If you find yourself at the dropzone, you will most likely be spending some time in the manifest office. With the rapid rate of growth that Skydive Spaceland has been experiencing, we want to spread the word on some general reminders and guides for manifesting and sharing the space of the office.
The Basics: How to Manifest
What to start with:
- Number of slots you need
- The minimum call time you can make
- If we are running more than one plane available for fun jumpers, you can give a plane preference
For example, “Do you have 3 slots, more than 15 min? I’d prefer the Otter if it’s available.”
Before you give us the name(s) of who to manifest, we need to know if you are:
- Wingsuiting
- Renting Gear (per Jump or Daily rate)
- Tracking/Angle
- Hop n Poping
- Mentoring
- Organizing
Renting Gear?
If you are renting gear (Daily or Per Jump), it is important to remind (all that apply):
- Manifestor
- Mentor
- Organizer
- Coach
- DJ
- friend manifesting you
Rental Types
Daily
This means that you have ordered at least 3 pieces of a rig through our Pro Shop. This could be a container, main, reserve, and/or AAD. If you are on the daily rate, you get charged an initial fee of $37.36 and then $8.00 for every jump after for pack jobs. This means every load you get on, we have to add your gear rental and we need your help remembering!
If the gear you ordered comes in, be sure to let us know!
Per Jump
This means that you haven’t ordered gear yet and you pay $32.25 per jump that you use one of our rigs (this includes pack jobs). This also means every load you get on, we have to add your gear rental and we need your help remembering!
Manifest Etiquette
- Respect the line
- While we appreciate the kind thought of bringing fresh air into the office.. on busy days, drop your gear off before stopping by the office.
- WE KNOW YOU’RE EXCITED TO GET ON A LOAD.. but please don’t yell from the door, confirm your load and call.
Communication! Talk to the people you are manifesting to make sure they are going with you and not manifested for another load they can’t make.
Some things we need before you can jump…
Money on your account
If you don’t keep up with how much money is on your account, we will call you over the speaker to refill it. If you don’t want to wait in line to refill it, you can fund your account online! Keep in mind it takes time to process online payments, so it would be best done by the day before.
Your USPA Membership
If your USPA membership has expired, we need you to update it with us by bringing us your email confirmation or new card.
Your in-date reserve card
If your reserve packing date in our system is out of date, we’ll need to see your card to update it.
Know Your Load (Which Plane and Load Number)!
Busy Day = 3 planes = 65 slots = 65 names on one rotation of loads…
and that’s if you’re just looking at the current calls.
***Insert Picture***
This is one load on three planes.. and we manifest up to four or five loads out per plane!
That means when you don’t your load number, we look through up to 12 loads with on average 20 names each.. That’s 240 names to find yours! Load times change, load numbers don’t!
Know your load number!
Know your load for changes too
When you are
- adding friends
- pulling off
- putting yourself on with others
you need to know what plane and load number you are looking for.
Are we on a call?
There are a couple of locations all over the DZ that display the load and timer so you know the call.
That timer never stops! Even if something isn’t on a call, we can’t hit pause or 0 it out.
Be sure to listen for calls and ask if it looks like a turn or shutdown load when you manifest.
* Pro tip: When you see canopies landing you should be in the loading area.
20 minute call
Our calls are done based off of
- Average plane time up and down
- The altitudes we hear from the pilot on the radio
The calls can vary based on
- Weight of the plane (jumpers, plane, gas)
- Number of passes (hop n pop, team, STP) and any go-arounds
- Air traffic control
- Weather
Based on what the pilot tells us on the radio, we adjust calls accordingly.
5 min call
When you hear the 5 min call, you should be making your way to the loading area! We understand it’s hot in Houston, but…
- It’s important to set up your loading order before the plane gets there
- The pilot looks to see if people are out there to know if he is turning if we forget to tell him
- The loader has to check to make sure his load sheet matches the people before you get on the airplane.
Downtime
We love working in the office and because operations can’t pause, we spend a lot of time behind the counter! You are welcome to spend some time in the AC office, however if you don’t need anything, please hang out at the tables and not leaning on or around the counter so people who need us can get to us. Also, given how much traffic we have though the office, we appreciate our quiet downtime. If you are having a conversation with someone who doesn’t work in the office that doesn’t relate to office things, we invite you to take that chat to any of the other 130 acres that we own.
Thank you Spacelanders!
We love our jumpers and we thank you for your patience on busy days! We love our jobs and seeing everyone progress in a safe and positive environment makes us proud to be part of such an awesome place!