How about parachuting onto nearby, mostly unoccupied Timber Island, which is in Gilford and very close to the airport and also not in the line of approach. In the past, the airspace above Timber Island has been repeatedly used by an old yellow bi-plane to do aerial manuevers like dips-flips-stalls-recoveries......great to watch.

About 130 acres of Timber Island are classified 'in current use' by Gilford and pay little property tax, as well as having its' use controlled by a conservation easement. Is it possible that landing parachutists is an accepted use under the easement and could be welcome by the property owners?

Lots of luck with all the trees :D!

On second thought...how about landing on the unused parking lot down beyond the Gilford Lowes and the pizza restaurant....plenty open space down there....and then bicycle back to the airport. Didn't the British train parachutists to carry BSA folding bicycles in the war!

if they stop in for an occassional pizza & beer, then this could be a plan welcome by everyone including Flyguy Bill.

LCI (Laconia airport) does get its fair share of traffic. Maybe not as much as Boston Logan, but it gets busy. According to the FAA records, 129 aircraft are based at the airport. For a 12-month period ending October 2008, Laconia airport averaged 97 operations (takeoff or landing) a day.

Also let’s not forget the 2 weekends a year NASCAR comes to town. During those weeks dozens of private jets invade Laconia and concord airports by racing teams, drivers, NASCAR officials, etc. Skydiving during those weekends is not a good idea.


Has anyone talked to the FAA about Air Traffic Control considerations? That area has a lot of traffic overflying to Boston from Montreal/Burlington area and Portland arrivals from the west. Both Jumptown Skydiving in Orange, MA and Skydive Pepperell in Pepperell, MA have letters of agreement with Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center for traffic advisory services and procedures for their operations.

If this plan is going to happen, I feel a lot more work than the Noonans are planning is needed.

Don't get me wrong, I with the Noonans all the best and hope they succede. These are just my concearns.

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi Fatlazyless,

Please forgive the repost, but to answer the question about alternate landing areas, we still stand by our original statement:

The question if anything is suitable near by is a valid one, and it's a two part answer. The first half of the answer is that if there was a location off the airfield available, it would require at a minimum, a commercial vehicle, a driver, fuel and insurance, thereby increasing the fixed and variable costs per skydive disproportionately high. It's simply not economically feasible to expect to have to shuttle hundreds of people back and forth all season. Would a flight school be able to survive economically if they could take off from Laconia, but had to land at a farm and shuttle the students back by car? People may agree or disagree with this, but it is a legitimate business concern of any aviation business. The second part of the explanation is a little more complicated. The Laconia Municipal Airport accepts federal funding, and as such is bound by federal funding grant assurances. The federal funding is the reason the airport is the gem that it is. The FAA has gone to great lengths to spell out the fact that if an airport such as this accepts federal funding, they are required to accommodate all aeronautical activities, and they clearly spell it out in an Advisory Circular, that they consider skydiving to be an aeronautical activity. My wife and I pay federal taxes just like everyone else, and as such our federal tax dollars go in part to fund the Laconia Municipal Airport. We have a federally protected right to land our parachutes on the airport, and we are simply pursuing our rights to do so.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Is this really a good idea?
 

Regarding the proposal to allow sky diving at Laconia airport while the runways are active, I am having a very hard time thinking that this can be safely accomplished.

I would fully support the proposal if the people jumping out of the plane where landing a safe distance away from the airport. However, mixing airplanes taking off or landing with people floating back to Earth sharing the same landing zone makes no sense to me.

It sounds to me like a fatal accident just waiting to happen.

I do not see this as a denial of personal freedom. People can jump out of planes and land in fields away from the airport. I see having the sky diving landing zone at the airport as something excessively risky. Far less risky acts are prohibited by law.

R2B

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi C-Duff,

I think I can address your questions, let me know if I can offer any additional info.

Regarding the 129 based aircraft and the 97 operations a day, I would say that those numbers aren't very high by comparison to the operating numbers of many other regional/municipal airports that safely accommodate skydiving. The truth is those numbers are not problematic at all.

