chuteless

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Everything posted by chuteless

  1. But it shouldnt take precedence over a safe rig. Pretty doesnt do anything when you are below 1000 ft.
  2. Skydivers posted a photo of a new rig apparently with another belly band, and a remark about " those new funny capewells". It appears that every few years, skydiving equipment manufacturers feel the need to come out with some new fangled gadgets, with the expectation that everyone will just have to have the latest piece of junk, and they will make more money. They had good rigs back in the 1960s and 1970s, and some screwball decided it would be best to take the quick ejectors off and they could step through the leg straps. What a stupid idea, and yet almost every rig you see now has this abomination. They go from bad to very bad, and make lots of money. Its time to make some more changes, and lots more money by convincing skydivers they need something new, modernized, advanced, revolutionary, and costly. If I had a rig made for myself in Jan 2014, it would have 1 1/2 shots, 1 belly band , and quick ejectors on both leg straps. The RIPCORD would be where it should be, just below the front of the shoulder, NOT tucked in my ass. I wouldnt throw pilot chute out, I would pull the ripcord and let the pilot chute do its stuff like it did for years. People would have to learn how to spot again. Wouldnt that be great? All the rig has to do is keep the chute folded sufficiently to get a good opening when I get to altitude, and then as long as my harness stays on, I'll get a satisfactory landing. You sure do have some nice looking rigs now, but beauty doesnt help a bit when you need your reserve. Functionality should be first consideration, not how much the manufacturers can make by selling some new gadget to skydivers who always find the money to get " the latest".
  3. I started jumping back in 1962. I never thought much about making a career out of it....that just evolved, and I owned the whole sky. Few people were jumping and fewer made a living at it. I stayed playing the rules game until 1969, when I did my 1st chuteless jump. I threw the rule Book away, and lived by my own set of rules. I got notarized in the Press/Media , in a great amount through CSPA's attempts to stop me. The more they tried, the more I got to do. I jumped 6 and 7 miles, over Pearson Airport. No one else has ever been allowed as much freedom as I was from the Federal Transport Ministry, and no one will ever have it in the future. When I say I owned the sky....I really did. Everything was possible, and CSPA unwittingly helped me get the attention to keep going. I had a great time....I believe I had the greatest time in the entire sport, and I am still alive. My last jump was Aug 18th 2013, and I don't want to do any more. My health is such one would expect to find in a man who will be 82 yrs old this year....I am not as fast as before, I break bones much easier now, and they heal slower. I am not the least afraid of breaking anything, but I am sick of waiting for them to heal up. I dont get around like I used to. I never dreamed I would get too old for jumping...I was destined to be 40 yrs old forever. Well, that didnt work out like I had thought it would. I am through now ( I think ) and will be satisfied to watch my daughter make her jumps. I know she'll never have the sky imbedded in her heart like I did, but I put it there back in the 1960s. I hope this helpd you understand. Best wishes, Bill Cole D-41, aka Chuteless 2 and 3.
  4. NO PROBLEM> I always had my ears on when we took off, and they stayed on till the jump was over. Try crazy glue.
  5. Thats one reason I liked the belly wart. If it didnt come out, you could play with it. I had a reserve that didnt show and I had the ripcord in my hand far out of the back. I thumped the reserve container and she let go. Great sight .
  6. Heck, I can recalll buying Newton Ring Sights for skydiving camerawork....at $2.50 each for as many as I wanted. I should have bought them all, they go for about $350.00 each nowadays. Bill Cole
  7. OLD Mike Swain????? What do you mean OLD????Mike isn't a day over 40....and he has a young face behind all that straw. If you see him, give him my regards.....but don't call him OLD. ...............................................................................................................It just came to my mind, he may be 42 years old. Bill Cole D-41 canada
  8. Yes, I would like to contact her. I hope you still have the number. If its in another country do you have the entire area code etc? Thanks so much if you can send it to be at < [email protected] .
