Greed's Effect on Skydiving

[Harryson 0]

Some say greed is undesirable but capitalism disagrees.
Increasing regulation on sport and entertainment and the manufacturing of equipment for same shrinks the number of souls who can participate and thereby increases profit for the chosen few.

Deregulate skydiving?

Why not let everybody play. Not just the soldiers and sailing salerz.
Regulate for more smallness, me thinks.
Regulate us for sustained obscurity.
Regulate us and call safety the purpose.
Regulate us for recruiting porpoises.
On purpose? You betcha; no question.
swimmers are pilots too

[davelepka 4]

I'm not sure who you are, but all of your crazy talk makes me think this isn't your first lap of this racetrack.

What do you do, register for new accounts online at the library so they don't pick up your ip address? Maybe go to a friends house?

[futuredivot 0]

Wow! That's a dude with a LOT of free time.

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Here we go again.

[bozo 0]

Its Schlatter.

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

[pilotdave 0]

I think it's one of your most coherent posts in a while. Congratulations.

Unfortunately, it's too late to bring back the olden days of skydiving. It's big business and many skydivers like it that way. If you don't like turbines and fancy gear, there are cessna DZs and old used gear readily available. I don't think the price of skydiving has much to do with regulation. It's more because the things we want are expensive.

Dave

[piisfish 136]

Have a Starbucks
and make new friends

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[virgin-burner 1]

it just never stops..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[pirana 0]

Capitalism is not a sentient being that can agree or disagree with anything.

Language. Get to know it.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[blacklabjumper 0]

when did they start allowing mental patients access to the internet. I thought the mental hospitals were suppose to be watching the inmates. I mean patients.

Rodriguez Brother #1626
Dudiest Skydiver #1962
DPH #-2

[Harryson 0]

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Unfortunately, it's too late to bring back the olden days of skydiving. It's big business and many skydivers like it that way.

Dave

That's just it Mr. Comfort. There ARE NOT many skydivers. And they are mostly getting older. Is this how wee like the future?
And it's NOT big business, Sir. It is financial suicide for almost all but criminals I see. There is NO TRUE ECONOMIC wisdom for investing in this sport except psychic value and love ... unless you develop yourself and sustain like Roger. Nothing has changed. How many Larry Hills are there ... really? Paul Fayard? Billy Richards? Steve Boyds? Farrington A,B,C,D or ... shall I persist. Or are heads warm & fuzzy below sand level?

"Olden?" You? I'm younger by the minute.

[skybytch 259]

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Some say greed is undesirable but capitalism disagrees.
Increasing regulation on sport and entertainment and the manufacturing of equipment for same shrinks the number of souls who can participate and thereby increases profit for the chosen few.

You mean like professional skydiving entertainment companies that go all around the country taking work away from the locals?

[pilotdave 0]

My DZ is a club. We have no owner. Nobody is getting rich off of our jumpers, including tandems. But we still do tandems. We still have $15K tandem rigs. We've spent the last couple years as a small cessna DZ, but this year we're back to having a super otter because thats what we want to jump out of. Tandems do nothing but pay the bills, and they barely do that. Sure, we could cut costs. We could get crappy gear, crappy planes, crappy facilities, etc. And we'd still have a few jumpers that would have a great time. But that's not what skydivers want. We want big planes, high altitudes, and big groups. That stuff costs money. So the sport is expensive.

What's your suggestion? What do you want? What is your purpose for bringing this up? Do you believe that if we abolished the BSRs the sport would become cheaper?

Dave

[BillyVance 34]

I would say disband USPA, start up a new association, all new BOD, EC with balls, etc and BAN Skyride and all people associated with it.

But it's not so simple as that. Oh well, back to reality.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Andy9o8 0]

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I would say disband USPA, start up a new association, all new BOD, EC with balls, etc and BAN Skyride and all people associated with it.

Meet the new boss ... same as the old boss."

-The Who

[Harryson 0]

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You mean like professional skydiving entertainment companies that go all around the country taking work away from the locals?

I met a guy in that business who said the demand so outstrips the supply as to make your notion of "taking" ... into something else. Perhaps those entertainment companies (and the golden recruiters too) actually stimulate the local demand for safe, affordable, exciting aerial entertainment if the audiences approve of what they saw while the "taker" was about.

That same guy said he talks to many civilians who resent recruiters pretending to be entertainers in order to place their children in mental states like Ft. Hood's shrink Hasan et.al.

It's the supply side that needs attention ... like, um a growing population perhaps. Just a thought racing around someday.

[BillyVance 34]

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I would say disband USPA, start up a new association, all new BOD, EC with balls, etc and BAN Skyride and all people associated with it.

Meet the new boss ... same as the old boss."

-The Who

Yeah... but then again, the legal agreement between USPA and Skyride, is just between those two. Transform USPA into a new entity, and hire real lawyers, and maybe they can do it right the 2nd time...

But hey, don't mind me.... it's just wishful thinking.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Harryson 0]

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I would say disband USPA, start up a new association, all new BOD, EC with balls, etc and BAN Skyride and all people associated with it.

Meet the new boss ... same as the old boss."

-The Who

I heard a recorded interview with Pete Townsend of the Who moments ago wherein he said it's a miracle no one was hurt or killed by the band's destructive on-stage behaviors back when.

USPA could lead us toward deregulation if we voted out the greedy, the recruiters and the crooks. But to do so would require a name change cuz US just wouldn't fit after that. Same as the old boss indeed.

Pendulum swings over time through space. Light 'em up, Calvin.

[DanG 1]

Go for it. Who's going to pay?

- Dan G

[buff 0]

Quit feeding the troll...or the nut in search of a squirrel.

It's called the Hillbilly Hop N Pop dude.
If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough.
That's fucked up. Watermelons do not grow on trees! ~Skymama

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

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Unfortunately, it's too late to bring back the olden days of skydiving. It's big business and many skydivers like it that way.

Dave

That's just it Mr. Comfort. There ARE NOT many skydivers. And they are mostly getting older. Is this how wee like the future?
And it's NOT big business, Sir. It is financial suicide for almost all but criminals I see. There is NO TRUE ECONOMIC wisdom for investing in this sport except psychic value and love ... unless you develop yourself and sustain like Roger. Nothing has changed. How many Larry Hills are there ... really? Paul Fayard? Billy Richards? Steve Boyds? Farrington A,B,C,D or ... shall I persist. Or are heads warm & fuzzy below sand level?

"Olden?" You? I'm younger by the minute.

Sure it's expensive to be a part of this sport, but at least the gear wear out quick!

I look at it as a privilege not a right, and yes a rather costly one at that...but hey it's like going to a nice club with a hefty cover charge, if it keeps out the riff raff it's WORTH IT!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Driver1 0]

I agree with you in your discontent with USPA for losing the case and letting Skyride back in, but I think you may be just a bit harsh about crucifying them. I do believe that there are a certain percentage of the BOD, RD, and EC that support Skyride, and that's sad that they support such an organization built on crime and deception, but unfortunately, it's a fact we have to live with.
I will add that the title of this thread is "Greed's Effect on Skydiving", so that being pointed out, it's only appropriate that Skyride be a prime example of what Greed does to Skydiving. A certain select few love Skyride, support them through thick and thin and think Skyride in the best thing to ever happen, while the whole industry is suffering great damage, ie; the honest, hard working DZ's out there who loose thousands of dollars every week due to the deceptive websites and the sales reps connected to those sites telling the customers that DZ "A" is closed, but "Our Cedartown location" is open.
And the public image of our sport is deeply tarnished because of the Skyride fraud. If Skyride were to go completely away, it would still take years for our public image to recover. I've seen plenty of forums that talk about "Skydiving is a scam" and other derivitives of that and as I read them, I see that they are written by people who got scammed by Skyride.
That, my friends, is Greed's Effect on Skydiving!

There will be no addressing the customers as "Bitches", "Morons" or "Retards"!

[Bolas 5]

Well said.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[Harryson 0]

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...if it keeps out the riff raff it's WORTH IT!

Now there is a perfect example, of perpetuating industry smallness. Riff raff, some might say are precisely the demographic that will grow our sport quickly. An Army Colonel gave me his challenge coin this year which reads:
"For excellence, outlaws lead the way."

O my. Yes! Keep the latent skydivers at bay. Keep the riff raff OUT! Show them you are better than them ... not riff raff like THEM ... that despicable smelly demographic with shit that actually has aroma. I'll betcha the riff raff don't even wear pajamas.

No not US. Ours is way more rosy to wallow in as we wither, age and fade into the olive drab terra firma. Keep the riff raff out. Yeah. That's what we need. Yeah. Quite right. Good idea. OUT!

Maybe the riff raff take one look, just smile and turn away. Maybe.

[BillyVance 34]

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Well said.

I've gotten a little jaded these days, but that was better than I could say it. Yeah, I probably dissed USPA more than I should have.

Just have to understand how pissed off a lot of us were at the time it went down. I know off-hand, more than a few old-timers that just quit their membership over that. I elected to just let my ratings lapse.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban