On April 28 of this year, I went down to the West Tennessee Skydiving Center (WTS) in Whiteville to do an equipment fitting and training for a High-Altitude, Low-Opening (H.A.L.O.) tandem skydive that I was set to conduct the following day. On April 29, the sky was nice, sunny and clear as I boarded a Super King Air aircraft at WTS to conduct this skydive. Considering the fact that WTS is one of only two airfields in the world (the other site being in Mississippi) where you can jump out of an aircraft at least 20,000 feet in the air and not be part of the military, I wanted to give this locale a high rating. And considering the fact that WTS is THE ONLY civilian airfield in the world where you can jump out of an aircraft 30,000 FEET in the air, I wanted to give this locale a very high rating! People from all around the globe (even foreign military such as the German paratroopers who jumped at WTS the same day I did) travel to this part of Tennessee to take part in this extreme skydive. However, WTS obviously conducts regular jumps as well...with the Super King Air (the only aircraft at WTS used for skydives) going up to 13,000 feet in one trip and then to H.A.L.O. altitude in another. WTS even has a swimming pool on its perimeter...though I don't know if it's mostly for water-landing training or recreational purposes. When you enter the main lobby of the WTS building, you'll see every single wall adorned with amazing photos of skydivers soaring above Whiteville in different aspects...from tandem skydives to solo jumps and even a picture of H.A.L.O. tandem jumpers soaring in the air. I, of course, stared mostly at this particular photo to remind myself of why I traveled to WTS from my home state of California in the first place! On the downside, the only issue I have with WTS is its gift shop. It only sells t-shirts...while I preferred buying a refrigerator magnet saying 'West Tennessee Skydiving' that I could proudly put on my fridge back home. (The magnet also saying 'H.A.L.O. Jump' on it would be icing on the cake.) In all fairness though, I didn't really pay attention to what were in the gift shops at San Diego Skydive and Perris Valley Skydiving when I jumped at those places in 2005 and '06, respectively...so I shouldn't really be picky with the types of merchandise that WTS provides. (Oh and FYI, professional skydivers can purchase goggles, gloves, flight helmets and other gear at WTS... Don't remember what the prices were, though.) Basically, if there's a reason to do a jump at West Tennessee Skydiving...it's because it is unique from all but one civilian airfield in the U.S. in that it provides the H.A.L.O. skydive for non-Special Forces folks. Other than that, WTS is just like every other field where you can have the time of your life free falling thousands of feet above the ground. But if you want the ultimate bucket list experience (the H.A.L.O. jump), then buy that airplane ticket to Memphis and make the drive down to this locale in Whiteville. You'll be in for an adventure. read more

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Fastest plane to altitude. Great place to make friends and become a family. Just go check them out

Extremely RUDE on the phone and wouldn't allow me to ask a simple question. Kept cutting me off and interrupting me. 0/10 do NOT recommend them! read more

So I've been here a couple of times, and both times the tandem instructors have been a lot of fun. It is clear that they love their jobs, and wouldn't you? You could tell from the amount of regulars and kids running around that this a very family-esque place. Herein lie the negatives. Upon arriving we had to step around instructors wrestling on the floor...bad look. The owner dad was constantly hovering over daughter in law at the manifest desk, speaking rudely to her, and non-regular customers....bad look. She was less than informative about the process, so my companion kept asking me all these questions about what happens and when.....bad look. We were called to the manifest several times, each time waiting in a line that was constantly disregarded by the regulars, who would simply jump the line and let the overwhelmed manifest worker know that they wanted on the next ride up. As a result, I watched some regulars jump three times while we waited to get put on a load. I understand that our place was dependent on available tandem instructors, but its a bad look to let folks ignore lines like they are special, so we can watch them get a free jump, while we wait in a disregarded line for almost $300. Upon arriving at manifest we were told that our names were called in vain. Perhaps instead of alienating the "newby" community, these folks should be the top priority. After all, we are the most impressionable, and wouldn't you want us to be so happy that we too become regulars? I likely will, but its because skydiving is bad ass, not because the customer service was awesome. Having the coolest toys does not make customer service optional. I would really like to see some front office organization and procedures set in place that put the highest profit margin customers first. I will be back several times in the future, and really hope that they can learn to present a more professional, customer service oriented experience. Don't let your reputation make you think you can rest on your laurels, and while you may be quite familiar with how safe it really is to skydive, my first timer partner was really put off and somewhat freaked out by the lack of organization. One last thing, if jumps are suspended for several hours, that is a great time to pre-plan loads and get them in the system so the rest of the day can move more efficiently. Love. read more