Levin

Not everyone has been jumping as long as this has been going on. It's important that newer jumpers especially those that jump at ASC and the oither parasite DZ's understand the full scope of what is and has been going happening now and for the past several years. The more informed people are the better they can take a stand on this issue and stop putting their money in this parasite's pocket.

at the moment i'm not totally sure but I am sure there are lots of things. diablopilot made some good comments and gave some useful information earlier in this thread. here are a couple of quotes from two of his prior post in this thread. BlueEyedMonster listed some useful links. They are an excellent place to start while we try and decide course of actions are best to take. I recommend everyone visit these links especially the FBI link and fill out the complaint tip questionair. BlueEyedMonster also gave this useful tip... Some other things that might can be done. Some of these have been mentioned before but I thought I would lump them together in one post since they are scattered throughout this thread. FBI - if someone commits a crime across state lines then it falls within the jurisdiction of the FBI. Use the link provided above. Attorney Generals Office - as mentioned several times previously in this thread. Mutliple Law Suits - multiple law suits would cost SkyRide a fortune in legal fees. Theft of copyrighted material among other things is grounds for a lawsuit. PayPal Account for Attorney - A PayPal account on this site or another site would be a great way to help generate Attorney fees to launch our own class action law suit against SkyRide. Take back their domain names as said above by BlueEyedMonster ISP - As mentioned earlier in this thread we could make complaints about wrong doings to SkyRide's Internet Service Provider For the purposes of a lawsuit we could join forces with the other industries SkyRide is cashing in on. Protest Site on the net to inform consumers about SkyRide as mentioned above. Such as the funjumper site. A PayPal account could be used to generate money needed for paid sponsored links. Protest emails to Dropzones partcipating in SkyRide's program. USPA BOD Elections - Ballots are in this months magazine. Email the candidates and see where they stand on this issue and what they plan to do about it. Vote accordingly. A page on USPA's site devoted to informing consumers about SkyRide. A page or sticky (permanent) article on Dropzone.com's homepage devoted to informing consumers about SkyRide. An indepth magazine article about SkyRide for Parachutist and/or Skydiving Magazine to inform the entire skydiving population. Not everyone reads these forums. Try and get your local media interested both publications and television. Every reporter loves a good story. If the story runs in enough places it could possibly make national news on CNN and/or FOX news. Inform ASC's local jumpers. If they can made interested they can voice their concerns directly with the PARASITE. Removing the parasite's support structure would be highly beneficial to stopping his infection of our sport. As a last resort use Dropzone.com to develop a similar business to SkyRide to compete with him directly. I hope it doesn't come to this but this may be one of the best ways to flush out the parasite. An organzied protest at ASC could get national media attention and deter customers from putting their money into a parasite support structure. If anybody else has any ideas please list them.

ever heard somobody say skydiving is 90% mental and 10% physical or something to that effect? headdown takes a certain level of awareness and with 49 jumps you have way to much sensory overload going on to get a grasp of it. keep your head upright. right now that is what feels most famaliar. work on your breathing and awareness of both everything around you and what your body is doing at all times. once accomplished at the these two goals on every jump, you should be relaxed enough to begin working on headdown. i also recommend perfecting a basic sit + 360 degree turns first. as well as waiting until next spring or summer when you can practice multiple jumps a day. winter in canada is not the right time. a jump here and a jump there will do you little good. instead spend those jumps jumping with your friends and increasing your overall level of awareness. good luck.

i'm not suprised either. but it goes back to what i said earlier about looking at it from the DZO's perspective. There are two DZ's in Houston. One takes the certifcates and one doesn't. That leaves alot of money on the table and the DZO's with a decision, would they rather be right or rich. Since Skydive Houston doesn't take them that leaves the other DZ with the opportunity to take advantage of 100% of the short term benefits of accepting the certifcates. Also take into consideration that SDH has $15 jumps all year and Spaceland is none to happy about that. Why wouldn't Spaceland accept the certificates (from a business owners persepctive). I'm pulling this number out of the air but say for example SkyRide generates 50 tandem customers a month. Spaceland has the opportunity to turn them all down or take them all. 50 tandems times $175 is $8750. Consider the small number of those that will make a second jump and possibly go thru the course. To ask Spaceland not to take the certificates is asking them to turn down about $120,000 a year. If it was your business would you turn that cash down? I think most would not. That's why the answer to this problem does not lye in asking the particpating dropzones not to particpate. Now one day when the ASC/SkyRide PARASITE has made enough money off the certificates to re-open Wharton then Spaceland will likely be thousands of dollars sorry that they ever partcipated. edit: And also consider this. What if Spaceland did quit taking the certificates. That would cut SkyRide out of the 4th largest city in the country. If he gets cut out completely where do you think his next DZ is going. Currently it's a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. But there is an answer. We've just have to put our heads together and figure it out. Before it's too late.

