Skydiving school makes soft landing

With a new drop zone Skydive Tahoe owner Aja Niemann said the company has resumed hosting jumps after a month of inactivity.

The new site is located southwest of the Airport near Highway 395 and Genoa Lane.

The company moved to Minden in June 2007 from Placerville and has operated out of a leasehold at the airport.

However, a neighboring, and senior, leaseholder has begun work on a heliport next door to the skydivers, raising a safety issue for airport management.

Minden-Tahoe Airport Manager Keith Kallman said the airport is willing to offer the skydivers another place to land.

Keith said the new location has 11 acres around it with no conflicting uses, and is not that distant from the present location.

However, Aja said she is happier with the new drop zone.

"The new landing zone is grassy," she said. "It's beautiful, and a lot softer landing for the students. It's close enough to the airport that it doesn't hinder our operations by any means. It's just awesome.

"We're really grateful for the support we've received," she said. "We've been in a tight situation, but now because we have options, it's a win-win for everyone."

Aja said the school has allowed lots of people to skydive who might not have otherwise.

"We took a deaf couple on a skydive," she said. "It's really nice we can expend our efforts for people who might not get to go. We took a guy with Lou Gehrig's disease up. We're able to really help people to make that skydive. Other operations might not have been able to cater to them."

She said she is optimistic about the skydiving school's future.

"We're here to stay," she said. "This is going to be the best summer ever."

Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.