hagalo

Does anyone have any pictures of early CRW? How early? I am building an album at Dropzone.com from my photos made during the early 80's under my alias Hagalo. There are only two CRW images so far but I have more, somewhere. Jerry FSR-235

Is this a photo of Mike Furry in the attachment?

This is one reply we used when asked about a double malfunction or not pulling. We get the shotgun out the office and shoot you before impact, that way it's not a skydiving accident it's a hunting accident.

Jumping into the eye of hurricane Donna may be a myth. The story came to me second hand from Jim Godwin (D-126) and he could have been pulling my leg or Gary Depuis pulled his and it got passed on. I did check on a few things before posting and found that Donna’s path did take it over Deland, Florida in 1960 and based on longitude and latitude coordinates it looks like the eye did pass over the airport. Of course that comes a long way from verifying a myth. http://www.umbc.edu/ges/Geog480_HurricaneWebPage/fullres1960.html A clip from a Deland publication. “Longtime residents still talk about Hurricane Donna, which spun winds in excess of 180 mph before slamming into Southwest Florida and traveling northeast across the state. The eye of the storm in 1960 passed over DeLand with wind gusts of 99 mph, still the highest hurricane winds ever recorded in Volusia. Donna was still at hurricane strength when it veered over Flagler Beach, taking about 80 feet of the Flagler Pier with it.” Unfortunately they did not mention any parachute jumps. If anyone can confirm or deny this myth please let me know.

Hurricane Isabel reminded me of Gary Depuis, previous owner of the Deland PC, making a jump into the eye of hurricane Donna when it passed over Deland in 1960.

Please don’t rely on landfall to tame a Hurricane quickly. When Hurricane Donna hit us in 1960 it came in at the Everglades at a Cat 4 and remained a Cat 4 to Orlando. It was a Cat 3 from Orlando till it was off the coast of Jacksonville. For those interested in making a hurricane jump do it in the eye. Gary Depuis then owner of the Deland PC made a jump in the eye of Donna when it passed over Deland.

Eustis, FL Leesburg, FL Deland, FL Titusville, FL Daytona, FL Edgewater, FL Kissimmee, FL Lake Wales, FL Zephyrhills, FL Brooksville, FL Palatka, FL Dunnellon, FL Sanford, FL Orlando, FL Ocoee, FL Gotha, FL Windermere, FL Plains, GA

This jump occurred during August 1980 over Eustis Florida. On jump run at 11,0000 feet the twin engine Beechcraft was lumbering in the direction of what turned out to be a very quickly developing thunderstorm north of the DZ. After the cut I followed front and rear floaters (Swede Rundquist, Carey Webb) out into center floater position. Before we could say EFS the plane started to move up and down with intense cycles. I can still see the other eight jumpers lined up holding on to each other with their backs pressed to the roof, eyes big as saucers and their legs moving in a running motion but not touching the floor like a big caterpillar. Then they all crashed to the floor where they could not move. Had it not been for the gravity of the situation it would have been comical. My reaction was to hang on to the plane hoping these cycles would stop so I could let go with out hitting the tail. Looking to the right I saw the rear floater was gone then a moment later after looking away I felt something to my right and the rear floater was back again. Faster than the thought “How did he do that?” could go through my mind we hit a down cycle and he went up with his legs and arm fully extended over the aircraft still holding on to a handle with one hand then came back down slamming into the side of the plane next to me on the following up cycle. Soon after, at the top of an up cycle, I was slung off of the aircraft along with the front and rear floaters. It is not very often you get to see the topside of the jump plane in freefall but on this jump I watched the Beech disappear into the soup from above. Much of the freefall was spent on my back because of the stinging raindrops but at 5000 feet I saw Swede and we made a two man. Everyone made it back safe and sound but a bit frazzled.

Heard a story once about a jumper in south Florida on his 3000 jump spotting a load long, tracking back, opening low with a PC and landing in the peas while the rest had a long walk in the swamp. Anyone know the details of this rumor? (Pop?)

This song was traditional at some DZs. Twas was a week ago Sunday, On a broken down runway, Just as we climbed in our plane. When by a car bumper There stood a strange jumper, Who seemed to be almost insane. He said with a shout, Can I follow you out?" But he sure had a strange looking rig- It was a front-mounted pretzel, An Eddy Grimm special! While the rest of the load wore a pig. Well after the jump, When it came time to dump And the ten-way had finally split - After cutting away From his first mal today This new guy was starting to shit! His reserve wasn't working After lots of hard jerking And just when I thought he was dead In a voice that was splitting From the bricks he was shitting, He looked at his poptop and said You picked a fine time to fail me, reserve, Four hundred feet and I'm losing my nerve - I've had some bad ones, I've lived through some sad ones, But this one I just don't deserve! You picked a fine time to fail me, reserve! Well after he bounced We smoked up an ounce, And stared in the hole where he lay - I started to wonder If maybe - I'd thunder? The next time that I cutaway. Well the whuffos report There's a much safer sport But I think I'll keep jumping instead - If my square doesn't open, I'll cutaway hopin' And remember the last words he said, You picked a fine time to fail me, reserve! Four hundred feet and I'm losing my nerve I've had some sad ones I've lived through some bad ones, But this one I just don't deserve! You picked a fine time to fail me, reserve!

The first canopy I owned was a beautiful blue 28 foot Hustler serial # 0001. It was produced by Lew Sanborn and had been stored in mothballs. Just after opening shock I could often smell the odor of mothballs. That odor still reminds me of those days. More Starlite Trivia The Starlite was also known as a “See-Star” based on its reputation for hard openings. Some referred to it as the only canopy that you were relieved if it opened and if it didn’t. I have a photo of a Starlite and PC CRW stack somewhere. I will post it if I can find it.