Parachuting in Melbourne

[altocu]

G'day all,

Can anyone recommend a reputable jump operator in the Melbourne area? Thinking about pushing the girlfriend out of a plane for her birthday present.

Cheers :D

Altocu

[Squawk7700]

Yep, the Commando Skydivers at Tooradin Airfield are good. They have the full set-up with Video of your jump, etc. They are safe and jump out of 206, Airvan and sometimes a Caravan.

They are the closest in terms of time to Melb CBD.

[megan]

With a parachute???????????? Or not????????????????

[J430]

Hi Squawky,

Long time no see!


Altocu
You could always send her up with Squawk7700...... then she will really want to jump out!!! With or without the chute!

From what I understand Tooradin is a good choice, I am from QLD but they seem to have a good setup down there.

Cheers

J

:ok:

[altocu]

Thanks for the info everyone. Squawk, you can't be that bad can you?

Not sure about the parachute, do they charge extra for that? :}

Altocu

[Squawk7700]

J430 is just jealous of my exceptional abilities to scare the crap out of my passengers.

[scrambler]

If you need a parachute I have one for sale.

Good condition, its only been used once, and never been opened

[Sexual Chocolate]

Tooradin aren't bad but at the end of the day Nagambie and the Cresco is probably a better option. 14000' from the Cresco, prices will likely be cheaper and they produce a better product because they do more of it than anyone else around. As far as 'reputable' goes they're all pretty good in VIC, no rip off merchants in the area that I know of. Check out www.apf.asn.au, follow the 'find a club or drop zone' link and it will list all your options

[8Hrs-Bottle2Throttle]

Nah, Tooradin is better. Cheaper drops, closer to Melbourne and they don't have any accidents in comparison to Nagambie. They've lost 2 or more this year already at Nagambie. Not a good safety record I'm afraid. They lost their Cessna Caravan a few years back too.

[J430]

Might not be talkig about your flying!!!:} :}

J:)

[Sexual Chocolate]

Stating that Tooradin is safer because they've had fewer fatalities is equivalent to claiming that people in Broken Hill are better drivers than Sydneysiders becuase there are less accidents in Broken Hill than there are in Sydney.

[FlightIdle]

I agree sexual... gotta be apples with apples.

Nagambie is definateley the better of the DZ's in Victoria that I have been to. PAC XL750, 14-17 minutes to 14,500 feet with 13 or more other jumpers. Better weather than anywhere else in Victoria. Great people.

FI

[Runway37]

Better weather... psstttttt...

Driving to Nagambie from Melbourne to skydive, you may as well catch a plane to Queensland!

I see Tooradin has a 206, 208b Caravan, Airvan and you can even jump off the Ag-Cat radial - including a wing-walk! Was talking to someone the other day who flew down from Brizzy to do a wingwalk on the AgCat. Pretty cool.

Tooradin is close to Melbourne too.

Did my own google search... no mention of deaths at Tooradin, but plenty at Nagambie.


www.theage.com.au/articles/ 2003/01/06/1041566360895.html

www.smh.com.au/news/national/ dead-mans-parachute-did-not-malfunction/2005/07/31/1122748523969.html

www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/ story_page/0,5478,15557831%255E1702,00.html

[Sexual Chocolate]

Fer Chrissake. Several months ago Altocu asked where the best place was to go for a tandem - not a wing walk - a tandem. At the time, Tooradin had just sold their Nomad to Wellsey at Par Avion and as far as I was aware, were not operating another turbine - giving a 10,000' exit height from one of their piston jumpships.

On the other hand, Nagambie's XL was fully operational and taking people to 14000', virtually doubling freefall time when compared to options at Tooradin.

Being an experienced skydiver, I can say first hand they when it comes to your first jump, the more freefall time you have the better the overall experience. Jumping out of a plane for the first time in your life can be a fairly intense experience which, needless to say, can take some people a little getting used to before it becomes really enjoyable.

In other words, some folk spend the first 20 seconds of their jump ****ting themselves before they relax a little and start to enjoy the sensation. At Tooradin, that meant that just as you started to relax, your freefall was over - whereas at nagambie, you still had 20 seconds to run and soak it all in.

That aside, I take objection to the inference that there's something dodgy going on at Nagambie. Unless you're the Victorian ASO or someone who's intimately acquainted with this DZ (8hrs and Rwy37 - this is not you), you're hardly qualified to give an opinion on the matter.

[nig&nog]

Just my two cents worth. I would take nagambie over anywhere else because of my old mate Ron (RIP) and the greatest jump pilot around B D if he is still there. Also does anyone know what ever happened to an old jump ship fxk. cheers

[Sexual Chocolate]

n&n - couldn't agree more. BD aka the legend. Last I heard the boy had actually got himself a CPL and is now doing charter work in twins up north. Sorry, no idea about FXK.

[JetABro]

BD sure is a legend. And to think even after that happened the operator of the planes still wont let his pilots wear rigs. Lucky it didn't happen at YTLH or we might have had an unhappy ending.
Makes you wonder.

[Cinders]

Actually, the operator doesn't stop them wearing a rig, he simply doesn't encourage it. I was bought a beer just last week by one of his drivers who was celebrating his first load wearing a slimpack.

C.

[JetABro]

Well how times have changed. Did he have to buy and maintain it himself?
During my time there he didn't let you wear one if you were flying at TLH, even if it was your own. I flew his planes else where and was provided a rig by DZSO to wear.