Skydivers are fair weather friends

[shadowon 0]

ok seriously you all assume that i don't treat people well and that i use people. This is not the case i have always tried to treat anyone i meet with respect. maybe you should not read into my post so much and just take it for how it is. Me being mad at skydiver being self centered

[airtwardo 6]

Me being mad at skydiver being self centered

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Okay...let me get this straight~

You don't skydive 'anymore', but you come to a spot on the WORLD WIDE web....that's dedicated to SKYDIVING...to tell us were not nice people...and that YOU are NOT self centered?


Maybe I AM reading too much into your post...but from what I can see, I'd make ya walk too!

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

[jojo69 0]

Thank you for this reply. I showed it to my husband to help explain how I feel many times. I do not think non-military understand.

[pirana 0]

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So seriously why don't you take this weekend and maybe do something nice to a fellow jumper that does not involve skydiving.

Maybe, if it rains, . . . maybe. And if there's nothing good on TV.

" . . . 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

[pirana 0]

But seriously, sounds like you had a run of bad luck, or ran with some not so cordial folks.

My experiences have been all good. A few words on rare occasions, but hell - we're dealing with Those Darn Humans.

I can not imagine people at my home DZ being that way. Our retired or non-jumping friends are as welcome as any jumper.

Just out of curiosity, when you were not jumping, did you go out there anyway, at least occasionally. You didn't expect them all to come to you did you? After all, there is one of you and many of them.

When I had my surgery, I went out weekly anyway; play cards, have a beer, shoot the breeze. I love that place.

" . . . 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

[Nightingale 0]

I haven't jumped since 2005, mainly because I was a law student and too busy and too broke. After the bar exam, I sprained my ankle and couldn't jump for 6 months, and now that the ankle is better, my CYPRES is out of date, so I'm saving my money for that, and still not jumping.

My friends that I met skydiving are still my friends. Several of us are doing the AIDS Walk together.

[docdialtone 0]

Was that 27 miles up hill both ways and in the blowing snow?

[mamajumps 0]

im sorry to hear your bad experience. Yes some jumpers are as you described, but I dont for a minute think it has anything to do with skydiving. There are bad apples in every bunch. I am not jumping right now and have a lot of skydiving friends, some I know I could count on for anything. One is even driving 45 min to bring me some stuff for my cold tonight. And no Im not sleeping with him either, he's just a good friend. I have had fair-weathered friends before, they are no longer friends. I am a very giving person and I love doing things for people, but once I realize I am being used, they are no longer friends but rather acquaintences. Don't set your sites short, there are a bunch of great people in the skydiving world, dont let a few bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.

[birdshit 0]

i don't have any friends. everyone thinks I am an asshole when they get to know me. I am, so its not like they are getting the wrong impression or anything. I make more money than almost everybody, and I do it working from home in my underwear. And I brag about it cause I have a small cock and I am compensating. I am crude. I make fun of retards, dwarfs and orphans. I have an IQ of 150and I make sure everybody around me knows it. I swear, fart, make non-pc jokes, and lots of other crude stuff in front of people. I get rip-roaring drunk and say mean shit to people just to hurt their feelings. I stomp on kittens, ladybugs and small children. I vote libertarian just to piss everybody off. I drive 100mph everywhere I go. Why? Cause I can afford the ticket. Fuck it. Im in a hurry. I tell small children that a monster is gonna eat their mommy tonight, just to laugh as they piss their pants knowing that I instantly created some complex that will take 40 years and $75,000 worth of therapy to fix. I am a bastard.



If you don't have any friends then it makes it nearly impossible to have fair-weather friends. Learn to live your life like me, and you will never be let down by your friends. Because you won't have any.

At my DZ I gotta hang a 12 pack of corona around my neck before anyone will even talk to me. When my car breaks down, I don't wonder if one of my buddies is gonna give me a lift. I just know deep down that I am fucked and that I better call a cab or start hoofing it.



P.S. I would given you a lift, bro. You don't leave somebody stranded like that unless the wind is less than 22mph and it is sunny. In which case, fuck em. Let em walk.

LOL... Just kidding.

[Squeak 17]

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I haven't jumped since 2005, mainly because I was a law student and too busy and too broke. After the bar exam, I sprained my ankle and couldn't jump for 6 months, and now that the ankle is better, my CYPRES is out of date, so I'm saving my money for that, and still not jumping.

My friends that I met skydiving are still my friends. Several of us are doing the AIDS Walk together.

You're just fullof excuses aren't ya

You forgot to mention that your SO is also a jumper too

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[shadowon 0]

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But seriously, sounds like you had a run of bad luck, or ran with some not so cordial folks.

My experiences have been all good. A few words on rare occasions, but hell - we're dealing with Those Darn Humans.

I can not imagine people at my home DZ being that way. Our retired or non-jumping friends are as welcome as any jumper.

Just out of curiosity, when you were not jumping, did you go out there anyway, at least occasionally. You didn't expect them all to come to you did you? After all, there is one of you and many of them.

