patworks

Howdy, Plus HELP. Janner and I are over-killing the "History of Sequential Formation (FS) RW" exhibit to debut at the Natl SKydiving Museum Eloy deal (Nov ). OK. So IF you can + will forward high -resoultlion scans of OVER 1 MG, or more. OR, IF YOU care to share bon mots. DO IT NOW . Share what you done and saw. I was there then, I was part of some of it; I'll share what I have. NOBODY is/ was all of it. Ain't no such thing as a one-man star. Ourselves have memories, our friends are the rest of us. Share with tomorow while you can remember today. SEND TO [email protected] (Presume aligators done et my boat and my new Addias with me in em . . . . or Janner) ... ain't no life nowhere FUVM Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

RWu: the Skydance Underground issue 4, August '94 ________________________________________ FS SEQUENTIAL FORMATIONS, SKY, DANCE, AND REALITY -- New Boogie mechanics form natural dives Recognize that all dives have a beginning, middle and endpoint. Realize different parts of the skydive feel different. Design the dive to appreciate that man-made notions of sequential maneuvers can not displace the reality of time and space perceived by the participant. The participant's true mind set is dictated by a timeless reality of heaven, sky, and ground. The relationship of the ether to the firmament is fixed. Disregarding this reality brings discord. Sequential formations are not the point -- In this world there is not a matter of the number of sequences you make or points which you accrue on a skydive. A jump is not a sequence of maneuvers. Rather, it is a ceremony scripted in accord with its place in a potential skydive. In this view a dive involves airplane, sky, people and ground: all in a dynamic relationship. No matter which you are, the others move. Thus no dive can be reduced to just the component where you touch each other for a sequence of points in a flat plane. Rather, here you are always touching each other in a higher plane of existence and awareness whether you are physically in contact or not in contact. Moreover, the dive cannot be singly focused on the flat dance of sequential, rather, the laws of nature, physics, emotion, and flight decree that it is a medley of dances mandated by altitude and orchestrated by the divers and their mental spaces. Three phases of a jump -- The dive must have three levels: 1) the exit part, 2) the skydance part, and 3) the get-ready-to-open-your-parachute-and-save-your-life-part. Notwithstanding their actual component of time and distance, they have vastly differing psychic values and emotional weights. Alpha & Omega: beginning and end -- While every right thinking person of conventional wisdom just KNOWS that the areas of time and space around the exit and the pull are but brief moments in the totality of a dive, the skydancer knows truth: emotion controls time. That truth means that the longest part of the dive is in the neighborhood of the exit and the parachute opening. The alpha (exit) and the omega (pull) of the jump. The temporally longer middle part pales when compared to these. Time & feeling -- Thus, there is a very different feel, both emotionally and physically about this alpha and omega. Time seems to expand more and moves slowly. Your pulse, heartbeat, and emotional state are MUCH higher. Moments last for minutes. The more emotion (adrenaline) the slower your clock turns. There is a special reality surrounding these times. From a statistician's perspective this alpha and omega are but a fraction of the skydive. For them, like a hamburger, the meat is in the middle. From 12.5, only about ten percent of the skydive, or less, is consumed by the exit. Only ten percent, or more is consumed by the break-off, track and pull. But, as in sex, the courting, and foreplay may consume the bulk of the time, nevertheless, the intensity of the climax is what unfailingly commands attention. In that moment, both partners are one being. In freefall, at exit and around the time to pull, you, your sky mates, the sky, and the ground are one orchestra which is at crescendo. No wonder the Hindus depict their gods as male-female in union! I posit that this sitting-face-to-face which the sutras describe is a similar union. In this mantra, the exit is evoked by the word *GO!* and the terminus is signaled by the break-off. In both cases, the angels singing is all in your head. See Skr (and the Art of FF RW, 2nd Ed., p. 166) for examples of *natural * medley dives-dances. Pat Works SCS - 1August 1994 Rev. 10/94 { SKR Notions} Pat WorksRWu: the Skydance Underground issue 4, August '94 01/31/95 Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Skydiver Question: Seen from a typical DZ weekend flight manifest, Nowadays, what are the rough percentage ratios of Freeflyers to belly-flyers? (Answer will help me with the Natl. Skydiving Museum Display-Eloy) Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

