Skydive Space Center

No one should go here. They are scamming people. Low amount of training. Rude to those doing low jumps. Unfortunate place and unpleasant all around.

Excited about how their website claims to cater to experienced jumpers, I showed up at 1 pm on a sunny Friday afternoon and the place was a ghost town. When I finally found someone, she told me they were done flying for the day. After telling her I was an experienced jumper, She explained that they occasionally allowed solo jumpers who have at least 250 jumps and a C licenses, if they had room on the plane. I enquired about their website and all the amnesties it offers, she told me I must be confused about what drop zone I was at. In conclusion, just don’t waste your time with these people and their dishonest wed site.

My new wife and I are both Skydivers from the Midwest and we decided to drive to Florida for our honeymoon and that we would "hit" dropzones on the way to and home. This DZ was out 3rd planned stop, was VERY EXCITED at the thought of 18k jumps/Shuttle Launch Pad scenery and I am VERY DISAPPOINTED with this place! I asked my wife to call them on a Sunday and ask some questions about our planned stop for Monday. The lady that answered the phone was "a little short at first" but could not answer how much lift tickets were and "encouraged" us to show up on the weekend instead because we probably would not be able fill a load and said "to call in the morning" that they would give us an idea! My thoughts, "WHAT???" Clearly do not care about Skydivers and are in it for the $$$. Was at Skydive the Farm in Georgia on a Wednesday previous and they informed us about this place being a "tandem factory". I also find it very curious reading other Skydiver's similar reviews and that this place "requires" a USPA membership when it clearly seems Skydivers are not welcomed.

I went ahead and rated professionalism neutral because I did not talk to them, Vibe below average because of "tandem factory" kinda kills any vibe, Aircraft excellent because turbines, rest neutral because haven't been there and an overall rating of poor because even thought never been there or talk to them, it was clear we were not welcomed.

Robe

Good location, cool that they are located near the space center. But showed up trying to do a few fun jumps cause it was close to the house. But in order to jump there you need a C license unless you were trained AFF there. I get there point with all the obstructions around the airport but seriously a C?!? The guy at the desk was mostly courteous and professional. They said they only had two loads going up that day all booked and no room for fun jumpers. so needless to say didn't get to jump.

From the initial phone call all the way through AFF the staff were enthusiastic, proffesional and informative.

Even though I had no idea what I was doing the instructors guided me through and taught everything I needed to know at each level. They never got frustrated or lost proffesionalism. They made everything clear and easy to understand, slowly building on the basics.

The entire staff was very friendly and talkative, asking about and commenting on the training, offering advice when they saw something to improve on.

The aircraft was a king (not sure which one) and got to 18k pretty damn fast, the pilot was aslo friendly and experienced. Don't know much about what to look for in a plane yet.

The landing area was great, right next to the other facilities. They have a bunkhouse, drink and snack machines, bathrooms, a small kitchen area, a viewing room I thinks it's called with couch and large tv. I don't know what other DZs have but it was sufficient here.

Coaching was excellent, clear and easy to understand.

I gave a 3 for weather but that is not in the hands of the DZ then decided to put a 4 since it is right next to the Kennedy Space Center and based on the pictures on the walls they jump during shuttle launches

I gave an overall rating of 5, I have nothing to compace Skydive Space Coast to but I hope I have as mich fun in my next DZ as I did here.

Jared

I went to Titusville to do my 100th jump, at 18k. The old hag that is manifest received us with no courtesies and immediately asked how many jumps I had. I told her I wanted to do my 100th there with my friends, we were from out of the country and came to the us to several dz, including SPC. She told me that I couldnt jump because I had to have 125 jumps to be able to jump there. I asked about the number, finding it to be very arbitrary since you cannot upgrade licenses until your 200th. She said it was the owners decision.

Fine. I went to the packing area and spoke to a few cameras and tandem masters to see if they could do anything for me. They were super friendly, but then the hag came again and was a real b#$%h at them for talking to me.

This is a TANDEM FACTORY, its not pretty, manifest not friendly at all, and NOT SKYDIVER FRIENDLY AT ALL!! Most of the nice reviews come from tandem jumpers, and yeah theyre nice because youre paying $300 to jump, but when youre only paying $28 you're not welcome there.

My advice, keep driving and hit up Skd Sebastian, and dont waste your time here.

Skydive SpaceCenter practices unethical business practices. They will not process a refund for ANY reason--even if you live hours away! I wrote to the owner to try and remedy the situation, and did not even get a response back. In my opinion, they are unfair and lack tact in serving their customers. I would not use this company unless you do not mind making several trips to skydive if weather or any other factor would permit you from jumping the first time. In my instance, we lived almost 3 hours away and received such poor service that we will NOT return.

I did my 1st tandem here and absolutely loved it. As a newbie, I noticed very few fun jumpers on the flights and it seemed like they were just "pumping out" the tandems and "fitting in" the veteran jumpers. When I decided to sign up for the AFF course, I realized that this DZ probably caters more to the tandems and may not be the best place for someone like me who likes the atmosphere and friendships of a home DZ. I started my AFF at another Central Florida DZ and am glad I did.

They were very professional and ensured that I was comfortable with my experience. Everyone should do this at least once!!

Friendly people great place, it's worth the price!

I am a B licensed jumper with a lot of experience with Skydive Space Center and wanted to share my story so that you are informed before wasting your time:

I live about 20 minutes away from Skydive Space Center; so naturally I chose this facility to make my first tandem jump. Calling a week in advance to see what I needed to do and bring. They told me I HAD to make a reservation and leave a deposit to be able to jump that Saturday, so I gave my credit card info over the phone and set an appointment for a 9am jump. When I got there at 8:15, they wouldn’t even talk to me until I filled out my 26 page waiver. After that, they took my remaining balance and told me I’d have to wait since there were 20 or so people ahead of me. They didn’t have an appointment and just walked in, but they were there first so I got bumped. Explain to me what good my reservation did me!? It took several hours to get through my tandem and the only interaction I got was a few minutes to get my harness put on and then when the jumpmaster grabbed me to go to the plane. Very impersonal! A year later, I made a second tandem there, and had the exact same issues.
6 months after that, I started my AFF at Skydive Space Center. They were very passive with me, pushing me to the side whenever a tandem showed up. I would sit at the drop zone from 8am to 4pm every Saturday and Sunday, and would get but 1 or 2 jumps in all weekend. They cater to tandems and treat everyone else like garbage. Once I completed my 7 AFF jumps and was cleared for solo, it became next to impossible to get on a load. It took me 9 months to get my 25 jumps for my A license. That’s not to mention that they refused to do my required hop-n-pop. Thankfully their pilot, Andrew, who was also doing his AFF, helped me out and put me out at 3500 on the dot. The problem was that there was not one instructor who would explain the jump procedure to me. Unknowingly, I made a head first exit from the King Air and had a difficult time getting stable to deploy. I was VERY low when I finally did get under canopy.
Greg fired Andrew a few years back and hired a new pilot who hates to fly, so the plane sits until they have a full load manifested. At least Andrew would push manifest to send him up and he got the loads moving. This new guy will get pissed off when he has to make the jump run. They force you out as fast as possible and refuse to make 2 passes. There’s no jump order other tan fun jumpers before tandems. Forget formation jumps because they will bump you off the load of a tandem shows up. Typically, you may see 1 or 2 fun jumpers on a load, but rarely more, and never a fun-jumpers-only load. Their gear rentals are very limited and worn pretty bad. Most of the time, at least 2 or 3 of the 5 rental rigs are in for service. Alan is their senior rigger. He’s a good guy and he’ll try to help, but they hound him to pack all the tandem rigs and he gets too busy to help because Greg won’t let him stop for even a minute. All the jumpmasters are big-ego sky-gods who won’t waste their time talking to you. Anytime I asked a question, even during AFF, they would glare at me and laugh like I’m stupid.
Early in 2009, they started a new rule of no fun jumpers M-F, so I could no longer try to make an afternoon jump in-week. They also cut their operating hour’s way down. The second the last tandem is completed and there are no more waiting to go up, they shut down for the day. I mean roll the plane in, lock the doors, and go home. It could be 1 in the afternoon and they’ll still close up. Nobody wants to be there and it’s obvious!
Once I got through my first 25 jumps and took my A license test, I was completely fed up with wasting 2 full days in a hanger where nobody will talk to you and only making 2 jumps. I began making the 1.5 hour drive to Skydive City at Z-hills and have made it my home. You can show up, manifest, get rental gear and be on a load in 15 minutes. TK and the entire staff in Z-hills are the best and everyone is quick to welcome new jumpers. I got my B-license at Z-hills and am hereto warm anyone considering Skydive Space Center to stay away! Keep in mind that Greg, the owner of Skydive Space Center, also owns Skydive Jacksonville and Monterey Bay California. His tandems-only policy and anti-skydiving attitude carry through in Jacksonville, and I can only assume the same for Cali. Jumpers beware!

