Good skydiving outfits around GTA?

[Big Pratt]

I have a family member whose birthday is coming up.
He always wanted to do a jump.
So that will be his gift. (there's a life lesson here: Be careful what you wish for!)

Now I vaguely remember hearing horror stories of outfits having pilots buy their "PPC" on 182's or what have you.

I imagine that they are all relatively safe as I don't hear about fatalities on a monthly basis so my choice would come to this:

Which outfits treat their pilots, mechanics and riggers like shit?
If I'm gonna drop a few bills on this I'd rather not give them to a scumlord operator.

Don't want to turn this into a flame war or have the thread locked so please keep it civilized, PM if you wanna throw dung around.


Also I am told that now all first jumps are tandem. That takes a bit of fun out of it IMO.
I remember my first jump and the instructor just held the small extractor parachute while I got on the strut.
Is this still done? (FYI he is in his mid twenties, extremely fit and a private pilot)

Cheers!

BP

[C-GGGQ]

Yeah they still do static line jumps. the one where you have to buy your advanced 182 ppc is Toronto Skydive (skydive toronto maybe) other than that no horror stories from other around.

[The Prof]

Ok so yes Skydive Toronto doesnt pay its C182 pilots, it also operates a Caravan, which the pilot is paid for. The C182 pilots are mostly older retired guys who do the flying for fun and to stay current, and guys like me who wanted to finish there training while getting some flying in at the same time.

I've flown for 3 different skydive locations around the GTA this summer, and I would'nt hesitate recommending Skydive Toronto. Although the owner doesnt pay the first year pilots (Second+ yrs get paid per flight) He does rate safety highly, the planes are reasonably maintained and everything else to do with the skydiving itself is excellent. Its been around for over 35 years, and out of the three i've flown at its the most professionally run when it comes to safety(Ok i've only been to 3 but since theres only 5 that I know of i've got decent odds, and since I reguarly chat with the jumpers I know a significant amount about the other two)

You can do static line jumps, where the chute is attached to the plane and the static line deploys your chute automatically. These are usually done between 3-5000 ft, building up altitude each time you attempt the jump. If you do a tandem jump you can go right to 10'500 or 12'500ft depending on which one you want to pay for.

If you dont want to fly at Skydive Toronto (located in Cookstown just north of the GTA off the 400) Then you may want to look at, Baldwin (PST), Dunnville(Niagara Skydive) or Swoop(Near hamilton)

Hope that was of some help

[deflux]

Skydive Burnaby is good. Located in Port Colborne in the Niagara Region...

They operate a twin otter and 182 and pay the pilots fairly.

[Louis]

I've flown for 3 different skydive locations around the GTA this summer

Flying for three different dropzones in a single summer? I find that strange, care to elaborate on that?

And Big Pratt, iirc Parachute School of Toronto have a Caravan with the Texas Turbines conversion.

Tandem jumps get you to experience freefall, which IAD doesn't really.
I guess your family member isn't near Montreal like you seem to be or I would have told you to come jump at Voltige instead

[imfsub12]

Although the owner doesnt pay the first year pilots (Second+ yrs get paid per flight):)

OK THIS IS BS - PILOTS DON't Fly for free (yes i know $5.00 a load doesn't sound like much).. Drop zone ops, make some good money...

Remember you are the ones that Hurt this for our industry.. Its hard to change what others have done in the PAST!!!

I could work at timmies down the road and make more money some days.. and i didn't have to get a line of credit to work there..

If they don't pay don't work there.. but wait - you think you are getting some flight hours into get your next job! well yes you are but they could at least PAY for you.. to work there..

[rightseatwonder]

By skydiving outfits i thought you meant something like these

[magyar]

you'd be suprised how man "scumlord operators" AND pilots are out there

[nortont]

Go to Skydive Burnaby... Professional and Safe.

I've been in the sport for just shy of 20 years and have been around the block.

I've flown for Burnaby for the last 3 years and would highly recommend them to anyone.

Located in Wainfleet (near Port Colborne) Right along the coast line of Lake Erie. In flight you can see the coast line to Buffalo N.Y to the East. To the West, you can see Long Point, and On a good day (low haze/smog) you can see if the Skydome is open or closed. And not to mention Niagara Falls is easily viewable from 14000 ft.

[The Prof]

Ok I guess I should restate that comment, I've flown "at" 3 different skydive locations this summer. The owner of STI leases his C182 planes out to different jump outfits, but only STI "approved" pilots fly them lol, so we get shipped to whichever locations we want. I actually got paid at one of them In regards to the whole paying issue im not going to go there as its been addressed many times on this site. I forgot skydive Burnaby lol thats a good one too.

[flyinggreasemonkey]

I second Niagara Skydive in Dunnville. Tim is a great guy who really knows his stuff. Good planes, good pilots.
That, and the aerodrome is finally safe now that maylan is out of there. No chance of becoming windshield fodder on a DA20 because of a chinese student not paying attention.

[Masta-Fred]

id recommend calling them in advance as the season is ending and certain drop zones are no longer taking last minute calls due to rescheduled jumps from over the summer!

[paydaymayday]

Never been a jump pilot, but I took my first and only dive out of Baldwin with some outfit there. Seemed quite professional and the training and safety procedures were strict, fun, and seemingly by the book. They have a Caravan with a Garret that took us up to 12.5, and it was a blast. Funny, since I used to fly a Caravan myself... and I can tell people I now have one more take off than landing in the van

[Hedley]

*** edited ***

[Morav]

I recommend Niagara Skydive out of Dunnville, very nice scenery.

[nortont]

Anybody remember - this is going back a few decades -
an incident when a bunch of parachutists jumped out on
top of an overcast layer, and they ended up in Lake
Ontario (or was it Lake Erie?) and they all drowned?

Gotta be at least 30 years ago.

I remember that day...

It was Lake Erie, I was just a kid watching the rescue Herc and Helo flying around all night. One guy drowned the other 3 made it out with the help of a near-by boater.

[mcrit]

Never been a jump pilot, but I took my first and only dive out of Baldwin with some outfit there. Seemed quite professional and the training and safety procedures were strict, fun, and seemingly by the book. They have a Caravan with a Garret that took us up to 12.5, and it was a blast. Funny, since I used to fly a Caravan myself... and I can tell people I now have one more take off than landing in the van

+1

The Prof wrote:
Although the owner doesnt pay the first year pilots (Second+ yrs get paid per flight):)


OK THIS IS BS - PILOTS DON't Fly for free (yes i know $5.00 a load doesn't sound like much).. Drop zone ops, make some good money...

+1x10^6

[bodyflyer]

I imagine that they are all relatively safe

All the DZ's in southern Ontario are regarded among skydivers as being decent when it comes to safety. In Ontario there's been only one student fatality in the last 10 years. Some places are bigger or smaller, more by the book or more casual, but there aren't any sketchy places out there.