Test Jumpers

[popsjumper 2]

I would like to say to all the test jumpers out there now and all in the past...

Thank you. You guys and your big balls have gotten us to where we are today and I sincerely appreciate the work you do to help make skydiving a safer and more fun sport for all of us.

I'm not sure that the youngsters today understand what it is you do and how much you contribute to the sport. I, for one, am going to up the ante here at home to highlight the importance of your work.

Again, thank you. Thank you.

Andy

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[skymama 35]

After watching the PD test jumpers in Deland for the last few years, I have to say...they're all a little crazy.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[jorgande 0]

I agree. As an absolute newbee I have been extra tense whenever I have jumped with different/ smaller rig. The transition from jumping with a student 240 to student 220 was ok but first jumps with a real main, sabre2, 190 was a bit scary. All went fine allthough I thought it was fast.
I line up in order to thank the guys with the bigger balls/more experrience for doing testing.

[popsjumper 2]

Being a little crazy and having big balls kinda go hand-in-hand....er, well, you know what I mean.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Kolla 0]

Hey Pops!

Thanks for starting this thread - way cool!
I agree with you 100%, test jumpers are brilliant people. I have had the good fortune to work with several of them here at PD. On occasion get to pretend to be one myself (under very docile and controlled circumstances of course).

That is one reason we are doing the PD sweepstakes, to bring a bit of attention to what those guys do for the sport as a whole. They are cool cats indeed .

Blue ones!
Kolla

Blue Skies Magazine

[Bill_K 0]

Quote

...having big balls...

Or maybe they are just not getting enough?!?

Just bust'n on ya Andy. I could not agree more. Those that have gone before and those currently exploring tomorrow have and do pave the way for what we get to enjoy today. This is true in many facets of life, not just skydiving.

[BIGUN 1,106]

Technically, we're all test jumpers. The dividing line between us and those who actually work for the factory; is that we know to be scared when bad shit happens. They, on the other hand try to make bad shit worse just to see what happens.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

I would like to say to all the test jumpers out there now and all in the past...

Thank you. You guys and your big balls have gotten us to where we are today and I sincerely appreciate the work you do to help make skydiving a safer and more fun sport for all of us.

I'm not sure that the youngsters today understand what it is you do and how much you contribute to the sport. I, for one, am going to up the ante here at home to highlight the importance of your work.

Again, thank you. Thank you.

Andy

Wonder if any of 'em ever made a night jump?!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[squarecanopy 0]

Andy, You hit the nail right on the head again!
I started into skydiving in 1980 and was scared off at the time by the equipment I saw and lack of a mentor to explain what was going on. When I actually started jumping in 2003 I was amazed and impressed at the innovations and progress in equipment. Having been involved in field engineering most of my career, I know that change comes at a price, and in this case the willingness of test jumpers to test out new and different, never before tried equipment is why I am able to jump the cool rig I do today. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!

Just burning a hole in the sky.....

[cocheese 0]

yes thank you test jumpers and riggers.

Hell my 1st 100 jumps were test jumps as i rented gear that was different each jump and god knows who packed it.

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

...Wonder if any of 'em ever made night jump?!

Nah, I doubt it...we normally leave that and pyro to the weirdos of the sport.


back atchya.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Zing 2]

I made a night jump at Ghoulidge on one of the first batch of Strato-Hammers, I mean Strato-Flyers, that arrived in Arizona for the Canadian team ... that count?

Zing Lurks

[matthewcline 0]

It is not so bad.
As a part time test jumper in the second phase of a parachutes developement it is lively and fun!

But it may explain a few ofthe gray hairs!

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[riggerrob 562]

Stop reminding me!

It only took four days to straighten out my neck after the my first test jump for the Canadian Army!
That MFP canopy went straight to the trash can!

Then there was that test jump - on a new system for the West German Army - where I missed the country!

Test jumps on P124A/Aviators were boring in comparison.

[airtwardo 6]

Quote

I made a night jump at Ghoulidge on one of the first batch of Strato-Hammers, I mean Strato-Flyers, that arrived in Arizona for the Canadian team ... that count?

Works for ME.....

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

Technically, we're all test jumpers....

I'm also thinking in terms of all those wind-dummies on Load 1.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[lilchief 0]

According to a guy in my club who participated at a canopy course with a testjumper, the testjumper said the following:

"We jump all kinds of canopies in all kinds of places"


..Where do I sign up? =D

But seriously, it would(in my mind) have been great to become a testjumper, just to see and FEEL how the different designs work and behave. And then to participate on the development of our sport.

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return." - Da Vinci
www.lilchief.no

[MikeForsythe 0]

Quote

But seriously, it would(in my mind) have been great to become a testjumper, just to see and FEEL how the different designs work and behave. And then to participate on the development of our sport.

Your kidding right? One of the last test jumps I did for a new BLM smokejumper system resulted in a 13G (recorded) opening shock that tore my right groin muscle. You would not believe what the professionals that do this every day go through and it is anything but fun.

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[lilchief 0]

Nope! I'm serious.

If I only lived near some test facility or somehow got recruited, I'd most likely do it.

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return." - Da Vinci
www.lilchief.no

[NickDG 23]

I did some cutaway "test" jumps on the Amigo reserve when FreeFlight was TSOing them. The one test I remember the most was the "High Speed" deployment test. I was already out on the strut of the C-182 when it was nosed over into a dive. I think we were at 150 when I let go and deployed.

That was a good little reserve . . .

I also did a lot of test jumps on early BASE gear, but that doesn't really count as every BASE seems like a test jump . . .

NickD BASE 194

[Ether 0]

Quote

I agree. As an absolute newbee I have been extra tense whenever I have jumped with different/ smaller rig. The transition from jumping with a student 240 to student 220 was ok but first jumps with a real main, sabre2, 190 was a bit scary. All went fine allthough I thought it was fast.

Haha! My first jump on a Skymaster 230 (after student jumps on a Solo 270) felt reeeally zippy.. and now I'm falling asleep with boredom on landings, but can't get approval to move down to a 190 yet.

Quote

I line up in order to thank the guys with the bigger balls/more experrience for doing testing.

Agreed!

Looking for newbie rig, all components...

[blacksha 1]

You got that right...THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!

A lot of people have died to get skydiving to where it is now...

And to think in a way, we are all test jumpers for the future.

But definitely, some of us more than others...

How many of the guys that started this sport were 99% certain they would land safely on their two feet when their jump was done?

[low_pull1 2]

does a pack job at 2am new years morning count?

A friend was packing for me after i agreed to make 1st load of the New Year (next morning at 6-7 am from what i can rem....around 1990)
...drop zone owner Carlos something near Norman OK says to Tom Pappas...."you shouldent be packing ur rig like that." Tom replies "im not...its his and points to me". He was really stuffing it in...looked like shit.

Went up anyway the next morning and made the jump knowing id have a mal.....that cruiselite worked just fine.

Is Tom Pappas still Jumping?

[jimjumper 25]

At Cal City we occasionaly jumped with a few military test jumpers from China Lake. I still have a business card from a guy that told me he once test jumped and landed an 18 ft round! Now thats test jumping!