Having grown up the son of professional skydivers, and having been to many drop zones around the country, i can honestly say this is one of the best drop zones in the country. When my friends said they wanted to go skydiving while we were on vacation in Florida, i found the drop zone nearest to us which happened to be Skydive Space Center. When we arrived we were treated with the utmost respect and kindness and spent much of the day conversing with the owners Greg and Patty. What i liked the most is that without knowing my background in skydiving, they did not treat us like customers, they still treated us like friends. On top of that the jumps and the view were nothing short of amazing and my friends and I had a great time! They all knew what they were doing and I would recommend this drop zone to anyone in the area.

testestesetestest

I am new to the skydiving industry and only came for a tandem skydive. My family came with me and we were thinking to have 3 other people jump with me since I had a Gift Certificate. I just stumbled across this site so I hope many people read it.
Had a long terrible day and people were rude.
I will never jump here again. I sat here all day and was the first one here with my family. They lost my paperwork as it was a gift certificate, even though I had my original. There was awoman there that was no help and my wife said she was the one that booked my Gift Certificate!!! The woman in the office booth was even less help. The owners had no compassion even when the woman finally found their copy and failed to take responsability. I would never recomend anyone here. It was the worst experience I have had in a long time. I feel they didnt even care if we jumped or not... they already had our money and could care less. Then there was this little wierd kid who did my video named Eric who kept trying to hit on my wife, I almost smacked his little ass in the head for being a punk!!! But I thought he wold have broken like a twig.....I am from Ireland and I tell you this... No Europeans or anyone should jump here for that matter. I just here last year but again I just found this site.. Great site. Don't jump here, you will be sorry.

I finished my AFF Saturday; and so I figured to do some justice to some of the comments that I read here. Again, lets put one thing to bed: I am not an experienced jumper and I have only been at this DZ a total of 5 times; so I don't consider myself a regular either. So here we go...

-Professionalism: Here are my observations,

1. Rigger: Yes, I have observed people being ignored; particularly when coming to "small talk" the rigger as he packs parachutes. For this he gets an A+. He is probably the hardest working individual in this DZ.

2. Tandem Instructors: Focused. Very little small talk between them and/or visitors, between jumps and preparations. When is time to go, they focused on one student and 'summarily' ignore everyone in the surroundings except that one student. Sometimes, too serious about their job. For this they get an A-.

3. Videographers: They give you all the fun, take pictures of you and your friends together. In the ground they are your psychologists making you forget about your nervousness. In the sky, they are your smile... Need not to say more, A+

4. Reservations: This lady has the up-most patience... particularly on my umpteenth call needing to reschedule... A+

5. Manifest: Personnel gets an A; equipment to ease their job C- bordering on a D. They need to use some type of computer software to sort out the loads and make changes more easily. Recommendation: leaf evaluation software.

-Vibe: Friendly, professional, serious and focused. If they are doing something, like packing parachutes, for obvious reasons don't expect to get full attention.

-Aircraft: I jumped from 2 king airs, the pink and the purple. the pink gets a B, the purple gets a A+. The purple reached altitude much faster, and it felt completely comfortable ride. the pink rocks a little. although it could have been the day...

-Facilities:
1. Mens bathroom; 4 functional toilets, 1 out of service. It be nice to have a fully working bathroom
2. Shading: a temporary tent to survive the florida summer heat would be a major improvement; specially before the summer starts.


