Hello Everyone! Welcome to Recent Happenings in 2008!
This year promises to be the most exciting yet with great events organizing and the fastest aircraft on the East coast, our Super King Air!!
So what's been happening lately?
May 19-
Another great, super busy weekend at SDA. Beautiful weather Saturday. Katie Drennan has been doing some great organizing for us lately. The best part is she includes everyone. Even if you only have 50, 80, or 100 jumps you can be a part of a great hybrid or freefly jump. If you are a beginner, don't be shy. Go right up and ask for some beginner freefly training or a 1-on-1 coach jump!
Photo by Jerald Freeman
Night time activities included Corey, Don, and Nate playing with fire.
Photo by Shimandle
April 14-
The weather cleared for us on Saturday and we managed about 15 loads after a very late start to the day. Sunday was winded out after the first couple of loads, so we spent the rest of the day working on A-license cards for about 10 newbies.
Rich and Woody attempting to outrun the Bum-rush to have A-cards signed. Photo by Jesske
April 7-
It's been an incredible 2008 so far. Our best first quarter ever! We are very excited about the upcoming season and have lots of big changes at the DZ.
Saturday night amidst the lingering drizzle that kept us grounded all day, we "cleaned hangar" with some couch burning.
Justin gets a toasty ass. Photos by Jesske
Sunday started cloudy but eventually cleared nicely and we cranked out 22 back to back loads. Katie Drennan rolled out her inaugural freefly organinzing day. Katie will be out on a regular basis this year, check our calendar for dates. Freefly organizing and coaching is available for all levels from beginner to advanced.
Photo by Jesske
We spent much of the dreary Saturday working hard on the continued improvements to the DZ. These include new futon sofas, and a new "Kids Corner". This is an area just for kids that will have games, gaming consoles, TV's, and DVD players with kids movies. We ask that everyone please stay out of this area and leave it for the kids.
November 5-
The 9th annual Atlanta Freeflight Festival was an incredible success. Perfect weather throughout the weekend. Great aircraft, 88 loads, and 200 plus participants. Thanks to all of those that made it happen. Scotty Carbone for the grub, Dan Eaton and Papa Roach for the generators, Jerald Freeman and Jess Ske for the indoor forest, Brian Hoopengarner and Mike Tripp for the stage, Nicci Shaw and Jean Rowland for registration, Don Rowland for jumper pickup and fantastic bonfires, and of course the most amazing, hardworking dropzone staff on the planet. Also, shouts to organizers Sporto, Jon Pinyon, and especially Chuck Blue for saving our wingsuited asses in the 11th hour. Thanks to SSK and Alti-2 for freeby giveaways and some great contest prizes.
Costume contest winners, our own crew Clockwise from left:
Wyatt Stine, Jon Stormont, Jean Hill, Treebug, Giovanni Russo, Melanie Lino, Tara Shimandle, Jessie Jones, Jill Bellamo, Corey Futrell Photo by DZ Memories.com
October 15-
A beautiful weekend of weather. Not a cloud in sight all weekend. After a year long recovery process from a back injury, our own Jack Hammer finally made it back into the air this past Sunday. Jack chose to start back conservatively on a large canopy and with a full altitude hop n' pop. The landing was a textbook tiptoe dead center of the target. After the jump, Jack said he felt great and hoped to try a freefall jump next. After assessing his body's reaction to a terminal velocity canopy opening, he hoped to start slowly downsizing evetually getting back to a full jumping schedule. Some of you may not know the long road and the hard work Jack put in over the last year to get back to this point. We offer our congrats!
Also on the jump from left to right: Bob Hyder, Mike Tripp, Dave Cranney, Jack, Brian Hoopengarner, Frank Kenyon
October 8-
Congratulations to newlyweds Matt & Casey Harris! A perfect sunset jump and in air wedding ceremony.
Photos by Shimandle
October 1-
What fantastical fall weather! 80 degrees and sunny all weekend. A little bit breezy in the afternoon sat down our AFF students but the loads kept turning for everyone else, 38 all weekend. The last several weeks have given us amazing weather, generally speaking. Ian Drennan's canopy course was a great success with several folks getting high def video of their landings with coaching and debrief on each.
Special thanks also to Scott Gray for organizing a fun weekend of wingsuit jumping for everyone. All of the organizing and the demo suits were free all weekend!
August 27-
Boobiefest was a great success. 25 loads Saturday including some highly air conditioned jumps. A faint whistling sound could be heard from the ground. The Red Bull Mini stopped by in the afternoon and handed out free Red Bull.
Photo by Tara Shimandle
Photo by Ben Lee
August 6-
Wyatt, Tara, Ryan, and Jessie take Murphy for a skydive! Photo by Raymond Adams
It's been a busy summer with lots of great weather, better than average in fact, and lots of great jumping. We have upgraded our fleet of gear to include several brand new student Javelin Odysseys and 2 Vector Sigma tandem rigs. Our upstairs classroom project is nearly finished and is now fully air-conditioned. Earlier in the summer, the mensroom was outfitted with new tile and new toilet partitions. We continue with our commitment to make SDA the world class facility you have come to expect.
We have a great fall line-up scheduled including a canopy course September 15, 16 with PST competitor Ian Drennan. Only a one time $10 fee for coaching and HD video debrief. Lectures and non one on one participation is free! Sunday Ian will give advanced canopy pilot instruction.
We've also got a wingsuit weekend with organizer Scott Gray. $15 for the first flight course Saturday morning the 29th. The course will cover all of the basics to fly a wingsuit. Then, demo wingsuits will be available for free. Scott will be leading some flock dives as well.
Then of course fast approaching is the 2007 the 9th annual Atlanta Freeflight Festival.
Keep tuned into the events page for more to come this fall.
June 11-
Corey swings his sword around looking for booty!!
Photo by Tara
Photo by Jean Rowland
June 4-
Happy Anniversary! Skydive Atlanta turns 22 with a fun weekend. A handful of loads made it up Saturday in between the weather. The rain eventually moved in and the slip and slide came out.
As the day wore on the beer light came on and Hippie's "What would you do for a dollar?" began. Most of what occurred to get the funny money remains unprintable. Michelle Simpson won, with Tara's help.
As sunset came the Bouncy Joust ring showed up, then big surprise, after several hours and shots of Jaeger Corey got knocked out.
Photos by Tara
May 29-
Great weekend weather again. We did 20 plus loads Saturday. Congrats to Donyal Tripp on her A-License. Photo by Chris Warnock, courtesy of Donyal
Photo by Tara Shimandle
May 7-
Destin had beautiful weather all weekend. After some extra time spent to ensure correct weight and balance Friday afternoon, the plane made it down to the point in time for a sunset load. Saturday and Sunday some tandems made it to the beach to jump and we did a handful of loads each day. Thanks to everyone that came down and made it a fun time.
Never been so happy to have sand all over the face!! Photos by Tara
Our newest manifestor Photo by Jess Ske
April 23-
What a fantastic weekend for weather. Blue skies and light winds dominated all weekend as we did 53 loads. Scott Miller's canopy course was a huge success with 23 particpants over the 3 days. We will bring Scott back later in the year for the advanced training course.
Skydivin's done. Time for BEER!! Photos by Shimandle
April 9-
Well, our opening cookout night was another memorable night of shenanigans. Fried catfish, hushpuppies, and of course - CHEEZYBAKE!! Party Boy and Party Girl made an appearance as did the "Stripper" Pole. Jean Hill (aka Miss Sugar Blackhawk) had a great send-off with many shots of Jager and Lemondrops had by all.
December 18-
What a beautiful weekend for a year ender. 20 back to back loads Sunday! Congratulations to Larry Blewitt for completing his 100th skydive.
Photo by Dave Padyjasek
Well, the end of another year and skydiving season. It has been a great year characterized by a lot of fun and some crazy moments. Remember the Spence powered catapult? Or "wee-man"? How about the inflatable jousting ring.? Thanks to Wyatt for making some great food all year long. We look forward to more great times in 2007. See you then!!
November 6-
Wow! What an incredible event. Not sure quite where to begin.
Wednesday rolled around with preparations no where close to completed. We stressed a bit as slowly the porta-potties, T-shirts, DJ and sound set-up finally arrived. We worked late into the night as Gerald, Bo and the crew put up the trees in the hangar. People were showing up all day to set-up RV's and tents. By Wednesday night we had at least 15 people at the DZ already.
Thursday morning was cool, clear, and breezy. We began the registration at 10 a.m. with about 30 jumpers signing in before 11 a.m. The high winds kept many of the folks grounded using their more conservative judgement. We did manage a handful of Super King Air loads before day's end. Some of the "younger" jumpers used the time and opportunity to finish with their B license tests. Congrats to all of you. Thursday evening got off to a great start with free pizza for everyone. The Long Island folks were kind enough to pick up several cases of beer to cover all the firsts that would occur to them the whole weekend. Then the poker tourney began and ran late into the night.
Friday morning was absolutely perfect with cool temps and light winds. It didn't take long before the temps made it into the high 60's and the Super King Air was cranking out loads. 20 King Air loads by sunset and several Super Otter loads as well. The Carbone's were cooking on the grill as load organizers Chris Spence, Eric Deren, and Travis Stewart were cooking up some great skydives with everyone. This boogie was definitely full steam underway. The count was close to 150 by Friday evening with a steady stream continuing to flow in. Scotty was serving up spagetti dinner as another Poker tourney was being prepared by the Skydive Radio guys. Thursday was warm up. This was for keeps. The winner would eventually be Elliot, a jumper from Europe(never did catch where from) on his first visit to our DZ. Although cold at night, the heaters were so warm in the hangar that folks kept asking for us to turn them down. That was a good sign.
