Skydive Chatteris

I wish I had seen all these reviews before shelling out the money for this 'experience'.

They are without a doubt the worst company I have ever dealt with.

The weather in the UK isn't great so its reasonable and understandable that many jump days are out of their control. However I'm sure many times they can quite easily guess there's going to be a 90% chance that people won't be jumping and should really give people a warning since people travel from all over the UK to get there, only to find out they have wasted their time.

As for turning up at 8:00 to be one of the first jumpers as they suggest, you'll actually want to be looking at about 7am if you want to make a jump on the day. They try to cram so many people into each day that many are often sent home.

After trying 4 or 5 times you will loose patience with the company, but don't expect a refund. There staff are well seasoned at answering questions about refunds and will quite frankly tell you to just sod off and try another day.

If you want to jump then try somewhere else because there's a high chance that you'll spend many trips there before you finally get a chance.

Skydiving is the most amazing experience ever and definitely worth doing however DO NOT do it at the North London Parachute Centre!!!

The instructors were fantastic and the actual jump was great but the people who organise the day and the customer service is terrible!

Firstly I had several jumps cancelled due to plane problems and the weather, which admittedly can not be helped. However, the people at the rebooking centre made it impossible to reorganise and I ended up paying even more money to re-jump.

On the day the policy is first come first serve and you can not request to jump together - OR SO THEY SAY! We got up ridiculously early to arrive at 7am. My brother and I were near the front off the queue and signed up together. My brother jumped 5 hours later and I jumped 7.5 hours later (after 40 or 50 other people had jumped!!).

The way to move to the top of the queue is actually to ask to jump in a pair (then they bump you both up the list to fill the plane) or pay £108 for the photos (then they are more than keen to make sure you jump before the clouds come over).

The manager was exceptionally rude. I was invited into the office by an organiser so she could explain why they had messed up the schedule. The manager then came in and aggressively told me to leave the office which I was invited into!!

Apparently it is very difficult to organise who can go on the plane first but the way I see it is - it does not take a genius to work out that number 2 comes after number 1 and that number 1 and 2 are not 20 numbers apart!!!!

When I said I was not willing to wait hours after my brother had jumped they refused to give me a refund. They were totally unwilling to correct their mistake or even apologise for their incompetence. Terrible customer service considering I had paid hundreds of pounds for the experience!

As I say, instructors were great, I loved the jump but just don't go there! And if you do remember it is not first come first serve and stay out of the way of the rude and unhelpful people in the office!

Having just recently graduated and completed my USPA A Licence while on holiday in the US, I rocked up to the DZ around 5pm on Saturday as the cloud was looking to break and I was hoping to get a jump in before sunset (they advertise that loads operated until 8pm or sunset) I entered the office for a gear and document check, where I was greated and told I would have to pay a BPA membership, which was expected, but when I presented my USPA A Licence Proficiency card (which had been completed, stamped and validated correctly) the immediate reaction was that they could not recognise this as it is a temporary licence to be used until your official USPA licence is received in the post. Kinda defeated the purpose of having the temporary licence I thought, but then the reason for their reluctance became a little clearer when I was told I would have to jump as a student at £35 per jump which was almost double the normal slot price.
Upon my questioning as to the reason the licence was not being accepted the instructor then commented how he would have to read the licence I presented as he cannot read without his glasses! They had already refused to accept it at that point! I returned the next afternoon and the weather was great, they had large numbers of tandems so after waiting over 60 minutes to get the OK to manifest from an instructor I left.
Over the two days I felt that my presence as a qualified sport jumper, who was only there to jump and had no need for training at the time was unwelcome or a hinderence. I also appreciate the need for rules and regulations within the industry, but I felt that they were being over implied to justify additional charges.

What scenery? The fens? you need to get out more!

Chose to start training there because of the name, North London Parachute Center (Bit of a liberty) but it still is the nearest dropzone to London.

I started with aff level 1, great training and good facilities, Gary and Lloyd are great guys and get you up for your first jump with confidence.

