Connecticut Parachutist

My first skydive was phenomenal until the landing. In spite of getting injured due to my own error, I would do this again. I encouraged my kids to try it too. The free fall and drifting are a real adrenaline rush. I even got to control the direction we were drifting for a while. Everyone there is really nice. I dove with Michael and had Doug as my personal videographer.

This was my first skydiving experience after a lifetime of saying I had a no desire to skydive. It. Was. Amazing. In large part due to the wonderful staff and fellow jumpers at Connecticut Parachutist. In fact, probably completely due to them.
My roommate and I decided we were going to be brave and booked a Groupon so we couldn’t look back. Two days later we arrived, skeptical and nervous.
Pro Tip: don’t drive onto the cornfield. There’s a lovely real parking lot off the main road behind some industrial buildings.
From the moment we arrived we were greeted by the friendliest of staff (they offered to tow my stuck car off of said cornfield, which was covered with snow). Most of all, they offered the best kind of reassurance, the kind based on experience and facts.
It was a Sunday and we didn’t have a long wait, maybe 30 minutes max.
Mike, our tandem instructor, was calm and kind and thoroughly explained every thing to expect along the way. We could not thank him enough, he made the experience something to enjoy and I can honestly say I was not nervous at all once I knew we would be riding with him.
What can I say? I would highly recommend this business to anyone even slightly interested in flying through the air 13,000 feet. The best experience of my life.

I had an awesome experience!!! So much adrenaline but the people there made me feel very comfortable! The video they made me was super cool! Ill have the memory forever! I would def go again too!

Skydivers — most people say we’re crazy. Some say they have a death wish. Psychologists say people with an inclination to take high risks are a necessary part of the continuation of our species.
OR, you might just have something mentally wrong with you to jump out of a plane. Whatever your reason, do it once in your life and test your limits.
With that said, my experience at CT Parachutist was very enjoyable. Shooting the breeze with the jump-​masters and instructors was awesome. Mingling with other jumpers and sharing our stories — it was a real treat to talk to amongst the crazies.
HOWEVER, the front office (Manifest) really dropped the ball. Thinking back, the operation really was not efficient, stream-​lined, or seamless. Yes, weather and wind are HUGE factors in the actual jump. But, between the front office losing my paperwork that I had completed online (2 waivers) to the ungodly long wait — this operation could have been made more organized and systematic.
Our background: we purchased 2 jumping packages, 2 video packages. The weather was perfect, and was not overly gusty. We waited 5+ hours to jump. Our appointment was at 1030am. We arrived at 945am and did not actually board the plane until 3pm. Training honestly takes less than 5 minutes. The website does state to «plan to spend at least half a day at the drop zone». Honestly, if I could have done things differently, I wished we were informed on an «ideal» time to arrive, or at least what our actual wait times were.
As I said before jumping was phenomenal. The intense focus and the pump of adrenaline leave you feeling mentally and physically cleansed. All of the people we got to interact with were awesome, BUT I would hesitate in coming back just because of how poorly organized the operations were handled.

From Tandems to AFF Student:
I first came to CPI to do a tandem jump back in May– it was my first and one of the most incredible experiences of my life! The staff was friendly, inviting and by the time I was ready to suit up– I forgot I was even the slightest bit nervous at all. My tandem instructor was amazing! He put my mind at ease and made the whole experience enjoyable. I had so much fun, I went back to do a second jump the following week. That second time, I hadn’t made an appointment and CPI still accommodated me; on a busy day too. I spent the morning at the dropzone and enjoyed every minute of it. I had the opportunity to interact with «fun-​jumpers,» and what an interesting, vibrant group of people! What’s more, I got to enjoy a beautiful day outside with a pretty cool view– canopies soaring overhead, or as I like to call it, «the canopy dance!» It’s also fun to witness other tandems land – their faces light up with awe-​worthy excitement, realizing they have their two feet on the ground again, after jumping out of a ‘perfectly good airplane!’ It’s an experience beyond just getting in your jump and going home. Take it all in! If there’s a wait… talk to your fellow adventurers, enjoy the view of the other jumps; savor the experience! This is your skydiving day!
As an AFF Student:
I’ve grown quite attached to CPI as a club/​dropzone these past few months – I’ve enjoyed everyone I’ve interacted with from the staff, the instructors, other AFF students and fun-​jumpers. The instructors are incredibly thorough, very knowledgeable and experienced, encouraging and supportive, they love teaching – and they’re good at it! I can’t say enough glowing things about my experience thus far at CPI. I’m always impressed with how organized the staff is at managing the plane loads each day and in a timely fashion. This place is a gem!