Separately, it's pretty much an industry acknowledged short coming of our airport reporting system that annual number have a certain "acceptable" margin of error when reported. If the FAA were to park a lawn chair on the side of the runway for the season and count operations, not many people in the aviation industry would bet their paycheck on the actual numbers being remotely close to the reported ones. I have spent a beautiful sunny summer day sitting in the parking lot doing a similar ad hoc study, and unless there is a second "Laconia Municipal Airport" in the area I am not aware of, I would agree that 97 operations a day is a little high of a number.....

As for NASCAR weekends, we mentioned in an earlier post that we have no intention of operating the first NASCAR weekend so that we can sit back and monitor the traffic. We want to do our own research on the NASCAR traffic before making any decisions on jump operation during such a reportedly busy weekend. Worst case scenario, we voluntarily shut our doors that weekend and go to the races ourselves. As a side note, our intended parachute landings over the course of a season expect to be between 1000 and 3000. The Deland Municipal Airport in Florida receives all of the overflow jet traffic and small aircraft traffic for Daytona NASCAR weekends, and the dropzone there does 80,000 annual parachute jumps by comparison. They do not shut down during NASCAR weekends and have never had an issue with NASCAR related air traffic. With that said, it certainly is an issue that deserves detailed analysis, and we plan to do such analysis before we make any decisions on whether we choose to operate, even if at a reduced rate, during the NASCAR events.

Regarding the FAA. Yes, we have talked to the Portland, ME FSDO who has jurisdiction over LCI airspace. We have also talked to Boston Center ATC. A lot of them are actually former parachutists and understand exactly what we want to do. The other (better) half of Skydive Laconia, is my wife Mary and she is a graduate of Daniel Webster College and holds multiple aviation operations degrees and has run manifest for another local dropzone for many years. Between filing daily NOTAMS, filing a permanent one to go in the charts and using standard communication procedures between our jump pilot, other air traffic and local frequencies, our aircraft will have the same communication in place as other dropzones in the area. Forgive me if I defer the specifics of the communications to my wife, I prefer her to speak first person on it. FAA/ATC interaction is one of her primary functions.

If I can answer anything else, please let me know. I will direct Mary to this post and ask her to write up a more clear explanation of the ATC communications for our jump operation.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi Resident 2B,

Thank you for your response. If I can offer you my thoughts, they are that:

- In the last ten years, there were two skydiver/aircraft collisions midair. Both instances they were the skydiving aircraft and the skydiver that left the aircraft. That is over the course of approximately 20,000,000 skydives made over the last decade. According to NTSB statistics, there is an aircraft to aircraft collision mid air every ten days. (There was one just the other day in Long Beach, CA.)

Statistically you are far more likely to ever see an aircraft to aircraft collision over the airport than see an aircraft collide with a skydiver. Mr. Hemmel posted a pretty interesting video of a "near miss", so sure, it can happen, but statically it's beyond the realm of reasonable expectation to occur. (Although Mr. Hemmel would sincerely like you to believe otherwise.)

- As for landing off the airfield, industry experts, including those at the FAA consider landing on the airport to be safer than landing off of it. The reason is that if we are landing off of it, we are far more likely to be in somones pattern outside the airport. The safest place for us to get out is above the airport and land on the airfield.

- As far as it being a fatal accident waiting to happen, statistically speaking, you will be waiting a very very very long time for it to happen, if it happens ever at all. But what is also a statistical truth is that while we all wait for it to happen, numerous fatal midair aircraft to aircraft collisions will continue to occur over the skies that the FAA governs.

- When the federal government (the FAA) sets up a clearly defined process and expectation that leaves no ambiguity to it's purpose and an airport sponsor (in whole or in part) chooses to disregard their role and responsibility and act out of personal agenda or lack of investigation/education, then I would say that yes, that truly is a suppression of freedom. I am not inferring that has occured here. The LAA has yet to render any decision. If they render a refusal, then yes, that will be a clear case of discrimination and denial of a protected right to pursue an aeronautical activity on a federally funded airport.

