nickant

To all, I will make this fairly brief but at least put everything correct. One, yes we do have some outstanding debts to instructors from the end of the 2012 season. To whomever made the comment DZOs get rich, well there may be some truth to that down the road but I assure you there is no profit to be made the opening season of a dropzone. Setup costs and initial operation costs are very high those first years. That is not in anyway meant to be an excuse nor is it a justification. Just stating we lost money on this opening year and am actually working winter jobs to help square up some company debts. That said, all and I mean ALL of the instructors we are indebted to I have insured I will take care of. While that is not exceptable to my terms either, it is the situation that came about as the season ended. The rumors concerning the airport are completely incorrect, there is no debt owed to the municipality. Nor any back debt for fuel. Also, there was no "being kicked off" the airport as we are still there now as we speak, except it's winter in the midwest and we are not open. It is true we do not have a lease there for 2013 but that is because we already had locked down a different location down the road. There were two owners at the location in question and that was a serious cause of many issues. Also on a complete side note, the new location is near a beautiful lake versus farm fields. Not exactly a hard choice. But back to the issues at hand, yes I openly acknowledge there is outstanding debts from late last season. We are working to correct those issues and continue on, companies will fall behind from time to time and it does require immediate attention which it is receiving. Anyone whom knows me throughout my skydiving career should know I have always stood by my word. This is no different, a situation got out of control, it was caught, corrected. Unfortunately the season came to an end which makes squaring up losses with profit a bit complicated. I have worked for some deadbeat DZOs myself and vowed never to get in that situation. My last DZO promised a salary then as the season came to a slow point took away that salary but expected me to stay on for free. So I get both sides of the stick. Our operation, in hindsight, did make some errors but this is all part of a very steep learning curve in an industry where "as the prop turns" equates to money being burned. In conclusion, this issue is not being ignored nor left to the side. But there is not an overnight cure. One thing to keep in mind though, for all of the instructors whom want to put there opinions in without facts, the quality of staff and their work ethic make or break our profit margins. Just as a lessoned learned, if you are one of the guys who stand around and don't want to jump because there are 12 knot winds or there is a broken layer at 5000 and we (owners/ managers) are forced to fly light because of that, you do not in any way help the situation. I have heard from numerous TIs that they want a small staff so they can work more, so I give in to that request, just to have half of them sit out in marginal conditions. Guess what guys (and girls) it's called a job for a reason. Non of this justifies us getting behind, but when your staff doesn't want to work cause the weather isn't perfect but want to stand around and complain cause checks took and extra day or two, well you need to rethink your career choice. And before someone asks the obvious, no we were not at all behind with payroll when the instructors didnt want to work, so they cannot say that. So to everyone who wants to jump on the bandwagon and attack a dz who ran into some financial issues at the end of the season, be my guest. I know that these debts are in the process of being settled and for the most part the people involved have all been kept in the loop whenever they ask. As I said from the get go, I'm not happy or proud to be stuck in this situation, but all I can do moving forward is fix the mistakes, learn our lessons, square are debts and move forward. Feel free to email me directly if you feel the need to voice your opinion, our company is not going anywhere and respects all imput you can provide. Nick Kant [email protected]