What is this plane? #27

[itllclear 1]

I remember putting my helmet on @ 4,000 and having a low time jumper next to me ask whey, when we hadn't reached jump altitude yet.

"This is as high as we're going."

We did have some fun jumps though. Here we are at the airshow in Santa Maria I think in 1992

BSBD

Harry

"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."

"Your statement answered your question."

[Bones 0]

Is that the same Elevator that flew jumpers at Sheridan "back in the day"? If so, I thought his name was Otis. Either way, Sheridan's Elevator was really a great jump/bush pilot. I remember him in a Cessna getting ready to take off. There was a student coming from the other direction on final. Instead of waiting, Elevator hit the throttle, went about 100 feet, pulled up at about a 45 degree angle until he was at about 100 feet and nearly zero airspeed, levelled out and turned off the flightline.

[JerryBaumchen 1,050]

Hi Bones,

Yes, that is him. Gary Olson, better known as Elevator or Otis ( as the name of an elevator company ) because he went up & down; with a plane is what I mean.

JerryBaumchen

PS) I once watched him buzz the Sheridan dz at about 100 ft, pullup & do a barrel-roll in his 180. Veeerrryyy impressive watching it that close.

[377 21]

I watched our jump pilot John Lewis try do that exact same thing in a Cessna 180 at the old DZ in Livermore CA. He didn't make it and died in the crash. I lost my taste for DZ buzz jobs after seeing one that ended so tragically. Now, when I come across one in the early planning stages, I put in my two cents to discourage it.

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

[Bsquared 0]

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I watched our jump pilot John Lewis try do that exact same thing in a Cessna 180 at the old DZ in Livermore CA. He didn't make it and died in the crash.

I was a pilot rated passenger in the right seat of a Twin Beech that buzzed the airport at the Couch Freaks boogie in Iowa in the early 80's as we departed with a full load of jumpers going back to Illinois. At mid field the pilot executed an unannounced pitch up and barrel roll. During the initial pull-up the jumpers in back ended up against the rear bulkhead, drastically altering the CG. I will never forget the panic in his voice as the pilot screamed at me to help him on the yoke to get the nose back down (up) in the middle of the roll. We recovered with the stall horn screaming and the belly dragging through the corn. That pilot disappeared somewhere south of the border a few years later.

[377 21]

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I watched our jump pilot John Lewis try do that exact same thing in a Cessna 180 at the old DZ in Livermore CA. He didn't make it and died in the crash.

I was a pilot rated passenger in the right seat of a Twin Beech that buzzed the airport at the Couch Freaks boogie in Iowa in the early 80's as we departed with a full load of jumpers going back to Illinois. At mid field the pilot executed an unannounced pitch up and barrel roll. During the initial pull-up the jumpers in back ended up against the rear bulkhead, drastically altering the CG. I will never forget the panic in his voice as the pilot screamed at me to help him on the yoke to get the nose back down (up) in the middle of the roll. We recovered with the stall horn screaming and the belly dragging through the corn. That pilot disappeared somewhere south of the border a few years later.

Damn, that scares me just reading about it!!! That's about as close a call as I have ever heard about in a Twin Beech. I have heard about a lot of close calls in Twin Beeches, especially when losing an engine on takeoff. I really liked them, but I was young and didn't realize how marginal they were hauling such heavy loads on scorching hot summer days.

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

[johnA123 0]

Don't have any pics but we had one at the Richmond boogie back in ???
Did some nice 16 way diamond launches out of it.
And it was loud!!

"been around, seen some things, slept in dumpsters got high with kings
KR

[Beerlight 0]

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That pilot disappeared somewhere south of the border a few years later.

That wouldn't have been Rick Whitaker now, would it?

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