Cliff Dobson started jumping June 10, 1962, in Alliance, Nebraska. His father, Park Dobson Jr., was his pilot for the first 65 jumps and Charles Jensen was his Jumpmaster. Since then Cliff has accumulated over 8,000 jumps. Cliff’s formative skydiving years were with "Shorty" and "Mike" Janousek at the Lincoln Sport Parachute Club in Lincoln, NE while he was attending the University of Nebraska (Go Big Red!). He held club offices as President and Vice President several times and was the Area Safety Officer for Nebraska and Western Iowa. Cliff was also a recipient of the Ken Sisler Memorial Award. Cliff moved to Tampa, Florida in February 1978, and took over student training at Z-Hills from 1978-1980, and was team captain of the "Z" ten-way speed team. During that time, Cliff joined the Budweiser Skydiving Demo team and became the team captain for the next ten years for both demo and competition teams. Cliff was a member of seven US Parachute Teams, six of which won Overall Champion titles. He has numerous World and National medals and Overall Championships in CRW. Cliff has also won medals in 4-way RW and Accuracy at the US Nationals. Cliff holds ratings from Static Line Jumpmaster to AFF I/E and Tandem I/E, S&TA, pilot and rigger. Cliff was a member of USPA's first AFF Certification Class in Deland and in the first class of Tandem Instructors certified by Strong Enterprises. Cliff's most memorable tandem jump was with Prince Abdullah of Jordan (now King Abdullah) over Amman. Cliff has over 1,700 jumps as an AFF JM/I and over 1,300 jumps as a Tandem Instructor. In addition to his son--Cliffer, Cliff has a daughter--Michelle, with over 3,200 jumps. Recently, his two grandsons each made their first jumps. He also has three younger brothers who have or are jumping along with one nephew who is currently jumping and his two sisters that made tandems with Cliff. Cliff has owned and operated Skydive Tampa Bay since 1980.

Michelle Dobson  My first skydive was on my 16th birthday, with Skydive Tampa Bay, over 20 years ago on August 7th.   I packed parachutes since I was 13 years old to prove my commitment to this sport and to gain knowledge just by being around it.  I knew ever since I was a small child that I would jump from an airplane someday.  I planned on it.  Lucky enough, for me, my father is the owner; (Cliff Dobson) getting permission wasn’t as hard for me as most kids would have to deal with.  It was one of the greatest birthday presents I ever received.  I started to do freefall photography about 2 years after my first jump.  It was the easiest way that I could afford to stay in my hobby.  Getting paid to do the one thing you love the most is EVERYONE'S dream!  I haven't stopped doing videos & pictures.  I find it very rewarding seeing that gleam in a new person's eyes when "they get it".   Most people will never understand how beautiful every jump can be.  The view is incredible, the adrenaline is wonderful, & the feeling is out of this world!  I've never found anything else here on the ground that gives back so much, besides love.  I have over 3,200 jumps.  I love clouds, hot-air balloons, helicopters, jumps over Hawaii, and playing with my new & old friends while I am up there.  When my feet are on the ground, I am an Orthodontic Assistant, a licensed Realtor, and a back-up singer in a local band. I live for the weekends…(More Skydiving! Yahoo!)

Lori Dobson  Bio coming soon

Cliffer Dobson Cliff Jr., better known as Cliffer, was basically born into the sport of skydiving July 3, 1965. At the age of twelve, he began packing his dad's parachute (under close supervision of course). By the time he made his first skydive on July 4, 1981, he had already accumulated nearly 5,000 pack-jobs.Cliffer's first jump at Tampa Bay Parachute Ranch was achieved through a special waiver from the USPA. At that time Ken Coleman's freefall program, now known as the Accelerated Freefall program, was not yet approved. Cliffer's jump was known as a "Harness Hold" skydive and was supervised by instructors Cliff Dobson (his father) and Alfred Boger. Within three years after graduating from the program Cliffer had acquired his Static-line Jumpmaster rating and went on to become the first AFF graduate to become an Accelerated Freefall Jumpmaster. (According to then Course Director, Paul Sitter).Cliffer has won numerous National Championships and World Championship medals in CRW and was a member of the US Parachute Team from 1983 to 1993. He also has multiple World Records from all three CRW events. His competition years, especially those as a member of the Budweiser team with his father and fellow teammate Bill Hazlett, will remain some of the most memorable skydives of his life. Cliffer currently holds ratings as an AFF Instructor, an FAA certified Senior Rigger, has been a Safety and Training Advisor and is a licensed private pilot. Cliffer has also accumulated more than 6,900 skydives and 83 hours of freefall. He has made more than 850 jumps as an AFF/JM/I, and nearly 2,400 tandem skydives with only one malfunction (He didn't pack that one.) And most notably for Cliffer, he was able to surpass his goal of 5,000 skydives with no malfunctions. Cliffer is currently retired and pursuing other challenges with his wife Tish & their sons. He still checks in and helps maintain the website for us.