How vertical RW is vertically challenging: Fall Rates and Sit Fly Long Answers regarding a short Question from Belboz: How do you slow your fallrate whilst sit flying without backsliding? . . . Seems to me that we should all work on a falling a little “faster” than the relaxed position so there is maneuvering room... [Barry Brumitt] --- Yes indeedy Belboz, a relaxed sit fly position gives a righteous backslide. To demonstrate this, strangle your neighbor and fling the corpse out at 9,500 (fly over a safe area -- such as a trash dump - so as not to litter our countryside). Observe. Notice the limp butt-to-earth position? The blue lips? The Fast backslide? The backslide is caused by the legs, and ... Yes! It is your Relative-wind working with sister gravity and old mother earth providing a virtual “frisbee-mort” ! Acckk! And How-come?, you ask? Well, (using scientific terms), because, in a symphony of new-clear-phizzics, each family member works together: thus the relative-wind provides the push; sister-gravity speeds the fall, and, of course, mother-earth sucks. PART II. How to practice and dumfound your remaining friends: To ground-practice a Slow Sit fall, -- 1) get on all-fours face UP; Butt down. -- 2) Thus positioned, _pushing_ with arms and legs gives you the desired slow sit fall rate. Arms are key-- they PUSH down! Legs are bent! Mind is resolute! Lock the door and Try it. > . . . Seems to me that we should all work on a >falling a little “faster” than the relaxed position so there >is maneuvering room... Righto belboz, Doctors and other mechanics all agree. A good range-of-fall widens your range-of-fly. This is a true-fact that many satisfied users would testify to when tortured: “maneuvering room is more important than head room” Familiar Kitchen chair solves deep mystery --- -- the kitchen chair position gives a fall rate valuable for vRW. It is a mid-speed position that allows both the slower freak-brother recliner chair Slow-Position and the fast-Standup for a Fast position. To understand the kitchen chair pose, film yourself (or a surviving neighbor) sitting in a genuine kitchen chair. Analyze the film carefully. Notice that the back and calves are perpendicular to the ground in this “kitchen chair” position whilst the Knees are wide-spread suggestively. Thighs are parallel to the floor. Arms are open in jesus position. (Yummy, Hold me back). In freefall the Arms don’t push down too hard; consequently some Flare is retained in reserve. Forward movement is by leaning back. [Relative wind deflects off of your back; yak yak... see above]. Lean forward to slow and stop. A little dab will do ya. Too much lean and you fly-by. -----> zoooM! The heartbreak of the fly-by Zoomies -- shoo-fly, Shoo! Frequently, vRW ends up in orbiting as both partners try and zoom-in on each other. Like flies on stink, they pass, turn and repeat... a mating dance of the maladroit. To Cure the Zoomies, have one person act as base and NOT turn but do help with the vertical. The attacker handles the horizontal. Be brave. Don’t be afraid to bump. The feet legs are a bumper. Having a third person provides perspective and a witness. Also allows a very new vRWer to practice on you as target-base. Lotsa fun! -- [Disclaimer: The faint prospect of injury and/or death will not deter the true zealot! :^) ] vRWunderground, 6.a Spring, 1995 Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Grand that he's still alive and sharing stories. Anybody who sees him, please convey my respect and regards. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Unlinked Chains hold little For freeFlyin, nobody knows anything about anything. Lotsa opinions. As in the 60s, there are some (few) masters of the sky in free fly. As in the 60s, there are few who can do such advanced stuff as giddi0-up; Whoa!, turn left (please), it is ok if you stop now. ;-] Moreover. Went out Sat. 5 October 1996 and made 6-leaps. Tried a new tech. to make the dive flow-go and BE. If a dive IS, then it Happens. You know it. Anyhoo, we were getting 3 x to 5 x as many "things" done on a Free Fly dive than before (Nope, FreeFly does NOT have Points.... you can not dirt dive for an hour... you do need to plan the dive before around about 10,ooo ft AGL....) --advanced stuff as giddi0-up; Whoa!, turn left (YaHoo!) etc. does not require a home study course, yet. Whilst I have not yet figured how to communicate it in writing, I have a clue. It goes sorta like this.... RW involves 2 things: Maintaining levels Maintaining Proximity This translated into "stay close for RW" In FreeFly it is a tad more intense. BUT, no matter. The fun is in doing it. The joy is in the flying. the Thinking usually hurts. And, mostly, after awhile, Maintaining levels Maintaining Proximity which translates into "stay close . . ." Which is not really Boring... it is not as interesting, fun, joy and et al. as it might be. Thus and therefore: The two propositions of progressive vRW are: More fun is more better; More moves = more fun. Thus and therefore, if you and your beloved (tolerated-other) are "normal" go from the mundane to the WOW! Then and thereafter: trying to keep Levels Trying to keep close proximity become: While you are burning up time getting close enough to do something your Mom will appreciate, dance. In the spaces between the pauses, improvise. The idea that a up or down horizontal move-swoop must only be a traditional one sucks. Instead do this: If you must close on your partner(s) to reduce the impression that you and they are ants then do NOT just swoop in, up, down, across. Whilst you CAN swoop in, up, down, across it is: Not interesting Something you CAN do. Instead, ADD these transitions to the swoop. (the result is the same, the picture and effect and affect are different) • for a down-and-across move, add x-front loops. • for a up and across move add, y-back loops. • for a flat-in swoop add n-360 degree spin turns. All the while, scream about the effects of rock n roll. A linked chain will restrain all it holds. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Bag-locks -- Their care and feeding -- Bag locks are caused by not paying you dues to the packing Gremlins which infest your DZ. As proof, note that the bag lock never occurred much before about 1968. Then, to ward off the dread lock of bag, 99.43% of jumpers protected themselves by jumping deployment sleeves instead of deployment bags. It worked! Think about it. A bag is basically a pillowcase. In fact, the first bags I saw jumped ~'64 were pillow cases. Pillow cases get scared on opening. It is natural to them as they are bed stuff with feathers of foam for brains. To avoid bag locks: 1. Talk to you bag as you stuff it. Be gentle. Tell it of your plans. 2. Try and assure that the bag follows the pilot chute. Bags are NOT leaders. When they lead the pilot chute,they choke and lock up. Even worse is letting the shroud lines lead the opening parade. Messy! (why do you think they are called "Shroud lines"? Eh?) . . A BOC and a pin-check will help this. Healthy stow-bands correctly used prevent the spread of this disease. 3. Jump a diaper or a sleeve. 4. Switch to a free-bag. If you happen to LIKE bag locks, try this: 1. Use big weak rubber-bands 2. Use short stows 3. Have a wimp for a pilot chute 4. Do not THROW your pilot chute, rather just sorta wave it about like a flag and drop it. 5. Change the length of your bridle. REMEMBER: If you plan a bag lock, get video. It is Always Exciting! Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

1964 – Accuracy Competitor C. Wallace, Texas. Carlos Wallace was a top-ranked competitor in style, accuracy, and hell raising. Texas accuracy meet, Wallace would lay by the target for an hour and dope out the deal. He’d watch the air, the wind, and note exit points. On jump-run in competition at about 3,500' Carlos Gene'd hassle us . . . h"Hey, man, I got the spot; lets exit together & build a three-way and freak the Judges! COOL! Hunh? . . . So, get on the step with me. . . . Ready?" Parachute meet judges did not love Carlos much hardly. He worked hard to maintain that level of trust. At that meet, when chastised + Cautioned for pulling low on a competition accuracy jump, he puffs up to his 6'2" sincere self, "Your are mistaken! I do Not pull low! Watch me with telemeters and SEE.... humpth, Snort!" . . . On his following competition accuracy run, They then watch with telemeter close up Carlos exit and promptly pull.... and then hold a body position where his 2-pilot chutes burble and can't get air and he'd take it on down another 2,500' to say 1,100' sit up, open and run downwind to stomp the disc like it was a bug. Legal: pilot chute hesitation. . . . Out of his control. Nope, Parachute meet judges did not love Carlos. He was a hard man to love. ('Tho methinks wife Marcy did + daughter, Jo, too.)

In 1962-'63, as near 20-year olds, Tommy Foster n me'd exit off the strut holding hands and then wrestle for the rest of the 30' freefall. He who "won" was determined by whoever was on top at break-off. Tommy used mostly headlocks which made the winner a toss-up. So to speak. Quick like I discovered that a scissor leg-lock around his waist with my arms held out to catch the wind was a winner. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

For Galveston Skydivers: Doc was in the 502 Airborne for WWII. He shared stories with me of 3-4 his combat jumps over Italy. ... Fate is the Hunter: one drop put 2/3rds in the ocean, another off target jump landed them in the middle of the German garrison, the other he mainly remembered liking his .45 cal 'Tommy gun' .. Magic with his hands, Doc'd lay you out on a bench and cure your hurts. Tommy Foster n me benefited. [Days of Cal Cary, Geo. Sage, Stevie, baby Tiger... great people. Made you welcome.] Watched Cal and ? try intentional canopy RW with 28' rounds. They were gonna link face-to-face and grab arms. One went thru the other's lines; they had a canopy wrap but no entanglement. both 'chutes reopened in about 100 or so feet. That sorta ended that notion for us. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Yep, I'm both Outlaw and WSCR... Through a Glass Darkly my WSCR jump is crystal clear. Janner, Sally, Wendy, Betty won the WSCR 4-way at Pope Valley in 1977. Afterwards the ladies made an 8-way and allowed me to follow them out. ...a beautiful crystal-clear day in a spotless sky etched the sun's bright images on my brain. As my body descended and entered the star, that brilliance reflected in the faces of happy ladies. Pretty people; lovely jump. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

artwardo ---just reread your beautiful post. Well said. ... and blue skies! Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Bigun Anvil Bro 2 Yes the USA STARCREST Award is way tough unless you know both freefly and 4-way belly RW. Damn few skydivers can pull it off on a 60' delay. It is called the "Universal Skydiver Award" Founded in '82, it didn't get accomplished 'til 20 + years later. Pat USA2 Thank you for your good work on the Starcrest site!!! Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Yes that's Doc Anagnostis's red van.... At their DZ by the TC Motel towards Galveston..... We were making jumps form 25,000 from a turbo 206. Hypoxia caused real problems for my load. http://users.cis.fiu.edu/~esj/uwf/uwf8.htm UWF CH 8, ...about the 7th jump story Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Boogie - Boogie Guadalajara Mexico (5,000 feet ASL) It wasn't my fault. I drank much Mescal, became eight feet tall, and made of iron. A birthright of Texans. Early 70's the Latin Skydivers did a charity show for orphans & so Fedo took a Hinckley boogie team to represent the Midwest USA. Shortly after I exited this quaint whore house by jumping out the window, the villagers of Guadalajara gathered to chase me... apparently some sort of local custom. So, of course, I looked for a gun. Although interesting, my jog across rooftops and thru back yards was tiring… Probably because of the 5,000 ft altitude. At some point, I suppose our Mexican hosts collected me. Dunno. Afterwards, I gibbered, jabbered, did some reds, and went to bed. Next morning: TERRIBLE hangover. Got up, staggered to the bathroom to piss. Being sewn to an unnoticed mattress made me pause in the door until the stitches broke loose. Shortly thereafter, we did a demo skydive into the soccer stadium with a panicked pilot who sweated mucho. We’d each do a 10-20 second delay into the playing field which was at 5,200 feet ASL. Fedo spotted, took a snort, and shouted, "CUT! Give me five-left and a glass of water!" Since missing the stadium meant landing in a DEEP canyon, I compensated and pulled a bit low and by whichever reflex remained got open at about 75 feet AGL. The crowd seemed appreciative. Lots of noise. Later Fedo, whilst inhaling energy producing powders and running backwards, took the orphan kids on a brisk run around the Soccer Field. Himself, attired in a blue jean denim hat, purple bandanna, gold chain, and wearing a purple-mesh-net tank top, tattoos, and crotch-split shorts with his balls hanging out, is bouncing up and down and shouting: "!VIVA Boogie! ! VIVA Mexico !Viva!...... !VIVA Boogie! ! VIVA Mexico !Viva ….!!" Kids loved it. Parents too. Hell, cool scene! With a rowdy group of assorted Mexican folks on his trail, Fedo looked like the Pied Piper as he lapped the