NYTimes aritcle...now bill booth is *really* famous!

[emartin 0]

i've been lagging on my talk back forum lurking, so this may be up already...there's an article in the times today about skydiving that is a pleasant change from all of the sensationalist crap that's been out there lately.

NYTimes article

does anyone know the jm or is the jm reading here that had the mal with the reporter? pretty exciting stuff!

[MarkM 0]

Anyone got a version that doesn't require registration?

[rgoper 0]

all this link does is take you to the "sign up and become a member" page. but Bill has been famous for years!

--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

[skydiverbrian 0]

Hey emartin! How 'bout a cut-n-paste of the article?

In a world full of people, only some want to fly... isn't that crazy! --Seal

[emartin 0]

forgot about the registration stuff...here's an account i set up i you'd like to sign in to read the article...

username: skydivingreader
password: 12345

[emartin 0]

cutting and pasting sounds good to me, skydiverbrian...here you go:

from the NYTimes travel section on july 26, 2002...

*****

FROM ESCAPES | JOURNEYS

Taking the Plunge Into the Great Beyond
By ANNA BAHNEY

T 10,000 feet above Sonoma County, the parallel lines of vineyards curving through the wineries below looked like the fingerprint of Northern California. Hills with knuckled bunches of trees sloped down to the blue vein of the Russian River as shafts of sun entered the Cessna's windows. It was a serene view and I felt calm, even as my fingers maniacally rubbed my seat belt.
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"Ready?" a voice yelled above the din of the engine, interrupting the reverie and momentary self-denial that I was about to jump out of a plane.

The voice was that of Dave Pifke, my jump instructor. In less time than it had taken me to sign away my life for the opportunity to sky-dive, Mr. Pifke had clipped himself to my harness from behind in four places. He pushed up the airplane's door at my right and I felt the tug of gravity. I turned back to give a last look to the friend who had made reservations for us at Skydive San Francisco in Cloverdale, Calif., after a seemingly innocuous "things I've never done" conversation. He responded with eyebrows raised in encouragement, and I put my right foot on the ledge outside the plane.

But my hands would not let go of the doorway. Mr. Pifke gently pulled them across my chest. I nodded to him and with a deep in-breath we tumbled out into the void.

As I gulped down a column of air straight from the sky, Mr. Pifke steered us in a 360-degree view of the land below. He pulled the rip cord, and the chute opened about 16 feet above us. We were yanked to a vertical position and soared under the canopy. But only for a moment. Then we started spinning wildly. Though I did not realize it at the time, the parachute had not opened properly and was now tangling into itself. This was not good.

"Did you like that free fall?" Mr. Pifke asked. Without waiting for my response, he said, "Good; we're going to do it again," and cut free the tangled chute, propelling us into a second, terrifying plunge to the ground.

Recreational sky diving, primarily the domain of extreme-sport enthusiasts, has become more accessible with the popularization of tandem jumping, in which an experienced jumper takes a novice along, strapped in front for the ride. For less than $200 and half a day of your time, you can add a notch to your adventure belt, to go along with rock climbing, water skiing and parasailing. An estimated 250,000 people tandem jump each year, and there are jumping facilities all over the country.

Tandem sky diving — in which an experienced jumper controls an approximately 60-second free fall and five minutes under a single canopy — offers an incomparable rush, a wholly new physical sensation and maybe a video as proof.

"A lot of people are glad to do it, and glad to be done with it," said Jim Crouch, the director of safety and training at the United States Parachute Association, the certificate organization for sky diving.

Even for those with little appetite for exiting solo from a perfectly good plane, tandem jumps are becoming a visceral way to memorably mark life's major events. What better celebration of the end of bachelorhood, the end of college or the end of your 40's than by emblazoning a sensory overload on that period of your life?

Derek Sawyer of Boscawen, N.H., awoke on a morning just before his 50th birthday last month to discover that his daughter had organized an 11-member party of family and friends to make the jump he had always talked about. Mr. Sawyer, a service manager at a truck dealership, said, "When you only do it once in a lifetime, it is just one of those days you never forget." Some of his friends had other reactions. He said, "A friend who jumped with us called me a week after and told me, `For your 60th, make sure you know what your kids are planning before inviting me to your party.' "

Although sometimes a first sky dive is just a stunning surprise or a promise made after too many drinks, it is usually simply something one always wanted to do.

The sensation of flying was familiar to Kerry Sheehan, 21, a downhill speed-skier. "But speed while you're not touching the ground is different," Ms. Sheehan said. She didn't know she was going to throw herself from a plane when she went on a "camping trip" with her boyfriend until the road ended with a sign for Skydive New England in Lebanon, Me.

"I pulled over to the side of the road because I was freaking out, afraid I was going to wreck the car," Ms. Sheehan said. "An hour later I was jumping out of a plane at 13,500 feet."

Tandem sky diving became a recreational opportunity in the early 1980's, after equipment light and strong enough to handle two bodies became available. Developed by Ted Strong and Bill Booth, competing gear manufacturers based in Florida, tandem jumping went through years of experimentation before the method used today emerged.

The Federal Aviation Agency kept tandem jumping in a regulatory gray area for 17 years before sanctioning it in July 2001. Up until then, every person who jumped had to have a single harness and two chutes; tandem sky divers have a dual harness and a dual chute. (During the 17-year trial period, the manufacturers certified tandem instructors.)

Bill Booth, 56, is the owner and president of Uninsured Relative Workshop Inc., a company that makes harnesses and whose name purposely indicates the legal risks.

"In 1983, when the technology got there, I said it's time," Mr. Booth said. "I put together a big chute, made a harness, strapped on my secretary and we jumped out of the plane." Ted Strong did much the same thing. Then the two manufacturers began to look at methods of regulating the sport for people not as eccentric as themselves.

"I looked at all the ways people got killed in normal sky diving," Mr. Booth said, referring to how he developed rules for the sport. "For example, people get too low before they open."

So they recommended a release altitude for tandem jumpers of 5,000 feet. A typical solo jumper can open the chute at 2,500 feet. They intended to allow tandem jumpers 2,500 feet (albeit a matter of 12 seconds) to cope with any problems.

A drogue chute is released during free fall to slow the velocity to 120 miles an hour from 170 miles an hour, on a par with the rate of descent for a solo jumper. Additionally, each pack is equipped with an automatic activation device, which digitally monitors air pressure from the moment the plane leaves the ground and self-deploys the reserve chute if the people are falling too fast when they reach 2,000 feet.

Those worried about the risks of tandem jumping might take some solace from Mr. Booth's analysis. "The main chute has a one-in-a- thousand chance of not opening," he said. "The reserve chute fails at the same rate. If neither of them open, at a-million-to-one odds, it's just not your day."

"Good. We're going to do it again."

We broke away from the malfunctioning main chute and entered a second free fall — roughly 1,000 feet in five seconds — with my heart in my throat and my voice trailing behind us in a scream. Then Mr. Pifke pulled the reserve rip cord and suddenly there was the hug of the harness and the bounce of rope as the reserve parachute opened up into what my friend later called "the prettiest blue I ever saw."

I knew that everything was all right when I looked down to the airfield we were aiming for and saw the drop zone employees running and waving at us. Then one of them dropped his pants in a salute to Mr. Pifke's abilities and the two of us were laughing as we landed hard on the tarmac.

As my friend and I left the airport, we felt charged, a little wobbly and reverent for the hold of the ground. The employees, who collectively arrange for about 1,500 jumps a year, gathered around to send us off, waving and calling out, "Drive safely."

*****

this is better anyhow, cuz you can avoid all of the pop under windows that the site throws your way...

• Quote

[TEB6363 0]

I had not seen that one before. There was one with Seb about 3 months ago at Monterey Bay. This article was nicely written. Thanks for posting.

Once the plane takes off, you're gonna have to land - Might as well jump out!!

[flyhi 24]

Quote

Bill Booth, 56, is the owner and president of Uninsured Relative Workshop Inc., a company that makes harnesses and whose name purposely indicates the legal risks.

Love that name. I guess, "We Don't Have Shit for Money So Don't Even Think About Suing Us Relative Workshop Inc" just wouldn't fit on a business card.

Nice article. Mahalo.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[skygeek 0]

Welcome to the New World Order. Expect no Mercy.