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John_snurkowski

best days of parachuting?

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ladies and gentlemen, i pose a question. what were the best days for skydiving? was it when not many did it in the fifties, with the modified military gear, the pc days, the transition period with the birth of ram airs and all those other weird designs that didnt last like the paradactyl type parachutes, or now in this modern day with swooping...

i may not have lived through any of it, but i love the paracommanders. Don Kellner has a stash of twenty of them them that i love to dig out and jump. I have my opinion, but i'd love to hear from some old farts. what were your favorite days in skydiving?

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I think that perhaps I am not enough of an "old fart" to give you the answer you are expecting. I started jumping in 1981 and I have 40 jumps on round and PC class parachutes. I couldn't wait to get to where I was jumping a ram-air. The round parachutes just landed too damn hard for a big boy.

For me the best days were in the early 90's when most students jumped large ram-air parachutes (the Manta) and landed well enough that they wanted to make more jumps.

Tandem jumping was well underway by then, but most people were still willing to spend the time on a ground school and learn how to skydive.

I remember one day at the DZ, talking to some other experienced jumpers about noticing how many people were at the DZ.

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I liked the late 70's because I was a young woman on the dz. Even though I didn't date around, it still could be fun :)
Next I'd have to say right after starting again in 2001. Gear was so much better, and my skills were improving again. But now I get to jump with my husband and not care what anyone thinks, and that's great too

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Hi Wendy,

Quote

I was a young woman on the dz



^^^^ This

Not you specifically; it is that period of your life is what made it 'the best,' not the gear.

I was 23 when I made my first jump. One reason why I continued to jump was because of the people, not the thrill/fun of the jumping. Oh, that was fun also; but the people made it what it was.

Just my $0.02 of thoughts,

Jerry Baumchen

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The time when you feel every time you jump as though you're mastering fate, learning something new, and cool

Even if you're not :P

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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The 70's. Gear changed every week. New sky dives. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. No video cameras so you could lie. It wasn't ME that screwed up the formation! DC 3's, Lodestars, Beech's. Then came the turbines. Boooogey's. The birth of AFF and tandems.
U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

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While I wish I was young and rich and could base jump walls in Norway, jump pocket rockets with no fear, spend thousands in the tunnels, figure out how not to fall stable and do this head down crap I don't much like the attitudes around the DZ's.

One of the attractions pre AAD was the idea of complete self reliance not to die. Skydiving was one of the very few situations where if you did nothing you were sure to die. We all knew you could die skydiving. Even driving down the highway at 80 if you take you hands and feet off the controls you may or may not die or even get hurt. Maybe swooping is replacing that back of the mind knowledge that if I don't do something (right) I'm going to die.

And being there, no parachute and none expected, knowing you were going to bounce was not a good thing, I know.

And first jumps before tandems meant you had some level of self reliance. That was part of the attraction. You were getting out of an airplane, by yourself. Yes static line and maybe radio but still you had to climb out and jump, take care of any problems, and ultimately land on your own even if you had radio help. That feeling of self accomplishment is one of the things that attracted me. When people used to ask me whether they should do a tandem or static line I'd explain if they think they only want to do it once, ever, they would get more of the experience with tandem. If they want the challenge of doing it on their own and relying on themselves to survive (sort of) they should do a static line (later or AFF)

AAD's are good, tandems are good, but I believe both of those things changed the sport in indirect ways. Better or worse depends on you.

I wasn't there (started in 80) but my guess is the 70's where the race for the first 8 way was on. Where lots of folks did 10 way speed star and didn't have to be professional skydivers to compete. Remember when skydivers were equated with outlaw bikers? We were killing more in freefall, so that wasn't so good. But few died under an open and fully functioning parachute.:S

I'm glad I got around 300 round jumps. Used my PC to follow students long after I had two ram air rigs. I'm glad I early enough to catch some of those early changes and advances from military gear.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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There was just something about the 70's. A club, in a soybean field, surplus military gear, a 182 held together with duct tape, and the instructor was the guy who learned last summer. It was hard to become "included", but when it happened it really felt good. Then you began the progression, cause it was a club, not a business. Packing for students, becoming a static line JM, then an Instructor. One weekend a month it was your turn to train students, cause it was a club, not a business. 4 ways never felt so good, beer never tasted so cold, and in case of a bad opening, there was a white angel there to save you. Ahh, Yes, the 70's.

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Quote

Yes static line and maybe radio but still you had to climb out and jump, take care of any problems, and ultimately land on your own even if you had radio help.



What's this radio shit back then?!?!??!? One person spun the arrow in the direction you were supposed to go

When you transitioned to the square; someone had a painted set of ping pong paddles to help you flare....

;):D:D
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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We had some of the locals decide they had to be the big dogs and start their own cessna dz 10 miles down the road. They painted a red arrow on a 2x4 (I'm being generous on size) piece of plywood. They would hold this.up over their head, usually tipped the wrong way, way too small and no contrast. Then the guy would shout 'all the way around' to the students under PC's.with very poor training. They broke a few legs and one back of a guy landing.60' up a tree. The guy that did most of the jumpmastering would tell students that if they didn't protect their chest mount reserve ripcord and opened the reserve "YOU WILL DIE. I WON'T BECAUSE I'M GOING TO JUMP OUT OVER YOU BUT YOU WILL DIE!" DZ lasted about a year and a half.

We put out an arrow on the wind line and left it. Went through no radios or.other ground control to cb's until an asshole down the road gave students false commands. Then nothing again (besides good training) to Motorola commercial pagers.

We had one airplane.owner that had flown the club and flew occasionally. In 1 inch dymo letters he had.on the inside if the.in flight door "IF YOU DIE ON THIS JUMP ARE YOU READY TO MEET GOD!" Great for students.:S

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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I've always believed that people come to "jump out of an airplane". Not to learn to do relative work or anything else. Kenny Coleman showed me his idea for accelerated learning of skydiving the fall of '79. He ran down the syllabus and showed how the exits and dives were going to go. I agreed that it was entirely possible to do but what about the experience of climbing out on the step by oneself 5 or 6 times and the freefall progression. He said that in 6 or 7 jumps he could have the student at the same skill level. In a fraction of the time and about the same cost (or slightly higher). I pointed out that it was that extra time that gave the student the experience. Hanging out on weather days, listening to the lies around the campfire, that is where a good deal of the real world training took place.

I brought up the same point to Bill Booth when he started developing his tandem system. But it was a great way to teach canopy control. At first, Bill had no drogue and had a 5 to 7 second max on the freefall. But Ted Strong had a drogue so to compete Bill had to have one.

AFF brought in professional instructors. Tandem boosted the idea. By the mid '80s there were professional RW coaches. Gone was the fun of learning from the mistakes you and others made and laughing about on the ground. The joy of realizing you had something figured out and you figured it out by yourself.

I started in 1970, just when Relative Work was getting really going. The world record was a 21 man star. The first Zepherhills 10 Man Meet was in '69. At some meet about that time the first team to make a 10 man on all 5 jumps happened. Looking back, the PCs (ParaCommanders not pilot chutes) could've been funner. The planes could've been better. But the beer was cold, the campfire was warm and times were as good as they could be. So we thought.
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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jackwallace

The 70's. Gear changed every week. New sky dives. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. No video cameras so you could lie. It wasn't ME that screwed up the formation! DC 3's, Lodestars, Beech's. Then came the turbines. Boooogey's. The birth of AFF and tandems.



Made my heart rate tick up a little...

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BIGUN

Quote

Yes static line and maybe radio but still you had to climb out and jump, take care of any problems, and ultimately land on your own even if you had radio help.



What's this radio shit back then?!?!??!? One person spun the arrow in the direction you were supposed to go

When you transitioned to the square; someone had a painted set of ping pong paddles to help you flare....

;):D:D


No radios for me when I went through static line. I gave my instructor a dirty look when he started to put a radio on me, he went "oops" and put it away. :D

He used the paddles for my first 4 or 5 jumps and I was on my own. LZ was the size of a baseball field. I never missed it.
"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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BIGUN

Quote

Yes static line and maybe radio but still you had to climb out and jump, take care of any problems, and ultimately land on your own even if you had radio help.



What's this radio shit back then?!?!??!? One person spun the arrow in the direction you were supposed to go

When you transitioned to the square; someone had a painted set of ping pong paddles to help you flare....

;):D:D



When I took my Instructors course in '72 the guy giving the block on teaching canopy control said the best communication devise was ball pein hammer with a 2,000 ft. handle.;)
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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It had to be the mid-seventies! I started in 76 which seemed to be a transition period for gear. Canopies of all sizes and shapes filled the air. Dc-3, Twin beech's filled with RW jumpers and C-180's putting out students. Almost all jumpers seemed to own a van of some sort for after jumping "partying"! Being invited on a load was the ultimate acceptance, you are now a real skydiver! Yep, the mid-seventies was it for me!!

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The best days of parachuting, for me personally, were the days of $99 Boogie til ya pukes out of Mullin's King Air in the 90's. One rig, as many jumps as you could make, Saturday and Sunday, for $99. Those were the good old days.

If you were quick and had two full days of jumping, 14-18 jumps for just $99 to 15K feet wasn't out of the question.
"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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BillyVance

The best days of parachuting, for me personally, were the days of $99 Boogie til ya pukes out of Mullin's King Air in the 90's. One rig, as many jumps as you could make, Saturday and Sunday, for $99. Those were the good old days.

If you were quick and had two full days of jumping, 14-18 jumps for just $99 to 15K feet wasn't out of the question.



+1 on this, and there was some puking involved.

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xsniper

***The best days of parachuting, for me personally, were the days of $99 Boogie til ya pukes out of Mullin's King Air in the 90's. One rig, as many jumps as you could make, Saturday and Sunday, for $99. Those were the good old days.

If you were quick and had two full days of jumping, 14-18 jumps for just $99 to 15K feet wasn't out of the question.



+1 on this, and there was some puking involved.

We partied hard Saturday nights, and still dragged our asses to manifest by 7:30 AM Sundays. ;)
"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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JerryBaumchen

Hi Keith,

Quote

One person spun the arrow




What's this arrow s***?

'Back in the day' it was, 'See that field? That is where you should land.'

:P

Jerry Baumchen
Back in the day = the 60's



Then, when I came along ('76) it was, "See That field? That is where you should not land."

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