and i may be seeing yall for a few weeks next winter. seems like everytime the temperature drops a degree I think about it one degree harder.

i wish i had been there to see that and then again i'm glad i wasn't That's FrankenMazz. there's a few more pictures of her here www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1320378;search_string=who%20is%20your%20pet%20for%20halloween;#1320378

Racers Rule but not enough in this thread so thought I would post mine.

good article. i rated it a 10

Hey Jeff. At the moemnt it doens't look like I am going to Arizone for the boogie. I wish I was. It would make my year to come up there and make some jumps with yall. Sometimes things change at the last moment and maybe I might be able to make it after all. I'll have to wait and see.

The article appeared Issue #243: October 2001: 09/21/2001 of Skydiving Magazine. The article is titled "Georgia's DZ's Promotional Efforts Attract Criticism". Back issues can be ordered at www.skydivingmagazine.com

I can't possibly imagine how you could have read this entire thread and not gotten anything out of it. Yah many DZ's lie but they don't need help from a thrid party in doing it. check out this website www.skydivinghouston.com This dropzone is fictitous and does not exist. If you call the number on the site you get SkyRide. Try calling them back and asking specifically where this DZ is. Had you purchased that tandem certificate you would have been sent to Skydive Spaceland and told they were the only DZ in Houston despite Skydive Houston having been operating in Houston longer than anyone. SkyRide also steals images and copyrighted material from other real sites to use on their fictitous sites. Do a search on rec.skydiving or dropzone.com for ASC looking specifically for infomation on them a few years ago before SkyRide came into the picture and you will find that ASC has been involved in questionable business practices for sometime. In fact Skydiving Magazine ran an article on them and their questionable websites a few years ago. This is not a new problem. It's an old problem that has elevated to a much higher level.

It is on topic. It started about SkyRide and is still about SkyRide. The thread is titled "What can we do about SkyRide?" Fully identifying the problem is part of finding a solution. That is logical assumption. Think about for a second and you will realize it doesn't quit work like that. If DZ 'A' is taking the certificates and DZ 'B' is trying to do the right thing and not take them then DZ 'B' is shooting themselves in the foot while leaving no reason for DZ 'A' to quit taking them. You have to look at this whole thing from jumper's point of view, as well as the DZO's, the 1st time customer's and the parasite that is running the whole thing.

I don't like the idea of any kind of middleman. Nobody asked for a middleman and no one wants one imposed on them. But if there had to be one then I would prefer dropzone.com over the USPA. SkyRide discriminates between those that do and do not accept their certifcates. USPA discriminates between member and non-member DZ's. In fact if you look at USPA and SkyRide they have simillarities. Both impose themselves on you and the sport. Both do not acknowledge the existance of those that do not particpate in their programs. The difference is the USPA is legitimate and has the best interest of the sport at heart and uses it revinue to protect and further improve our sport. SkyRide is very shady and doesn't care about the sport. They only care about dollars. Dropzone.com on the other hand is unbiased and doesn't discrimate between anybody. If SkyRide can make money doing what they are doing then Sangiro can too. Alot more money than what he makes off of little red stars. I'm sure Sangiro realizes this and I bet he has already spent some time pondering the idea. Again I don't like the idea of a middle man at all but if there needs to be one then I think Sangiro is the most logical choice. He's a good honest person and I am sure in this case good would prevail over evil. SKYRIDENCE!