-Services: Tandem service is great(A). AFF is awesome, they will point your weak points with humor and correct you with patience and without rushing you(A+). But yes, from my observation more versatility for fun jumpers could give it more exposure to the world. Then again, if from a business perspective does not make sense; then stick to what makes the place run steadily.

-Location: Great space coast view. Great shuttle runway and assembly building view. Depending on your eyesight, good shuttle launch pad view. Plenty of space to land for students.

Best thing I have learned here... "In skydiving slow is fast and fast is sloppy.... "

Dean-awesome dude. Explained me everything in detail about the tandem jump. Was not scared at all going up, but when it was time to jump, LOL, thats where the fun began. Well point is, the whole staff there at skydive space center are the best. Just follow what they ask of you and you will be fine. I still need to do the 18,000 jump. LOL

I would have to say that I really enjoy jumping at this drop zone. Weekends are best, and yes, they cater to tandems as that is their largest source of income, as it is a business after all. With that said, their aircraft is a very quick ride to altitude (King Air). Often they do 18 K, but if they don't your gonna get 15-16 K anyway! I have not had any bad experiences here with attitude, or maybe that's just me.

I don't know how you can give negative reviews about this drop zone, because I have found the staff there are very friendly and helpful. The instructors are excellent and very helpful and answer all your questions. I had read the previous reviews before going to this drop zone, and I must say, I'm glad that I paid no attention to them. I love jumping at skydive space center and would recommend it to all. its a very well run drop zone.

If you come here to pound out jump numbers you've come to the wrong place. I went to the DZ on a Teusday and was told I may be able to get on a load or two. I got on two loads.

Not sure what all the complaints are about below, but I thought they were very friendly and helpful. Yes, they cater to Tandems but that's what keeps the plane up in the air. I really enjoyed the place and the scenery from altitude was amazing! Simply call ahead if you go out on a weekday and see what they have scheduled. Who can blame them for not taking a King Air up for a couple of up-jumpers? You're nuts if you don't think they need some Tandems on the load.

One giant clique. I was there for 20 minutes waiting in line before I was told my B License was not good enough. WTF? It is a large airport with plenty of landing space, so it is pretty clear that they are in it for tandems and $$$. Was really looking forward to the 18 grand but I guess that won't happen. Being in between DeLand and Sebastian, though, it is just a matter of time before the doors close and another unfriendly DZ is gone for good.

I showed up there this morning with the hope of sneaking on their King Air if they had tandems on their books. The owner had posted a sign on the door that said they DO NOT ALLOW FUN JUMPERS mon-fri.
I wish they would have had this on their dropzone.com listing and on their website. When I visited their site there was no mention of hours of operations.
This is the second time I've shown up and haven't been able to jump despite great weather.
Simply put the great pricing to great altitude on their dropzone.com listing is not what it's cracked up to be if they won't even let you on the plane.

Go to Z-hills or Deland for a good time!

Went here once and that was it.First the staff was not very friendly.Second it takes awhile to jump if they have no tandem jumpers.This place is only for the tandem jumpers.They only take the tandems up to 18k.They even make the tandem jumpers wait almost all day to jump.They want to fill the airplane with as much tandems as they can.This may not be true but this is the way I saw it.
The jumpmasters are to elite to help.I asked a jump master for a pin check.He told me to ask someone else.He said he was sorry he was busy with a tandem.Funny thing the tandem was still in the classroom.He was not in a rush he had plenty of time to check the gear that i rented from his DZ.I got alittle mad.So i went to the owner Greg and told him.He told me that i should know if my gear is good or not.All i wanted was a pin check.This place i belive is for the regulars who jump here.I did not feel at home here.The gear they rent could use some major upgrades.Also the pilot who flew us was playing around in the airplane.To me that kind of stuff is dangerous.It was just a fun joke for us but still.Anything can happen if your not safe.If you jump here be careful.Use and trust your traing.

A note on the ratings I gave: Since I didn't jump on the day I visited, the services part I would have rated 'not applicable', and so chose 3 as a middle ground.

