Located in New Zealand, Central North Island, Taupo Tandem Skydiving(TTS) are situated on the shores of Lake Taupo in the beautiful volcanic plateau of the Tongariro National Park. Taupo Tandem Skydiving is the first tandem skydive operation in New Zealand and is currently the largest in Australasia.

Exiting the plane between 6000 feet to 15000 feet (15000 is oxygen assisted), the customers have the opportunity to experience the incomparable exhilaration of free-falling. A spectacular parachute ride over the stunning background of the Lake Taupo region and the snow capped volcanoes ends the adventure.

TTS use off the shelf Apple products ranging from a Power Mac G4 to a Power Mac 7200 and although a lot of planning and set up time has gone into the following technology it has proved a very simple system to teach new operators. Even TTS's supplier and mac technician (Machelp@xtra.co.nz) has little to do now with most of the basic maintenance done on site.

Once the clients have decided on what kind of jump they want and whether they would like some personal freefall footage or not they "gearup" and get some instruction from their tandem master. For a tandem jump with freefall footage a freefall cameraman will jump out at the same time. He has mounted onto his helmet a Sony digital camera (Sony is preferred because of the small size, robustness, and picture quality) and a SLR still camera.

On the way down a roll of film will be shot as well as the video. In the event that the still camera fails (condensation on the lens, electronic shutter activator) we take a series of still images from the Sony video camera using iMovie and print out the results on an Epson Photo printer.
This gives the customer the complete experience recorded on digital video and photo prints for memories of a lifetime that can be shared with everybody. For Taupo Tandem Skydiving the use of Apple, Sony and Epson products gives simplicity, superior quality and reliability.

For administration TTS use an iMac and the 7200 as a slave operating on software custom written on File Maker Pro with a Multi User Licence. This gives instant feedback and analysis on key performance indicators as well as individual staff performance. It enables the business to make decisions on a well informed basis quickly and efficiently as well as keeping an eye on the effectiveness of such diverse topics as marketing, sales analysis, and customer profiles.
Last but not least, customers use the e-mail station to then send their Exitshot photos or a small QuickTime video on a Power Mac G3 with an Apple Studio Display via the Web to friends and family all over the world, to share this amazing experience they have just had.

For further information: Taupo Tandem Skydiving P.O. Box 378 - Taupo - New Zealand Phone: +64 - 7 - 3770428 Fax: +64 - 7 - 3780468 E-mail: skydive@tts.net.nz

For more information about the Taupo Tandem Skydiving, go to www.taupotandemskydiving.com
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