Who works at their dropzone?

[Skyrose7 0]

I pack for my dz. It just goes on my account. I thought this would be a great idea to pay for jumping, but I started jumping more and now I have a balance. I really like packing though, the environment is great.

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The mind is like a parachute--it works better when it is open. JUMP.
MaryRose

[ShortBus 0]

I pack for my local Dz home of "THE" boogie, im pretty much the only one who packs student rigs consistanly every weekend, its a pain in the ass but its my only way to pay for jumps i get the usual rate 5 per student rig 10 for a tandem all the money goes to acct. I put myself through Aff last summer with packing and this summer ive only made about 50 skydives but, im learning alot hopefully i can get a job at the convention packin for kathy and make some hard core $$$. See ya guys at the boogie and if anyone wants to give me ideas for hair color / something crazy im open to sugestions i have spikey hair and it was green,
Untill next time this is Dan saying so long....

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I work on the DZ all weekend, every weekend unless I am out of town on other business. I do a bit of everything, but mostly AFF and tandems nowadays. We get $30 a side for AFF and $30 for tandems. If we are not backed up, I will generally repack my own tandems and student rigs ($10 a tandem and $5 a student rig). I don't generally teach FJC's anymore at the DZ, but I am pretty sure we pay $10 per student per class, up to six students at a shot. I stay as busy as I want on the weekends, but still leave plenty of "me" time. Raeford pays by the month now and is "over the counter". That being said, I just avoid the hassle by getting paid in jump tickets seeing as how I don't really need the money anyway. I have a LOT of jump tickets. I have only been tipped three times ever and tried to turn it down, but to no avail. The only places where this really occurs regularly is Hawaii and Las Vegas as far as I can tell. Anyway, I got a $40 tip one time and was really surprised by it. I don't think I have ever seen a packer tipped at Raeford either; very few people use them here anyway and the sheer military contract volume keeps these monkeys rolling in dough. I am quite sure that two of our packers make more than any instructor on the DZ, but then again they can't really say they are skydiving for a living, which to me is the whole point of being on the DZ. Being in the air is why I am in the sport. I certainly don't need the money.

I also work for my dad everytime I get back down to Alabama. I don't get paid there, but then again I have never paid for a single skydive in my life at his DZ. People who have worked for my dad will attest to the fact that he will work you to death if you let him.

I was supposed to retire from the service in May and go to work full-time at Raeford. That will have to wait until they raise stop-loss, but I am more than ready to become a full time DZ monkey.

Chuck

[gravitysurf808 0]

I used to work at the DZ.

For almost 10 yrs worth of weekends at 'this DZ' as an Instructor/Jumpmaster/Radio guy/Packing grunt/Gearing up students/Fueling the airplanes and was also the fulltime DZ manager for my last 3 years there. I've also done a few hundred tandems at a DZ in the southwest U.S. and have even worked for a pretty well known gear store at a fairly popular southwestern U.S dropzone for some income filler during the winter season. These filler jobs helped to make certain that I was getting '2 Square' meals a day even if I was lving in the middle of the desert.


If I had it to do it all over again? I would jump at that chance in a second!!!

The last couple of years I've been playing the role of 'fun jumper' and/or 'customer' where I currently jump (see location in profile) and it's really f&'king cool!! Lately I've been focusing on learning how to freefly all over again and it's almost like a re-birth within this sport for me!!!
Damn this sport rocks!!!!