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Dropzone Database: Europe: United Kingdom : Headcorn Parachute Club : Reviews

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has contributed 31 reviews

Review Summary: Average Rating: Total Reviews: 31 Write a Review Show: All Ratings 5 Star Rated 4 Star Rated 3 Star Rated 2 Star Rated 1 Star Rated Sort by: Newest First Highest Rating First Most Useful First Display: 10 25 50 100

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(Review ID:5430)

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful: Based in central Kent, no other DZ for hours Rated by: coops316 on 2009-10-16 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Only DZ in the South East and its full time Cons: Some staff attitude

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I started jumping at Headcorn after doing my AFF abroad, they were quite welcoming and quickly got my to my A licence as my AFF was uspa.
Has all the facilities to get jumping but a big criticism sadly is some of the staff attitude, rude and obnoxious. I get the impression I should be honoured to jump with them as opposed to being treated with respect as a paying customer. Majority of staff are friendly and helpful, its just a few bad apples that spoil it.
All that said, Headcorn isn't that bad, good equipment, manifest works well with a 10 min notice, canteen is ok but don't expect a gourmet meal! 2 planes (1 goes to 12k the other to 10k)Lots of air displays from aerodrome whilst your waiting. Good landing zone as well.

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(Review ID:5378)

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful: Dirty, cliquey poorley managed Rated by: damustang on 2009-09-14 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Location Cons: Rude staff, Unsafe cloud busting, lots of ego,

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

What a dump, if your not a tandem student don't bother and even they get treated like crap. Prepare to be barked at by the management even when you want to give them your money. The most depressing jump zone in the country, the staff thinks it great but they all seem to be old has beens. Can't get a packing lesson for love nor money unless you pay 30 quid. The facilities are awful, the canteen food is pure rubbish. There is no club atmosphere at all, most jumpers are complaining about the cost the wait and the lack of courtesy from the staff especially the management. Follow everyone else and jump at other uk dropzones where your custom is appreciated. what a dump.

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(Review ID:5370)

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful: Go elsewhere if you have the choice Rated by: Live2Jump on 2009-09-10 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Only DZ in the south east Cons: Lots!

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

Headcorn charges the highest prices in the UK for one of the lowest altitudes but still wont put the plane up unless it is completely full. Some staff are friendly but that's the exception, most are rude and unapproachable. There are very few jumpers going there now leaving the place almost entirely tandems.

The Caravan jump plane is very squashed and expect to get shouted at by the tandem masters everytime. Although they are usually in the wrong spot causing the problems with fun jumpers being able to get to their seat belts.

Expect to often wait 3 hours for a lift and only get a 5 min call. So don't go anywhere.

On the positive side reasonable sized packing area, car park, and canteen. The canteen in over prized and the worst tasting food and drink I have come across on a dropzone. Staff there are robotic bit like a call-centre.

The dz is very close to a train station making it easy to get to.

Conclusion - Go elsewhere if you can. If you go expect rudeness and long waits with little indication of when you will jump.

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(Review ID:5339)

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful: lucky to still be operating Rated by: F22poplar on 2009-08-26 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: close to london Cons: 75% staff are rude

Had it not be for the 25% great staff this place would only attract one time visitors, and after experiencing the wrath of management tongue, the shortness of instructors patience and contradictory practise I to would have been one of them if I simply didn’t love the sport so much.

The set up is lovely, lots of planes going up and down and showing off, sheep on the landing area and large picnic space.

Jumps and gear hire is average but don't dare ask for management for something, they assume you should know and bite your head off for asking.

Catering facilities are ok, the serving staff MUST be on minimum wage with their lack of sense of humour, however the bread pudding (homemade) is a nice touch.

My advice to anyone looking to jump regularly here is- get licensed (minimum A license) somewhere else (abroad where you jump loads) get your own gear or learn how to pack, then when you go to Headcorn you'll deal with management and certain instructors less, making your time here far more pleasurable.


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(Review ID:4714)

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful: Jump Elsewhere Rated by: swoop2pin on 2008-08-18 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Errrr.... Drawing a blank Cons: Staff Attitude, Prices, Proffesionalism (lack), Bad for Students

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I've been jumping at Headcorn now for a couple of years since I started my AFF there.

They will quite happily keep frustrated students hanging on all day without any feedback as to why they cant jump (wind over 15knots etc) and bite students heads of for those that dare to ask.

Some of the staff are very nice and approachable but these are the exception and not the rule.
The general attitude is that everything they do is an absolute hassle and that jumpers should thank them for allowing them to take our money.

If you cant pack then steer clear of this place as if its got the plague.
There are never enough packers and you have no hope of learning to pack there as the packers they do have are already over stretched.

I once asked a senior member of staff if they had thought about running packing lessons on an evening as there were many who wanted to learn and they could probably make a decent amount of money on the side.
This was met by an aggressive "do you know how hard we work? how many hours a week do you work?"
I havn't mentioned anything since.

Most things are done in a half arsed manner.

They advertise themselves as the only full time drop zone in the south-east. I hope for their sake this stays the case. If another drop zone opened up anywhere near I think Headcorn would go out of business the next day.

