nissin

I will relate my experiences. I did my first jump, also a tandem, at a small DZ (California City). I too really enjoyed the atmosphere of the small DZ. I did my AFF at Perris, mainly because it was a lot closer to where I live. The biggest advantage I see for using a large DZ is that you can just show up and get trained - they always have plenty of instructors on hand. I imagine small DZs might have restrictions on what days you can get trained, etc. Maybe not, but I would check first to be safe. I don't know about other large DZs, but I have found Perris to be quite enjoyable. The instructors are a lot of fun to work with, and even though it is a busy school, I have been able to get quality one-on-one time from their instructors, even when I'm not taking a class. One thing I did that I would recommend against is switching DZs in the middle of AFF. I started at Perris, then did a couple jumps at Elsinore, then finished up at Perris. Each school has its own way of doing things, and I had to repeat some levels because I was switching back and forth. So unless you have any real problems with your AFF instructors, I recommend sticking to one DZ. These are just some rambling thoughts off the top of my head. Hope it helps. -- Ei nirobh akashe aka porchi

The poor spot is what caused him to land in the city, rather than at the dropzone...I don't know the details, but would imagine the broken fingers are due to the difficulty of landing in a city. We were jumping at just 6000 ft because of clouds, so even if he realized the mistake right away, there would be no chance of making it back to the dz. -- Ei nirobh akashe aka porchi

Yesterday at Perris, a jumper left the plane well after the red light went on, actually just after the plane started into a 180. He ended up landing in town, and broke some fingers on landing. Make sure you check for a green light before jumping out of the plane!