demoknite

The 'business' case is that they fill in the nooks and crannies of the jump plane. As a DZO, you will have a limited number of tandem/student rigs and instructors, that you will not be able to fill every slot of every plane with high-value tandem/student slots. In those cases, having fun jumpers around to fill in the gaps keeps the plane flying at close to full capacity all day long. The counter argument is that the extra jumpers add weight to the load and time to the turnaround, but I don't think that pans out at the end of the day. At a turbine DZ, and added weight is less of a penalty, so the added time does not add up to much at the end of the day. At a 182 DZ, if you're not full, you're flying with one tandem (not two) and only have two slots full. Flying at half-capacity is never a good idea, and again, the time savings will not add up to enough to make up for the half-load. On top of that, if you're leasing your plane and have a min number of hours you need to fly each month, fun jumpers will help to get the props spinning when you don't have any (or many) tandem/students around. if you can make $50/load on a full load of fun jumpers, and make sure you don't have to out-of-pocket to meet your min hours, you're ahead money on two counts. All of that is in addition to the other things mentioned in the thread. Good luck attracting instructors, or packers/manifest workers/office staff who jump if you don't have any fun jumpers at your DZ. They might be working 90% of the time, but when they have time to jump, they're going to want to be someplace with fun jumpers. Additionally, good luck replenishing your staff without fun jumpers around. Its more complicated than that. If someone cared enough to do the math (and i don't right now lol), Id' be interesting to know what the lifetime value of a fun-jumper is vs a 1 time tandem. And yeah, it would be very different for a large DZ with multiple turbines, vs a a small 1 cesna DZ, but I'd be curious nonetheless... Without whipping out the pencil and paper and the fact that Im on lunch... Tandem costs 250. One and done, see you later. Average lift ticket is 25. Fun jumper spends Saturday and Sunday jumping and does a casual 5 each day. Thats 250 without having to pay out for the tandem master and taking one slot each time instead of two. Over the course of the year he brings in two of his buddies to do a tandem and one of those takes up AFF. Theres another ~$2500 +/-. He sees a tandem student smoking in the harness and immediately tells him/her to extinguish it saving the DZO $1000. A tandem student that was just going for a ride is now actually interested. Your fun jumpers tell him about your AFF program (because they're there every weekend and went through the program themselves) and he decides to take it up himself but cant afford it so he becomes a packer. Unless you have a unique situation like working at tourist destination, doing only tandems is just going to end up making your competitors money in the end.

Skydiving is more of a social sport than it is an extreme sport. I always talk to the tandems on the way up and chat with their families and answer any questions. Then the students can see that it is a very regulated activity and we'e not doing shots of Jeagermeister before each jump. Also your fun jumpers are the ones that really do keep the business going. Theyre the ones that become packers, videographers, and future tandem masters. At smaller DZs fun jumpers are the ones that tell arriving students where the manifest is and where the bathrooms are. They catch tandems on windy days. They make fun of the tandem masters when they have to take the 45 year old fat guy up to keeping them mood light. Fun jumpers are the ones that the tandem masters do sunset loads with to take the edge off at the end of the day. Dont disenfranchise fun jumpers; they hold more long term value than the short term $250.

You might even be able to get them to embroider that mac clover symbol thing that Apple uses.

How does this program work?

Mine does it and the tandem also gets the cheapest rate that is offered, i.e., the same rate they advertise for bringing in a group of 15 on a Wednesday.

My line of thought is if it has a name of something that will maim or kill you like katana, crossfire, mamba it probably will and it's best to stay away.

Screw that. Why have vidiots shooting outside video, taking up valuable space on the aircraft when we can get a long ass pole. It adds an additional element of excitement for the bored tandem master and the thrill seeking, bucket list filling student!!!

I dont know why DZs dont have some sort of lockers these days. I usually leave my keys, wallet, spare helmet, 2nd rig just laying around the up jumper area at Perris and in the hangar at Eloy. I never think about it because I always feel that skydivers are an honest, friendly bunch. But there is always a rogue or the tandem student's second cousin's boyfriend that is tagging along and sees something shiny and grabs it.

