I moved to Atlanta shortly after completing my AFF course in Z-hills. ASC was the shortest drive, so I headed out there for a checkout dive -- a repeat of AFF Level IV. I arrived at about 1100, and the DZ was pretty busy; they were having a 4-way competition. After a long wait at the check in window, I paid them $150 cash for my jump, and headed to the manifest window, where I was told I'd be on load 25...problem was, they were only on load 15 or 16...no problem, I understand things get busy. By about 3 pm, (4 hours after I arrived), I was getting tired of waiting, and doing some math, figured out that my load wouldn't get called before sunset, so I went to the window to get my cash back. I was told that they didn't give refunds, even though they couldn't get me on a load that day, they would only give me a raincheck. After I vehemently expressed my displeasure, they magically found a spot on the next load for me. Since this first jump, I've jumped there about 15 times, simply because of the convenience, but after recent trips back to Z-Hills, Deland, and Eloy, I'm pretty sure I'll never jump there again. The whole atmosphere is one of disorganization -- I watched one of the regulars swoop the spectator area and scare the shit out of some people not once, but twice. Oh, yeah, and the pilot ran their C-182 out of gas on a ferry flight and had to put it in a field...I'm a pilot myself, and that's inexcusable, but he still works there... I think my wife had the right idea -- she refused to jump there within 10 minutes of walking in the door. On the plus side, there are some genuinely nice people that work there, but until they get things wired a little better, I'd give it a pass.