When I had my surgery, I went out weekly anyway; play cards, have a beer, shoot the breeze. I love that place.

to answer your question yes i did go out once a month or so and i did jump 2 or 3 time in maybe a 6 week period so its not like i quite i just slowed way down from the 10 a weekend i was doing.

[MikeForsythe 0]

I have found that how nice people are can very greatly by which DZ you are at. For example, Gold Coast has about the friendliest people you can find. On the on the other hand there are DZs that I will never go back to or jump at again.

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[mamajumps 0]

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i don't have any friends. everyone thinks I am an asshole when they get to know me. I am, so its not like they are getting the wrong impression or anything. I make more money than almost everybody, and I do it working from home in my underwear. And I brag about it cause I have a small cock and I am compensating. I am crude. I make fun of retards, dwarfs and orphans. I have an IQ of 150and I make sure everybody around me knows it. I swear, fart, make non-pc jokes, and lots of other crude stuff in front of people. I get rip-roaring drunk and say mean shit to people just to hurt their feelings. I stomp on kittens, ladybugs and small children. I vote libertarian just to piss everybody off. I drive 100mph everywhere I go. Why? Cause I can afford the ticket. Fuck it. Im in a hurry. I tell small children that a monster is gonna eat their mommy tonight, just to laugh as they piss their pants knowing that I instantly created some complex that will take 40 years and $75,000 worth of therapy to fix. I am a bastard.



If you don't have any friends then it makes it nearly impossible to have fair-weather friends. Learn to live your life like me, and you will never be let down by your friends. Because you won't have any.

At my DZ I gotta hang a 12 pack of corona around my neck before anyone will even talk to me. When my car breaks down, I don't wonder if one of my buddies is gonna give me a lift. I just know deep down that I am fucked and that I better call a cab or start hoofing it.



P.S. I would given you a lift, bro. You don't leave somebody stranded like that unless the wind is less than 22mph and it is sunny. In which case, fuck em. Let em walk.

LOL... Just kidding.

Damn u and my ex husband must be twins seperated at birth.... j/k

[scottjaco 0]

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I quickly find out that the second i stop jumping skydivers no longer give a shit.

Bro! That is life.

People move on when you are not around.

I’m actually a pretty nice guy in person. I’ve helped many people at the dropzone to jumpstart their cars, change tires and whatnot, but I honestly would have to decline if someone asked me to drop everything and get in my car to drive you 20 miles to your destination. That’s 40 miles roundtrip and would eat over an hour of my time. That’s something only a best friend would do. You weren’t dying, so what was the emergency?

Now ask yourself, are you being a true friend, by asking for such a big favor?

The friendships you make at dropzones are contingent on your activity in the sport. You can’t expect loyalty based on a sport.

[Orange1 0]

just on this 27 miles issue...
when i broke my ankles, not life threatening, i was splinted up by a jumper paramedic, and they coulda called an ambulance, but people had had crappy experiences at the hospital it would've taken me to (the closest one to the DZ) and it was quite far from home (it was clear i needed surgery and would stay in hospital a few days). so 2 jumpers, who at that point i really didn't know very well, despite it being around 11am on a beautiful day, took the time for one to drive me in my car to the hospital near my home (so my car wasn't stranded at the DZ) and the other to drive behind so first jumper could get back to DZ! Funnily enough, that trip is about 40km one way, or just about 27 miles. Again, my experience very different.

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[Baksteen 84]

Maybe his wife got runover by a car?

Please do not take this personally, as we are talking hypothetical situations here, and because I don't know what you would do when confronted with this extreme situation in real life.

I think you shouldn't ask what kind of a friend he is for aksing people to take him home, but rather what kind of person would refuse to take him because jumping is more important than an emergency.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[Gato 0]

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"...there is a lot more to this but it would like like a gig of data to explain my whole life."

No need to expain your whole life, but would you mind telling us the nature of the emergency?

This sport attracts people from all walks of life, so I'm not really surprised to know there are drunks, sluts, assholes, theives, and suburban whiteboy-rapper-wannabees at any DZ.

Seriously, there are all kinds of people out there, and regardless of what your personality is like, or jump numbers you have, an emergency to you may not be an emergency to someone else.

Sorry you were stranded. This might be a good time to have Roadside Assistance added to your auto insurance.

Good luck!

T.I.N.S.

[stratostar 5]

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So i don't know if anyone else here noticed but skydivers really don't make good friends. They only happen to be your friend as long as your jumping. You know i jumped somewhere almost every weekend for 3 years, did some 4 way teams, some tunnel time, some vacation with skydiver.......

I loose my job and need to take a break from jumping so that i can eat. I quickly find out that the second i stop jumping skydivers no longer give a shit.

Oh really, I guess you might be hanging out with the wrong crowd then?

So you did the dz thing for 3yrs and met some peeps. I have been going to the dz every weekend for over 25 years and have met many people of all walks of life, BUT my real friends I can count with only one hand.

There are many people in the sport who are nice and kind folks and I call some of them friends even though I have never met them, WHY because they were more then kind!

When I was 14 and not allowed to jump, the president of the KSUPC drove from Manhatten Ks. to Topeka Ks. to pick me up to go to Hutchingson KS. and then back to Topeka Ks. at the end of the day, just so I could go to a boogie and not be left out of the fun, and that was not a short drive for some skydiver to make just to haul a 14 yr old kid around with him to a boogie!

Two years ago I was going through tough times and couldn't afford to renew my ratings and membership in the springtime, another poster here offered to pay my membership and we have never met face to face, this person only wanted me to "pay it forward" to another.

I have had another person I have never met in person, invite me to their home DZ, but when I made plans to go there, this person couldn't be there, but they left the key to their trailer @ the DZ and let me and the wife and our guest stay there for free and didn't expect and ask for anything in return.

When I didn't have a rig to jump, someone gave me a rig.

When my car broke down @ the DZ on a Saturday, I didn't want to ask people to go out of their way to take me the 65 miles to home, so I set out walking it to the "big roads" so I could use the thumb god gave me and hitch a ride home, yea it was a walk for a few miles, but I did get a ride and i didn't have to ask anyone to stop their day and drive me 65 miles home.

I had more skydivers buy me food and booze and bend over backwards to help me or other friends, over the years, while indeed the sport has changed to where there are more self centered types involved then when it was 20 years ago, that is life.

I don't know what else to tell you dude, maybe you suck at picking friends, maybe no one likes you @ the dz? Maybe your an asshole? IDK. But I do know I have met more "friends" in skydiving then other places in life (not counting the deadheads) who help out fellow jumpers then those who would tell you to fuck off and walk home.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[bch7773 0]

I'd understand where he is coming from, but I don't think its limited to just skydivers.
ALL groups typically do this... since you met by being part of the group, thats what binds you together as friends. When you no longer belong to the group, you lose your binding and they don't care about you.

for example, how many friends did most people have in college... now how many of those friends still email/talk regularly after its over.... a few, but most quickly grow apart.

I've heard this conversation many times at DZs, boogies, etc.
"What happened to old XXXX? Doesn't he jump anymore?"
"No, he said he didn't have the money/time/gear"
"huh.... so hows the weather looking tomorrow?"

MB 3528, RB 1182

[DZDANK 0]

This conversation just popped up saturday night around the campfire at the DZ... Ultimately i think so many people try to shield themselves from having too many 'real' friends that are skydivers because of the high turnover rate of people at dropzones. I have very few jumps and only started in july, but feel very welcome hanging out / crashing on the weekends, dinner and all that stuff. I take it for what it is - a helluva good time!

[Tintorera 0]

This thread came to my mind yesterday when I was on a way back home from the dropzone feeling not so happy… I've been jumping for few months now and haven't felt like I'm too welcome to that dz so far. I'm a somewhat young woman and there are only a couple of women on our dz (which is quite small). Those other women are that much younger than me that I don't have too much common with them. The instructors and the pilots are nice (so the more experienced, older people) but as you all know they are often busy and seldom have time for just hanging around and chatting. Most of the other jumpers (mostly young men with licenses) are friends/workmates/… among each other and have their own inside topics to talk about. I find it difficult to make the acquaintance of them and I often feel like an outsider there. I guess that the other students feel that way too, because it seems that they come to the dz only for jumping and after that go home without even trying (?) to build any social contacts there. I've been in a couple of parties at the dz but it didn't help much. Some of people say "hi" when seeing me at the dz and sometimes someone might ask if my jump was ok. That's all. I think I won't bother trying to make friends or being nice and social anymore while I don't get any response. As a student I need some help every now and then, unfortunately, and I don't know much about skydiving so it would be nice to have someone to talk with about those things and get some help with my gear until I can handle them on my own. I don't feel comfortable asking for help for instance with packing while everyone seems to be interested only in their own business and if they get round to next load…

Maybe the problem is only in my head. May be I should look at the mirror and may be I just should try harder. But I think it's easier to go just to another, perhaps a bigger dz.

What I'm trying to say is that not all the dropzones are necessarily any "big skydiving families" and welcome newbies with open arms. It's a shame, because without students there will be no continuity!

(And apologies about my English, it's not any of my strengths…)

[Squeak 17]

it will take time, a lot of people go through this perserverance will pay off, especially once you finich your student training, if people are ignoring you are rude to you that a whole different story but if they are just busy, well the more they see you and the more you say hi and msile the more they will respond.
Tintorera de luna springs to mind

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[skydivelynn 1]

Stick around until the end of the day. At most of the smaller dz's I've been to, they'll have a cookout and/or bonfire at the end of the day, or everyone will go out to dinner together. Also by sticking around after your jump, you can watch and listen to what is going on, and learn more about skydiving.

You can also ask if they'll have a packing class for you and the other new students, again at the end of the jumping day. I never mind teaching someone to pack, but it's hard during the day when I'm jumping or working (packing)!