When I last posted from Taupo, in late December 2013, the two Pacific Aerospace 750XL's on skydiving duty were the all pink ZK-SDT of Skydive Taupo Ltd and the yellow,black and white ZK-TTL of Tandem Skydiving (2002) Ltd ( see www.nzcivair.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/taupo-airport-21-12-2013.html .
In early March 2014 there were two different 750XL's operating: ZK-JQK of Tandem Skydiving (2002) Ltd of Taupo,
And ZK-SDF of Skydive Auckland Ltd (of Taupo!). As with the last time I visited, the two parachute aircraft were hard at it dropping tourists on tandem skydives, with some solo jumpers. Is Taupo the busiest skydiving airport in New Zealand?
Almost certainly yes, the busiest skydive airfield, the only other contender being Jardines at Queenstown.
ReplyDeleteJQK is normally resident at Kerikeri working for Skydive Bay of Islands and SDF at Parakai with Auckland Skydive, both companies have affiliations with Taupo Tandem Skydive.
TTL is back at Taupo with their other workhorse, Nomad SNZ.
Nzone would definitely take first place with their combination of Super Caravans and Crescos, the last time Taupo overtook Nzone in terms of tandem skydive numbers would have been during the price race between the 3 drop zones in the mid 2000s when tandem skydives dropped as low as $99
ReplyDeleteTaupo used to be the busiest Tandem drop zone in the world, I think numbers have probably come back a bit in the last few years. Nzone would definitely be the busiest single company in NZ, but I am not sure who doing the biggest numbers if you compared them to the total of the two companies operating in Taupo?
ReplyDeleteSteve Smith of NZ Skydive School in Methven has recently sold the business and is selling ZK-PMT. Has one of the Taupo skydiving companies picked this up? They did just pick up Bay of Islands!
ReplyDeleteThe skydive school is apparently taking residence at Parakai, West Auckland. Hope the 208 follows the business!!
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