CSC - Chicagoland Skydiving Center

I’ve gone to skydiving here twice. The first time was great but the second was horrible. We went for my grandmas 80th bday so it was supposed to be a blast, but the guy I jumped with made it a terrible experience !

Right when we got paired up together he gave me a really hard time for wearing jeans and continued to poke fun at me sky diving in jeans the entire time. Then I tried to make small talk with him and said how he’s really got the best job... his response was, I live at the campground here on-site and party my ass off every night mon-fri and jump during the day. I’m living the dream.... Not exactly what I wanna hear before I jump out of a plane with a guy!

The biggest problem I had with this jump tho was the lack of communication on the game plan before jumping. He told me that he was going to put my hand on the pull lever when it was time to pull the parachute... well we jumped and he did this soon after so I asked, Should I pull?! Apparently he said not yet but at 120mph I thought he said Go Ahead! As soon as I pulled, he goes F*CKK and really made me freak out that something went wrong... he was pretty ticked off. I was asking what was wrong and he said you just blew all your free fall. He ended up cork screwing down so fast that I got sick. I had to ask him to please stop spinning so fast, which he got upset about because he said If we didn’t we would be up in the air for a half hour. 
Anyways, long winded but I played it off like I had a good experience because the day was about my grandma and her skydiving experience at 80 years old! I didn’t want to make it a big issue of it but this dive was a really sucky experience. Just feel like it should be submitted on here. I hope others don’t get that same tandem partner that I got. 

Only reason I give it 2 stars is because the facility is nice and the bar was fun. 

I first came to CSC in 2015 for a tandem with friends and loved the facility so much we booked again for that summer.

Fast forward to April 2018 and I decided to go through AFF to get my A license. Carlos Ortiz & Mike Klashna were excellent instructors! I blazed through AFF and had my A license in a little over 6 days on the drop zone. I have since been fun jumping as work allows and am up to 48 jumps.

Facility: Super clean and well maintained. I have stayed in the team rooms multiple times over the last month and they are always clean with fresh linens. The (4) shower rooms are also large and nicer than most 5 star hotels offer. The Flight Deck restaurant on site has fantastic food! There are RV spots when available and always room for camping.

Hangar: They have two large packing areas, rubber mats, and ample weights to hold down your rig. There are multiple viewing TV's for GoPro's and manifest screens spread throughout the hangar. The beer fridge is usually well stocked for after jumping as well!

Landing areas: There are three large main landing areas along with ample outs in case of a bad spot or other issues. The areas are kept well groomed and soft grass abounds. They have staff on site watching for off landings and will send a buggy or car to pick up any jumper who lands off.

Staff: The staff working the front desk and manifest has always been helpful. All of the instructors are super helpful and more than willing to help a new jumper or experienced jumper alike. I gathered countless tips from Jo and all the other great people on site. The DZO, Doug, is easily approachable and a lover of the sport.

Rigging: The onsite master rigger Andi is great at what she does and can answer any questions with gear you have. The turn around time on reserve repacks is also good. There are multiple packers available every day of operations. All you need do is flag one down and ask for a pack job. Pack tickets are available through manifest.

Aircraft: They are currently only operating a Cessna C-208B Super Grand Caravan daily but bring in other aircraft for events. This supervan holds 18 jumpers and will fly with 8 fun jumpers or more. They will also fly if there are any tandems as well. There is a large community of fun jumpers on site all season long, so loads turn quickly all day.

Gear Shop: The Rock Sky Market is a fully stocked gear shop. They carry all the main brands and a lot of smaller specialty items as well.

Overall: High quality drop zone that I would recommend to anyone looking for a great place to jump, whether it's your first tandem or your new home drop zone for the season. Blue Skies Everyone!

This is an awesome dropzone! Great staff, loft and planes! Jumpers are super friendly! The packers are rude and will skip over you to pack other jumpers gear and I'm not sure why, maybe a super secret tip program that I don't know about yet. Anyway I love jumping here but think the pro packers suck by playing favorites and there are no regular canopy classes only third party trainers that teach groups versus 1 on 1 like I got at Perris.

I am on a now 7000 plus mile trip on a motorcycle and CSC was my first stop. From start to finish my experience could not have been better. Even with the clouds setting in we had a good time. My plan was to make one jump at each DZ and move on. This place was so amazing I ended up making 3 jumps and really thought I could end my trip right were it started. Amazing staff from manifest to experienced jumpers. Thank you all so much for making the start of my trip so amazing. I will be back no doubt!