ASC and SkyRide are one in the same. The are both the real problem. ASC's business tactics were questionable, immorral & unethical before SkyRide came into the picture. SkyRide is a direct result of where ASC's unethical business practices were going. So what's next? Multiple turbine carnival like tandem mills moving into your area is what's next. Owned by a parasite that will stoop to any immorral and unethical business tactic he can to force the other DZ's out of business. In the end you will have a sport dominated by tandem mill DZ's that don't give a damn about anything but money and the owner of all of this will be USPA. I suggest you do some research, take a few steps back and get a better view of the bigger picture and disassociate yourself from this parasite. think of it as a pre-emptive strike. remove his support structure and you limit his ability to further infect the sport. the rigging loft is part of the DZ. The DZ is associated with SkyRide. The DZ and SkyRide are owned by the same person. Money from Skyride, the DZ, the rigging loft and the jumpers go into to this parasite's pocket and further his ability to expand his infection on the rest of the industry.

cyberskydive witnessed ASC taking down signs for Skydive Monroe and replacing them with signs for ASC. If that is the kind of business practices that Chutingstar manages then they are no doubt just as bad as the parasite they associate themselves with. Like I said before Chutingstar may provide great rigging services and treat their customers well but that does not mean they give a damn about what is best for the sport. A rigger can provide a good service and still not care about anything but the money. i would rather be smelly from sweat from working to defend my sport from a parasite than smell like I got shit on by a parasite because I did nothing to try and stop it. ask yourself which is worse.

his jump numbers are not relevant to his ability to inform himself on current issues. not likely this time of year.

i have no doubt they are as are most all people in this sport. yes i can yes i can. The owner of ASC and SkyRide is a parasite and is one in the same. If you know what he is about and continue to support his businesses and put your money in his pocket then you are supporting a parasite. hence you are part of a parasite support structure. if you truly care about the future of this sport then you will disassociate yourself from that parasite. If he loses his support structure then he loses much of his ability to infect our sport.

they shouldn't be misleading at all. feel free to quote me on that. their phones are answered by dishonest, elusive and ignorant people. And ignorance is a deliberate part of their MO. the bulk of their cost is going to be in legal fees and litigation if they are not careful.

maybe it's a job they shouldn't be doing technically since the witch has been identified the hunt is over. now it's just a matter of figuring out how to burn 'em at the stake. while they may be knowledgable, a big business and perform great services for their customers that doesn't mean they have the best interest of the sport at heart. if they are so big and great then they shouldn't have any problem disassociating themselves from a parasite. funny attachment but i disagree with that too. the internet allows for arguments that are all to often unproductive to become structured debates for a much larger audience.

speeding is not the same. DUI doesn't count. I would never be guilty by association of a drunk driver because if someone is too drunk to drive I'm not getting in the car with them. Jail depends on what they went to jail for. If someone murders somebody and you know about and don't say anything then you are both going to jail. association. that is exactly what SkyRide does. They take the food out of other people's mouths and grab a few crumbs for themselves while they are doing it. Since Spaceland accepts their certificates and Skydive Houston does not, anybody who calls SkyRide is informed that Spaceland is the only DZ in Houston. That is taking food out of SDH's mouth. I called these fuckers the other day to see what they were about for myself. They are dishonest and very elusive. And the fact that SkyRide is working very hard at it is the very reason why something has got to be done fast. SkyRide doesn't give a shit about skydivers or the industry. They care about one thing; money. That's why they are a PARASITE. And anybody that knowingly supports them whether it's Chuting Star Rigging Loft, Skydivegear.com, drawn2design.net, Atlanta Skydiving Center, the jumpers that jump there, and/or DZs that are accepting the certifcates are all part of a parasite support structure. Don't worry. I don't get out of the state much. But I don't have to with such a great thing as dropzone.com to voice my opinion. I'll can you this. My DZ does not accept these parasitic certificates.

anybody know the cost? i couldn't find it on the website.

I'm not sure it's possible. Rounds are difficult to stear and bounce off of each other. That's why two rounds out isn't that big of a deal and hundreds of people can make military static line jumps with rounds on one pass from low altitudes with out anybody getting wrapped up.

BUFFY (series, not the movie)

i disagree. if you know someone is up to no good and you associate with them anyway then that makes you to some degree guilty by association. and i think that applys to some to degree to every skydiver that jumps at that dropzone that knows ASC's connection to SkyRide and knows what SkyRide is all about. may sound a little silly but that's the way I feel.

i think my reasons is obvious but i will delete it and apologize. edit: edit to delete text. most of what i said here wan't any nicer than the post i deleted above. edited this instead of deleting entirely so that the apology can remain.