Centre Europeen De Chute Libre

I am surprised the other reviews are not more postive....How many DZ's do you know where the manifest staff (Claude, Gill etc) regularly come into the packing hall to ask jumpers whether they want to make another jump, checking whether people have got someone to jump with and are having a good time?

I intially arrived in Lapalisse as the only Brit (who unsurprisingly speaks terrible french) there at the time...as with most places, providing you make an effort then you will have a great time and get to know a really nice bunch of people. The Freefly Convention in July was excellent...great organising and by all accounts the Easter Boogie is not to be missed either...these are of course the people that organise the Espace Boogie down the road at Vichy.

OK, it is perhaps a little more expensive than some other DZ's (but you can camp for free and even keep a trailer there if you are a regular jumper), it isn't located in a party town like Empuria but it is a great place to go, especially for the organised events. I was made to feel very welcome...Vive le Lapalisse!

was there during the European Flying Convention, had a 1st "not so good" general idea, because of my prejudgements on the french, but was a very nice experience.

The only con I see is the payment system, you need a "solid" credit card or a nice amount of cash, because you jump and jump and jump, eat and eat and eat, drink etc... and pay for everything at the end of your stay...

i must be unbiased when i write a review. i have not been charmed by this DZ! everything is just more expensive than anywhere else. this place is like a factory. people go and jump and pack and jump....so far so good. but there s no real friendship in the air. if you are just a student or a rookis in skydiving, this place is not for you. the AFF is just too expensive and it does not include personal packing courses. i have met someone there who has 45 jumps but still need to have his rig inspected 3 times when he packs his parachute. they didn t make him do take his B licence exam. he still jumps 230sqf. and ready...? when he took his skydiving classes before jumping,they forgot to teach him the term 'arrondi' which means 'pull the brake handles'!!! then on his first jump, as he approached the ground,waiting for instructions, the instructor shouted 'arrondi' several times on the walki talki but the guy just wondered what this term meant (i agree he is not very smart...) he just hit the ground full speed. he cracked his tail bone! could not even get up. they asked him why he did not 'ARRONDI' and he just replied what does that mean??? they realised they had forgotten this tiny detail. the best is to come. he had to go to the hospital by his own self. came back 2 weeks later and noone remebered what happened. they did not apologize or offer a few jumps for their mistake. however, they have the best parachutes i ve ever jumped. just atoms with silhouette canopies. what struck me was that on the first time i jumped one of their rig, which i rented, i dropped my pilote chute and... waited for the canopy to open. nothing moved and i got very woried...thinking of cutting away... it took maybe 1 or 2 seconds... i finally lifted my head to realize that my canopy was already flying perfectly! the opening had been so smooth and fluid i swear i did not notice it was open. nevertheless, lots of people go there skydiving. if you are experienced and have your own gear, you will like it. if you go with your own friends, you ll have fun. you don t really get to meet and find people to jump with you. they organise the boogie of vichy. they had a antonov 72 coming for the event. jumped from it...it rocks!

Hi,

in Lapalisse you can do a lot of jumps thanks to the Skyvan and other aircarft that are set.

The quality of the jump is also very good with excellent coaching provided by Marco and Gi.

One of the best place in France