I visited Aerograd Kolomna in June ´06. The place exceeded my expectations. The mastermind behind the Dropzone development certainly knows what western skydivers appreciate. The location is ok (some 110 km South from Moscow) and the dropzone was happy to help with the transportation. The dropzone is a privat compound with several guards on watch. The city of Kolomna is 6 km away from the dropzone. It´s a basic Russian town I guess. Nothing special there and nobody really speaks english. I might say that the most important thing was that I felt safe and welcomed during my stay. The organization was very efficient with lots of friendly staff. The language barrier was a bit of a problem but it didn't really cause any big problems. Jumping felt safe with an experienced load organizer and a doctor on-site. Pilots did the spotting and the manifest was very efficiant. You could easily make 10-15 jumps per day thanks to the quick packers. One anecdote: There's a river right next to the dropzone. If you land on the other side, they´ll send a helicopter to pick you up. (Been there, done that). The spots were accurate (besides the one incident mentioned above) and the landigs (direction, swoop area etc) carefully instructed. The facilities were ramping up. Lots of indoor space, teamrooms, tv´s, internet accesses etc. They had built nice bungalows & bunkhouses. And there was still more to come. Nice clean showers with hot water. The toilets were quite Russian but ok and clean. I was though a bit disappointed by the small cafeteria in a tent. If you were really hungry after a day of jumping you had to head for the city. I guess they are enhancing the restaurant quite soon. I'm sure to visit the place again.
