sharpfive 0 #1 February 23, 2003 Way back in 1979 the folks at my home DZ were doing this: They would put together a biplane, then the bottom flier would cut away and deploy a tertiary reserve. The top flier would fly and land the biplane all alone. I saw them do a lot of these, and nobody ever got hurt. Jimmy, the guy in the pic was killed in a plane crash just a couple years after the picture was taken. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattb 0 #2 February 23, 2003 Why couldn't the bottom flier use his normal reserve? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Raefordite 0 #3 February 23, 2003 Remember the year. That was a "normal" reserve for 1979! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerm 0 #4 February 23, 2003 QuoteWhy couldn't the bottom flier use his normal reserve? He could have, but there are a couple of good reasons not to. 1) it's illegal, part 105.23423423 or somesuch states in a nutshell that when jumping from a plane you have to jump with a canopy that you don't intend to use in the normal course of the jump. 2) do you really want to use your actual reserve unless you really need to? Remember, it's not your second chance, it's your last chance. Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sharpfive 0 #5 February 23, 2003 They had reserves on their backs (Wonderhogs were the rage). The reserve on the front was an extra. They still had the original reserve to fall back on just in case. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billo 0 #6 February 23, 2003 i've heard about this formation but it is the first time that i have seen a pic. i believe it is called a "ghostplane". i had one friend do one of these for a friend of his who died. after flying around the ghostplane for awhile, he let go of the canopy (which had belonged to the dead man) and they made no effort to find or retrieve it. i'd have no problem trying it, just got to get hooked up with 3 chute system!!! b Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #7 February 23, 2003 As noted just above, these were called "ghostplanes". We tried a couple of them without success way back when. One resulted in my buddy's first reserve ride when the ghost canopy entangled with his pilot chute and started collapsing his main. We used separable D-rings to attach a tertiary parachute to the main lift webs when doing intentional cutaways. We'd just chop and then dump our reserves. The tersh was just there for backup.-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TB99 0 #8 February 23, 2003 It was done in Deland just recently while testing the "skyhook." Tried to get good footage of the skyhook in action, and I think this was one good way of getting itEdited to add: The guy left with the "bi-plane" at the end was the one wearing the camera, obviously. Trailer 11/12 was the best. Thanks for the memories ... you guys rocked! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meatmissile 0 #9 February 24, 2003 Interesting. Anyone know why the words "Parachute Sport, Moonraker" appear in Russian in the lower right of the pic? -- ZZZzzzz.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sharpfive 0 #10 February 25, 2003 They were actually two separate articles. One was about a couple of jumpers who were able to jump behind the Iron Curtain without ending up in a Gulag, and the other explained how the Moonraker jumps were done. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
