Virginia Skydiving Center

Getting Ready For The Boogie!

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:27:17 +0000

Just 10 days until we start with the Grand Opening Boogie! It will be an exciting long weekend with lots happening at the drop zone during the day and the campground in the evening! We will start Friday morning May 25 and jump through Monday May 28 at sunset! Be sure to pre register for the event and we will throw in a boogie t-shirt! http://bodacious-event-1392.ticketbud.com/virginia-skydiving-center

In order to make the Caravan easier to load we ferried it down to North Carolina today to have benches installed. This will make it much easier to sit seven jumpers on each bench with two jumpers in the center on the floor. Just another step in making the drop zone as nice as possible for everyone! If you have any suggestions for making things work better at the drop zone, let me know!

The Caravan in Formation With The Fireball

We had a great freefly meet last weekend thanks to Matt Fry and Laura Perich putting in a bunch of work to make it a fun event for all of the participants. We should be posting some photos on Facebook from the event soon.

See you soon in the skies above VSC!

Jim Crouch

Awesome Spring Weather Weekend!

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:13:38 +0000

We had another great weekend at VSC with a ton of jumps from the Caravan and the Fireball! Saturday morning started off very chilly for a few folks who took the water training class then jumped into the pond at Picture Lake Campgrounds. The water temperature was probably very chilly! After entering the water, a parachute is thrown over their heads, and then it is game on to tread water, get out from under the canopy, and out of the harness!

Suzie works up her courage to jump into the cold pond water!

After jumping Saturday night many of the jumpers spent the evening at Picture Lake Campgrounds sharing food and drinks and having a great time. This was truly how the end of the jump day should always be! And we will try and arrange for cook-outs at the campgrounds as often as possible.

May 12-13 we have the beginner freefly competition for jumpers of all skill levels. This will be a fun and challenging event for everyone who participates! We have prizes lined up and medals for the competitors will be supplied by VSC. Matt Fry has a lot of time invested in making this a great event. Come on out and join n the fun!

The Grand Opening Boogie is coming up soon! May 25-28 we will be rocking all four days with a Casa and Grand Caravan! Bring your rafts, hoops and inflatable jumping toys for a long weekend of tail gate fun and games! We have some great organizers lined up: Roger Ponce, Doug Barron and Matt Fry. We are looking for ground support help for the event, so send us an email at jump@virginiaskydivingcenter.com if you would like to work a shift or two in trade for some jumps.

Sunday we finished the day with an awesome AFF jump when our pilot Ben Soyars made his first jump! After 6,000 plus hours of flying airplanes around, he finally knows the proper way to leave an airplane! We will continue throwing Ben out of a plane until we get him licensed! He seemed to like the skydiving end of things. I hope we don’t end up losing a good pilot because he wants to jump all the time!

The drop zone is really shaping up into an awesome place with a great vibe! Come on out and see what all the fun and excitement is about!

Jim Crouch

Hangar Improvements

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:45:21 +0000

Last week I had the honor of making a tandem jump with a young man battling cancer. It was a great experience, and his entire family was there to watch his jump and cheer him on. He did fantastic, and it was a great day for all of us. Dave Stoval and Ryan McDaniel filmed the skydive, Ben flew the Fireball and Sherry spent a lot of time making the arrangements and handling the details on the ground. We decided to use two videographers just to make sure it was captured in video and stills for the family to have forever.

We flew a bunch of loads on Friday but the weekend was a bust because if clouds and rain. So, with the weekend shot for jumping, it gave us a perfect opportunity to rearrange the place! After operating a few busy weekends, we decided that some changes were necessary to help the drop zone run as smooth as possible. All of the student equipment is now centrally located in one area of the hangar, near manifest. So it will mean less running around for the instructors.

We also added new gear cubbies with rig hangars built into the top of them. This provides 40 individual 2 x 2 compartments for storing your gear off the packing floor while you are jumping, plus 20 rig racks for hanging a rig while you are in between loads.

VSCs new Rig Racks

The entire hangar has been rearranged to help the floor stay open for packing parachutes and make it easier to move around on busy days. And, we FINALLY found time to get another sign mounted on the side of the hangar. Some of you may question the quality of the new rig cubbies. Feel free to keep your giggling and pointing to yourself. I never claimed to be a carpenter. And the fact that I made it through this project with all of my fingers intact is a huge win by itself!

A panoramic view of the hangar

The long range forecast for this weekend looks pretty good for Saturday, and Sunday is marginal. But you never know with these things, especially a week out! Come on out and enjoy the newly arranged hangar and everything VSC has to offer!

The New Hangar Sign Goes Up!

See you there.

Jim Crouch

Safet Day a HUGE Success!

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:06:36 +0000

The FIRST Safety Day at VSC was awesome! 87 jumpers spent the morning listening to some informative seminars covering freefall safety, freeflyng tips, safer canopy flight and how to avoid collisions and exploring the lessons learned from 2011 that can help us all stay safer for 2012.

Some of the crowd at Safety Day!

The Caravan was busy the rest of the weekend flying loads while some of the crowd watched the USPA Fly To Survive video or trying to find all of the problems with a mis-rigged container. Christi Meyer was awarded the coveted Ches Judy Safety Award.

Next on our calendar is a USPA Coach Course March 23-25. Contact Jason Whitt if you would like to attend the course.

April 7 we will celebrate Yuri Day https://www.facebook.com/events/250721948330879/ in the name of the first person to ever leave the earth atmosphere back in 1961.

April 21 we are hosting a PD Canopy Course that is already full, but check with Christi Meyer for last minute cancellations. There is also a June course that may have some slots available.

May 12 is the first VSC Beginner freefly meet! https://www.facebook.com/events/124706774316746/ Be sure to sign up for a fun and no stress competition!

May 25-28 is the VSC Grand Opening Memorial Day Boogie! We will have a Casa and Grand Caravan to fly for the event. https://www.facebook.com/events/300908256606828/ We are already over 160 claiming attendance from the Facebook event page, so it looks like we will have an awesome event! We are looking for help with the boogie, so if you want to work a 5 hour shift or two for some jump tickets just let us know! Roger Ponce and Chris Wagner are organizing belly flying groups and Matt Fry will be organizing freefliers. It would be great to get some formation loads done from the Casa and Caravan! Come see us for our first huge boogie event!

Safety Day Is Here!

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:09:21 +0000

Saturday March 10 is our first big event at VSC-Safety Day! Plans have been in the works for weeks and we have a great day planned for you to enjoy. We will start at 8 AM with a series of short presentations covering everything from airplane safety to canopy control, equipment inspections, and a look at the annual statistics from 2011 to see how we can avoid making the same mistakes as others.

We will also have available our new harness trainer for those who want to practice emergency procedures. The harness trainer features a 23 inch monitor mounted in the top of the structure. Malfunction videos are displayed on the monitor while leaning in a harness and emergency procedures are performed. It is great to work against an actual video of a malfunction so you can see how much time it takes to react to the emergency.

Chef Sara will be serving food all day so plan to spend the day and hang around after jumping for a great meal! Speaking of jumping, we will get in the air as soon as possible and fly all day with the Caravan and the Fireball 182. We should start jumping around 10:30 or 11.All we need is some good weather!

Come on out and start your jumping season with Safety Day! You will be getting off to a great start and everyone is sure to learn something new as well as spending some quality time refreshing on the basics.

The hangar is continuing to improve slowly but surely each week. We are slowly getting the place organized and we are making plans to make things as efficient and easy as possible for day to day operations. It is a work in progress!

Plans for the Memorial Day Grand Opening Boogie are still in development. We will need lots of ground support to help with loading aircraft, manifesting help and other tasks throughout the long weekend. If you can help with any days or at least part of a day let me know so we can get you scheduled in to help out.

See you this weekend!

Jim Crouch

February Already!

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:28:13 +0000

The mild winter is really passing quickly! I can’t wait to see VSC bust wide open this season, once the weather warms up! We had another great weekend considering it is January, with lots of hot loads in the Caravan. We even had a couple of early morning Fireball loads to get an early start with the tandem candidates who were working on earning a tandem instructor rating.

