How much do you pay to get full altltude

[CanuckInUSA 0]

I got an email from my so called home-DZ that they were proud to announce (yes they used the words proud) that they were going to increase the cost of a jump for all fun jumpers by yet another $1 (I'm assuming this also includes hop n' pops even though the email didn't mention anything).

You see management and the family of the late DZO have decided to setup a charitable foundation where this new $1 plus a $1 match from the DZ is donated to the charity for every jump made at the DZ by a fun jumper. On the surface this sounds mighty generous act on their part until you realize that not a penny will actually be coming from the DZ pockets and I'm sure they will benenfit from the tax deduction while fun jumpers won't be able to benefit from any sort of tax break. You see this time last year, the lift tickets were increased by $1 under the promise that the added charge was to fund a new Otter aircraft that we were going to start jumping in May of 2003. Well the death of the DZO didn't help those May plans, but it turns out the Otter which we have been paying an extra $1 this last year is a unairworthy lemon and currently it sits in pieces in an airport hangar with no sign at all as to whether or not it's ever see the air again (God only knows if we would have been jumping that unsafe and unairworthy lemon right now had the DZO not been killed). So Mile-Hi will not only now be taking an extra $1 from each fun jumper, they can use that $1 which they've been collecting since last year (the money taken for an Otter which was promised but never delivered) and pretend that they are so generous and use fun jumper money under their name. So that means that Mile-Hi Skydiving will now be charging $22 to get to altitude (and likely $15 for a 4k hop n' pop) and fun jumpers will have seen their jump prices increase 10% in the last 12-14 months. Unbelievable I say ...

Instead of following the lead of a world class DZ like SDA (where jump tickets can be purchased from $16.50 to $18.00), Mile-Hi has chosen to model themselves after a DZ like Skydive Las Vegas. Surely they're NOT trying to attract out of town fun jumpers to come visit the DZ and are likely trying to drive the existing fun jumpers away (let's not forget that it is common practice to bump fun jumpers off of loads at Mile-Hi to accommodate walk-ins and students).

Is this charity money need to bride the city of Longmont to allow the Tandem Factory to continue to pump out it's 75-100 tandems it'll do on a given summer weekend day? Or is it setup to drive away the fun jumpers, because after all fun jumpers are not where the money is and why waste a slot on a fun jumper when it could be filled by a tandem and/or student. I can see it, loads this summer (using a leased Otter) will have nothing but Tandems on them.

So how much do you pay to get to altitude? And if you rent gear, how much does the DZ charge you?

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[sunshine 2]

I thought you jumped at Brush also. Cant you just stop jumping at Mile-Hi since you don't like what they've done?

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[AndyMan 7]

Me and craichead bought a package for the year at $16... But the DZ just announced that they've had to add a 1$ fuel surcharge. It doesn't affect us because of the package, we still pay $16. People who didn't buy a package are now paying $21.

Ultimately, the DZ will charge what the market will bear. It matters little how a dropzone spends the money it collects, it only matters what people are willing to pay.

In both cases, people will either protest the extra dollar by heading to the competition, or they won't. Money talks, as they say.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[pilotdave 0]

Thats why I love jumping at a club. The financial situation is right out in the open, and we know exactly where the money goes. There's no complaining about jump ticket prices since we know damn well that the club makes basically zero profit off of fun jumpers. I sure do miss having a DZO to be pissed at when things aren't run as I'd like them to be though.
Dave

[skyyhi 0]

18 on weekdays and 20 on weekends at Elsinore. . .seems to be fine with me. I am not even sure what a hop n pop is. . .I only did one during my student status, though I would like to do another one to play with my canopy a bit more. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[jerry81 10]

Ah, quit your whining! The States are probably among the best countries for skydivers, if not the best.

Look what we have to endure;

Slovenia
C-206 to 10k' - 22€
Porter to 10k' - 15€
Porter to 12k' - 18€
An-2 to 10k' - 17€

Then you have Hungary on one side, where
L410 to 13.5k' is 15€
Croatia, where a Slovak-operated L-410 to 13.5k' is 18€ (if they manage to organize a boogie, that is)
And Italy and Austria on the other side, where prices for 13.5-15k' all range north of 20€ (mostly between 23 and 25).
And consider the current exchange rate is about 1.2 USD for 1 Euro.
As for gear rental- it's about 4€per jump, but AFAIK, you can only get student gear or cut a deal with another skydiver.

