stratostar

Well this is one of the problems we have as an industry, too few give enough of shit to write, go to meetings etc. It's not their fight, don't effect them none.... that is until they show up to shut down their local dz, then it becomes a "hot potato" issue all of a sudden and they start wanting the same kind of support they failed to give to others. How many front range skydivers do you think took off a day of work to attend the Boulder county hearing? I bet very little did, but some may have wrote letters or emails. Then add in the politics of the industry, a lot of times the other area DZO's could care less and would like to see other DZ shut down so they can have the market. The turn out of industry support is lame on these issues and it will keep on being that way till enough of you get pissed on to start taking action to put a stop this crap. The more everyone sits back and says nothing the more we will see this across the country. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Not always. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CC0QqQIoADAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Forleans.wickedlocal.com%2Farticle%2F20140124%2FNEWS%2F140127651&ei=v-P4UvqxKKSHygHWyYCADA&usg=AFQjCNFfqe99uCHq9ZpPBC6AvAfWCKr4cQ&sig2=3vpXl71rJ3fVTFSGL4ayOw&bvm=bv.60983673,d.aWc you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

This handful of folks in Colorado have won one of two fights they took on trying to shut down skydiving centers in Colorado. Last week Independent Skydiving in Boulder Colorado had a hearing for land use and zoning at the county commissioners. The county sided with this small, yet vocal group of nutcases and decided to force Independent Skydiving to close until another landing area could be found. http://www.timescall.com/longmont-local-news/ci_25031973/boulder-county-commissioners-deny-skydiving-landing-zone-application A number of skydivers from all over voiced their concerns that a legal operating business taking part in air commerce, that complied with all the FAA regulations was getting harassed by this group, who had started this agenda trying to get mile hi skydiving shut down or limited in it's flights, they lost more then once. Why? It was on a federal funded airport and there is little they could force the city to do about legal aircraft flights. So after they lost that fight, yet are still suing mile hi, according to the head nutcase Kim Gibbs. They went after Independent skydiving's landing area and noise complaints of it's aircraft.... I don't know what legal course the DZO has to fight this action of the county, if any. However it is interesting to see what Mrs Kimberly Gibbs posted last night on her Citizens For Quiet Skies facebook page. I would think a lawyer could use this to take to the county commissioners to fight this. So you all still think this industry is not under attack? There are a number of on going issues in the US in regards to dz being banned or out right denied access to federal funded airports.... Independent Skydiving was operating from an airport and landing a number of miles away, they were trying to be good members of the aviation community by not operating on the Boulder Municipal Airport that is heavy in ultralight & sailplane traffic. This is where some one I'm sure will pipe up and say some stupid shit about USPA and AAD fund saving the day.... WRONG! I would like to know what USPA is going to do if anything regarding this case. If it is not challenged in a court of law and let to stand, then you can kiss 105.25 good bye! Then we have the latest DOT ruling that skydiving is air commerce, there for I would think the county would out of the legal scope of their authority... but I'm not a lawyer. This is where true advocacy would come in handy. USPA has been wasting thousands of members due monies on a damn PR firm that is why you see some many feel goodie fluffy stories if you Google "skydiving". What good is that? Well we need more members and dues and we need more skydivers and TDMS to pay for those fancy turbines everyone loves, but Kim Gibbs. Well a lot of good all these new skydivers and customers will do the sport if there are no more dropzones to jump at. I hope the DZO of Independent Skydiving will now press the issue and request to use the Boulder Municipal Airport, it is federal funded and obligated to the grant funding contracts. I also hope there is action taken in a court of law and backed by USPA, if not taken on by USPA on their own... however that may not an avenue open to take IDK. I know who to ask and they are busy so I have not called to ask, got enough of my own FAA access fight to deal with. It may very well come down the future of this sport being on private airports, the federal funded airports are a joke if they don't want you there and it will cost a lot of $$$ to win, just ask those who have won a case. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

