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mamajumps

Frickin Tandem Factories....

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>In my opinion, just like any other "sport" let's say snow skiing, if the
>place of business is going to be allowed to share and benefit from
>REGULAR PARTICIPANTS money and time in the sport, then they should
>cater FIRST to the regular /participants/jumpers and then to students.

Actually from a business perspective you cater to your best customers i.e. the ones who bring in the most money. That means someone who makes 500 full-price jumps a year gets priority over a tandem, but someone who shows up to make a few jumps gets a lower priority (and sponsored/semisponsored teams get the lowest of all.)

>You don't see a bunch of seasoned skiers sitting around waiting
>for students to go up first on the runs do you?

Uh, yes, you do. They all paid the same price for that ticket.

>I'm only saying that if they do nothing for the sport, the sport should
>do nothing for them.

"The sport" is not "the DZO."

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I have not read this entire thread, so I apologize if I am restating what has already been said. I have seen some debate about tandems and their role in the world of skydiving so I figured I'd add my two cents worth.

My first jump was a tandem and I decided to do it to see what skydiving was like. I did not have plans at the time to pursue it as a hobby. After doing my first jump, I just had to do it again. Now I have finished the AFF program and I'm working toward a license. My tandem was a great introduction to the sport.

Regarding DZs that only fly tandems and not fun jumpers, I agree with mamajumps that it would be helpful if they advertised themselves that way so fun jumpers would know to go elsewhere.
There's a risk to skydiving that is not always mentioned; the risk of becoming addicted to it.

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I believe Mamajumps was at Skydive Greensburg - which does alot of tandems. The plane crashed at the beginning of June so they have been trying to do the same amount of tandems with a 182. The DZO actually told the fun jumpers not to come out on the weakends because there are always alot of tandems scheduled - so I apologize for the DZO telling someone that they would be able to jump and for manifest being rude. Hopefully the plane situation will be sorted out soon and that things will be back to normal.

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I think you may have too much of a guilty conscious. Many of the DZ’s in the Midwest are feeling the pinch from the loss of both student and regular jumpers. Where many drop zone owners had been able to support large turbines in the good ol’ times of the 80s and 90s, when jumpers were many and fuel and aircraft were cheap, they now are feeling the pinch of higher fuel and aircraft costs. Many are choosing to downsize back to 182’s and 206’s. This is a good business move but some are reducing their lift capacity but not reducing their student loads, be it tandems, AFF, static-line, or IAD. Now they try to cram as much profit as they can into a day at the expense of licensed skydiver slots. Is this wrong or right? Well, I’m not paying the bills so I can’t say. What I do know is that I can think of several places this could have happened to the original poster and that just makes the fun jumper in me sad.

Rather than concentrating on the tandems, what concerns me is the willingness… uh, how to say this politely… of the DZO to paint a rosy outlook that the jumper was going to be able to jump that day. It’s quite obvious that there was a heavy student load and they could have said “we are very busy with students and you probably could get a jump in this evening but there is also a chance you might not”. The problem is that a DZO knows if they say that, you won’t come out to the DZ. So they tell you “sure come on out, it is sunny and 70 degrees out here”. If you show up and can jump great they’ve got your money… if you can’t jump it didn’t cost them anything.

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i don't like that thinking. if i get told one thing and find out the dzo lied to me i'll just have to take my $ to some other dz. along with friends. dzo's that are looking short term will find themselves constantly short money to pay bills. all students help the sport but it is the repeat jumper that continues the sport.

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Quote

i don't like that thinking. if i get told one thing and find out the dzo lied to me i'll just have to take my $ to some other dz. along with friends. dzo's that are looking short term will find themselves constantly short money to pay bills. all students help the sport but it is the repeat jumper that continues the sport.



Maybe so, but in all fairness it's not like the OP & her companion(s) were virgins to the sport or the way DZs run, either. It's not like they got there at noon, when there's still time to figure out a way to fit a couple of visitors into the day's manifest. They got there at 6pm; and by that time, any non-newbie should have realized that there'd be the possibility that the manifest might be booked solid for the rest of the day. At worst, this sounds to me like a mutual breakdown in communications between the DZO and the visitors.

And yes, the manifest chic's rudeness was unprofessional and compounded the ill feelings. Manifest at a DZ is no different than the receptionist at any other business - they are the business's front-line ambassador, and they should be polite and professional to all visitors, and that includes being particularly courteous and respectful when you have no choice but to turn a walk-in or late-coming customer away because you just can't accommodate them.

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