unlucky1

Alaska Skysports in Wasilla, Alaska...of course

Thanks everybody for the replies... I'll be hitting Empire on Sunday, and then Mile-Hi on Monday, and the following Saturday... I definitely will hit you up for a fun jump with me ! I do a little RW, but mostly sitflying, hybrids, etc... I'm not too much into turning points. I just like to have a good time without worrying about missing my slot..haha... see you soon. Thanks again. Johnny

Also, I'm currently jumping at sea level. Should I upsize a canopy or two to make up for the increase in altitude???

Heading to Colorado next week (for 1 week)... was looking for a good place to jump? I see alot of reviews saying that Mile-Hi has turned into a tandem factory with LONG wait times to get some air. Other DZ's seem like mostly student/Tandem type places too. I just want to make a half dozen jumps or so, but don't want to spend 2 days trying to make them. Anybody been to Skydive Empire? How is that as far as a DZ goes? Good vibes? lots of funjumpers? Anything open on the weekdays? I will mainly be visiting my sis in Colo Springs, but i would be willing to travel a coupla hours to find some decent jumping. Thanks. Johnny

I ran into a guy named Phil one day when I was hunting on Kodiak Island. He was flying hunters out to their camps on the island. He told me that he was also a jump pilot in Hawaii during the winter months. 9 months later I went to Hawaii on vacation, and met up with him at the DZ. Nice guy. As far as the bears outnumbering the people. That is false. 2010 census has approx 710,000 people. There are 100,000 Black Bear, 35,000 Grizzly Bear, and 3500 Polar Bear.

Blue Skies Dan. Your time came way too early. You were one of the best flyers I knew... God Bless your family and we will watch over them for you, as you watch over all of us.... Johnny

Blue Skies Bob. I thought of you today...

I stopped at this DZ on Feb 14th of this year. I arrived early in the AM and was greeted by some of the staff. Everybody I met was pretty cool and laid back. Manifest had the cutest manifest ever..Noelle. She also knew what she was doing. She knew that I was a visitor from Alaska and needed to get jumps in while I was on vacation. She made sure I was on every load. It was not hard to find somebody to jump with at this DZ. This place is admittedly a Tandem Factory, but they will ensure you are on that plane if there are any available slots. The scenery along the coast was outstanding second only to the Glacier jumps in Alaska. They have a PAC750 airplane that gets to altitude really quickly. They still have the King Air, but they do not use it anymore because its a gas guzzler. After the Dropzone has no more Tandems for the day, everybody heads over to Skydive Hawaii to jump. I didn't, so I can't compare the two DZ's. The only improvement I could suggest is having somewhere to buy food without having to drive into town. Although, because this is not a Fulltime jumping facility (for funjumpers), the sale of food probably would not work too well. I have nothing negative to say about this facility. Cool people, Cool jumps, and when all else fails...you have Noelle. :)

How YOU doin....

Not completely implausible. I know a guy who got turned down by a couple of DZs who didn't want to train him because he was deaf. So he went B.A.S.E. jumping instead. This was out in Idaho and eastern Washington though. Of course, he didn't have the most graceful landings. Why wouldn't the DZ train him? Cleveland had a deaf mute Amish guy that they trained to skydive. He made jumps every now and then. I moved away a few years ago, don't know if he still jumps. I believe he was an outcast in his community because of his disabilities and he enjoyed hanging around the DZ because the kid got more respect. Not to hijack this thread, but while we're on the subject, the most impressive thing I've seen skydiving is watching Dan Rossi skydive. He is a totally blind skydiver that learned to jump while blind. He has hundreds of jumps and he even packs his own parachute. THAT is impressive.

Not completely implausible. I know a guy who got turned down by a couple of DZs who didn't want to train him because he was deaf. So he went B.A.S.E. jumping instead. This was out in Idaho and eastern Washington though. Of course, he didn't have the most graceful landings. Why wouldn't the DZ train him? Cleveland had a deaf mute Amish guy that they trained to skydive. He made jumps every now and then. I moved away a few years ago, don't know if he still jumps. I believe he was an outcast in his community because of his disabilities and he enjoyed hanging around the DZ because the kid got more respect.

I was at work 2 months ago, when a delivery driver came in and told me that he was a skydiver (he didn't know that I was). I asked him how many jumps? He says 13,000. Where do you jump? He says Talkeetna(no DZ in Talkeetna, only Wasilla). What do you jump out of? A floatplane. What license number do you have? I don't need one. Let me see..you've made 13,000 jumps, all in Talkeetna,Alaska, where there is no DZ, and you don't have a license? Yep, thats right. What kind of rig do you have? A Kenworth (truck). No, I mean what kind of parachute do you have? A paraflight. I've never heard of a Paraflight, who is it made by? I made it myself.... At this point I was laughing so hard to myself, I didn't bring myself to call him a fucking liar! He has also told me that his daughter speaks 58 lanquages and is a Rhodes Scholar... Also that he is a multi-millionaire who owns 15 yachts, but he does delivery just to "see how the other half lives...it keeps me grounded". There are tons more lies that come out of this guy. He is a TRUE Pathological liar. ITs absolutely amazing the stuff this guy comes up with. He actually believes it. Quite entertaining.

Wasilla,Alaska is in the 30's to 40's !

Heading to Hawaii in 2 weeks... any pros/cons to jumping at either Pacific or Skydive Hawaii? I've heard lots of jumpers in the past say that they are mostly tandem factories. Is this true? and if it is true, what is the chance of getting on a few loads as a funjumper? Just trying to figure out if it is worth bringing my rig along especially if there may be only a small chance of getting on a load... Thanks for your help in advance, Johnny

That is wrong. In Alaska, you MUST prove residency. You have to be here 1 year (within the state 180 days or 270 days, except for work travel) to even become a resident. This is to prevent people from taking advantages of the state's resources (i.e. hunting, PFD, etc).