Skydive2

Please tell me that was a coach and NOT an AFFI ? If it was and AFFI his rating need to be pulled...no questions, no excuses. very poor flying and even worse decision making (and I'm not taking about how he handled the 2 out)....

Not enough to justify selling tandems under $140

your right, don't get me wrong i'm not saying groupon is a bad thing at all. There are some business that have as much as a 50% mark up on products for them is something like groupon is a no brainier and I'm sure is an awesome marketing tool!! and the best part for them is in there not totally loosing there ass every time a customer walks into there business. I've just crunched the numbers every way I could and from a skydiving standpoint I can't see where it pays off in the end. Even when factoring in no shows, t-shirt/video sales, ect (all of which are variables). If they all show up and everyone is too cheap to get a shirt or video and don't have any friends too bring...then your "gamble" is a total failure and you get sit around and watch your airplanes lose you money every time they start up. I guess the only good thing is you don't have to listen to the staff whine about lack of work, you get to listen to them whine about too much work. Typical for a DZO though, when your winning your losing and when your losing your still losing....lol!

It does effect the bottom line, but very, very little. Do you know what the mark-up on a t-shirt is? $5-$10 at most. I'd have to sell each customer at least 5 shirts at a $10 profit per shirt (which is top dollar) to even try to begin to make up for the money I've lost flying my planes with $99-$129 tandems. Do you really think thats possible? I do agree with Dave, its nice if you need some quick cash and/or customers to keep an airplane flying, or to overhaul that 182 engine or buy a hot for your turbine. but, if you've ran your business the correct way you should already have money for those things set aside in reserves.... If I had a pizza joint where I'm selling a large pizza for $15 when I might have $3 in ingredients (and zero(!) liability) I would use groupon all the time. But in skydiving profit margin is very low and liability very high, at best, so seems very counter productive to sell a tandems at $129 and lose money. Remember in business if your not making money.....your losing money!

I have to side with TK on this one. Selling a tandem for $99 is crazy! No doubt they are taking a serious(!!) loss every time that Twin Otter (or Cessna 182 for that matter) takes off. Sure you sell a couple of t-shirts and the outside video guys and tdm instructors are happy cause they've got a bunch more work and the most import thing is they don't have to take a pay cut like the DZ is. I would never run my C-182's for one load of $99 tandems let alone do it day after day. I don't care how many "friends" they bring with them and how many t-shirts they buy. I bet if your DZO told you that he was now only going to pay you, lets say $20 to do a groupon video, as to where you get $40 for a a "fully paid tandem" you'd look at that group of 20 groupon customers you have next Saturday a lot(!) differently....

Does any one know a part number or type for the large oil cooler on a O-470L/R? Thanks!

Any updates? are they open yet?

N/A

I should have a 365 back from reline by this time next week with 1200 hma. I'll let you know what we think.

Good! I've got a 330 and 365 that are coming up for re-line's soon and was debating between 1000 vectran or the 1200 HMA.

Does anyone have any experience with 1200 HMA on precision TDM mains? What kind of life can I expect? Its coming standard on precision tdm canopies now.

I was thinking it could turn a load to 10K with 6 (maybe 8 on a cool day) (3-4 tdms pairs) in around 20-25 min so around 3 loads per hour. I mean 3 loads per TACH hour, not flying 3 loads in one hour....BIG difference. I know the deal with piston engines, having owned/operated 3 C-182's for 8 summers now. I basically have a full time IA on staff that is very familiar with piston engines and I don't hire rookie pilots. During the summer we average well over 100 tandems a week. I would keep at least one maybe two 182's and only run the 402 on the 60 tdm Saturdays and Sundays when I could keep it turning with 3 tdms on the first load of fuel, 4 on the second, shut-down fuel, repeat. This would give me 7-8 tandems per hour, vs 4 with the 182. Plus the bigger door and comfy interior is a plus with customers/instructors. Of course maintenance costs are going to go up, but the acquisition cost is not much more than a C-182, for an airplane that if operated and maintained properly should up my volume on a busy day. Plus when I'm running two 182's thats TWO engines to maintain, TWO airframes, TWO pilots, TWO 100hours...and the list goes on. Would be nice to do the volume of two 182's with the maintenance cost of one airframe. I don't think this would be a money making airplane if you were trying to fly it all day Sat-Sun with a mix of fun jumpers and tandems, but running it 8-10 hours a weekend hauling 3-4 paying tdms with hand cam and a good pilot and mechanic on staff I think it could turn a profit.... just something I'm kicking around.....still very happy with the 182's for now! Does anyone else any any hands on experience jumping from or operating a 402/411? Lance