Where this goes is entirely up to the LAA. It is our sincere hope that they have done their due diligence, gotten guidance from the NHDOT and Portland FSDO, and had a cite evaluation of LCI done as required by the FAA. If all of that has been done, then the acceptance of Skydive Laconia onto the airfield is the only just decision.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

good luck
 

To the Noonans-Good luck today with the LAA-my son is a junior in college and has wanted to skydive for awhile now...me, I think I'm too scared! But reading your informative posts here on the forum will help me make a wise decision about allowing my son to make a jump. Thanks for the information and good luck today!

Best of Luck to the Noonans!
 

As a Commercial/Instrumented rated pilot and former Air Traffic Controller ( Class of '81 ) I think you are spot on with your plan to start a jump school at LCI. Not to say that jumping out of a perfectly good and running is my excitement of choice, I applaud those with the cajones to do so.
I do feel that your statements about thee impact on the local economy are somewhat overstated, but I totally agree that the impact on the airport operations will be minimal.
Welcome to the Lakes Region...sounds to me like your business plan is well thought out and viable. But don't look for me to be a client! Rather, I'll be the guy in the parking lot pointing out the jumpers to my grandchildren!
Just curious...what will you be using for a jump plane?
BTW, I am also a graduate of DWC, but I suspect a decade or 2 before Mrs. Noonan!!

MORE Smoke & Mirrors...
 

That would be 2,000,000/year, or 4,479 per day, 365 days per year for ten years. WOW! Anyone who believes this, please send me money.

Very true, but then there are a LOT more aircraft than skydivers. While it may be a rare thing, it is common enough for someone to capture it on video. No doubt there are a few more that didn't get filmed. Let's not have any here. Land off-airport. Simple. Safe (but not profitable :( )

OR, it just might be a case of their being considerably more familiar with the local traffic, topography, weather, and other conditions and truly considering it to be unsafe.

You don't think that is possible that worldwide in the last 10 years 20 million people have jumped out of planes? Tom is not stating that he did it, he is not even stating that statistic is in the USA only. I am not sure, nor do I really care about skydiving, but would certainly be interested to see where the data came from.

Skydive Laconia
 

Good morning Mr. Hemmel,

You wrote:

"That would be 2,000,000/year, or 4,479 per day, 365 days per year for ten years. WOW! Anyone who believes this, please send me money."

Actually in the US it was approximately 2,200,000 skydives made in the United States alone in 2008. And the average for the better part of the last decade has been between 1.5 million and 2.5 million skydives per year in the US which brings us back to the approximate number of 20,000,000 skydives in ten years. Skydive City, located in Zephyrhills, Florida made 75,000 skydives over a 365 day calendar year in 2008. Skydive Deland made 80,000 skydives in 2008. (That's two dropzones out of 270 in the US) Our national governing organization, the United States Parachute Association (www.uspa.org) keeps records of all of this information, it's available for all to see. (Thank you for continuing to validate my comment about your use of smoke and mirrors, it also goes on to show how little you really know about us or our industry).

You wrote:

"Very true, but then there are a LOT more aircraft than skydivers."

Really? Out of the approximately 20,000,000 skydives made over a decade, there were only 2 incidents in ten years.......both skydivering aircraft and skydivers, and both of them only resulted in one fatality in that ten year span.

Or better, by your logic, let's reduce the number of aircraft operations allowed at LCI altogether. If there are more pilots having WAY more accidents, let's limit the number of pilots and planes we have in the air. How about that? Imagine getting a call from the airport saying "I'm sorry Mr. Hemmel, you can't fly a paying flight today. We have too many planes in the air right now and you know you said it yourself, more planes causes more accidents". In all seriousness, what you wrote sounds like it makes it okay to justify aircraft collisions which happen all the time, but you would lead people to believe that skydiver/aircraft collisions are the greatest threat to all mankind, yet they happen so infrequently, it happened twice in ten years out of approximately 20,000,000 skydives.

