flipper3

Just saw this in Parachutist. I knew Nick for many years, he always had a smile and was fun to spend time with, whether in the air or partying after. He will be missed by those who had the pleasure to know him. Fly free, my friend!

Sorry to hear this - Flip and I (Flip) were paired up for the 200 way event in 1992. He made it even more fun and I think BJ saved a lot of headaches by having us together so the two Flips were easily found. LOL.

Jumped and partied with Scotty at many boogies everywhere. I'll never forget his wedding jump at the convention - LOL. Never a dull minute when he was around. Keep on truckin' where ever you are, my friend! Flip

Thanks for sharing - sure brought back a lot of memories. Flip Flip

Luis, You be flying free now my friend. I'll never forget the fun times we shared and the races on the freeway heading home from a great day of jumping. Blue skies! Flip Flip

Very sad news. I had the privilege of rooming with him in Elsinore and was on his plane for the SOS 60 way we did last year, plus was on several of the SOS events with him. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met. Hope he is enjoying a great reunion but it doesn't make it easier for those of us still here. Fly on Larry - you are missed! Flip

Sorry to hear this - hope he eased out of this world peacefully. Met him when I made my first sport jumps out at Raeford when I was stationed at Ft. Bragg. Missed the turkey farm but made it into the trees on a very long spot. He ran a good operation there. He will be missed by many. Blue skies Gene Paul! Flip

Really sorry to hear this. We have been losing a lot of terrific long time skydivers recently. Nobody is getting any younger. Met Bill when he came to Hawaii a long time ago when he came to one of our parties. Back in the day the SCR/SCS was a badge to be proudly worn, and I am sure the quest for it pushed the growth and popularity of relative work big time. We have lost another great one. The Hall of Fame would be a great place to honor his contribution to relative work. Blue skies Bill, I'll have a beer for ya! Flip SCS 542, SCR 1389 Flip

Thanks for posting Nancy, Really sad to hear Ed has left us - I knew he was dealing with the cancer. I have had the pleasure of knowing Ed for a while and jumped a lot with him when he was in Hawaii. I always looked forward to seeing him at the SOS record attempts whenever we were both able to make it at the same time to catch up. Fly free my friend! Flip Flip

Just saw this, and it kindled a lot of old memories of jumps I made with him in the 70's when I lived in Rhode Island before I moved to Hawaii. I think he made it out here in the late 70's or early 80's to one of our boogies because he got the Sha-Wan-Ga going here for a bit. He was a character and spiced up any party back in the day. Fly on Ray! Flip

I was shocked and saddened when I heard the news just a short while ago. I went through his rigging course in Quincy in 1971. Ran into him and jumped with him through the years, most recently some of the SOS record attempts. I bought my first new rig from him - the Stylemaster main with the center pull belly wart - $200 for both. He was a pioneer in the industry and about as good a person you could ever hope to meet. Truly a loss for everyone - but he left us doing what he loved. Blue skies Ted - hope to see you again someday! Flip Hollstein D 3115 Flip

Janna, I had a full joint replacement on my knee 7 years ago. Was grounded for 6 months from jumping. I can do everything better with the new one except go through airports. Get a good doctor and do the rehab and you should be fine. No more pain! Flip Flip

Bummers I haven't been here in a while and saw this. I met Kevin in the 70's when he visited in Hawaii and I gave him my strato star to jump while here. He used to let me stay in his trailer at Elsinore when I came over for the scrambles. He and Gary Douris were friends who always watched out for me when I was there and I tried to reciprocate when they were here. I have a lot of great memories of times spent together - and i am sorry to see he has moved on, along with Gary. Both were great people to have known. Blue skies my friend. Flip Flip

I have had a few of each (long ago). My thing always was "If in doubt, roll it out." Made a few stand ups, rolled a few, the important thing to me was being able to make the next load. Never did break anything. (Knock on wood). Flip Flip

Looks like the first 50 way which was filmed at Elsinore back in the late 70's. It was shown on the Johnny Carson show right after it happened. Flip Flip

Sorry to read this. I have known Gary for way over 20 years. Had the pleasure of meeting his cats too, and occasional wolves - you name it. Enjoyed his visits to Hawaii and my visits to California when he always had a spare room for me. He was truly one of the "great guys" and will be missed by many. Thanks for leading the way Gary - see you later. Flip Flip

I got mine in Hawaii in 1975 and it came with the rope and rings. My first jump on it had me opening about 1/2 mile off shore on Kailua Beach when 3 of us got our gold wings. They switched mine into a friend's rig I used for the jump to surprise me - they did when I looked up on opening. No problems on the jump. Wasn't too long later that the slider replaced the rope and rings - what a good deal that was - so much easier to pack and a lot less volume and weight. Compared to jumping a PC this was a great canopy - we almost always have an abundance of wind here. Since i weighed 160 lbs no problem there either. I still have the canopy in my attic - guess the next trip up I'll have to check how I did the mod. I did a lot of CRW with that canopy too back in the day. Oh the memories! Flip Flip

Don gave me my first 3 way back in 1971. He used to visit the Richmond, RI DZ now and then back then. This thread has awakened some good old memories. Flip

Was part of the SOS record team so I have been doing this for a while. Haven't been to Deland since the early '90's and saw that they had made a lot of good improvements to the facility. We were the for an event and the staff at Deland did an excellent job of hosting it for us. Everything went very smoothly, if there were problems we didn't know about them. The aircraft and pilots were excellent and we had no problem making our scheduled jumps - we even set a new world record and held it for close to 20 seconds. Sweet! Thanks Bob and all your staff for making it happen. Flip Hollstein Hawaii

I just saw that commercial - not sure what they were trying to sell but the visuals were great. You won't see that in the USA on TV. A lot of artistic freedom used - not accuracy in details. Flip