Pilot has more consistent openings in addition to what the above said. That is all my opinion of course. Also, the small amount of hipster in me didnt want to jump a Sabre because it seems like everyone and their mom jumps it.

Where is that? The countryside is beautiful.

A well thought, sensible statement about the movie Cutaway? I think you may have the wrong website. This is actually dropzone.com. You might have fat fingered the URL...

I know there have been some recent blockbusters with some cool skydiving stunts, but I think we are due for another skydiving movie!

Not up on all the flying lingo, but from a purely jumper perspective... Caravan. Too cramped, center of gravity concerns, very average to altitude. Barely acceptable to turbine snobs. Grand Caravan. One or two more jumpers than the caravan, not as cramped at max capacity. Popular overseas. Easy to launch 4 or more. Twin Otter. Industry standard. Roomy with benches or floor seating at max altitude. Quick to altitude. Super Otter. Same as above with a little added capacity. That much faster to altitude. Probably the most favorited skydivers aircraft with all variables considered. My personal favorite for sure. Skyvan. Anchor line cable makes it a favorite for military contracting the aircraft out. Slower to altitude but skydivers love the "novelty" of the tailgate. Linked 10 ways, raft dives and overspeed wingsuit exits make it well loved. Lifting the gate can be trouble for the non initiated. PAC. Super fast to altitude but crowded at max capacity. Small door. For some reason being on the outside gets you blasted by the relative wind more so than most common aircraft.

Why not just pay for a complete I&R so the person you are selling it to has a fresh reserve repack? Sort of like the seller paying the closing costs.

It's a little dusty in here...

Seemingly benign statements like this are one of the reasons people want to jump small canopies before they are able.

I think a lot of DZs do it subconsciously. They look at the rig youve declared then look at you. Even if youre a heavier guy jumping a 150ish it probably wont raise any eyebrows. Im not sure how I feel about having to step on scale when I check in at a new DZ or after winter break at my home DZ when I might have put on 20 pounds.

Why settle for "off the rack" jumpsuit? Custom is the norm.... For VERY good reasons. I have bought them off of the shelf then taken them to a wedding dress shop to get them custom fitted.

Its so much more fun when you dont have to rely on the jumps or the DZO. A week of unseasonable weather is not going to make you miss rent. And your not fighting to get on the last load with a 50 year overweight woman at sunset cause you need the $50. Keep fun jumping and impart knowledge around the DZ. Maybe you can do some AFF jumps when the DZ is in a jam.

The opposite reply is ridiculous. Don't feed absurdity through acknowledgement. But this is dropzone dot com.

I have known a few ladies that were probably a few weeks pregnant before they found out but stopped immediately. I have never seen a visibly pregnant female skydive. If you are pregnant or think you might be, dont do it, it's not worth it.

The place gets a reputation for not being fun jumper friendly. This is not entirely true. While you can turn up and jump, you probably wont have anyone to jump with and there wont be lots of fun jumpers dirt diving and shooting the breeze between loads. It is a tandem mill plain and simple (one of the most efficient I have ever seen BTW). If you turn up with some friends (2-3 max) and do your own organizing and make yourselves unobtrusive you could probably do two or three in a day. If more fun jumpers (especially local ones) were turning up regularly they wouldnt be turned away and that "scene" perhaps could be created.

Or just make sure manifest puts the two 8 ways on different loads and fills the remaining seats with tandems thus maximizing profits!

How to be an awesome skydiver with the kid throwing a stack of money out of the window was hilarious. Because its true.

Me... 1. Open faced helmet (pimp daddy I think) 2. Galaxy 3 analog altimeter 3. Sorz Goggles 4. Used, ill fitting RW suit. Went to a wedding dress fitter and got it altered. Fits perfectly. 5. Used oxygn helmet (traded for 3 jump tickets) still use this 6. Full kit with brand new everything at around 80 jumps since I am taller and broader than most skydivers. Couldnt find used that suited my needs. Wouldnt change that decision even though it goes against common advice. 7. Audible 8. Every season I treat myself to something new like an altimeter that I dont really need, some gloves, or a helmet that Ill jump a few weeks and sell off to someone because its not as good as my oxygn.