You wrote:

"Land off-airport. Simple. Safe (but not profitable)"

As long as the FAA continues to state that we have an equal access to the airport as you, then we intend to land on the airport. Not profitable to land off the airport? Mr. Hemmel, do you charge a fee for your service? Would either of the flight schools on LCI be able to stay in business if they had to ferry their students back from an off field landing area? If you want to try and paint us as mavericks who are willing to sacrifice your safety to make a profit, then you'd be better off bringing facts to the table. Problem is, there aren't any to support your claim, to the contrary, the FACTS actually refute your claims, hence the smoke and mirrors you are compelled to keep showing.

You wrote:

"OR, it just might be a case of their being considerably more familiar with the local traffic, topography, weather, and other conditions and truly considering it to be unsafe."

As familiar as they may be with the local traffic et al, they are equally as unfamiliar with modern skydiving. To make a truly informed decision, they must be both familiar with the area and familiar with our sport. That's why the FAA continues to state that they (the FAA) are the exclusive decision maker in airport safety questions such as this. Only they know both sides of the story.

And to further illustrate my point, I would like to offer you and the community something to consider. Mary and I offered twice to make a demo jump into LCI to give the board that first hand view of what they would be voting on. From filing the NOTAM, to planning the jump, to landing in a predetermined landing area, we offered (twice) at our own cost of about $1000, to bring a plane up and make a skydive and let them see first hand how little impact we would have on the airport. We offered to fully educate them on what it is that we want to do.

Both times we were denied. We were told that it is "simply not an option." Ironic, huh?

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Me too. But I'm not qualified to even hold an opinion. I've never observed the traffic at the airport (other than what I see when driving past it infrequently), and I've not seen any good video or statistics on the sort of landings that Skydive Laconia is proposing.

However, it appears that this is not an uncommon practice and is certainly not a new idea. If I had to place a bet on one side or the other, I would guess that it is much much safer than it sounds.

It would be nice if the people making the determinations on this actually put a moderate level of effort into their decisions and did not simply rely on their own speculations and assumptions.

Kind of like people kayaking in the Broads on a hot summer weekend isn't it?? Where's Evenstar??:laugh:

Well let me first say Good luck in getting this company off the ground ( yes the pun was intended haha)

I always thought I would Skydive for the first time down in sebastian Florida. From what I have heard it is one of the best in the country to go to. If this opens up in Gilford I might have to switch and do it up there. I bet the view would be way better.

I am not a pilot but hopefully one day will be one. (need to save up the $$$) From what I understand the airport down in Sebastian is not a very busy airport, However, it is very close (5 miles) from Vero beach Airport which is a very busy airport. It is wear Piper is headquartered and they do a lot of flights for testing thier planes. If Sebastian can handle doing the jumps and landing right on the field I dont see why Laconia would not have a problem. I sat outside watching the parachuters land while in the backround a plane was landing at the same time. Did not seem to cause any issues what so ever.

I am going to believe what the Noonans are saying. They have given plenty of info to back up there claims. It seems to me that if there are airports that 3x busier then laconia then I don't see an issue in landing at the airport. Plus if you were to look at a planes pattern for when they are landing they never go over the airport.

I wish the Noonans all the luck and I got to say they have been more then accommodating in giving us information. I dont think have they have gotten enough credit. They have gone well above what was exspected if you ask me.

I look forward to meeting you when your business starts this summer.

Oh no, don't remind me, Sea.

Laconia has a habit of saying no to good ideas; they tossed goodbye the large & popular sailboat, Queen of Winnipesaukee, and saying yes to bad ideas when they welcomed their downtown urban renewal revitalization plan.

So, when Laconia says no, maybe you want to consider the small airport in Plymouth, NH, which has a single, green grass runway which should be soft enough for landing sky divers. Plus, there's a McDonald's nearby:D!

It seems pretty clear to me who brings well thought out statements backed by real data and who pulls the old liberal (pardon the pun) "the sky is falling". I have zero expertise in this area and won't pretend to make judgements on the viability and safety of this operation. What I do possess is a great feel for people's common sense and conviction by how they present themselves. Good luck to the Noonans.

