Oh my god not for nothing but can this post finally END??? :confused:

Obviously a lot of people are interested to see how this plays out.

If you don't like it, don't read it. Not that difficult.

I'm certainly rooting for the Noonan's.

Why? The base story is not done yet. We have the plot, the suspense is building, and we should be entering the final chapter! There are many side stories within the main story that make one wonder what some are thinking but don't get distracted by them.

I hope the good guys win!

Skydive Laconia
 

It will. In a few months when the FAA makes a return visit to the airport armed with a standardized national evaluation process. At that time, with about 99% probability, the FAA will grant us access and this thread will end.

As a side note, I am not on here regularly these days and only post when there is something pertinent to the thread. In four years, I have never gone on here simply to "bump" the thread back up to the top of the first page.

And of course, let's not forget, 100% of my involvement on this thread has been completely "reactionary". I didn't start it, I am only responding to it.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

http://i31.tinypic.com/50o55k.gif Well said Tom

Noonan's-any news yet
 

I haven't seen anything posted at least on this site as to how things are going since 6-20-12. Have we heard ANYTHING good, bad or in different as to how the government is working on your requests. Maybe the election have taken over their time. I await some great news from you in the very near future as I'm looking to see beautiful chutes coming down into Laconia airport in the very, very near future.

Continue best of luck to the both of you.:)

http://i54.tinypic.com/2e56yqf.gif

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi RLW!

Thank you for the inquiry. Admittedly, I haven't been able to update much lately, as there hasn't been much to update in terms of news. And I didn't want anyone accusing me of posting replies just to keep bumping the thread up and keeping it on the first page.

Let's see, updates.......hmm

On a personal note, I had a great season in Taunton, MA this year with my new dropzone down there. Despite the concerns of a handful of people when we first got there, we have had a pretty much seemless integration into the day to day operations there. It is a truly amazing feeling to have a positive working relationship with the airport commission and airport manager. They call me and I call them, just to check in periodically and see how we all are doing.

Other than that, the big news is that we bought our first plane, a beautifully Cessna 182 which we are ferrying to Daytona Beach at the end of November after I get back from my yearly Everest Skydive expedition which I am leaving for to Kathmandu in a few days.

As for Laconia and the FAA, I've seen the document that will be published shortly. The FAA held off publishing it to do a "Re-proof" for lack of a better term. When it is published, based on what is written, the Laconia Municipal Airport will qualify as a viable location for a PLA (parachute landing area). When that is published, we will resubmit our proposal and the LAA will then have a choice, let us on the airport or they can continue to stand their ground and say no. This time around however if they say no, we will have the full backing of the FAA Compliance division in Washington, DC on our side.

Last but not least, during this process, even in the quiet times, I have maintained my contacts and relationships with all those FAA Directors I worked with in Washington. And somewhere along the line, I got this statement from the FAA: "The LAA has stated that when you approached them they told you no on the areas you requested, but said they offered you to land your parachutes adjacent to the North/South closed runway on the airport.......

Now for all of you that have been following this process since January 2009, has anyone on the LAA or the airport manager ever offered us anywhere to land ON the airport?.........lol. I told the FAA in response, laughingly, that the old airport location that Mary and I were offered to land at by the LAA was ANOTHER airport.....lol.....Moultonborough Airport.......lol

Thanks for checking in, I'll be back with more news as it comes up.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,
Tom

Well hope the FAA releases the report soon so the you can move forward with your business plan and bring a new and viable business to the area. Goodluck,Rob

Thanks for the update and hearing the news of the new plane that you have purchased. Have a fantastic time on your trip to the yearly Everest Skydive expedition.

As you always say "Blue skies to all and to all a good flight" on the trip.:)
RLW

http://i54.tinypic.com/2e56yqf.gif

Happy New Year To The Noonans
 

And, hoping for a Skydive Laconia here in 2013.


I would like to share some of Tom's credentials.

Tom Noonan

Chief Tandem Instructor
http://www.everest-skydive.com/wp-co...tom-noonan.jpg
Tom Noonan is a professional skydiving instructor from the USA. He is also involved in both Civilian and Military Tandem Equipment design and test jumping. Tom has made 4,000 skydives and is a USPA Tandem Instructor-Examiner, USPA AFF Instructor, and USPA Instructor Examiner Rating Course (IERC) Director. He also holds a FAA Senior Rigger certification and is a USPA Safety & Training Advisor (S&TA). Tom holds the world record (along with Wendy Smith and Jai Kishan) for the highest parachute landing at 17,192ft. He has been with Everest Skydive since its launch in 2008 and is in charge of the tandem skydiving programme of Everest Skydive as well as the tandem equipment rigging and maintenance.


Terry
_______________________________________

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi Terry!

Thank you for the continued endoresement. :)

Looking forward to 2013 as well. We remain committed as ever and look forward to the FAA's final pubication.

Have a great winter!

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

sky diver
 

I think that my wife should take up sky diving, the higher she goes the faster she would come down. I'd even be willing to pack her parachute or duffle bag which ever would be lightger!

I think Fly Guy catfished us
 

There I said it. It's not that I want it to be true but think about it. This month marks the fourth year we have had an online "relationship" with the Noonans yet we haven't actually met them. There has been plenty of back and forth online, they have posted pictures and shared plenty of very convincing stories of world travels...yet nothing. I had never heard the term "catfishing" until this past week but now it all seems so clear. Good job Fly Guy you got us.:emb:

From what I read, on and outside of the internet, Tom and Mary are real. Here is a link to a world record Tom shares:
http://www.worldrecordacademy.com/sp...cord_90449.htm

Looks real to me.

R2B

Just goes to show how deep this hoax is. By the way I was only kidding.

You got me! :)

I am good friends with a friend of Tom's and yes they do exist!

We Exist. lol
 

That actually made me laugh this morning as I read the post (and I got the joke....lol).

Like some of you, Mary and I shake our heads sometimes that this process has gone on as long as it has. It's a testament to an unintended consquence of big government, bureaucracies.

To be fair to the LAA, when we first got there in Aug 2008, they didn't want us on the airport despite skydiving being a suitable business for the facility with equal access rights actually mandated in the funding agreement they agreed to with the FAA. So, the local push back began with the LAA, not unlike push back from a handful of other airports across the country each year with skydiving proponents trying to bring a legal and viable skydiving businesses onto other municipal airports across the nation.

The LAA, to the best of their knowlegde, decided that skydiving was "unsafe". As I have said for almost 4 years now, the problem with that statement then, as it still remains now, is that no one on the LAA has the background in aviation safety to be able to make that statement. As is written BY the FAA, ONLY the FAA can make that assessment.

So, then entered the "local" FAA and the start of the bureaucracy.....

In a perfect world, the "safety experts", the FAA would enter and make a safety assessment, and provide their findings to the local municipality to then make an informed decision.

In this case unforntunately, due to the size and lack of oversight within the FAA, the specific individuals within the local FAA that were originally tasked to do this safety audit, were unprepared to do it, cited all sorts of erroneous and inapplicable FAA doctrine and concocted what has gone on to become one of the most erroneous docuements ever created within this process, that STILL to this day, is used as an example of how not to do a safety audit.

What that whole process did however, was highlight to the FAA in Washington how truly broken the FAA oversight and safety audit process had become.

So like a half dozen other extremely patient business owners, we were forced to sit and wait, and wait some more, and wait again, and again there after, for the FAA on a federal level to issue a Parachute Landing Area assessment guide and process that will finally be the unified, non biased assessment of an airport's suitability for skydiving. It's final release was pushed back a few times for additional comments and reviews, etc, but it is forthcoming on the near horizon.

Both sides, Mary and I as well as the LAA I presume, have already seen what will become the final draft of this PLA document, and as is no surprise to anyone that has read anything that I have written in the last 3 years on here, Skydive Laconia will be able to find suitable property ON the airport to land parachutes on, with the full backing and blessing of the FAA.

It's been a long time to get here, and yes, life has moved on for all of us I would imagine. Sometimes in these cases, the proponent in our shoes simply gets frustrated and gives up from all the stone walling, all the waiting. We never did, never would. We were never going to just go away, our cause was just and the FAA in Washington knew we had a case.

So here we are today, anxiously waiting for this to resolve itself so that we can move forward, working with the LAA, to build a positive, mutually beneficial relationship with the LAA and the other tenants of the airport, those that don't mind us being there, as well as those that would prefer our little "dirt road business" sought residence elsewhere.......lol

Tomorrow is a new day.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,
Tom

I knew you could take a joke.
 

Tom,
Thank you very much for your response to my lame attempt to add some levity to an otherwise cold and boring day. There are many of us on this forum that can't wait for a resolution so you hang your shingle and get going.
Best of luck,
Pontoon Goon

Good one!
 

You should have saved your post for April fools day!

Including me!

I was at Sawyer's last week enjoying a very large "small" ice cream :D and expected to see parachutes. I didn't even see any planes at all. Has the airport closed?

Initially I thought I have no say in the matter since I am not a resident BUT since LAA is/was getting some federal money, it is MY tax dollar so I do have a dog in this fight.

Is there anything new?

www.laconiaairport.com , which is actually 100% located in the neighboring town of Gilford, NH, has no regular scheduled airlines using it for a passenger stop. Once upon a time, many many many moons ago, it was used by Air New England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_New_England flying its route from Boston to Laconia to Lebanon NH to Burlington, VT, but now it is used only by private airplanes and has no.......zero! .....regular scheduled passenger service. The Nascar race track down in Loudon, NH has some race car people who like to use the Laconia Airport, sometimes.


Why not just forget about Laconia Airport for a skydiving business, and go knock on the runway door to nearby, 17-air miles away, Plymouth Airport in Plymouth, NH? Located just 4-miles from Route 93-Exit 26, it is easier to get to by car than is the Laconia Airport in Gilford! For a look-see, including a small photograph, suggest you go to www.airnav.com/airport/1P1 Plymouth Airport is owned by the Town of Plymouth, NH, and they might just welcome a sky diving business to their small, single grass runway airport.

For a best bet view of the Plymouth Airport and surrounds ....... suggest you go to the "About Us" section of www.chutesup.com and click on the 40-minute video "An autumn evening flight over Plymouth, NH."

Thank you for the continued interest
 

Greetings RI Swamp Yankee and FLLess,

In my last post here it ended with:

Unfortunately not much has changed to date. Still waiting. The sequester put a pretty big delay on this national landing area process being adopted. We're still waiting like everyone else for that.

The good news if there is anything to come out of this, is that on the western side of the country, another long standing airport access case was just resolved, with the FAA siding with the skydiving operation.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight, Tom

You, Sir, have the patience of a Saint. Most would have thrown in the towel long ago.
If patience is a virtue, you are one virtuous individual! :) At some point, I'm sure this became personal.
Go Noonans!!

The "Unlikely" Happened Yesterday...
 

Title: Plane catches skydiver's parachute; both crash, but all survive...:eek:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nation...,1758960.story

Looks like a grass strip...
 

It does not look like an airport with asphalt runways. The video and Google earth looks like a small grass strip.

How many times has this happened in the last year?
 

A week doesn't go by when I see on some news report an accident with a small plane. Check the Alton Ice Airport crash.

I can't remember seeing an accident like this happening since this thread started.

Update?
 

Will we get to skydive this summer?

Starting to wonder if the Noonans resolve is still there. Its now been over 5 years.

Nothing from the Noonans
 

Not looking good

Answered my own question
 

I just researched and answered my own question. Looks like he is getting ready foe another Everest Dive in October:

http://www.everest-skydive.com/

Greetings Everyone!
 

Hello!

I can't believe its been 5 years since we first looked into the DZ idea in Laconia. Wow, how time flies (no pun intended....lol). With the federal PLA analysis stalled by the sequester, and everything else going on in the world, admittedly, this project was forced to take a backseat to other more timing viable projects like, as Steve mentioned, Everest Skydive.

Ironic that putting on a skydiving expedition for the last seven years in one of the world's most remote and hostile climates in the Himalaya continues to be easier to put in place than skydiving at the Laconia Airport.....lol :)

That said, I continue to wish everyone in the area all the best. Skydive Laconia isn't off the radar, just had a few more viable projects pop up in the interim. I actually just returned from Australia where I spent a month touring airport and skydiving operations giving safety seminars, and now its off to Ireland to do the same.

Tempis Fugis, that's for sure! Hope to see you all over the skies in Laconia someday!