Managed to get me on a 2nd lift to pass my level 2 that day as well :)

Weather wise its England, and it was November, so it was ropey as you'd expect and a lot of long journeys to no avail,
but its England and that would have been the same wherever I had jumped.

I was back there over this weekend, the guys there all know my name now,and make me feel really welcome and its only my 5th time up (2nd jumping) Mike another instuctor took me through levels 4 - 8 in 2 days, then squished in my first Consol to finish Saturday night.

Great for tandems (if you like that sort of thing)

If your serious about jumping and get your tickets in early (7am) expect 4-5 jumps in a day on the weekend.

If your really serious about jumping take tuesday - Friday off work. loads of room midweek.

...and they've fixed the road!

I did 28 jumps then stopped, too nervous to do my 29th after a 3 year break until i spoke to the guys at Chatteris, they were fantastic, putting me through a fast track AFF, i have now done that 29th jump and can't wait for the 30th. Thanks guys.

I did my first tandem skydive on the 5th August - it was undoubtedly the best thing I have ever done. When people say you will not regret doing it and will want to do it again and again, they are not lying. The staff were great fun and made me feel completely at ease in the plane on the way up. Amazing experience - definately going back again soon.

If you are a serious jumper or want to learn, DO NOT go here. All they are interested in is getting as many tandems up as possible, making it pretty impossible to get a jump in.

Also, i started m AFF there last year and by level 6 i was made to feel that i wasn't competant enough to be a skydiver, so i gave up. This year however i thought i'd give it one more try. I booked 40 mins in the wind tunnel and went to spain the week after to do AFF. I literally flew through it (no pun intended) and carried on to do another 20 jumps after including FS with one of the best instructors there are, Luci Boella. I now consider myself to be a pretty competant jumper, even thoufh i was told i wasn't good enough by one of the instructors there (I'll mention no names)!

If you are looking to become a skydiver, then you would be best to go elsewhere as they really aren't interested.

On a positive note though, probably a great place to go and do a tandem (but beware, they have a tendancy to overbook)

Please don't think that i am saying all of this just because i have an axe to grind, every other skydiver that knows Chatteris (NLPC), that i have spoken with, agrees totally with everything i say.

I now jump at Langar and the attitude there is a million miles apart from Chatteris - VERY VERY freindly and welcoming

I started my AFF training here, and yes the UK weather is a nightmare and means that you can only jump on x number of days per year.

To say this DZ is not interested in studentprogression is complete BS. I've now got my A license from this DZ - they had no issue with me doing my level 2 in spain whilst on holiday, and they welcomed me back after I had an extended break because of a broken ankle.

Yes it's frustrating if the tandems go up alot more of the time than students who are restricted by weather conditions - but rules is rules - if you're not the patient type then skydiving in the UK is not for you - take up golf - or knitting, LOL

All in all a professional outfit with attention to detail, safety, and progression of students at the fore in everything they do. Well recommended to anyone who wants too start skydiving - whether as a tandem one off, or a student looking to go solo. Thanks to all the guys there - Mike, Gary, Steve, Lloyd, Kim, Geordie et al.

Ive been jumping here for almost 4 months and as a student and first timer was surprised to find how friendly everyone was. They have helped me to progress through my levels with encoragement all the way and despite the bad weather, they have done all they can to get me on as many lifts as possible when i am there. Weekends are great when all the regulars and staff are about with themed nights and a bar available after jumping has finished. Dont knock this place till you've been a few times!!!

I went to Chatteris with a friend. I’m a student skydiver with 56 jumps, the friend I was with is planning on doing his AFF course. The intention was that I'd do whatever was necessary to get my A license and my friend would book his AFF course. I felt as though I was seen as a nuisance for doing my AFF course in Spain and then wanting to jump in the UK, and the CCI was downright rude to the guy I was with. He was with me and an instructor watching a training video (which the instructor had no problem with) and was told by the CCI he should learn to read, as non jumpers aren't allowed in the area. My advice to anybody considering going to this dropzone is to go elsewhere (I’m now trying to find another dropzone, where they treat their customers with a little respect!).