I am a licensesed pilot. Laconia was the home base for my airplane for a period of time. I've flown into many airpoirts that had skydiving operations. I AWAYS appreciate the fact that skydivers are aiming for the center of a particular airport. I rarely fly over a particular airport, whether skydiving is in progress or not. I prefer a standard entry into the pattern that doesn't cross over the center of the airport. If I heard on the radio that skydiving was in process at some island on Winni, am I going to open up a chart to find out were that is? Maybe I'm lucky and I know the name of the island - I doubt it though. I have a chart that tells me airports and major places, not nearby islands or fields. When I hear on the radio that skydivers are landing at the field I really don't want to fly directly over it. I fly a standard pattern around it.

I would be very concerned if skydiving were being done to any place other then the center of the airport. It's the only safe place.

God Forbid, If We Are Total Dummies....
 

From what I can understand about this thread, may I add No expert and no affiliation to the Noonans, If they are not totally approved, I will fly up and support them in any appeal processes!
Terry Rugg, the kind that you do not walk on.

That would be my thought as well. Better than landing out in a field off site with traffic that may not understand what is actually going on.

I am not working either side of the fence as both of these activities are on the list of things to do, but doesn't traffic coming in and out of the airport (where the skydivers land) only come in along the axis of the runways. That would be a max of two travel vectors. An offsite field outside of airport traffic patterns wouldn't that be an infinite number of possible travel vectors.

Tom, if Laconia and its pilot residents are not smart enough to see the big picture, why not bring your operation to Concord, Newport, Lebanon. The volume of participants would be better than Laconia being that they are all closer to highways which would mean better margins. Watching skydivers fall while traveling up the highway you have the potential to attract more business in the long run.

Best of luck to you in your venture and you can count me in when and where ever you set up. Thank you for answering every one of the questions and comments thrown at you with good solid information, I actually googled skydiving in general the other day and the first two pages alone where operations with an address on an "Airport Road"

Skydive Laconia
 

Good afternoon to all,

Let me start by saying Thank You. The continued community support from this forum has really been great.

I just wanted to provide the forum with an update from the meeting this past Thursday. It was a quick meeting, but I was happy to learn that the LAA's Safety Committee will be meeting this Tuesday to discuss our proposal. It is my sincerest hope that based on the information that we provided that the outcome of this Safety Committee meeting will allow the LAA to reach a decision making point on our proposal for the June 2009 meeting.

After the meeting, I had dinner at The Lobster Pound. (Great food by the way.) I was wearing my "Skydive Laconia" t-shirt, and received incredibly positive feedback from both customers and employees. A group of tourists that came up for the weekend said that if we were open now, it would be on their To Do List the following day. A couple of employees also asked us to return "as soon as we open" to let them know so that they too can learn to skydive. Suffice to say, while our "market research" was limited (we didn't go out of our way to interview people), not a single person we spoke to showed anything less than total enthusiam about the idea of bringing skydiving to the Laconia Municipal Airport.

Mary and I will be returing to Gilford June 18th, 2009 for the next meeting of the LAA. If anyone on this forum would like to meet us at the Main Terminal prior to the meeting, say 4pm, we would be happy to address any and all questions first hand. (I will re-extend this offer as we get closer to the meeting as a reminder.)

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Thank you very much for the update and I keep looking forward to the final meeting that gives you both the OK to start your new business at the LMA.

Skydive Laconia
 

"Thank you very much for the update and I keep looking forward to the final meeting that gives you both the OK to start your new business at the LMA."

Hi EZ-Pass,

Thank you for the support. We are also really looking forward to putting all of this behind us and moving forward with our business. At this point, I contacted the airport manager and was informed that the Safety Committee met Tuesday night but have not decided on a course of action yet.

Mary and I remain hopefully optimistic that with all of the facts and testimony provided to support our proposal, that an approval will be issued without any undue delay.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Skydiving? Yee haw!
 

