Skydive DeLand

I had a great time whilst visiting DeLand, i would however like to have seen a freeefly school at such a large dz and some freefly organising, i cannot believe DeLand doesnt offer this.
Great bar, great aircraft, really friendly staff except for 1 really rude packer! If you dont like you job dont do it, we are paying you for a service and you should respect your customer not yell at them for no reason!
We actually packed mostly for ourselves after the run in with that girl but had planned on getting all our jumps packed.
Alanna

I spent 10 days in Deland and had a great time, i did coach jumps with Kim Worthington aswell as tunnel time with Kim and Yuki (Tsui?)...(oh boy those girls can really fly!!)
We came from a smaall dz so it was a real treat to see such an operation.
My only problem was the 2 hour waits once we were no longer doing coach jumps and manifesting for ourselves it seemed like we were always last in line to be put on a plane. I watched 1 team make 6 jumps before we even were on a 20 minute call!!
Also there were no organisers for flat or freefly for us to jump with and i dont even think they have a freefly coach at Deland. I did manage to get some freefly coaching of Kim in the tunnel so i did leave happy but it would have been nice to jump with a coach to see my progression.
i be back however i hope they fix that problem.
Patricia

Thank you very much guys,
The place is awesome, Aircraft rocks!
Bar right @ the DZ is very nice, ... I don't think you need much advertisement, so thank you once again.

Truly sorry about your loss. :(

Blue Skies.

Its sad to see a dropzone that will turn a skydiver away but Deland will do it. I'm a C-license holder, videographer, and coach who recently took a trip to florida(2400 miles away)I did my research to find the closest DZ and had made arrangements for the onsite camping they offer(note there ads in Parachutist and there website). I gave them names and dates and was even given the cost. But upon arrival I was told they did not have camping available, didn't know who had written my name in their book and could not seem to have anywhere at all that my 10 ft. pop up trailer could possibly fit. I found this discouraging as I was sent away past the tents pitched on the lawn only to look across the dirt road at the onsite campground but I say don't let that fool you, your on your own to find camping elswhere. Now I can't say the skydiving isn't good there but the treatment on the ground left this jumper to spend his money on someone else's jump tickets.

I visited DeLand on a Tuesday to take the Essential Canopy Control Course. The course itself, was good, but very basic. If you understand how the pattern is supposed to be flown and normally stand up your landngs, you may not get too much out of it. Read Brian Germain's book. One thing that was a huge advantage was that the class became a "team", so we got on the manifest easily.

The manifest/check-in ladies were very good, even to an idiot like me who showed up with an expired reserve. (Next time I'll put my glasses on when I check the card.) They didn't laugh (at least not to my face) and were really quick with the rental gear. The packer (Mac or Matt??) was absolutely wonderful. He worked alone and kept everyone packed, including one rig that got totally knotted up, due to a really interesting landing.

I jumped an Otter, a Skyvan (first tailgate) and a PAX 750 in one day (5 jumps). Incredible!! And Graham was great at looking after us lower experience folks on the planes.

Maybe it was an anomaly, but I didn't see 1 normal up-jumper. Lots of teams, canopy test guys, video guys, but no one hanging around manifest to join up. They may have been there, but I didn't see them.

Mapquest the street address, or you may never find the place.

Overall, I had a good experience. I probably won't go back by myself, but would gladly go, if I had some folks to jump with.