16 you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

thx, I didn't see that. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I think it is a tdm only op, there for 50 meters to nearest., more then enough to meet the BSR. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Not really the student that rode down with a dead TI had a fair amount of a struggle to get free of the dead guy after landing out in a field off the airport... he was able to get out of the harness and walk to a house for help. And most hook knifes are on the pax back, and would be one, hard to reach and two, most don't know it is there. A guy took 30 mins or so to get free on the ground and not in an airplane crash. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

And round two goes to Andy9o8.... you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

In 1988 how many reserves were on the market that were 210? IDK for sure, but I do know one for sure, and I wouldn't jump it.... The x210R. Seen a few of those around, there is on on ebay right now from the loft in lost P. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

So how do you feel about flying in airplanes twice you're age? you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I've seen it all, like most others the good, the bad, the ugly. However one the biggest problems I have seen is really bad managers or DZO's. Some the worst offenders are "clubs" where there is really no dzo in charge. A lot of the right hand don't know what the left is doing, and it takes a committee vote to get anything done. Many the topics covered in this thread, I have heard get blown off "because we are a club, and not a business". Yea they totally fail to see that is not how the person who came out there and dropped 250 bucks on a tandem sees it..... they don't care what the name of the dz is, nor do they care if the word "club" is in the name, as far as they are concerned it is a business transaction and they show up with all the exceptions we see in this thread, as any good business would address. The other thing is talking shit in front of the paying customers. I can't tell you how many times I have seen dzo's, instructors and club members running the show cussing out and bashing "other staff" in front of or in ear shot of a bunch of tdm's or customers. In fact I've had it happen to me, twice. The last time it was because I was out in the LZ talking down students, on a club where I was ASKED to come there to help... I walk in after the students landed and was out of the blue yelled at directly in front of the guy that was my next tdm pax and his wife. I was told I was fucking up the whole show by running radio and they "have fucking people to do that" (radio) and I was holding up the whole show, yet there sat two 182's with no one in them, so some how my radio control is now preventing two airplanes from flying.... anyway there was a lot of swearing and totally unprofessional.... but hey it's club and NOT a business, right. When I told a couple board members what took place I was told if I didn't like it I could leave.... so leave I did with all my tdm gear and drove the 3hrs back home with out making any jumps and being out the six hrs time and gas to go there, to help them! The bottom line is there is a whole lotta people running the show who should never be in charge at a lot of dropzones, because some of this shit is pretty basic... seen everything talked about in this thread on one dz and well that place closed because those "kids" running the place, did want listen to the customer feed back nor the more experienced professionals who were pointing the over flowing trash of mostly beer cans and the rest of the list. Shame too it was a long running dz with a lot of history, now gone. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

The really sad part about that in the fact that it happened in the 2000's (if I remember correctly). Goes to show, no matter how hard we try to get the message out, some people are hell bent on cutting corners to save a buck and it shows they clearly think very highly of the staff and clients who will be in need. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Long time Hawaiian skydiver Mr. Flip Hollstein was aboard that flight. I saw his name today in the story, and messaged on FB, he said that in fact it was him and he was the last one to leave, he made sure all were out of it and then swam to shore to seek help and said it was really bad @ shoreline due to major rocks. By the time he reached shore he said the CC was there to rescue them. He also said that the lady who died, was out ok and may have had a heart attack. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/January/09/faa-apologizes-for-delay-on-medical-petition.aspx?WT.mc_sect=adv&WT.mc_id=140110epilot you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2014/January/09/faa-apologizes-for-delay-on-medical-petition.aspx?WT.mc_sect=adv&WT.mc_id=140110epilot you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Ford Tri Motor..... HA, more like a 1911 Wright flyer~! you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yea that is how we do it... however I have yet to see anyone outside of students getting trained up that go sit down and do a math problem at the start of the day to get the spot. Yes I hear people ask the pilot about the uppers and heading, yet none of them then go sit down and start filling out shit Sparky posted.... My point was, you don't need to do all that shit to spot the damn plane and to do it correctly. And in fact a great deal of places and jumpers rely on the green light and hardly even look out the door for traffic let alone the spot... I know I'm in the back hauling meat and I can see them all like sheep looking at the light and not out the door, then the light comes on they open the door and no one takes a second to look out, they just start climbing and going, see it all the time. I have yet to see any LO's pause to go do the spot math before they go up, even first load of the day. Yea I;m sure out there is a few, but that would be very rare. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I didn't say it did not exist, did I... And you of all people I would expect to know where I'm coming from by those statements. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Who said anything about a FJC & training? We talking real world here not dropping meat bombs coming out FJC or going through a progression. Getting trained or shown how to do something is one thing, using it in the real world application is another story. A great deal of us don't need to do a math problem to find the spot for the day, we do it the way we always have by dropping students.... LOL you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

