Career possibility

[blazetailman 0]

So I lurked this thread for a bit and it sounds like the course costs a lot to get some experience. I give the course director some kudos for thinking of a new way to teach people and earn some money. As long as it is a thought out course, then it should be fine. After all how can a professional skydiver make a living.

But to some of you aspiring to get working jobs at the dropzone, you can get to the same place the course will get you by putting your time in and asking a lot of questions. Especially in the photo department.

first get your air experience, then when you are ready for the camera, put in on and start asking to film your friends. 99% for skydiving photography is flying yoyr ass off chasing the skydive around the sky. You will be making a lot of mistakes, this is the learning process.

Then as you make a name for yorself you will get approached to video for slot, then when your work is up to professional standards, you will make a wage.

I define professional standard as getting the shot. This takes more experience in this day and age where just about every has a camera on their head but few people shoot good video. These are two seperate issues.

Just because you have a few hundred jumps, nice jumpesuit and rig, and expensive camera gear dosent entitle you to a working slot. Camera flying is about putting your time in and aquireing a good reputation of shooting video. Many camera flyers have dedicated a lot of time and money by doing this. By taking a paid slot and not producing good work that is up to standard is completly unprofessional in my mind. So don't rush yourself. This is why you will see someone for a season then they split because they see little work.

This course sounds like it will acclerate you a bit faster than most, but it should be understood that it is probably a few years before it would begin to pay off.

www.canopyflightcenter.com
www.skydivesac.com
www.guanofreefly.com

[bigway 4]

yeah gidday mike, how is queenstown? i see chch has got a new cresco.
by the way i can jump in new zealand and i do jump in new zealand.
i was talking about dylan not being able to jump.
you know who i am. my posts hear, you might not agree with but if you read them all you will realise that i say alot of good things as well as the things i felt bad. you are involved with this company for a few years now so i think you will know alot more about this course than me. i hear it is alot more touched up and that is good. i know they have produced some great skydivers, and some bad ones. anyway these were just my views and i was talking for me and knowonelse. i will say though i have 2 friends starting the course on 2 different intakes next year and these are people i have sent there that i have met while travelling overseas so they are international students. I do alot of marleting for my dropzone in new zealand while i travell as well. mike, send me your email address, i just got a custom made wings and conopies, mad rig, Just spent a bloddy fortune on everything brand new again.
see ya.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[Blue-Skies92629 0]

I agree with Deuce and motherhucker.

I was a commercial diver. The best track was to learn how to weld, get an inspection rating or get a degree in engeneering FIRST then get a job diving.

Skydiving is kind'a unique. It's actually extremely easy to get paid. I suppose it's a suppy and demand issue. A lot of camera flyers = lower average payment.

Just my 2 cents.

Blue Skies!

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana" -Groucho Marx-
"Tom flies like a rock" -Tom Carson-

[Scottyskydives 0]

Yeah I sort of agree with you but I seem to think things are changing and there are faster and less painful ways of getting into the sport or industry. The course to me helped a lot. I did have to wait a while before going onto camera but what I learnt was relevant and got me where I wanted to be faster than a lot of advise I've seen in these forrums.

[bigway 4]

i reackon the course was the only way i would have ever got in to the sport. I belive it is a great way as you can get a student loan for it, brilliant. The only negatives i have had about the course are personal opinions. We are all allowed to have opinions. I think it is the fstest way i have ever heard of to getting 200 jumps up and gettinig in the industry. the course is their if you want it but maybe it is not for everybody. i read the post scott wrote about someone abusing mikee and i must say i was on the course with scott and from what i hear he is doing extremley well in the industry and this i would say is due to the course and the attitude he went about everything. Good on you scott. I see you have downsized quite alot, i would love to see some of your video work.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[freestyleleigh 0]

I would just like to say that I was on the first course and I think the course is a great way to get into the skydiving industry as a professional. I work at NZONE in Queenstown, New Zealand doing camera. Like anything in life it is what you make it and freeflynzone sounds like a very negative person who said a lot of negative shit! Anyone who really knows Mike knows that he is a great camera flyer and a very generous and helpful guy. Also why does freeflynzone have no bulls to say who they are? Maybe it's because they know what they are saying is not true. I would recommend the course to anyone that wants to make a living working in skydiving. If anyone has any questions I would gladly answer them.

[rhys 0]

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hi, i did the 'diploma in commercial skydiving' in the 2nd intake 2002 and am currently working at NZONE queentown, when finished the course and work placement i was offered a job at the dropzone working for a wage just helping out in general, i was (and am) very enthusiastic about skydiving and was happy to empty rubbish bins, mow lawns and landing area, pack tandems on an houly wage, edit videosetc. the fact in the matter was that i was working on a dropzone and was learning very fast how everything works, 3 students from the previous course went through the same thing i did and were jumpin camera. i was told when i started work placement there was a possibility of a slot around april the next year, i arrived at nzone from the course with my 170 alocated jumps for the course and had 30 left to do at nzone while i was doing my chores if there was a slot available 'wicked'. i jumped my ass off for the summer( mostly tandem swoops) and purchased a helmet and camera (which by the way are half the price now than when i bought mine) and i could produce consecutive rolls of good photo's then we were told tha no slot was available until november,!? 'what' have all the camera slots been taken from the first intake of students? i wanted to jump camera now, no point in looking in new zealand so i emailed every dropzone in eastern australia and was offered a couple of camera positions the very next day i sold all my shit and bailed over to not earn very much but enough just to live and i was happy. 8 months later the slot came up for me at nzone and i am back home in beautiful queenstown earning a great living in queenstown "skydiving'