Fresh off AFF with a half dozen jumps away from my A license, I expected to be regarded as an embryo, but that was not how I was treated. I very briefly met the owner Bob Hallett, and for the next couple days he always greeted me by my name even though the place was full of (fellow) geezers trying to build a POPS/SOS state-record 100-way. I don't get out much, so I was amazed at how many people were there that I recognized from my "Skydiving Survival Series Video." Besides Bob, I met Mike McGuire and Rob Laidlaw, but I was too shy to introduce myself to Nancy LaRiviere. The first day I was rained out, but Rachael gave me a great tour of Performance Designs operations which is walking distance from the DZ. RIght around the corner, I got my new Mirage G-4 tweaked a little and got a great tour of my rig's birthplace thanks to Bob Beck and Ward Hessig. Thanks also to the good folks a block away at Alti-master who provided me with a few decals and patches. Day two was the most productive day I've ever had in this sport as I took Scott Miller's canopy course which I will now do every year. His credentials, knowledge and treaching abilities made me an exponentially better pilot. I had an excellent recurrency dive thanks to instructor Nikki Eliason. Finally, I spent a lot of time at the Perfect Spot where the food and drink (pancakes and beer)can change your whole life, and the ladies who take care of you are the best in the busines. Thank you Abbie, MaryAnne, Sarah, Sue and Veronica. I'll be back! Oh by the way, did I mention I got ten minutes of tunnel time up the road, which is a cool thing to do when the DZ is rained out.

I read alot of reviews before going here and heard some negative things about Deland , That if you were not a team that it was not the places to go to.Well I have to say I had a great time. People were friendly except one packer and I guess she was having a bad day.Really It was a great place .Cool people and great plains . Cant wait to go again

We arrive in DeLand after leaving titusville only to find that this would be the DZ we would stay at for the remainder of trip. I was apprehensive because I had heard the pilots were being very conservative about flying with any weather and the teams may be a bit brusk! Well we jumped on clear days and the one time there were clouds we did fly below them and put out around 11k. So I imagine that if there had been a good cloud cover the pilots would have not flown or flown below them. As for the teams, they of course were in there own mindset, but they were friendly and would wish us good jumps before they headed out so I thought that was great. I realize they are working and we can't expect them to be all up with us and stuff, they are afterall a team. With that being said, the teams exited at 10.5k for comeptition height and then the pilot took the rest of the plane to 13.5 which was very cool of him and this was the same always. The landing area was very good with three spots to land. There is an onsite bar/restaurant with a decent menu and atmosphere. The packing areas are indoors and there are some covered outdoor packing areas. Packers will pack for you and are very accomodating especially if you have to get on a load. The charge 6 unless your canopy is 150 or less then it was 5. Very reasonable. Everything was great. It would have been nice if they had some type of lodging available, but they are on an airport and perhaps it just wasn't. Regardless they have a deal with the holiday inn giving us a rate of 59.99 per night for two beds and a nice pool spa available. The hotel was very close. I would highly recommend this dropzone for anyone in the area...nice view of the ocean if you are there on a clear day.

My visit was only on a weekday, so I can't speak to what a busy weekend day is like, but to my suprise, there were plenty of jumpers and plenty of loads to keep me happy even on a Monday! The facilities are right up there with Perris and the like: nice bar/restaraunt, store, nice packing area, huge landing area with a lot of potential outs; nice chilling areas, etc.

I guess they have an Otter and Skyvan running on the weekend, but during the week they had the PAC750 running and it was REALLY nice. Not as fast as the SpaceCenter King Air, but still pretty darn fast and VERY nice.

The people there during my visit were all nice and I had no problem finding someone to jump with.

All in all, DeLand is an absolute must visit DZ.

I only wish I could have had more days to spend here.

good place

Only jumped here 2 weekend days. LInked up with random fun jumpers (not a team) on 2 of my 4 jumps. Manifest ws a little disorganized and did not tell me what I had to do the first time at this DZ (safety brief, how to sign up for a load, when to pay). Overall though, nice planes and a place to eat right at the DZ were good. Staff did not treat me like a child and I only had 100 jumps. I would go back!

Unless your practicing with a team I don't recommend you go to deland. Not only as an experienced jumper was I given this 15min powerpoint presentation on how to be SAFE. Nobody would answer any question that me or my friends had. There is no pin check on the plane, and we waited a VERY LONG time for a load to go up. Also if you have low jumps don't go there expecting to be treated as an equal. I will NEVER waste my money jumping at Deland again. In fact I want the dollar back that is still on my account.

As a side note I was recently sent a refund for my jump. This is definetly more then I could have asked for so

Thank You Deland, I will probably give you guys another chance in the future.

Just recently I did my first jump at Skydive Deland.

I would HIGHLY recommend this DZ. I was very nervous, and the friendly staff relaxed my nerves. This is only the beginning of many good things about this DZ, though!

The landing site is clear and open, so as to no confusion.

There is a camp ground right outside of the facilities, only FEET away!

There is a resteraunt for the hungry jumpers.

I really enjoyed my time at this DZ, and it was well worth the 4 hour drive from Savannah, GA.

As far as neighbors are concerned: Consider that quite alot of the top names in skydiving equipment world are located within 5 - 10 minutes ride away from this DZ, I'd say this would be a great place to get all of your measurements right, and not via the 3rd party.

As far as jumping: great and fast aircraft! Not difficult at all to find a prtner to jump with.

As far as landing: inconcievable large landing area, just stay away from the airport buildings :)

And of course, as far as food goes: Great restaurnat!

And so close to wind tunnel :)

I've only jumped at 5 different DZ. I enjoyed my experience here so much that I enticed my entire family to come down and jump (All 8 of them).

There are a lot of international teams that train here. Don't be intimidated by that fact or that the truck drivers have over 1000 jumps. If you bring positive energy that is what you'll get in return.

Safety appears to be important to the DZ, but I've only jumped at REALLY relaxed DZ in the past. I do know that pin checks are drilled into everyone heads, seatbelts and helmets are worn up to 1000ft. If not, someone will definately let you know.

With the exception of one AFF instructor, the AFF staff was great which is very important for a first time jumpers experience (Thanks Nikki, Crossman, Christine, Bob, Yuki, Dag, Scott, Ray)

The store does have a rent to own program which is nice. Also really nice is that there are alot of manufacturers nearby and the DZ will do everything to schedule a demo for you.

Landing area is large, free of obstacles, and well marked/easily visible.

The facilities are wonderful. The restaurant/bar is full service. There is even free internet access. There are three places to pack, 1 A/C, 1 cooled by fans, the other is outdoors under tent. There's also private rooms with tvs and plenty of crawlers if you're going to do any team work.

During the busy season it may become difficult to get up as much as you'd like. A few weeks back there were 8 international teams, a number of fun jumpers, a few AFF and tamdem jumpers. Made for a crazy day. I was still able to squeeze in 7 jumps. I was hoping to do 10.

There's plenty of coaching opportunities. Skydive U is located here. There's a wind tunnel nearby. There's a canopy course you can take.

Weather...it's Florida. Which means in the summer it's gonna be hot. This also means only the die hard jumpers will be jumping and you can jump all you want. (at least they put out water coolers to cool you down and keep you from spontaneously combusting). Being FLA, it also means you'll be able to jump almost everyday, even if rain is in the forecast. There's typically a North to South wind at the DZ.

What else? There's a bunkhouse, a trailer park and tent city on the DZ. The DZ also has showers.

Scenery is nice, you have a great view of the beach.

The staff are great and diverse which makes jumping here that much more fun. There's plenty of staff with interesting backgrounds from the US. But, there are also staff from S. Africa, Iceland, Japan, Australia, Denmark. Be open, respectful, serious about safety, and wear a smile and I'm confident this will be your favorite DZ.

They fly 4 different planes including a supervan which is a ton 'o fun to jump out of.

The DZ is a busy place. Which is fine, I like the excitement new jumpers bring and atmosphere of it all. The only problem with this is, the store has hired some staff that aren't jumpers OR the best at math. I caught a number of errors on my account. I seriously doubt they were intentially, and they were all were quickly remedied, but just be aware of this.

There's plenty of DZ choices in central Florida. Check 'em out, but I'm sure you'll be comeing back here (or Z-hills) again and again.

Lastly, pay with cash if possible. There's a fee for using credit and the debit machine regularly causes me problems.

