WFFC

First question would be status of the warranty. Second, take it in and if you complain that the product sucks enough they'll probably do it for free. ----- ~~~Michael

It's called miscellaneous B.S. to attempt to make a profit. ----- ~~~Michael

There are things that are more important than skydiving...Family is one of them. Hats off to you for realizing this... Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Tommy Knocker Maple Nut...I love microbrews and mountain driving... ----- ~~~Michael

No, it was one of the eastern block judges this time. The Canadians were robbed... ----- ~~~Michael

Kelli- I honestly don't even know if we've even met, so I don't recall you pondering leaving the sport. If we've met, I apologize, I don't remember. There are people in this sport in this state that I consider a bad apple. I may catch flack for this, but the former DZO of Denver Skydivers made my list when I went out of my way to advertise several boogies of his on Ground-Rush.com (this included phone calls for clarificiation and such - long distance so money out of my pocket) only to be called an a$$hole by said DZO shortly there after for pointing out inaccuracites on his website to him. BTW, did I mention that this same DZO told me that their third load was taking off so I made the trek from the Tech Center to Brush (almost 3 hours with traffic) to find out the plane had never left the ground all day. Never got an apology, but I did get a "since you're here, just stay and you can jump tomorrow". Sorry, I had to trek back to the Tech Center for an implementation at work the next day. (side note, my contacting the DZO for the Ground-Rush.com stuff was after this incident) When we drove out the the WFFC this year, we stopped in Brush so I could meet the new DZO's. They ended up in Rantoul and camped with the other Colorado crew. I ended up doing two demos with the Randy and Ralph and I am willing at this point to give Denver Skydivers another try and definately will. If I had it in for a DZ in Colorado, it was Denver Skydivers under it's prior management. I have no problems with Front Range and it's about the same driving distance for me to Mile Hi now since I moved to the Southside of the metro area. I also built one of their prior websites. As for bad vibes. Well, sorry that was your experience. I generally go out of my way to make people feel welcome when they're visiting. I go so far as to loan my rig out so that someone can experience jumping at altitude under a bigger canopy than they may have. If you consider this bad vibes, I'll quit doing it. We all have our opinions of the DZ's we jump at and the staff that run them. How we go about communicating issues to the particular staff members is as important as how the staff receives it. Constructive criticism should be taken both directions. Bad vibes exist just as good vibes do. I'll do my part and solicit the three that I know and try to spread the love. Bluez~~~ Michael ----- ~~~Michael

I think you're taking my reply completely out of context... There are a few 'grumpy' people who are never nice to be around at the DZ, work, whereever - that - this is the humor part - people would throw a "party" when they are gone. BTW-Jeff (DZO) was giving Peter grief over the weekend because Peter didn't get him one of the t-shirts. ----- ~~~Michael

Your explaination explains the catch 22 position. Without 'A', you cannot afford 'B'. With 'A', 'C' leaves and goes to another DZ, leaving a now off student status 'A' to jump with other lowtimers, go to another DZ or quit. This leaves 'D' to make a decision to cutback on 'A's and keep the existing 'B' and draw back more 'C's or buy a bigger 'B' making seats available for the experience 'C's. Now here's where the math comes in. By increasing the size of 'B', the PITA (Pain In The Ass) factor of 'C' increases as a larger plane makes more room for more 'C's and their potential egos. Having more 'C's (admit it, we're all a pain in the ass for the DZO) decreases the the space available for the cash cow 'A's (aka the bill payers), thus decreasing the profit generated by 'B' (big or small). Or have I forgotten that there aren't too many DZO's out there in this business for the love of the sport and they don't care if the bottom line is in the negative column because they only want the experienced business. Now, I have run into a couple DZO's around the country that will pull out their calculators to figure out the exact number of students that need to go through the doors each weekend to keep the DZ doors open. The planes were leased so the did not have the additional expense of aircraft maintenance and that fell back to the plane owner. I'm all for capitalism and understand that the DZO is in business to make money while trying to create a fun enviroment for the experienced crowd. If the experience crowd wants a bigger plane, then the student base needs to increase to pick up the gap in the mortgage payment. If the DZO is succoming to the pressure of buying a larger plane, it is a more prudent business decision to increase the student business first to a level that can support a larger airplane. This allows the DZO to take numbers to the bank (aka financier) and show that the cash flow is there to make the jump to a larger aircraft thus making it easier to obtain a loan. I'm all for bigger airplanes and experience jumpers, but remember to open your mind and to what is involved in the process to make it happen. Not all DZO's are independently wealthy to make all the whims of the experienced crowd happen. And by all means, if you don't like the way a DZ is run, than don't go. Let the DZO know why you're not going there anymore and quite possibly things might change to make your complaint go away. Granted, they may not either and if you're considered too hight maintenance to begin with, it might be a blessing for the remaining experienced people to see you go. They might even throw a party in your honor. Bluez~~~ Michael ----- ~~~Michael