track. ! VIVA! Polite lads, we drank the celebratory beer and then some. Ate somebody’s BBQ goat with our pocket knives, corn tortillas, and piles of fresh onion, lemon, and jalapeño. And beer. Later that night, Fedo won about $500 at a mob-scene cock-fight and having a bad flu, naturally, took acid to ward off the flu-effects whilst maintaining full-tilt party-mode. It worked. He didn't sleep for 3-days. !VIVA! !BOOGIE! Partied out, heading towards the airport and home, Fedo, the veteran, wisely ingested several reds and 2-3 Chloral Hydrates (Mickey) to induce restful slumber. As the departure was delayed, he ended up in a coma on the terminal floor, pale, white, and drooling. He was calm, so we let him lie. The silly airline yanks Fedo’s ticket home, "The Senor, he is very ill. He may not go on the airplane. He must go to the hospital. Comprende?" Only by coordinated team work including my dramatic on-knees begging got his body released for the flight home. To get on the plane, he was required to walk aboard. He mostly did. We were proud of him. Entering back into the USA , Customs cheerfully took apart all our luggage, parachutes, strip searched Dan David, and found 1/2 pound of white powder in our jumpsuits legs. "What is this?" they asked. "That is just tortilla flour that we put in our pockets and jumpsuits for the demo jump so you could see us better as we skydove into the soccer stadium for the poor orphan children, and yak-yak........," We honestly replied. We were held until another guy in another dark suit+tie comes in with a very interesting expanding suitcase. He measures and mixes up powders and vials and carefully puts the power in, swirls it around, tastes, sniffs; then, closes up his case. Stands up nods, and proclaims, "Tortilla Flour!" and departs. ... Back home, it took awhile to rest up. Probably the water. Or the altitude. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Jerry, it was. I was visiting Stanley and Hop. Made some nice RW jumps! Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

When patches certified status and proclaimed skill The attached picture will ignite memories..... Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Cy, Carlos Wallace was D152... he had about 800 jumps when Clyde hit 1,000. In your pix, could the guy on the L. be RL Ticer? Here are some photos of me in the 60s Houston Texas era. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Cy Stapleton was a major force in early parachuting in general and for the Houston Parachute Club in particular. He and Ed Fitch did much to build foundations for enabling an infant PCA to unite regions to protect and advance sport parachuting. Hi Cy! Loooong time! Carlos Wallace's Waller Dz was just a few air miles from the Houston Intercontinental Airport under construction. Carlos liked excitement. He was wounded by the bar owner he'd tried to rob. His accomplice came over, shot the bar owner to death. Killed Carlos, and split. (He was trying to raise money to fight a previous murder charge) :-) Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Pat Works-profile for USPA-UnCut + HTML PARACHUTIST PROFILE Name: Pat Works [Madden Travis Works, Jr.] Nicknames: “Pat” for being born on St. Patrick’s Day; Texas skydivers called me “Crazy Pat”. Now it’s “2-Cats” as in: “Works, you got more lives than two cats.” Occupation: RWunderground Parachuting Publications (newsletter & books), 1970 to present. Chief Technologist, Northrop Grumman Aerospace. Adjunct Professor, the Claremont Graduate School. Recently retired and loving it. Education: BA in English, University of Houston, 1967 MS in Information Systems, Claremont Graduate University, 1992 MBA, Executive Management, Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, 1995 Post Graduate Studies, Ph.D. School of Information Science, Claremont Graduate University, 1992 - 1996 [all coursework for Ph.D. in the Management of IS] Transportation: ‘Z51 Corvette Pet Peeves: dimwits and the U.S. Congress Pre-Jump Superstitions: Eyes-closed touch handles hand-jive Hobbies: Tai-Chi, art museums, poetry, philosophy, shooting, reading, being …. Neat packer or a trash packer? Doesn’t matter. Parachutes don’t worry how they are folded. Me neither. Parachutes are bred to deploy and I’m averse to reversing that process by trying to close ‘em back up. I use a packer. Did you start out as an AFF, static line, or tandem student? My Static Line 1st jump cost me $15.00. Would you rather swoop or land on an accuracy tuffet? I don’t swoop. Low-pain landings allow multiple jumps where neither the paramedics nor the coroner need be called. Jump Philosophy: Pull prior to impact. Sponsors: Many generous sponsors … chiefly, Skydive Perris and the Conatsers who have been friends, patrons and supporters for 35 years. Discipline(s): Fun jumping, RW, Formation Skydiving; Big Ways; Freefly; Skydance Home Drop Zone: Skydive Perris Year of First Jump: First Jump 1961 Houston 1st Para Commander jump 1965 Houston first 5-way star 1964 Houston SCR-561 1970 Z-Hills; SCS#1 1971 Hinckley Licenses/Ratings: B-1513 (1962 Texas A&M) C-1798 (1963 Texas A&M) D-1813 (1965 Houston) Championships/Medals/Records: 1966 NCPL National Champion, Team Event, National Collegiate Parachuting League, 1966 (Univ. of Houston Team) 1970 SCR-561 - Z-Hills 1970s My 10-way teams won the California Rumbleseat Meet three times. 1971 Founder of the RW Council 1972 SCS-1, Hinckley 1972-78 Competed in 4-way, 10-way and 8-way RW at the USPA Nationals in ‘72, ‘73, ‘76, ‘78 1972 Founder of the CG GodFrog Good Vibes Award 1972 Founder of the National Champion of Combined RW Award 1972 Instrumental in introducing 10-way RW to USPA and competed at the first 10-Way Nationals 1972-74 Three-time Conference Champion in 4-way and 10-way RW 1974 Founder of the RW Council’s Certificates of Merit Mid-1970s Team Captain of many skydiving teams, including multiple wins of the Chute-Out at the Gulch, a meet that featured free-form sequential maneuvers of your choice. 1976-77 Two-time Conference Champion in 8-way RW 1976 North American Sequential Sweepstakes, Original 8-way meet in Ft. Lewis, Wash. 1976 4 stack (#663) at Perris 1980s USPA National Director, three terms 1994 1st Exhibition Event of Sit Flying, Team World Skydance, Eloy Ariz. 1995 1st American Championships of Free Flight, Skydive Dallas, ESPN X-Games test event. (Entered on 2-teams: Perris vRW & World Skydance) 1995-97 Competed in the SSI Pro-Tour, Freefly X-Trials for X-Games in ‘95, ‘96, ‘97 1996 Perris Free Fly Championships, Solitary Birds, 3rd place, Perris, Calif. 1996 Pro Tour Free Flying X-Trials (Pre X-Games) event, Solitary Birds, 1st Place, Perris 1997 Pro Tour Freeflying, Monterey Calif. 1997 Universal Skydiver Award No. 2, Perris 1997 X-Games Judge for ESPN 1998 1st Place, National Championships, USPA Freefly US Nationals Competition Trial Associations/Club Memberships: SME Certified Manufacturing Engineer CMfgE (Life) AIAA (past), NRA (current), SASS (current) USPA, Number #189 GW, #845 DW, #358 12HR, #233 24HR, #118 Total Number of Jumps : 8,200 Total Number of Cutaways: 35-40 Going back to student status - what was your canopy progression? Over 1,500 jumps on round canopies starting with the 28-ft. “TU”; then PCs for 10 years: B4 harness, floating ripcord, sleeve, and double pilot chutes. In 1972 I switched to a piggyback. Went square in ‘76……I didn’t jump a square reserve until 1993. Most people don't know this about me: People think that I am a dinosaur. However, in real life I am a fossil, and perhaps as much a myth as a legend. Out of All of your skydives is there one particular jump that stands out the most? Yes – it was my first introduction to skydiving’s extraordinary eye-candy. Sunset jump, early ‘60s, Cessna climbing through flat-layered clouds interconnected by towering columns. Each respective layer had both floor and ceiling of cloud marble supported by alabaster cloud columns – a sky cathedral. Blazing sunset ignited endless chambers in enchanted light. That sun disrobed, exchanging her golden gowns with burning oranges in exploding red hues. In her glow, my airship toiled up, dwarfed in God’s crimson glory. My eyes inked phantasmagorical tattoos on my brain. How long do you plan on skydiving? ‘Til death do us part – with a proviso that my polio relapse backs off. What do you like most about the sport? Flying the wings I’ve won myself. What do you like least about the sport? Parachute packing Who, if anybody, has been your skydiving mentor? NA – My guide is sharing flight poetry. What are your future skydiving goals? Fun jumps with good health. What safety item do you think is most important and/or most often neglected? Remembering that safety is a religion and survival is an art. How did you become interested in skydiving? Riding bulls at the Houston Rodeos paid $15 per ride. Easy money my high school buddies jumped on. Not me. Taunted, “Works got no balls…” Bulls are bad-ass mean and plan to gore and stomp you. Parachutes are dumb with no ill will. “Shoot,” sez me, “I’d rather jump outa an airplane than onto a Brahma bull!” So, I called every airport in the Yellow