Dropzone, the Movie: My Observations

[Gato 0]

I can't imagine how many times this has been discussed here . . . . . .

I remember seeing part of this Wesley Snipes jewel on cable not long after it came out, and it was quite a different experience seeing the whole flick from the perspective I have now.

I'm not going to bother pointing out everything I saw that made me say, "Bullshit," but there were a couple of things I wanted to bitch, uh . . I mean, uh . . talk about:

1. How refreshing to see a hottie female DZO. How disturbing to see her drink part of a beer 5 minutes before a tandem jump. Excuse me, I'll call this a "No Shadow" tandem through a trap door. Could someone please tell me where that pink plane (Pac 750??) is now, and does it still have a trap door? (It wasn't just SFX, you can see it on the bottom as the plane banks away.)

Just a sidenote, I happen to know a hottie DZO.

2. Interesting that every chute in the film except for the tandems is a 7-cell. Is this a reflection of the time period, or is it because of all the CRW in the movie? Also, PD is mentioned in the credits, but isn't Swoop's main made by Precision?

3. Also interesting to me that the young guy, Selkirk, is way way excited about jumping that red Racer, and gets to ditch his stupid Protec. Not to knock the Racer, it's just that I seem to hear a lot of stories of Racer and Reflex containers opening on the step. Again, just stories.

4. Is it commonplace, or was it commonplace at one time to see a 4-way RW team starting a fight over their favorite table at the Burn In Bar?

5. This did bother me, though: When Sellkirk loses his left riser because of the severed cutaway cable, he would have been soooooooo dead. You hear one of the judges say "4000 feet," and I started counting. He was at terminal at this point, tryin to pull his reserve. Swoop cutaway and tracked over, extracted Selly's reserve (not his PC?????) and pulled his own D-ring at almost exactly 20 seconds. Sooooo dead. Both of them.

That's about it. I will say that I did enjoy watching the movie, especially Gary Busey's track into a windshield at the end. That was fucking hilarious. And there is some good RW and canopy footage, which is always cool. Are any of the actors actual skydivers, does anyone know?

Also, Swoop is my new hero. He looks a lot like Ben Affleck, he apparently lives and sleeps on a window washing rig, does intentional CRW wraps for his newbie friends, and won't talk to you unless you've jumped with him. I also liked that he's willing to cut away at the drop of a hat. And you have to admire a man who will take a job for a free T-shirt.

I wonder how my wife will handle me not speaking to her until she's jumped with me?

T.I.N.S.

[monkycndo 0]

Never heard of the movie. So, was it any good?

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[Thanatos340 1]

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. Could someone please tell me where that pink plane (Pac 750??) is now

A PAC 750 did not exist when that movie was made. I beleive that the Plane was a Porter, And I read on here somewhere that some Porters actually do have the Trap Door.
Porters are GREAT Jump planes, HUGE door and a Jungle Gym outside.

[Gato 0]

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I beleive that the Plane was a Porter, And I read on here somewhere that some Porters actually do have the Trap Door.

Gotcha - I've only jumped out of Cessnas so far, and I haven't been to a larger DZ. Gotta get to know those planes.

Thanks!

T.I.N.S.

[raftman 12]

Yeah, the pink plane was a porter. I've jumped it many times when it was at SD Dallas years ago, but never thru the trap door (yes, it has one).
Another funny bit: after they jump out of it you can see the plane parked in the background when they land.

[NWFlyer 2]

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Another funny bit: after they jump out of it you can see the plane parked in the background when they land.

Well, when you freefall as long as they do, there's plenty of time for the plane to get down.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[TrophyHusband 0]

there were at least 2 "crazy flamingo" porters. i have done a trap door jump out of n19tx. its a neat jump to do because you have no idea when you are going to be dropped.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Gato 0]

Yeah - I zoomed in on the tail and saw that logo, and I was wondering if that was just for the movie.

The trap door sounds like fun!

Do you know if they've been retired? It'd be a wacky-ass thing to be able to lease it for a small boogie, kind-of like renting the "Back to the Future" nuclear DeLorean for your birthday, you know?

T.I.N.S.

[kingbunky 3]

there were pics on this site somewhere (maybe from n2skdvn?) of him dropping though the trap door. also, seems to me that someone posted that the pink porter crashed and is now out of service?

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[n2skdvn 0]

heres some pics i captured off a video of me going out the trap door on said porter. was great plane to jump from!

if my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN
my site

[BillyVance 34]

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. Could someone please tell me where that pink plane (Pac 750??) is now

A PAC 750 did not exist when that movie was made. I beleive that the Plane was a Porter, And I read on here somewhere that some Porters actually do have the Trap Door.
Porters are GREAT Jump planes, HUGE door and a Jungle Gym outside.

It was a Pilatous Porter. It was based at Gold Coast Skydivers for a while back in the late 90's or the early part of this decade. I actually did the bomb bay door exit twice in the same day. It was one of the funnest things I have done. You would laugh your ass off at the video of everyone doing it that day.

The last I heard of it, it sustained landing gear damage landing on a Texas grass runway when it hit a hole. I don't know where it is now or if it's been fixed and still flying.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Gato 0]

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The last I heard of it, it sustained landing gear damage landing on a Texas grass runway when it hit a hole. I don't know where it is now or if it's been fixed and still flying.

Cool - I'm going see if I can find a DZ that has a Porter with a trap door. That sounds like something cool and unsual to do once I'm able to solo jump. I'd bet a wingsuit exit that way would be awesome.

Do Porters have a decent climb rate and ceiling? Just curious.

T.I.N.S.

[Thanatos340 1]

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Do Porters have a decent climb rate and ceiling? Just curious.

Porters have a great climb rate for a single engine plane. We had one The Farm for the first year they were open (I think they still own it but lease it out). 14K to 15K on almost every load.
Porters are great planes for Small DZ`s but they are tail draggers and that makes the insurance much higher and a little harder to find qualified pilots.

Holds 9 Jumpers if I remember correctly but can fly with with only 5 and break even.

Here is a Great Site for Porter info http://www.pc-6.com/

This is the one we had at the Farm before we got the Grand Caravan http://www.pc-6.com/history/2040.htm#

[NWFlyer 2]

We've got one at Northwest Skydivers, and yeah, it's nice and fast. We generally don't put more than 8 in it though I think we've shoved 9 in there. Our pilot builds 'em and has a ridiculous number of hours on them, so insurance isn't an issue, but it's definitely one of the challenges. Unfortunately, the bomb bay has been covered over.

Here's ours.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Lastchance 0]

That woman can do one helluva swoop. I don't remember how long she waited after dropping Snipes thru the trap door before she got out and went after him, but by god she was able to catch him, and clip into his tandem harness and save his life. I suppose only real skydivers catch all this bullshit in these movies. Thats entertainment.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[iluvtofly 0]

What I've been told by my DZO and others at my DZ is that the Porter we use is the porter from the movie. It is no longer black and pink but polka dotted. And, it no longer has the trap door (from what I can tell, the floor now has carpeting on it.) I'm trusting what I've been told because I've heard this from Moe Villetto who was one of the stunt coordinators on the movie and jumps at my DZ.

[BillyVance 34]

It may still have the trap door. It has panels in the floor that you have to remove to expose the doors, which are flush with the bottom skin of the plane. It takes an hour or so to unscrew the panels and get it ready for bombing duty. Maybe your DZ just doesn't want to bother because it costs them money if it's sitting on the ground being worked on, and when the trap door's exposed, they can only take 4 or 5 jumpers per load.

A carpet is nice, otherwise you're sitting on bare metal.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[TrophyHusband 0]

look on the bottom to see the trap door. you have to remove the carpet and some other stuff to see the trap door from the inside.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[TrophyHusband 0]

are those miami's feet in your pics? now i think i'm going to have to watch "gold coast greatest hits 1997". there's a ton of trap door jumps in that video. plus the cool pilot-chute-around-the-neck-while-in-a-raft trick.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[MikeJD 0]

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Another funny bit: after they jump out of it you can see the plane parked in the background when they land.

I can buy that. I've seen what Porter pilots do as soon as the last person exits.

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[BillyVance 34]

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are those miami's feet in your pics? now i think i'm going to have to watch "gold coast greatest hits 1997". there's a ton of trap door jumps in that video. plus the cool pilot-chute-around-the-neck-while-in-a-raft trick.

If the video's from that timeframe, yes, it most likely is Miami's feet. He did the video that day I made the same jumps. I wish I remembered the year, but I have it on videotape. Travis flew the plane. "Jump" and "Running With The Devil" by Van Halen are on the soundtrack.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban