Saratoga Skydiving Adventures

This is strictly a tandem driven DZ. If you are a fun jumper you may never get on a lift. Internal politics, conspiracy theories, and swearing abound. This is a perfect location for a thriving Cessna DZ, but current management prevents growth. This drop zone needs to be purchased by others.

The instructor that was the cause of some of the poor reviews on past has been let go. The instructors that now work at dz are awesome. Everyone there is extremely friendly and you will have an amazing time. Tandems rarely have to wait unless the weather is bad. Experienced jumpers usually can get on a tandem load and if not there are plenty of local fun jumpers who will gladly come out to make a jump with you

The student before me had a rough landing. It should have been a sign.
Instructor came in too fast and at the wrong angle. Ended up with a fractured vertebrae. 6-8 weeks in a back brace and hopefully full recovery in 3 months. Lost 3 weeks of work. Hopefully no permanent damage. Lucky I was paralyzed.
Wish I had read some of these reviews before jumping here.
Never again!

In response to the previous review. The individual that posted has less than 50 jumps Shows up at the dz with the same old new jumper mentality coupled with a fresh commission in the Navy On his FIRST jump he exits the plane over half a mile past the spot only to open low (about 2000 ft) and lands off the DZ. He WAS taken aside and given a stern warning not to do so again. Sorry that you had to wait a whole hour to go up on another jump on your subsequent visit Poor thing. Guess you've never had to wait to make a jump before. As for the altitude you exited at. Well. Everyone else knew it was a hop n pop. Why didn't you ? As for making downwind landings. If you were taught the only "safe" landing is into the wind you have a big surprise coming Most likely in the form of an extended hospital stay or worse, the morgue. As for the practice "handle" you speak of. Know your role newbie. Once you get a rating then your opinion may count. But for now you're just another whining bitchy fun jumper that is having a tantrum because he didn't get his way. Go to the ranch and see what happens there when you pull the same things you have here. Your business is not welcome here "Matt". It egos like yours that we try and avoid because those are the ones mostly likely to be injured or killed Stop acting like a whiny child because you didnt get your way Best of luck

Saratoga skydiving at first was going to be the DZ for me due to its close proximity. But as I went to the DZ a couple times to jump, I realized that I could not continue jumping here. The packing area is very small, and very dirty. The planes are old and in need of updating. If these 2 alone were fixed I might be able to go back as a fun jumper. Other issues I encountered were through their resident "expert" Jimmy. I received a lot of grief from Jimmy due to me opening low and landing off on my first jump at the DZ (which I did open low, I will admit that). But the week after, I waited around for an hour being told that the next load up was going to altitude, but never did. When we finally went up, only to 4.5k, I was on a load with a static line student where Jimmy was the instructor. Prior to the jump, he decided to get high. Apparently, he also does this with tandems. After his static jumped and then him, I did. After I pulled and started making my way back, he landed downwind, when he didn't need to. I was always told that landing downwind was a serious no-no, and still maintain that mentality. On top of all this, the student who was doing the static line jumps, did at least seven jumps as a static line, and almost failed the jump that I witnessed, based solely on the fact that the practice puller fell out in the plane, that Jimmy made 3 minutes before the plane took off because he forgot. All in all, don't go here. I am really surprised they have been in business so long. They are unsafe, unprofessional, and not fun to be around. Wait until the weekend and go to Adirondack Skydiving adventures, or take the hit in gas and go to the ranch instead. I will not be visiting Saratoga again unless I hear that Jimmy has left.

I want to Thank Saratoga Skydiving Adventures for an AWESOME experience on my first jump. If you want to jump I SERIOUSLY recommend them. Everyone needs to remember that your jump is dependent on the weather conditions. These people are professionals and will not put you at risk, nor themselves. They show you a GREAT time. I will jump again and it will be with Saratoga Skydiving. Thanks guys it was AWESOME!!

I wrote the below email to the person who posted a bad review of this company in July 2011.

"My wife and I drove up from nyc and stayed in saratoga for the wknd. We scheduled a noon jump at saratoga skydiving on sat. We paid 285 and they told us to wait. After 5 hours of waiting I was getting upset. I then found your review online (wish I read it before I ever went there) and went to the local police and called up bob on my cell (while a state trooper was standing next to me) and asked for my money back since the jump was not going to happen and we had to leave the next morning. Bob vehemently refused and then I told bob that "my friend" would like to talk to you. "My friend" said bob this is state trooper bowers and you didn't provide a service so give this man his money back. Still bob wouldn't budge giving every excuse in the book. I filed a police report and the trooper is going to pay bob a visit next week. I am also sending a letter (as suggested by the owner of the bed and breakfast we stayed at) to the president of the saratoga chamber of commerce.

Did you ever receive your $ back?

Thanks for your review!"

Saratoga Sky Diving Adventures is NOT the place anyone should choose to sky dive. The owner has NO concept of customer service and I wasted an enormous amount of my time, MONEY, and gas (partly having to drive from Albany to exit 16). My boyfriend and I heard about Saratoga Sky Diving Adventures through friends and acquaintances. When we decided to go on June 5th 2011 we were so excited to make our first jump, we wanted video and pictures to capture the moment. We originally paid for a separate jumper to go up in the plane and video us by jumping first and capturing us falling out of the plane and our parachutes opening up, along with the landing. We could not go on the 5th due to weather so we continued to schedule other dates. The other days we were asked to go up there by the OWNER of Saratoga Sky Diving he failed to schedule a video guy and basically said just jump without a video. We continued to waste more money and time for 5 weeks trying to jump. The last time we tried to jump on July 10th 2011 they failed to tell us on the phone after I specifically asked if there was a separate jumper to provide video. We drove up there to find out that they no longer offered that “type of video” and only had “hand cam” (a camera on the jumper’s wrist attached to you). We then asked the owner Bob for a full refund because he would no longer offer the services we originally paid for and he said NO. When I asked to discuss further with him and possibly come to an agreement that would be good for the both of us he was too CHILDISH and LEFT the premises for the day completely. I would NEVER refer this establishment to ANYONE.

Please, if you are thinking about going to Saratoga Sky Diving Adventures (which is also under the same ownership of Duaensburg) DO NOT, learn from my experience and save you’re money, time, and energy.

It was first time for my sister and I doing the tandem jump. I did not like the pull right after the parachute opened up. However, the entire experience was worth every penny. We will do it again :)

This is my first place to jump there for first time and it was awesome ! I was little nervous but after I got on plane I got relaxed because the skydive master told me not to worry about it and it s my job everyday so I know what I am doing which it helped me feel better about that. They are awesome and very nice people .This is forever to remember for first time jumping out of plane.

Some of New York's Finest tandem instructors are at this DZ! I have to say they did a fantastic job on my video with music and everything. I felt safe with the instructor because he explained to me in detail what to do, and what not to do. These are great people here and it's an experience that I'll remember for a lifetime. I'm coming back to join their training program.