The moral of the story

if you are passionate the skydive diploma is a great way to get into the commercial skydiving industry but only if you are willing to pay the money up front (uless you are a kiwi or aussie who can student loan it)
and are willing to earn bugger all for a couple of years, while living you life on a dropzone.
there 'is' a decent living in camera alone if you are at the right dropzone we earn around the higher mark of the yearly incomes mentioned earlier in the fourum .

i would be interesed to know how long it has taken other professionals to get into the industry i think we will find the diploma has been the record breaker

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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[bigway 4]

I have my issues with this course but in all fairness, the people who do this course and turn up everyday and put there all into it, well it is really paying off for them. None of them are guaranteed a slot. they do work experience, working three months, generally as a packer for free!, then if this dropzone hires them they can proggress forward. no one on this course just gets a camera slot. Before the course is over though they are studying full time camera jumping...for tandems. In new zealand for only having about 300 jumpers in the country, the country is probably producing around 600-800 tandem skydives a day( on a good day). The people i know that have gone on to become camera jumpers, and now tandem masters and aff instructors, from this course all deserve what they have achieved. This course is not for everyone but the people that commit to it have a good chance at becoming a good commercial skydiver.
Blue skies.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[Deleted 0]

hi there
its /\/\u$tafa here from Inida. i am passionate mad about this sport. i
was seriously thinking of doing my diploma from Christchurch. i will be
taking whole cost of cource from loan. its the biggest risk i m taking.
just tell me howz the school in terms of future prospects in this sport.
i have seen ur review about Christchurch DZ and i am convinced by the
training facility. also do u get enough time while doing the cource for
some part time job. cause i am a mechanical engineer and i think i can
easily find some job out there which can hlp me for living there.
please help me out to take the decision.
please be very realistic cause its a decision of my
life
bye
/\/\u$tafa

[rhys 0]

hi there my indian friend,

this diploma course was primarily intended to fill the many commercial skydiving slots in new zealand by new zealanders. until recently most t/m's have been imports so the govornment even subsidises the course for new zealand resedents. i am not too sure of the cost now but when i did the course (2002) it was $7500 for new zealanders and $12500 for overseas students! this makes the course far more worthwhile for new zealanders but not completely a waste of time for overseas students if you are dedicated.
if you want to work you would probably have to do it at night time as you will be expected to be at the dropzone any time it is possible to jump. accomodation in christchurch is between $60 -$100 for a room if you move into an establised flat or a little more for a hostel.

need to know more?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[aquasky 0]

hey, hows it goin . i ave bin following the feedback to ure Q's. I m in the same soup as you . i am planning to join the NZ school in oct. c u there if every thing works out well. whats ure decesion of doing the course. ne info that u ave , that has changed your mind plz let me know.

blueskies

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[aquasky 0]

hey mustafa, which part of India r u from. i m from bombay.

blueskies dude

[rhys 0]

i just went back to c.p.s. to say hi a week or two ago,

i was suprised to see that they had many new student rigs, a turbine fletcher, a new instructor(who is the head of a.f.f. in new zealand. the course also now offers a new icarus(n.z. aerosports)canopy and a new talonFS when the 170 course jumps are completed so the rig you get is more suited to an intermediate level.

when i was on the course we got 2nd hand gear when we got our a licence. i went on to a commercial camera position within a year of starting skydiving but i ended up doing my first 800 jumps on a shitty old racer and a f111 maveric 200. so i could not learn to freefly until nearly 1000 jumps. no egrets though i have just been to my first boogie. i have two freefly freindly rigs. and i have had a well desearved holiday after 3 years of intense dedication to skydiving. all of this has been paid for by skydiving.

although there are not as many camera slots left in new zealand you can now do you work placement anywhere in the world(i think) and if all you want to do is skydive then this course is the one.

3 years ago i had not a clue of skydiving. i enrolled in the course and now i have over 2000 jumps(i got over logging my jumps because it was taking too much time)

DO IT.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[danger29 0]

Hi aquasky

I too am on the october intake. I was meant to go last year but had to postpone due to funds!.
All that is in place now and I cant wait.

I have been in touch with a few past/present students and also the previous course director. I think that like most things it has taken a while for things to get sorted out and i'm sure they will keep updating and improving as the course continues.

For me, the cost alone makes it worthwhile ( compared to 175 coached jumps in the UK) and if you dont get a job then you have just spent 8 months living in what has to be one of the most scenic countries in the world jumping out of planes.... NO Problem!!!

I have just under 100 jumps at the mo but that'll be around 150 by the time i get there. ( I'm going to the US on the way to NZ to pick up my new rig etc.) and i'll have atleast and hour, maybe 2 of tunnel time so the course will be personalised so to make the most out of the jumps available.

PM me if you have any questions or just wanna say Hi.

Blue Skies

Gaz