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patworks

Watermellon Pass

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watermelon dive


Some time back in the dim dark past, around the time Ed Fitch opened his TASCO
Parachute Center in Houston, things got weird out. Fritz Jackson and Joe Knunz & Bill Nicholson? do a watermellon dive. Meby Bob Author was camera... or Ed Burran (I forget).
Fine thing, the mind. I have more of mine around here someplace....

Standard picture. Jumpers sitting around with...
*Say, wouldnt it be wonderful if..... *
*lets pass a watermellon!*
*Wonderful*
*. . . a BIG fugger...*
*Yea, if it is BIG Enough -- we are certain to get famous!*
[ for those not blessed by being Texan, In Texas, a big watermellon
is, well a BIG watermellon]

Not being retards, they get this BIG watermellon and
push 550 cord (suspension line) thru and around it so that
on each end
there is a handy Handle!
Woo-boy!

The Official Plan:
Joe and Fritz leave the Plane (C-195) with BIG Watermellon in-hand;
one on each end.
Bill swoops from above and sorta gloms onto it.
whilst, Ed shoots the Nobel Peace Prize Photos
Simple, effective and *easy* {ah fame!}
So,
altitude
exit
action
camera.

Beautiful shot -- Bill and Ed alone in the flat Texas sky.
Meanwhile below, far, far below
Is the watermellon.
With Fritz and Joe Holdin' ON.
The watermelon precedes them as it burns a hole in the blue.
Flag-like, they flap together above the monster green cannon ball.
Unaccustomed to pain, Joe lets go.
*Hey, you hurt me up there!*
(Spriong! Up he goes!)
Whilst Fritz and the watermellon reach Mach 7.2.
Fritz lets go. (It was hurtin my hand, it waz pullin so hard!)
Watermellon thunders in to a yellow-green field.

We regroup.
Clearly, watermellons are not an automatic entry into the SAG.
We need a shure thing.
A Matress! Lovely Idea!
Genius! Oh, hold me back....
YO! A freakin Beauty Rest Matress in free fall!
*. . . . a skydiver lightly lands to lay and snooze on air. . .*
Screaming we are gonna be rich we are gonna be RICH!
We set off to plot and scheme.

But that is another story.


Crazy Pat
Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

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That laughter was the most exercise I've gotten in a while. :)
Have you heard about Leon Ritchie and his referidgerator box>

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

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Pumpkin drops are a blast when we get to do them at Halloween. Did I ever mention the one about one of Mullin's kids dropping one through the bathhouse roof one year? :o:D

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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That laughter was the most exercise I've gotten in a while. :)
Have you heard about Leon Ritchie and his referidgerator box>


Hi Bob!!,
:D:D:D:DDefinitely tell Pat and everyone about Leon and the refrigerator box dive!!!:D:D:D
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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There was a time at Zhills that just about any unattached object was taken into the air. You did not dare even to take an afternoon nap or you might fall prey to the eager hands of "object divers".
Not to take away the watermelon fun, does anyone remember when the tail wheel of Douglas 343 decided to join the skydive community and landed in a field off the end of runway 36. As I remember a farmer in a pickup showed up at the jump shack and wanted to know if anyone was missing this tailwheel in the back of his truck.
343 was called on the radio and someone went to check to see if the tailwheel was there, it was not.
This took place at the Turkey meet, anyone remember how the plane got back to the hangar?

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It's currently just past 8AM, snow is falling at a furious rate as a "Nor'Easter" gets wound up & ready for a 2-day dumping on us poor sad-sacks between NYC & Philly. Having wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes, I can now properly thank you for this morning's most excellent entertainment. :D

Great stuff! Now, go contribute to the "scary stories from the good old days" post! ;)

When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

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I remember doing an orange pass with Skip Kniley at a regional meet at the West Point cadet DZ a long time ago. Its terminal was about the same as ours, and I think we did several toss passes before pull time.

HW


Hi Howard,
Oranges were good but Grapefruit were a bit slower and easier to manage. We splattered the intersection of 4-22 and 31-13 at Hammond with a few back when. I remember me and Mike Winter tried tossing one once. Talk about a curve ball!!
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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Robert Kempf and I had a watermelon patch near Skydive City in Sylvania, GA we used to raid first thing Sat/Sun during the season. We'd throw a couple in the bottom of the ice machine for lunch and one day got the bright idea to take one up to 7500'. We left with it over a field and got a pass or two before it got the better fall rate going and we just watched it spiral into the waiting peanuts below. We landed and headed off to look at the carnage only to find that this was a very effective way to unearth just enough green peanuts for the DZ to snack on. Punkins were wrong time of year and don't go looking at what a melon does to soy. Thar's rattlers out in 'em bushes.

jon

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We did this a couple years back with pumpkins. We'd pass one as many times possible. The last one with the pumpkin had to try to open and land with it.

On our first jump I was the last one with the pumpkin. I wasn't sure what to do next, so I just gave it a toss and openned.

This was out in the wide open spaces of North Dakota. Luckily no cars, buildings, or people were bombed by these pumpkins....

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Pumpkin drops are a blast when we get to do them at Halloween. Did I ever mention the one about one of Mullin's kids dropping one through the bathhouse roof one year? :o:D



We don't do Pumpkin Drops at my DZ anymore:(

A couple years before I started somebody misjudged the spot and put one through the roof of a neighboring hangar.

Missed the plane inside by about 5 feet, so I was told.:o
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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Pumpkin drops are a blast when we get to do them at Halloween. Did I ever mention the one about one of Mullin's kids dropping one through the bathhouse roof one year? :o:D



We don't do Pumpkin Drops at my DZ anymore:(

A couple years before I started somebody misjudged the spot and put one through the roof of a neighboring hangar.

Missed the plane inside by about 5 feet, so I was told.:o


I recall reading about an incident (back in the 80's) about a dropped pumpkin going through the roof of a farmhouse and hitting the kitchen table, leaving the inside of the kitchen covered with pumpkin. Luckily, nobody was home at the time...but pumpkin passes were no longer done at that DZ.

I did one pumpkin pass jump....lots of fun, especially holding on to it at pull time. I dropped mine under canopy at about 500' and was very impressed by the loud crack it made on impact.
--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

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i once heard a story concerning the HERD and someone infamous dropping a roadkill -- possum or raccoon??

anyway it supposedly went through the wing of Bill Ottley's plane.

Then there was another about an equally infamous person catching a bird and taking it to altitude -- evidently small birds do not fare well at exit speeds.

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It was not the Herd but at Pelican skydivers in Maryland. It was a raccoon. It was not Ottley's plane but a newish Bonanza owned by the Army Times Publishing Co.
He wrote about it, sort of, in a Parachutist story about how skydivers are their own worst enemies.
And the story was retold at his memorial dinner in Virginia in 2006.

HW

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Pumpkin drops are a blast when we get to do them at Halloween. Did I ever mention the one about one of Mullin's kids dropping one through the bathhouse roof one year? :o:D



Billy,

It was not a Mullins that tossed the watermelon through the roof. It was a Mullins, Zack, that did win the contest.

The watermelon went through the roof because skydivers will not follow instructions (what a shock!). Specifically, the jumpers were briefed that only the person dropping the melon may give corrections. Corrections, specifically, were not to be repeated by anyone. So the jumper gives 5 left and then 4 other jumpers repeat the correction for a total of 25 left. The jumper saw he was no lined up with the bathhouse but he said he just let it go anyway.

BTW, are you still fuckin deaf? Maybe that is why you heard the story wrong!

Mike

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Pumpkin drops are a blast when we get to do them at Halloween. Did I ever mention the one about one of Mullin's kids dropping one through the bathhouse roof one year? :o:D



Billy,

It was not a Mullins that tossed the watermelon through the roof. It was a Mullins, Zack, that did win the contest.

The watermelon went through the roof because skydivers will not follow instructions (what a shock!). Specifically, the jumpers were briefed that only the person dropping the melon may give corrections. Corrections, specifically, were not to be repeated by anyone. So the jumper gives 5 left and then 4 other jumpers repeat the correction for a total of 25 left. The jumper saw he was no lined up with the bathhouse but he said he just let it go anyway.

BTW, are you still fuckin deaf? Maybe that is why you heard the story wrong!

Mike


Hi Mike, yeah I'm still fucking deaf. Nothing's changed. :D

The story was related to me by someone who witnessed the carnage as it happened, he was standing between the hangar and the bathhouse, so it's possible he got the perp wrong. But yeah, that was one helluva late drop if you ask me.

I think the Mullins kids should have been disqualified for having too much of an advantage. :D The one time I played I think I had the 3rd or 4th closest drop and of course, one of your boys won. :P

Good fun! B|
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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That was Hinckley,,,wasn't a farmhouse but a newer home in a new subdivision, Went thru the roof and exploded in the kitchen area. IIRC it caused about 30k in damages,,made all the media if i remember right.....:P

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

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watermelon dive


Some time back in the dim dark past, around the time Ed Fitch opened his TASCO
Parachute Center in Houston, things got weird out. Fritz Jackson and Joe Knunz & Bill Nicholson? do a watermellon dive. Meby Bob Author was camera... or Ed Burran (I forget).
Fine thing, the mind. I have more of mine around here someplace....

Standard picture. Jumpers sitting around with...
*Say, wouldnt it be wonderful if..... *
*lets pass a watermellon!*
*Wonderful*
*. . . a BIG fugger...*
*Yea, if it is BIG Enough -- we are certain to get famous!*
[ for those not blessed by being Texan, In Texas, a big watermellon
is, well a BIG watermellon]

Not being retards, they get this BIG watermellon and
push 550 cord (suspension line) thru and around it so that
on each end
there is a handy Handle!
Woo-boy!

The Official Plan:
Joe and Fritz leave the Plane (C-195) with BIG Watermellon in-hand;
one on each end.
Bill swoops from above and sorta gloms onto it.
whilst, Ed shoots the Nobel Peace Prize Photos
Simple, effective and *easy* {ah fame!}
So,
altitude
exit
action
camera.

Beautiful shot -- Bill and Ed alone in the flat Texas sky.
Meanwhile below, far, far below
Is the watermellon.
With Fritz and Joe Holdin' ON.
The watermelon precedes them as it burns a hole in the blue.
Flag-like, they flap together above the monster green cannon ball.
Unaccustomed to pain, Joe lets go.
*Hey, you hurt me up there!*
(Spriong! Up he goes!)
Whilst Fritz and the watermellon reach Mach 7.2.
Fritz lets go. (It was hurtin my hand, it waz pullin so hard!)
Watermellon thunders in to a yellow-green field.

We regroup.
Clearly, watermellons are not an automatic entry into the SAG.
We need a shure thing.
A Matress! Lovely Idea!
Genius! Oh, hold me back....
YO! A freakin Beauty Rest Matress in free fall!
*. . . . a skydiver lightly lands to lay and snooze on air. . .*
Screaming we are gonna be rich we are gonna be RICH!
We set off to plot and scheme.

But that is another story.


Crazy Pat


Hi Pat,
'Was lookin' thru some old Sky diver mags (Lyle's old rag) and came accross OCT66 issue. The centerspread shows Ray Heald and Monty Cox hangin' on to a 24 lb. watermellon over the Oceanside (CA) DZ!!!!!! Check your archives, you may have that issue?? Cover shot has Hector Nunez just bailing out under Skylark's old yellar Cessna 180!!
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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That was Hinckley,,,wasn't a farmhouse but a newer home in a new subdivision, Went thru the roof and exploded in the kitchen area. IIRC it caused about 30k in damages,,made all the media if i remember right.....:P



I was a jump pilot at Hinckley back then and I politely refused to fly that load. The DZ owned said that he would fly and make sure that they were over an open area......didn't quite work out so well. It made the front page of USA Today if I recall.

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Oh god I laughed till I thought I was gonna puke... I'd heard about the pumpkins but never the watermelon... gotta wonder what else has been jumped that I never heard about...
-B
Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

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