Prices for Bodyflight UK are up - a few questions

[LawnDart21 0]

Okay, I can see that, answer me this though, say a computer programmer in the US makes $1000 a week after taxes (take home pay), would the same job net $2000 a week in the UK?

If gas cost twice as much in the UK, it wouldnt be a big issue if you were paid twice the wage we are paid here, does that make sense?

--
My other ride is a RESERVE.

[rehmwa 2]

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Over here $1150 isnt really pocket money for most of us.

"over here"

name a place where it is just pocket money (for most of us)
maybe Kuwait, and Monte Carlo

But maybe if investors see that they can charge that much, they'd be motivated to build more - then competition could bring the price down.

On the otherhand, many don't build a wind tunnel to get rich, you have to really love flying to take on that type of business. So maybe that's just a local problem with the cost of doing business.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[PurpleBadger 0]

an average jump ticket is $32.50... a gallon of gas is about $6.36... a bacon roll at my local dz is $3.60...

bodyflight is offering some large discounts the more you use it but it'll probably still work out cheaper to fly out to the states - just a pain to have to fly out if you just want to do 20mins or so flying

[Newbie 0]

I worked out on current exchange rates, we're actually paying a little over $7 a gallon (not wanting to throw this thread off on a tangent however)

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[PurpleBadger 0]

that means my bacon roll costs more then i thought

[skreamer 1]

From my experience (IT support role for American company, brother in law developer in Washington) - I believe IT pays better in the states but from what I've seen they generally work longer hours. Also, we mostly get minimum 20 days paid leave pa, I understand 10 days is quite common in the states.

To get (slightly) back on thread, for me it makes more sense learning to freefly to get my tunnel time at Eloy. However for 4-way people I can understand the local tunnels being both affordable and convenient.

[Stumpy 256]

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However for 4-way people I can understand the local tunnels being both affordable and convenient.

True - bulk discount prices sound really good.

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[Paulipod 0]

Ok peeps - we have had a busy day!

I am pleased to say for the first time we have had our prop spinning and it was an awesome thing to see...

We have done the initial test runs - so tomorrow we do more with the windspeeds getting cranked more and more as we go.... will post some pics after work tomorrow.....

As for the whole exchange rate debate - there are a few things to consider :-

- the exchange rate hasnt always (not even close!) or always will be 2-1 or there abouts! for the longest time it stuck around the 1.40 mark... so at the moment it sucks to spend here I guess
- Our hourly price currently starts at £600 and decreases based on volume.... this is unique I believe.
- over here we have alot more to pay when it comes to VAT etc... check out hamburger prices as a good comparison
- Our tunnel shouldnt evenly be compared to Orlando or Eloy to a certain extent. We have over 3 times the air volume of a 12ft tunnel! our motors are bigger in proportion. Do you pay the same for a bus as you do for a mini?

So in short... our bulk rates come close to evens with the cost of flying in the US but you get a little more space for your buck so to speak...


ps. a good observation about a wind tunnel not being a purely investment choice! I coulda picked alot of easier ways to earn a crust for sure but I wouldnt change a thing so far.

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

[Eule 0]

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I have a question, I typed 640 (GBP) into a currency converter (320 per half hour * 2) and it came up as $1,152.60 given current currency rates.

It looks like if you book an hour (bulk time), you can get it for £600, which is about $1,080 as of the date
of this post.

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Skyventure Orlando lists an hour (peak) as $630, almost half the cost of the UK tunnel. I know our
economies are not scaled with each other, but that just strikes me a very disproportionate price
difference.

IMHO, UK tunnels aren't competing with the US tunnels. They are competing with UK skydiving.

When I first looked at prices for tunnel time in the US (in the range of $10 a minute, plus or minus) my
reaction was "That's steep." Then I thought about it some more. At my DZ, the regular jump ticket is
$18 to 11K (182) and that gets you about one minute of free fall. I get the impression that $20 plus
or minus might be an "average" US jump ticket, so the tunnels are priced at about half the cost of a jump.
Skreamer said jump tickets in the UK run $35-$40, so having UK tunnel time priced at about $18 a minute
is still about half the cost of a jump.

On the other hand, I could be wrong about competing with US tunnels. For grins, I looked up a British
Airways flight. Round trip, London Gatwick to Orlando from 2 Sep to 7 Sep, £610 or about $1105.
Given that number, $630/hour in Orlando, £600/hour in the UK, the break-even point is between two
and three hours. Three hours would cost $3240 in the UK and $2995 if you flew to the US from the
UK. That even leaves you $245 for food, rental (hire) car, and four nights of hotel, which probably
iisn't enough but would make a good dent. Four hours is $4320 (UK) or $3625 (UK->US), leaving you
$695 in expenses, which could cover four days if spent carefully. This doesn't take into account
any discounts off the one-hour price, or the time factor of an international round-trip flight, or any
differences in flight quality between the two tunnels. Also, the kind of UK citizen that would book four
hours in a tunnel has probably been visiting tunnels abroad already, and the prospect of not having to
take a long trip abroad probably offsets a lot of potential cost savings.

Re-reading my post, I sound like an accountant. I'm a computer geek, honest... :)

Eule

[Newbie 0]

Congrats! Looking forward to seeing the first pics of the lucky so-and-so's who get to test fly the sucker!

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[ciechan 0]

Round trip, Warsaw via London Gatwick to Orlando from 10 to 20 Mar or Apr 2006, £480 or about $950, tunnel discount price $470 per hour (we will buy about 30-35 hr for 6 people). In Orlando you have a lot of superb and famous instructors and you can visit many great DZ and jump there for ~$18 (Airking - 7 minuts 4000m!) And the weather is better ;)
So, the winner is...

[pincheck 0]

on a personal level i would be more likely to travel to a uk tunnel based on time constraints of flying to the states due to me working shifts and i get 4 days off every 8 so it is possible to go to either during that time where as it would be a waste of time for me to spend that going to the states in that time frame

That said next year i plan to be in florida for 2 weeks and spank every dz i can as well as tunnel.

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun

[Magick 0]

I'm in IT recruitment so I can help there. Programmers can expect to earn between £300 and £600 per day (on a contract basis - no shortage of work here) depending on experience and industry (investment banking rates are towards the upper end). A now we've got a tunnel...although we don't get much sun...