WNY Skydiving

Like others have mentioned, skydiving is AMAZING and everyone should do it. However, I would go with a different outfitter. Our group had 4 jumpers and each ordered the video package. We were scheduled to begin the whole process at 12 pm. We arrived on time and preparation for the jump took MAYBE 30 minutes. We were then told that we need to wait for the plane to be ready. After waiting for maybe 30 minutes, we were told that 2 of our group members would have to jump alone in order to save time and speed up the process. We weren’t really given a choice about this matter rather than told that two of us will be jumping alone but we didn’t mind because we wanted to speed up the process. After maybe another 30 minutes, one group member was called up for his jump. As he was walking to his plane, the plane «broke down» which meant that they had to go to the store and buy parts in order to fix it. This was not reassuring about safety or about professionalism of this place. You would think that they would have spare parts or a way to fix this process. From this point until our jump, we waited for probably 6 hours, while people who came before us got to go in front of us, friends of the operator went on SEVERAL jumps, and we were just sitting in our straps waiting for any confirmation or information. All 4 people in our group ended up somehow going at different times completely and each had to endure hours of waiting either before or after the jump for the rest of the group. The weather was amazing all day and was a non-​factor for this chaos. All in all, our group spent 8 hours at the facility, without so much as a sorry from the employees. The facility is also really small, dirty, and unorganized. One of the planes had duct tape holding something together inside. The quality of the video and pics is really good (get this package!) and Bob was a great instructor. Its a shame, because skydiving was unbelievable but the whole organization of this place is out of control. I cant wait to go again at a different facility because this place pretty much tried ruin our experience…

This is a line of bull. No one needs to understand the process of aviation when poor business practices are prevalent. My observations of the same are as follows:
1) The girls in charge of scheduling was more concerned with ordering pizza and buying pumpkins to throw from planes then actually getting flights off the ground.
2) There was a plane that was not running. According to the staff, this was because they had just got a new plane and had been using it more. The old plane hadn’t been started for week. The battery was dead and kept dying. After 4 hours it finally took off. This is something that could have been easily dealt with before the day before.
3) Tim was rude pretty much the whole day. In fact, he said that they would come right back as soon as the weather improved. They left to throw pumpkins from planes as the skies were the clearest they had been since it started raining.
4) I understand that they are at the whims of the weather like the rest of us. However, they use this as a justification to keep your money. Sadly, this really seems to impact their customer service as they really do not seem to give a shit.
5) I partially take that last part back. I watched Tim ask his instructors if they are willing to finally take Laura and her friend up for a jump. After about 7 minutes of «no I won’t do jumps that short» or «its too cold.» I definitely give props to Bob. Everyone that jumped with him had a blast. If you do end up going to here, jump with Bob. Also, Bob lands on his feet so be ready.
6) They kept asking if we want to reschedule, we kept saying no. The jump would’ve gone off at least 3 hours earlier rather than at 6 pm. It really seems like they try to discourage you from jumping when it is an inconvenience.
In conclusion, check out some other reviews and places before dedicating yourself to this business. If you do decide to go, pay the day of because you won’t get your money back and you will have to force them to take you up.
P. S. There was a small foot platform on their strut that they had to keep kicking into place before they finally took it off. This following an incident they laughed about earlier in the summer when a piece of equipment fell off the plane. I think that should be enough said.

First off– skydiving is incredible. Highly recommended! However, I would not return to WNY. We arrived at 8:02am (supposed to be there at 8am) due to getting lost. This made us DEAD last in the order. The group was already watching the video. We then joined for 15 minutes of training from Mike (one of the instructors).
The website states, «If you schedule your jump for the morning, you should plan on spending half the day at the dropzone.» We then waited at the hangar until 6pm. 6pm. To make matters worse, it was my 30^th birthday.
When we arrived, the weather was gorgeous. I realized we weren’t even on the list to jump around 1pm and Brandy couldn’t tell us even a time frame for when we could expect to jump. I also saw a ton of friends/​family of the instructors hopping ahead of everyone to do their own jumps. Perhaps they are getting certified, but it doesn’t feel right for someone to show up at 2pm and get to jump ahead of people who have been there since 8am. Around 4pm, it got cloudy. Weather did impact the last 2 hours of the delays… but WNY impacted the first 8 hours.
They finally took us up at the end of the day, after they convinced all the jumpers to reschedule and me telling them to just take me up as high as I could get with the clouds, it was awesome. Bob, my instructor, was great.
Some other awesomeness:
–The «office manager» spent more time ordering pizza and going to buy pumpkins than letting people know when they were going to jump or what they should be expecting in the day. She never checked in with us to see how we were doing/​how long it would be
–One of the planes had a dead battery and they spent an hour reviving. You’d think they’d check that before 10am day of.
–The entire staff left us at the ‘office’ to go drop pumpkins on a target even though they mentioned if the weather clears up, it may only be for 5 minutes. They were gone 45 minutes.
–I met a girl who had come to jump THREE times and not been able to due to lack of time– even though they’d promise she’d be a priority and would squeeze her in. Nope.
–No heat
–There’s no customer service. When I explained I just wanted to know when I could expect to jump, the owner told me that I should leave «for me».
–the website says «Smoking is not permitted at WNYSkydiving facilties during business hours» EVERYONE– including instructors are smoking. Everywhere.
–97% of the time, the staff was circled in, talking to each other. They were cursing and saying inappropriate things like, «I’d slap that b*tch in the face!» when talking about a parent at a kid’s soccer game. Classy, WNY… totally classy.
Ultimately, once you pay– they’ve got your $ 250. You can’t ever get it back. Only keep returning, hoping for a better experience. There won’t be one.