This place was disappointing. A friend and I were at a conference at Lake Buena Vista and had gone on a mini-road trip to see some of Florida, including a local dz. The place was not busy which I thought was a good thing so that questions could be asked in a non-rushed atmosphere. I introduced myself to one of the staff as a jumper from Canada, on holidays in the area, and was summarily ignored.

OK, so next there was a video being shown of a tandem that had just landed. My friend had never jumped so this was a perfect opportunity to see what she would be in for. After watching the video the same staff member who had ignored me asked my friend if she was going to do a tandem. Her smiling reply was a nervous "I don't know yet". She was then dismissed by this person.

I asked what the prices were and someone else just pointed to the wall where there was a price list. No smiles. No questions about whether we wanted to see the rest of the facility or find out more about the dz.

Basically the vibe I got was that it was an exclusive club, with tandems being the bread and butter to support it. There was no feeling of being welcomed and I left with the thought of never giving them my money next time I'm in Florida.

I'm an experienced jumper who's spent time at dz's on both coasts of the US and Canada. I probably would not have written this review (and just never gone there again), except for my friend's impressions and comments. For someone to get up the nerve to do their first jump, drive to a dz and be treated poorly is no way to market the sport.

One day my friend and I decide to try something different, so we go to Space Center so we can do a jump from 18,000.

After signing the typical waivers, we then got to read and sign this very friendly list of things telling us what we'd be banned from the DZ by doing: "If you open below 2500, we'll ground you! That means fully open!"; "Exit order is freeflyers first, period! If you don't like it, you can leave!"; "The green light means go! Don't spot, don't worry about clouds, just go!"; etc.

During the entire day, not a single jumper approached us to say hi, nor did they even acknowledge us. Apparently they all had important Sky God things to take care of and were too busy.

The King Air is amazing. But most of the jumpers didn't seem to care about exit order in relation to group size and pull altitude. As long as freeflyers went first, that's all that mattered. The result was people in freefall passing others under canopy.

Also, here is how jump run works: everyone get out as fast as they can with the least separation between groups so you have at least a somewhat decent chance of making it back to the airport (they refuse to do more than one pass). Combine that with the complete disregard to a safe exit order, and you have jumpers in freefall falling Very close to people under canopy.

It was also not nice to see the King Air flying about 4000 ft directly below me during one of my jumps.

Perhaps the only "safety feature" I liked was the fairly large landing area. Picture Z-Hills without the peas. The result is that you don't have 15 people all trying to cram into the same area during landing.

But overall, I hardly felt safe in the least bit throughout the entire day.

On the plus side, the manifest lady was very nice. She worked with my friend and I so we could get on an 18000 load, even though their weren't any tandems on that load.

The view is gorgeous as well, right along the coast line.

Overall, it definitely was not the most fun day we'd ever had. The 18000 jump was fun, but not worth the constant feeling of being in danger. Unless we have an absolute, burning desire to jump from 18000, we probably wont head back to Space Coast again.

The owner chooses to put freeflyers out first, and short, and refuses to discuss exit orders. At this dropzone if your not a sky god, you will be ridiculed by the staff for doing something wrong. Which means they laugh at you for insisting belly fliers should exit first. I have personally picked up skydivers in the next town, because they insist on a one pass rule! The altitude is awesome, but I only recommend this dropzone to people who can spot themselves very well, or people who don't mind being charged for refusing to exit on Mr. Nardi's command, be it from the ground, or pilot seat.
It amazes me that the positive reviews of this drop zone are primarily from, inexperienced jumpers. Then the comment from "experienced" jumpers about the golf carts, picking people up is ludacris. Experienced jumpers do not like golf carts in the landing area. This comment seems fishy, as well as the comment about not having profiles, on positive reviews. I've heard from one pilot/jumpmaster that worked their recently, that he had severly broken his leg when someone in a golf cart, at Skydive Space Center, pulled in front of him while he was landing a tandem. The fact that this is the most written about DZ in Florida seems suspicious in it self. Other dropzones are much more busy, I assume because of the experienced jumpers that prefer better places to skydive. It seems the people who are in the know in Florida, can clearly dictate the best places to skydive. Some of the things I have heard are very scary, but I only speak of the things I have first hand knowledge of.