Skydive Palermo

This is a local dropzone, running from the SW corner of an apparently little-used city airport without commercial traffic.

There is two comfortable landing areas between the runaway and the club building, with broad escape space on the other side of the runaway and only a few no-fly areas.

Consider the DZ is within the city limits, surrounded by loads of buildings and natural obstacles with little landing alternatives outside the airport. Luckily the local weather tends to be mild and sunny all year long and our pilot was good at spotting: you must fail badly to miss the target.

The dropzone was open on weekends and on some public holidays, but not in August. Better to call in advance as you need to be known to enter the airport with your ID (parking available) and to be sure to find your place in the loads. Only bad thing that may happen is if all loads are full (6 people + pilot in the plane we flew, that means two tandems with cameramen may fill a load): you have been warned.

I liked a lot the friendly atmosphere though my papers were checked thoroughly and the FD knew what he was doing. Packers and all material I needed were available; jumping heights were 9000-10000ft.

But what really makes this DZ a gem are the STUNNING views over the city center and bay of Palermo with all its surrounding mountains and landscapes. On a clear day (of which there's many in Sicily) one won't easily forget the views and wish to jump again!

Please note I jumped here in July 2016: some info written in this review may be subject to change.