Started my AFF course in Deland on the 3rd of January. Got the "A" license today (26 Feb). Great staff and a great experience. I give Skydive Deland my highest recommendation.

All the AFF instructors I jumped with were excellent & very professional. Bob & Nikki thanks for a great experience. Well done.

Bought a used Vector III there. It had a minor issue and the owner made it right at no cost to me. Thanks Bob.

Great weather, nice people & close to home. The new PAC-750 is fun to jump out of and climbs fast.

I dont know if we just look like assholes but the manifest was a little rude.

Other than that.. Nice place. Definetly for team training..

The best Restaurant/Bar I have ever seen on a dropzone.

Great place, I guess thats why everybody comes here. Everybody was real nice, but being at Deland knowing that even the janitor has thousands of jumps was a little intimidating. Nice facilities, good place to meet new people, plus close to lots of manufacturers.

The unusually poor weather could not spoil my fun at skydive deland. It was great. I just completed my AFF jumps there and even got a few extra jumps in afterwards too. Everyone there was really friendly and helpful but also really professional t'boot. Another good thing about deland is that you are pretty close to the tunnel in Orlando too so even when the weather is bad, you can still "jump." I couldn't recommend this place enough. I'll see you there, cos I'll be back.

Jumped here one day.

Nice friendly staff, good outs for off landings. I hate sitting on the floor, so tend to downgrade for that (just personal preference).

Skydive Deland is a super place lots of room to pack most in A/C. A great bar and resturant. Plenty of room outside, a huge deck for observers etc. I was impressed by the whole thing. Most of all I was treated very well just like one of the family. I get that at every dropzone I visit and I really cherish it.

I went for training and had a very good coach, Jeff. He gave clear instructions and great feedback.
I was not however impressed with some of the others. I did 4 jumps each Sunday for three weeks. During the first 8 jumps, at least one of the students did not have an altimeter. I felt that someone (the instructor) should have checked these students before getting on the plane and heading for altatude.
I expected better for this drop zone.

If you want to jump and jump alot then this is the place to come. I made 9 jumps on Wesnday and got a total of 30 jumps in 4 1/2 days of jumping. Most of the people were freindly with very few exceptions. Some had thier nose up in the air but for the most part you couldn't ask for a finer bunch of folks. I will be back. As soon as I can. But I want to bring more people with me. A+

Being a new AFF student traveling to a new DZ I showed up with beer in hand and was greeted by some of the nicest staff out there. We were set up quick with manifest and decieded to just observe the DZ for a bit. I met up with my main instructor Christine and we went through my jump and reviews and so forth and I was very much impressed with not only her knowledge but also her passion for the sport and for helping others achieve their skydive dreams. Due to the winds I canceled my first attempt in the morning, by early afternoon the winds died to about 10 mph and I set up again, I met Nikki who was the secondary instructor and was just as impressed, we reviewed my entire jump again just to make sure I was ready (this was my level 1 AFF, as they do not recongnize tandem progression) I must say I couldnt have been happier with the entire experience, The jump went perfect in my opinion and great in theirs. The staff really makes you feel great and no one got annoyed at my semi whuffo "no sh!^ there I was... " stories, which as a student is great, it helps to encourage the growth and reaches out to turn other whuffos to the light. I highly recommend this DZ. Regardless if your experienced or looking for your first taste of the sky. CHOOSE DELAND

If you want to do lots of jumps and improve your skills, this is the place to go!!! Many good skydivers and instructors work on this dropzone, this makes it the best place to learn flying.
Various different airplanes guearantee enough slots for everybody, and 19$ for the lift is even pretty cheap.
Doing AFF or tandem jumps you get support right away. But if you have a licence already and just wanna do some written tests, then you'll have a hard time achieving this goal. If it's not for money, the instrucors won't help you.
Another little con is the restaurant. It takes ages to get a simple sub and employees are not nice at all. So if you want to jump and don't like to wait, bring you own lunch!