Work continues on cleaning up the hangar and organizing the junk into neater piles of junk. We should have rig racks mounted soon, and hopefully an upgraded electric service with more lighting and outlets will be coming soon.

Safety Day March 10

Don’t forget Safety Day is just around the corner, coming March 10! We have lots of great plans in the works for a terrific event, so plan to be there at 8 AM and stay for the entire day! There are lots of prizes and giveaways and free t-shirts for the first 60 people arriving!

March 23-25 we will host a USPA Coach Course There are some pre-course requirements so make sure you are prepared ahead of time. You can find more details about the course and requirements on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/357942274217330/ Contact Jason Whitt time2jmp@msn.com to reserve your slot or for answers to any questions.

In April we are hosting a Flight-1 canopy course April 27-29. Ian Bobo will be lending his expertise to teach canopy flight and critique the landings. The Essential Skills course is a 5 jump course and it is required for anyone who wants to take the advanced course, which is also 5 jumps. The Essentials Course will be offered twice, once on the 27th and again on the 28th. The Advanced course will run on the 29th. Contact Christi Meyer at christi5678@gmail.com to reserve your slot.

In May we have a beginner FreeFly Meet lined up for May 12. Matt Fry is organizing this fun event and you can find more information at https://www.facebook.com/events/124706774316746/ This will be a friendly competition and it is open to all experience levels to compete.

Magic Carpet Ride

Plans are continuing for the Grand Opening boogie May 25-28. We will start Friday and run through Monday with a Casa, Grand Caravan and Fireball 182. The Casa will arrive Friday mid-day, and the Caravan is already there! So we can start anytime on Friday. We are lining up organizers and gear vendors, so keep an eye on our website or Facebook for updates! http://www.virginiaskydivingcenter.com/memorial-day-boogie/ and https://www.facebook.com/events/300908256606828/

What Winter?

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:12:04 +0000

Two great days, with Saturday near 70 degrees and Sunday near 60 degrees! So far, the winter has been not too bad. I hope it stays mild until spring arrives! The drop zone was really cranking Saturday, and it was awesome to see so many new faces, and a couple I haven’t seen in years! The Caravan was flying back-to-back loads all afternoon, and we needed to add the Fireball into the mix just to get everyone up before sunset! If Saturday is any indication of the coming season, I am going to need to find a second Caravan!

The Caravan waits for another load

We also graduated another new A-license holder. Mike is visiting from Alabama, and he just needed a few things to wrap up his training. So, it was cool to see him finish up and get his license while he is here at VSC! I think this is the 4th or 5th A license finished at VSC in just a couple of months!

Jen Sharp from Skydive Kansas is visiting this coming weekend, starting Friday, to run the Instructor Examiner Rating Course. It will run through the weekend, and Jen does a great job with running courses and and it will be great fun to have her around the drop zone for the weekend. Be sure to take a minute and say hello if you are around this weekend. After that, we have a USPA/Strong tandem instructor rating course taking place January 27-29. The course is already full, and it will be a busy weekend of working with a bunch of new tandem candidates!

Lots of stuff happening at VSC even in the winter! Be sure to save March 10 to come and join us for Safety Day!

See you all soon.

Blue skies,

Jim Crouch

Happy New Year!

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:59:37 +0000

We said goodbye to 2011, and hello to 2012 in grand style! With relatively warm temperatures, we had plenty of jumpers out to make their final jumps in 2011 on Saturday December 31 and enjoying the day at Virginia Skydiving Center! After sunset, we had dinner at various restaurants around town, and headed back to the drop zone for the night briefing and preparation for the midnight jumps. The Caravan took off at 11:40 pm, and climbed to 12,000 feet, where six jumpers jumped out of 2011 and into 2012 for a great start to the new year! The night was crystal clear and it was beautiful to be out in the night sky.

The Midnight Night Jump Crew

2012 dawned clear and bright, and we had more great jumps on Sunday. The year is off to a fantastic start and I am looking forward to see what the new year will bring in our new location!

Plan now to attend our fist big event, Safety Day 2012 coming March 10. Just 10 weeks away already! We will start the day at 8 AM with presentations and games and videos. Free t-shirts to the first 50 attendees. Many other prizes will be available, as well. Jumping will start at 11 AM, and the day will continue with harness training sessions and gear inspection practice, etc. We will cap the day off with a great dinner and party!

Until then, we are jumping every weekend, and so far the winter has been mild and sunny! So, come on out and make some jumps!

See you soon.

Jim Crouch

Happy Holidays!

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:35:59 +0000

It was pretty chilly last weekend and the clouds never went away on Saturday, but we flew a few hop and pop loads from below the clouds. Sunday, we flew both Caravan and Fireball loads, and shivered next to the propane heaters as the temps for the day stayed around 45 degrees or so. The cool air really makes the planes climb fast, though!

The entrance walkways to the hangar are finished.

The hangar entrance walkways are finished, and the gate through the fence for access to the main landing area is operational, so phase one for airport improvements is out of the way. Shelton West worked hard to make everything perfect! Next up, we will be building a manifest office inside the hangar. It is hard to say when this project will start and finish, but the sooner the better!

Sandy is the latest A license graduate at VSC!

Even with the cooler days, we continue to graduate new A license holders. Sandy finished up last weekend, becoming another newly A licensed skydiver at VSC! He promptly got roped into a 6-way skydive out of the Caravan with The Queen and four others. Meghann Oudman finished up her A License on a trip to Arizona (our feelings are just a little hurt, Meghann ;^(. So, thanks for sticking it out through the move to the new location, and all the changes that came with the move! You guys rock, and it is awesome to see so many new jumpers coming out!

A sunset load of happy jumpers rides the Caravan to altitude.

We are closed for the weekend of December 24-25. But we are open the following weekend, December 31-January 1. We will open at 10 AM New Year’s Day just to give us a chance to catch up on a little bit of sleep before jumping starts!

Reflecting back on 2011, it was a challenging and frustrating year, dealing with all of the issues at our former location. However, we have found a truly magical spot, and great new friends at the Dinwiddie Airport. So, in the end, 2011 turned out to be a great year, with an exciting new start for us all.

For 2012, watch out! We will be rockin’ it out every week with something new and exciting! Safety Day will be our first big organized event, so keep your calendars open for March 10, 2012. Until then, we are operating every weekend with the Caravan and the Fireball 182, so come on out and make some jumps!

Have a great holiday.

Jim Crouch

Another Great Weekend and Holiday Party at VSC

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:12:35 +0000

The warm weather continues (OK for December, anyway) and it was another great weekend of jumping at VSC! We have had several people wrap up their A license, and it is great to see people learning and moving through the program! Mike Pinc and Chris Goetz-you guys owe beer! Several jumpers are taking advantage of the cheap jumps and pond swooping at the campground.

Sunset Landing as the Caravan returns from the runway.

The hangar improvements are slowly coming together. We now have a 40 inch TV and Chris Goetz is working on adding electrical outlets and plans are in the works for some additional lights. Shelton West has been busy working like a madman to get walkways installed and a new gate through the fence so we can now access the landing area without walking in front of the Life Evac helicopter. Speaking of which, if you are anywhere near the helicopter when it is starting up, please move and give them lots of room so they can depart immediately. The pilot gets nervous if there is anyone nearby, especially anyone holding an unpacked canopy.

The holiday party was a huge success. Many thanks to those who came out for the day to jump and spend the evening with us at the party at Giuseppe’s Restaurant followed by a bonfire party at the campground. The gift exchange was entertaining, as usual, and there was a ton of toys collected for the local church to distribute to the needy. Good stuff.

Holiday party goers at Giuseppe's

We are making plans for 2012, including Safety Day coming March 10, and the grand opening boogie on Memorial Day weekend, as well as a Halloween Boogie. We have an Instructor Examiner Rating Course coming up January 13-15, so take advantage of this course while it is here! Jen Sharp will be flying in from Kansas to run the course, which is a great course for anyone looking to be a better skydiving instructor or an Instructor Examiner.

Remember, cheap jumps before 9 AM! There are lots of great things happening at VSC! Come on out and be part of the fun and excitement!

Jim Crouch