CanuckInUSA

I do not wish to wage war against Mile-Hi Skydiving (nothing good can come of it, war sucks no matter who wins) and I like Frank the acting DZO and think that the DZ has been a better place to be since he's taken over control. So if the DZ is capable of turning loads without having to make fun jumpers wait excessive amounts of time, then the added costs are easier to stomach. But this DZ has a history of treating fun jumpers as 2nd class DZ citizens. What makes a DZ a good DZ I ask? I'm sure I'll miss something, but here's how I view it: 1) It has to be a fun DZ where people want to spend their time and it must be a place where everyone is treated with respect no matter what their skill levels are. I wouldn't give Mile-Hi failing marks here, but they don't get good marks either. 2) It must be a safe DZ. I feel safe at Mile-Hi (safe as in I know and accept that I could die Skydiving). But what might have happened if we had started to fly that unsafe Otter last year had Jeff not died? 3) It must be a financially healthy DZ (without a doubt tandems are a good thing here). Mile-Hi is financially sound. 4) It must be a DZ where fun jumpers have the opportunity to better themselves. In my opinion Mile-Hi does not get passing marks here. Like many DZs, it is a clicky DZ (and I'm not innocent as I'm part of the click) and many jumpers are just not progressing the way they would be if they were at a more progressive DZ. 5) Advanced coaching is a luxury many DZs don't have. But any sort of coaching sure makes a DZ better. Some people are trying to make coaching available. Recently some experienced RW people did hold some camps (although while I was at Eloy last week, one of these people told me of broken promises the DZ made to these people concerning the financial costs of holding these camps), the CReW dogs are always looking for new victims, some experienced canopy people are concerned enough to offer some sort of canopy coaching to those willing to ask for it. And the DZ is starting to build a little tracking dive traditions (which can only help people). But still, the coaching that is provided is not the sort of coaching that will attract the out of down jumper to come for. There is no SDU nor is there any sort of freefly coaching. 6) A good DZ is a DZ where other jumpers want to visit. How many of you out there come to Mile-Hi Skydiving to purposely jump? Very few I would guess. The only time we get out of town visitors is when they happen to be in town on business or visiting other people and they just happen to have their gear with themselves. 7) A good DZ is a DZ which offers financial incentives to jumpers. Cheaper jump tickets are used by some DZs (not a luxury all DZs can afford), group packages and team rates are another tactic (once again something that not all DZs can do) and some sort of tandem referral bonus is often used by many DZs. Mile-Hi gets failing marks here. It is a financially sound DZ which appears to only be concerned with maximizing it's minimal return they can get from their fun jumpers. And this herein lies the major disappointed I'm experiencing from the email I received last night. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Apples and Oranges my friend. Your jump prices are a reflection of the lower Canadian dollar value and higher taxation. My poll is defective in that I was thinking American DZs not world wide DZs. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I would think that when judging who the largest DZ is, we should be judging how many jumpers they can accommodate as opposed to how large their fleet is. I mean who cares if a DZ owns 20 airplanes (just a figure here) if 18 of them a regularily leased out to other DZs. With that in mind Skydive Arizona is considered the largest DZ in the world. But there are a number of other DZs (Perris, Z-Hills, Deland, SDC etc, etc, etc) which are also considered large major DZs. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hi Mary ... yes I can see the possibility of myself being banned from Mile-Hi Skydiving thanks to this thread. But I had to speak out. Personally I will miss the friends I have there and I will miss the close proximity to the DZ. But I guess I will slowly turn into a skydiver like you, an event skydiver who travels to different DZs and events and I guess Brush and SDTR will be seeing my mug shot more often as well. Believe it or not, it would have been better (at least in my mind) if they never mentioned anything about the charity and just announced the price increase. But we know the DZ is financially sound and I have to question why this whole added expense upon the fun jumpers is needed. 1) Is it a bride towards the city of Longmont to make the DZ look good? I can understand wanting to be in good standings with the city and the other users of the airport. But why must the fun jumpers be the ones to foot the bill? 2) Or is this just a way to drive the fun jumpers away from the DZ. If this is the case, they risk their DZ developing into a dangerous place for low timers and students. If there are no experienced people around to mentor the newer jumpers, what sort of dangers will exist? As far as I'm concerned, this is a sad day for fun jumpers at Mile-Hi Skdiving. Who is going to want to visit a DZ with high lift ticket prices and likely no experienced jumpers hanging around to jump with? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

With all due respect (and yes I do feel for the extra jumping expenses of my European brothers and sisters) you are comparing apples to oranges here. The social systems (and added taxes) means that living expenses in Europe are generally higher than in North America (or at least America). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

So has your cost of living increased? You know I'm not talking about normal consumer inflation which is usually on the rise. I'm talking about something else. Or did your prices (as a member of the staff) stay the same? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You are absolutely right here. At least you have access to package deals. This DZ does not offer anything sort of package deal and they won't even give fun jumpers any sort of discount for tandem business the fun jumpers bring in. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I got an email from my so called home-DZ that they were proud to announce (yes they used the words proud) that they were going to increase the cost of a jump for all fun jumpers by yet another $1 (I'm assuming this also includes hop n' pops even though the email didn't mention anything). You see management and the family of the late DZO have decided to setup a charitable foundation where this new $1 plus a $1 match from the DZ is donated to the charity for every jump made at the DZ by a fun jumper. On the surface this sounds mighty generous act on their part until you realize that not a penny will actually be coming from the DZ pockets and I'm sure they will benenfit from the tax deduction while fun jumpers won't be able to benefit from any sort of tax break. You see this time last year, the lift tickets were increased by $1 under the promise that the added charge was to fund a new Otter aircraft that we were going to start jumping in May of 2003. Well the death of the DZO didn't help those May plans, but it turns out the Otter which we have been paying an extra $1 this last year is a unairworthy lemon and currently it sits in pieces in an airport hangar with no sign at all as to whether or not it's ever see the air again (God only knows if we would have been jumping that unsafe and unairworthy lemon right now had the DZO not been killed). So Mile-Hi will not only now be taking an extra $1 from each fun jumper, they can use that $1 which they've been collecting since last year (the money taken for an Otter which was promised but never delivered) and pretend that they are so generous and use fun jumper money under their name. So that means that Mile-Hi Skydiving will now be charging $22 to get to altitude (and likely $15 for a 4k hop n' pop) and fun jumpers will have seen their jump prices increase 10% in the last 12-14 months. Unbelievable I say ... Instead of following the lead of a world class DZ like SDA (where jump tickets can be purchased from $16.50 to $18.00), Mile-Hi has chosen to model themselves after a DZ like Skydive Las Vegas. Surely they're NOT trying to attract out of town fun jumpers to come visit the DZ and are likely trying to drive the existing fun jumpers away (let's not forget that it is common practice to bump fun jumpers off of loads at Mile-Hi to accommodate walk-ins and students). Is this charity money need to bride the city of Longmont to allow the Tandem Factory to continue to pump out it's 75-100 tandems it'll do on a given summer weekend day? Or is it setup to drive away the fun jumpers, because after all fun jumpers are not where the money is and why waste a slot on a fun jumper when it could be filled by a tandem and/or student. I can see it, loads this summer (using a leased Otter) will have nothing but Tandems on them. So how much do you pay to get to altitude? And if you rent gear, how much does the DZ charge you? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Way to go Greg!!! Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I've got a Spectre 150 in my new (used) wingsuit rig as I knew my Crossfire2 openings would be too squirelly for the new wingsuit jumper like myself. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well I am obviously mistaken in saying that we shouldn't be jumping pull-outs with wingsuit. I was just going on the info which is on the BirdMan website. And when they tell us that they don't recommend that we use pull-outs with their suits, I listen to them. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Good set of rules to try and follow. I particularly like the ending where it said "BASE jumping is not about cheating the reaper. BASE jumping is the science of low altitude parachute deployments and the art of self jump mastering". I wonder how many people out there BASE jump because they get a rush from cheating death? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

And your comments are even more relevant for the up and coming headdown freeflier. It is so easy to be zooming across the sky without even knowing it (much easier than when you're in a sit). So for the new headdown freeflier, exit in a sit, align yourself perpendicular to the flight line and then transition to headdown. And never spend more than 5 seconds headdown when you are still learning during these ever so important solo jumps. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I am a newbie to the BASE world and I'm sure I am a punk in some other people's eyes (even though I'm not really young). But I don't really think of myself as a "Newbie Punk". I had an interesting adhoc conversation with an experienced BASE jumper today at lunch talking of the recent burning events at a popular local object (and I unfortunately know most if not all of the people involved and would like to consider the people on both sides of this fence as friends) and it's unfortunate that things have worked out the way they have. These so called other newbie punks are good people and very enthusiastic towards BASE. But sometime enthusiasism isn't the emotions we need to be showing. Sometimes stepping back and listening to the more experienced people is the way to go. We all want to become experienced jumpers and jumping is a way to gain some experience. But listening to people is also the smart thing to do. I know this newbie punk has so much to learn. Maybe I should call myself "Sponge Steve". Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Fine flame me if you want (I am no authority on pull-outs nor am I an authority on wingsuits). But my opinions stem from what is written in the FAQ section from the BirdMan website and by talking with knowledgable wingsuit people I know. If you want to be a test pilot, then by all means go for it. I'd prefer to get the pilot chute away from the burble of the wingsuit (hence the reason why I take the extra precaution of jumping a BOC throw-out with a 9 foot bridle on my wingsuit rig). BTW ... here's what's written on the BirdMan website concerning the use of pull-outs: Q: Can I use a pull-out system? A: Absolutely not. You have to have BOC throw out system. (Some flyers use pull-out with the handle on top like a throwaway with good results according to them but we have not tested that ourselves so we keep our recommendation as it is). So once again, if you want to be a test pilot then go for it. Keep us posted as to when you plan on landing your wingsuit as well so that I can be there to video tape the carnage. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

BOCs are very safe just as long as they are periodically maintained. Pull-outs seem too restrictive for what they do (ie: you can't jump a wingsuit with a pull-out) and any modern container is configured in such a manner that they provide the same sort of bridle protection that you get from a pull-out. BOCs are the way to go (at least for most of us). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I used to worship Hockey (and sort of still do, just not to the same extent). But now jumping seems to be on my minds. So I now worship the Freeflying, Tracking, Birdman and how could I forget worshipping good canopy control. Plus pretty soon I will be worshipping the true dark side of jumping off of fixed objects. But I won't become one of those anti-skydivers fixed object jumpers as I still enjoy jumping out of airplanes, helicopters and balloons. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Thanks for the info. I think I need a new toy (a Diamond .3 wide angle lens). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I drink Green Tea fairly often and it's usually from the local manufacturer (at least local to me) "Celestial Seasonings". And I love their address: 4600 Sleepytime Dr Boulder, CO, 80301 Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well it was jump #498 under that yellow reserve. But you have a good memory. You know it's all Skydive Arizona's fault. I mean I did a shit load of jumps during the Holiday Boogie (75 if I'm not mistaken) and then 29 more jumps last weekend while I was in Eloy again. Without these Eloy jumps, I wouldn't even be close to my Devil jump. Thanks for the ideas ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Everyone who wants to jump needs to come to grips with their own mortality. Once they are okay with this, then they can take the next step, seek training and start jumping. As humans we're all going to die one day. It could be today, it could be tomorrow, next week, next month or hopefully years from now. But nobody gets out of here alive. The important thing in this sport is not to do too many stupid things and you have a chance of surviving. But as many have said before me, you can do everything right on a jump and still die. That's not to say that we're dropping like flies. But people do die. Have you accepted your mortality? With all due respect, you're likely too young to know where I'm coming from here. Is it worth it? Hmmm ... if you'd like to try a fun, exhilarating, challenging thing where you are constantly going through new experiences and for the most part meeting some really cool people along the way. They hell YES it's worth it. Just be known that this is an extremely addictive sport with a very high price. Once you are old enough, go do a tandem to experience it, but do not get into this sport unless you've got some $$$ or you are willing to work in the business (meaning that you will never have a lot of spare change). Good luck with what it is you do in life. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

As long as I don't get pied for your 1000th, maybe ... Tandems scare me though. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Waa-hoo ... my Habs have done it to the Bruins again. We just beat the heavily favored Bruins 2-0 in the 7th game and came back from a three games to one deficient for the first time in the long history. And if you can believe it it is also the first the Bruins have given up a 3-1 lead in games in their history. The Canadiens are the 2nd most successfully North America pro sports franchise behind only the New York Yankees with 24 Stanley Cup Championships and they have a long history of sending the Bruins home in the playoffs. But besides the Habs upsetting the Bruins two years ago, the Bruins have had Montreal's number for the last decade. Waa-hoo!!! The Hockey Gods/Ghosts are alive and well in Montreal. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Learning to freefly is not easy and neither is learning to fly relative to others (ie: those early RW jumps). When you combine doing both these difficult tasks together with a low-time jumper. It makes things harder and can be counter productive. But that's not to say that it can't be done. I do know someone who jumped right into freeflying and did a decent job with his sit. We are all different and jump numbers are not an indication of talent. But it is recommended to do a bunch of belly jumps before venturing into freeflying. This way you will be used to flying relative to others. By the way, freeflying rocks and there's nothing that 10000 jumps can't fix. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hey I'm not a Christian (I'm agnostic), but that's not a bad idea. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over