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riggerrob

What year did your school convert to squares?

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SStewart

***What year did your school convert to square canopies for first jump students?
What year did your school convert to square reserves for FJC students?
What year did your jump-pilots convert to square pilot emergency parachutes?



1987
1994
2014

..........................................

Thanks for steering this thread back to the original question.

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Jerry,

I do not know the answers to all those questions .... but hoped that my critic would be able research the archives in Ottawa, Smith's Falls and Trenton .... since he lives in Trenton.

The record for the most jumps in one day was set by Warrant Officer Pitt Blanchette (Regular Canadian Army).
He set the record (50 jumps in one day) back during the 1960s. He only used round parachutes and his major innovation was only doing stand-up landings .... to save the energy required to stand up 50 times.
They used a Cessna 180 modified with a seaplane propeller. The propeller was so long that it could only land three-point.

I met WO Blanchette during the 1970s, when he served as Regimental Support Staff for the Sherbrooke Hussars.

AFAIK Pitt Blanchette's record has not been bettered by a Canadian .... in Canadian skies, etc.

Pitt Blanchette was one of the pioneering Canadian soldiers who practiced freefall skydiving during their days off. Pitt shares the glory with Simon Fairfax Whickham-Martin, Pierre Fourand and Dr. Costello.

Next question: what is Doctor Costello famous for?

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AFAIK Pitt Blanchette's record has not been bettered by a Canadian .... in Canadian skies, etc.



I pretty sure that is not the case. Your critic Beatnik bettered that at least twice. Although not with only rounds. But I don't know the exact particulars.

Also, from CSPA history page, 1967, "Bill Hardman of Abbotsford, BC made 100 jumps in one day setting a new world record for most jumps in a day."

And in 1969....."June 21, Bill Hardman and John McGoldrich each make 150 jumps in a day establishing a new world record.

Less than two weeks later, Steve Sutton in Ontario broke the world record by making 200 in a day on July 3rd."

Then in '71 ..."George Sarson makes 210 jumps in a day establishing a new record for the most jumps done in 24 hours."

'72...."Sergeant Jean Pierre Blanchet sets a new world record at Jean Chrysostome airport near Quebec City, Quebec for 232 jumps in 24 hours."


Not listed on the CSPA history page is Jim Wilson (Beatnik) besting all of these figures. But I believe he may have.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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Not the first time I have been accused of being behind the times.
Hah!
Hah!

Last thing I heard was that Beatnick did 50 jumps in one day at an Alberta DZ and that was a few years ago.

As for Bill Hardman ..... I chatted with him a few weeks ago at the "Usta ... Dinner." Dozens of old Abbotsford, UBC and Chilliwack jumpers gathered to reminisce: Bernard (Swiss), Bill Hardman, John Hardy, Jim Hodges, Brian Wunuck (sp?), Taya (or Tara?) Woolsocks, Vera, etc.

Last Friday I bumped into Gord Allan, Rod Heanan (sp?), Bobby Magee, Mark and Larenda Graham, etc. Bobby Magee was mumbling about a boogie to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 99-ways built at Pitt Meadows, etc. during the summer of 1986. Bobby hopes to start with a Twin Otter and then add more airplanes as more skydivers show up ..... How big a formation is Bobby plotting?????

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Hi Ken,

Quote

Also, from CSPA history page, 1967, "Bill Hardman of Abbotsford, BC made 100 jumps in one day setting a new world record for most jumps in a day."



You nailed it; but you cheated a little. >:(

He did it at the Abbotsford dz, where he was the Gen Mgr.

The occasion was your centennial, Canada was now 100 yrs old.

The word 'on the street' was that this was the very first world record for most jumps in a day.

Jerry Baumchen

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Hi Rob,

Quote

As for Bill Hardman ..... I chatted with him a few weeks ago at the "Usta ... Dinner."




Good to know that Bill is still around. I have not seen him in over 20 yrs. Wish I would known about the dinner, I would have driven up for it.

Jerry Baumchen

PS) If you ever get to spend a little time with Bill again ask him about a guy named John Eccles; lots to tell, and all crazy as H***.

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Last thing I heard was that Beatnick did 50 jumps in one day at an Alberta DZ and that was a few years ago.



He did some kind of a marathon here in Manitoba as well. Come to think of it, it probably was not a record attempt. Not sure what the point was.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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The sometimes argumentative Beatnik did indeed set a record, given that the CSPA divided its "most jumps" record into Round and Square.

Thus there is in Canada:
H-1B Most jumps done in a 24 hour period - Square
Jim Wilson, Aug 19, 2009, Westlock AB, 202 jumps

Not close to the world record but still pretty damn good locally.

Both curious and impressive is that the Round record is Jean Pierre Blanchet's from 1972 at 232!

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My information was mostly picked up when I jumped at those CAPS DZs: Arthur summer 1979; several visits to Gananoque during the 1980s; Beiseker, Alberta in 1992; Abbotsford since the turn of the century, etc.

CAPS DZs were mostly commercial skydiving schools with different priorities than CSPA. Some were industry leaders while others lagged behind the times. None of them liked CSPA's "enthusiastic amateurs" telling them how to run their businesses, so several DZs split from CSPA to form a separate, association of commercial DZs.

Gananoque has long been an industry leader. I interviewed DZO Tom McCarthy about developments at Gananoque. Tom started jumping back during the 1960s, qualified for the CSPA national team (classic style and accuracy) and by the end of the 1969s, Tom worked at the big commercial school in Orange, Massechewsetts.
Come 1970, Tom moved back to Canada to start a school in Gananoque, Ontario. Tom equipped his first jump students with Para-Commanders and KAP-3 AADs and taught his students to pull their own ripcords on their first jump. Tom also pioneered harness-hold jumps.

After Canada's miserable showing at the 1976 Olympics, the federal gov't poured massive amounts of money into amateur sports and specifically into coaching. CSPA headquarters moved to Ottawa and CSPA big-wigs spent their weekends jumping in Gananoque. CSPA big-wigs started telling Tom how to run his business. GRRRRR! They told Tom to scrap his first jump freefall program and convert to static-lines. Tom never enjoyed how fast S/L gear wore out nor how fast it ruined the paint on jump-planes, so Tom adopted an American invention: Instructor-Assisted-Deployment in 1979, along with piggy-back rigs etc.
During the 1980s, 'Gan instructors perfected IAD and refined their harness-hold program until it became part of CSPA's Progressive Freefall Program. By 1990, IAD was the norm at Canadian DZs and many of them talked students into jumping with PFF instructors after they made a few IAD jumps.
As soon as second-generation tandem canopies were available, Tom was one of the first advocates of first-time tandems. Gan is still a busy DZ 46 years after it was founded by a CSPA outsider.


Back during the late 1970s, most DZs dropped static-line students with military-surplus rounds .... including Lloyd Kallio's Parachute School of Toronto in Arthur; Ontario. Lloyd had dozens ...... maybe hundreds ..... of round canopies and the cost of conversion was prohibitive, especially as Lloyd approached retirement.

P.S. I am not clear on why Beatnick gets so upset and accuses me of contradicting him???????
I freely admit my ignorance on some subjects, just as he is ignorant of other subjects. The best solution is for colleagues to share documents (logbooks, photos, etc.) to fill in the gaps in each others' knowledge.

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Just a caution about historical documents.

First, you can really annoy judges and lawyers by referring to old newspapers, NTSB accident reports, etc. because it messes with their carefully contrived plan of only introducing half the evidence. Their favourite half of the evidence is tailored to support their side of the argument.
Guess how I learned that!
Hah!
Hah!
Evil laughter!!!!!!!!!!!!

Secondly, most bureaucrats, legislators, etc. (Transport Canada, CSPA Board of Directors, etc.) only change rules after accidents. That is why air regulations are written in blood. For example, repeated airplane crashes (in the USA and Canada) forced Transport Canada to include "skydiver restraints" in CARS.
What year did TC write "skydiver restraints into CARs?

Like wise, by 1990, most Canadian DZs had adopted large, docile square canopies for first jump students, so when BSRs were adjusted to mandate squares, they were only legislating the new average.

Finally, a caution about only reading historical documents: wars or legislation rarely drive change, rather the establishment has already been under pressure to change for a while. As pressures gradually increase, legislators are forced to rewrite rules or lose credibility.
For example, police and courts are usually years behind the latest drug-smuggling technique. As soon as one drug smuggling method is out-lawed, bad guys invent new smuggling methods (e.g. Columbian submarines) and operate "legally" for a year or three before being outlawed. Police, courts and gov'ts are always behind the curve.

Politicians only change laws when a change allows them a photo opportunity or a press conference or a chance at re-election. Politicians make damned sure that new laws are well-documented and it is in their best interest to NOT publish information about quietly increasing pressures that forced the new law.

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Speaking of historical inaccuracies ...... I read your historical outline on CSPA's website and wonder why you omitted. Mr. Larsen's jump in September 1888, from a hot air balloon flying over a county fair in Sherbrooke, Quebed. Larsen's jump is documented in Molson's about "firsts" in Canadian aviation and le Pioneer newspaper.

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I There seems to be a lot of posts about me. Since I hardly feel the need to build a reputation from posts I hardly long on here anymore. I would rather build it first hand. Getting to some of your posts.

Quote

My information was mostly picked up when I jumped at those CAPS DZs: Arthur summer 1979; several visits to Gananoque during the 1980s; Beiseker, Alberta in 1992; Abbotsford since the turn of the century, etc.



My information comes from interviewing the individuals that were part of the subject (my interviews go back to the first president of CSPA and in some cases before), historical documents, photo evidence, reports, etc. I try not to let my opinion be construed as fact and rather get the correct and verified information.

Quote

P.S. I am not clear on why Beatnick gets so upset and accuses me of contradicting him???????
I freely admit my ignorance on some subjects, just as he is ignorant of other subjects. The best solution is for colleagues to share documents (logbooks, photos, etc.) to fill in the gaps in each others' knowledge.



I have said it several times before. You pass your opinion on as fact. All I try to do is clear the information with accurate information for people to read and take on. Opinions are just that and there is usually a lot more information surrounding something than what is on the surface. Correlation doesn't mean causation. Any personal stuff that may or may not be there I leave out of public forums. If you would like to discuss this at anytime, please PM me and we can chat. You may have an idea of some of it since we had a brief time of working together but that really isn't an issue for me. I won't discuss anything in public as it is not the place for it.

Quote

Just a caution about historical documents.



While I can appreciate the advice you are trying to give. I have a lot of experience with research methods and know how to pick out judgemental information. Using historical documents have to backed up with other sources of information, reviewed and checked. What you mention about them is a small piece of the issues with them. Feel free again to contact me about research methods, I would be happy to discuss them with you. I have a lot of formal education in this area and by no means an expert but have done a lot of it in my ten years of university and three degrees.

Quote

Finally, a caution about only reading historical documents: wars or legislation rarely drive change



You should probably do more research in this area as there are libraries full of information that contradict this statement.

Quote

Speaking of historical inaccuracies ...... I read your historical outline on CSPA's website and wonder why you omitted. Mr. Larsen's jump in September 1888, from a hot air balloon flying over a county fair in Sherbrooke, Quebed. Larsen's jump is documented in Molson's about "firsts" in Canadian aviation and le Pioneer newspaper.



Your previous post answers your question, name bureaucrats, CSPA BoD. The original document which I still have is quite a bit longer but before being posted to the CSPA website, it was vetted by staff, BoD and committees at CSPA to make sure it was what they wanted. It is their website and they can put as much or as little as they would like on it. So thinking I have omitted something may just be an opinion and not necessarily the truth or factual information as an example. There are like usual other inaccuracies in some of your posts but I just don't care about trying to fix them. You have your opinions of things and like to share them in such a way using judgemental language so they will be taken as fact. That isn't to say that you don't have some good or relevant information but doesn't make it cause of why something happened or is done.

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My buddy and I did our skydiver training at Skydive Eagle's Nest and Skydive Westex (both in west Texas). Adam (my friend) had a two out situation on jump number 8. He cutaway his ram-air skymaster main parachute and landed in a cotton field under a round reserve. This was around 2009-2010. Skydive Westex has since shut down and I imagine those rigs are no longer in service. These rigs were likely some of the very last round canopies still being used in sport parachuting here in the United States.

In the end, the dropzones that can't afford to upgrade their student rigs end up not being able to afford maintaining their aircraft either, and eventually go out of business. The aircraft are usually then sold to another dropzone. Seems to be a reoccurring pattern: The Death of the Cessna 182 Dropzone.

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