Iflyme 0 #1 May 22, 2001 This past weekend, at the 34th annual "Kamloops May Meet" here in BC, I was on a load with Tee and 174fps on a F27, the "Fokker". This is a cargo plane that one of our skydiving pilots managed to wrangle for a day of jumping... We were on the 2nd load of the day - 44 of us in this damn thing! Exit was about 17'000 AGL. Talk about prop blast! An 8-way ahead of my group took a heck of a long time to climb out, so by the time we got out, the spot was way long ... landed out (tons of good outs available) along with a bunch of others. 1:20 of freefall was pretty cool! So for this weekend, at what might have been the the biggest boogie in BC ever (MIGHT have been), I owe beer for my first twin-otter jump, first king air jump, first Fokker jump, first out landing, and my first competition jump! (got a bronze in junior style!) ... Oh yeah, we flew up, and jumped in - and favaks followed me out the door! But now - must sleep ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Billy 0 #2 May 22, 2001 Dam Frank that sounds like too much fun!! Cheers!! Is that an annual boogie?? I'm there next year if it is,, and bringing some friends!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Billy 0 #3 May 22, 2001 Doh!! 34th eh,, OK were there next year!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
favaks 0 #4 May 22, 2001 It was a blast! I can't seem to remember anything prior to the boogie. I'm sitting here at working grinning all day long The Huey jump was indescribable. It was nice meeting you. I didn't get a chance to jump with you at all--next time. Those 4-ways I did with Tee, 172fps, and Dave were "awesome" I ended the boogie dropping into my dz doing a head-down. Life just doesn't get any better than this!-favaks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PalmettoTiger 1 #5 May 22, 2001 Man, that sounds AWESOME!! Lessee... do I know anyone near Kamloops... mebbe I have some frequent flyer miles coming. Shoot, I'll get there any way I can! Blues, squares,PTiger Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Iflyme 0 #6 May 22, 2001 QuoteLife just doesn't get any better than this!Agreed! I've been feeling like I'm still in a plane or in the air since last night! The whole boogie went past too quickly for me - but I'm already looking foward to next year! Tee and 174fps and favaks, I'm sorry we couldn't get it together for that photo op Monday afternoon ... I ended up going for one last jump out of the King Air... but I think favaks had the best way to finish off the weekend -- by jumping in to his home DZ -- Awesome! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Billy 0 #7 May 22, 2001 Hay Tiger,,Fly into Spokane and drive up with me, us!! Can't let them crazy Canucks have all the fun!! ; ) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zennie 0 #8 May 22, 2001 I take it a Fokker is somewhere between a CASA and a C-130?------------Blue Skies!Zennie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyboy62000 0 #9 May 23, 2001 Its the airplane the Golden Knights travel in. Looks kind of like a big otter. High wing twin turboprop. I've never jumped one, but they are pretty nice airplanes.Blue Skies,Adam Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 3 #10 May 23, 2001 The Fokker F-27 Friendship is indeed the aircraft used by the Golden Knights demonstration teams. They have two of them. The aircraft has two very-large rear doors that slide horizontally into the skin of the aircraft on either side during jump operations. It gets pretty windy in the back when both doors are open. The F-27 has a quite-fast drop speed. It's pretty cool to exit both sides in a hard poised track and stay looking accross at your buddy (through the plane!)for a second before you peel away. A Fokker will hold more jumpers than a CASA 212 if there are no pallets or anything inside; it is quite a bit longer.Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Craig 0 #11 May 23, 2001 Here is a couple images of the Knights Fokker F-27 that I photographed at U.S.Air and Trade Show. I would love to jump out of this plane!http://my.voyager.net/cattell/F-27.jpghttp://my.voyager.net/cattell/F-27_TO.jpgCraig Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #12 May 23, 2001 Wow, that's a big plane! It looks like its longer than a CASA! And it has a tailgate exit as well as that side entrance? Kick ass!! How many skydivers can it hold??Speed RacerBrew Skies Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Craig 0 #13 May 23, 2001 QuoteWow, that's a big plane! It looks like its longer than a CASA! And it has a tailgate exit as well as that side entrance? Kick ass!! How many skydivers can it hold??It only has side door exits, two of them in the rear right across from each other. In the first pic if you look carefully you can see through the aircraft if you look through the rear door. As for number of jumpers, according to Frank it at least holds 44! And yes, it is longer than a CASA.Craig Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Iflyme 0 #14 May 24, 2001 Quoteaccording to Frank it at least holds 44There was room for more on my load! They were looking for 50 on the next load (don't think they got that many). People on the right side of the plane would exit thru that door, and the people on the left side thru that door. One issue was hypoxia... the first load had made a first pass but the spot was off (remember, this was the first time these people had sport skydivers in their aircraft), so they did a go around, but had to stand down because Airforce 2 (your Vice-President's plane) was in the airspace... so they apparently ended up going to 24,000 feet while Airforce 2 cleared the airspace. The plane was pressurized on the way up, but the doors had been opened for the first jumprun... anyway, it wasn't until an hour after take-off that the jumpers got to exit. Fortunately there were no problems, other than a bunch of out landings... on our load, we did just one pass, and the high altitude sickness was just starting to become slightly noticeable for some of us... my only regret is that I didn't jump the HUEY with favaks after jumping the Fokker! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slotperfect 7 #15 May 24, 2001 The Golden Knights' Fokkers are designated by the military as C-31s. The drop speed is 115 KIAS. It is more difficult to exit than other side doors because of the drop speed, the proximity of the engines to the jump door (prop blast), and the way the door angles in toward the rear. You have to exit aggressively. Those particular aircraft have enough seats for about 34 jumpers. They are configured with standard web troop seats in the rear, and airline seats in the front for the Demonstration Teams to travel in. During airshows, the 6 seats nearest the jump doors are reserved for the local media, who ride along as the team does their show.Respectfully,SP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tee 0 #16 May 24, 2001 Quote It was nice meeting you. I didn't get a chance to jump with you at all--next time. Those 4-ways I did with Tee, 172fps, and Dave were "awesome" Just so you know, Tee is phat! Awww shucks...thanks Favaks. *blush* I had such a great time too. It was a hoot putting a face to my new dz.com friends. (really...there was no room....honest) Thanks again for the great weekend guys!Tee Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
174fps 1 #17 May 24, 2001 Quote a$$ out the door I'm sure Brian would agree your a$$ is just FINE theDOOR was the problem.thanks for the sunblock, fps now stands for "fried peelingsunburn" without the block it would have been much worse!!If we try again at Lost Prairie we'll go from the skyvanno door problems there.I know I float a bit but it's 174fps not 172.Andrew Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slotperfect 7 #18 May 24, 2001 More F-27/C-31 info:http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/GoldenKnights/Aviation/fokker.htm http:// www.mmgmdrunen.cistron.nl/f27.htm Enjoy!Respectfully,SP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Iflyme 0 #19 May 30, 2001 Pix from the Kamloops May Meet have been posted, including this one of the Fokker we jumped from:http://members5.clubphoto.com/_cgi-bin/fetch.cgi/////skydive369746/May_Meet_2001__May_20th_1-60/jpg/15/15.jpg Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
