GAskygirl

Because the COVID-19 pandemic might as well have some benefit to skydiving... Skydive Spaceland has developed this online refresher course for all skydivers, completely free of charge. Enjoy and share if you like it. :) It includes six videos and a test. Obviously this doesn't replace on-site review of emergency procedures/etc., but it's a start to keeping our heads in the game and anyone, anywhere can use it. Stay healthy out there! https://eSkydiving.com

Hey FSers, here's some info on the Pre-Nationals competition at Spaceland Houston! Who's going? Events: 4way FS, 8way FS, Mixed Formation Skydiving (MFS) Aug. 18-20 at Skydive Spaceland Houston More info: https://houston.skydivespaceland.com/pre-nationals/ Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Hey Phil, I know I answered you on this awhile back... but since I was researching usage of our jump package for 2016, I thought you might be interested to know that we have a couple of jumpers well over 900 jumps for the year already. One's nearing 980/1000 with a month and a half left to go in the year (!!!). For sure the winter months are a little slower, but there's a ton of potential there. Out of the 18 jumpers on the package right now, they're averaging 454 jumps apiece. 2017 package: http://houston.skydivespaceland.com/shop/lift-tickets/unlimited-jump-package/ Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Have you ever checked out DiverDriver.com? Chris has done a great job of collecting skydiving aircraft crashes by date, type, and cause dating back to 1982 if you want to look for trends. Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Hi all, the weather is great today and we're flying the Skyvan nonstop! Annnndd.... the Skyvan will now stay Monday as long as there are enough people to jump it. Hope you can join us! Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Hey all, don't forget the Everglades Boogie is this weekend at Skydive Spaceland Florida in Clewiston! We'll have a Super Caravan and a Super Skyvan (raft jumps!!!)! More details: Jan. 22-24, 2016 Registration - $25 (

Hey Phil, it just depends on the weather, which can be brilliant for the "winter" we have here. Yesterday (Monday, Dec. 14) the weather was fantastic and we flew 11 Super Caravan loads to full altitude. Of course we fly a lot more on weekends. Yes, we have the occasional front that sits for a few days at a time. The good thing is we usually have students training here from all over during the week as well as weekends, and we're close enough to town to pull some fun jumpers out on good weather days, so we tend to make the most of all those days.

Spaceland's 2016 jump package has just been opened up for purchase, and it covers lift tickets at all current and future Spaceland locations. http://houston.skydivespaceland.com/shop/lift-tickets/unlimited-jumps-2016/ FB4086 :) Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Fantastic! The Houston crew should be there by midafternoon and the forecast is great! Hope they're right about it for a change! :) Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Hi all, Skydive Spaceland Atlanta is hosting its first SIS event July 10-12. We'll have belly and freefly organizing, free canopy coaching, seminars/open forums in case of weather, and maybe even some female Georgia state records! Hope you can join us for the fun! PS: Spaceland ATL is also currently running a jump ticket special (not just for the ladies): 10 for $150--but only through this Saturday, so grab it quick if you want to make this a fun AND inexpensive weekend. :) No limit, no expiration. More info on Facebook Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Happily for all of us, it's parked under trees to stay cooler. :) I always thought the portapots on pavement in the sun were to make people quit bitching about how hot it was outside them... Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Yep, one that isn't leaving as soon as opening weekend is over. :) Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Thanks for the bump! First load takes off at 2pm, weather permitting. :) Oh and by the way... There will now be a long-term outdoor restroom for tent/RV campers, and it's already here. See ya soon!!! Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Me too, Zoo! One clarification on the camping to answer an offline question that others may have: There will be no long-term RV parking (no hookups), but tent camping is fine. The hangar and thus the restrooms will be closed at night, so plan to make like a bear or head to the nearby gas station for any late-night restroom needs. Hope to see you all soon! Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Yes, we are! We look forward to seeing you! :) Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

I think this is a very good point; I have said the same thing in the past. I attended Collegiates once (1998, I think) and helped start a club at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We had a GREAT time with that club and introduced a lot of people to the sport, but Collegiates was a tough sell on those dates. I think we only had people go twice in several years. I understand that the challenge in summer is different schools doing different start/stop times, but the upside is not having the same family obligation that pretty much everyone has at the holidays. And your point about currency over winter is a very good one. Lastly: Weather is likely to be more of an issue over the holidays just about everywhere in the northern hemisphere, so that might be a factor to consider as well. Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