Saturday morning. The big day had arrived. The staff was poised and ready. Extra packers on hand. At 8 a.m. the 2-for-1 Super King Air lifts were bum-rushed. The first 2 loads filled up immediately. 28 people got 2-for-1, in other words, $11 jumps. And it never slowed down. By 11 a.m. all 3 aircraft were flying back to back. A couple of bad spots by the Otters threw a small wrench into the works which was quickly remedied the pilot in charge on the ground. The spots would never be off the rest of the day.
1 p.m. and the count was 232 jumpers with no slow down in sight. The Gravitron had arrived and was being set-up. 7 kegs of beer had arrived. It was cranking. Before it was over a 20 way POPS record would be set. A 15 way Skydive Radio/Poker Stars dive would be successful despite being the first time any of them had jumped together.Here's a great pic of the participants.
Photo credit unknown
The sun set on an incredible November 4th and the best part...nobody was seriously injured all day. Then the real party geared up.
Scotty's mexican feast hit the tables at 6:30 and the band hit the stage at 7 p.m. Beyond Driven would rock us out to tunes by Buck Cherry, Metallica, 3 Doors Down, Stone Temple Pilots and more. The beer was flowing. The costumes were coming out. By 9 p.m. the costume contest was gearing up with Scotty as MC and Skydive Radio hosts, Corey, Dave, and Stump as judges. So many great costumes, we will have pictures soon. The deserved winners had worked on their costumes for 2 months and were the Adams family. Dave (Lurch) and Mandy(Morticia) Cranney, Hippy(Gomez), Jessie (Wednesday), Alan(Fester), Butters(Pugsley), and Tara(Cousin It) stole the show as everyone flashed cameras like paparazzi at the Hollywood red carpet. By this time the full size coolers of margaritas, Red Bull and Vodka, and case, yes I said CASE of Jaegermeister was on tap.
After the contest wound down, illusionist Howie the Great took the stage and wowed the audience. Then Morgain the Spanish Web(aerial rope ballet) artist took to the air. DJ Eric Deren was pumping the bass, one of the trees came alive to greet the partiers, when all of a sudden and bunch of Smurfs came in the back door. Literally, Smurfs. Then the piece de resistance, the Gravitron fired up. Now, I'm not going to tell what all went on in that thing but it was a party unto itself. Not unlike Vegas, what happens in the Gravitron, stays in the Gravitron!
That is all to say about that.
Sunday was beautiful weather, a respectable number of loads, and a another success Atlanta Freeflight Festival came to a close with 262 registered participants.
All in all, it was the smoothest event I have ever had the honor and pleasure to host. Too numerous to mention, thanks to everyone that made it possible. You all know who you are and it wouldn't have happened without you.
However, I do want to mention one group of people. The staff at Skydive Atlanta. The people that make me proud every weekend to call this my dropzone. The people that work the long hours, that take that last tandem on Sunday afternoon, that work 14 hour days in summer, that listen for a half hour to the angry customer because it rained, that pack until 1 a.m. on Sunday night, that go home smelling like Jet fuel, and never complain about it. Your loyalty and friendship are my greatest achievement...and I thank you.
-Trey (King Smurf)
October 30-
A windy day Saturday kept loads to minimum however we did manage a few. We took the opportunity to repaint the lobby and men's restroom. Thanks for everyone's patience with the mess. Sunday was much better and we crank out a bunch of loads including a demo drop of the Silver Wings into the NASCAR race!
Pre-registration has now closed for the Atlanta Freeflight Festival. Actual registration opens Thursday at 10 a.m. at the DZ. Please remember to check your re-pack cards and USPA memberships. Repacks must have been completed no later than July 9 of this year to participate.
We have some really great stuff planned for the festival. A little something for everybody. If you have a friend that isn't planning on attending this year, we fully endorse and recommend calling them incessantly to get them to come. All necessary methods authorized, including but not limited to: guilt trip, threat of making them feel like they missed out on the party of the year afterward, tricking them into believing that the chick/dude they hooked up with at the other boogie will be there, threatening to hook up with her/him yourself. We hope that at the last minute many folks will remember the incredible party last year and head up here. Remember, the more jumpers you get to come out, the more friends you have to play with!!!
October 23-
Wow, what a beautiful Saturday! 22 back to back loads filled to the rim. Corey had a great send off. Safety is priority #1 on Corey's agenda after the couch surfing incident.
Photo courtesy of Jon Stormont
October 16-
Another beautiful weekend! A little windy Saturday, however, due to the wide open landing areas at SDA we were still well within our safe zone. Danny appeared to have more trouble with the wind than some.
Everyone needs to make sure Danny pays his beer Photo by Shimandle
Sundays winds were much better: Photo by Shimandle
October 2-
Wow, what a great weekend. Perfect weather Saturday led to 24 completely full loads almost all back to back. Thanks to manifest for such a great job while short staffed. Saturday night we broke out the fire pit for the first time this year. Thanks to Don for donating the portable pit. Kelly wins the prize for having the most fun Saturday night. Drink tequila, trip and fall, ignore advice, drink more tequila, eat Spences rum soaked pineapple, walk into wall, crawl to and sleep in bathroom stall. We love our Kelly. Photo by Jessie Jones
Sunday was beatiful as well although a bit more windy and had 17 loads.
September 25-
Despite the crappy forecast, we had beautiful weather Saturday. 19 back to back loads and some incredible cloud formations made for a great day of jumping.
Saturday night shenanigans included the ceremonial smashing and burning of the couch. It was evil and had to be punished.
Corey gets his revenge!! Photo by Tara Shimandle
September 11-
What a great send-off for Treebug! We fought torrential rain showers yet again Saturday but came out with 12 loads in the end. As night fell, Wyatt cooked up some cheezybake, Papa Roach tapped the keg, and Spence fired up the nuclear powered blender. And another classic night at SDA began.
Photo by Donyal Tripp
Sunday we had beatiful weather and kept the loads rollin steady all day.
August 28-
WOW! What a weekend. Boobiefest was an incredible success, much more than we ever could've expected. We had a bit of a late start due to fog and clouds. After the first load fired up at 12:30 p.m. we never shut down and the loads were filled to the rim. Photo by Jessica Wesnofske
The big story of the event, however, was the party. It was absolute chaos from one end of the DZ to another. Couch surfing/burning, Spence powered catapult, a couple of pie-ings, and enough booze to kill a rhino. Oh, and of course, BOOBIES!!
For the folks that said the pictures did not come through in the newsletter.
Photos by Tara Shimandle
August 14-
Weather was beautiful for the first half of Saturday. Several back to backs till the clouds came in around 2 p.m. Silver Wings were out all weekend as were most of the folks from the Georgia Tech club making good use of the 7 brand new Javelin's they recently aquired!
Dave "Big Fat Stuipid" Cranney turned 33 Sunday and for the ultimate present his family purchased a load for him as well as pizza for everyone at the DZ! Thanks Jack!!
Photo by Donyal Tripp
August 7-
Great weather all weekend. We did 18 loads Saturday and 15 Sunday.
July 24-
It couldn't stay perfect weather forever. After 2 months of no rain on the weekends it finally showered Saturday afternoon. We still managed plenty of loads all weekend though. Here is the result of Saturdays early shutdown:
Photo by Tara Shimandle
I'm sure it only got worse from there!!
July 17-
More beatiful weather all weekend long. We had steady days flying loads despite the extreme heat and humidity. Team Brad won team trivia 2 games to 1 Saturday evening. We found exactly how much useless knowledge one human can store up!
Congratulations to our recent AFF Grads Heather Boyd and Jamil Voss. It's been a long time coming for Heather. She worked manifest for us 3 1/2 years ago and got as far as AFF Level 6 before she moved out of state. She has recent moved back and decided to rejoin the sport. Way to go!
Silver Wings practice landing a 2 stack on Sunday
Photo by Jon Stormont
July 11-
Another great weather weekend. 24 loads Saturday. Hula night was a success as everyone pulled out the grass skirts and coconuts. The tiki bar was busy Saturday night which did not make for a busy Sunday morning. This was OK because Trey was busy watching Wimbledon for the better part of Sunday.
Photo by John Rogers
A 12-way sunset tracking dive was led by CG in honor of the late Nate Gilbert.
Photo by Dave Padyjesek
July 3-
He did it. Hippie pulled off his 30 jumps for his 30th birthday.
Thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen. Kitty was able to make 20 jumps,
however, fatigue due to the 98 degree temps that day had her deciding on safety instead of jumps.
Brie and Travis Stewart also made 19 a piece impressively packing for themselves.
We are very proud of everyone for their accomplishments.
Photo by Dave Padyjasek
We also welcomed several new friends from recently closed Skydive Monroe this weekend.
We hope everyone will make them feel welcome as it is tough thing to lose your
home DZ.
We will have new gear for sale shortly as our new Javelin Odessey's have arrived.
We have one each new 230, 260, and 290 with PD reserves and Flight Concepts "Manta" mains.
If you aren't receiving our newsletter please send us an email to info@skydiveatlanta.com
with the word "subscribe" in the subject line and we'll get you on the list. Be sure to
include your first and last name in the email.
June 26-
Fantastic time in Destin, Florida this past weekend. Beautiful weather, 60 registered jumpers, 21 loads, and 25 tandems. Thanks to everyone for making it out. Thanks to Chris Spence for organizing another great event.
Manifest and packing at the beach site
Photo by Psycho Bob
Photos by Dave Padyjasek
June 19-
What a great weekend! Beautiful weather again and a load of students kept the plane flying steady all day. Several jumpers were MIA after Friday night at LocaLuna and Cosmo-Lava for Jessie's 21st. After spending the first 2/3 of the night trying every form of alcohol ever created, she spent her remaining minutes of the evening testing gravity over the porcelin laboratory and observing the spin of the earth.
Raymond Adams swoops the Tara-cam on Sunday.
Photo by Tara Shimandle
June 5-
Great weekend at the DZ! Beautiful weather and 24 loads on Saturday. Thanks to Scotty and Tami for coming up and cookin out for the weekend. Scotty put together some really fun loads for folks.
Photo by Wes McCalley
May 22-
A little windy last weekend but we still managed a handful of loads. ust a reminder of how lucky we are to have such a great airport where due to such open area, high winds don't necessarily produce terrible rotors. Below: Woody "kites" his canopy
Photo by Tara Shimandle
Congratulations to Hamilton "Hambone" Bridges on successfully completing his 100th skydive!
Photos by Tara Shimandle
May 15-
Last 2 weeks have been very eventful even as we have fought weather battles. Don't let the bad forecasts keep you away. We have been jumping 15 to 20 loads a day even with the intermittent clouds and some rain. That's the advantage to having such a fast plane!
Photo by CG Griffin
We can now call them Mr. and Mrs. Travis Stewart. Thanks right, Brie and Travis are now married! They had a great ceremony in the plane Saturday afternoon with Fred Greeson presiding. Afterwards we enjoyed food and bouncy rooms until the we hours of the night.
Photo by Tara Shimandle
May 8-
Our Cinco de Mayo celebration was el fantastico! Hippie's enchaldas were the best this side of the Pecos. It was so great, on the left side of the picture you can even see Benitez running over the border to join the celebration! (a little non-PC current event humor! please try not to be too offended)
Photo by Dave Cranney
May 1-
Well, the weather worked out for this weekend despite being a bit cold, dreary, and windy. We apologize for the slow pace. We had some instructor "no shows" that threw a wrench into things. We have taken steps to correct the problem and do not anticipate that situation again. Everyone should give a big thanks to Mark Fair who single-handedly taught the first jump course of 4 and did 4 tandems during the morning to keep us going.
Congratulations to our newest staff member, or should we say re-newest since she used to work manifest, Mandy Cranney on earning her AFF rating last week! Mandy was our first AFF graduate of the year back in 2002. She has come a long way with over a thousand jumps in 4 short years. We are very proud of her.
Be sure to check out the news article in the upper left hand corner of this page titled "The heat is on". It's from last year but applies at the beginning of each summer. As we are about to enter the hot summer season, it's important to be prepared for the changes that come with.
OK guys, remember, FREE jumps if we use your picture here or in the newsletter. Hippie gets one again for this great shot (no pun intended) last Saturday night.
They got a little Captain in em!
April 19- Last weekend was absolutely gorgeous all weekend long. Highs in the 80's with dry air. We did 8 full loads on Friday afternoon.
Saturday we welcomed our newest staff member and manifest chik, Amy Ivey. She will be working here with us all season. We also welcomed back Sonia to the manifest. Sonia will be filling in for Jean for the next 6 weeks.
Photo by April Rogers (another free jump for John!)
April 10-
A crazy time had by all this past weekend. Weather turned out nice after 4:30 p.m. and we got 5 loads in. Thanks to everyone that trusted the predictive powers of the magic 8-Ball.
We had our first night back with Wyatt's cookout and the Cheezy bake ruled! Danny's welcome back somehow turned into big hat night. Shortly after, somebody routed the local freight train through the middle of the crowd. Many were still seen on thr ground the next morning as proof.
Photo by April Rodgers
Thanks to Hippie and April for this photo! Hippie will receive a free jump for it's use. Please keep photos coming!
Remember to check out our new poll and our recent AFF graduates. Next week's newsletter will focus on new Grads and how we can support them to make new fun jumpers.
Be sure to also vote in our latest poll on boogies.
April 4-
Hey kids! Thanks everyone for that came out to support us last weekend. We had $15 jumps all weekend and had a great time.
Last weekend also saw the return of Danny Page. We are happy to report that absolutely nothing has changed about Danny.
Remember, we are looking for pictures to use on the web site. If we use a picture that you take you can earn a free jump. So start clickin chicken! Don't forget to check out our new jumper poll on favs at a boogie. Lastly, remember that Wyatt is cookin out next weekend, Saturday the 8th. $8 for advanced sign-up with exact change. $10 otherwise.
March 20, 2006-
Well we just got back from the Dublin Boogie. Thanks Chris for a great time. Most of the DZ's in Georgia closed down to participate. We flew 52 loads in the Super King Air Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and had a great time seeing everyone. The interior has been pressure washed and hung up to dry, literally. We will look forward to 2007!
Solve for Y where X is 5 a.m.
(Alcohol+skydivers)car/bonfireX = Yfun Photo by Salsa John
Skydive Atlanta is gearing up for the 2006 season. We are looking for manifest personnel, so if you know anyone that is interested and can be available on weekends let us know.
Wyatt will be cooking on Saturday nights again soon. If you are interested in participating make sure to give him your email address so he can put you on the menu mailing list.
We will also be having several small events (not really boogies) throughout the summer. These will be tied into the Saturday night cookout events and will be annouced via that mailout.
September 27-
Yes, I know, I've been terrible this year with updating the site. It's been a really busy year.
In our most recent poll you overwhelmingly selected the Super Otter as the aircraft you would most like to see at Skydive Atlanta on a regular basis. Thanks for voting, we are listening.
Since June, the last update, it has been a busy summer. Plagued often by quirky weather, we have still managed 25 to 28 loads each day most weekends.
Wyatt Stine has cooked incredible food each Saturday. Menu items have included chicken recipes, steaks, and burgers always with fresh roasted veggies and the infamous CHEESY BAKE! A guest chef, Mr. Damico, hooked us up with crawfish etoufee one night.
28 of us completely hijacking La Fiesta one Saturday night in July
We had drunken dodgeball several late nights in August. And of course Wyatt's infamous 1000th jump. All naked chick load. That was 12...count em, 12 naked chicks on the load boys.
Fuel prices have continued to rise and jet fuel is no exception. Supply is more the issue with Jet A as pielines are trying to catch up with the auto gas shortages after the hurricanes. Unfortunately, we anticipate Jet A to go even higher if we experience a hard winter in the US. Jet A historically tends to follow heating oil prices which naturally go up with demand in winter. We are doing our best not to pass this on to the jumpers. We will keep you updated.
I recently found out about a new podcast/radio show for skydivers. 2 guys out in the midwest are doing a really cool show each week with guests and commentary. It's called Skydive Radio. I first heard shows number 4 and 5, and I recommend them highly. Just go to the site and click on the show you want to download. You can listen any time. Or you can subscribe to the podcast and the magical iTunes oompa loompas automatically download it for you. (ok I really know nothing about podcasts) Please subscribe to their email list to hear about their latest podcasts. Also, send them some email about the show or a picture for their pic of the week. We are working on doing some things with them in the future and it would help to hear from you the listener. With our support they are going to be to broadcast what dropzone.com is to bulletin board/forums.
June 6-
The Anniversary Weekend went well despite some really rotten weather. We did 22 loads Saturday after starting at 2 p.m. At times the Super King Air was running 12 minutes gate to gate! Great to have our newly overhauled engine back. Thanks to the Carbones for great food as always. Thanks to the organizers and everyone that came out and stayed through the weather. We do apologize that the Twin Otter never made it. The owner says it is still having problems despite working through the weekend to try and get it to us.
May 19-
Been a difficult weekend, swapping out motors at the last minute and swapping them back Sunday. Thanks to Lee, Tom, Eric, Corey, and Dustin for the heroic effort!
Photo by Dave Padejasek
April 12-
Thanks to everyone that came out to N-TAC's giveback weekend. A lot of great coaching going on. We got 14 loads Saturday despite overcast clouds until 4:30 p.m. We love our fast plane!
Thanks to those that participated in our poll/ trivia question. The first Twin Otter to fly jumpers in the U.S. was actually in Perris Valley, CA in 1971. All of the other planes did appear as listed in the poll. We'll have a new poll up shortly.
Check out our new article on summer heat and parachutes.
March 7-
Despite high winds on Saturday we got several loads up. Sunday was beautiful with light winds all day and 20 loads!
The event calendar has been updated. Several new events including the CPC round 4 swoop event and NTAC's give back weekend's. This is expert freefly coaching practically for free. Just chip in on the organizers pack job! You will not find a better deal in the country.
February 14-
19 loads on Saturday! 21 Loads the Saturday before! Incredible weather is allowing some great days for skydiving. If you are sitting at home, you are alone. Everyone's here!!!
Remember to vote in our trivia poll! Look up and to the left and click on Jumper Weekly Poll. We will announce the results soon.
February 2-
Well ice and freezing rain do not great skydiving weather make. However, this next weekend, Feb 5-6 look beautiful. We have updated the poll and an article about winter winds has been added at the upper left of this page. The article is highly recommened for new jumpers. Enjoy! Also, we have added some of this year's events to the calendar. We are interested to hear any suggestions for events in 2005.
January 17-
The last 2 weeks have been great weather. This past weekend was in the high 50's and we did 10 loads a day. Not bad for Winter.
January 9th was 70 degrees out and we did 17 loads! WOW! Anyone interested in packing for us this spring and summer please inquire with Jack. We are looking for packers for this summer season.
November 1-
Thanks everybody for a great festival once again. 220 total registered participants. A new state record head down formation. Incredible. We had 92 jumps from 30 Helicopter loads. We had 1213 jumps from 32 Skyvan loads and 46 Super King Air loads. Keep in mind that we only jumped a half day both days due to cloud cover.
Probably one of the coolest things that was happening were POPS state record 14 way attempts. These were bellyfly jumps, at a freefly festival! Something for everyone. Very cool.
We had an amazing party with what appeared to be all 220 folks in costume. We had the usual dancefloor and light show complete with lasers this year. Check out the pics at www.skydiveatlantapix.com
We appreciate all of the hard work put forth by the staff our staff to make this happen. Thanks also to Mike Ortiz and Jon Pinyon for organizing an 18 way head down formation, blasting the previous record. Thanks to Performance Designs for canopies, Scotty Carbone for the daytime grub, Gary Hyde and Texas Roadhouse again for the great dinner.
This year's contest winner. She won an Alti-2 Neptune.
Just sit right back and we'll tell the tale, the tale of a fateful trip...
Eat me or drink me, take your pick Alice.
Definitely going to hell.
Start telling all of your friends about this event for next year. We promise bigger, better, more aircraft, (more packing carpet and bathrooms) more great partying. Can't wait to show you what's in store for AFF 2005. See you there!!
October 4 - The Casino night and boogie was great fun. Some folks who paid the $129 did as many as 21 jumps! That's $6 jumps.
Here are some pics from the party.
Trey's Dad cleaning up on the blackjack table.
Strangers in the night...
August 23 - We dodged clouds and weather this weekend but still managed several loads. Saturday night was the highlight with drunken swoop lane bowling. Mark Fair won the distance, but only because he couldn't break the bowling ball. Wyatt stine won the accuracy round. For pictures check out skydiveatlantapix.com...
In the most recent poll, jumpers chose 4-way competition as the reason they skydive most. Next were friends, followed by the rush.
Lyle concentrates on a crucial round
July 26- Another great time at the annual water training and pool party. We looked it up and are pretty sure that it's not in the USPA BSR's that you must be sober for wet water training. Good thing. We're also confident that USPA has no particular recommendation on chicken fights and girls losing their tops in said fights. Although we believe that this should be mandatory at every water training. We'll just make it a local rule. If you missed it, we'll see you next year.
June 28- Well, GSL did not exactly go off as planned. For those of you new to the sport, let us give you some background. GSL was started to promote interdrop-zone relations and friendly competition between participants. Back then, most of the dropzones were jumping King Airs or Queen Airs. It seems now, rather arbitrarily, the rules have changed. Not actually, but in the minds of some would-be participants. Many of the teams refuse to participate from a small door aircraft. Why? Because it's not as easy to exit.
So why couldn't Skydive Atlanta just call in another aircraft? First off, most of the aircraft are flying full time somewhere to support a DZ. The owners of these aircraft don't just have them sitting around for calls to come fly. Second, fuel costs have risen 40 percent this year. Big door aircraft use a lot more fuel. And lastly, those aircraft, even when available, are costly often requiring ferry fees and guarantees regardless of weather. To bring one in to fly 3 or 4 teams is just not good financial sense.
Now let's look at some other background.
2003- Nexus are GSL champions, Ranked 8th at US Nationals with a 13.10 only 3 points behind the number 4 team. 2003- GT Inviscid CLOBBER Air Force by twenty plus points in 4 way. 2001- Mr. Pink tie for 15th at US Nationals with a 9.2 score. 2000- Mr. Pink rank 11th, their best ranking at Nationals with an 8.8 score.
So, what do these teams have in common? They all trained from a small door. The point here is NOT that it doesn't make a difference what door you jump from because it does. The point is you can still get good training from a King Air and you can certainly come to another DZ for a day and have some fun with your friends. If the competitors don't want those jumps ranked in the standings, fine.
