PC ?

[thegrump 0]

On July 3 1977 I did my first jump by s/l with a mark 1. At the time I was told the only place that did that was Indiantow FL. Are there any other who never jumped a t 10 or chepo north of FL sooner ?

[bozo 0]

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On July 3 1977 I did my first jump by s/l with a mark 1. At the time I was told the only place that did that was Indiantow FL. Are there any other who never jumped a t 10 or chepo north of FL sooner ?

Maybe not more North.....but they were putting first jump students out on PCs at Dillingham in Hawaii at the time you mention. I did a couple of them.

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

[lekstrom10k 0]

We were putting first jump students out on PC's at the Para-hawks DZ at Salem Mi [west of Detroit 25 miles] in 1972. We used Style - asters 1-1/2 shots and steerable high mount reserves. Most of the PC-s came from jumpers up grading to squares. Harold Lange at Tecumseh was pissed because it made his T-10s and belly warts stolen from Fort Bragg look bad. Especially when the students would ask if they could jump the ones like they had at Salem.

[steve1 5]

I started jumping in 73'. Everyone started on static line. Most everyone started on a 28' round. If you were a bigger person, there was a T-10 available.

It was recommended that you had around 50 jumps before jumping a para-commander. It was considered hot gear for that time period. My, how things have changed!

I didn't know of any clubs "back then" who put first jump students out on a PC, but it sure could have happened....

[darkwing 4]

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We were putting first jump students out on PC's at the Para-hawks DZ at Salem Mi [west of Detroit 25 miles] in 1972. We used Style - asters 1-1/2 shots and steerable high mount reserves. Most of the PC-s came from jumpers up grading to squares. Harold Lange at Tecumseh was pissed because it made his T-10s and belly warts stolen from Fort Bragg look bad. Especially when the students would ask if they could jump the ones like they had at Salem.

You sure you have that year right? Those were still widely used rigs by up jumpers in 1972. Squares were rare, except fro accuracy jumpers, is that who was handing them down?

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[lekstrom10k 0]

I had a Baby plane and 3 para planes 3 PCs and 2 Delta 11.s while we were there. It was definitely the right year We left there in 1976 fot Marine City

[Guru312 0]

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It was recommended that you had around 50 jumps before jumping a para-commander. It was considered hot gear for that time period. My, how things have changed!

I made my first sport jump in June of '60 with the XVIII Abn SPC at Bragg. At the time the Army team [not called the Golden Knights then, as I recall] was jumping 7-TU rigs so we weren't allowed to jump anything that hot. We were stuck with single T and maybe 5-LL if the J/M thought a guy could handle anything that steaming hot.

My heart really pounded on my first 7-TU jump! Pretty funny now, in retrospect.

Yes...times have certainly changed!

Guru312

I am not DB Cooper

[howardwhite 5]

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It was recommended that you had around 50 jumps before jumping a para-commander.

Hmm... I made just 16 C-9 jumps before my first PC jump -- in 1966. I must have been a hot skydiver.

HW

[Zing 2]

I did my five static lines on one of Clayton Schoppel's red-white-blue ParaCommanders from the first batch of PCs given to the US Team.
By 1972, it belonged to my brother, who got it from Clayton Troutner at the MSUSPC DZ at Charlotte, Mich.
I jumped a 5-TU rag for two DRCPs because that was Troutner's only rig with a KAP-3 auto-opener on it. Then I went right back to ParaCommanders. I think I had about 1200 jumps before I ever jumped a T-10. I made a couple jumps for kicks and grins on a T-10 and a 32' parabolic canopy the Valley Skydivers Club owned.
I doubt that I've got more than 100 jumps on rags, not counting 20-some reserve rides on 28', 24', and 26' military surplus rounds, plus about 25 more on Piglet reserves, Strong Lopos and a K-XX.
I had a 23' Piglet main for awhile, and used one of Gary Douris' 24' reserves for a main too.
The only reserve I ever owned that I never used was the square spare I sold a month or so ago. I guess I finally learned to pack by the time I got a square reserve.

Zing Lurks

[poppenhager 1]

Indiantown started using PC's for all student jumps in 1968 and if you made your first jump there after 1970 it would have been a FREE FALL (5 sec delay).Static lines were band from the DZ then!
Pop

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[McGonigal 0]

I made my fist jump at PoPs (Indiantown )on a pc back in Feb 1971 after a 5 sec delay. They used radios to steer us in. When I went home back up north and told people, they said I was Liar and no DZ did that

[zenbeastie 0]

Hi, I started jumping at MSUSPC aka 'the Spartans' at Charlotte ,Mi when Clayton Troutner was Chief instructor there about 1974/5(if Van's Midgets or the JohnDeere Fruitstand Conspiracy come to mind that will give you the exact year). I did 13 jumps there on TU's and double LL's and I remember my instructor(who was in fact a petite instructrice) let me jump her ,yes, red white and blue Paracommander,complete with similarly coloured helmet I felt as if i were Capt.America. She had just bought a square which were the latest at that time and she (terrible I've forgotten her name, but I remember her talking in awe of the trust that we placed in her as jumpmistress!) wanted to sell me the PC!Earl was the pilot and the jumpship was some sort of small engined Cessna.I seem to remember Clayton jumping precision on a T-10 when the wind was too high for us students.
Follow-up was decades later I started jumping again and worked at a DZ in the UK and came across an almost new 'church window'PC that no-one could pack, bought it for 50 pounds and the Chief Instructor allowed me to jump it as I was almost the only one there who had ever jumped one before,it turned out to be a most enjoyable experience and to the best of my knowledge the rig is still at the club in the UK in Jumpable condition! A club near Berlin ,Germany hosts an annual historic parachutes gathering. I don't jump anymore, cut out the aircraft bit and fly canopies though,as in Paragliding.Love the air!

[FastRon 0]

Spring 1973. Used 28' and 32' rounds with double L mods. Couple of the 'experienced' club members had PC's or Paps. Bought a PC of my own the following year. (About 25 jumps I think). We heard about squares but were told you couldn't/shouldn't take them to terminal. There were some other less well known chutes around, but all I recall now were the T-bow,, a Delta II and a thing called a Paradactyl. Strange looking thing that wouldn't slow down at all.

[RogerRamjet 0]

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Spring 1973. Used 28' and 32' rounds with double L mods. Couple of the 'experienced' club members had PC's or Paps. Bought a PC of my own the following year. (About 25 jumps I think). We heard about squares but were told you couldn't/shouldn't take them to terminal. There were some other less well known chutes around, but all I recall now were the T-bow,, a Delta II and a thing called a Paradactyl. Strange looking thing that wouldn't slow down at all.

Dactyls could be landed softly with some practice, check out Bobby Gray landing his at just after the 5 minute mark in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-tdClLaEE

-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

[pchapman 262]

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A club near Berlin ,Germany hosts an annual historic parachutes gathering.

Which club is that?
For Europe, I only knew of the vintage weekend events at Teuge.

Edit: as for landing Dactyl's softly, that video shows it being done with a low 270 hook. Kudos to Bobby, but I'm no where ready to do that with my Dactyl. I just pound in.