  9. Sparky: Thanks for the tip on Libby Lyver. I hope she emails me. I appreciate your help. Bill Cole
  10. I am trying to get in touch with Libby Lyver formerly the operator of the Skydive Auckland DZ in New Zealand. Can anyone help me find her...please. Bill Cole D-41 Canada
  11. If I had a choice to go through clouds, or miss them cleanly, I would choose to go through them. I find it a great thrill to fall into a cloud at great speed, and I know there is always that chance, but I'd take it. The end result if worth it as long as you don't meet a 747 .
  12. A few years back, a group of jumpers were debating wheethger to cutaway and use the reserve, or should they deploy the reserve with the malin tow. Within an hour of this debate, a bunch went up for a jump. One guy had a mal, and no one noticed. About an hour later, someone spoke up and said, "Where is Bobby"? They went out and found his body, the reserve wrapped around the malfunctioned main. If you have a mal, cutaway anduse the reserve. I wish Bobby had done that. He was a great guy, and such a waste. All in one day at the DZ. Bill Cole D-41
  13. BIGUN: I am sending you this email to ask if it was you who I had sent my log book to, at Skydive Auckland NZ, I understand the DZ is not being run by the same people now. I tried to contact Libby Lyver, but have not been able to contact her...she is no longer at the DZ. Do you know where my log book that I sent is now. I would actually like to get it back for my daughter who has taken up the sport, and she would like to have my log books as souvenirs of my days in the sky. Can you help me with retrieving my log book? Please email me at < [email protected] > and I would appreciate any details you can provide to me. Thanks so much Bill Cole D-41 Canada.
  14. On both of my chuteless jumps, I had the harness under the jumpsuit, and the two risors came through holes by my shoulders. Unfortunately, this allowed the jumpsuit to fill with air, a ballooning effect, and it was more difficult flying smoothly. However, it worked for me, and I am still here, so no complaints. Bill Cole D-41 Canada
  15. Listen carefully proky100: You've proved you are a jumper. You've proved the chute opens as it should. You've done it quite a few times, and each time, it is just a copy of the time before. Why then, are you nervous? You have absolutely NO reason to be nervous. When you are in the aircraft climbing to altitude, relax and remember what I am telling you: this jump is just like all the rest you've made....different date, maybe different aircraft, or different fellow jumpers, but the jump is the same as before. Its a copy of your earlier jumps. You are smart enough to know what to do if there should be a problem, but take a look at the odds. You've made ??? how many jumps, and wasn't the last one just like the one before it ? Did you have a malfunction? I don't think you did. So this jump will be like your last one. Stop wasting your internal emotions, sit down and do what you proved many times you could do with perfection. Yes, you have PROVED you can do it, and nothing went wrong. Do it again. You have nothing to worry about. If there should be a mal, which I doubt considering the number of jumps made every day when no one has one, then it is EXTREMELY unlikely that you'll break the trend, and you'll have a safe and enjoyable jump. Look at each jump as a repeat of your earlier successes, and enjoy the sport, and receive the thrills that are there for the taking. Concentrate on the thrills, and stop concentrating on things that likely will never happen until you've made 500 to 1000 jumps, and if you have a mal then, you will handle it ...like a pro. Now, go sit down and plan your next jump> its a repeat performance....so enjoy it. There is NO reason why you shouldn't enjoy it. That is what skydiving is all about....enjoying the sky. I won't wish you " good luck " and all those other things, the jump isn't meant to be a stroke of luck...its a stroke of thrill....so enjoy it. I can tell you, having a malfunction isn't anything to be afraid of. I have found it a thrill of its own, and a " high " that you will actually enjoy. Bill Cole D-41
  16. Many people who have lived on this old planet haven't really lived at all. They've existed, but they haven't lived to enjoy the art of flying without an aircraft. Too bad for them, they really don't know what they have missed. They have in many ways, wasted their time on earth. Not to say skydiving is the only worthwhile thing one can do, but it sure comes close to that category. I feel sorry for them....they really haven't lived at all.