Ok, now that I've been warned about the great possibility of inconsiderate people landing on my vacation home near the airport I will certainly be on the look out for them. On a better note Mr. Nadia will be happy that he will no longer have to use clay disks as targets when practice shooting off the roof. More money to spend on those neat baggies to pick up my dogs "logs" and be fashionable at the same time, and to send Samuel Carr a bark collar so he can shut that dog up! More annoying tourists visiting the area you say; and dumping money into the economy which we desperately need---wait...with sky diving being as popular as it is we shouldn't see an increase in tourism...should we? Nevermind. Onto more serious inquiries.

I have but one question for The Noonans. If your proposal is accepted and all goes well, I will certainly be trying sky diving. However, I need to know your return policy up front beforehand, as some local businesses have refused to honor returns on their merchandise. Bookshops in particular! Ugh! I can't return opened CD's, DVD's, Computer Programs, or worn undergarments at Wal-Mart either! Now you tell me I can't return books? That's worse then the webmaster of this forum when he infringes on my First Amendment Rights and edits or deletes my posts, or gets mad when I call him four letter words. AS IF! Anywhoo...If my parachute does not open during my jump will I be supplied with another for free, and taken back up again? Or do I have to pay for another jump? ;)

I truly wish you and your wife the best of luck :p

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi Nadia,

Thank you for your support!

Our return policy is pretty simple. Every customer has the opportunity to decide that they don't want to go skydiving, right up until the point they actually leave the airplane. Throughout the gear up/training process and the climb to altitude, every student has the opportunity to decide they no longer want to go skydiving. Two minutes prior to exit, the pilot will turn to the skydivers and say "Two Minutes", at that point, your instructor will ask "Are you ready to go skydiving?" If you say yes, you'll go skydiving, if you say "No, I changed my mind", then you and your instructor will stay in the plane and ride it back down to the ground. Even between the door opening and you climbing into position outside the aircraft, if you change your mind before you climb outside, (even after the two minute call) you can tell your instructor "I changed my mind, I don't want to go", and you can return back to the ground in the plane.

Between myself and the other three tandem instructors that we plan to work with, collectively we have made over 8,000 tandem jumps without anyone deciding they don't want to skydive after they started the training. But it is of course always a possibility and we make sure every student knows they can decide not to skydive at any time during their training, right up to "Ready, Set, Go!" and out the door.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Oooooooops I did it again!
 

Oh my goodness Mr. Noonan I feel like a jerk now! You took the time out to post a well thought out response to my silly satire. Please forgive me, my intentions were good I promise. I was trying to express my thoughts on some very silly threads going on lately that are being debated in a manner so heated you would think they were political in nature. If my parachute didn't open during my sky dive I don't think I'd be around to ask for my money back :D I was really just pulling your leg on that one. On the other hand I was making a few cheap shots at flyguy for posting what I think is some very negative garbage. I'm going to hop on my soap box and hope I don't regret it later, however I feel it is for a good cause. This type of negativity first spreads around the forum, and then permeates into the community like poisionous vapors. Not a good state to be in considering the economy. We should be opening our arms to embrace entrepeneurs whose main focus is to bring revenue and tourism back to the Lakes Region. We may not agree with their logic 100% however there are a few circumstances to be considered. First the Noonan's seem to be experienced in this field and have done their homework. Second, judging from the responses the Noonan's have provided I highly doubt they are looking to open a business that is going to put many people's lives in dangers, open them up to wrongful death law suits, property damage law suits from customers landing on people's property or colliding with planes. Or be dragged into Court constantly with injunctions from those who frequent the airport and get irritated with the delays, and property abutters whose lawns become front row seats for spectators to watch it all take place, have to listen to ambulance after ambulance, deal with the news and media taking pictures of planes landing on houses to avoid colliding with skydivers? You get the picture. C'mon. Do you really think these people are looking to waste their time and money this way, and royally piss off the community while they do it? Do you really think that local and State authorities are not going to make sure this is a safe practice before allowing this to go on? No smart business person wants a law-suit. Even the ones who aren't that smart for that matter! There is always a certain amount of risk involved in a new business, especially such an eccentric idea like the Noonan's have. Yet I don't think there is any way they could get the town of Laconia to allow them to be in the business of risking 100's of people's lives daily. They won't even let a Methadone Clinic in! Think before you post this kind of hogwash, based on nothing more then "scary Mary" BS--and we are now starting to see even more so how much revenue, tourism, spark and life this BS can drive away. I've learned my lesson the hard way to zip my lips or more so, hold my trigger finger before responding to what I find offensive or wrong in my opinion. But I can't sit back and not call on what I find to be out-and-out negativity. The very negativity that directly harms the Lakes Region. If I offended anyone in this process, I apologize in advance. I did this with good intentions. Maybe I should have not been sarcastic in my initial post, but I was trying to give everyone a laugh and be more subliminal in my responses to such nonsense. However Mr. Noonan there is a silver lining to the situation--your policy is now posted so that no one has to step up and ask what happens if they do chicken out when they get up there! :D By the way I think that is a very fair policy! I prefer to stay on the ground myself, and my husband would never shoot at falling skydivers or clay disks for that matter. If a customer did happen to land on my roof deck, my only request is they bring me a mocha iced latte and try not to shake it :-) Before I close I do wish you and your wife the best of luck again.

-Off my soap box :eek2:

Skydive Laconia
 

Greetings to all,

I just wanted to provide a quick update. Mary and I will be attending the June 18th, 2009 LAA meeting. If anyone is interested in meeting us, asking us any questions, or sharing any concerns, please feel free to come over and say hello.

I'll have my laptop with me, so if anyone wants to see photo or video media of what we intend to offer the community, we will have that available.

It is our sincere hope that based on the large volume of factual information provided to the LAA that validates our proposal and request, that a favorable decision will be made at this meeting and that we can move forward with our business.

On an unrelated side note, I am happy to announce that I have been asked to participate in the second ever expedition to Mount Everest to make tandem skydives along side the world's tallest and most famous peak. Last year I was a part of the First Everest Skydive expedition and had the honor making the first tandem skydive in the country of Nepal alongside the peak of Mount Everest. This year's return expedition is equally exciting and promises to reach a global audience.

I have attached a picture of one of my tandem jumps from last years event. I am in the blue jump suit.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Sooo cool! What a picture! :D

Skydive Laconia
 

Thank you Woodsy,

We exited a Pilatus Porter at 29,500ft MSL (-40 degrees Celcius, hence the thick jumpsuits). Mount Everest is 29,085ft MSL, so we wanted to make sure that we took our tandem students above the peak height. I will never forget the first jump that I made. I opened the door, turned out, and I just sat on the side of the plane for three minutes at 29,500ft MSL, just staring down the right wing, looking "down" onto the peak of Everest. (We got within a 1/2 mile of the peak before turning away for our jump run and exit.)

I had the opportunity to discuss the jumps with Colonel Joe Kittenger a few weeks later. He holds the record for the highest freefall at 103,000ft MSL. When I made my first skydive on June 12th, 1999, I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that some day I would be skydiving in the shadow of Mount Everest and then discussing those high altitude skydives with Colonel Kittenger, but there we were, talking about our experiences. Skydiving can produce some amazing experiences, all we have to do is give it the chance.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

(Attached is a picture of Mary and I with Colonel Kittenger)

In Response to the pic in post #107
 

All I can say is WOW---I would never have the gumption to take that jump. I can't imagine what you are feeling and thinking at that very moment! I would assume between your adrenaline and everything else you almost feel like you are turning yourself inside out a few times. Thanks for the pictures! Now any of us who are too scaredy cat to take the plunge can at least get an idea what it's really like! :) This thread is a great way to notify people that your coming to the Lakes Region and what to expect. I guess we can thank flyguy for something after all! :rolleye2:

Skydive Laconia
 

Greetings to all,

I just wanted to post a follow up to our meeting last week. Mary and I flew into Boston Wednesday night and spent the day in New Hampshire taking care of different aspects of our business proposal. From one local business to the next, we continue to be thrilled with the positive response that we have received from the community. We keep hearing "Good luck!" and "Look forward to having you here!" and it really makes a difference with all the work that we are doing, so again to the community as a whole, we thank you.

As for the meeting, we were pleased with it's outcome. If we understood correctly, the airport authority should be prepared to issue a decision, yes or no at the July 16th, 2009 meeting. We are preparing a response for the LAA regarding a handful of operational questions they posed, nothing out of the ordinary, so at this point we remain very hopeful that the LAA has come to see how little impact we will have on the airport and that they (hopefully) are prepared to approve us.

We have a number of exciting things planned for the business and the area that go beyond just jumping out of airplanes. With an approval to move forward, we can begin to put these plans into action. If the LAA approves us next month, our website will go live the next day (www.skydivelaconia.com) with all of our information and plans.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Can this be done in Laconia
 

Can this be done if the Noonnan's get their permits for laconia?:)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZWUq_HgSVM

Awesome!
 

I love reading the responses on YouTube ... my favorite was .. "Holy S***" , which was exactly my thought when I watched it.

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi EZ-Pass,

Your youtube video shows an 81-Way canopy formation that was formed over Lake Wales, Florida. Flying parachutes in a formation is called "CReW" which stands for "Canopy Relative Work".

To answer your question, yes, that sort of thing can be done over Lake Winnipesaukee. I was actually working alongside the organizer of that event this past weekend in Sebastian, Florida. I can ask him this weekend what it will take to get all those jumpers up to the Lakes Region in the future.

It is a HUGE undertaking to organize such an event, requiring at a mininum, 4 twin turbine aircraft (Twin Otters and Casa 212s), but it can be done. Imagine a photo of that formation with Lake Winnipesaukee in the backdrop, it is entirely possible. It would bring 100 or so skydivers traveling to the area for a week, staying in local hotels, patronizing local restaurants and bringing television and paper media coverage to the area.

On a smaller scale, there is a local 4 person CReW demonstration team called "Air Adventures" that we were planning to invite up for our grand opening, if/when we are given permission to operate. They would build 4 way diamond formations and fly them over the lake. Who knows, a few years from now maybe the next world record CReW formation may find itself being built over Lake Winnipesakee. With the support of the airport and the community, anything is possible.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

Hey - maybe Flyguy can take a few pictures of the formations!

Oh.

Maybe not.

Is "Skydive Laconia" a Franchise, thereby enabling numerous skydiving operations around the country to pool resources, such as marketing and perhaps the purchase of group liability insurance ..? Just wondering. :look:

60th Birthday Celebration....
 

This gal loves skydiving. She wants to at Laconia Airport as well!

The Noonan's are very welcome here!

T

Skydive Laconia
 

Greetings to all,

Just an update, this is the big week so to speak. Based on comments from the LAA at last month's meeting, the board should be prepared to render it's decision on our proposal at this week's meeting, Thursday July 16th, 2009. As always, we invite anyone, pro or con of our proposal, to come meet with us prior to the meeting at 5:30pm, we should be arriving in the terminal building around 5:00pm.

Thank you all for your support. We look forward to bringing skydiving to the Lakes Region.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom & Mary

Skydive Laconia
 

Good luck...you will be a great addition to the area.

Skydive Laconia
 

Good morning to all,

I wanted to provide an update on last night's meeting. It's a good news/bad news result, but in the end the good news far out weighs the bad news.

First, the bad news. In June 2009 we were told that the LAA's Safety Committee would be ready to render a decision on whether or not we could land on the airport. That decision did not occur last night, so we cannot move forward yet.

The good news is that the LAA has elected to contact the ADO and have an airspace evaluation done. This is fantastic news, as we have been asking the LAA to do this since our November 2008 meeting. We are thrilled because from the beginning, we have been stating that the FARs clearly state that the FAA considers itself the only entity that has the knowledge and expertise to make the decision as to whether or not an airport can safely sustain skydiving. Now that the LAA has asked for it, the FAA can finally step in and make an assessment, which is what we have wanted all along. Let the FAA make the decision. When the FAA comes back and states that the airport is suitable for skydiving, this process can finally conclude.

We will be back for the August meeting and from what we understand, the FAA should be able to get in and make an assessment by then. We are THRILLED by that news.

Thank you all for your continued support. It is very much appreciated.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom