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dumstuntzz

aerial drug delivery

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popenhager can back me up on this one....
back in the early80's a certain parachute mfr had an aerial delivery system that used a ramair canopy and homed in on the intended landing area.
this company had just recently acquired new facilities,raised their prices and were met with a total lack of orders/cashflow.they were copntacted by a woman who said she was from wyoming or something and that she owned a ranch .she wanted one of these aerial delivery systems to deliver hay/food to her cattle when it snowed and ground access was limited.
shewas sold a unit and trained how to operate and pack it.she paid her 18000 bucks and left with the unit. interestingly enough, her car had florida plates.
some few months later we got a call from the FBI . seems they had found the canopy in the florida everglades. attached to the parachute was the guidance unit and the remnants of a duffle bags cloth handle.(it appears that the duffle and its cargo was just attached to and not actually placed in the cargo sling.)
they called popenhager because he was the nearest dropzone. to find out more about what the fbi had found.

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This system that I had worked on was called the Para-Point. I liked it due to you can call it in by becon or control it under canopy.

Just had to make sure that you placed the correct cutters on the correct part. Not that we dropped 400 lbs from 10,000 feet onto anyones swimming pool or such....when the incorrect cutter was applied....

Lesson learned...follow the check list....
Kenneth Potter
FAA Senior Parachute Rigger
Tactical Delivery Instructor (Jeddah, KSA)
FFL Gunsmith

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beats waking up to find Andrew Thornton dead in your driveway.



You wouldn't be referring to Mike Cerasoli's buddy, ex-narc and lawyer Drew Thornton, would you? Tsk-tsk, wasn't that a shame. No, really, I mean it.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960158-1,00.html

http://moesmisadventures.blogspot.com/2004/11/prequel-this-heres-south.html

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Thanks for the research references, Hoop. I think I first met Drew at ZHills. He had a Twin Comanche with modified engines that was the fastest recip. aircraft I think I've ever flown in.

His was a very bizarre story...all the way leading to Cowboy's Caravan.

If there was anything stranger than Florida aviation in the 80's, it was Florida skydiving in the 80's...and there were more high-profile names than Silly's that came up occassionally.;)

Kevin K.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

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A cowboy came to my DZ and had in his pickup truck a PARA-POINT canopy with other associated parts that he had found on a ranch near Okeechobee,Fl.while on a fence patrol.I called Steve Snyder and informed him of the items and serial #.I don't know about any FBI but I was questioned by several military persons.And was later told the rig
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was stolen from the military.
I still have the canopy and some other parts around some place.........Pop

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Yeah, that's who I was thinking of. Don't think I ever met him. There is a new book out about it called the Kentucky Bluegrass Conspiracy, I think.
If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

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There is a new book out about it called the Kentucky Bluegrass Conspiracy


"New" as in published in 2001 (Just "The Bluegrass Conspiracy.")
Drew Thornton is also mentioned in the book "Cowboy's Caravan," which was mentioned recently in another thread here.
Here's a picture from that book showing his last DZ.

HW

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beats waking up to find Andrew Thornton dead in your driveway.


If he had landed in my driveway, the cops would have found him out in the street...NAKED! :ph34r:;)


It's a tempting idea.
But it also sounds like the opening scene of a movie like A Simple Plan or No Country for Old Men...
:)

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