A THIRD drop zone in Houston?

[ParaHog 0]

News story:
http://www.herald-journal.com/archives/2012/stories/winsted-skydivers-houston.html

"WINSTED, MN – Westside Skydivers owner Joe Johnson has been operating his skydiving business out of the Winsted Municipal Airport since the spring of 2010, with remarkable success in a very short amount of time.

Following the same formula he used to set up his skydiving business in Winsted, Johnson has made plans for a second drop zone in Houston, TX which is to open between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1 of this year..."

There is already Skydive Houston and Skydive Spaceland in Houston. Is there really room for a third drop zone in Houston?

[DaVinciflies 0]

If you look at the Chicago area which supports several DZs, then yes, there is probably enough business to go around.

Skydive Houston is quite a way outside the city.

[JohnRich 4]

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Skydive Houston is quite a way outside the city.

If you use central downtown as a reference point, it's about a 1-hour drive to Skydive Houston, and a 45-minute drive to Spaceland, on a light-traffic weekend morning. Those seem like typical distances for a lot of skydivers to drive to get to a DZ. So I'm not sure what your definition of "quite a way" is...

[chuckakers 369]

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News story:
http://www.herald-journal.com/archives/2012/stories/winsted-skydivers-houston.html

"WINSTED, MN – Westside Skydivers owner Joe Johnson has been operating his skydiving business out of the Winsted Municipal Airport since the spring of 2010, with remarkable success in a very short amount of time.

Following the same formula he used to set up his skydiving business in Winsted, Johnson has made plans for a second drop zone in Houston, TX which is to open between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1 of this year..."

There is already Skydive Houston and Skydive Spaceland in Houston. Is there really room for a third drop zone in Houston?

If Mr. Johnson opens a DZ in the market it will total 2 DZ's in the Houston area, not 3.

But you probably already knew that.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[Illcomm 0]

Skydive Houston is out of business as of this weekend so the real question is "Is there room for a 2nd DZ in the Houston area?" Since competition is always good for the consumer not only is there room but there is a need for a better facility, that can not only improve the customer service, but have a better working environment with better pay then Spaceland.

Ronald H Bell
D26863

[chuckakers 369]

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Skydive Houston is quite a way outside the city.

If you use central downtown as a reference point, it's about a 1-hour drive to Skydive Houston, and a 45-minute drive to Spaceland, on a light-traffic weekend morning. Those seem like typical distances for a lot of skydivers to drive to get to a DZ. So I'm not sure what your definition of "quite a way" is...

Not sure where you got those numbers, John. According to google maps, Eagle Lake is 68.1 miles from downtown Houston with a drive time of 1 hour 25 minutes, while Rosharon is 31.9 miles with a drive time of 42 minutes.

That makes Eagle Lake more than twice as far as Rosharon from downtown Houston - and a nearly 45 minute difference in drive time.

Not that it matters now.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[chuckakers 369]

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but there is a need for a better facility, that can not only improve the customer service, but have a better working environment with better pay then Spaceland.

Ron, you are seeing things from staffers perspective and I suppose that's fair.

From the perspective of an experienced skydiver with 25 years of active jumping in the Houston market (and a former Houston area DZO), I can say without reservation that Spaceland is delivering the product jumpers want and need hands down better than any Houston area DZ ever has.

Multiple Super Otters, Skyvans, a Super Caravan, loads flying 7 days a week, HUGE a/c packing area, great staff, onsite cafe, blah, blah, blah.

More important is the vibe. The DZ has evolved over the past few years to become very fun jumper friendly, with organizers every weekend for all disciplines and experience levels, and lots of fun jumper events and activities.

For the past year or so, I have been load organizing and producing special events at the DZ and have had nothing but GREAT experiences with management. They have supported and encouraged my efforts, taken financial risks to insure the success of my projects, and afforded me carte blanche in my activities.

I don't work for the DZ. I am not on their payroll. My motivation is to do really cool stuff for the skydivers and the sport, and Skydive Spaceland has gone above and beyond in helping me do that - and they have done so without a bunch of bullshit DZ politics.

I'm a bit bummed about SDH closing. I was one of the founders of the DZ in the early 1990's, so it's tough for me to see a great DZ go under. However, we reap what we sew, and Karma is always a bitch.

RIP, SDH.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[AggieDave 6]

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I'm a bit bummed about SDH closing. I was one of the founders of the DZ in the early 1990's, so it's tough for me to see a great DZ go under. However, we reap what we sew, and Karma is always a bitch.

RIP, SDH.