Good point. Now keep in mind the cascading effect. More student business means more profit which in turn can make more funds for a larger loan payment available. I'm not going to say these numbers are accurate or near correct so if someone knows, please post some realistic numbers. A King Air will run a DZ @ 250,000$ to buy A Super TwOtter will run a DZ @ 800,000$ to buy So, over the long haul, the student business does positively affect the experienced jumper business by making funds available for a bigger plane. So, is it wrong for a business to want to increase their income to benefit the loyal customers in the long haul? (i.e. you and me?) I'd rather jump an Otter over a King Air (unless it's Mike's). Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Yes she can, but different states have different laws and it must be written into the lease agreement. Since my fiancee and I are now landlords, I've learned a ton on the subject - Did you know in some leases it states that you must keep the place clean and tidy? Really. The lease we just signed states that upon notification of intent not to renew, Landlord may enter premises and place a For Rent sign in the window. Landlord may also show property with or without notice during normal business hours or after hours if approved by tenant. If it clearly states so in the lease, then your are obligated to the contract you are signing. BTW, our lease agreement is 20 pages. Scary... The other piece to the puzzle is that your rent pays the mortgage on the place where you currently live. By not having the ability to show the property, the income to pay for the property is lost, putting a financial burden on the landlord. Changing the locks to prevent a showing is a violation of any lease agreement that I have seen and could be very costly to the tenant if done. Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Jose- If you detest management management at a particular establishment, then don't go back. There are three large, quality DZ's in the state, each with their own personality that fit many different people. Denver Skydivers recently changed ownership and from what I've heard it was definately for the best. Yes, I do work at Mile Hi and I coordinated the effort the day that we did 82 tandems. As a sidenote, there were 6-8 experience people there that day as I recall. Worst case scenerio, they had to wait a load or two to get on. Students are what ultimately pay the bills at any DZ. With as whiney as skydivers are, I sometimes wonder why they don't just do what Michael Hawkes did and just tell the experience people to screw off. Spoke to Jeff last night and asked about the TwOtter search. It seems that a couple DZO's are wanting to get rid of their TwOtters and get a Caravan or King air to get rid of the headache of the experience people and go to the money maker students. Jose, I'm not sure who you are as your profile was recently created and it contains no identifying info. There are several DZ's in the state so vote with your dollars and go where you're happy. Bluez~~~ Michael P.S. Peter, Jeff loved the logo... ----- ~~~Michael

It's on the Freefall.com Message board with their estimated timeframes. And last years video was fast to prior years. Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

He's looking at that one as well as others. ----- ~~~Michael

I believe all the DZ's have O2 in the plane. If you need it, all you have to do is ask. If you know you're going to need it, all it would take is "Hey, I'm going to need O2 so do you mind if I sit by it?" If you don't ask, it will definately be a bit harder to get to. ----- ~~~Michael

Andy Anderson and I believe it was a pond swooping incident... ----- ~~~Michael

MileHi, Denver Skydivers or Calhan are all good. Each has their own 'personality' so find the one that fits best for you. Mile Hi's reputation as a tandem factory is a bit overrated at times. Besides, it's the students that will be paying for the TwOtter when the DZO finds the right deal. Denver Skydivers has 2 new DZO's who have a better idea on who to run a DZ than the prior owners. Calhan's only downfall is that if you land off, you might end up picking cactus needles out of your body. Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

I agree. On the other hand, if an interpreter was requested, I see that as an additional cost that is acceptable to pass on to the customer who requested the additional service. Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Don't hold this as fact, but this is what I was told - not by WFFC staffers though: Civilains are not allowed by the FAA to jump out of a C-130 unless it is for the purpose of 'making a movie', in our case, MartiniShotFilms. Chris- Do you know of such an animal? Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

