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| FEATURED ARTICLE |  | Team Fastrax and
Start Skydiving Offer Wounded Veterans
Tandem Skydive Opportunity "Blue Skies for the Good Guys and Gals" Honors our Nation's Heroes Team Fastrax Professional Skydiving Team and Start Skydiving are proud to announce their new program, "Blue Skies for the Good Guys and Gals," to say THANK YOU to the men and women who serve our country. The program will provide a tandem parachute opportunity for those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard (active duty, reserve or guard) who have been wounded in combat and received a Purple Heart. Team Fastrax has partnered with the Wounded Warrior Foundation and The Thank You Foundation to reach out to Veterans around the country. "These are our nation's finest and brightest and we have an obligation to do whatever we can to lift their spirits and show them how much we care, said John Hart, founder of Team Fastrax and owner of Start Skydiving. "As a Gulf War veteran and 20 year Army service member, I am honored to sponsor an event that will have a special impact on these men and women." The program will kick off at Start Skydiving in Lebanon, Ohio on Memorial Day Weekend as part of the Thank You Foundation Boogie. Selection.com, the nation's premier background screening service, is spearheading the corporate charge to raise the funds to make these skydives happen. For more information on how to help and participate you can contact The Thank You Foundation at : 1-877-280-8893
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The Thank You Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to show appreciation and express gratitude for those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, both past and present. The Foundation accomplishes its mission though several programs and activities such as sending care packages, visiting Veterans in care facilities, providing complimentary tickets to sporting and entertainment events, and presenting Thank You Cards and Certificates of Appreciation to those who have served or are serving our military. Donations can be made directly to: www.thethankyoufoundation.org |
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| Dear John,
At Start Skydiving, we place our customers first in everything we do. This newsletter is meant to keep you informed about the latest events and occurrences at our Professional Skydiving Center. Please take the time to email or call us with any comments that will improve the services we provide at Start. You can help us spread the word about Start Skydiving by forwarding our newsletter to your friends. All you have to do is select the "Forward to a Friend" button to the left. |
What's Up This Week | Week ending 19 April 2008 We are now operating on Spring hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 am until sunset. We have a lot of students on the books so the plane will be flying frequently. Come on out and enjoy the weekend at Start Skydiving. We ask that everyone (staff included) park on the grass/gravel area where the Start Parking sign is located at the entrance. You can park anywhere within the orange barrels. Please park your vehicles facing south in the lot. |
| | Safety First! | Things you need to know . CANOPY COLLISIONS Freefall ends with a successful deploymentof your parachute, but that's not the end of the jump. Even with a good canopy over your head, things can still go wrong. With a planeful of people in the air, collisions are always a dangerous possibility. It is essential to stay aware of your surroundings: watch your airspace, and know where other canopies are at all times. If you find yourself approaching another jumper, always steer to the right. If two jumpers are approaching each other head on, both should steer away by turning to the right. Never assume that the other jumper is going to get out of the way; it is always your responsibility to avoid a collision. If a collision is inevitable, pull your arms in, and protect your face and your handles. Spread your legs apart, to avoid going in between the other jumper's lines. If you become entangled with another jumper, make sure to check your altitude, and check in with the other jumper, before taking any action. There are possible dangers with either jumper cutting away. If the upper jumper cuts away, s/he can strike the lower jumper; both jumpers need to be ready to fend off in the case of body contact. The lower jumper cutting away can leave the remaining jumper with an uncontrolled mess of nylon. The upper jumper must be prepared for the results of the cutaway. After cutting away and deploying the reserve, the jumper should fly directly away from the area. If both jumpers are cutting away, and altitude permits, the second jumper should wait until the first jumper has cleared the area below before initiating his/her cutaway procedure. If you plan to cut away, make sure that you are above your "hard deck" - the decision altitude recommended for your experience level. The lowest recommended cutaway altitude is 1,000 ft. Below that altitude, it maybecome necessary to deploy one or both reserves without cutting away the main canopy(ies). (This may not be a safe option with a single-hanlde SOS system.) If both jumpers are suspended under one flying canopy at a low altitude, it may become necessary to land with only that canopy. SAFETY BULLETIN Sunrise Manufacturing has issued a service bulletin for certain models of its WINGS containers: the W1-1EXT, the W5-EXT and the W4. This service described in the bulletin is recommended, but not required. Go to the USPA web site (www.uspa.org) to read the entire bulletin, and/or check in with your rigger. |
| Four Way Basics Skills Camp |
The Meet 'n' Greet at Start Skydiving was well-attended, with jumpers showing up from states as far away as Michigan and Pennsylvania. We had 18 attendees in all, spending a rainy day absorbing a basic 4-way theory and principals seminar from Fastrax member and founder John Hart. The energy levels were up, and everyone was appreciative of the information provided. There were discussions between various people on interest levels for future teams. Feedback from the participants was largely positive, and everyone is looking forward to an excellent competition season. As a reminder, everyone is welcome to participate in the meets. It is a great way to improve your skills and have a great deal of fun.
For those of you out there who are interested in doing 4-way video for the teams this season, a 4-way video seminar is available prior to the Meet 1 on the Memorial Day weekend. Contact Mike Ashley at
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for details if you would like to attend. |
| | DZ Happenings | | Here is the scoop! We've got some great upcoming dropzone events. Our Second Caravan arrives on the 25th, so get your big way plans together and let's set some DZ and Ohio records! Check out the Start Skydiving Events Calendar and mark your schedules accordingly. Air Rage Skydiving Services will be offering the following rating courses:
AFFI Course: April 14 - 20. (Note: This is both the Pre-Course and AFFI course)
To sign up for any of the courses, contact Kip at
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.
Help us keep the price of your lift tickets down! The price of AV gas is through the roof. When the plane is waiting in the boarding area with props spinning, we lose money. We don't have an official "loader" to direct people how to get in the plane. When waiting in the loading area, please organize yourselves so that the aircraft can be loaded in the shortest amount of time. And always remember, If you're in the market for new gear, make sure you check out our sponsors on the left side of this newsletter. All the manufacturers we support are top-of-the-line. Ask manifest if you are in need of something; Kip or John will sit down with you and explain the benefits of having the right equipment.
INTERNET KIOSKS ARE OPERATIONAL We now have two Internet Kiosks available so that you may check your email at the DZ. The system on the right-hand side of the hangar has a printer installed. We have also installed a commercial Cisco wireless router in the main hanger that provides FREE wide area access for those of you with laptops. Please continue to provide us with your comments on ways we can provide better services to our skydivers and friends |
Picture of the Week | Kip Exiting Patriot One Photo by Marcus Harris |
| National Skydiving League |  Four Way Tips John Hart, Team Fastrax Greetings Four-Way Junkies, Below is a piece on goal setting. This may be the single most important thing you do as a team. I encourage you to contact me with any and all questions you may have regarding goal setting or 4-way in general. Team First, John
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Team training can be a fun and a rewarding experience. However, much too often people have a negative experience with their teams. This is unfortunate because with good communication and proper planning at the beginning of the season, potential conflicts can be avoided.
Communication is the key, I can't emphasize this enough. Communication on the ground leads to good teamwork and communication in the air leads to fun, safe skydives.
There are many factors to consider when choosing teammates. Some are more important than others. Some factors that seem important on the surface really aren't others can make or break a team. Consider this when setting goals or choosing teammates. Competition 4-way should be about the journey you take, the path you walk and the choices you make as a team. It is about building lasting friendships, total commitment and personal sacrifice A true team requires open and honest communication on a daily basis. Choose a path and walk it together versus each member going opposite directions. Never say anything deragatory about a fellow teammate without them being present. Most importantly support each other during your high points and your low points. These few things will save you a great deal of frustration and insure that your training remains positive and memorable.
The most important factor in choosing your teammates is that everybody has common goals. If everyone has a clearly defined goal that they are committed to and working toward, your team will be able to deal with most obstacles that they will face. Common goals will bind your team together and keep the team on course.
GOALS
Lets discuss goals in more detail. In order for a goal to be effective, it needs to be as specific as possible and it needs to be achievable.
A common goal for beginning teams is to have fun and learn. This is a very noble goal to have but it is too general to be very useful for a team. A more specific (and therefore more useful) goal is to learn the entire dive pool and have done all the formations at least twice by the end of the year.
Now, wanting to win 4-way Open at this year's Nationals is a very specific goal but it is not realistic for the majority of teams. If a team can only afford to do 50 jumps in a year then it is not an
achievable goal. Be sure that your goals fit the means of what everybody is willing and capable of doing.
Beginning teams don't always have the knowledge and experience to know if a certain goal is realistic or not. Often their goals are either too high or too low. The danger of setting a goal that is too high is that frustration will set in. The danger of setting a goal that is too low is that you are limiting yourself unnecessarily. Working with an experienced coach can help in deciding on goals that are appropriate.
Goals can also be short term and long term. A goal that may be unachievable in the short term may be achievable in the long term. But in order to make it achievable, shorter term goals must be set. For example, the goal of winning the Nationals may not be achievable for somebody next year, but it may be achievable in 5 years. But in order to achieve it, you would set the goal of finishing in the top 20 next year and top 10 the year after that.
It is very important that everybody on your team all have the same short term goals. Somebody may eventually want to do big ways (long term goal) and not ever want to be a 4-way champion. Another person may want to be a 4-way world champion, but have no interest in big ways. But if both want to improve their flying skills by doing 4-way and agree on a goal of finishing in the top 10 in Intermediate 4-way at Nationals, then they can successfully be on a team together.
A PLAN OF ATTACK
Once you have set a goal, you need to decide on a plan that will let you achieve your goal. Again be specific and realistic in your plan.
SUGGESTIONS
I suggest that you think about what you want to get out of being on the team this year and then discuss it with each other. Be specific with your goals and be flexible and open when discussing it with each other. Then together, set team goals and the specific plan to achieve these goals. I would be happy to help you with this process.
MESL Schedule Meet 1 - May 24 Meet 2 - Jun 21 Meet 3 - July 19 Meet 4 - Aug 16 NSL Playoffs - Sept 20 - 21 Rain dates are the Sundays. If good weather prevails and the meets complete in one day, we'll have organized big(ger) ways on the Sundays. If anyone has an interest in doing some 4-way this summer, feel free to contact me directly at
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. We're here to serve. Here's to a great season in 2008! -Mike |
Thank you for making Start Skydiving the place where great people become skydivers and skydivers become great! Blue Skies, The Team at Start Skydiving |
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