[TheNoonans]

I read the article in the Gilford Steamer. Nothing new, no surprises.

Although I wonder if Selectman Hayes could be a little clearer with his concern about 'What if a skydiver gets tangled with their parachute?"........In 4000 professional skydives, I have never been "tangled" with my parachute. Don't know anyone else that's happened to either, but it makes for a good sound bite.

I would guess he was trying to say "What happens if a parachute malfunctions?" Valid question. The answer which is equally valid is: We carry two parachutes for that very reason. If I were given an audience with Selectman Hayes, I'd ask "What if a private pilot or worse, a student pilot had a problem with the engine in their single engine aircraft? Does that concern you? If your searching for probabilities and liability issues, you'd be better to start there. Statistics prove that is where the town's liability really is.

My favorite line though was Selectman Hayes stating that the Laconia Airport was "not a very good jump zone." Selectman Hayes is not a skydiver and not an aviator either (that I am aware of), so for someone with no practical knowledge of what constitutes a viable "jump zone", versus one that is "not a very good" one, his position lacks any factual basis. Yes, he received a document from the LAA, their formal denial, but it was a document created by a group of people that aren't skydivers either, and most if not all of them are not even aviators themselves. So you are left with a group of people (the LAA) that aren't skydivers or aviators, that searched pretty much the entire internet to look for any negative items they could find, pasted them all together out of context, and presented it as lopsided fact.

Now had they hired experts in both skydiving and aviation to do their research for them, they would have found at least three indisputable facts:

Fact: 95+% of all dropzones are on airports across the country and around the world land their parachutes ON the airport. It's commonplace, it's normal.
Fact: The FAA, AOPA and every other entity that oversees skydiving clearly states landing on the airport is the safest option.
Fact: Based on it's size and air traffic, the Laconia Municipal Airport is an ideal location for a skydiving operation.

So.....where do I base my facts?

As I mentioned before, I am an industry expert. My validation of that statement?

I work full time in the parachute industry, with my primary role in our industry is that of a tandem safety expert. Really. Those tandem instructors that take passengers? They are trained by the top 1% of tandem instructors out there, they are called Tandem Examiners. Tandem Examiners (the trainers) are hand picked by the manufacturers of the tandem equipment based on years of experience, # of skydives, and professional attitudes. SO, who trains that top 1%, the Tandem Examiners that train the tandem instructors? Me. I train the people that train the tandem instructors. A teachers teacher if you will........

When I am not doing that, I am traveling around the country and the world to provide safety audits at other tandem skydiving operations. I give safety seminars on all aspects of tandem parachute operations. This past February I was asked to give a presentation at the Parachute Industry Association biannual Symposium by the United States Parachute Association, or USPA. The audience? 200+ dropzone operators from around the world. The topic? Tandem Parachute Safety Protocols.

That's who I am. That's what I do. That is the position from which I speak from. I'm also the Chief Tandem Instructor for Everest Skydive, the world's most challenging civilian tandem HALO operation ever conceived. The tandem team for the trip? I am in charge.

So.........if or when the Gilford Selectmen ever elect to hear the facts from an industry expert, that is the position from which I will be providing them.

While I have numerous right seat hours flying in aircraft, my wife Mary, she is the aviator in this pair. A graduate of Daniel Webster College in NH, with multiple degrees in Aviation Management and a private pilot working towards her commercial rating. And she has supervised the ground operations for dropzones on and off for the better part of the last ten years, including Everest Skydive. She has a better understanding of the FARs and SOPs of municipal airport operations as they pertains to skydiving than the entire LAA lumped together.

Last thought: The GS article quoted the town administrator as stating that the FAA has been "persistent" in it's evaluation processes.

Believe me, they haven't seen anything yet......the actions of the LAA and the bureaucracies that exist within the current FAA statutes that have allowed the LAA to operate with impunity and any lack of oversight have effectively opened Pandora's Box with the FAA.

The FAA (at a Federal level) doesn't like to be told they don't know their job and moreover they don't like it when airport authorities ignore the requirements of their positions.

Three things I can assure you of:
1) The persistence of the FAA will only get stronger as time goes on in Laconia
and
2) When this is concluded, there will either be skydiving on the airport at Laconia, or the airport will have it's federal funding forfeited and have to pay back the last ten years of funding they received.
and
3) The LAA has effectively ensured that when this is over, no other airport authority will be able to do other aeronautical business operators, what they have done to us.

It's a win/win/win situation in the end. I hope the LAA is prepared to see this through, because we aren't going anywhere.

Meanwhile, you the citizens of Laconia/Gilford continue to be robbed of a positive economic opportunity. They say their fearful we will run off GA flights? Drive down to Newport, RI and see the volume of traffic that lands there in the summer (don't fly your Cessna down there though, because they have parachutes and if you were trained to fly at Laconia your not capable of landing there with parachutes, they will distract you......lol). When you finally get there by car, you'll see an active airport with GA and parachutes peacefully coexisting together. It's the economy that drives away GA traffic, not skydiving. Skydiving actually helps communities keep money coming in during tight financial times.

Stay tuned.......

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

P.S. - I wonder how many billable hours the LAA have paid out to fight us in generating that report and every legal document they send us from their attorney? They aren't worried about the bills though, their bill payments come from YOUR federal funding. Your tax dollars hard at work. Money you put into the system that is supposed to be allocated to make the airport available to new business, is being used to block new business from coming there. Ironic, don't you think?