I have made hundreds of jumps in Waller, cut my competition swooping teeth on their swoop ditch, even got my SCR there. It was sad to see them move, sad to see them close, but I can only hope that the new DZ will be on the north side of Houston somewhere. Right now with the family and everything it is hard to drive the 2 hours to SD Spaceland (even though I love that DZ) and I could use a solid DZ within an hour's drive.

Cypress would be great!

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[dqpacker 7]

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Skydive Houston is out of business as of this weekend so the real question is "Is there room for a 2nd DZ in the Houston area?" Since competition is always good for the consumer not only is there room but there is a need for a better facility, that can not only improve the customer service, but have a better working environment with better pay then Skydive Houston.

There I fixed it for ya.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

When Joe opened Westside here in the Twin Cities, It became our 4th DZ. Skydive Twin Cities, Minnesota Skydivers Club, Skydive MN and now Westside. This year, Skydive Forest Lake became our 5th DZ.

I only wish I had more time and money to visit each DZ more often.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[pairashooter 0]

Well said Chuck. As most of us know, SDH began to die a slow death when the IRS busted Davis. The downward spiral only increased when SDH changed ownership. This closure was inevitable and it's unfortunate that what used to be an awesome DZ was destroyed by those who were supposed to care the most for it. As others have said, karma is a bitch.

Chris Scaife

[propacker 0]

you know - that is just really mature of you - but then you had never even been to SDH when it was Waller, and you have drank a lot of cool-aid. But you know - if you had ever come out there, you would have been welcomed and you very probably would have said that we really weren't as bad as you were always told and we were a nice place to jump.
When the original (real) Spaceland closed down and all their people that still wanted to jump came up to jump with us, we welcomed them with open arms - didn't put them down because their home dropzone closed down - tried to get them to join in our normal activities, but most of them didn't seem to want to have too much to do with us because, of course, they were so much better than us. but during the years that they were there, we sponsored and backed their team (I believe that was the year they won Nationals). but they still wanted to keep the original Spaceland attitude and very rarely joined in any of the social aspects of our dropzone. for a long time it was like 2 seperate dropzones occupying the same space. when the new place opened up and they left, things got back to normal and SDH became it's old friendly fun place again. When the other dropzone shut down and their people joined us, the great social atmosphere even increased. we were considered to have the best instructors, best working atmosphere, best social atmosphere, and still after all these years THE BEST SAFETY RECORD OF ANY DROPZONE IN THE AREA!
Yes, things have changed since we moved to Eagle Lake, but we still had a sterling reputation. So until you ACTUALLY know what you are talking about, why don't you keep your little inane comments to yourself.

[dqpacker 7]

how can i visit if the place is closed?
and you are more than welcome to come out and visit Spaceland everyone else is.
plus the koolaid taste good when 3 planes are turning all day.

[JohnRich 4]

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Skydive Houston is quite a way outside the city.

If you use central downtown as a reference point, it's about a 1-hour drive to Skydive Houston, and a 45-minute drive to Spaceland, on a light-traffic weekend morning. Those seem like typical distances for a lot of skydivers to drive to get to a DZ. So I'm not sure what your definition of "quite a way" is...

Not sure where you got those numbers, John. According to google maps, Eagle Lake is 68.1 miles from downtown Houston with a drive time of 1 hour 25 minutes, while Rosharon is 31.9 miles with a drive time of 42 minutes.

I don't know where google maps gets their numbers. Does it take into account the day of the week and time of day for traffic congestion? Mileage won't change, but driving time sure does.

[chuckakers 369]

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Skydive Houston is quite a way outside the city.

If you use central downtown as a reference point, it's about a 1-hour drive to Skydive Houston, and a 45-minute drive to Spaceland, on a light-traffic weekend morning. Those seem like typical distances for a lot of skydivers to drive to get to a DZ. So I'm not sure what your definition of "quite a way" is...

Not sure where you got those numbers, John. According to google maps, Eagle Lake is 68.1 miles from downtown Houston with a drive time of 1 hour 25 minutes, while Rosharon is 31.9 miles with a drive time of 42 minutes.

I don't know where google maps gets their numbers. Does it take into account the day of the week and time of day for traffic congestion? Mileage won't change, but driving time sure does.

Every mapping software I know of just uses the posted speed limit to makes drive time calculations. Drive times in traffic don't routinely matter, though. The traffic heading to either drop zone would typically be light on weekends, and during the week the outbound traffic heading to these DZ's in the morning is against the majority traffic flow, as is the inbound traffic heading home in the evening.

Being a guy who has reported on Houston traffic for 25 years, I can tell you there's very little difference between the Katy Freeway and Highway 288 when it comes to routine traffic delays.

It doesn't matter now anyway. If you go to Eagle Lake, take your shotgun because goose hunting is the only recreation you will find.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX