HippieCain

Thank you for your response. Like I said, I love BG's stuff and have mostly jumped something from BigAir. Naturally, the Sensei will have to be flown differently. I guess the question I'm really curious about is: How do these characteristics translate to a longer faster swoop? Fuck The Details

I'm not sure I'd go that far yet. I didn't fly it myself, so the first thing I want to know is if these descriptions are accurate. Fuck The Details

I just got back from Couchfreaks where I was happy to see several Senseis being demoed. I've been jumping Big Air canopies for most of my skydives. I went to a Lotus early and now fly a Samurai. What I was hearing about the Sensei wasn't what I expected to hear. Mostly things like, high riser pressure, short recovery arc, and narrow control range. I'm curious if these descriptions are accurate and, if they are, what the benefits of designing a canopy with these characteristics are. Does this canopy need to be flown differently than the Velo in order to compete? Just curious. I love BG's stuff and was surprised at the feedback I was getting about this canopy. The ZPX is cool stuff! Fuck The Details

I didn't know how many it was going to take, but I knew how many they were going to USE! Fuck The Details

Sure is. I can't imagine that thing being even faster. I'm sooo looking forward to that sweet, sweet bird. Fuck The Details

I can't believe the Beech is going to be even faster! That's incredible. The first jump at Freak's last year, The Brian looked at me on the Otter and said "Damn this thing is slow!" I got in the door and felt like I was crawling 'cause we had gotten used to the Beech. It quickly became my favorite jump plane. I was kind of depressed to hear that it was down for repairs and might not come back only to be elated that it would not only be back, but back and faster than ever!?! I might have to go change my drawers! Those that made it out to FFX last year for the Beech Boogie know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm giddy with anticipation. I'll bring some good cigars, but it's your turn to bring the Scotch! Will George be up for the Boogie? Fuck The Details

J.C. is my hero. Wait.... J.C. WOW! He may be more than the Midwest Legend. He just may be the 2nd coming of the Messiah. Something to think about the next time I have the privilege of being in his presence. Fuck The Details

That wasn't actually directed at you Ron. I just hit Reply on the last one. I was just making a general remark about some of the common assumptions associated with this topic. Fuck The Details

I think you may have mis-understood me. I have done nothing to stop this dz from operating. I have watched this topic with great interest, and the most difficult thing has been sifting through the finger-pointing and hesaidshesaid crap. People on both sides of this issue have behaved like children (especially in these forums). As soon as someone sees that Skydive Kansas City is listed as my home dz they assume that I'm trying to kill any and all possibility of competition. I was actually looking forward to the possibility of having a place to jump during the week. SDKC is my home dropzone because that's where I started and that's where my friends are. That doesn't mean that it's the only place I can jump. Or that I'm at war with any other dz in the area. The assumption is also made that if anyone says anything even remotely negative about the new dz that person is trying to kill the new dz in the name of competition. Let's be honest, Paul (whom I don't know and have never met, so it's nothing personal) maybe didn't go about this endeavor the best way he could've. I have read all the meeting minutes (I know those don't include every word) and newspaper articles and have tried to base my opinions on that rather than what I heard from this person or what that guy said on dz.com. Either way, my questions in my previous post were genuine: Can Cass County really stop this dz from operating? If the County cannot stop a skydiving operation on a Federally Funded Airport, then why bother with the zoning process to begin with? And, is it true that anyone can operate any business they want because it's a Federally Funded Airport? This has been my first experience with dz politics, and so far, it really sux. The worst part is, people that I really enjoy jumping with won't jump anywhere in KC because they HEARD that this dzo or that dzo did something they feel was unethical. If the county does block this dz the finger-pointing will really get bad. I didn't see anywhere in the Harrisonville Meeting Minutes that suggested the City was swayed by anything that any of the skydivers said. I think that Paul and someone at either the city or the airport got together and tried to ram-rod a deal through and when the deal became public knowledge, whom ever Paul was dealing with had to back-peddle and left him high and dry. Again, I don't know Paul so I can't say anything about his character, but it seems that he tried to jam this thing through before all his bases were covered. I don't think that's entirely his fault, but I don't think that where things are now is the fault of any other area dzo either. Things are so bad at this point in the county fight that it's not even a matter of what's right, it's a matter of who's going to win. And the whole of Kansas City Area Skydiving is going to suffer. Fuck The Details

Alright, now seriously - That article was interesting (the original is here: http://www.demo-mo.com/news2-071406.html ). But what is really going on? It doesn't make sense. If the county can't keep them from operating, then why bother with any of the zoning issues in the first place? If you are going to operate under a stop order, then you will probably operate no matter what the "Officials" say. So why bother with the appeal and all that jazz? Let's not forget this is the same city/county (airport for that matter) that ousted one dz already. So to simplify this to see if I understand, you have Cass County saying "Stop" and then you have the dzo saying "Make Me". That's pretty much where things are at this point, right? Can the county keep this business from operating? I know the FAA has jurisdiction over what happens in the air, but doesn't the city, county, or state have some say as to what businesses operate on the airport? And isn't that what we're talking about here? I know this topic has a tendency to get out of hand, but there are some very real issues at play here. First of all, we have the local governing bodies dead set against a skydiving center opening - and that sux. But we also appear to have a defiant dz that maybe left out a few steps in their due dilligence prior to opening the business and is now in a knock-down-drag-out with the local governments. Nothing about this situation appears to be helping our sport. Fuck The Details

I didn't see any post from anyone that I work with in this thread at all. Just a bunch of cattle talk. I saw this thread this morning when I got to work and posted my first thoughts. If anyone did post in here, it was removed by the time I got here, so I can't explain any of your perceived irony. Apology accepted. Fuck The Details

Why is it so amazing that I have asked a couple of questions on a subject that is in my home town? I was just curious if there was any validity to the threats that abounded in Harrisonville before they opened. Most (if not all) of the posts that I have made have been requests for more information. This has been a topic of interest, but one that easily gets off topic (like you questioning my motives) and leaves out information that I would like to know. Such as: Were the threats just that, or did the land owner press charges. Thank you for answering my question, but your misjudgment of why I choose to post was unnecessary - Just my observation. Fuck The Details

I wonder if charges were pressed like they have been threatening. Fuck The Details

Just to be fair, these pictures were posted in the thread about KCSC's opening day boogie, and I believe they were posted by the Eriksmoens. Just to clarify - no spies. Fuck The Details

The way I understand it, this is how the city got rid of the previous dz. They require a 1 million dollar liability insurance policy for any business operating at the airport and this insurance doesn't exist for our sport. My question is, how did things get this far before this issue surfaced? It seems like this would be the first thing that would need to be addressed before any of the LifeFlight concerns came up. It certainly seems like none of the energy spent on either side of this issue had any effect on the outcome. Fuck The Details

So, are the tickets on sale for the next Council meeting yet? Fuck The Details

Along those lines, where the actual meeting minutes ever posted anywhere? Fuck The Details

Another possibility is that the area residents didn't like the previous dz being located there. It has been said that after 7 years of operation and only 1 fatality the city ran them off. The area doesn't sound very jumper friendly no mater where they are getting their information. Fuck The Details

From the Kansas City Star: Skydiving school could oust LifeFlight By DONALD BRADLEY The Kansas City Star LifeFlight Eagle may fly the coop in Harrisonville if a skydiving school moves to town. “If there’s a safety detriment — it’s a no-brainer,” Chuck Walker, LifeFlight’s operations director said this week. The concern is that the Kansas City Skydiving Center’s “drop zone” could be too close to air traffic at Harrisonville’s Lawrence Smith Memorial Airport. Walker said LifeFlight, an air-ambulance service that uses helicopters to transport patients, cannot be forced to wait for skydivers to clear the sky before a helicopter lands or takes off. Harrisonville residents and city officials don’t want to lose LifeFlight because they say the base is a great safety service to the community. But because of a late change in plans, the issue could be out of the city’s hands. When the owners of the skydiving school, Paul and Joanna Eriksmoen, first applied for a lease at the airport, they wanted the drop zone to be on airport property. LifeFlight objected, saying its emergency service and the school were incompatible. It suggested that the skydivers look for a new base. In letters, e-mails and comments to city officials, residents decried the possible loss of LifeFlight, one saying that numerous Harrisonville lives have been saved because the helicopter ambulances were based at the airport. Others complained about potential noise, parties and landings in unexpected places. One woman even wrote that there is a lot of livestock in the area and that a jumper might land near a bull. Since then, the Eriksmoens have acquired a tract of land adjacent to the airport that would be used for the school’s drop zone. According to Harrisonville City Administrator Diana Wright, that means the city would have no basis to deny the school’s airplanes because the airport is a public facility, and the jumpers would not be landing on airport property. A public-affairs spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration agreed. If the drop zone were on airport property, the city could refuse the lease application, Elizabeth Cory said from FAA offices in Chicago. But because it’s not, the city cannot deny the school’s airplanes, Cory said. Still, the Harrisonville Board of Aldermen is set to discuss the issue Feb. 21. Walker said the new proposed drop zone is a thousand feet from the airport’s helipad. The distance is farther than the earlier plan’s 200 feet, but still not the 3,000 feet recommended by industry experts. “We don’t know yet what we’re going to do,” Walker said. The Eriksmoens have told city officials that the school’s pilots would always be in radio contact with the airport and would always yield to LifeFlight copters. LifeFlight Eagle, based at Harrisonville since 2000, has conducted about 1,600 takeoffs and landings per year, Walker said. It is the busiest of four base sites. The others are at Blue Springs, Children’s Mercy Hospital and Trenton, Mo. Link: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13842283.htm [url][url] Fuck The Details

Yeah, the tandem question was rhetorical to illustrate the point of the question about the lag time of LifeFlight. And I'm not saying that I'm opposed to this dz. I like the idea of weekday jumps. I think it's going to be an interesting couple of seasons around here. Again, I would just hate to see all the DZs in the area be gone in a few years. Fuck The Details

I am very curious about the whole Life Flight aspect. What happens when, on jump run as 15 jumpers are getting out of the plane including a couple of Tandems, Life Flight gets a call. What is expected of Life Flight as far as time delay between getting a call and lifting off, and would they be expected to wait for all the skydivers to get down (I would think so). How long does it take for a Tandem pair to get down from 13k? Obviously, this scenario is not likely to be the norm, but it is possible. It seems like the two operations would conflict even a little bit on a regular basis. And we're not even talking about boogies. Having no prior experience with LifeFlight, I'm posting this seeking information, not taking shots. I would like to echo the concerns of others in that the worst that could happen here would be that this dropzone puts the others out of business and then goes under itself. By no means do I wish this on anybody, but that would be a bad day for all of us.

Skydive Kansas City is a budding skydive mecca. I have seen the plans for the new building that will begin construction later this year, and all I can say is WOW! These guys really know what they are doing, and can plan on continual growth. I'm excited that I found them, and that they readily accept people into their family - I mean, our family!