voltage

Thats said enough, isn't it? I'm Andi, 26 years, and I started my training back last year in October and might get my license very soon when the weather agrees. Now I'm definitely hooked. It is just awesome to get into a plane with the intent to jump out and doing exactly that Last week I did my hop'n'pop from 2000m, and I was quite scared of it beforehand, but when actually jumping i felt like I have plenty of time still (opening at 1200m). so the next one exit@1500m should be no problem. I hope it's ok to read my posts for you native speakers, I am no native speaker (german native speaker) but I try to improve my english all the time. There are definitely some very nice people in skydiving, so I hope I can someday give back something to this community. Not really my first post, but now that I introduced myself... SO HOW DO I ... AHH YES [BEER][BEER][BEER][BEER][BEER][BEER][BEER][BEER][BEER][BEER]

Well, the DZ I originally choose for training turned out to be a bad one, after that DZ.com did help me quite a bit in dealing with that - getting opinions from outside - and also pushed me to continue in this sport despite the setback. Like someone said, the quality of material here is better than other internet places for sure. It has its limitations of course. But I also learn alot here. Just yesterday I carefully reviewed the RSL setup on my student rig, because I read about an incident involing that. So it helps me to improve in safety.

Found it. Thanks for the advice. Andreas

In February of this year I did start a thread in the "General Skydiving Forum" about unfair business behavior of Skydive Thailand / DZO Stephen Northcott. Today I wanted to look it up and was unable to find it, not even my own posts. What happened? When the thread was deleted I would appreciate a comment about the circumstances. Andreas

Hello tustinr, Stephen, readers, I am not a "sour" costumer. Please don't judge me to fast, because after Stephen's post I was very emotional and that is what shows in my posts afterwards. Now with some distance I see it was not a wise way to react, but I pledge for understanding. It came as a hard punch to me after a beautiful time in Thailand. I just came back from a 10-day stay in a buddhist monastery, and want to take another try to sort it out now with hopefully more calm. It seems that there is no way to resolve the forged e-mail until Stephen gets it out of here or some sort of clears it up. That leaves the issue that started the thread. I see his no refund policy as well as his effort to build up the dropzone and do not question both. My main points are: That I was not properly informed beforehand. What he wrote about this sounds very properly, to get it to the reality as it happend two points have to be added. In all documents I received (all by e-mail) there was NO mentioning about the no-refunds policy or what it means (it was on the website under terms&conditions, but I overlooked it there sadly), and there was a conversation where I clearly put the question if I will be able to finish in my timeframe (3,5 month) and he confirmed without a word about no-refund etc. If I had known the implications, I would not have booked. All the risk of airplane problem etc. was on my side without me having the slightest idea of this. And that the plane in Pattaya was down from 28th of November until about beginning of second week of February (and the first possibility in Pattaya to actually jump would have been 1st of March). Not a short time. The offer from Danniel to jump on 1st March to 3rd March was not possible because of Stephen (I was ready to go, he was not ready to organise it). I am also not very fond of jumping together with him, because I am new to skydiving and have some fear of my own to cope with. No need to have to worry about such things, that is why I intially stated I don't want to jump with ESC again. After Danniel assured me that Stephen will not be involved in any teaching or whatsoever I was ready to go. What I did ask from the beginning was a fair approach. Sadly, the possibility to jump somewhere in Spain or wherever does not help me very much because I am a beginner and first need to get my license (I live in Germany). I invested over 2000 Euros for the course fees and now have somewhat a harder time to finance a major part of that again in Germany to complete. That is why I asked for money back. My goal is simple to be able to finish the course, not to earn money out of Stephen. I will write a PM to Stephen again to ask if he sees any possibility to resolve the course issue. Thanks for all the people contributing, Andreas