I'm saving my pennies to go to Spain next time.

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(Review ID:4613)

9 of 19 people found the following review helpful: GO TO ANY OTHER DZ do yourself a favour Rated by: followmeeee on 2008-06-29 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Handy Kit Store Cons: Pricey,unfriendly,water logged runway,Total ripoff

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

Having read some of the reviews I have to agree with the majority of the jumpers.Headcorn is World famous for being crap.It had a bad name in the 80s and nothing has changed even some of the staff.Basically you kiss arse there you will do well oh and pay out good money to do so..Please get in your car and go north as clubs there are so so much better.The south east needs another DZ Good luck Jumpers...

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(Review ID:4474)

11 of 25 people found the following review helpful: The south-east badly needs another parachute centre! Rated by: head-umop on 2008-04-23 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Mix of aircraft. Range of equipment on sale. Cons: Snooty, money-grabbing, cliquey...

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

Turned up at Headcorn, to be told they wouldn't let me jump, because I'd trained elsewhere. (Part way through student progression, Category 5 or 6 at the time).

What's the point of being a BPA club if you won't respect the abilities of instructors at other accredited clubs? But no: you want to jump at Headcorn, you learn at Headcorn. Preferably AFF.

When pressed, one member of staff admitted that this was for financial reasons. "We didn't get the money for your first jump course, so why should we have you doing progression here?"

Get a clue. People who learn to skydive while at university often find themselves at the wrong end of the country, all summer. We need to complete our training too!

They said "no deal" so I had to drive a hundred miles north, and train at Sibson instead - who made me very welcome.

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(Review ID:3852)

13 of 23 people found the following review helpful: The best Rated by: bellies on 2007-05-09 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Staff that help Cons: Not a thing

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I think this is the best DZ that I have been to the staff will allways help you. People will just start to talk to you.
The only down side is the showers but just drink some more and then they look ok.

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(Review ID:3697)

16 of 26 people found the following review helpful: Great Dropzone in the SE Rated by: RandomLemming on 2007-02-17 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Excellent rental gear, helpful staff, good food, great planes Cons: Can be busy and the Let goes away for winter

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I live in London, and Headcorn is actually the quickest dropzone for me to get to. In summer, this is a 5* dropzone all the way, going down to 4* for winter.

During Winter they operate a Beaver for most lifts and I just can't love the thing. I have no rational reason for not liking it, I just don't. Maybe I've been spoiled with the Turbolet at Headcorn and the Pac750XL at Hinton :)

It can get a little busy and the manifest seems to work on a fairness basis rather than first person to put their name on the board gets on the next lift. I think this is partly because the board is split into multiple columns for different things, but I could be talking rubbish on this one. This bothered me at first but after a few visits and watching people, it actually seems to be a good way to run things. Everyone gets on a fair amount of lifts and seems happy with their count at the end of the day.

Most of the staff are really great, and this is one of the things that I love about the place. They've dealt with me as an individual jumper, not as an A license jumper with X jumps. They do have a few hard and fast rules (like radio on all jumps below 50, and you must have an AAD if you're on an A license), but other than that they don't seem to have any arbitrary rules that don't make sense, unlike other places I've been to - they talk to me, work with me, evaluate where I am and seem to be interested in helping me progress. For some things, this means doing things earlier than at other dropzones, and for other things it means doing them later. But they're open and communicative all the way through as to what and why, and I get a lot out of that.

The pricing initially looks very expensive for a student / someone renting gear. However, when you look at the credit system, the costs are actually there to incentivise you to learn to pack and pack your own gear. They run packing courses fairly regularly on bad weather days, so it's not like you have to wait forever to learn either. The other costs that look expensive go down again when you move from your A to your B license. Again, this is to try and convince you to keep working on progressing I think (although the full face helmet privilege is more of an incentive for a blind guy like me :))

The crowd there can be a little standoffish, but I've always had positive experiences when I initiate conversation. I'm there to jump out of an airplane, talking to strangers isn't going to kill me ;) I've met some very cool people there and they've taught me almost as much as the staff.

Their training (packing, CH2, JM1, etc.) is really good. They also offer rigging services, and I've been happy with all the work they've done on my kit. While your gear is in for rigging, they have the best rental gear that I've used in the UK and out of everywhere I've jumped in the world so far, their gear is second only to Lodi.

In closing (yeah, yeah, finally, I know), come to Headcorn and have a blast. Arrive with an open mind and be prepared to chat to random people for no good reason and you'll probably have a great time.

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(Review ID:3679)

6 of 13 people found the following review helpful: Come to Headcorn and SAY "Hello" Rated by: Legs on 2007-02-08 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: Headcorn Parachute Club   Pros: Great bunch, good times, laid back Cons: Its England (Weather),

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I feel Headcorns getting a harsh press and had to speak up. I started jumping in May 06 and have had nothing but great times. If your willing to chat you will be welcomed. Yes the staff are busy on sunny days when there are back to back lifts but speak to the members too!!

It would be great to see you at Headcorn!

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