Back to the boring life of building a Skydiving Center........

We are on a two week shutdown so that we can take a good look at our equipment, make any updates that will prolong the life of the parachutes, give the aeroplane a little TLC and look at our options of buying our own aircraft.

Currently we lease a C-182 from Texas. She is a beautiful girl, built in 1957, proudly wearing a Texas Star. She has wing extensions and a standard 182 engine. Not the fastest climber, but she is steady. Well maintained and much loved.

I didn't really know anything about aircraft engines, tach times, climb and descent rates or ATC for that matter. I was one of those that always just climbed in the plane, let the pilot do their job, jumped out when they got me to the top and tried to get in the thing as efficiently as possible, so not to upset the owner by keeping their plane waiting while it was burning fuel.

I always thought the owners were just grumpy farts that liked to complain about how long it took us to get on board the waiting plane. Damn, I was paying for the privilege, what did it matter if I wasn't seated and belted up in an instant?

Now however, I'm all about the engine type, the climb rate, the decent's, the fuel burn, engine starts. I am the grumpy fart that stands there looking in disbelief as it takes five minutes for the staff to get their passengers situated and belted in. I am the one looking at my watch, thinking "come on guys, get it together!"

When you pay for a plane buy the hour, it is amazing how much those minutes add up and eat at your patients.

The hardest part of this project for me, has been getting the business in the door to begin with. If I had a dollar bill for every time someone has said to me "You know what you should do!" I wouldn't need to be working for a living any more. It is amazing how suddenly, when you own a business, everyone becomes an expert on how to run it!

If I get one more "You need a call to action!" I might just get into action and explode.

Of course, there are some great idea's out there and I don't mean to discard any good ideas that might come through, it's just the constant brilliance from those that didn't and don't have the gumption, passion or commitment to actually follow through and start a business of their own. They want to tell you how to run yours because you are new and don't, in their minds, have any idea of what you are doing.

While it might be true that I am new to business, I am not new to this industry. I have been skydiving for almost 30 years now. It has been my life, I have lived and worked within the industry for the whole time I have been jumping, I have over 10,000 skydives and I have lived and worked on skydiving centers all over the World.

My goal with this drop-zone is to bring all the things that I love about my sport and the people in it together, to create a little skydiving heaven of my own. I want to create a place that people can experience the exhilaration of overcoming their fears, gain self confidence and learn the gift of human flight.

Getting people to come out to jump...... now that is the challenge!