TomSpoon

Scotty, Who would of figured you'd live so long with all the crazy shit you've done. Happy birthday Brother.

It seems Mr. Gsell is now doing some backpedaling. On Thursday he acted like he was the airport dictator.

From The Batavia Daily News; News roundup: Could the county ground the Batavia Boogie? Posted by Philip Anselmo about 3 days ago Tagged in * Batavia Boogie * Daily News It wasn't until page three of today's Daily Fly Swat that I got to what seemed to me pretty big news — although Correspondent Susan J. Conrad's account of Oakfield's sesquicentennial on the front page was a lot of fun. In big, bold type, the headline at the top of the Local section reads: "County may ground Boogie." Most folks may have already heard that this year's Batavia Boogie skydiving festival began with a fatal fall last Thursday when a diver's chute did not open. The story was covered extensively, and the Boogie continued through Sunday. Itr turns out, that fatality may have more lasting repercussions for the annual festival. County Manager Jay Gsell told Reporter Paul Mrozek that the county may "not allow the Batavia Boogie to continue" because "if an event increases the county's risk of liability, the county does not automatically approve the activity." Nothing concrete has been established. No one has yet said 'No' definitively. In fact, that's all the news there is: the county may not allow it. I put in a call to the county manager to see what exactly it would take for the county to deny the Boogie its permits for next year. I was told that he should call back later this afternoon. UPDATE: I spoke with the county manager, who got back to me within the hour. He told me that there would not be anything specific that would make the county deny the Boogie its permits. Rather, the county will consider the Boogie more of a "secondary liability." In other words, the county does not want to get sued as a result of something happening at the Boogie, since it would be happening on county grounds. Gsell also made clear that the county cannot "ground" the Boogie at all, so the Daily News headline is slightly misleading. The only activities the county can deny the festival goers are: camping, the use of the grounds for overnight stay and conduct of any business. If the FAA grants the skydivers permission to jump, there is nothing the county can say to the contrary.

TK, I hear skydive city has more assholes per capita than any other DZ. Muff Muff

whoa... Bro' you know i love ya' and I'll skydive with you anytime... but this statement is reckless, at best... AND inflammatory at worst..... WHy wouldn't there be another boogie there??? we have worked successfully with the City of batavia, and with Genesee county, since the early 80's...... Some ONE person,,, ( who was likely just trying to cover his own ass) had a "knee-jerk' reaction, when told of the loss of a jumper,,, and without ANY consultation, any request from our duly designated rep. for accurate information,,,, or ANY input from those knowledgeable in the subject of skydiving.... this bureaucrat unilaterally DICTATED... 'the boogie is over"..... well it WASN'T over was it??? Fact is , our persistance prevailed and so now we need to be cool and quiet and keep our fingers crossed.. This is a federally funded PUBLIC airport.... if a pilot misjudges a landing, and totals his plane and himself... does that mean the airport should be Closed to ALL pilots??? of course not... Lets wait and see, we have Fine and knowledgeable skydivers who voluntarily serve as liason, between the club and the airport management... we shall keep our fingers crossed, and hope for common sense to prevail.. and THAT there will continue to be,,, the batavia boogie... fly safe, skydive safe. see ya' at the dz. jmy Jim, There may not be another boogie in Batavia because it would be financialy wreckless for the club to take the risk. If the boogie had been canceled it would have been financialy devestating. Yes, the boogie did continue but without the Casa. I'm sure this had an impact on attendance and the club's finances. If the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce and the people of Batavia want us there I hope they will join us in expressing our displeasure with Jay Gsell's autocratic attitude. I don't think being quiet with our fingers crossed is the way to go. Love ya man

Jay Gsell is already convinced that he needs to protect skydivers from themselves. I doubt you will change his mind. Your emails would be beter sent to people who do want us there as much as we want to be there. May I suggest the Genesee County Chamber of commerce ; [email protected] and The Batavia News; [email protected]

It is not my intent to encourage people to bury Mr Gsell in hate mail. I just want everyone to know the whole story. I doubt their will ever be another Boogie in Batavia.

On July third there was an unfortunate accident at Batavia NY. Then the Genesee county manager arrogantly tried to cancel the boogie. This is how the events played out. The Batavia Boogie hosted by Frontier Skydivers at Genesee County Airport in Batavia NY was planned to begin wedensday July 2nd with a Twin Otter, to be replaced on Thursday night by a Casa 212. The twin otter was than scheduled to go to West Point for the weekend. Thursday was mostly weathered out but it finally cleared by late afternoon. The first load went up at about 4:30pm. On the second load of the day experienced jumper Joe Schickler went in. He landed in a wheat field about 1/4 mile north of the TDZ of runway 28, outside of the airport boundry. The club S&TA was not allowed to go near the accident scene to investigate by the Genesee county sheriffs and as far as I know no one has yet to inspect the gear. Jumping stopped. Not officialy, but no one seemed interested. Rumors circulated that the airport was closed and the arriving Casa had to divert to Rochester International airport about 25 miles away. At around 10:30pm Thursday night, the Frontier skydivers president announced that county manager Jay Gsell had ordered jumping to stop for the rest of the weekend and that they had asked Paul Fayard to alllow the twin otter to stay and send the Casa to West Point in it's place, In hope that they could salvage the boogie by moving it to the clubs home airport, Holllands International where the runway was too short for the Casa. Many jumpers were aghast that the boogie could simply be cancelled. Was the FSD board of directors going to roll over so easily? Can we get a lawyer or a judge to sign a restraining order stopping the county manager on independance day? Friday morning jumpers began breaking camp. Word had gone out the boogie was canceled and moving to Holland's International. Friday morning I contacted USPA regional director Scott Stewart in hopes the club could get some legal help. I was surprised to find out he was not aware of the situation but he was incredibly helpful. He started asking questions. Were any regulations violated? No . Was any part of the contract between the club and Genesee county violated? No. He opined that the county manager could not simply unilateraly revoke permission to use the airport without cause. I consulted with a club member who was also an attorney her opinion was we had permission and If anyone was going to have to find a Judge on the fourth of July to sign a restraining order it was the county, not us. The issue came down to FAR 105.17 which requires permission of the airport manager for jumps to be made. We had written permission but were asked to stop jumping by the County manager. Did the club have that permission or not? The club member attorney agreed to call the Genesee county attorney John Rizzo to explain our position that we had written permission to jump and were going to continue doing so. It was not productive. "That man's an asshole" is what I overheard after she hung up the phone. We talked to the otter pilot Mark Vickers and explained to him the situation. Would he be willing to fly? Yes, But some one else would have to go first. That person would be Frontier skydivers pilot Paul Gath who agreed to fly one cessna load first and take the heat if their was going to be any. By now it was late friday morning. The Casa had already departed for West Point and the best we could hope for was that the boogie would continue at Batavia with only a twin otter. Word was put out that the boogie was going to continue .Paul Gath flew the cessna load and nothing happened. Than Mark Vickers continued to fly loads in the twin otter. Later in the day with the boogie in full swing county manager Jay Gsell returned. He buttonholed Paul Gath and asked. I thought we had an agreement you would stop jumping? Paul's reply was "We changed are minds, just like you did" He huffed said something like we had not heard the last from him and made some vague threats about closing the airport and walked off. We never heard from him again. Here is Genesee County manager Jay Gsell's web page. http://www.co.genesee.ny.us/dpt/countymanager/index.html

I'll have this rig there for sale. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=64694;d=1 You're welcome to jump it if you have the reserve repacked. Though I don't think I'd want to do much freeflying with it.

Once again Frontier Skydivers ,Western NY's oldest sport parachute club, will be hosting The Batavia Boogie Act XIX. When: Wed. July 2nd thru Sun July 6th Where: Genessee County Airport Batavia NY midway between Buffalo and Rochester. Just off NYS Thruway exit 48. Casa212 and ballon jumps daily More info here.http://www.geneseeny.com/frontierskydivers/

A tribute to Dr Shugar http://www.bowdenj.pages.web.com/id124.html

From the clinic website; The Funeral for Dr. Shugar will be Sunday 11:am at Temple Israel, 2214 Mahan Drive, Tallahassee. Family, immediate close friends and current staff of Nature Coast will be going to the cemetary afterwards. The temple does not allow flowers; so the family has asked in lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Big Bend Hospice of Taylor County. 1723 Mayhan Center Blvd, Tallahassee 32308. Dr. Shugar was a great supporter of Hospice. Below I have attached his obituary. Joel K. Shugar, MD, MSEE- Dr. Shugar was born 12-9-1958 in Albany, New York. He has a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cum laude. He earned his MD from SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine. He served his internship in internal medicine at Millard Filmore Hospital in Buffalo, New York. He completed his residency in Ophthalmology at the University of Florida in 1989 and was certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, additionally certified in cataract/implant surgery by the American Board of Eye Surgery. He was a Fellow and Faculty Member of the American College of Eye Surgery; a Member of the American Medical Association, a Member of the Florida Society of Ophthalmology, and Member of the International Society of Refractive Surgery. Dr. Shugar was pioneer in Ophthalmology; he invented “Shugarcaine” in 1997, the first and only anesthetic for use inside the eye (improving cataract surgery safety) which over half of the Ophthalmologists in the United States are using as well as many international doctors. In 2006 he invented “Epi-Shugarcaine” for floppy iris syndrome, widely in use by doctors globally. He has made 65 written contributions to the scientific literature. He frequently served as a reviewer for publications such as the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. One of his life long dreams was to invent a fully functional artificial eye. Annually Dr. Shugar performed free cataract surgery on patients who could not afford surgery. His “Gift of Sight Day” performed before Thanksgiving Day for the last eight years and helped 300 patients improve their vision. Judaism was an important of Dr. Shugar’s life; he participated in Jewish community and visited Israel with his father in 2003. One of Dr. Shugar’s true passions other than his son Adam was skydiving; a skydiver since 1983, it defined an important portion of his life. He started the team Optic Nerve in 1998 in Deland, Florida and competed with world class skydivers, winning numerous medals in competition. He and his son also studied Shotokan Karate in Perry. Dr. Shugar is survived by: His wife Lindsey W. Shugar, son Adam J. Shugar, father Harold B. Shugar from Albany New York, brother Dan Shugar and his wife Kathleen and their two sons Peter and David from San Bruno, California. He was preceded in death by his mother Sally Shugar.

From the clinic website. www.naturecoasteye.com It is with heavy hearts that we inform you that our beloved Dr. Joel K. Shugar was taken from us on Memorial Day. Besides being a brilliant doctor, he was a great boss, teacher, and friend to all of us at Nature Coast, we are one big family here. ( He would call us his Shugar Babies). The only information I have at this time is that the funeral will be held on Sunday in Tallahassee, under Jewish tradition flowers are not allowed at the funeral. So the family has asked in lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Big Bend Hospice of Taylor County. 1723 Mayhan Center Blvd, Tallahassee 32308. Dr. Shugar was a great supporter of Hospice.

Our Douglas, aka One Hour Douglas

Can't remember which -3 this was. Some Swedish guy flew it? We had one come down to San Antonio (88 or 89) and fly some for us... .. In 88-89 the East coast DC-3s were; Southern Cross Lucaya Air Mr Douglas & Our Douglas Is it Our Douglas maybe?

Cool, I think it would be great if everyone who has a Rickerby posted a photo of it. Their must be hundreds of Murals on old rigs. Come on let's see em.

This one's tough. Not many familiar faces. Maybe Craig Buxton in center row about midway back with dark beard. Gear says mid to late late 80's [Flite suits no tony suits. and no mini 3 rings] A/C has metal covered interior and clear windows. So its not Southern Cross which had a gutted interior nor Mr Douglas which had blue windows. My guess is Lacuya Air. Quincy Pre-Don Kirlin.

In the lower right corner of the first picture it says copyright 1988 Dave Floyd. [AKA Pink] So my guess is 1988 Phoenix Z-hills. The A/C is probably Southern Cross because that looks like pilot Herman Rhineholtz skinny right arm up front. I don't remember Lucaya being at Phoenix but if it was,the pilot owner;Fred [can't remember his last name] would have been flying it and he was a big guy. That's Peggy O'Riley against forward bulkhead A/C right. And could that possibly be Dave Rickerby in the square sunglasses?

Ed Turner did it over Clewiston Fl around 1987. They made a beer commercial about it. I think it played during the super bowl. Anybody have it? Found this old thread http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1060082

Is George Bosworth in this picture? http://www.frontierskydivers.com/gallery/?action=view_image&user=115&images_id=124#start

True evil is a lack of empathy

Hey guys. Remember this thread? http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=911753;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Very nice painting Dave, but I don't see any skulls.

Sounds like a typical media make em scared story. First of all TCAS does not simply "go off" it issues traffic advisories[TA's] and resolution advisories[RA's]. The fact that southwest made a gentle turn tells me it was probably the former. If it was an RA the pilots would have been required to follow the TCAS commands. At 17000' see and avoid rules apply and these pilots did just that. Must have been a slow news day.

No foreign airlines compete with US airlines on local routes. That would be against cabotage rules.