dr25+@andrew.cmu.edu (Danny A. Rossi) (01/29/91)
A couple of weeks ago, while I was still on my Christmas break, I went over to Skydive City to make some jumps. Here are my impressions, for what there worth. It seems like a pretty nice place. It doesn't have much in the way of fasilities yet, but I was talking with Jerry Bird, and he has some big plans for the place. If all goes as planned, this is going to be "THE!" D.Z. to be seen at. They have some great aircraft also. There is a twin Otter, a DC3, and a C46, (that's right, a C46). I had never heard of one of these before. I knew a C47 was the military designation for a DC3. Anyway, it was described to me as a "big, fat, airplan). Appearently, It can carry about 80 jumpers. When I said not much in the way of facilities, I wasn't kidding. The access "path" onto the property "might" be considdered a road if you removed the grass, rocks, roots, and occasional tree. There are no bathrooms, bunks, food, or RV hook-ups, although Jerry promised them in the near future. The landing area must be pretty big, Jerry landed me pretty damn far away from the packing area, and as far as I could tell there wasn't anything more than grass around me. Jerry said that he regestered about 250 people during his Christmas booggy. The D.Z. is also pulling in European jumpers. I met a couple of girls from sweeden, and a couple from the U.K. OK, about the Skydive City/Z-Hills thing. When I say that they are next to eachother, I really mean "next, adjacent, side-by-side". When the winds are right, jumpers from one DZ exit over the other DZ. I guess it is no surprize to anyone, but there doesn't seem to be much love loss between the two places. Jerry told me that Skydive City jumpers that accidentally landed on Z-Hills property were thrown off by George. Ofcourse, George is taking the city to court for them allowing Jery to open, but it looks like the city is on Jerry's side. Oh yeah, one last thing. This is kind of strange, but due to some funky law, Skydive City is not allowed to collect money on their property. You can either buy tickets at the Sunshine Factory before you go to the DZ, or you go to the Factory after you have made your jumps. Added note: While I was at the Sunshine Factory paying for my jumps, there was a video on showing some guy in France skyboarding. From what was being described to me, it sounded wild, could be a lot of fun to try. Dan Rossi B#14030 Flare when you hear the crickets