3/2/2009

OK, this is officially the longest gap between "weekly updates" and it's certainly not due to a lack of activity. Lisa, Melissa, and I have been working throughout the winter months to build a great calendar of events for everyone. Also, our brand-new PAC 750XL is getting certified today in New Zealand and will begin its long trip over the ocean (in a shipping container) next week. Actually, while writing this update, I received an email from the factory that the aircraft passed inspection and received her "Certificate of Airworthiness". Unfortunately, she won't make it here for opening day on April 3, but we will have another PAC at CSC to cover us until "Two Sierra Tango" arrives around April 15. We will keep you posted.

On top of all that, we launched PROskydiving in late December and have been busy building the national network of DZs that are going to support our online customers. This endeavor has been very well received by the dropzones and we are proud to have over 40 participating skydiving centers on-board with many others looking over our information. Much to our surprise, we are drumming up quite a bit of business already. We expected the first 6 months or so to be a period of building the network and increasing search engine visibility, but we are seeing orders come in from all over the country. Additionally, we are evaluating some very exciting new national advertising mediums. Check it out and help us spread the word...

The Super Otter has been busy this winter. After the Holiday Boogie in Puerto Escondido (special thanks to Buzz for sending photos), we headed up the west coast to northern California to our maintenance base in San Luis Obispo, CA. We decided to position the aircraft there so we could get caught up on some maintenance items that we wanted to tackle. We've freshened up the interior, overhauled several major engine components, as well as addressed some small maintenance items. It's been great for us to fly on the weekends and put her in the hangar Monday thru Friday to make sure we continue to operate the nicest Twin Otter in skydiving. Currently, we are supporting Adventure Center Skydiving in Hollister, CA.

As it stands now, we will be sending the PAC on the road when the Otter can cover business here at CSC, but for the months of July and August, you can plan on having both aircraft available which means reduced wait times, two-plane formation loads, and more jumping!

CSC Opening Day/USPA Safety Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 4. We will be flying on Friday, April 3, so if the weather looks good, plan on ditching work. It's hard to believe we're only a month away!

If you are planning to jump on opening weekend, don't forget to get your reserve repacked. Eric Bickel is running the loft at CSC and is available right now for any rigging services. FYI, the FAA has extended our mandatory reserve pack dates from 120 days to 180 days. Contact Eric via email at TheLoft@PROskydiving.com or call 616.293.8955.

CSC has just joined forces with E-Fli, an online student training program. We are making E-Fli available to all current CSC Freefall University Students. If you are interested in accessing this amazing online training tool, contact customercare@skydivecsc.com and we can set you up with a username and password. Anyone else interested, contact us for pricing information.

We have some great activities planned for Safety Day and will discuss those plans in our next update.

We have a "dinner and movie" outing scheduled this Saturday night at Hollywood Cinema in Woodridge at 6:30pm. For more details, check out the CSC website or RSVP by becoming a member of our CSC Facebook Group. Also, we're planning a Hooter's gathering on 3/28.

CSC is now a training center for two VRW teams - CSC Mayhem and PROskydiving VRW. Mayhem is made up of Matty Wright, Sporto, PJ Jackson, Marshall Scalisi, and Chris Myks on video and PROskydiving VRW is Nathan Dexter, Peter Piotrowski, Rob Morris, myself, and Ben Crooch on video. We are all planning to jump a lot this season along with many hours of windtunnel time. I know I speak on behalf of the rest of my team when I say that I am excited about having Mayhem at CSC. We have a lot to learn and Mayhem has the experience we need. Together, we are going to have a great time and you know the airplanes will be turning!

We have several other teams ramping up to train with us this season including a 4-way team made up of Andy Boyd, Alan Butt, Henrik Sternberg, Tom Bohm, and Henrik Csuri on video. We will be posting training schedules once we get them from everyone.

We are excited to introduce PROpass - an all-you-can-jump pass for those of you who don't want to worry about how many jumps you have left on account. With PROpass, just show up and jump! You also get 6 "buddy passes" good for 20% off tandem, solo, or experienced jumps for 1 day (must be a new CSC jumper), 10% off all major gear purchases (canopies, harness/containers, AADs), and a free locker for the season. All of this for just $3,250! Do the math, it's a sweet deal! We don't have many restrictions on this, but PROpass does not cover turn loads. No black out dates, just jump, jump, jump! This offer is going to expire soon, so if you're interested, contact doug@PROskydiving.com to confirm.

Below is a recap of our 2009 buy-in rates for experienced jumpers. For those of you who purchased buy-ins in 2008, they work the same, with one small difference - from now on, all buy-in rates will fluctuate with our current retail jump price. In other words, if CSC is forced to increase jump rates due to a spike in oil futures, your slot price will increase the same amount. Inversely, if our retail price decreases, your jump price will also come down. We feel that this safeguards us from losing money in the event that oil increases at an extremely fast rate again. The average prices noted below are based on our current retail price of $23.00/jump. Jump packages were due by January 31, 2009, but we've extended that deal. Contact us ASAP to get in on a buy-in or PROpass!

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Congratulations:

• Scotty & Jessie Reedman - Colette born 2/4/2009
• Pawel & Rodica Piotrowski - Sophie Catherine born 2/4/2009
• Al & Jen Woyna - Casey Walter born 1/23/2009

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Douglas S. Smith

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Chicagoland Skydiving Center
1-800-404-JUMP (Freefall University Skydiving School)
815.286.9200 office
815.286.9902 fax
http://perfectlygoodairplane.com
customercare@skydivecsc.com

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