dzswoop717

I have owned planes for the last 20 years. On many occasions I have had private pilot friends take myself and a couple of friends up to jump. Some times I footed the fuel bill and other times all of us including the pilot split the fuel bill. I talked to the local FAA Official before doing this 20 years ago and again just a couple of years ago. It is completely legal. Of course we have permission from the land owner , file a NOTAM and are in radio contact with a controller . I have met several people who do the same thing. It happens more than you might think.

I made a mistake in my other post. It was not a lycoming o-340 190hp, it was a lycoming 0-435 190hp conversion. Another thing I have seen on the 108 series is when they metalize the plane to eliminate the fabric covering. I have heard that it adds to the empty weight of the airframe and cuts down on the useful load.

There are dozens of stinson 108 series airplanes for sale and hundreds of them still flying. They came from the factory with either a 150 hp or 165 hp Franklin engine. A Franklin engine is a six cylinder air cooled engine similar to a Contiental on many Cessnas but for some reason they have a very low time between overhauls. they have a decent useful load but, not enough power for climbing to 10k at gross weight. Another issue is the door is small. If you were looking for a plane to own and make a few jumps with a buddy from maybe 7k, it would be a fine choice. If you want to fly tandems all day to 10k I would look for another airplane. There have been many engine conversions for this airframe including a Lycoming o-340 190hp, Lycoming o-360 180hp and a Continental o-470 230hp (same as a stock 182). The take off and climb performance is greatly improved and would make going to 10k more possible but, with the small door and cramped cabin 3 jumpers would be max and a tight fit at that. Also, most Stinsons are fabric covered and depending on the system used and how it had been stored over the years, will need to be recovered at a great expense. DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you buy any airplane. they all have potential to be a money pit. There were also several radial engine stinsons built in the 1930's. You better be a mechanic or wealthy to buy and maintain one of these. I am not trying to discourage you, Just a little advice from someone who has already made the same mistake.

One problem with mogas is it's short storage life compared to avgas. Mogas turns to crap in a month or two. But if you only buy what you need and don't leave it in your plane for too long before flying it, it can work fine. These old Cessnas were built to fly on 80 octane. The engine will run fine as long as you take the extra care to keep fresh fuel in your plane. There are also quit a few guys who use mogas that put a little Marvel Mystery Oil in with every fill up. These guys swear by it. I have also heard that mogas is harder on the fuel cells and fuel lines. I never used it long enough to see if this was true. We have a gas station half a mile away from our airport that sells ethanol free fuel. I use it in my Light sport but can't use it in my 206. Everybody on our airport that has a plane with an auto fuel stc buys and flies this fuel with no problems that I have been made aware of. I have heard that it is not legal to use in a commercial operation. I have never read the regs to see if this is true.

I also limit my doctor visits. This new law could mean better health for pilots who previously were hesitant to see a doctor in fear of medical refusal. It will also stimulate the economy. I know a bunch of pilots who have drivers licenses that can't fly because of the FAA rules. Most of them were aircraft owners who bought fuel, up graded their panels, got paint jobs, overhauled engines, paid hanger rent, etc, etc. They can afford an airplane and enjoy their 100 dollar hamburgers. They also enjoyed their Beechcraft Bonanzas and Cessna 180's that took alot more money to keep flying and thus, stimulating the economy more than an LSA. Most of these guys and girls have had to have a waiver to fly before so they can't fly LSA at this time. Some just don't have the patience to jump through the hoops any more. I hope this goes through. I miss my old airport buddies. PS, If this goes through, the price of airplanes under 6000lbs could go up.

Made my first jump at age 16. I was around the DZ since the age of 4, so I understood the risk. Most dz brats that are raised at a DZ have a much better insight than a kid off the street who has never been around the sport. If this girl was raised on the DZ and watched and learned most of her life, she probably knows as much as most instructors. She just doesn't have the skydiving experience yet. By the time I was 10 I had the first jump course memorized. I watched the instructors teach and assisted in PLF demo and helping get harnesses on the students for the hanging harness portion of the training. I sat through 100's of first jump courses before I made my first jump. If she was anything like me she is ready for anything her parents give her permission to do.

It has been a little over 4 years since my Dad passed. I think about him every day. He was a long time jump pilot and the reason I started jumping. I decided that I wanted to make 19 jumps on my 19th birthday and Dad was more than happy to oblidge. We took the door , right seat, and copilot yoke out of his pristine Cessna 180 and commensted to jumping. On the first jump run I noticed that I could see my Mom's face standing beside the peas when I exited. I didn't wear an altimeter for the hop and pops because it was just another peice of equipment to keep track of. After 18 hop and pops I was going to do a 3 way with my support people who packed for me and lent me rigs to jump. Georgie, Randy and I climbed into Dad's plane and started the long climb to 7200ft for a quick 3 way to finish the day. We were jumping at Maytown which is about 500ft above sea level. Dad turned on jump run but my altimeter was only reading a little over 6500ft. I pointed this out to Dad and he made another go around and got us out at 7,500ft. We did a quick 3 way and broke off and pulled by 2000ft, it was jump number 67 for me. While decending for my 19th time that day I realized that good old Dad the 'penny pincher' left me out on 18 jumps at 1700ft AGL.No wonder I hit the peas on almost every jump with rounds. I could have hit them with a lawn dart. Dad was a penny pincher, but how many kids got to make 19 jumps on ther 19th birthday. I have hundreds of stories about my Dad and all the cool things he did for me. I wish I would have let him know how great he was before he died.

Dumping out a buddy was a common thing before Zero-p canopies came along. We had a tight knit group with hundreds of jumps and years of friendship between us and it never was anything but fun. The thing that hasn't been pointed out yet is that the guy doing the prank only had 130 jumps in 3 years. Why didn't anyone else on the load show any concern and possibly put a stop to it. We as a family need to look out for younger jumpers so they don't make bad decisions. I also think that the dude being dumped out at 10k is a little thinned skinned or hasn't been apologized to correctly. The guy made a mistake, if he promises to never do it again and learned from his mistake, it should be forgiven, possibly not forgotten. I can't see losing a friend over it. Everyone does stupid stuff, it is wether we learn from it or not that counts. I think the prankster has seen the error of his ways.

My buddy is a chain saw sculptor. He spends 6 to 10 hours a day carving huge tree trunks into masterpieces. He uses several different size chain saws with really cool tuned pipes (very loud). Are there any houses near Gibby's for sale. He wants to move to Longmont.

I have witnessed Mr. Bill dives done with a third person holding the pilot chute like an IAD jumpmaster does. This was from both a Cessna and a Twin Otter and it worked quit well. I Have no actual experience doing such a jump but they are sure fun to watch.

In the good old days, he would have got his ass beat and thrown off the DZ. Now thanks to the internet he can be beaten up by hundreds of people who had nothing to do with the situation. I miss the good old days.

A supercharged Twin Bonanza or Queen Air will do a better job. Maybe an old Caribou. These old planes really rattled the windows.

Even in a twin engine aircraft there are times when yanking the throttles to idle and landing straight ahead is the best option. Many,many skydivers have lost their lives when pilots choose to attempt to save the plane with an engine out. The west point Queen Air crash comes to mind of just one example of bad decision making by a pilot. A Twin Otter should easily fly on 1 engine with a light load but the pilot had to know it was in bad mechanical condition. Also is this the crash where the pilot did a mid field takeoff? If so another bad choice. Me, I'm tightening my seat belt and staying with the plane, 120 ft is too low to exit with skydiving gear.

It was a 206 and the prop does not feather. Pilot was very experienced mega hour jump pilot which contributed greatly to the out come.

We lost a lot of shoes doing down planes in the eighties and early ninties. Most recently on my Dad's ash jump a freind had a rough dock on my brother and I who had a 2 way base with Dad's ashes between us. He rolled the velcro on the side of my full face helmet loose which let the chin loosen and my helmet started to come off while I am trying to release Dad's ashes. Lost the helmet, and dirt alert that was in it but kept a hold of Dad. The release looked great from the ground and Dad was where he was most comfortable, in the sky. Later that night at the memorial party my friends presented me with a wad of cash that they had collected by passing a hat. I have great friends! Now I need to order a new helmet, but have no idea what to get since my full face was at least 15 years old and I haven't been paying attention to helmet technology.

At the end of the video, when the guy kisses the chick, the dudes nose is ripped open and his eye is swollen shut. He let the chick know that she might have blood on her face and she sort of wipes it off. Talk about early combat RW!!!!!!!!!!