The spirit of this sport is fast losing focus. Skydiving is still more fraternity than mega-business, still more company picnic than Olympic competetion. Remember, we do this for fun. We are not going to see the Golden Knights on Wheaties boxes or Deland Majik with a 20 Million dollar Nike contract for some years to come. Skydiving just doesn't generate enough revenue. It may one day. When children flock to the DZ to jump by the thousands per day like they do Six Flags to ride roller coasters. And when that day comes, we won't ask to be part of competitions without a big door. At that point, millions of dollars on the line, we'll understand. In the meantime, with the following perspective:
While we have 3 to 4 local, non-professional, part-time, weekend teams participating, might we just show a little more spirit for the fun side of the sport and have a good time.
We do thank the participants that did show up and jump. For those that may think that we sound sore about this, we're not. we just thought this was important enough for other jumpers to know. We will be cancelling the 4th GSL meet at Thomaston , however. We will not be able to provide a big door aircraft. If the competitors should change their collective mind and like to jump the King Air at Thomaston for a GSL, we'll be happy to provide it.
June 21- Beautiful weather all weekend! We did 21 loads each day. Be sure to check out Tim's new website, skydiveatlantapix.com. Here's a couple pictures from this weekend.
Jonathan Bartlett on the swoop in the zone. Photo by Tim Marek.
The new Skydive Atlanta pool. OK, so it's inflatable!
Kelly Seigler gets an extreme pieing for her 100th! June 7- It was a great weekend for Skydive Atlanta's 18th anniversary. We had beautiful weather all weekend long. We made 748 skydives from 57 Super King Air loads.
Thanks to Dave Brown for some fantastic freefly organizing.
Thanks to Alti-2 Inc for squaring everyone away on their altimeter needs, Gary Hyde and Texas Roadhouse of Newnan for the grub, Mike Anderson for the gigantic roasted pig.
Photo by Jack Hammer
Thanks also to Jerry Loch, err..uh, DJ Misterio and Mark Shimmel for some great tunes!
Party folks Saturday night. Pink Mafia rulz!.
Thanks Jason Jerusalem for all the great pics!!
May 24- Great weather the last few weeks! We've been pumping out quite a few loads. Come out and join the fun.
April 19- 30 loads Saturday! Wahoo. Thanks to all the jumpers who participated in the scrambles and made it happen. Hope everyone learned a lot from Jon Pinyon this weekend as well. If you weren't here, we had free freefly coaching all weekend. Jon will be back, check the events calendar for dates. Photo by Jack Hammer
Looks like it's gonna be a great summer. Next we'll shoot for 40 loads!
April 5- Glad everyone enjoyed the April Fool's update. Got a lot of comments. This past weekend was windy but we still managed 15 loads Saturday including a night jump. Remember, we are now jumping every Wednesday afternoon and Friday's as well. So come on out.
March 22- We had a great time at the Dublin boogie with the Super King Air. We flew 24 back to back loads on Saturday despite a late start. Sunday we saw quite a bit of wind which held loads to a minimum. Thanks to Chris and Roaming DZ.com for a fun time.
Response to the most recent poll chose low turns as the toughest issue facing our sport today.
New video will be up soon of Saturday night March 6th. If you want to see the mud wrestling better check it out now.
March 1- Well, the Super King Air was back on Sunday afternoon after spending 2 weeks at the Mardis Gras Boogie in Moss Point, MS. Thanks to Mike Igo and Gold Coast Skydivers for a great time. It was greeted very heartily by jumpers ready to get to altitude in 7 1/2 minutes!
During those weeks Skydive Atlanta flew the Caravan and did a lot of loads at that. The King Air will be here for the next 2 weekends.
We've had quite a response to our latest poll. You voted the favorite freefly team: John F Kennedy, John Belushi, and John Pinyon. Thanks for voting. Check out out new poll posted Monday March 1st.
February 16- See what you missed on a rainy weekend at Skydive Atlanta! Checkout the video of the week too, featuring Julia and Candace!
Photo by Tim Marek
Photo by Tim Marek
The Super King Air was back and flew 4 loads on Friday. We will be available for jumping this Wednesday. If you'd like to jump, please call and let manifest know you'll be coming.
You voted the Atlanta Freeflight Festival the best Skydive Atlanta event of 2003 by a landslide. 2nd came the Casino Night, also a very fun event. If you didn't attend, you must this year.
Greg Dowdy's Caravan will be out for the next several weeks while the King Air is in Florida. His is a great airplane and for the RW guys has the big door!
2003 is gone forever now but what a great year for the DZ and all of the jumpers. The new Super King Air was an amazing success for us, allowing a true 7 day a week operation to flourish. We graduated more AFF's than ever. Our sponsored team, GT Inviscid smoked everyone at Collegiates setting a one round record and beat the pants off of Air Force. We look forward to more in 2004.