Well, this is the followup. Yesterday I called Danniel Lee, my main jumpmaster, in Singapur. He was very professional in his attitude and offered me to come 1st to 3rd to Pattaya and give me the chance to finish the course. As I got it he wanted to take the extra costs to his own account. Thanks again for that offer. You are very kind. I took his offer. He said I had to confirm it with Stephen, though, as Stephen is running the business. I did, I expressed that I am glad it worked out. I asked him he should take out the forged e-mail. He asked me to take out everything else. I am fine with that. I deleted the last posting I had done, but found out it is impossible to delete other postings as they are to old, as well as impossible to edit them. I suppose for the same reason, but did not find any hints in the FAQ etc. I informed Stephen about this. He came back with an answer that said basically, I first have to retract calling him a lia here in public. Before he will not make any efforts to get the course running. I was quite shocked by this, because there would have been most possible a solution he could have done this while keeping face. I am an honest person. I said he forged an e-mail and I will not lie against myself. The best thing I can do is to state things as they are. This is not about my ego, it is about my feeling of justice. I was ready to do it a way he could keep his face. I cannot twist myself just to get to the course. I truly wanted to get to the course, after I told Danniel I am not feeling well with being in the same airplane as Stephen. He assured me that the power to overcome this was in my mind, and Stephen would not act as any part of the teaching. With that said and my trust in Danniel, I was ready to go. I spoke to Danniel later, he agreed to talk to Stephen about this issue. We agreed he would call me until about 8am this morning if Stephen is willing to run the course. So I will finally not be able to complete the course. I will not retract from the truth, I will try to back it up as much as possible. Anyone interested have a look at the screenshot from my Outlook Sentbox. Anyone, please ask some of my friends. I can provide you with contact details. I am dedicated to graduate, and hopefully I will do in Germany. About this issue, this will be last post for a while. This issue may have been ugly, but it is just necessary to have it here in the public. It is the first kind of justice. Andreas Bauer ab@voltage.de

I have no problem with my e-mail adress being here. He should have asked me, though. But obviously it was a mistake. I am not posting under other names. We have reached an agreement. Danniel (my instructor) made a very kind offer to be here from 1st to 3rd. So after all it looks like things are going to be fine and I may have the chance to graduate as a skydiver after all.

Well, Mr. Northcott is always trying to put it like i request special treatment. I did jump in November, had for my own reason to take a break until December, and after that got no chance to finish it because of many problems (all not on my side). Contrary to what he stated I hasted to any posibility he even suggested in the manner I could (as to have beforehand cancel other things, but we are talking about less than 48 hours delay between first notice and my confirmation). Well, I understand the no-refund policy. But is it legitimate in this case when they simply can't provide any jumping possibility for more than 10 weeks. If it is legitimate, is it good business practice? I also was totally unaware of the exact implications of his policy, and no, I signed no paper stating it. He has it on his website in a quite hidden place. So I implicitly agreed to it by making the booking (by paying deposit). Before sale (booking) he knew of my timeframe and assured me, no problem. Far from being clear. I was rock solid sure that I would be able to finish until February (4 month time!). So I don't request special treatment, I requested a fair approach. Andreas

Well, I think he lied to make me look like a neurotic / difficult whatsoever student. After all, this is all about publicity. Anyone can read this forum, and some probably will. I hope the truth will turn out over the time. I will ask my instructors in Germany to make a statement after my training there. Maybe Danniel Lee (my instructor) has the guts to make a statement here regarding the oxygen issue (he jumped with me 5 times from 10000ft and should know if I were neurotic about oxygen). I know it adds nothing to the issue, and I'm sorry for your peace of mind, but no way I let him get through with that lie. Andreas

His proof e-mail is forged. This is an part of the Skype chat conversation I had with him after he posted the article in this forum and before he added the forged e-mail (EDIT part in this forum). Extreme Sports Cafe 09:23:09 Andres. I can offer no more. Sorry. Is there something else I can help you with? Andreas Bauer: 09:23:20 Yes, correct the posting in the forum. Extreme Sports Cafe 09:23:46 " you might refund me" Please listen Andres. NO REFUNDS! Extreme Sports Cafe 09:23:59 The posting in the forum is correct. How more correct woudl you like it? Andreas Bauer: 09:24:10 Just delete the lies Extreme Sports Cafe 09:24:30 There are no lies and I resent the implication. Please calm down. Andreas Bauer: 09:24:32 I never demanded oxygen above 10K Andreas Bauer: 09:24:54 I am calm, thank you. Extreme Sports Cafe 09:24:59 yes you did. On more than one occasion, and both by email and on the phone. Would you like me to post the email? Andreas Bauer: 09:25:31 Yes, please. I did never demand it. Andreas Bauer: 09:26:07 Don't dare to make up an e-mail Extreme Sports Cafe09:26:11 Fine. I will post the email from you requesting Oxygen. But please do not bother me again today asking me to change it after I have. Andreas Bauer: 09:26:44 I have never requested oxygen. I asked about it and listened to your advice. Extreme Sports Cafe 09:26:59 "Don't dare to make up an e-mail" Why would I do that? Strange that you would think of that! And are you suggesting it's possible that people are postiing things that are not true, and can falsify email or chat records? Extreme Sports Cafe 09:27:33 On that basis how can anything any of us says be taken seriously! Can you see how stupid this whole thing is Andreas! Andreas Bauer: 09:28:09 Well Stephen, enough is enough. With this statement you showed your face. Ok, mai pen rai. Goodbye. After that he did exactly as he suggested and added the forged e-mail to his post. I never demanded oxygen. Here is just about the only time I asked Stephen about it (via Skype) some days before while clearing up questions of myself about jumping AFF in Prachuap, see yourself: Extreme Sports Cafe 07:59:13 Cool... How can I help... Andreas Bauer: 07:59:56 I had a look at the website of the festival. Is it safe to jump as a student from a big airplane? They recommend 100 jumps experience. Extreme Sports Cafe 08:00:49 Yes. The jumping you will be doing will be under instructor supervision, and so we will maintain a safe distance between groups for you.. The 100 jump limit is advisory and for individuals turning up to jump for fun... Andreas Bauer: 08:01:43 Ok the jumps will be below 14k ft or? no oxygen needed? Extreme Sports Cafe 08:02:33 Jumps go from 16,000 feet or so... You actually should have oxygen onboard for any flight over 10,000 feet. But the time we are between 10,000 and 16,000 is short enough that it is not a concern... Andreas Bauer: 08:03:17 ok Extreme Sports Cafe 08:03:29 Also they do have emergency oxygen on board the Hercules.. Imagine a warehouse with wings and 100 skydivers standing inside it with big doors that open at one end of the warehouse... That's what its like being in a Herc. Andreas Bauer: 08:03:49 about the dates, first possible ... ... I didn't want to take this any further, but i felt this was necessary to do some justice to the truth. Andreas