Awesome place, I got my A license here. Money well spent, this facility is the safest and most professional that I have ever seen. Plus they have a really good restaurant attached called the Flight Deck Bar and Grill. I definitely recommend if you pick any skydiving place in the Midwest this one should be your pick.

I have never been skydiving before but it has been on my bucket list for quite some time now. So when Charity Skydive offered a free skydive for raising funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundations, I jumped all over it. Why not ¡§jump out of a perfectly good airplane¡¨ for such a great cause?!?! I am glad I did because it was the best experience I have ever had. From the time I walked in the door at Chicagoland Skydiving Center, I witnessed excellence customer service! The facility was immaculate along with their staff. My instructor (Buzz) that I did a tandem jump with was really nice and explained everything to me, making my jump more enjoyable. I also purchased a video and photos considering this was my first jump and I wanted to remember that day forever and I am glad I did because the video and photos were amazing thanks to my camera guy Chris. Once I got to the ground I enjoyed their amazing food and beer. My overall experience at CSC was so great that I plan on making my second jump this August. I recommend all to try skydiving and do it at CSC!! ƒº

The staff at CSC is extremely friendly and knowledgeable. The facility was great with a really good bar and grill to hang out in before and after the jump. My tandem instructor Paul was a great coach and my camera guy did an awesome job with my photos and video (worth the price and then some!). Definitely check this place out whether you're a first-timer or an experienced thrill seeker.

I first jumped at CSC last summer and was completely impressed to say the least.

As soon as I arrived I was welcomed by the staff and after completing paperwork and gear checks I was personally taken to mainfest where I was introduced to the manifest staff and given a thorough briefing of the DZ and landing area.

As a low numbers jumper and not there with friends I was introduced to Rich Madsen, who was doing low numbers load organizing that day. What a treat! Rich was amazing and an awesome guy to jump with. In all we did six jumps and I did one solo, all in just a few hours!

This is a full service DZ with everything that a skydiver could want. Doug Smith and his staff are top notch and they have created a spectacular place to jump and hang out.

CSC is a fantastic dropzone! The facilities are amazing. They have a huge packing area, super clean bathrooms, and an on-site restaurant with terrific food! The staff is friendly and so are the jumpers.

They have discounted jump days on Wednesdays, and the rigging loft is run by a highly skilled rigger.

Just come here and check it out for yourself.

I made my first AFF-Solo jump here and continued my training in fall of 2011. I couldn't wait so I followed my AFF instructor to Florida over the winter to finish my A-License and came back in the spring to get my jump on! And, OH WHAT FUN I HAD!!! I learned so much throughout the 2012 season, through courses, camps, wind-hold chats, bon-fire chats, boogies, trips to the local Mexican resturant, Dinner at the on-the-DZ-resturant/bar called the Flight Deck Bar and Grill ... there is no wonder why I call this place my home DZ. And, did I mention the showers? They are so spacious and clean; always having lots of hot water. The music is always playing, the packing area is always clean, the manifest is always friendly and accommodating. The only thing that would make this place better is if I owned a better trailer in the on-site RV park so that I could live on the DZ and work from my RV using the super fast WiFi internet access available to all guests. If you are visiting, they have FREE camping for tent campers and reasonable fees for the RV park slots/hookups or, if you prefer, there are hotels/motels in nearby Rochelle where you can obtain "Skydiver Discounts" for rooms. Come and see why I just love this place!

We recently arranged a 4-day training camp for my 8-way team at CSC. After initially trying to organize the camp at a different DZ and getting nowhere, CSC stepped up on very short notice, helping us with last-minute accommodation arrangements and stellar support from the dropzone. The Twin Otter was excellent and turned frequently to get all our training jumps in. The packers were efficient. The landing area is large and obstruction free. The facilities were great, not to mention shiny and new. The staff were extremely easy to work with and eager to please. There are very few dropzones where I've had as positive an experience as we had with CSC and I would highly recommend it to fun jumpers and teams alike.

On very short notice, our team changed our plans for our 3 1/2 day training camp to go to CSC from another dz. The CSC staff bent over backwards to help accommodate us. They even helped book our hotel rooms. Everyone was extremely friendly and they did everything they could to keep us in the air. In total we did 39 out of our 42 planned jumps and only fell short because of a little bad weather at the close of one day. We highly recommend this dropzone to other teams.

I'm a first time tandem jumper, almost 60 years old! I always wanted to do this and with the help of a Groupon, I did it. I got rescheduled twice due to the weather, but the third times a charm!!! I jumped with Rudy and had Carmen as the photographer. What a rush!!! I felt absolutely conmfortable with their kindness and professionalism. The equipment and the plane were top notch as was the "orientation". The jump was everything I'd hoped for and more. And the video which was ready in 10 minutes was well woth the price. This IS the place to jump!!!

Jackson was my jumper, and he made the expierence so much fun! I asked him for a "crazy ride" and he made it AMAZING! I was scared but he made me feel safe the entire way! Buzz was my camera man and he was SO much fun! He did a beautiful job and the video was amazing to show ppl and it was ready (cut to music) in 5 minutes! I recomend getting the video! Perfect day, fun people, and the best suprise gift I have ever given! I loved it!

What an amazing facility, and it's still under construction! The staff and jumpers were incredibly welcoming. We brought a small group of 12 to their dz of fun jumpers and they immediately brought us into their world! The front staff was great! They had our names memorized after our first manifest! Kudo's! The DZO was incredibly friendly, giving a tour of his facility! Thanks again from the Yo Mama's!

Ben

I love this place! Very nice people. My instructor/tandem partner was Woody and he was as nice as could be, asked if i had any questions and made me feel very comfortable to jump out of a plane with him. This was my first time skydiving and i jumped at 9000. Next time i go it will be at 14000.

I took my first jump at CSC 2 years back and LOVED it. I have seen the progress of their new facilities and I can tell that this upcoming year is going to be an amazing one out there. Great prices and savings for college students. I would highly recommend CSC to anyone that is looking to jump!

The only place to skydive. Friendly people and staff - no skygods!

If you are licensed and looking to jump...look elsewhere. When I showed up there this year, there were really no experienced jumpers around to jump. Visited SDC the next day and the talent was like night and day. If you are looking to do a tandem, CSC is great! If you are a licensed skydiver and you would like to do anything more than a two way, you might want to consider another DZ in the midwest.

My Wife and I chose CSC as the place to do our Tandem Jump. Very friendly and professional staff. The Instructors were very knowledgeable from watching the informative video, the harness, and how to make your Tandem a wonderful experience. The video and picture quality were fantastic. This was at there new temporary facility in Rochelle, IL. The new one that they are planing at this locations looks like its going to be very nice. Look forward to going back again.

The staff were professional in every facet. Explained what to expect and had a very positive attitude about everything. Excellent!!! Jacko,who was both the instructor and my tandem partner made the experience great. Have recommended it to several others who have signed up and had the same experience.

I had a great time at Chicagoland Skydive Center. I thought that people, especially the tandem jumpers, were awesome. They made you feel very comfortable and helped you through my nerves. It was my 2nd time jumping and the guy I jumped with wanted me to have a great experience for my 2nd jump. And I certainly did! I will definitely be jumping with CSC again!

That was my first skydiving. I was extremely nervous the day before and on my way to the DZ. The fear was gone when I got to CSC, everyone was very nice, friendly and welcoming.The staff was very professional, my instructor Woody was great, he patiently explained all instructions and made me feel safe.I will remember this jump forever! It was an amazing experience, I'll be back for more, hopefully soon. I highly recommend SCS to everyone!

Thank you guys (especially Woody and Nathan) for the most exciting 6 minutes in my life!
Warning: skydiving can be addictive!!!

Best dropzone ever!! I will definitely come back here for sure!

I'm older and not as flexible as I used to be and yet these people made it a WONDERFUL experience. I love their positive upbeat attitudes and kidding around even with the older clients like me.
I disagree with the guy who complained about not being close to Chicago and yet still being called Chicagoland. Are you kidding!? How insignificant. I send Chicago hot dogs to family in Ohio but just because the dog is in Ohio doesn't mean it's no longer a Chicago dog.

I encourage anyone to go do this if at all possible. Just be aware --if the wind or clouds don't cooperate, you will not go up when you might think you're going. Patience is a must. Games and socializing are available.