A group of 11 of us went to Skydive Pennsylvania for a memorial day skydive. We got an appointment about a month in advance because we knew that would be a more popular weekend, and we wanted to make sure that we all got to jump. The day before, we checked the weather report and saw that there would be rain by 1pm, or 2pm at the latest. We called the day of the jump to make sure that it would still go on with the possible weather and the number of us, and were told that it would not be a problem. We arrived at 10:15 just to give us a little more time incase the weather showed up early, and 2 of our group was able to jump before 11am. Then the next four were directed out to the plane, but had to sit next to the plane in their gear and the May heat and humidity for half an hour without an explanation. But they got to go up by noon. The last five were told that they would need to split into two groups because of the plane's size, but that there was a freejump group that was going up before us. We were a little worried about the weather, but it was not even 1pm by that point. However, another group was inserted before us, and we were told that we would definitely be next after them. But then a demo group went up. I talked to the guy that was running it (the owner of 35 years) and asked him when we would go up, because I had been there for three hours already and I was concerned about the weather. He told me not to worry because he "was driving the bus" (he said this repeatedly to anyone that was concerned about being able to go up). This happened a few more times as more groups were put in front of us. Then as the weather was almost on top of us, he decided to stick one of the five of us on the plane that was about to depart to atleast get her up there (this was at 1:30pm). At this point, the owner came over to our group and asked someone to come inside. He showed us the weather radar on the internet and showed us how a storm was coming right up on us, but pointed to a small hole and said there was a possibility that we might be able to get a jump in there (I didnt see how... it was small). And just as the weather forcast predicted the day before, the weather (very heavy rain) came at 2pm. I went up to the owner and told him that I was really disappointed that I had been there for four hours and had seen group after group go in front of me, and only to be told that I was going to be in the next group over and over. I also told him that one of the remaining people in our group was a solider who was now having his Memorial Day skydive rained out. However, the owner did not care to hear about any of this and dismissed us by walking away. At this point, the weather was right over us (as predicted, right on time) and did not look like it was going to break anytime soon (it did not). So we left. It was a waste of a memorial day for us, and one of our service members. It all comes down to terrible management, and could have been avoided if he allowed appointments to come before walk-ins.
