Skydiving fuel consumption?

[TurboChrist 0]

Does anyone know the amounts of fuel per load (or per skydive), expressed as gallons or pounds, used during skydive operations for any of the most popular aircraft?

[Anvilbrother 0]

It would depend on alot of things. The type, age, modifications, of a plane. The location, and weather of the dz, type of fuel, the load. I think I remember hearing something about 40 gallons for a twin otter on a hot day in the south, but I am most likley wrong. It is amazing what a change in temperature, humidity, and baro pressure will do to a planes motor and how the wing acts.

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

[USPA 0]

ussually around 400 pounds for 6 grand caravan loads, in the summer at MSL (from to top of my head)

The trouble with skydiving; If you stink at it and continue to jump, you'll die. If you're good at it and continue to jump, you'll see a lot of friends die...

[headoverheels 291]

You can get the info here:

http://www.utilityaircraft.com/750xloperatingcostcomparisonunfinanced41705.xls

[billvon 2,380]

Per Bryan Burke, SDAZ averages about 25-30 gal per load. Which makes it about a gallon a person for a full otter load.

[gemini 0]

I agree with Bill/Brians numbers for the Super Otter at 30 gal per load to 13.5k.

Blue skies,

Jim

[Fast 0]

The information from the PAC spreadsheet is spot on for the PAC. About 50gallons an hour.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[Mark24688m 0]

So why is a jump ticket $22?

[azdiver 0]

insurance
fuckers probably charge 15 bucks per jump

light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak

[brettski74 0]

Quote

insurance
fuckers probably charge 15 bucks per jump

Plus all the other costs like:

Pilot's wages

staff wages

aircraft maintenance

aircraft ownership costs

debt servicing

maintenance of the dropzone and buildings

tax

And probably several others that I'm not listing. After all that, they might even be lucky enough to make a little profit so that next season they can build you a better swoop pond or a bunk house or something.

You may also want to keep in mind that the US has some of the lowest jump prices in the world.

[gemini 0]

See Brettski74's reply above. Aircraft insurance costs about $7-9k per year per plane, maintenance can run $75-$300 per flight hour, depreciation on the aircraft can run over $100k per year, Uncle Sammy can take up to 40% for his share, and on and on.

Besides Spaceland only charges $20.

Blue skies,

Jim

[Mr17Hz 1]

Quote

So why is a jump ticket $22?

Are you kidding me?

After paying labor and marketing fees - what's left?

If you're thinking that dropzone staff works for cheap, consider the free jumps that it takes to keep most of them on staff.

You could take $1,000,000 and buy two nice $500,000 rental buildings with 8 units each, rent them out at $800/mo, spend $35k a year for a full time caretaker, spend $15k on misc expenses, and still take home $100,000 - or 10% on your money - all for a lot less work than it takes to keep planes flying.

Matt Christenson

[email protected]
http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software.

[headoverheels 291]

Quote

So why is a jump ticket $22?

Because the DZO doesn't want to discourage his friends by charging more.

Read the link I inserted above, which details most costs of operation of the aircraft. Adjust that upward for present fuel prices. Adjust for financing the aircraft. Add on any hanger/airport space rental, electricity, income for staff/DZO, etc. and you will see that the tandems are paying for the rest of us to jump cheap. Very cheap at my home dz ($15, cheaper in blocks, get about 13.2k altitude on the average).

If jump tickets had gone up as much as starting engineer's pay has, since the time that I was one, the tickets would be about $36.