Cutaway01 0 #26 October 12, 2007 following it down is ok if the canopy is going to land in a nice open field but what about swamps, woods, housing areas, and corn fields. I think the skydivers experience level would come into play on that one. Safty first. Remember your on your reserve not your main canopy. I agree with folloing the canopy if the experience level is there and the conditions are right but often than not following it is dangerous and we as experienced skydivers should not urge inexperienced skydivers to do so. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #27 October 12, 2007 I charge a flat rate to recover both the main and freebag I charge 150.00. If it takes longer than expected the price remains the same. Thats if the skydiver wants me to recover it. If the skydiver wants to recover his own I will provide help for free. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #28 October 12, 2007 Quote I charge a flat rate to recover both the main and freebag I charge 150.00. If it takes longer than expected the price remains the same. Thats if the skydiver wants me to recover it. If the skydiver wants to recover his own I will provide help for free. Considering I saw someone pay 4 times that for a chopper to take him looking...and that your service is less than a freebag replacement, you're offering quite a bargain! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar 5 #29 October 12, 2007 Gee guess I need to quit doing that shit for free and raise my prices.you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #30 October 12, 2007 Quote Gee guess I need to quit doing that shit for free and raise my prices. You're just an ole softy, Star... I for one wouldn't expect someone to spend 'their' time looking for 'my' stuff without some kind of compensation. Then again I'm pretty cheap and would just follow it down myself...'Gaters be damned! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #31 October 12, 2007 My most difficult recovery was after a bag lock, that left the reserve free bag and pilot chute in the top of a 40-foot pine tree, out on the end of the limbs. No one dared to try and climb up there. And it was on a golf course, so we couldn't just cut the large tree down. What to do? Coincidentally, a large outdoor packing tent had blown down recently in a wind storm. So I gathered up some sections of the pipe from the tent, and took them to the site, along with some assistants. We connected the sections together, and then raised them in the air, just like the flag pole on Iwo Jima. Except this one weighed about 100 lbs. We then manipulated the pole carefully to fish my gear out of the tree top. A little innovation and jury-rigging saved me a lot of money. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #32 October 12, 2007 QuoteI for one wouldn't expect someone to spend 'their' time looking for 'my' stuff without some kind of compensation. Yes, this is something that friends should just do for each other. You help others, because some day you're going to need help in return. And I note that you put "some" in italics, which would indicate that a couple of beers at the end of the day should suffice. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
efs4ever 3 #33 October 12, 2007 QuoteJust curious, what is the normal 'contribution' by someone if you recover the canopy & or free-bag? Is it a standard cost, or more if it takes a lot more time? I have my phone number and a "Reward for Return" note in Sharpie on my Freebag Bridle.Russell M. Webb D 7014 Attorney at Law 713 385 5676 https://www.tdcparole.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 232 #34 October 12, 2007 Quote Agree or disagree - those are my opinions. Hey Mikey, you ever been to a Turkish prison?"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 232 #35 October 12, 2007 Quote I would love to give you the top ten tips but I would have to explane each one. I have developed a method of finding the canopy and freebag in a short amount of time. I wanted to try just a pamplet but there is so much info that the pamplet would turn into a book anyway you have to understand I have years of recovering just about everything lost during a skydive. There is more to it than everyone relize. For example your main canopy goes in a corn field and the corn field is so large that searching the field would take you a couple of weeks I can recover it inside a half day and I have done just that before in Quency Ill. Now to explain how I would go about doing that would take alone a couple of pages. I would use a step by step method to recover it. I think an article published here or in Skydiving Magazine would be a good idea. I bet it would be a valuable item to have sitting around any dropzone."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 232 #36 October 12, 2007 Quote I charge a flat rate to recover both the main and freebag I charge 150.00. If it takes longer than expected the price remains the same. Thats if the skydiver wants me to recover it. If the skydiver wants to recover his own I will provide help for free. I'm glad I jump at DZs where everyone helps everyone else find gear. My DZO at Louisa has even gone out during the week to walk the woods by himself to find gear. I'm not saying you're being opportunistic. I know the terrain at Zhills, and know that what you're doing is a tremendous convenience to all the out-of-towners who are there trying to get in a solid day of jumping and would be completely hosed if their whole group had to stop to go find gear."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,047 #37 October 12, 2007 Hi efs4ever, Quote I have my phone number and a "Reward for Return" note in Sharpie on my Freebag Bridle. Reminds me of an incident back in the '60's; some guys were doing a demo and one guy had a mal with cutaway on his ParaCommander. He couldn't find it and the next day the local paper ran an article about the 'near death experience' and said that there was a $250 reward for the return of the canopy. A couple of days later he got a call and the guy said that he had the canopy and how should he meet him for the $250. The owner said that the article was wrong and the reward was really $25. The caller hungup and that was the last of the owner's canopy. JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZigZagMarquis 8 #38 October 12, 2007 Quote I have my phone number and a "Reward for Return" note in Sharpie on my Freebag Bridle. I do the same thing with ever space ball I make... except its not my name or phone number I write on it... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar 5 #39 October 12, 2007 Free advertising for Webb's legal services and the 800 #..... classic. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #40 October 13, 2007 Here is the solution for a freebag in a tree, go get yourself a fishing pole with twenty five pound test line on it, then get yourself two hundred feet of five fifty cord and a couple of sinkers. take the fishing pole and cast the sinker over a limb that is higher and directly above the freebad. Then attach the five fifty cord to your fishing line and pull it up and over the limb once thats completed your next step in dependet on how the freebag is hanging in the tree if the pilotchute is hanging down then simply work the five fifty cord until you can wrap the cord around the pilot chute this will take several wraps then just simply pull the freebag down. if the freebag is pilot chute is not hanging down then I usually have a forked stick with me and I attach the fork stick to the five fifty cord with the Y of the stick pointing down then simply pull the forked stick up past the bridle and then pull it back down hooking the bridle this will cause the bag or the pilot chute to drop down then simply wrap the five fifty cord arund it and pull it down. I have removed hundreds of freebag from just about every kind of tree you can think of its simple and it dont damage the freebag at all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #41 October 13, 2007 So what your saing is I should take of work go out and search for a canopy and freebag. and after three days searching find it and then say dont forget my beer this weekend. This is hard work and time consuming. There are exceptions to the rule if I go out and find the canopy in an hour or it just out in an open field I would propley not charge anything or I would just say beer or what ever you want to give me is fine. I wish I could show everyone the things I have gone through to recover a canopy I have done just about anything you can think of. I dont stop until the canopy and freebag is found and returned. there are a lot of expenses involved also like Gas, food, water, sometimes the cost of an airplane, and sometimes I have to pay a ransum because some idiot thinks what falls from the sky is his. sometimes I take off work because if I dont the canopy will be worthless. So I do agree with you if the canopy is very easy to get then I dont mind but what I am talking about is a hunt. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marcandalysse 0 #42 October 13, 2007 Robert, thanks for posting on dz.com Robert is one of zhills greatest resources. As mentioned, we are surrounded by forests, swamps, alligators etc. I always like to see Robert in his 'canopy hunter' outfit.....very cool, looks like someone you'd see on travel channel! Robert, you could write a book about your treasure hunting overseas, I loved hearing your stories! Marc "The reason angels can fly is that they take themselves so lightly." --GK Chesterton Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #43 October 13, 2007 lets get one thing straight I have never ever in all the years I have recovered gear ever held anyone canopy for any reason. I return everything I find to the righful owner its up to the owner to decide to pay me or not. I have even at my own expence recovered canopys and mailed them back to the owner and never heard from them again. So let not start the ransum thing. I have come close to putting people in jail for that and if the skydiver that owned the canopy would have pressed charges they would hve gone to jail. Its illigal to pick up and keep a canopy or freebag its theft. IF I woure to hold someones canopy until they paid me I would be commiting theft. The law that governs that is call the Lost or abandend law. To keep a canopy and not turn it into the police is a filony in the third degree. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,047 #44 October 14, 2007 Whoa, time out. I do not believe that I mentioned anything about what you do. I'm sorry if you took it that way. JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #45 October 14, 2007 you didn't upset me I have been falsely accused of that befoe and I guess I am a little sensitive about that Sorry. I did some research in the laws about lost items. I love to see everyone get there gear back my fee is secondary. I strickly leave my fee up to the skydiver. again I am sorry if I came across to strong. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boffin 0 #46 October 16, 2007 after spending a good part of my day Sunday looking for a friends main, I would defiantly appreciate learning these tips and tricks, be it a pamphlet or a book. The less time your out looking the less loads you miss. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rick 67 #47 October 22, 2007 Hey Robert please add your method for getting the main out of a tree without tearing it upsure helped me out I think the book is a good idea edited to add: didn't read all the posts before posting On my first cutaway by the time I dropped off my shit and went looking for my canopy Robert was already getting it out of a tree. After he got it down he brought it to me at the bar and handed it to me not asking for shit but of course I gratefully tipped him for his services. I would have probably kille myself trying to climb the tree to retrieve the canopy. You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DangerRoo 0 #48 October 22, 2007 post some stuff on here and sell the book (I.C.D#2 VP) "<3 ..Looks like breasts coming out of an ice cream cone. Mmmm."~John Mitchell "I'm good with my purple penis straw" ~sky mama Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 20 #49 November 1, 2007 sure could have used your help at Rantoul a couple of years ago. Ground crew found my main immediately and saw where my freebag went into a nearby soybean field, but we never did find the bag even after hours of searching and a low flyby. It was like those soybeans ate it and left no trace.2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
philly51 0 #50 November 7, 2007 Robert, First of all, great idea! Of course you will be trying to touch a small audience and none of the young skydiving chicks need any help. They always seem to have enough. Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, Shouting "...holy shit...what a ride!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