The cost of piston twins have dropped tremendously over the past few years with the poor economy and high fuel costs. I was looking a a few nice very nice 402's for under 40K (these were low time exec aircraft, not high time cargo doggs). I was thinking fuel burn per side should be around 40 gallons per hour. They use the same engine as most C-T206's (TSIO-520, 300hp). But using it as just a tandem machine, with 3-4 tandem pairs only going to 10K I think it could turn close to 3 loads per hour. The retract gear is a huge issue i'm worried about as well as CG issues. I would be looking to haul no more than 8 (well under gross). Does anyone in the US operate one for jump ops? There is a DZ in Idaho that lists one, but I can't seem to find any others ?

Does anyone have any experience with Cessna 402 Jump planes? I've seen them used from time to time just trying to get an idea of # of jumps, turn around times, fuel burn, ect. Any info would be great! Lance

what do you guys charge for just stills?

There is a huge demand for stills! We offered hand-cam this summer for $79, outside vid with stills for a massive $143 (basically an attempt of price it out) and I was amazed at how many customers requested outside video just so they could have the still photos. There were many weekends that we had to tell them it wasn't available just because I couldn't fly the 182 all day with one tandem pair. I was consider selling a stills only package for some where around the $40-$50 mark, but I'm worried significantly more people would take this option over the video, cutting into my bottom dollar as well as my instructors.

Thanks Rhys, your right the switch was not cheap at all! But one season into the switch and I can honestly say I don't regret it one bit, well worth the extra money for the sigmas!

I fixed our Strong 3 ring system problems at the beginning of this summer....sold them all and went Sigma!! Lance

We use a mix of Sigma 340's, Precision 365's and one brand new NZ Aerosports "364'". I have to agree with Josh that the 340's are the best, but we love the 365's as well. Only one cutaway (line twists on the 365) in almost 1200 tandems this summer, compared to 4 in 1000 tandems last summer using SET 400's (all tension knots). We pack them with no rubber band just let everything hang. I had one Sigma 370 which I sold and replaced with the Icarus 364 because all my instructors fought over the 365's and the Sig 370 would only get jumped if it was the only thing left packed...

Josh, did the canopy come from Spain or NZ? Lance

I need to order about 10 pairs of 'freefly' pants for our tandem program. Obviously since it will be tandem student use it has to be durable, but also economical. What company would you recommend for the best prices?

what's up, does anyone have any good software to pull still from video clips? I use VLC media player that allows me to pull stills but they often very blurry. Does anyone have any better software? Any suggestions? Lance

No STC available for something like that. Has to be done with 337 field approval. I had one in one of my 1957 182's that a local mechanic made using pics of a Fayard roll up door in a wide body 182 (fayard wanted like 4,500$$ do the mod at the time, my mechanic did it for $700 using the same materials!!). Was great for views, but ate up WAY to much head room in the 182, since it has to pass under the carry through spars. I eventually went back to the regular "swing up door" and my tandem instructors started to like me again! Lance

Look on Barnstormers.com amazing how many jump doors and step's for 182's and 206's I've seen for sale over the past few years on there.

I got two from the Ranch Pro shop last Wednesday, not sure had many they had left in stock Lance