Overall an enjoyable but flawed experience. The jumpmasters seemed stressed and rushed, but they were very friendly.
Their scheduling system leaves a bit to be desired, maybe it was because they were busy, or perhaps it’s typical. When you arrive at your scheduled time, you still end up waiting for an hour or two before you actually jump. I certainly don’t expect to immediately jump, but I would have brought something to do if I thought I’d be sitting around twiddling my thumbs for 90 minutes.
I think my biggest issue was that I paid for the photography package. I noticed on previous jumps the cameraman would land first in order to get the landing. Because of the crazy scheduling, my cameraman was already on a plane heading back up as I was coming down. I have photos (and video) of the start of my jump (but not the ending). They also misspelled my name on the video which is somewhat frustrating.
I think if I were to do it again, I’d skip the photos. I spent too much time posing for photos when I should have been enjoying the ride.
In the end, this has been on my bucket list for a while. I’m glad I did it, I was actually afraid I might like it too much and I’d want to start working toward solo jumps. It was fun, but not the life-​changing experience I had hoped.

This was my first skydiving experience and it could not have gone any better than it did! The staff was really amazing, easy going, and the had great instructors with lots of experience. Be prepared to wait on busy days, but it is well worth it!!!

Skydive deal on Groupon? Yes please. My first skydiving trip. I went on a beautiful sunny spring day. Hardly any cloud in the sky. Once we got there, my buddy and I signed some paperwork. Within an hour we were in the sky. The plane was the size of my Honda accord and could only fit two tandems. My instructor was very helpful and enthusiastic. Joking around as we went up. I couldn’t hear a thing once the door opened but the instructor gave very clear instructions on the ground. Our jump went flawlessly. Best 10 minutes of my life. Too bad I don’t remember my instructors name but he was the manager. Good luck and have fun if you decide to go with this company.

So you think when you go to a place to jump and they give you an appointment, that when you come early, you’ll be able to jump, right? WRONG.
This happened this summer — after we arrived early and filled out waivers and paperwork, we were directed to wait at a picnic table. We were waiting for 5 hours!!! Despite checking in with the front desk multiple times during the 5 hours to see if someone would come get us and that we would be allowed to jump, nobody let us know what was going on. Finally, someone came over to us (a group of 5 friends) and told us we wouldn’t be able to jump all together even though the plane could hold 20 people. UM, WHAT IS THE POINT of booking us all together if we can’t even go together???
To dilly dally and lollygag a little more, the guy says that he’s going to jump first and then come get us. But, that doesn’t happen because an hour later, clouds rolled in and there would be no more jumps. My friends FLEW IN for the weekend just so that we could all jump and hang out together, and it turned out to be for NOTHING but a waste of time. The company offered a rain check, but who the heck would fly in again to wait around 5 hours to not jump?
Long horror story short: you couldn’t pay me any amount of $ to come back to this place.

Experience couldn’t have been WORSE!!!
I should have known how the day was going to go when we missed the turn to go down their «drive way» because their sign was no more than a piece of plywood with their name painted on it. It was a good thing my car was all wheel drive because this «drive way» is really about a ¼ mile of extremely rocky dirt road that was pretty muddy. Do not drive a nice car here!
We got there 20 minutes before our «appointment» as was recommended and we filled out our waivers. We were given no direction so when I asked where to go a very annoyed teenage girl told me to wait at the picnic table and someone would come get me. Well, an hour and a half later we still haven’t been told ANYTHING so I go up to the counter again. The girl is at this point is in the middle of a personal phone call that she has no desire to end because I am standing in front of her. A couple minutes later she gets off the phone and informs me that it will still be a couple of hours before we jump! That would have been nice to know an hour and a half ago!
Well, we go get lunch and come back and after just a little more waiting they come over and start briefing me and just one other of my friends. I asked if we were all jumping together since we all had the same appointment and they told me that we were being split into 3 different runs even though their plane has a 20 person capacity! We get over it because we’ve invested 6 hours into this so far and daylight is fading. My instructor tells me he’s going to go do a fun jump and then he’s going to take me up in the next one… WTF!!! Take me with you now!
As luck would have it, clouds rolled in about 50 minutes before sunset and jumping was cancelled for the rest of the day. I was so upset with this ridiculous company I asked for my money back. They told me that they didn’t have to because it was cancelled due to weather and they can’t control that!!! Not to mention I am from out of town and one of my friends was from Illinois and could never possibly use the rain check. I argued with the company president for a solid 30 minutes fruitlessly and ended up leaving with nothing but rain checks and a feeling of being completely raped.
To top it all off my friend who did live near there was going to go back the next morning and just use his rain check so they didn’t just get our money for free. That morning it was really cloudy so he knew no flights were going up yet. He headed over there once they started to clear and was told that he was in line behind 80+ people who were already there even though he waited all yesterday!!!
NEVER USE THIS COMPANY!!!

the good — I did my first tandem jump with them and couldn’t have felt safer — they take you way up in the air (we made 14k feet), walk you through everything, and off you go — amazing experience, everyone should try it — cost for the jump is about 220 and 120 more for video (unfortunately video was all booked up for our jump, but that’s life)
the bad — waited more than 5 hours from scheduled time to actually jump — they seem to overbook for each time instead of staggering it out, which would be relatively easy — service reps weren’t super friendly on the phone either… but the jump masters were great