Doug_Davis

Thanks for the accurate review. That kills any desire I had for wanting to do it.

DJL, makes some very good points. Additionally I would add.... Marketing and advertising dont have to cost you dollars out of your actual budget. Personal recommendations are one of the strongest and most reliable means of selling a product. I know. I formerly owned the largest canoe and kayak retail and whitewater training center in the state Kentucky. 50-60% of my customers walked in my door because they had friends who paddled and wanted to join them. Of those 75% of their friends were former customers of mine who recommended our store and trainers. How do you use this for tandems? PARTNER WITH YOUR FUN JUMPERS. Tell your fun jumpers who are going to tell their friends about their sport and where it is they jump, that for every 5 tandems they send through the door they get a free lift ticket to full altitude. Or 5 free pack jobs. Reward them for sending customers your way! On safety day at your DZ do a special reward for the local fun jumper who sent the most throughout the year. New helmet or reserve pack or something extra special. Use the tandem customers themselves.... When someone calls to arrange a jump, tell them if they bring a friend who also jumps they both get 10% off or a free DZ t-shirt (they wear the free t-shirt and advertise for you). Use donations to local non-profits. Every community has local nonprofits from environmental groups to community theaters to city's orchestra...and they are always holding silent auctions or trying to fundraise. Donate a tandem jump or a ground school course and first static/aff jump to their auction/fundraiser. It gets you seen and noticed by new people. Use social media. Try and post a picture on your facebook page for as many of your tandem customers as you have every weekend and make sure to tag their names in it so all their friends and followers see the picture as well. Christmas time...make sure people are thinking of your business when they start thinking of Christmas presents. Either rent a booth in the local mall to sell gift certificates for tandem jumps (make sure you have a flat screen in the booth playing video from jumps) or pay to set up a static display (old square main and mannequin hanging from the inside ceiling of the mall) with information on your website and phone number and that you are offering a Christmas promotion. Like this: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/da/00/77/da007776d7232ae2e526cc86b0c9369c.jpg If you ARE going to use Groupon be smart. You can negotiate a better than 50/50 cut. I always got 60/40 and after I made them some money I negotiated to 70/30. Also you can "adjust" the base price before they slap on the 50% discount the customer gets to make it a more profitable deal for you. For example our normal beginner 4 hr kayak course was $60. But for Groupon we used $75 as the base price and gave them 50% off that.

According to Facebook there is a... Davis Wadsworth who has their profile and face hidden: https://www.facebook.com/davis.wadsworth?ref=br_rs or a David Wadsworth who is a skydiver but I dont think he is in NC: https://www.facebook.com/david.wadsworth1/photos

True, Im not the most patient of guys though LOL. Heard back from Cookie via email yesterday. They are looking at producing something for early 2015 for the AZ1.

According to all the reviews the video quality is better on the AS1000 versus the AZ1, but the smaller AZ would of course present less of a snag hazard. Guess I could fabricate something for myself. Drives me nuts there are like 50 bazzilion mounts for the GoPro, and no one has come up with a single one for the AZ1 yet.

Im trying to decide between the Sony AS100 or the AZ1VR (mini). As of right now the AS100 is larger but I can get a side hinge mount for my G3 Cookie and I can order a flat front lens for use while scuba diving or kayaking as the standard curved lens on the waterproof housing causes some serious distortion. Has anyone heard anything about creating a side mount for the smaller AZ1 similar to the one Cookie made with the AS30 and AS100?

Wait.....what? He's pretty much stolen a rig from you and is being sued by his former employer for selling stolen jump gear? Just post his damn name and stop fooling around. Protect others in the skydiving community.

I wonder what the additional charges are compared to land based tunnels.

What dates are you heading down? I will be down the first two weeks of Dec.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/air-force-to-investigate-crash-involving-oklahoma-air-national-guard/article_05bdc9af-9c52-5141-85dd-336f34af2926.html

No, not based on your design. Lots of people proxy fly wingsuits 5' off the ground every year too, and lots of them died this year as a result. Even if using a rear airborne launched platform such as a skyvan or casa, which eliminates the take off low ground risk, what happens if the person flying the wing does an abrupt climb in altitude and destroys the rear tail control surfaces such as the rudder or elevator with the tow line? I would be more inclined to try it with a rear air launched type design, but would still be concerned about the hazards of launching an inexperienced flier and the potential for damage to the plane.

You doing AFF or SL? I did SL. Only spent $1500 or so I think.

Don't over-think it. Booties are typically very easy to get used to, even for noobs. Get them altered to fit properly and go jump your ass off. BTW, my son was a dz kid and had his own jumpsuit before starting AFF, so he did his entire student training with booties and never had a problem. +1 No point in waiting till 50 jumps.

Pictures Wingboard rolling down the runway behind aircraft doing 65mph or so, when the Wingboard hits a pebble pitching the rider on to their face and they get their skin smeared off down 100 yards of asphalt. No thanks.

Because it happened 20+ years ago? I doubt Im on the FBI most wanted list. And just for the record in Florida it wouldnt have been felony assault, since the victim wasnt a minor, I didnt use a deadly weapon, nor did I have a prior conviction for battery or assault.