KCSkydivingCtr

Shaun, Here you go, straight from the horse's mouth. I can say pretty confidently that we will not be reopening for the 2009 season. The downturn in the economy has taken its toll on both of our DZ's. Additionally, my non-skydiving work schedule has kept me incredibly busy over the past 6 months with no signs of easing up. Therefore, we have decided to step back and take a break from the dropzone business. Hopefully, the economy takes an about-face soon, and reopening the DZ in the future is certainly not out of the question, but 2009 seems pretty unlikely. I can't say thank you enough to all of the jumpers who have supported us over the years! This certainly isn't the news that I would like to post and I wish that we could continue to provide you with a place to jump, but it simply isn't viable for us right now. If this should change, you all will be the first to know. Blue Skies, Paul The Kansas City Skydiving Center The Kansas City Skydiving Center

We will be starting at 4pm tomorrow (which looks like about when the rain will be clearing). The forecast for this weekend looks great! Warm, sunny, and light winds. What else could we ask for at the end of October in the midwest! Oh yeah, in addition to that, Sandy and Nick Grillet will once again be RW load organizing on Saturday and Sunday. They both put together some really great skydives for people of all experience levels, so don't miss out. Also, for all of your freeflyers, Scott Harper will be freefly load organizing. For those of you who don't know Scott, let me just say that his skills are second in the world only to Jimmy, the Midwest Freefly Legend! Oh yeah, and "The Legend" will be here too! Camping is available at the airport, so be sure to bring a tent. See you all this weekend! The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Join us for one last boogie of the season! The Beech 99 Airliner will be flying all weekend, and for those of you that haven't jumped this plane, you're missing out! The door is bigger than an Otter, and it whisks 21 jumpers to 14,000 feet in just 10 minutes. There will be freefly and RW load organizers Saturday and Sunday. In addition, the party Saturday night will include a BBQ, bonfire, costume contest, and sunset jack-o-lantern swooping. And as usual with a KCSC boogie, no registration fee! We'll see you there!! The Kansas City Skydiving Center

N/A

The Beech 99 will be flying this weekend (August 19-20) at Des Moines Skydivers in Winterset, Iowa. For those of you who haven’t jumped this plane yet, you are missing out. The Beech has recently been upgraded with PT6A-27 engines and climbs like a homesick angel! It will climb to 14,000 feet in about 10-13 minutes and has a door slightly bigger than that of a Twin Otter. For anyone who is interested in camping out, the DZ has plenty of camping space, as well as hot showers at the DZ. For more information about the dropzone, check out www.couchfreaks.com. See you there! ------ The Kansas City Skydiving Center

The Beech boogie has moved to Mt. Vernon! Due to a zoning impasse with Cass County, the Kansas City Skydiving Center has teamed up with Freefall Express in Mt. Vernon, Missouri to keep the Beech 99 Airliner flying this weekend. We regret that we will not be jumping today (Friday), but we’ll be starting at 9am tomorrow. Paul and I are grateful that Freefall Express has agreed to host us, and we are asking all area jumpers to come support the Kansas City Skydiving Center, Freefall Express, and an awesome turbine aircraft. Please help us keep the Beech flying, so we can keep it in the Kansas City area. Jumps will be $22 to 14,000 feet, and there will be no registration fee. We are still planning a barbeque for Saturday evening, and are looking forward to a weekend of excellent skydives. We know this change of venue is last-minute, so please be sure to tell your friends. We’ll see you at the Beech!!

Yes it is! That means you get one of George's impeccably-maintained planes. Best of all, the Beech has recently been upgraded from the stock -20 engines to the bigger -27s. That means 12 minutes or less to 14,000 feet. For those of you who haven't had the joy of jumping this SWEET aircraft, it's got the speed of a King Air paired with the comfort and large door of an Otter. This Beechcraft 99 Airliner (yes, airliner!) is the only one flying jumpers in the country, so get ready to log a specialty aircraft jump! We'll see you here! The Kansas City Skydiving Center

In respect of those who lost their lives in the Twin Otter crash, we are moving the "Beech Boogie" to the weekend of August 11-13 . We will remain open and flying this weekend, but the boogie will be postponed. We will be having a memorial jump for Dave Paternoster on Friday afternoon and, in honor of Dave, jumps will be $15 to 14K out of the Beech 99 all afternoon. ------ The Kansas City Skydiving Center

If you'd like to get a head start on getting in some Beech jumps, we will be flying it this afternoon, offering $15 jumps to 14,000 feet! ------ The Kansas City Skydiving Center

The Beech 99 arrived last Saturday and has been an instant hit! It flew all weekend, doing about 10 minutes to 14,000 feet! We our hosting our first annual "Beech Boogie" August 4th - 6th, so come out for great skydives, free load organizing, $20 jumps, no registration fee, and a Saturday night barbeque. See you there! ------ The Kansas City Skydiving Center

This weekend, we lost six fellow skydivers, including a good friend to many, Dave Paternoster. We have set up a memories page for Dave which can be viewed at http://www.kcskydiving.com/dave.html. We ask that any memories, pictures, or comments be posted here or sent to [email protected] so that they can be added to this page. God bless, Paul and Joanna The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Join the Kansas City Skydiving Center for always-popular night jumps! Come one, come all-- whether you're working on license requirements or just coming to have fun. Jumps will be normal price (hop-n-pop $17, full altitude $20). Please plan on making at least one skydive that day, and be sure to attend the night-jump briefing at 7:30pm. We have some strobes available, but bring any glow sticks and strobes you have. For more info, contact THE place to skydive in Kansas City at [email protected].

The Kansas City Skydiving Center is hosting swoop club again this Saturday morning from 7am-10am. Come work on your canopy skills with $13 hop-n-pops, free canopy coaching, free video of landings, and the only swoop course in KC. Even if you've never swooped before, this event is for you. Free canopy coaching isavailable for all skill levels, from "still PLF-ing" to learning safe downwinders. And even if you're not working on canopy skills, feel free to come for the cheap jumps! For more information, visit: The Kansas City Skydiving Center

I would just like to emphasize what The Kansas City Skydiving Center's steadfast policy on alcohol consumption is. If a tandem student shows up and has had anything to drink, they will not be allowed to jump, period. We will reschedule them and let them know that if they return again after drinking, they will not be rescheduled again and their deposit will be forfeited. As for experienced jumpers, if one so much as tried to get on one of our aircraft after consuming alcohol, they would be asked to leave and to never return. Alcohol consumption and skydiving do not mix! This group of tandems showed up as part of a bachelor party. Two members of the group had been consuming alcohol and were told that they would not be able to make a skydive that day. The remaining nine tandems were informed that they could not drink and that if they did, they would not be allowed to jump. Manifest even went so far as to state to them that they would be keeping an eye on them. There was a group of tandems before them that had already undergone training and was in the process of jumping, while this group was being checked in and filling out paperwork. Unlike many dropzones, we do not train everyone as one large group. We take each group seperately and they receive personalized, detailed training. They are shown how the parachute system works, as well as each person spending time on our arch table to show them correct body position. I have worked at dropzones around the country and can say with absolute certainty that our first-jump tandems receive far more detailed training than any dropzone that I have seen. Before their group was up to be trained, our aircraft began leaking some oil (it was not "belching oil all over the tarmac".) It was a small leak, and the aircraft probably could have been topped off and kept flying. Nonetheless, despite the fact that this was a large group of people, all from out-of state, who would not be able to reschedule, I made the call to ground the aircraft until we could fix the oil leak. I radioed manifest and instructed them to let the tandems know what the situation was and to issue them refunds. These tandems never even saw the aircraft, but we did inform them that the airplane had an oil leak and we were not willing to compromise their safety in order to get them in the air. We even went so far as to give them the contact info for the other area dropzones so that they might be able to jump that day. Fireballgrl, you may be the girlfriend of a competing dropzone owner and therefore think you know "all the facts", but I suggest that you not make public comments about something that you don't have first-hand knowledge of. The only thing in your post that has a bit of truth to it is the fact that our aircraft was leaking oil. Everything else was a blatant lie. The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Dates: May 6th-7th Registration: FREE Come celebrate Cinco de Mayo with jumps from 14,000 feet! The forecast looks great, and we will have free freefly and RW load organizing all weekend, and a party on Saturday night. Also, canopy coaching will be discounted all weekend, so come work on your swooping (or just standing up!). Paul and Jo are making their world-famous fajitas to go with the Mexican feast on Saturday. There will also be plenty of margaritas and sangria! See you there! The Kansas City Skydiving Center