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Dreaming of a WFFC 2020.

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Wonder if Don Kirlin would do it again for old timesake? A massive "last tango" for WFFC in 2020 at Rantoul. I have not recovered from the demise of the World Free Fall Convention after 2006. I went to many WFFCs in Quincy and Rantoul and every one was a blast. Kinda like Burning Man with back to back jumpships.

WFFC's termination left a hole in my soul. I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. With a lot of marketing and a big turnout I'll bet it could be profitable. Does anyone know DK personally? Is there even a prayer he might do just one more?

I can dream can't I?

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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Good day all,

I doubt there will be another WFFC. I am glad I did my time there in 2006, jumping the DC9 as well. I know I know ... Jealousy can commense now...

It was a grave disappointment to see the WFFC 2007 cancelled, and it simply never came back. Don Kirlin just stated "personal reasons and a strong commitment to continued excellence" as the cause of the cancellation(s). The latter seems a little cynical and ironic.

Their web domain is still alive and well, for over 9 years...

http://www.freefall.com
Fly High ... Don't "Get High"!

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It was just the BEST! Gave me a high that lasted a full year until the next WFFC. Then suddenly, after 2006, there was no next one. Thank goodness I was able to attend so many WFFCs before it shut down.

Look at Peek's stats (below) from WFFC 2000: 5,732 JUMPERS!

I was there. Ran into jumpers I hadn't seen in 22 years. Unique jumpships including B 17, B 24, C 54, and more. It was a crazy wild 10 day party. Where else could you get a tattoo at 1:00 AM in a tent? The live music and free beer every night was icing on the cake. Good food. Reasonable prices. Jumper paradise.

Statistics

Registered Skydivers-5,732
Jumps Made-63,000+
Countries Represented-55
States Represented-50
Jumps Made From B17 & B24-185
Vendors on Site-106
Food Vendors in Tent City-16
Units of Blood Collected for Red Cross-100
Money Raised For Unity FFA-$1,200
Money Raised For Quincy Humane Society-over $5,000
Money Raised For Special Olympics-$1,200
Tandem Jumps Made-447
AFF Students-15
Number of TNT Golf Carts Used-152
WFFC Employees-102
WFFC Volunteers-170
Number of Microbursts-1
Highest Wind Speed-67mph
Number of Serious Injuries-0

Amazing that Don Keeps the website going.
http://www.freefall.com/index.php
It gives me hope that a miracle might someday occur.

I am lucky to have my photo in the website header, third pic from the far left landing my Triathlon.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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>I am glad I did my time there in 2006, jumping the DC9 as well. I know I know
>... Jealousy can commense now...

One of my favorite WFFC's was 2005. We flew there in the DC9 (wasn't approved for jumping yet) and stayed in one of the offices in the airbase. It was just an empty office room but it was air conditioned and had lights.

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The ultimate ride to WFFC had to have been Skip Evans's DC 3 which flew there from CA. I stupidly took a commercial jet because I didn't have enough time to spend on a multi day DC 3 trip. That chance to go cross country in a DC-3 will probably never come again. And the price was very reasonable as I recall. Oh well, sure had good time at WFFC Wish we could convince Don Kirlin to do it just one more time, the GRAND FINALE which it never had.

It was a massive undertaking and it always went quite well. So many things involved in setting up and running such a massive event and so few screwups. Herding cats is simple compared to handling thousands skydivers 24/7. You gotta hand it to those who put the WFFC together every year. Yeah Beth Mahlo, that includes you!;)

377

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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5000 jumpers at one DZ in this day and age? How do you run simultaneous parallel jump runs (even remotely) safely these days when everyone is now wingsuiting, tracking, and angle flying? When some people still jump 280 sq.ft. canopies while others swoop the shit out of 70 sq.ft. canopies loaded above 3.0? The chaos and carnage that would happen with the mix of disciplines and wing-loadings today is frankly horrifying to consider.

Glad I went in 1999. It was sketchy enough back then. Don't think there will ever again be (or can even be) another.

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The LZ congestion right next to the organizing tents got pretty crazy sometimes. More than once at Quincy and Rantoul I opted for adjacent areas. There were HUGE areas at Rantoul that you could opt to land in away from the boarding areas.

I think it could still be done with no more injuries and fatalities than the old WFFCs. Would just take more coordination. Maybe more positive air traffic control and clearances for exits. I'm not ATC savvy but I'll bet something could be worked out. At Rantoul we had a military ATC unit set up in some years. I think they were from the Illionois Air National Guard.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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>5000 jumpers at one DZ in this day and age? How do you run simultaneous
>parallel jump runs (even remotely) safely these days when everyone is now
>wingsuiting, tracking, and angle flying?

North jump run - track North only, do not return to jump run
Center jump run - belly/tandem/freefly only
South jump run - track South only, do not return to jump run

(For easily confused skydivers - park two big red trucks at the beginning and end of the center jump run and tell people "ALWAYS track away from the truck line on tracking dives.")

>When some people still jump 280 sq.ft. canopies while others swoop the shit
>out of 70 sq.ft. canopies loaded above 3.0?

That's not new; there was plenty of that sort of thing going on in 2006. I was on a 95 at about 2.4 loading and I was far from the smallest canopy there. Fortunately there were huge landing areas. I'd imagine today there would be a separate HP landing area where non-pattern skydivers landed.

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Now that Bill V. has the exit traffic figured out all we need is Don K to risk another few hundred thou and put on a big WFFC party in 2020.

I might even be able to score a C 97 jumpship. Ferry fuel costs from the E Coast would be quite high but maybe we could swing it. It just completed taxy tests a few days ago and has all four engines running. Fat Annie, the ATL 98 Carvair coincidentally completed taxy tests a few days ago also and will be flying again soon. Might we dare hope for her to return to a boogie?

This is kinda like fantasy football.

Oh well, back to reality.

377
2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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