How to make money on parachuting (part 5)
There are among Ukrainian craftsmen and craftsmen specializing in the manufacture of accessories, especially helmets and overalls. However, according to Mikhail Alekseenko, such productions cannot be called full-fledged: “Most of the craftsmen carry out orders from case to case, none of them have a stable number of orders, and the production of the same helmets is only a side job for them, which is not the main income.”Most manufacturers, by the way, try to maximize the range of products offered. For example, the Russian company ParaAvis, in addition to the production of equipment for skydiving, also develops and sells paragliders, hang gliders, etc. The Ukrainian company Aeros also has a similar strategy – it produces only canopy for Ground-Launch from parachute equipment (flights along slope of the mountain), but at the same time produces motor hang gliders, gliders and paragliders. According to Alexei Sharadkin, narrow specialization, for example, the production of exclusively parachutes or knapsacks, severely limits the competitiveness of companies – the demand for products is relatively small and the volume of orders does not allow the company to function successfully. However, there are exceptions to this rule. The company Skylark was initially focused only on the production of the main domes for skydiving, which did not prevent it from successfully developing and competing on equal terms with Western manufacturers.
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How can I make money
1. Production of parachute equipment – the main domes, satchels, clothes, accessories.
2. Sale of parachute equipment of foreign manufacturers.
3. Maintenance of equipment – repair, revision etc.
4. Organization of jumps.
5. Coaching – training athletes in various parachute disciplines.
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Expertise
Unearthly pleasure
Association President
“PARA-SKUF” Dmitry Karpekov on how to make money on the job from air hobby
How much money did you need to set up the PARA-SKUF Association?
– The association was registered in 2000. Then the initial investments were relatively small – about $ 50 thousand. This money was spent on obtaining permits and approvals, renting a helicopter, and buying several parachute systems. A flying club existed in Borodyanka back in Soviet times, and we used its material and technical base. The helicopter was rented from the military for a reasonable fee. The airfield itself was rented on favorable terms, since the president of the owner company (AS Corporation) was also interested in creating a well-equipped remote sensing.
When did you manage to return the invested money?
“And who said they were back?” (Smiles.) Seriously, it is extremely difficult to make a calculation and say: these are our investments and they returned on such and such a date of such and such a year. We constantly reinvest the funds received – rental and maintenance of aircraft, purchase of new parachute systems, infrastructure development. But each thousand invested in two or three years brings several thousand, which in turn are directed to the development of the Association. We are going to buy our own aircraft, which means that new investments will be required.
