thechemyst

It has been more than 2 years since I last jumped in Megara, so my review is based on that, but I know, not much have changed since then. A rough landing area mainly of dirt, that turns to mud in the winter. The facilities are a couple of containers, where they squeeze: packing area, school, gear storage, sitting area, office and "manifest" (there is no real manifest, the loads are loosely arranged by the not so friendly managers). The toilet people use there, is a short walk away, belongs to the police department of the airport, and is sub standard, to say the least. There is no camping on site as it is falsely stated in the description. In General the facilities are close to non existent. They have a fleet of 3 small cessnas (206,182,172 one slower than the other) and they operate only one at a a time in very slow rotations (to 10.500 ft most times) even when they have a lot of jumpers waiting. So the waiting times are huge. All that at a higher ticket price (at least it was last time i heard) than the other drop-zone in Greece. And as I stated in the other dropzone's review, the choice for me is obvious. The only pros of this drop-zone in Megara are the great views over the Saronic gulf and the proximity to Athens, but they are not enough. I will drive 50 km more and go to a normal dropzone any day.

Well here in Greece we fun-jumpers do not have much of a choice, with only 2 drop-zones. But Skydive Athens is miles ahead. The landing area is grassy and smooth and is groomed frequently. The plane is a Caravan and it takes us, at least to 13500 ft, on every load in under 20 minutes. The staff and fun-jumpers are friendly and have a lot of experience to share. The packing area and facilities are very good and getting better. Sometimes there are some long waiting times but it is getting better. If you compare it with the other drop zone where they have a slower plane, lower exit altitude (10.500ft) shitty landing area, no facilities whatsoever, not so friendly atmosphere and a lot longer waiting times with more expensive ticket, it is hopeless. I am not saying skydive Athens is perfect but they are working on it.

After almost 500 jumps on my magellan i can say it is a great canopy to have. The vast majority of the openings are on heading soft and are not taking for ever. I have had the odd hard opening, but very rare and nothing too hard.What i have noticed is that the snatch force is greater relative to other canopies, like the crossfire, but again nothing too uncomfortable. Where this canopy is at its best is wingsuit openings:in around 100 jumps i ONLY experienced soft, on heading, no stress openings whatever the speed, whatever the position on opening. I have also jumped a storm 150 (about 40 jumps) with a wingsuit, it was great but the magellan was better. The canopy also flies back from long spots easy, and with my wing loading, i have managed to do some decent "swoops" from 90 degree turns only. The flare is great, similar to a sabre2. The material and the stitching is same quality with top manufacturers, but the price is better. p.s. i can say that after all those jumps with this canopy, i NEVER had to kick it out of a line twist. sometimes (very rare) i had some line twists, but they always resolved themselves, before i had time to do anything.

I was in a business trip near the drop zone in July 2010, so I spent one day (Sunday) there. It is a beautiful place with views of the konstanz lake and the alps, very spectacular. the pilatus aircraft takes you to 11500ft fast as always. The facilities are very good and the people are friendly. The only thing I did not like is that I went there with a uspa a license and more than 130 jumps many of which are r.w. jumps, and the instructor after checking my log book kindly told me that I could only jump solo, and that is because I did not have a swiss license, so they treated me as a student. Otherwise it was a great place to jump the people were quite friendly,the ticket price was a bit expensive but it was definitely worth it.