Would you be irritated if....

[JAC 0]

You stayed at the drop zone overnight, and you and your friend manifested for the first load of the day (actually first two on the load), and then were told you were bumped off the load? Didn't happen to me, but happened to a friend of mine.

[Lindercles 0]

well, one time i manifested first for a load (behind tandems). after the load filled up (it was a TBO, so there weren't many slots) they ended up bumping all of us for more tandems. then they changed their minds again and ended up letting two people back on the load, and i wasn't one of them. i probably should have been, since i manifested first, but you know what happened? nothing. seriously, it's one load. who cares. it was going to be a solo anyway. it's not worth stirring up the drama just to get the jump.
since it was first load, i'm guessing this person got plenty of jumps in that day anyway.

edit: i guess it depends somewhat on why you were bumped. in my case, it was a friend of mine who got my slot. so that was cool.

[Darius11 12]

Not really I might not like it but I would be ok with it wouldn’t make a fuss. Then again I do jump at a club and I would gladly give up a jump for the good of the club.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[JAC 0]

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well, one time i manifested first for a load (behind tandems). after the load filled up (it was a TBO, so there weren't many slots) they ended up bumping all of us for more tandems. then they changed their minds again and ended up letting two people back on the load, and i wasn't one of them. i probably should have been, since i manifested first, but you know what happened? nothing. seriously, it's one load. who cares. it was going to be a solo anyway. it's not worth stirring up the drama just to get the jump.
since it was first load, i'm guessing this person got plenty of jumps in that day anyway.

edit: i guess it depends somewhat on why you were bumped. in my case, it was a friend of mine who got my slot. so that was cool.

Ummm, they were the first two to manifest before tandems. It was clouded over so nothing was going anywhere at the time. They were told they were bumped for tandems, and in a "I don't give a damn" kind of way.

Yep, they did jump the rest of the day, but at another DZ.

[riddler 0]

So many dropzones are doing this, it's become routine. We as fun jumpers don't make a lot of money for the dropzone, so if they fill the plane with tandems or students or video, you bet they'll bump you to make more money on the load. You can leave and go to another DZ. If all the fun jumpers do, the dropzone might start to care - otherwise they could not care less, probably.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[Icon134 0]

I don't like being a wind dummy... So I usually stay off the first load unless there's a reason to be on it... such as competition, etc...

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[BillyVance 35]

Usually, the only times I'd manifest for the first loads would be when Mullins' King Air is flying. I almost never see people get bumped on his loads, and his GPS-spots are dead on.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[tigra 0]

I don't know- we always refer to the first load as human wind drift indicators. It takes the pilot a load or 2 to dial in the spot for the rest of us!

It really depends on the circumstances but generally teams and staff have priority for the first load(s), which is how it should be. And like it or not, sometimes the students also have to come first, too.

If you are continually running into a problem of getting bumped- not just the first load, but throughout the day- THAT might be something to look into. But one jump, one morning? Get over it.

[JAC 0]

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So many dropzones are doing this, it's become routine. We as fun jumpers don't make a lot of money for the dropzone, so if they fill the plane with tandems or students or video, you bet they'll bump you to make more money on the load. You can leave and go to another DZ. If all the fun jumpers do, the dropzone might start to care - otherwise they could not care less, probably.

I understand that they don't make money off of fun jumpers. One of the jumpers was from out of town and the other one is a walking advertisement half the time for the DZ always telling newbies "You should go jump here." I think the way it was handled left a bad taste in their mouth more than anything.

I've been on the plane with a four way, and bumped do to a manifest oversite, however management and manifest were great about the situation, and no one had their feathers ruffled in the interim.

I guess it's all how you handle the situation.

[Icon134 0]

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I've been on the plane with a four way, and bumped do to a manifest oversite, however management and manifest were great about the situation, and no one had their feathers ruffled in the interim.

I couldn't jump once because manifest forgot that a 4-way team has 5 people... and someone needed to get off the plane...

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[billvon 3,108]

Be careful what you ask for. Sometimes their option is to let people manifest, then bump them if a tandem shows, or not let them manifest at all (or only at the last minute.) Not all DZ's have the luxury of enough lift capability to get everyone up as much as they want to jump.

[tigra 0]

A cloudy morning and they already were backed up? Cut the DZ a little slack. And the "I don't give a damn" attitude? Is it possible the manifester was already having a crappy morning when your friend approached wanting to know why he was bumped? Is it possible he had a bit of an attitude himself?

Then again, at my DZ I'm pretty spoiled. We usually have one plane set aside for fun jumpers and another for students. But when we're down to one plane and there are a lot of students, we've got a long wait in between jumps! And the loads will get shifted to accomodate the students after a weather hold- that's just how it is!

[GrendelKhan 0]

As a student I wouldn't know how to act if I didn't get bumped. I don't really see it as a big deal, time is the only commodity I have plenty of, so i can wait. That attitude might change though when I get my skygod status (43 jumps to go!)

Grendel Khan-The Official DZ.Com Newbie Forum Nuisance
"They sicken of the calm, that know the storm."

[goodnplentygirl 0]

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So many dropzones are doing this, it's become routine. We as fun jumpers don't make a lot of money for the dropzone, so if they fill the plane with tandems or students or video, you bet they'll bump you to make more money on the load. You can leave and go to another DZ. If all the fun jumpers do, the dropzone might start to care - otherwise they could not care less, probably.

I dont think thats true. Maybe we dont directly make them much money, but we spark the interest of people wanting to make tandems. The tandems in turn make the DZ money. I think that when tandem students come out to make thier first jump and see all the fun jumpers having a good time, it sparks thier interest to continue jumping. Us fun jumpers market skydiving by simply wearing skydiving t-shirts everyday, or bragging about skydiving while at the bar, or talking to people we work with or go to school with, we get a lot of people interested in making tandems. I think with out fun jumpers, tandem business would suffer. Unfortunately some dropzones dont recognize that and in turn a lot of the times do not treat their most loyal customers very well. Which sucks, but such is life.
Edited to add: I would be much more upset if I had to pay for my jumps twice because manifest screwed up, than being bumped off a load....

my body, my choice

[riddler 0]

Ya know it's funny. When I did my tandem jump over four years ago, I got to the DZ at 7:30 AM (it opens at 8). And I waited ALL DAY and over 20 loads to finally do my tandem at 6:30 PM (yes, we wore a strobe). I watched lots of people show up after me and jump before me. At the time, I thought "this DZ doesn't care about me, just the experienced jumpers."

Now, years later, and getting bumped off a few loads for tandems, students, et all, at that same dropzone (where I now coach), I think "this DZ doesn't care about me, only tandems."

I have the same bad luck waiting in lines - no matter what line I choose, it's always the slowest. Maybe some of us just have bad line karma

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[riddler 0]

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I think with out fun jumpers, tandem business would suffer.

I totally agree. But the DZs see the bottom line of every load, not the supporting economics.

And for the record, I think it's wrong for DZs to bump anyone for anyone else - I don't care if The President (or, in our case, The Mayor of Denver) wants to jump ahead of me. First come, first serve.

Too bad I don't run the DZ

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[JAC 0]

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A cloudy morning and they already were backed up? Cut the DZ a little slack. And the "I don't give a damn" attitude? Is it possible the manifester was already having a crappy morning when your friend approached wanting to know why he was bumped? Is it possible he had a bit of an attitude himself?

Then again, at my DZ I'm pretty spoiled. We usually have one plane set aside for fun jumpers and another for students. But when we're down to one plane and there are a lot of students, we've got a long wait in between jumps! And the loads will get shifted to accomodate the students after a weather hold- that's just how it is!

For the most part we new that the cloud coverage was going to burn off, and it did. I'm guessing that perhaps we've been spoiled as well. The DZ is usually busy with tandems however, not too busy to allow fun jumpers a chance to jump as well. If it had happened to anyone other than who it did, I could see them acting miffed, and getting attitude back in return. However, they are pretty easy going. Anywho, I think they were concerned this might happen throughout the day, and is why they chose to go elsewhere.

[JAC 0]

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Edited to add: I would be much more upset if I had to pay for my jumps twice because manifest screwed up, than being bumped off a load....

Hey wait that sounds familiar... oh yeah that happened to me. As irritating as that was, it was more irritating to find out that other people have had the same problem, and didn't have to pay twice. Good thing I wasn't accepted to Grad school then, or there would be no way in hell I'd pay twice for a jump because of manifest.

Somebody rub my ears so I can return to my happy place.

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[gemini 0]

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I think with out fun jumpers, tandem business would suffer.

Great point. Many dzo's have "marketing myopia".

In other words because their gross margin is much greater on a single tandem over a single fun jumper, they will ignore their fun jumpers for the tandems. In reality, their fun jumpers generate their long term profits due to volume of jumps all year long while their tandems generate their quick short term profits over the peak season.

A fun jumper doing 5 jumps in a day, paying a packer, eating at the dz, and partying at the dz generates as much or more gross revenue for the dz than most 2nd jump tandems since the tandem will usually only do the one jump, watch the video and then leave.

Throw in tunnel time and 10 jumps a day and a dzo would be crazy to bump a fun jumper for a tandem!

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the larger dz's gross revenues deviate much from 1/3 tandems, 1/3 fun jumpers, and 1/3 students and other (gear sales, etc.).

If they were able to survive only on tandems there would be more tandem only dz's and they wouldn't go out of business so often. Basically by running fun jumpers off, the dzo is giving up at least a third of his gross revenue.

How many business can survive that?

Blue skies,

Jim

[goodnplentygirl 0]

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If they were able to survive only on tandems there would be more tandem only dz's and they wouldn't go out of business so often. Basically by running fun jumpers off, the dzo is giving up at least a third of his gross revenue.

How many business can survive that?

Exactly my feeling's, my friend!

my body, my choice

[pincheck 0]

Many dropzones may be doing it but its a 2 way street you misstreat your fun jumpers they will go elsewhere. regular fun jumpers are the people who will keep the dz ticking during the winter and Autum times when tandems are not possable due to the weather or the customers are not interested in getting cold.

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