skybytch

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Everything posted by skybytch

  1. skybytch
    A well run S/L program can bring in money. Not as much as a tandem ride operation, of course, but enough to make it worth the effort. Since the effort will bring in people who want to jump but can't afford AFF, in the long run the dz will make even more money... I know lots of people who'd be stoked to get $5 and a "free" hop and pop (ie canopy control/swooping training jump) in exchange for putting someone out on the dope rope at 3500'. The dz I worked at would let us ride to the top in exchange for the $5; lack of freefall time doesn't have to be an issue. Students don't know any different - they're going to be (rightfully) proud of any jump they make. An S/L program can easily be integrated with an AFF program - student does S/L through Cat C and then transitions to single JM AFF jumps.
  2. skybytch
    Call it whatever you'd like. My point is that retention requires "selling" a student on the idea that skydiving is something fun that they can do. If they don't see a fun future for themselves in skydiving, they won't keep jumping.
  3. skybytch
    Maybe it's hearing that it will cost $200+ for the next AFF jump - and that the next jump must be done within the next 30 days or they'll have to repeat the class and jump they just did. Maybe it's the fact that nobody at the dropzone other than their instructor talks to them and they aren't outgoing enough to approach or are intimidated by experienced jumpers. Maybe it's that they don't see experienced jumpers having fun at the dz so they don't see that skydiving can be a fun recreational activity. Maybe it's their wives/mothers/families telling them they can't do that. Maybe they realize the risks and decide it's not for them. Or maybe one of a hundred other reasons...
  4. skybytch
    You could invite a certain well-known dz.commer over to your motel room for pizza and alcohol. That's what I did when I found myself in Peoria for a night. YMMV, of course.
  5. skybytch
    Well, yeah, that's what you get when the jump is marketed as a thrill ride. You're not an instructor, you're a ride operator; the person on the front is not a student, they are a passenger. They're sold a one-off "experience," not an introduction to the sport. And that is why you get passengers who have no interest in learning to skydive.
  6. skybytch
    When we stop marketing a tandem skydive as a thrill ride and instead market it as an introduction to a legitimate recreational activity we'll start seeing tandem students coming back for more instead of watching tandem passengers leave the dz after they jump, never to return. Bringing back static line is the best idea, imho. Give people a way to get into the sport on a budget and we'll not only see more people learning to skydive, we'll see a wider variety of people learning to skydive. Can't count how many people I've talked with who truly enjoyed their tandem and would love to continue jumping but just can't afford to do AFF in a timely fashion. For most people it's a lot easier to justify spending $45 every other week to do a static line jump than it is to justify $100+ every other week to do an AFF jump. I submit that those whose budgets would require going the less expensive SL route are not the type of people that sparky is talking about...
  7. skybytch
    Minden, NV. They opened a couple weeks ago. They have a PAC.
  8. skybytch
    A paper bag will work in a pinch.
  9. skybytch
    Rum and coke. Why? Cuz it's always sunset somewhere.
  10. skybytch
    Some would call it rude. Others would call it telling it like it is.
  11. skybytch
    Why should tonight be any different than any other night?
  12. skybytch
    Your timing is way better than mine. I finished Half Blood Prince a couple weeks ago (after reading the whole series again... for the fourth or fifth time). And now I have nothing to do until July 20th. I ain't waitin' for the mailman, though. I'm picking mine up at midnight at the store. Only worry is how do I read the book and walk home in the dark at the same time?
  13. skybytch
    I finish my flare.
  14. skybytch
    Yeah, I like that one too. My all time favorite - (Do not, I repeat DO NOT, take my posts seriously.)
  15. skybytch
    I still haven't decided if I'm gonna get an associates degree. I can finish up what I need to transfer in two more semesters, or I can finish what I need to graduate in three more semesters. Not sure that a piece of paper to hang on the wall is worth the extra semester. To answer the original question, it looks like it's going to take 28+ years from high school graduation to bachelor's degree.
  16. skybytch
    I'd suggest putting a rig together in pieces, as you can afford things. Start with a container and a reserve. If you aren't going to be picky about the container brand you can get something airworthy for two or three hundred bucks; some inexpensive used containers are even freefly safe. For a reserve look for something of an older design like a Super Raven; as long as you keep your loading around 1.0 or less it'll work just fine - and you can buy them used for $300-ish. If you want an AAD, pick up a Cypres with 4 or less years left on it - $400 or less. Once you have a container/reserve/AAD you can probably demo/borrow mains until you can afford to buy one. Look for something zp but of an older design - there are great deals out there on Sabres and Triathlons.
  17. skybytch
    Correction. It should read "Tandem passenger suing jump outfit." Skydivers don't sue.
  18. skybytch

    I graduated!

    skybytch replied to karenmeal's topic in The Bonfire

    You should be, that's huge! Congratulations!
  19. skybytch
    I love my Border Collie. They're great dogs for active people. Smart, sociable, loving, energetic. Most Border Collies are black and white, some are brown/tan and white but mine has some of all three. The only downside to this breed is the hair. Molly is supposedly a "short" haired Border Collie... all I can say is - have a good vacuum.
  20. skybytch
    almost 8:1:0 I got to go home yesterday. Hadn't been there since October - almost 8 months ago. I only got to stay for a few seconds before I had to pull though. Next weekend I'll try going to terminal.
  21. skybytch
    Hi. My name is bytch and I'm a broken record. Which is why we still see people doing S-turns on final, chasing the windsock in light and variable wind conditions and spiraling down to final in the main landing area, even though each of those activities is completely unsafe in traffic and completely unneccessary for accuracy. It comes down to selfishness. Doesn't matter what canopy or pattern people fly - if we all fly unselfishly we can all walk back to the packing area. Your point, and the points of everyone currently demonizing swoopers, would be much better taken if you would address the issue of reducing canopy collisions instead of blaming everything on a particular group. Required education - for everybody, not just swoopers, not just pre-A license holders - will reduce canopy related incidents.
  22. skybytch
    We all have a right to practice our skills - up until the point that our rights interfere with the rights of others to walk back to the packing area. Doesn't matter what kind of canopy or pattern we fly. I think we agree on that point though. I find it very interesting that when I characterized your chosen discipline as unsafe you've reacted just as many swoopers did when you characterized their chosen discipline as unsafe...
  23. skybytch
    I get to skydive today.
  24. skybytch
    As is your insistence that swoopers are the bad guys. By insisting that you have a "right" to do S-turns on final, you are being just as selfish as those who insist they have a "right" to swoop in traffic. The only way to keep us all safe in the pattern is for each of us to let go of our perceived "rights" and instead make an effort to fly our canopies so that everybody on the load gets to walk back to the packing area. And that means not flying selfishly.
  25. skybytch
    Right, because you didn't get pregnant at 15, you didn't have a father who was going to beat/abuse/disown you because you got pregnant, you didn't have a "boyfriend" who refused to have anything to do with you when you got pregnant leaving you to deal with it all by yourself... You have no idea what that girl was dealing with. Judging her without knowing all the circumstances is wrong - heck, judging her at all isn't exactly the "christian" thing to do, is it?