Hope this cheers you up some.

---

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Ultimately, the DZ will charge what the market will bear. It matters little how a dropzone spends the money it collects, it only matters what people are willing to pay.

You are absolutely right here.

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Me and craichead bought a package for the year at $16... But the DZ just announced that they've had to add a 1$ fuel surcharge. It doesn't affect us because of the package, we still pay $16. People who didn't buy a package are now paying $21.

At least you have access to package deals. This DZ does not offer anything sort of package deal and they won't even give fun jumpers any sort of discount for tandem business the fun jumpers bring in.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[bertusgeert 1]

Goto SKYDIVE THE ROCKIES brother!

Everyone there is very cool, great attitude, good place to jump man, go check it out!

---------------------------------------------
As jy dom is moet jy bloei!

[Adriandavies 0]

£18 or $31.50 at todays exchange rates.....which is about the going rate in the UK.

[FallingILweenie 0]

I pay less than 17 because of jump packages, but otherwise it would be 20-21 a jump.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

With all due respect (and yes I do feel for the extra jumping expenses of my European brothers and sisters) you are comparing apples to oranges here. The social systems (and added taxes) means that living expenses in Europe are generally higher than in North America (or at least America).

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[flyangel2 2]

You already know how I feel about this

Rumor has it that if any experienced jumper is heard complaining or voicing an opinion about the price increase, they will be asked to leave.

I too have a hard time believing this whole charitable foundation thing. When I worked as the office manager, I remember that the city and the DZO didn't get along that well. I guess in death the image of someone gets changed.

Sunny, I have, when jumping in Colorado, headed out to Brush. It's hard to get in jumps when there aren't enough experienced people around to do RW.

Skydive the Rockies is almost a four hour drive for me.

I guess I'll just continue being an Event Jumper and travel, cause after stating how I feel on an open forum, I'm sure I won't be welcomed with open arms out at the DZ.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[headoverheels 333]

Your poll needs more resolution at the bottom of the price range.

$15 single ticket, $13 each in block of 50.

Nominal altitude is 13k. Once in a while we get shorted a bit, but we get extra often enough to more than make up for it. Formation loads go to 15k and cost a $13 or $15 ticket plus two dollars extra for the extra 2000 feet.

Oh, and tandems are $100, with $35 video.

Parachute Center, Lodi, Northern California.

[PhreeZone 20]

Jump prices have only risen $2-3 over the last 10 years. I think that says something right there.

If you don't like the prices go else where. Pretty simple. One of the local DZ's lost their turbine this year so a lot of their jumpers took off to go to DZ's that have a turbine while waiting on the DZ to get a bigger plane then the 182. The jumpers spoke with their $, the way it should be.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Dumpster 0]

Club jumper here, too!

18 bones to full altitude when we have a turbine in for the summer, and the Turbocharged Cessna 182 goes to full alti for 14 bucks if I remember right. Hop-n-pops are 7 bucks, and we're one of the few DZ'z in the area to fly all year around.

Easy Does It

[flyangel2 2]

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If you don't like the prices go else where. Pretty simple.

I'm guessing you have never jumped here in Colorado. It's not that easy. Because this is an open forum, I won't go into details. Drop me a PM if you want more information.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Rumor has it that if any experienced jumper is heard complaining or voicing an opinion about the price increase, they will be asked to leave.

Hi Mary ... yes I can see the possibility of myself being banned from Mile-Hi Skydiving thanks to this thread. But I had to speak out. Personally I will miss the friends I have there and I will miss the close proximity to the DZ. But I guess I will slowly turn into a skydiver like you, an event skydiver who travels to different DZs and events and I guess Brush and SDTR will be seeing my mug shot more often as well.

Believe it or not, it would have been better (at least in my mind) if they never mentioned anything about the charity and just announced the price increase. But we know the DZ is financially sound and I have to question why this whole added expense upon the fun jumpers is needed.

1) Is it a bride towards the city of Longmont to make the DZ look good? I can understand wanting to be in good standings with the city and the other users of the airport. But why must the fun jumpers be the ones to foot the bill?

2) Or is this just a way to drive the fun jumpers away from the DZ. If this is the case, they risk their DZ developing into a dangerous place for low timers and students. If there are no experienced people around to mentor the newer jumpers, what sort of dangers will exist?

As far as I'm concerned, this is a sad day for fun jumpers at Mile-Hi Skdiving. Who is going to want to visit a DZ with high lift ticket prices and likely no experienced jumpers hanging around to jump with?

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[WFFC 1]

Steve-
Here's the rest of the facts:
The foundation is being setup by the family, not the DZ. The DZ is complying as the family holds the keys to the doors.
Yes, the new otter is in pieces - better to have it in pieces getting fixed than to be riding in a questionable bus? A nice white, otter will be arriving on May 1st from SDA while the other otter is figured out.
The family had the options to close the doors last April. They didn't. We (you, me, staff, jumpers, etc.) showed the family that we were great people and that closing the doors would not be right to us.
While it's going to suck to pay the extra $1, it's part of the family's greiving process and how they want to remember their fallen member.

Michael

btw, I only asked once in the years that I worked there to bump an experience jumper since I screwed up the manifest. The jumper was solo anyway, got on the next load and I paid for half their slot out of my personal account.

[ChrisL 2]

Well then, travel east to Skydive Cross Keys and jump from a Skyvan or Super Otter for $17.00 a pop to 13,500 ft.
Thats the regular jump rate now with no special deals.

$13.00 on Wednesdays

BTW, I would expect that a plane in Colorado would burn a lot more fuel getting to 13,500 AGL than the same one in NJ. Whats your field elevation there? 5000 ft?

I would expect the price to be a few bucks more...

__

My mighty steed

[larrypen 0]

With the price of gas what it is and the insurance on jump aircraft jump slots should be 27-30 bucks a slot. Be thankfull there are people out there that are willing to put up with the bullshit and problems of oweing a jump aircraft or DZ. The ones that bitch the most are the ones that buy the most beer ( Thank god for that)

Larry Pennington
Teach by the way you live
www.skydivesuffolk.com

[flyangel2 2]

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The foundation is being setup by the family, not the DZ. The DZ is complying as the family holds the keys to the doors.

Then why do the experienced jumpers have to foot the bill? Why not raise the price of the Tandems? Hell, there's enough of them that come in.

I think what Steve was saying was that the jump prices went up to the $21 over a year ago ( I think that's the right time frame) because an Ottter was promised to the jumpers. Once it was found out that the Otter wasn't air worthy, why wasn't the jump prices dropped back down to the $20? Why should the experienced jumpers have to pay for the DZO's mistake (or was it really a mistake) of buying an Otter that wasn't safe?

Also, you and I know just how loved the DZO was by the city, airport, nearby farmers, and FAA Why now give the city money under the former DZO's name?

Yes, you and I went we worked there didn't bump experienced jumpers. That's because we were able to "think ahead".

I guess I'll be seeing more of Steve at Events and out at Brush

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[DrewEckhardt 0]

While I don't like spending more money, it costs me $9.70 more round trip to ride my bike to Brush (assuming no speeding tickets), $17.60 more to go by car , and much more in lost billable hours if I take off work for the Brush experience.

Even a couple dollars a jump more wouldn't be interesting.

Waiting is another story - we've gone elsewhere once the backlog hit 1.5 hours.

[skydived19006 4]

I thought of a solution that seems to have been missed. Why not just find a place to run a DZ (maybe next door to Mile High), take out a nice big loan, buy an airplane and some gear, and go into business. You will then be able to charge as much or little as you like! Sounds like if Mile High does over 100 tandems on a Saturday, you should be able to undercut them, take some of that “gravy” business, and make a nice little livin’. What da ya think?

I’m DZO at Air Capital Drop Zone in Wichita Ks. We do about 200 tandems a year out of a C182, and have a positive cash flow (nowhere near enough to quit my day job). Out standard tude is 11k @$16, although that may soon increase. The only charities I contribute to are government at all levels (Bill Clinton informed me that my taxes were actually contributions), although I do donate several certificates for tandems throughout the year (it’s just my greedy little underhanded way to get cheep exposure!).

Also, it’s my complaint resolution policy is to tell them to “go to Mile High if you don’t like it here!”

Martin

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[piisfish 140]

Quote

Slovenia
C-206 to 10k' - 22€
Porter to 10k' - 15€
Porter to 12k' - 18€
An-2 to 10k' - 17€

and we in switz pay around USD 32 to 13k at today's exchange rate... And we don't complain. We just jump less....

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Remster 30]

To give some more perspective, we pay about CDN$35 here to 13K. Less 10% if we buy a $1000 block. CDN35 = US25.7

Remster