Standing outside the rigger loft at Raeford in 1985, the UPS driver ( a very polite middle aged southern gentelman) over hears us talking about jumping. He asks a few of the standard questions then came up with a term we had never heard before. He asks," how do you know when to open your HATCH"? We were young Army guys, taught to respect or elders, but we couldn't hold back the laughs. We didn't want to be dissrespectful to this man but we lost it. His delivery of the question with that southern draw was priceless. I see my old Army buddies every few years and the "OPEN THE HATCH STORY" always comes up after a few beers.

holie, Thanks for posting the pictures. I don't have the computer skills to do that. That door set up would work on lots of other planes also. There is a video from inside the 195 that shows some kind of roll up door that I am not familiar with.

There is a cessna 195 that is converted to a turbine on you tube. The inflight door is built in two pieces, the bottom third, swings down and becomes the step and it looks like the top is a roll up of some kind. I would like to put something like this on my 206. It would keep the big draggy step out of the wind stream for takeoff and climb and leave the drag out for the ride down. It would also shorten the roll up door by a foot making it easier to open. This type of door won't work on a 182 and I don't know if it would clear the strut on a 180 and 185.

I was introduced to the sky at 2 weeks old, mom held me in the back seat of dad's Champ. Built and flew model airplanes by first grade. Spent every weekend at the DZ while dad flew the plane. Started hang gliding at age 14, started flying lessons at age 15, started jumping at age 16, I'm now 51 and fly several times a month and jump when I can. When I am working and it is a beutiful day, I get anxious knowing how much I would love to be up there instead of working. Maybe I am a weirdo, but I feel a constant need to be in the air. It motivates me to work so I can afford to fly and jump. It has been a part of me as long as I can remember. A simple hop and pop or a short flight in my Kolb, will change my mood. My wife (a non jumper) will tell me to go jump when I am crabby because she knows I will come home in a good mood. There has to be other people out there who have this feeling. I am never bored when I am flying , jumping, or even riding up in the plane to altitude. It is where I love to be.

No one has mentioned a natural call to the sky. Any jump is good to me. I love being in the sky. It never gets boring because I am in my element when I am in the sky. All of my hobbies involve flight, ultralights, skydiving, traveling in my Cessna or flying RC planes. I am addicted to flight. I can't get bored, it is who I am. I can't relate to someone who says they are bored when skydiving, they must not have it in their blood like some of us. I can honestly say that in 35 years of jumping and my entire 51 years of life in aviation, I have never been bored Skydiving. I love every second of every jump! A lot of people don't take the time to cherrish every second of a jump for the wonderful thing that it is, and these are the people who take it for granted and say that they are bored. I can't get bored, I see and experience something new every time I escape the bond to earth and venture skyward on my next aerial adventure.

George Bolen operated the York Sport Parachute Center at various locations from 1966 until 1987 when Dennis Beattie and myself bought his equipment and took over the DZ as EFS inc. The York Skydivers was a social skydiving club that jumped at Our and Bolen's DZ's. On August 24th 2013 we organized a memorial and ash jump for our pilot and my father, Gene Weaver. 75 former York Skydivers and another 150 friends and family attended the event that included Helicopter jumps, Cessna loads and Gene's ash jump form a King Air provided By J R sides from Chambersburg skydiving center. York Skydivrs is no longer an organized club but it continues as a large group of friends that share their love of the skies at annual get togethers. If you were a member or associate of the York Skydivers, please feel free free to message me to be invited to our next unplanned get together.

I don't think any specific question can secure a potintial student after a carnival ride tandem jump. A tandem student who is given a thourough briefing, freefall tasks, Canopy control options and a debrief of thier performance, followed by a brief explination of how they can become a licensed skydiver will increase return rates. This process has been lost and is the only way to increase return rate!!!!! Tandem factories will never produce SKYDIVERS.

There is no such thing as 4 dollar per gallon Avgas. Just bought a couple hundred gallons in my fuel trailer at 5.72 per gal. Most airports in my area are 6 bucks and above. I leaseed a 182 last weekend for 120.00 per hr dry including the pilot (owner) it still worked out to 24 bucks per slot to 10k to break even.

Good analogy, Don't quit, it will be worth the effort.