Round Engines

[keithbar 1]

talk about an nap on the way to altitude. try three good-sized men in a 172.

i have on occasion been accused of pulling low . My response. Naw I wasn't low I'm just such a big guy I look closer than I really am .

[Spooky52 0]

I got along fine with George until after he retired and wanted to still use the Travis club as his own personal business. We put a stop to it and went to Antioch. I jumped one of George's rigs on a test once. Everything went fine until I hit terminal, head down. The pins on the piggyback reserve came out and the reserve opened, inverted, at terminal, un-restricted. OUCH. Actually blacked out for a second. I know it inverted because the pilot chute was hanging from the apex like the clapper on a bell. :-) His daughter doesn't have much nice to say about him.

If you know how many guns you have - you don't have enough!

[377 21]

" The pins on the piggyback reserve came out and the reserve opened, inverted, at terminal, un-restricted. OUCH. Actually blacked out for a second. I know it inverted because the pilot chute was hanging from the apex like the clapper on a bell. :-) "

DAMN! Now that's a REAL slammer. Not a freefly friendly rig I guess. Things can really start vibrating, almost buzzing at high speeds. Easy for a vibrating pin to slip out of cone or loop.

What was the Travis Club like? Heard it existed but never talked to anyone who jumped there. Was it at the AFB? What kind of jumpships?

377

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

[cnsky54 0]

Thinking of round engines, is the Checkerboard Beech 18 still flying on the eastern side? I filmed some RW in Richmond Indiana years ago with that plane...

[377 21]

To the best of my knowledge there are no more Twin Beeches regularly flying as jumpships. The ones in Canada were the last I believe. Some still haul jumpers on special occasions but sadly the days of the every weekend round engine Beech 18 jumps are gone forever.

Turboprop a Beech 18 mods were made by Volpar and others. I always hoped one of these might make a cost effective King Air alternative, but apparently very few remain airworthy and none regularly fly jumpers.

Id like to be proven wrong. I loved it when Beech 18s, Lockheed Lodestars and DC 3s were common.

377

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

[dzswoop717 5]

Skydive Greene county operates a turbine Beech 18 every weekend. Endless mountain Skydivers was operating one as of 2014, I don't know if it is still flying.

[377 21]

I stand corrected and happily so. Glad to know that a Beech 18, albeit a screaming turbine version, still hauls jumpers every weekend. The website mentions a pair actually.

From their website

Our primary aircraft is a Twin Turbine Westwind!

Skydive Greene County is proud to be flying TWO Westwinds. These amazing airplanes are two of the fastest jumps planes in the country!

These unique jumpships have a large interior and huge door, you will have no trouble jumping from this plane. Our twin turbines sit up to 12 jumpers and have a turn around time to 12,500 ft of nearly fifteen minutes.

We also have two Cessna 182’s on stand-by that will take up four jumpers from 4,500 ft up to 9,000 ft.

377

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

[Spooky52 0]

Sorry it took me so long to answer the question> I failed to read, I guess. The Travis club met and trained on the base but jumped at Yolo. We had a very nice facility in one of the old warehouses. The floors had been painted with epoxy paint so they would be smooth and we had a cage in which to store the club rigs. Eventually, the base decided to demolish the warehouse so we were left without a place to meet.

If you know how many guns you have - you don't have enough!

[377 21]

Endless Mountain Skydivers website appears to show a Twin Beech with radials as their jumpship.

See attached.

377

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

[TampaPete 40]

OK. So the Twin Beach and the Twin Turbine Westwind have to be on the list of coolest planes flying. What other planes of similar coolness are out there?

[dzswoop717 5]

Nothing, Beech 18 is collest of them all. It is the Harley davidson of jump planes. But I am talking Panhead not Evo.

[bclark 0]

I grew up on a DZ that was running a Beech D18S (N6BA) as it's primary jumpship in 1996. When it retired it was replaced by a nice supercharged Twin-Bo (not radial engines, but still loud, roudy, and occasionally prone to exciting moments.) We also had the Southern Cross DC-3 for a few seasons. At that time we were the underdog dz. All the cool kids flocked to the DZs with the King Air and the Caravan. We had a ton of fun though.

Long story short, I find it funny to hear young skydivers talking about round engines being "cool" again. I find it even funnier when they pay to jump these as "specialty" aircraft.

I ALWAYS thought they were cool. And I loved them.

[muff528 3]

We jumped this one at Zhills during the summer of 1993 (IIRC), after the DC-3 crashed but before a King Air and TO arrived. The photo is a few years later.

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000598331.html

and sadly here, http://flightaware.com/photos/view/231285-31ebe1195725dd851390cf049d149681346d2937/aircrafttype/, after being flipped over by wind.

[377 21]

bclark

I grew up on a DZ that was running a Beech D18S (N6BA) as it's primary jumpship in 1996. When it retired it was replaced by a nice supercharged Twin-Bo (not radial engines, but still loud, roudy, and occasionally prone to exciting moments.) We also had the Southern Cross DC-3 for a few seasons. At that time we were the underdog dz. All the cool kids flocked to the DZs with the King Air and the Caravan. We had a ton of fun though.

Long story short, I find it funny to hear young skydivers talking about round engines being "cool" again. I find it even funnier when they pay to jump these as "specialty" aircraft.

I ALWAYS thought they were cool. And I loved them.

Never jumped a Twin Bo, but had one taxy past me in WA. What a distinctive sound. Sounded like two Harleys headed for the active runway. The Baron right behind it sounded so wimpy in comparison.

377

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

[dzswoop717 5]

The Twin Bo has a distinct sound. I made well over 1000 jumps out of them. My dad owned one for a few years, it was a great jump platform when set up with handles and a step. We routinely launched 8 ways off of it. We had a D50 with the non supercharged engines. It would do 2 loads to 12,500 in an hour with ten jumpers on board. I don't think the neighbors would appreciate that wonderful sound that is music to our ears in this day and age.

[bungee75 0]

Mr. Douglas, Our Douglas, Agent Orange, Firestone, Colonel Joe, Baby Blue, jumped em all.

[bclark 0]

I can't get over how ugly they look with tricycle gear.

[SCS292 1]

Nothing gets the heart beating like a good twin Beech buzz job. Mike Mullins could sneak up on the Valley Mills DZ in his twin Beech from Austin and buzz it better than anyone. So low he had to lift the wing to clear the 55 gallon oil drum we had on a 4 foot stand. A twin Beech and a DC-3 needed lots of oil. Add a visiting twin Beech and you might need two barrels.

[johnhking1 94]

bungee75

Mr. Douglas, Our Douglas, Agent Orange, Firestone, Colonel Joe, Baby Blue, jumped em all.

Jumped Mr Douglas, Our Douglas, Agent Orange, Firestone, Bird Machine, Southern Cross, The Tiger striped from LSU and maybe one or two more. Also a couple Load Stars. I also owned and operated a Beech Queen Air with IGSO 480 engines and one with IGSO 540's. Talk about loud.