump that I witnessed, based solely on the fact that the practice puller fell out in the plane, that Jimmy made 3 minutes before the plane took off because he forgot. All in all, don't go here. I am really surprised they have been in business so long. They are unsafe, unprofessional, and not fun to be around. Wait until the weekend and go to Adirondack Skydiving adventures, or take the hit in gas and go to the ranch instead. I will not be visiting Saratoga again unless I hear that Jimmy has left.
