I would like to jump in Sonoma county... anyone have experience starting a club?

[daremrc 0]

Hello,

I just moved to California and while I love the area I live in, the nearest DZ is like an hour & a half away. This kinda kills any weekday jumping for me unless it's near summer solstice or something.

Anyways, I guess there used to be a DZ in Santa Rosa, and after that a DZ in Healdsburg, but both have since shut. So I had this wacky idea that if I could find a pilot/aircraft owner who would be interested in getting his 182 or something similar certified to fly without the door... Well we could start having some fun on the weekends or Wednesday nights, and someone could get a lot of flying hours subsidized out of the deal.

Anybody have any experience starting a small, informal club like this? I don't really know any pilots but my girlfriend and I would be interested in making many hop & pops from an airplane thats closer to here than Davis or Byron. I was thinking maybe trying to find an interested party thru a local airport or something but really, I don't have much experience besides being on the jumping-out side of the whole operation.

I know there are other jumpers up this way and it would be great to have a small club or something to call home for a few weeknights/weekends per month... Hell even a one-time or monthly event would be pretty cool and, dammit, I really enjoy 182 jumps.

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[jumpwally 0]

I would try and check out why the others decided to give up ! Lack of interest ? who knows

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[gjhdiver 0]

All you need to do to make a jump is to make sure that you comply with the FAR's that are applicable.

This means that your equipment must carry a TSO and the reserve must be packed by a currently certified rigger and be in date.

Your pilot should have a current commercial license if you inteend to pay him for jumping out of the plane. If you don't intend to to pay him, then anybody can fly you, though you probably should not take the guy with 40 hours.

The plane must have all documentation and maintenance in order in accordance with the relevant FAR's.

You should have the permission of the landowner whose property you intend to land on, and you should carry insurances in case you land off and cause damage to people or property.

So, if you want to go the cheapest route. Find a person with a plane who will carry you for a contribution for gas. This does not require a commercial ticket. Take the door off and go jump into your back yard.

Let's just say that I've gone this route in the past, for private gatherings and parties. I'm not advising you to do it because of the liability that you might be exposed to, but it's just a pointer to how little you actually need to do to jump out of a plane.

[DanG 1]

Don't you have to file a NOTAM, or is that just a suggestion/courtesy?

- Dan G

[councilman24 36]

Short list of issues.

Airport permission if landing there. Most of the DZ's I've jumped at have moved at least 2 times due to airport management conflicts.

Airplane. Insurance for aircraft used for skydiving. Search or ask others but your joe blow pilots insurance probably isn't going to cover it. Would you risk a $100,000 airplane for a little gas money?

Do you want an inflight door on it? This envolves buying the STC and finding buy the part and modifying the airplane. You can fly most cessna's with the door removed. Slight more dangerous but SOP for many years. An in flight door used to be a luxury.
Hauling jumpers can be/is very hard on a plane. Most private owners wouldn't want to do it much. Hop and pops not quite so bad.

Pilot. No matter what you'll probably eventially need to pay someone. Meaning commercial license.

Availablility of plane/pilot. Anybody that owns a plane probably will be too busy to mess around hauling you very often. Anybody that's available may not know what they're doing.

Loads. Do you have 20 people interested? You might get one loads worth on any given day. Or maybe more but counting on 4 or even 8 people will leave you short a lot.

Best way to start, buy an airplane and start losing money. But I'm the cynic in the group.

Nothing new in your 'I want to jump' feelings but you should feel lucky your only an hour and a half away.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[riggerpaul 1]

Quote

Don't you have to file a NOTAM, or is that just a suggestion/courtesy?

Requirements for notifications and permissions depend on where the jump will be made.

FAR 105.15 - FAR 105.25 has the requirements spelled out.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Airport permission if landing there. Most of the DZ's I've jumped at have moved at least 2 times due to airport management conflicts.

That might be the more interesting question that could show this to be really easy or very hard. The guy running the outfit at the Santa Rosa left in the middle of the night for Missouri. That could be related to the airport or irrelevant, but may also have burned relations for the sport. Or if lucky, perhaps their prior experience makes them comfortable with a small club DZ.

Good luck with it.

[StearmanR985 0]

There is a group that is already efforting the opening of a small dropzone in North Sonoma County. It is possible that it may be up and running within two months. That was the latest news I am aware of.

I am hoping it works out.

[Elisha 1]

...and I'm interested in checking out that re-opening operation if it happens. But I need to get a job first. My reserve expires in two days....and I think I have jumped the rig twice during the current repack cycle. How depressing.

Just suck it up and drive to Byron or Davis. The drive isn't bad and the recent Hwy 4 improvements have made it much better to go to Byron.

[jimmyh 0]

well,
it was more than a couple of months, but we will be flying loads starting this weekend (march 28 & 29).

We are very excited because there is an awesome group of Sonoma based jumpers and it will be fun to get get that group back together.

Anyway, check out the new site www.norcalskydiving.com

-jimmy

[dropdeded 0]

Just curious about the B license requirement. Is that common?

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The Dude Abides.
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[mpreil 2]

Hey, Jimmy;

Maybe you should change your home DZ in your profile.

It looks odd when the President/CEO/jumpmaster/instructor at a DZ lists his home DZ as someplace else...

[kelpdiver 2]

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Just curious about the B license requirement. Is that common?

That's driven by the size of the landing zone, or DZO policy.

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Congrats on the opening this weekend.

[dropdeded 0]

Quote

Quote

Just curious about the B license requirement. Is that common?

That's driven by the size of the landing zone, or DZO policy.

--
Congrats on the opening this weekend.

Okay. Thanks. Was looking at the site posted and it stated that B requirement, maybe its new? I jumped there as an A holder a couple years back when passing through. BEAUTIFUL dz!! I grew up in the area and love to jump there again. Landing next to the Russian River, nice

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The Dude Abides.
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[daremrc 0]

awesome :-)

See you this weekend

Good judgement comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgement.

[jimmyh 0]

Thanks to everybody who came out and made our opening day an absolute BLAST!!!!

If today was any indication of what the energy is going to be like at NorCal, then I would say we are looking at the beginning of a fantastic Drop Zone.