http://atlanta.skydivespaceland.com/spaceland-atlanta-may-1/ Skydive Spaceland Brings World-Class Skydiving with Texas Hospitality to Atlanta on May 1 Rosharon, Texas (March 31, 2015)--Building on the strong success of two world-class skydiving centers near Houston, Texas, and Miami, Florida, Skydive Spaceland will open a third skydiving center near Atlanta on May 1. "This is such a beautiful farm property in the Appalachian foothills," says owner Steve Boyd. "We're super excited to bring our business and Texas hospitality here." Boyd first opened Skydive Spaceland just south of Houston, Texas, in February of 2000, and the third-generation family skydiving business quickly grew into Houston’s largest, most progressive skydiving center. The brand expanded to Clewiston, Florida, near Miami in early 2013. Located just 55 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta in Rockmart, the latest Skydive Spaceland location is a 60-acre skydiving center that's currently undergoing a complete remodel in preparation for its grand opening. Brand-new classrooms, restrooms, office, and a newly carpeted parachute packing area will welcome guests in style. Spaceland-Atlanta will also enjoy the area’s largest turbine, a full-time Twin Otter, while it operates every day but Christmas. Spaceland’s popular, progressive Skydiver Training Program will be offered at the new location, with state-of-the-art rigs and canopies available for most body sizes. Students can achieve their A licenses in as little as a week at Spaceland, and they often come from all over the U.S. and the world to do so. Following graduation, the popular Transitions program offers DZ-sponsored coaching on weekends, plus monthly themed events and competitions, to jumpers with less than 100 skydives regardless of where they graduated. To celebrate its grand opening, Spaceland-Atlanta is offering free skydives to licensed skydivers on the afternoon of Thursday, April 30 (starting at 2 pm) and $15 skydives ($10 off the usual rate of $25) for its opening weekend May 1-3 (Friday-Sunday). Tandem skydives for first-time jumpers are currently being offered at a pre-opening special rate of $169, $50 off the regular retail rate, and these can be redeemed for six months from the date of purchase. "I am super stoked to bring Spaceland's professional, friendly way of doing things to Atlanta skydivers," says operations manager Kevin Purdy, a longtime skydiver with 16,000 jumps and 24 years of experience as a skydiver and tandem/Skydiver Training Program instructor. For more information and to sign up for Spaceland-Atlanta email updates, see http://atlanta.SkydiveSpaceland.com. ### This is at the former location of Skydive The Farm. Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Hey TooTall, Welcome back to skydiving! Skydive Spaceland is a little farther from you in Houston, but if you fancy a short trip we'd love to meet you. We also train 7 days a week, so if you want to focus that training in a short time, we can hook you up.

I don't know too many businesses that publish advertisements, radio or print--especially those created out of house--without reviewing them first. Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

"No detail [is] too small when offering the single greatest experience life has to offer." YES.

Hi skiskyrock, I think you missed what I was saying a bit. What I meant was that during the week when there is a much lower turnout of fun jumpers, the informal discussions will usually be with instructors. Those instructors will generally have a much higher signal to noise ratio than the general skydiving public AND they will know that student's capabilities (very important). Again, I am not knocking bonfire discussions AT ALL... just saying that for a student, bonfire discussions with fun jumpers has a greater potential to lead students astray than those same discussions with instructors. Once they have some basics under their belts, they are more ready for perspective and more able to filter what they hear. Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

Heard another approach recently... After several unsuccessful talks with said jumper, S&TA calls in the

Skyper, thank you for being open-minded to newer methods of training (and I also am on board with all that popsjumper said). I have no idea how long you have been in the sport, but for my part I did my A license in a week, as mentioned, in 1997 (standard AFF followed by several 2-ways to 7-ways with local instructors and jumpers). 15 years and 3300+ jumps later, it is irrelevant how long it took me to achieve my A license; my experiences and choices since then have a whole lot more to do with the skydiver I am today. The complete license programs that Spaceland and many other drop zones are doing now include far more skydives (18 single-jumpmaster skydives here compared to the minimum 7 one- or two-JM jumps when I did standard AFF--two hop and pops were added where I trained for a total of 9). Better training? Absolutely! More skydives, more supervision, more things learned. These students graduate with far more skill than I did. And they don't HAVE to do it in a week; weather or student needs may dictate an extension of the program. No problem at all. Most of these programs involve a single instructor for each skydive AFTER the student has proven basic stability, altitude awareness, and the ability to pull and help fly a parachute on a tandem or few. Those single instructor jumps are cheaper than 2-jumpmaster AFF, and in addition most of the instructors in these programs, if not all, wear video on EVERY skydive (often a GoPro or similar mini cam), included for free. These students learn SO MUCH from seeing what they are doing in hi-def video and debriefing in detail. I am lucky enough to observe license-in-a-week students and instructors at Skydive Spaceland on a regular basis. We have had people come here from other states and overseas just to get their skydiving licenses here. Particularly during the week, the instructors are able to devote a huge amount of time to each student, as much as is needed, and the additional education for the student of hanging out with mostly instructors on a "slow" weekday between loads is huge. They get closer to the instructors and the information they get is of higher quality compared to random discussions around the bonfire among jumpers who may have no instructional background and limited time in the sport. Not to disparage that part of the sport at all... it's one of my favorite parts. :) But from a student education standpoint, of course instructors will usually provide better information tailored to that student's needs. That's my 2 cents (OK, more like 15!). Hope you have a great day. Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464

I did my skydiving training in less than a week (standard AFF, several years ago). I think there are a lot of advantages to it, many of which have been mentioned (currency, dedicated focus, savings, etc.). One more I'd like to mention is the higher level of focus you will likely get from your instructor(s) given that you will be doing some or all of those jumps during the week when those instructors have fewer students/commitments on their time. Also, if you do have weather, you're hanging out at the DZ with your instructors who are now bored because they can't jump. You will learn a lot from them in that instance; all isn't lost if the weather prohibits some of your jumps. Jumping during the week is also great for getting to know people in your new favorite sport. I'd also like to suggest that if you're flexible on location, you might want to consider Skydive Spaceland (near Houston, Texas). They are open 7 days a week and have some fantastic instructors: www.skydivespaceland.com/learn-to-skydive/a-license-in-a-week Blue Skies! -=Christy=- D-21464