You know what, I've been around this sport my whole life, 47 yrs. now, I have yet to see anyone sit down and do math to come up with the spot based on winds aloft. It's not rocket science to learn to spot for one thing and you can do it with an eye ball and by feeling the push on the aircraft during climb if it's really that windy aloft. You can also watch the ground track during the climb, seeing how we mostly go in circles, that means in theory at some point you will be into the wind, crosswind, downwind etc... and most the time you can feel it pushing the ac, like in a 182, or you can feel it and see it in the ground track. Too many of you are green light dependent and can't spot to save you're asses anyway, regardless of checking the wind aloft and doing a math about it. Need to spend more time learning hands on and get your head out of the book and out the damn door and window to see WTF is going on.... IMHO you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Did this flight require you fly more then 25 miles? Did you land a plane with jumpers on the floor more the 25 miles away? Cuz if you do and the FAA is there ramp checking peoples shit, you might find there is now some shit to deal with. Yes I know a lot of people do it, but that don't mean it's legal. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

See you two crusty old fuks can learn new tricks.... LOL you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Once again.... some of us have been trying to get additional medical or physical's allowed as equivalent to the class 3.... for one example a USDOT approved medical card. This topic has been ongoing for some time, a few meetings now. The last time it was put up, it was shot down, due to the DUI thing, I understand their point and reasons, just don't agree with reasoning to get there, we all talked about it, shared ideas and disagreed at times, but the issues was talked about and handled in a very fair manner by those who helped me personally raise the question. I know other were also at the same time, I can't speak for them, but all the USPA BOD member I spoke to were fair and open to communication. In fact I believe one of them may still be working on this, but IDK. Again those of us seeking equivalent's provided counter points to the DUI issue and how it might comply as an equivalent. IF the the USPA was talking about it and then tabled it, that is easy, they were not done doing research on the topic and put it off till the research was complete. As it stands now, there will be no equivalent allowed and the reason I was given, as of last week again, was the DUI. That has been clear for sometime. That is because it is 100% true and in fact much is done in the good old boy network and cover up at the highest levels in many cases in the past, that would in fact lead a great deal of those who know the truth to believe, that in fact USPA has a history of looking the other way and playing favoritism to a some.... in fact they tried to pull that shit with the FAA once and got called on it! Well here is a hint..... it's called the search feature on this site, USPA has one too and then there is Google, learn to use it and spend sometime there doing some research using that keyboard, there, instead of thread highjacking here with useless ramblings that are off topic, had you done so you might have been up to speed on the topic, goes back about 3 years now we been working on this. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Just me personally, when they first came on the market I was not sold on it for mostly rigging peeves and I was not that fond of design, all mostly person rigging and taste. Too each there own. A lot of people liked them and local was pushing them. Then I had one total on the freebag stows in the loft, long story but it was swung around the loft by a handful of riggers all scratching their heads. Then this video came out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vaYQ6iP8zlg there is another video of the same design towing a RPC as well, out there. So how do you feel about hand deploying your reserve? (should on the game plan anyway) I really like my old school Jav. not real fond of most newer designs features, I think some designs cause problems when you least need it.... as the old saying goes, Caveat emptor. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Nope nor do I give a damn! I have a class 3 in my pocket and it's valid for 1.5 more yrs... you got one? Make a living using it? Didn't think so.... you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo