What can we do about Skyride?

[Icon134 0]

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Hi Teason

I agree Kingman is funny

Add Kingman to howtosee and the infamouse NinjaSwooper and what do we have a? a knockoff of skyride Instead of virtual dropzones we're dealing with virtual people.

IMO If your not going to waste your time driving to a DZ that doesn't exist why waste your time responding on this thread to people that don't exist.

Each one of these people Nonjaswooper, howtosee and kingman are a head of lettuce (never argue with a head of lettuce) mix them together they are a salad

Why waste your time responding to these trolls. We're acting like puppets the trolls post and they get 5 posts back!

If this thread is going to continue lets smarten up

Why did i say that As you were salad bar is open

R.I.P.

So if I'm reading this correctly... anyone that has an opposing viewpoint to the "Skyride is bad and ASC needs to be stopped" must be a troll and should be ignored.

I know some of these people... they aren't trolls I can't say why they feel the need to stir things up... but I do sort of understand why they feel the way they do because I feel the same way most of the time...

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

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So if I'm reading this correctly... anyone that has an opposing viewpoint to the "Skyride is bad and ASC needs to be stopped" must be a troll and should be ignored.

I know some of these people... they aren't trolls I can't say why they feel the need to stir things up... but I do sort of understand why they feel the way they do because I feel the same way most of the time...

Scott

No. If they have a different opinion they are not a troll. However the total lack of an educated response to the issue at hand tends to deliver the "troll" title to someone.

I'm sure if someone could come up with a really good reason whyit is ok to steal from other people for the purpose of expanding their wallet, many people here would shut up about this. Quite a few times some hard questions have been asked and only a troll response meant to discredit this conversation comes along.

The fact is that some posters in here have had their entire web sites stolen. People have had their named used as a JM at a fictional DZ. Photographers have had their photos stolen and have issued letters to the company to remove them and they are still there. There are a litany of complaints on the BBB related to Skyride and some of those people have showed up here complaining about bait and switch practices and total misrepresentation of a company/product.

Comparison of Skyride to 800-skydive is true on an overal biz model....however the biz model is NOT the issue here. Advertising to help your DZ is NOT the issue here. Jumpers at the DZ are not the issues here. Yet, every troll comes along and tries to claim these things.

If someone can explain why the above stated issues are ok, I know we would all shut up about it. Yet we know that will never happen - esp when one of the owners arrives at the BOD meeting and claims ignorance to what his company is doing . Thus legal action and community action is now needed.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[jlmiracle 7]

Just had some people ask me about jumping cause they went to the soaring sports website. I kinda freaked out and explained they are 1-800-sky-ride, and what skyride is all about and they will probably have to drive 10-15 hours to find a REAL dz that will take their certificates. I told them I would be happy to recommend a dropzone in their area.
j

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

[GoatBoy 0]

I do not have all day to read this entire thread, so sorry if any of this is a repost.
If you want to do something about them actually take some time and do something. We called skyride and if you want to see for yourself call them and ask questions (and call a lot, it will drive up their costs) They would not tell us where they were located till after you paid. They claim to have a 100% safety record, never a student injury at one of their DZ's And we all know about the hidden fees. So I went online and filed some complaints. Here are some links
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
http://www2.state.ga.us/GaOCA/pdfs/complaint.pdf

Also don't support the DZ that uses them, I know that has been said before, but it can't be said enough. If you are not willing to do that at least ask if your DZ accepts them and if they do inform your DZO of their practices and have them call and ask some questions as a student. Also have your DZO research them online and check the BBB site http://www.atlanta.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bureau=atlanta&compid=6007042 Their bad practices reflect directly on the DZ that accepts them.
You can find a old listing of participating DZ's here:
http://www.skydiving.com/test/skydive_locations/skydivelocations.htm I'm not sure how up to date this is but it's a start.

Flying Hellfish #31
"I'm not allowed to talk about it till after the trial"
www.SkydiveTecumseh.com

[Jerry253 0]

One thing that will help is to educate prospective students/tandems about skyride. Search your state name combined with skydiving and they will come up usually as a sponsored link in addition to the standard listing. At some point below, "The Skyride Scam" will show up too. Everyone will click on the sponsored link once per day they use up their money, the link won't come up and will result in them having to pay more for a sponsored link presence. Clicking the Skyride Scam link helps push it to the top. That will help web surfers see it first. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON YOUR FAVORITE DZ's LINK and help push it up too.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

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Everyone will click on the sponsored link once per day they use up their money, the link won't come up and will result in them having to pay more for a sponsored link presence.

Link Fraud is something Google is currently researching legal recourse over. Do not do this. This is unethical and I would put it on the same level as the issues we have with Skyride. Be the better person.

You can do a search for your home dz with very specific keywords and click on their link once a day. This will help them rise in their rankings - it is legal and Google is ok with this.

I had a chance to find out more from a SEO (search engine optimization) company this year. PM me if you have questions about it.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[Jerry253 0]

check this out....

http://www.funjumper.com/skyride/

This is what I am talking about. There is nothing illegal or unethical about informing prospective tandems/students to be sure they are talking directly to the DZ and not Skyride or another 3rd party.

They have sent us tandems from as far as 10 hours away, driving right past DZ's much closer. The students were charged airport taxes, ramp fee's, gear rental etc. Now tell me, who is being unethical?

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

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check this out....

http://www.funjumper.com/skyride/

This is what I am talking about. There is nothing illegal or unethical about informing prospective tandems/students to be sure they are talking directly to the DZ and not Skyride or another 3rd party.

They have sent us tandems from as far as 10 hours away, driving right past DZ's much closer. The students were charged airport taxes, ramp fee's, gear rental etc. Now tell me, who is being unethical?

Jerry, I know all about that stuff - if you take a look you will see I am the one that started this thread. We are in aggrement about them. However, do not step down to link fraud (multiple clicks on a sponsored link to effect a great cost on the sponsor) to battle them.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[jumpoutnow 0]

Seems like Cary and Ben Have a lot of complaints about their business practices. If everyone that complained would want to come to Georgia to "The Farm", we could easily formulate a plan that would stop these guys dead in their tracks. It is easy for these characters to hide behind the internet facade. But, if you would like to meet with them face to face, come on down to Georgia and we will go visit their DZ. PS bring your attitudes with you.

People are crazy. Cuz there's more of 'em.

[Perplexiti 0]

Hey we are all fake just admit that you too are a figment of someones imagination and go on not living your life like the rest of us fictional people.

--------------------------------------------------Live for today, Love as if there will be no tomorrow!

[marks 0]

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Hey we are all fake just admit that you too are a figment of someones imagination and go on not living your life like the rest of us fictional people.

asc feeding you mushrooms again?

[pilotdave 0]

Happy skyride customer: http://www.henryherald.com/articles/2005/05/31/news/news4.txt

Isn't that cute?

Dave

[HateSkyride 0]

I'm wading through the hundreds of pages of anti-Skyride info and was wondering if anyone has filed a small claims against them?

What has anyone learned about proper venue?

What has anyone learned about proper naming of defendant? (name, type of entity, mailing address)

Has anyone successfully served and if so how?

What were the results?

Any other lessons learned?

Thank you for any information you can provide to assist this mission for justice.

[bbarnhouse 0]

If you really would like a response, you may want to fill out your profile so folks know who you are.

[BillyVance 34]

Looks like she's filled out part of her profile, but not much.

Besides, whatever is going on behind the scenes is not likely to be made public on here anyway. I'm not in favor of tipping the scum-sucking Skyride people off.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[HateSkyride 0]

Got it. The locals to this site have more of a vested interest than I do. What I mean is, I was just ripped off for $540, where as this is the reputation of your industry. Please let me know your thoughts on my posting responses to my questions as I find them and I will respect your wishes. As for me, even though it isn't alot of money, it's personal. I'll be in GA next month.

[slug 1]

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Got it. The locals to this site have more of a vested interest than I do. What I mean is, I was just ripped off for $540, where as this is the reputation of your industry. Please let me know your thoughts on my posting responses to my questions as I find them and I will respect your wishes. As for me, even though it isn't alot of money, it's personal. I'll be in GA next month.

IMO $540 is a lot of money. When you multply that by all the people that "may have been" ripped off, thats even a lot more money

Be careful on what you post in a public forum.Try using PM's with people you trust. I'm totally out of the loop about whats going on and like it that way.

Good luck
R.I.P.

[deltablue 0]

I've kind of ran into a situation with this all too late. First off , I don't with to bad mouth anyone personally in any way as each of the cats I've encountered seemed very cool as people......

I do seem to have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth , however. I did my first tandem months back and it really had a positive impact on my life in a myriad of ways. I had found out about the DZ initially through web research and believed the site when it spoke of their state of the art training methods and equipment. Earlier this month I made the 4 1/2 hour trek to camp out over a weekend and do my first couple of jumps in the IAF tandem progression.

Although I passed the first 2 levels and basically had a blast as far as the dives went , I noticed a few problems......for one , The altimeter I was given for jump 1 was shaking so violently on top of my wrist that I had a VERY hard time reading it. This was especially troublesome as we got ready to land and I couldn't even see it and keep the toggles in my hand.....on final approach I noticed I couldn't hear my TI other than "lift your legs and full flight". I was not able to lift my legs more than a chair sitting positon (something that wasn''t even a problem on the fun tandem) and no amount of screaming this seemed to get a response.......finally as the ground continued to rush past and I could see the picnic table off in the horizon straight out from my knees I began to flair simply because I couldn't hear and had no clue how the hell else to slow us down and save my feet. Once down , my TI told me I could have used my hands to lift my legs up by the top of my jumpsuit which obviously begs the question why didn't he scream this into my ear and tell me not to worry about the landing while we were first entering final and the full flight position ? When I asked about the altimeter I was told it was the best working one in the school. I don't have to tell ya the kind of crazy thoughts running through my head at that point.

The result of my flair was a nice canopy stall and a fairly nice smack to the rear end with a jerk forward which I would later learn sprained my neck and back. When I asked what could be done to protect my feet I was told basically nothing if I was the one piloting and to listen to his comands (which I couldn't hear) if I broke my feet , then well , I just broke my feet. (dead serious).

A couple of hours later we did level 2 with a borrowed altimeter and a better landing , yet aggravating the injuries I still wasn't aware of. I realized I still had many questions about our adjustments to the landing pattern that I wanted to understand more fully in case of radio failure before going into level 3 as AFF 4 would be with my own rig and one JM and 3 would be my last time with a instructor under canopy with me. I realized at that point I had not even looked down at the ground in freefall or assisted with the exit in any way (the part of the L3 dive flow for next time about "unassisted exit" was marked through) and I was just a bit wigged out knowing that my first one was going to be with one person hopefully holding on to me.

I also began to REALLY understand that many of the risks of the sport had grossly been downplayed and that this "ground school" I was told I'd go through based on the one I'd sat in on earlier in the day was a little shy of 3 1/2 hours (not the advertised 6) and not even taught by an instructor. The EPs were just brushed over on the ground saying their harness wasn't up and PLFs were taught by simply hopping in the air and falling over. Maybe this is normal but personally I'd rather drag something out into the grass to jump off of and really spend time with exactly how I would land if something went wrong (radio or whatever)..... I was remembering things I'd read in books like "the skydiver's handbook" and Tom's book "jump" only to be told that the books were cheesy and it was actually dangerous to read anything outside of their instruction.

The more questions I asked , the more I was told it was just "experience" and it would come later. I finally after being forced to lay out of work a week with my neck decided that this school school was not for me as I could not see myself leaping from a plane with one JM next to me in 2 more levels.....as well as a bad taste in general. (the place seemed to be more concerned with their one time tandems than spending time telling me how not to kill myself....imo , if there is anything you should rush through , this wouldn't be it). Long story short....... I simply did not feel safe there anymore at ALL....even the idea of doing fun tandems (which they wanted me to do in lou of a refund)

At the end of the week I did simply asked for a refund of what I had not spent (I gave them $900 up front out of the blue with no reservations) and thanked them for their hospitality as they were honestly great in all other aspects. Their response was to tell me that they had a policy of no refunds (which I was never told of) and that there was no way whatsoever I was getting my money back..... saying this was "strict" and never budged from. How this is supposed to reflect on the sport in general and customer service I do not know. My understanding of their refund policy was based on the tandem video I'd seen the first day which said I was entitled to one at any time prior to suiting up....... I was later told this was not their video and had nothing to do with their policy.

Of course , it was also some time later that I discovered that this was one of the DZs actually owned by the skyride cats and quite a normal policy/reaction from them. I notified both the BBB and the state's AG office with a positive reply from both , so we'll see how this plays out.

This has REALLY put a bad taste in my mouth and I really wish it wasn't there. I honestly did have a ball on those jumps and would love to someday be able overcome this bad experience and reach my goals.

anyone have any similar stories or advice that I might not have thought of ?

~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~

My Space

[bbarnhouse 0]

Sorry to hear that you had less than an enjoyable experience.
My suggestion to you is that you contact Jan Meyer. She is on the S&T Committee and quite familiar with the skyride issue.
You may contact her at the the following email addy.
aerosoftware_at_makeithappen.com

[marks 0]

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Anyone know anything about the USPA board meeting???I heard a rumor

[Sen.Blutarsky 0]

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Anyone know anything about the USPA board meeting???I heard a rumor

From the USPA website:

USPA Board Meeting Completes (07/17/05)
...
A skydiving service code of conduct has been added to the USPA Group Member pledge.

That oughta have Skyride quaking in it boots dude


Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

[lummy 4]

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--Skyride � Both individual memberships revoked for life, three group
memberships revoked.

you mean this? I got this from our regional director

I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. I promise not to TP Davis under canopy.. eat sushi, get smoochieTTK#1

[slotperfect 7]

Once the minutes from the BOD meeting are posted to the USPA website all of the details will be available for all to see. I'll post a link when they are posted.

Arrive Safely

John

[bbarnhouse 0]

As the minutes will not be out for awhile yet, I can tell you that the BOD took action on 5 issues regarding Skyride. The actions included revoking individual and group memberships.