Question for Florida people/DZ employees/packers and others in the know

[jerry81 10]

I noticed a few days ago that I can get a ticket to Florida quite cheap. And since 'll probably need an additional source of income to spend on jumping, preferrably something that doesn't involve me rotting in an office for 8 hours per day, I've been toying with the idea of working at a dropzone as a packer (since my instructor ratings are still a few years away)- I can bring costs of living down to a minimum, especially if the camping is free, and transform all my earnings directly into tickets, something that would happen sooner or later anyway.
To anyone who jumps or works at Fl dropzones; do you think it's possible to get work for a 5-6 week period (July-August) or do most places require a longer commitment? And is it even realistic to expect that they'll be needing packers or willing to take a foreigner? I've considered European dropzones as well, but I think the US would be my first choice, since a)lots of bigger places apparently don't require an AAD b)my language skills are more than adequate (something I can't claim for my German, French or Russian) c)jumps are cheaper d)potential for learning might be higher.
So- how doable do you think this would be? Should I start mailing inquiries or forget about it and plan a longer visit next year?

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[Amazon 7]

From my experience with FL in the summer.. the WEATHER is hot humid buggy and the daily afternoon thurnderstorms would not make for good camping.. let alone jumping in July and Aug.. you would be better off at one of the Northern DZ in summer..or hitting the boogie circuit... Check the employment listings

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/page.cgi?g=Employment%2Findex.html&d=1

[ladyskydiver 0]

Go for it. Contact the DZ's you're interested in and see what happens. You'll never know if you don't try.
Oh...to give you an idea, it's 95F today in ZHills.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[jerry81 10]

A little rain and humidity wouldn't really bother me with the tent- but it wouldn't make sense if there's not much jumping going on in those months. Any locals to confirm this?

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[ladyskydiver 0]

PM TKHayes. He'll be able to give you more specifics on what amount of jumping is done at ZHills.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[RyanofOZ 0]

There is plenty of jumping going on over the summers here. I live in Melbourne (30 min from sebastian and spacecenter) and see plenty going on over the summers there. As stated above it is hot and muggy here but still a great place to be. As for the employment, I have no idea. Try emailing all the DZ's and see what they have to say. Last I knew Sebastian needed packers.

Oz

[slug 1]

Quote

A little rain and humidity wouldn't really bother me with the tent- but it wouldn't make sense if there's not much jumping going on in those months. Any locals to confirm this?

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Hi Jerry 81

Your message says a lttle rain and humidity, IMO during the time you'll be visiting you'll exeperince major rain, humidity, and heat.

Think of a tropical location south of the equator thats florida in july and august! Yes there's jumping during the time you'll be in florida but I think the locals don't jump during the middle of the day, just early or late. The people who jump during the hottest part of the day are the tourists.

Consider the boogie circuit
R.I.P.

[unformed 0]

I'm in Melbourne right now as well, and the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. However, hurricane season starts in august, so earlier in the summer would be preferable. It's get a little hot and humid, but nothing too bad. You could camp comfortably as long as you're under shade.

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[Jib 0]

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Yes there's jumping during the time you'll be in florida but I think the locals don't jump during the middle of the day, just early or late. The people who jump during the hottest part of the day are the tourists.

Actually, we jump until 2pm when the afternoon rain or clouds roll in. I have no problem jumping when it's 100 on the ground (and in August it tends to be 90+ every day); we just leave the door open for a while on the way up. Around 3k it cools off.

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the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[skymama 35]

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However, hurricane season starts in august, so earlier in the summer would be preferable.

Actually, hurricane season goes June-November.

It IS hot and humid in FL during the summer, but there is still jumping going on every day. For example, in Deland we might just have one plane running instead of 2 or 3, but we're still jumping. The afternoon showers do slow things down a little, but they only last an hour or two and we can continue jumping until sunset, which gets to be pretty late. I think the worst part would be the camping. You won't get much relief from the heat at night because temps rarely go down past the mid 70's.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[slug 1]

Hi Skymama

The advantage that the local jumper have over the tourist's imo ir the locals have been able to adjust to the weather gradually during the year.

For us tourists who come from a more moderate climate, just walking out the door at the airport is a shock to our system.

Jumping in florida is doable year around but it's like jumping in colorado with a field elev of 5k, some of us "fair weather out of shape old farts can't handle the instant shock: Temp, humidity, altitude, etc to our body's.

R.I.P.

[bendywendy 0]

Yes, we jump all summer it just isn't as busy as the winter, that's all. Sebastian is closed on Tuesdays for the summer. Z-hills I believe closes Tuesdays & Wednesdays.
Most summers it rains at some point everyday - it really didn't do that last year. We had some pretty decent weather most of the time, at least at Sebastian.
We have been very shorthanded packing for quite awhile. I spent a couple weekends on the mat myself recently. (Funny how fast it comes back to you). I would have a hard time committing to hiring someone to pack short-term a couple of months from now. I have no idea how much work we'll have at that time and hopefully, by then we would already have all our staff shortages resolved.

[jerry81 10]

Thanks for the info, Wendy!Maybe checking with the really busy dropzones first is a better option for me then.

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