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

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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

Four-way scrambles were a blast today! After a long, hard fought battle and multiple video reviews, the winning team was "Karen and Her Boy Toys," averaging 5.367 points per round. Many thanks to everybody who came out! The weather was clear, and it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. Come jump the Otter while it's still here! http://www.kcskydiving.com The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Dino is exactly correct. We will put together teams based on experience levels and each team will be assigned a dive pool. The competition will consist of 5 rounds, and video will be provided free. Scrambles are a fun way to meet other jumpers and do some fun skydives, in a low-pressure competition. We will be giving out fun prizes to all the teams at the end of the day. We recommend a minimum of 50 jumps/B license. See you all this weekend! The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Just a reminder that this Saturday we will be hosting 4-way scrambles at The Kansas City Skydiving Center. Bring your team, bring your friends, or just bring yourself! The Super Otter will still be here, so take advantage of it with a friendly competition. All experience levels welcome; teams will be put together at 10am. Also, Saturday evening we will be giving away a certificate for 30% off a Javelin Odyssey container. Every time you jump on Saturday, your name will be entered in the raffle. Be sure to stick around Sunday for some more great Otter jumps from 14,000 feet. See you there! http://www.kcskydiving.com The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Thank you everybody for coming out yesterday for our grand opening. We had 168 registered jumpers who kept the Otter flying full until sunset. Some photos of the day have been posted by a local resident, Helen Budinger, who came out to watch the activities. They can be seen at http://www.illusions-cs.com/KCS/index.htm We enjoyed meeting everyone and we look forward to a fantastic season! The Super Otter will be here again next weekend, so join us for 4-way scrambles and lots of other great skydives. Blue Skies, Paul and Joanna Eriksmoen http://www.kcskydiving.com The Kansas City Skydiving Center

The boogie forecast looks great! We are looking forward to jumping with everyone! There was some confusion on directions to the dropzone, so please be sure to check out http://www.kcskydiving.com/base/directions.html for updated directions. There are two different exits for Hwy-7, so be sure to take the Hwy-7 South exit (the fourth Harrisionville exit, towards Clinton). The Slumber Inn is almost booked up, so if you're waiting to put in a reservation, be sure to do that soon. I think all of their smoking rooms are gone, but they do have a couple of non-smoking rooms left. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. See you all this weekend! The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Jump tickets from the Super Otter will be $20 to 14,000 feet. The registration is FREE and included with this free registration is free load organizing for all levels, free pizza, BBQ and drinks on Saturday night, as well as free boogie-bags for all attendees. We will also be conducting free evening seminars on freeflying, basic and advanced canopy control, gear maintenance, and any other issues that people are interested in. See you all April 1st! The Kansas City Skydiving Center

It's official! Due to the unexpectedly high turnout for our Grand Opening boogie, we are bringing in a Super Otter to keep everyone in the air. The Otter will be arriving around noon on Friday, March 31st. This is a FAST airplane with quick turnaround times. In addition to a Super Otter, we will have free load organizing for all levels, free seminars, and free pizza and drinks on Saturday night. There are also some birdman jumpers coming out from Florida, so we're looking forward to putting together some nice flocks. For all of the people that have inquired about hotel rooms, we recommend the Slumber Inn (www.slumber-inn.com). They have nice, clean rooms with free high-speed internet, and reasonable rates. They are less than a mile from the dropzone, and the hotel has offered to provide a free shuttle to and from the dropzone. If you have any other questions or suggestions, please e-mail us at [email protected] See you April 1st! The Kansas City Skydiving Center http://www.kcskydiving.com The Kansas City Skydiving Center

We have tried to avoid posting on here, as we do not want to get involved with all of the negative politics that this area is known for, but we feel that this bit of mis-information should be addressed. From day 1, our lease agreement had nothing in it that we could not comply by. In the lease that was put before the board two weeks ago, the insurance requirements were that we would maintain general liability insurance on our leased premises, 3rd party liability insurance of $50,000, and workers' compensation insurance. It was only after the strong urging of another drop-zone owner that the city considered adding other insurance requirements. We met with the city administrator last Tuesday and were given a new draft of the lease that had changed the 3rd party liability insurance to $1,000,000 and added to our general liability section was the line, "including, but not limited to all parties and participants of the Tenant's business operations." We told the city administrator that we would research to see if this insurance was available, but that we were quite certain that it was not. After calling numerous insurance experts, we verified that neither of these insurances were available. When this was brought before the board, the issue was raised as to how the wording would have to be in order for us to comply with the lease. The city attorney stated that the 3rd party liability insurance would have to be reduced back to $50,000 and that the line, which he added to our general liability section, that now included all of our business activities would have to be removed, and then our general liability insurance would be back to basic slip and fall. The board voted 5-4 to deny the lease, based on the fact that we could not obtain the insurance that they had only recently asked for. Also, this insurance is not required of any other tenant on the airport, including LifeFlight. Feel free to contact the city, as LifeFlight's lease is available under the Freedom of Information Act. If anyone is interested, I can provide copies of our lease, as it was two weeks ago, and our lease as the city changed it to several days ago. Whether or not it is unreasonable to require an insurance that is not available and whether or not it is unjustly discriminatory to require an insurance that is not required of any other user on the airport is ultimately up to the FAA, and we look forward to hearing their determination. Nonetheless, we look forward to seeing everyone April 1st. We have received an overwhelming response and are looking at bringing in a Super Otter to help keep up. Blue Skies, Paul Eriksmoen The Kansas City Skydiving Center http://www.kcskydiving.com The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Due to the overwhelming response to our Grand Opening Boogie, we are looking at bringing in a Super Otter in order to ensure we have enough lift capacity for everyone. Anyone who is planning on attending, please respond here, e-mail me at [email protected] or send me a private message. If we receive enough interest, we will be booking a Super Otter for this event. I am also pleased to announce that Sandy and Nick Grillet will be joining us to do RW load organizing for all levels. We are also planning on bringing in a well-known freefly organizer and coach for everyone. We look forward to seeing everyone April 1st! http://www.kcskydiving.com The Kansas City Skydiving Center

Although the city of Harrisonville did not approve our lease for office and hangar space, we will still be opening April 1st. Since we did not get the ground facilities that we had hoped for, initially our operation will be a mix of tents and trailers (as we like to think, every day will be a boogie at the Kansas City Skydiving Center). We have purchased 10 acres of land adjacent to the airport, and once all permits are obtained, we will begin building world-class facilities on this property. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience as we continue to grow. We have received an overwhelming amount of support from jumpers all across the midwest. We look forward to seeing everyone April 1st! Blue Skies, Paul and Joanna Eriksmoen The Kansas City Skydiving Center http://www.kcskydiving.com The Kansas City Skydiving Center