It probably did start long before the expiration of the policy and didn't become an issue until Kalitta Air said, "oh, by the way". The Convention was a success without it and the C-130 was a fun plane to leap out of. Short history on the C-130: Delivered to the Austrailian government from Lockheed in 1958 and it saw service as a military transport, including service in Vietnam. It is one of the only C-130s left with 3-bladed props and the only privately owned C-130 in the U.S. It's new paint job (debuted at the WFFC) was $35,000 and insurance...Well, sit down...pre-Sept 11 - $75,000...post-Sept 11 - $185,000. Congrats to Emily and Brian of the Cherry Air crew for making their first skydives. Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

You mean this one? Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Thank you... Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Here's the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would put it - Insurance was not initially an issue at all and it was all approved. Now, the policy for the jet expired August 2nd (or very close to there) and unlike you and I where we call up State Farm, Allstate, etc., the quote for coverage is defined and taken to the marketplace by a broker where multiple insuring agencies bid on the premium. Once the new policy was obtained, the 'oh by the way' conversation happened with the insuring agency and the 727 owner. The insuring agency did not approve of said activity and threatened to void the policy if jump operations were to take place out of the 727. Since 9-11, Lloyds has taken a much more conservative approach on anything they insure. There are alternate places to obtain insure for high risk activities that is comperable to Lloyds. Lloyds has iritated a few people and they are voting with they wallets and seeking alternatives. Don was calling all over the world to locate an unused 727 and did find 3 that I know of since I was sitting in his trailer and overhearing the conversations. All 3 had the same issue with insurance - They'd love to do it, but we won't without insurance... Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Making sure you do your research because you obviously have not: 2000 - I was not involved with the WFFC so I can not discount your theory that it was promised. It was listed on the website as a jump plane, but the jump plane page had not been modified in several years. 2001 - No where was the Jet listed as 'Confirmed', website or otherwise. If you were told that it was, it was not from any official WFFC sources. 2002 - Based on my own experiences having been let down on the Jet, I refused to post that it would be there until I had all the appropriate pieces in my hands that would confirm to me that it would definately be there. Well, a few phone calls to the right people and an email from said company stating the date they would be there with their 727 was good enough for me, so I posted the plane as confirmed. Circumstances beyond the WFFC's control and the owner of the 727's control forced them to withdraw from flying jumpers. To this, we can all thank Lloyds of London. Yes, the WFFC is a business and the reputation has been a bit tarnished recently. A great boogie is not defined as a single specialty plane but the people who make the boogie what it is. It's the host town's acceptance and attitude towards us. Keep in mind that to some, people who jump out of 'perfectly good airplanes' are a bit freaky. The WFFC was a success this year and the Village of Rantoul does want us to return, 727 or no 727. Everyone of us has a reason that we go to the boogie or two we attend each year. Whatever that reason is, go with it. Boogies are the best thing this sport has. A time to get together with friends that we may not have seen since the last time. Roger has a decent boogie too. I choose not to go there due to 'verbal abuse' that I received as a low time jumper over the phone several years ago when I inquired about gear rental. (my parents live 60 minutes from SDC and was going to visit SDC in conjunction with a parent visit). I ended up going to Illinois Valley Parachute Club and was treated as a friend and not a number. First impressions are lasting. The long and the short - The WFFC is a fantastic experience. From what I hear, Couch Freaks and Lost Prarie are as well. Take one, two, or all of them and experience what they each have to offer. Each is unique in it's own right. Bashing a boogie because something happened that was out of control of the organizers is pitty. Until next year... Bluez~~~ Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Includes my near miss with the tree at the golf course on the demo jump Thursday night (two angles - mine and from the ground) the day before the official start of the Convention and a downwind landing from a balloon jump...Oops... Michael (aka Arano Rodriguez) Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael

Don't forget the rest of the story...It's too long to post here, but yes, the Jet was confirmed when I posted it and now I'm going to take flack for the Connie and the Jet. So be it. I was sitting in Don's trailer at the convention when he did get three confirmations on three other jets, but they could not get the insurance to cover the plane for jump operations. Lessons learned - Maybe next year. Michael Webmaster Michael@Freefall.com ----- ~~~Michael