Krusin

My name is Vic Krusi, and I'm the general manager here at Bay Area Skydiving. Anyone who knows me well, will be surprised that I'm responding to anything on a public forum, as I feel it's unfortunate that a couple of disgruntled people can have such a loud voice. That said, I have filled out the ratings in what I feel to be a fair manner. I'd like to take a couple of the negative comments at their face value and try to explain the circumstances behind them. Bay Area Skydiving is a USPA group member drop zone, and therefore, as you know, bound by the group member rules. We are required to follow the FARs and BSRs, so when we ask for certain things, like packing data cards, membership cards, and logbooks, or follow stringent recurrency requirements, it's not that we're trying to single anyone out, it's what we're required to do. Additionally, as I stated before, we have what we feel to be an exemplary safety record, which we guard with pride and without prejudice. If we don't feel what you want to do is safe, we will discourage it and try to give you the reasons why. Finally, it's unfortunate, but even in the most professional environment, you reap what you sew. If you have an attitude that says 'I don't have to listen to you because I was doing this when you were still wearing diapers', you may not get the professionalism you desire. All that said, we are aware that the actions of a few reflect unfavorably on the whole, and we are working hard to change that. However, we will continue to guide new and visiting jumpers in the manner we feel is the safest for all concerned, and we will strive, to be friendly and professional when we do it. Vic Krusi General Manager Bay Area Skydiving (925)634-7575

The Byron Boogie is on and set for the 28, 29 and 30 of September. The aircraft will be a Skyvan, Otter and Kingair. Boogie fee will be $30 and jump tickets $20. Food will be provided on Friday and Saturday nights. Friday is a chili cookoff, and Disco night, so break out your dancin shoes. Saturdays meal has yet to be determined. Hope to see everyone there!

Connie and I share Mad John's sentiments. We hate to be the ones to post the bad news, but there it is. JP was a kind and caring individual, and will be surely missed. Some of you out there knew him only as Deuce Dad, but those of us who worked and played with him knew him as much more. He'd spent a couple days golfing with us recently, and was due to meet us at an A's game, when the incident occured. The facts of the incident in Mad John's post are correct. People may post and ask questions like; Couldn't we have known? or Why didn't someone try to help him? These are natural responses to a catastrophe such as this, but unhelpful. Those of us who were close to him knew something of the inner demons he battled, and helped him in the ways we could. The best any of us can do now is remember the man for the light he was in our lives, and keep his family in our prayers. Memorial services will be held at the Holy Rosary church in Antioch, CA at 10A.M. Thursday 24 May. I do not know the address but will post it when I do. Vic and Connie

I'd like to retract the previous post and thread, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do it. Without airing dirty laundry in public, which I know you all love, but I'm unwilling to do, there were reasons the new owner wanted try to do something about the abundance of 'old tickets' that seem to keep showing up, and which are in far greater abundance than was estimated at the time of the sale of the business. The reason we went to the new system with accounts, is because tickets are such a 'saleable' commodity, and tend to get transferred as cash from person to person. So if someone provided a service to the DZ and was given jump tickets for that, with the understanding that they are to use them for their own jumping. There was no way track where they went, if the person 'sold' them to someone else. (which is tacky) Or if someone bought them at a discounted price (which is tackier). Anyway, enough ranting...After talking to the owner some more, here's the policy. Bay Area Skydiving will continue to work with each individual who bought jump tickets from Bay Area Skydiving, period. Boogie tickets will be valid for this years and future boogies, period. We request that each individual who has tickets purchased from Bay Area Skydiving, turn them in for credit to their account at their earliest convenience. (I.E. your next visit to the DZ) The (humble) Management

Even though that's the policy the new ownership asked me to post, I can tell you that anyone who has come in personally, has been given some credit to their account for the tickets they owned. And we will continue to work with skydivers with old tickets. As for tickets from 1972...I've got a block of Mile-Hi skydiving tickets that are no good for exactly the same reasons I posted before. New Ownership.

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I don't usually post to public forums, because of the likelihood of public ridicule, but I'm kinda proud of this one. I was recently contacted by the family of a 19 y.o.m. with terminal bone cancer. One of his great desires was to skydive. He'd been turned down by three other skydiving facilities, because his left leg had been amputated at the hip. They all stated that it wasn't possible to take him because he had no 'stump'. In the wake of recent events, with students falling from harnesses, it seems we as Tandem Instructors have become gun shy when it comes to taking persons with 'special needs', or 'special body shapes'. I thought it was worth a try, so I set up an interview and fitting, with a possible jump the day after. I admit that the final rigging was crude, but more than effective. We basically used the closed leg strap as a 'cradle, with makeshift front and back straps to create a 'girdle'. We also tied the leg straps together to eliminate the possiblity of separation on deployment. The jump went perfectly and the jumper and his family were extremely grateful. Sometime's it just takes a little extra time. I'd be happy to provide more information and photos, via a separate medium if anyone is interested.

On March 1st 2006, Bay Area Skydiving was sold and is now under new ownership. Immediately following the ownership change, BAS implemented a new manifest software program, and requested that all jumpers with outstanding tickets turn them in for credit to their accounts. As of July 1st 2006, Bay Area Skydiving will no longer be responsible for outstanding jump tickets sold or issued to local jumpers prior to March 1st. We understand that there may be out of town jumpers who attended past Byron Boogies, and were told that left over jump tickets would be honored for future Boogies. Prior year boogie tickets may be honored on an extremely limited or discounted basis. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

As most of you already know, there was a grassfire on Sunday that threatened the skydiving hangar at BAS. Both bad news, and alot of good news came from it. First I'd like to start by offering my very sincere thanks to all of my Brothers and Sisters who selflessly not only helped us evacuate the hangar, of all the equipment, but did so in under 15 minutes. Mike and Connie share my humble gratitude for all of your help. We'd also like to extend our thanks for all of you who stuck around and helped put everything back. Second, your doubtless wondering what were going to do about our charred landing area. The small piece of bad news is that the County isn't willing to do anything to assist in making it usable again. However, our new pilot Gene has all the equipment necessary to not only scrape away the ash, but level the entire field as well. He is out there today, making our landing area even better than ever. My thanks to him for his effort. So come on out and enjoy! We are open and back in full operation tomorrow. Many people say that skydivers are one big family, Sunday's events help make me remember how true that is. Thank you everyone, we'll see you soon back at Byron Vic Krusi General Manager Bay Area Skydiving PS: Amy (the amy that was at BAS on Sunday)if you are a member of this forum, I need your E-mail address