  17. I think you are correct Quade. People have it too good, and they really don't appreciate that fact. I can see constructive criticism as a healthy thing, but not the cry baby act when they already have it so much better than their parents/ancestors.
  18. It was 46 years ago tomorrow ( August 27th 1967 ) that the 16 skydivers drowned in Lake Erie. I think about those guys every year, and think how it should never have happened. Take a minute and reflect on what happened to them, and don't think it couldn't happen to you. I sure could. On a jump last week, I looked down at a water course below as the aircraft climbed to altitude, and realized if any jumpers of today with their dumb leg strap modifications ever went into that water, they would surely drown, because they would never get the leg straps undone while trying to stay afloat. Those step in leg straps are the dumbest invention ever made in the sport. Bring back the quick ejector snaps....or do we have to wait until more jumpers drown? Too many people lost recently....do try to stay safe. Try hard. Bill Cole
  19. When I did the 1st of my chuteless jumps, CSPA members said there would be a rash of inexperienced jumpers getting killed over the next few years. Guess what. Not one jumper was killed doing a chuteless jump because I had done 1, and no others were killed after my 2nd jump either.
  20. Happy birthday Billy. A great bunch of guys never had a birthday after you were born. I wonder if that is supposed to tell us something lol. The evening before the jump ( Aug 26th 1967) Joe Malarik told his girlfriend and another guy that when he died, he would like to go by drowning. The next day he got his wish. He apparently had drowned when he was a kid, but they revived him. He said it was a fast and painless way to go, he simply blacked out, didn't know what had happened.
  21. I believe that jumps made and for which the jumper was paid is a great thing. The animosity directed at the jumper is nothing more than jealousy, because those who do the criticizing couldn't get the same deal. More power to those who can make money from doing the sport they love. In every other sport, no one complains that the participants make money and are detrimental to the sport. Nothing but jealousy. It is only with skydiving that you will find these whiners....no other sport. There is one lady at the Baldwin DZ who complains " Cole only did it for the money" and she is damn right about that. I enjoyed the low openings, and all the stunts as much as I enjoyed spending every dime they earned me. Nothing but jealous whiners. No one complains that the DZ owners are making money from the sport.
  22. As far as I am concerned, more than 1 person is a group jump. Rick and I jumped at 12:45 a.m. over Pearson airport and I consider that as a group night jump. It that pisses off CSPA and/or its members, then so be it. It was more than 1 jumper, it is the highest night jump, and whether anyone likes it or not, those are facts, recorded on 2 barographs, 1 in the aircraft, and I carried one during the freefall.
  23. According to USPA and CSPA records, I hold the record for the highest non-military supported jumps in both day and night. DAY: 36916 or 11,252.019 Meters ( 44 ft short of 7 X 5280 ft = 7 miles ) NIGHT: ( With Rick Wall, from 30,571 ft over Canada's largest airport, Pearson Intnl ( Toronto) Airport. Both jumps were made from a Cessna 210 Turbo ( not the same aircraft, but different a/c ) The night jump done by two jumpers, consider as a group jump ( more than 1 person). Kittinger did NOT break the sound barrier. He did have a drogue chute for his entire freefall. Bill Cole D-41 Canada, aka chuteless 2 and 3,
  24. It will be 46 years ago on Aug 27th 1967, when 16 friends drowned in Lake Erie, after jumping through 100% cloud cover. Two other jumpers were rescued. Remind your self to stay safe. Let the students in on that tragic episode, and make sure they know what they can do in emergencies like that one. " Above all " ( pun intended ) FLY SAFE, Stay alive. Bill Cole
  25. Euro FEET ? Is that supposed to be a new measuring system? I think you are referring to metric. My highest jump ( 36,916 ft is 44 feet short of 7 X 5280 ft equals 7 miles. ( 36,960 feet ) 36,916 ft is ( 11,252.019 meters )