Well, it took me some time to be able to make this post, as I had strong emotions going on. I don't think it is worthwile to extend this discussion any further, as I think everyone can see what it is about. The e-mail he stated is partly forged. In the first part the paragraph "I still would feel..." is completely made up by him, and in the second part the "There is the Prachuab option,..." paragraph is made up by him, in the real e-mails that went through the net it was: "So we will not confirm any plans until the plane is actually ready for skydiving." The rest of the quoted e-mail is true and refers to the frequent questioning when I wrote him to see when I would be able to jump again, knowing my time to finish is slowly passing. The rest of his post contains more obvious errors and false suggestions, but as he forges e-mails now I feel it doesn't make any sense to take it further in this way. I would appreciate any help about this issue. I have not yet encountered such a reaction/person to date. Andreas

I have paid all upfront. Of course I do not request back for the 5 jumps. I even feel ok for them to charge me the whole groundschool and basic instructors time. I only request back the money for the missing jumps, I think slightly less than 1/3 would be fair. Start to feel really sick about them. Skydiving means wild west business attitudes, or what? I hope I have a better experience in Germany. I want to continue at FSVS around Saarlouis. Andreas

It won't. I knew from the beginning I want to learn it. I have firm firm plans to get to a DZ in Germany to continue, the only problem to overcome is the missing money (as I am a student). The thing for me is that until now I did trust them. They told me things like "can you handle a sport that takes you down to your last chance that often" and basically blamed all of this to me, because I did not jump again immediately after the reserve ride, while ignoring all the other facts (as stated). They argue with their no refund policy. This Extreme Sports Cafe is basically a one man show. Stephen Northcott / FlyingDodo / scratt is names he uses in real life / online. I also contacted my instructor which is Danniel Lee from Singapur. I have a good opinion of him and hope he will see the problem in how this is handled. I am glad to get support in my view from other people, because I am new to this and really was let to believe by them it is usual business practive in this sport. Andreas

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Hello People this is my first post, I have been reading some here though. Looks like a good community to me. I need some advice on a not so nice matter. As a student I started last November in Thailand at Skydive Thailand (Extreme Sports Cafe) an AFF-Course. In the course of the training I had a reserve ride (self deployed) at jump level 3, because I was unstable spinning and unable to deploy my main in time. Everything went fine, though. Afer that, I needed to take some time of to gain the confidence again. About 3 weeks later and two visits to a windtunnel I was ready to continue, maybe even stronger dedicated to go through the course. Unfortunately, after that there were so many problems on the dropzone. First the aircraft was grounded, then they had not enough students to run a course and at the upcoming course they also will not take me (new students have priority). So I was waiting for nearly 3 months then to continue, but could not, and now have to leave Thailand. The problem for me is that they totally refuse to give any kind of refund, altough I had the promise that I will be able to finish the course in time (they knew my timeframe). So alot of money is lost that is needed for me to continue the course in my homecountry of Germany. So, I now feel ripped off. Any opinions appreciated. Andreas