Bill Booth featured on Huffington Post

[kallend 1,623]

www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/bill-booth-skydiving_n_3683967.html

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[pop0tart 0]

..and let the whuffos begin sharing their ignorance in the comment section

[rwieder 0]

Do you think it's a good thing, or a bad thing? I consider him a pioneer in our sport and always have.

Best-
Richard

[FataMorgana 0]

In my opinion video clip with Bill Booth is awesome and undeniably inspirational.

As for the good vs. bad (impact of this video release) it depends entirely on someone’s view on Huffington Post reporting style. Some believe that HuffPo “abandon reason for madness" for example by promoting pseudo-science.

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

Stephen Hawking

[JohnMitchell 14]

Nice interview with the man. In my opinion he's been the biggest innovator in our sport the last 40 years, with others following in his wake.

Two things I remember . . .

Having someone try to explain the 3 ring release when it was brand new. No one at our DZ had seen one.

And all the other ideas tried for canopy releases, such as the chrysalis (which Vskydiver had on one of her rigs), the teflon coated "frap wrap" (can't remember the real name, but it wasn't as good as the 3 rings) and some system with rectangular "rings".

My first Booth rig was a Wonderhog with the R-2 "tapewells", capewells with velcro tabs instead of hard metal covers. Worked great one day when I had a streamer, but I'm much happier with the gear I have today.

For all the old timers who survived the gear changes of the late 70's and early 80's . . . Hey, we sure weeded out a lot of bad designs, didn't we?

[gregpso 1]

JohnMitchell

Nice interview with the man. In my opinion he's been the biggest innovator in our sport the last 40 years, with others following in his wake.

Two things I remember . . .

Having someone try to explain the 3 ring release when it was brand new. No one at our DZ had seen one.

And all the other ideas tried for canopy releases, such as the chrysalis (which Vskydiver had on one of her rigs), the teflon coated "frap wrap" (can't remember the real name, but it wasn't as good as the 3 rings) and some system with rectangular "rings".

My first Booth rig was a Wonderhog with the R-2 "tapewells", capewells with velcro tabs instead of hard metal covers. Worked great one day when I had a streamer, but I'm much happier with the gear I have today.

For all the old timers who survived the gear changes of the late 70's and early 80's . . . Hey, we sure weeded out a lot of bad designs, didn't we?

Yep a great innovator.. do not forget the sky hook a device that got me into trouble for openly supporting it. Many people bagged me for supporting it and ultimately got me banned from a DZ. (being too much of a smart ass I suppose) but then I was banned via email and never even got the courtesy of a proper explanation.

But back to thread Well done Mr Booth thanks for the inventions. As president of the Tandem passengers association of Victoria (Australia) my association has a no skyhook no jump Policy.(for dooms)

I clearly remember jumping without 3 rings etc in the early 80s... boy/girl (so sarah is not offended) are things better now. Thank you Sir (Bill)

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[dudeman17 270]

Bill Booth did not invent the skyhook. I'm sure he redesigned how it works on his rigs, but the concept of direct bagging a reserve off of a cutaway main was invented by Mark Hewitt. The first 'skyhook' equipped rig was a base rig called the Sorcerer. Not to diminish Mr. Booth's contributions, but to give credit where credit is due.

[pchapman 261]

It depends on what one means.

First off, the "Skyhook" with a capital is obviously his. As for MARD like devices:

Direct bagging a reserve off a main had been done before Booth. His innovation was to come up with a way to detach the connection, in case of a mal where the main isn't being discarded.

Otherwise the system would be useless for skydiving.

(Unless you wanted to fiddle with undoing an RSL manually if you had a total....)

I can't recall offhand if someone else came up with the theory earlier than Booth or not - one would have to search dz.com for more info. (Eric Fradet had some early ideas too for example.) But Booth must have been the first to actually get a MARD device into production.

[skydiverek 55]

pchapman

I can't recall offhand if someone else came up with the theory earlier than Booth or not - one would have to search dz.com for more info. (Eric Fradet had some early ideas too for example.) But Booth must have been the first to actually get a MARD device into production.

'LES' MARD system was offered on production BASIK rigs back in 1999. Skyhook MARD was offered since 2003.

[pchapman 261]

Excellent. We never hear much about stuff like that over here.

And I see (from searching dz.com as I suggested) that the LES was one that Eric Fradet designed. But it has since been taken off the market, and indeed Eric Fradet is now a big fan of NOT having MARDs on sport rigs. His ideas are controversial but interesting.

As Eric wrote here, "I can answer this one since I designed the LES : it was withdrawn because MARD system was found unsafe in sport rigs, what was the case in 96, and it is still true in 2012 ".

But that's all a discussion for another place!

[FataMorgana 0]

Quote

Bill Booth did not invent the skyhook.

I am still a skydiving newbie, however I would venture to say that you claim cannot be true. The subject matter that can be patented is very well defined, including required novelty. Patent examiners are typically doing a very good and thorough job investigating existing “prior art” prior to granting a patent . Bill Booth does have a patent granted (with international coverage) for the design of the skyhook http://www.patentbuddy.com/Patent/7118073, so are you really questioning validity of his patent?

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

Stephen Hawking

[Niki1 1]

dudeman17

Bill Booth did not invent the skyhook. I'm sure he redesigned how it works on his rigs, but the concept of direct bagging a reserve off of a cutaway main was invented by Mark Hewitt. The first 'skyhook' equipped rig was a base rig called the Sorcerer. Not to diminish Mr. Booth's contributions, but to give credit where credit is due.

Mark Hewitt did indeed invent the skyhook. I don't remember if he named it that or not, but he had it when I worked at RWS. I worked there from "83 to '93 so I got to be there "at the creation" of a lot of cool stuff that is taken for granted now. Mark had the skyhook in the early '90s. He sold it to Bill for, I think, some cash and a 7 class sewing machine. Not long after that he and Marta Empenotti (sp?) started making base rigs. I think he used the skyhook on them but I didn't follow base jumping much.

I wish I were still at RWS for all the test jumps that I'm sure went into developing it. I did all the testing for the balute reserve pilot chute and did 40 jumps disproving the "bridle deployment" myth. I also got to play with the drouge al lot when Bill made the first one for the Vector Tandem.

But, yes, Mark thought of and made the first skyhook, sold it to Bill who got the patent and made it marketable.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[JohnMitchell 14]

Niki1

and did 40 jumps disproving the "bridle deployment" myth.

I've seen your videos of that. Nice work.

[stayhigh 2]

Ia that the myth that bridal will have enough extraction force to get the freebag out???

I've heard someone saying bridal has enough drag to get freebag out and I'm skeptical.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[JohnMitchell 14]

Yep, his videoed test jumps showed it unlikely to work.

[JerryBaumchen 1,048]

Hi Morgana,

Quote

Patent examiners are typically doing a very good and thorough job investigating existing “prior art” prior to granting a patent .

They only look for other devices that have been patented.

If Mark Hewitt did not patent his version of the SkyHook, then there was nothing for the patent examiner to find.

JerryBaumchen

[GooniesKid 0]

rwieder

Do you think it's a good thing, or a bad thing? I consider him a pioneer in our sport and always have.

Best-
Richard

i agree. Booth is a legend, pioneer, inventor, and extraordinaire. Must respect to the dude.

heck, if i were a chick, i'd totally be on his jock.
Booth gets more chicks than Hugh Heffner or viagra.

[billvon 2,400]

>Bill Booth did not invent the skyhook. I'm sure he redesigned how it works on his rigs,
>but the concept of direct bagging a reserve off of a cutaway main was invented by
>Mark Hewitt.

Agreed - but the Sorcerer was a very different system, one that worked only with throwout pilot chutes. Since no modern skydiving rig uses a throwout on the reserve the system could not have worked on a skydiving rig. Booth's innovations allowed the concept to work with a standard spring loaded PC/ripcord operated reserve.

[pchapman 261]

Niki1

Mark had the skyhook in the early '90s. He sold it to Bill for, I think, some cash and a 7 class sewing machine.

I'm trying to improve our understanding the history of MARDs as we know it here on DZ.com.

Did Hewitt have the disconnect mechanism worked out for skydiving? Was his MARD tested in the shop or the sky or just a cool concept for future development?

In one online video about the skyhook, the text shows that Bill wondered about the concept during the first years of experimenting with tandems. (Holding the pilot chute for a test jumper jumping from the front of a tandem -- thus allowing the tandem pilot to "fly the jettisoned canopy" back to the DZ in effect.)

In the video he mentioned '20 years and 3 false starts' later, before having the Skyhook, but doesn't go into the details.

I can't recall what Bill has written over the years on the Skyhook history here but someone should go through the posts.

Still, a search for posts by "billbooth" show zero that include the word "hewitt".

The Sorcerer rig has often been mentioned, but Hewitt's role at Relative Workshop less so.

(My opinion is that Bill Booth will be a little like Edison: Not everything that comes out of his shop is 100% personally invented, even if he had a significant hand in design / development / popularization.)

[FataMorgana 0]

Hi Jerry, thank you for your response.
I cannot think of any good reason that for the person with a good idea would not file a patent application describing it. Also in US patent law, the reduction to practice is one of a key concept meaning the embodiment of the concept of an invention. The date of this embodiment is critical to the determination of priority between inventors. Description of prior art in Bill Booth’s patent is actually mentioning the Sorcerer container manufactured by Vertigo Base Outfitters and listing key differences between Sorcerer and the Skyhook.

Fragment below is from the description of prior art in the US “Skyhook” Patent (US No 7118073).

Quote

Another piece of equipment remotely related to this invention is the use by the "Sorcerer" dual canopy BASE (fixed object jumping) parachute container made by Vertigo Base Outfitters in Utah. This container system is not designed for skydiving uses from aircraft, nor is it legal to use in this country for descents from aircraft. Unlike this invention, the Sorcerer attaches the free-bag to the main risers and uses an externally mounted reserve pilot chute. Also unlike this invention, the Sorcerer does not work if the main parachute is not deployed and the reserve is opened by any means other than by operator intervention (premature deployment due to broken reserve closing loop, etc.), the system fails completely. Further unlike this invention, the Sorcerer uses a hand-deploy reserve pilot chute with no spring; the Skyhook systems uses a spring-loaded reserve pilot chute, which is the world-wide standard in the industry.

So, it appears that patent examiners had their chance to evaluate Mark Hewitt’s “prior art” ideas yet still granted BB his patent. I guess I am still confused as to why BB Skyhook invention is being questioned.

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

Stephen Hawking

[demoknite 0]

I would love to see a modern documentary done on skydiving in the same flavor as that interview. Anything you see on tv lately are stunts or people dying. And the most in depth look (that I know of) are the movies from the 90s. Perhaps that Freefall warriors doc from Nat Geo several years back but thats military freefall and even that segment has come a long way since that was made.

[ctrph8 0]

I saw a demo of Mark's system back in the mid to late 90's. We knew he was planning to cut away but he got so low that I had long since decided that he'd aborted and was going to try again later. It was amazing! He cut away lower than I ever dreamed you could cut away, the reserve opened perfectly and he landed. To the best of my knowledge, it was not a "Skyhook" yet. It was a BASE specific MARD. There were issues that needed to be worked out for skydiving gear.

I watched him pack his reserve once on his skydiving rig and can say that at least on that rig, there was no MARD.

pchapman

*** Mark had the skyhook in the early '90s. He sold it to Bill for, I think, some cash and a 7 class sewing machine.

I'm trying to improve our understanding the history of MARDs as we know it here on DZ.com.

Did Hewitt have the disconnect mechanism worked out for skydiving? Was his MARD tested in the shop or the sky or just a cool concept for future development?

In one online video about the skyhook, the text shows that Bill wondered about the concept during the first years of experimenting with tandems. (Holding the pilot chute for a test jumper jumping from the front of a tandem -- thus allowing the tandem pilot to "fly the jettisoned canopy" back to the DZ in effect.)

In the video he mentioned '20 years and 3 false starts' later, before having the Skyhook, but doesn't go into the details.

I can't recall what Bill has written over the years on the Skyhook history here but someone should go through the posts.

Still, a search for posts by "billbooth" show zero that include the word "hewitt".

The Sorcerer rig has often been mentioned, but Hewitt's role at Relative Workshop less so.

(My opinion is that Bill Booth will be a little like Edison: Not everything that comes out of his shop is 100% personally invented, even if he had a significant hand in design / development / popularization.)

[BigMark 1]

No soap opera dropzone.com drama, just Mark and Bill working together making skydiving gear better and safer.

[skydiverek 55]

demoknite

I would love to see a modern documentary done on skydiving in the same flavor as that interview.

You asked for it, here it is, great VIDEO
http://growingbolder.com/media/sports/extreme/bill-booth-exclusive-access-314089.htmlcomments

[Niki1 1]

stayhigh

Ia that the myth that bridal will have enough extraction force to get the freebag out???

I've heard someone saying bridal has enough drag to get freebag out and I'm skeptical.

Actual skydiving reserve containers are made so as to hold the bag until the pilot chute is anchored. I've tested the extraction force with a fish scale but I don't remember the number now years later. The 2" polyester bridle used on most rigs will not be enough drag to extract the bag. The 3" type IV bridle the Racer uses comes a little closer but not enougy to bet your life on. I made a 4" polyester bridle by zig zaging 2 2" polyester pieces together and that was ineffective. I think I might have done the same with 2 3" type IV pieces but memory fails Most of the time, the bridles stood the bag up a little bit and the bag flopped around on my back. That's why I had a "life guard". Billy Weber was about 5 feet away and had to come in and put the bag into the air most times.

Bridle deployment was a selling point when Para Flite first introduce ram air reserves in the early '80s. They tested with a totally open container. That is, all the flaps opened down to the pack tray. The weighed platform or rubber dummy was hardly stable. It tumbled and threw the bag off. But it may have looked like the bridle did it. If it helped to popularize ram air reserves, then I don't fault them a whole lot. The "free bag" part was the real main safty part. In all of those test jumps, I held the pilot chute and the canopy came out og the "free bag" nicely and I never lost any equipment. (In this series of tests anyway).

They really ought to be called loose bags because we know they are not free. What are they now? $150, to $200? Not free.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?