DaveCogan

Come to New Zealand. There is no age limit, with parents permission if you can fit in a harness you can go for a tandem.

I met Paddy at Picton (Sydney DZ) in the early 80's when he brought back 3 cammels for Graeme Hill. Students would wonder back from the far end of the drop zone and tell their friends they just walked passed a cammel. No one would believe them!

Over the years drop aircraft have become more expensive with the use of turbines etc. Jumpers don't realise the commitment pilots have made to get to where they are. Iti s true to a point, you get what you pay for. More and more professional drop zones are paying pilots a salary with a $ value for each load they do, that's becuase the operators realize the importance of a reliable and capable pilot.

New Zealand has about 23 drop zones and about 600 licensed jumpers. We do about 70,000 tandems a year and have the 2 largest tandem operations in the world on the same airfield (I believe). We have been so agressive at running tandem operations for the past 15 years that it has caused sport jumping to decline rapidly. Most of the people that were good at making jumping happening are now too busy running tandem operations.

If the runway is very long there is no added risk for any phase of the flight EXCEPT if the pilot is suddenly faced with an engine failure and has to land the plane in a paddock etc. In the unlikely event of being on-board an aircraft and having to make a forced landing without power I sure as hell would be wishing the pilot had working flaps to lower the stall speed (Vs) and lower the approach and landing speeds if that paddock just isn't quiet long enough. Dave Cogan