hi, ok before i give you my review i must point out that there was a review aledgedly made by myself that ridiculed NLPC.Please note that i did not write this nor have anything to do with that review.
Ok that said and done,North London Parachute Centre,situated near Chatteris,Cambridgeshire is very much a busy but organised dropzone.With alot of tandem jumpers and static line students there always seems to be slots available for fun jumpers alike.
During the week the dropzone adopts a slower pace in the way of 2 lifts then a stop for repacking etc,due to less staff and tandems.This is when it can get a bit frustrating but generally you can get lucky and turn up on a quiet day and jump ya pants off!!!
The staff here are a mixed bag and do help to give advice where necessary.
There is a bunk house if you wish to stay overnite that is very good and if you are staying overnite the bar is'nt too bad either.
The dropzone occasionally has chilli and curry nights as well as the usual weekend party night.
To be honest NLPC is a good dropzone to visit and one that should'nt be missed out on.

Don't know what these other people are on. Most of them seem to have experienced problems with the weather - which you'll get whereever you go in the world.

Speaking personally I can only praise the professionalism and expertise of these guys. I started jumping with them over 7 years ago now and have now done over 2000 jumps. They really do care about their students, progress loads of them, and when I started jumping gave me all the time and encouragement I needed.

My advice to novices looking to start the sport, wherever you chose to do it, is be prepared to commit yourself 110%. You're not really going to get anywhere visiting a drop zone just a couple of times a month. Equally, if you're not prepared to travel just an hour up the A1 from the M25 to one of the very few drop zones outside controlled airspace then skydiving probably isn't the sport for you.

Just completed my first RAPS jump with them which was great. Generally quite professional and friendly. Can be quite busy on the weekends.

Training was good, very safety aware and you felt that they genuinely cared about bringing you up to a quality standard, however I wish that enthusiasm was applied to actually getting you to jump.

It was 2 months between initial training and our first jump so it's unlikely I will have time to complete the course.

We managed to jump on our fourth visit to the DZ. Granted that our problems were mainly because of our choice of season, but I do feel they could have used their experience of the DZ and weather to give us more helpful advice. They wouldn't commit either way concerning the possibility of jumping which was frustrating, if understandable, as we had to rely on this information to decide if we should risk the long journey - the name "north london" is pushing it considerably.

For the only day that jumping was a possibility there was an emphasis on getting the multitude of tandem jumps done before students, so we almost missed out.

Nice bunch though, but go there in summer.

Having bought a jump ticket, waited a long time, then manifested, I was rather surprised when they kicked me off the plane because they needed another slot for a tandem

Mid week isn't much better, since they'll do perhaps 2 loads in the day - so your waiting all the time.

If your doing a tandem do it somewhere where the people are passionate about the sport. Your learn far more, esp if you wish to continue.

The is obviously a comercial outfit, where the poeple running it are only interested in money and not in the sport of skydiving.

And why is it called North London Parachute Centre; its nowhere near London - its next to CAMBRIDGE (so 90 mins away). Try Nether's instead, its actually nearer to London if your coming from there.!!

I did my Raps course here and it took great patience on both sides! The staff are very friendly and experienced. I would recommend this DZ to anyone, but I'm slightly biased as I only live 10 mins from the DZ. The North London bit is part of the clubs evolution and background as it hasn't always been as far North

We did raps course here. very good instruction. did the jump and bought another ticket straight away, returned 3 other days waiting around all day to try and jump but they are only interested in tandem jumps and first jump students. If you want to progress DO NOT use this centre. I have now moved to another centre which after your first jump is difficult and they are much better


I have read the other review and I did say three days not one. I cannot complain about their training but they have no will to progress students. The north london name is a bit of a joke too.
Go if your local and you want to do one jump if your not and you want to progress with raps don't even waste your time.

(London Parachute Centre) and friendlier

I've read the other review, and all I can say is you must have gone on a bad day. My experience is that the staff are first rate. Weekends can get really busy, but week days they can spend more time with the students. I'd recommend NLPC (Chatteris) to any student or experienced sky diver. Also, great views when coming down on your canopy.