apparently billvon is the only one that gets it.
....
Tandems do not hurt retention. To think so is idiotic. Tandems do not stop people from wanting to skydive. I think its a great intro into the sport. It made me want to come back and do AFF. ...
I disagree!!! I live in a country (small) where we have only 3 clubs entirely tandem focused.
It is sad that they offer S/L, AFF courses. I've never seen so many students walking through the club during the course and walking by after it and never coming back...
I spend statistically min 2 up to 4-5 hrs waiting for a jump and having my own gear. The place is running one 10 persons turbine plane which is doing about 60 tandems per weekend. In addition the weather is not that great. I do more jumps flying abroad than seating in my DZ.
I fully agree with DougH
I saw so many guys walking by because simply they could not jump, after spending days without a single jump!
This is not fair to those students coming to the DZ and being very welcome while paying big money to the club for the course, and then being left without any chance to jump and any other alternative.
What is the benefit of having a turbine on DZ if the "funjumpers" are not entitle to use it? NONE
In a place where is no alternative I can simply say that tandems are killing the sport instead of at least doing nothing bad.
I'm posting under different nick, just to be able to have a chance to wait 3-4 hours for a jump this weekend.
There should be a balance. There is nothing wrong with tandems and I perfectly understand the need for easy money, but we cannot forget about the other side of the sport - everyday jumpers who keep the sport alive.