Pages, found a place to jump, signed Mom’s name to the age waiver, and leaped. I skydive because… It scratches my itch to touch the poetry of perfection. Any suggestions for new students? Have you jumped into the arms of earth-pushed air and snuggled there, lazy, letting the fall just happen? Most “make” a skydive. Can you simply “take” one? Relaxed in mind and body, give yourself over to wind and gravity? Relax totally into the air. Let the wind cradle you. Letting the wind give you a position is to accept a gift. Allow the wind to configure you into your natural shape. Drift along on the arms of the wind so that intensity used to control flight is freed. Released from the chores of flight, your self-awareness has energy available to let you sense feelings that were before obscured by your fixation to do. Thus, by not-Doing and exclusively Be-ing, you earn a treasure. You receive a boon – enlightenment about an aspect of the air which, like a love, you can call on as you need. What's the most bad-ass thing you can do in the air? I can teach you to nail a head-down position in one jump. If you could do a "fantasy 2-way" with anybody (living or deceased), whom would it be with and where would it take place? Ummmn…. Fantasy 2-way…. That’d have to be with a drop-dead gorgeous woman in heat in a $5,000.00++ per night hotel suite on the French Riviera. If you could make everyone on the planet do something to make earth a better place to live, what would it be? have the children of our Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – share mutual respect. Most embarrassing moment while in freefall or at a drop zone: Shucks! Always thinking it to be the norm, I recently realized that I began as a Low-Puller! As a student, Ed Fitch (D-89) had us opening at 1,000 ft. AGL and at 800 feet for 20+ jump “experts”. Recently, Dr. Fitch’s dear friend, Lenny Potts, affirmed that our DZ’s BSRs were nonstandard. (Today I open by 3,000 feet. { Instead of using chalk, Ben went and painted “Pat Works” on that old low pulls ‘Warning Board” in your dinky “ticket booth” over by the by the packing tables…..Loooong ago. It was difficult for me to open high then. …. I’d get hypoxia easy and it made finding the DZ tougher}. Someday I am going to own: A chunk of the hereafter. The toughest thing to do in the sport of skydiving is: to keep having fun with it. Once the fun goes, every sky jumper moves on. Out of all your thousands of skydives, is there one jump you would like to do over again? Please explain for your fellow jumpers: There is one jump I wish I hadn’t made at all. 1963: Jumping my too hot 28-ft. “TU” flat circular canopy (Scissors mod) on a windy day, gusts deflate my canopy. Eeeek!! I’d drop 50-70 feet and it’d pop open, and then snap shut again. Bam! OUCH! Injuries kept me ground-bound for months. What do you consider your most significant life achievement? My triumph is that I am still alive. While in freefall, what has been your strangest thought? That the ground was covered with phosphorescent green worms wriggling in a morass of bright purple muck. Suggestions for the USPA: Keep on keeping on sustaining jumping for skydivers. Continue to keep our skies free. Best skydiving moment? Getting back in the air after recovering from the car crash that paralyzed me chest-down at the 1980 Nationals. Notes from that reentry jump: “Landing is a piece of cake …The smell of the canopy as I gather it in my arms is like being with a lover from long ago. I bury my head and sniff. It’s nice to be back.” Greatest competition moment? Winning the NCPL Nationals in ‘66; also winning the X-Games Freefly Xtrial at Skydive Perris in ’97, and Winning the USPA Freefly event in 1998 was nice. Worst skydiving moment? Ground rush: free falling so low that your impact point explodes up at you, the horizon looms above you, and the landscape bursts out and rushes away instantly, replaced by sick fear, knowing death is here. Weirdest skydiving moment? Doing formation skydives inside clouds gets weird and wonderful as cloud wisps strobe your vision on and off; you get the freeze-frame herky-jerky that strobe lights give to disco dancing. Time for me to ask the impossible - explain "Pat Works" in five words or less: Outrider seeking mind-food, eye-candy, enlightenment. What is your perfect day like? To pass the toe-tag-test. On awakening, check your feet. If your toes do not display a mortician’s toe-tag, it is a perfect day. What drives your competitive spirit? Competing within myself to attain perfect speed, perfect flight, and perfect position. Relaxed aggression. Being good … being fast … being there. What quirks do you possess? (Examples: “I like peanut butter on both slices;” “I jump only in Cessna aircraft;” “I partake in road rage;” “I fancy orange underwear, but jump in only pink boxers:” etc.) I am a black-belt Space Cadet. If aptitude conferred rank, I’d be a general. What makes Pat tick like a cat with fresh catnip? New and different flight challenges that extend our borders and ignite our imaginations with new dimensions. Flight that tests us in the air and turns pages in our book of skills. RW formations – now Skydancing – is that. Skydive becomes Skydance when the flyers choreograph the levels, presentation and proximity to present aesthetically pleasing visuals. Any multi-person skydive having rhythm and choreography is a Skydance. In Skydance, flying movements are an end in themselves. Vertical, spherical and 3D air moves are involved. Beauty in motion is linked to rhythm so that the concepts of group aerial dance, video, and music merge. In traditional formation skydiving, the flying is a means to a grip – completing a formation with grips is the metric of goodness. In Skydance flow is more important than taking any hand-hold. (specialty question) 50 years of USPA Membership! What are your thoughts on your membership then and now with all the growth in between? Hmmm… Back then, there was no organization to oversee the national scene. The old Parachute Riggers and Jumpers Association had a loose affiliation with low influence. In the mid-1960s, Dr. Ed Fitch and Gunby et al. created and then linked a federation of area-specific Parachute Councils: an example was the Texas Parachute Council (TPC) which was a federation of Texas Parachute clubs. These federations were organized groups of affiliated clubs who met and drafted constitutions to promote the health and well-being of parachuting. The same things were coordinated in other parts of the USA and as a result, the PCA became not just a small clique of individual sport parachutists but a nationwide federation of unified state councils that we now call USPA Regions. That move broadened parachuting’s influence as a bona fide sport and began to transform what had been East-coast fraternity into a nationwide organization predicated on the thought that all parachutists don their gear one leg at a time. A schism developed in the early 1970s … “real” parachutists versus fun jumpers … and at that time I got involved. (specialty question) “ The Art of Freefall RW ” has been to skydivers what Ben Hogan’s “ Five Lessons – The Modern Fundamentals of Golf ” has been to golfers. Looking back to when you were writing it, did you think it would have the profound impact on the sport as it has? Yes and No. NO! I was oblivious to anything but getting the book published. The worldwide adoption of my 1975 The Art of Freefall Relative Work (2 editions, 7 reprints and translated into four languages) startled me a great deal. The international respect and attention I was accorded as the master and professor was a surprise and honor. I was elated my books led to extensive world travels and a succession of training camps, including the first USA RW training camps. I was proud to have both the SEALS and the Army Parachute Team as my students. I had a knack for training by sharing discoveries: no-contact, Skydance, relaxation and attitude as sure paths to flight for the joy of flying. Unwittingly, Jan and I became jump-celebrities. But while it is agreeable to be respected, celebrity can be a less-than-pleasurable thing for this Texas boy. Admiration and high regard is hard to accept and tough to adjust to when all you’re doing is “your thing”. YES! On the other hand, I’d expected some effect on our sport was assured because I had preceded my prescription for the “art” of flying with years of groundwork constructing a nationwide congress of RW alpha dogs to legitimize our pursuit. I called it The RW Council, and began publishing RWunderground, a subscription newsletter for which we had many contributors and that Jan and I produced on our kitchen table. The newsletter became a vehicle for articles and discussions surrounding the development and then promotion of formation skydiving as a competition discipline. Eventually the newsletter and its articles by various contributors around the country evolved into United We Fall, my second book. To my mind, United We Fall has had more relevance and impact on skydiving today because of its influence on the genesis of formation relative work. http://users.cis.fiu.edu/~esj/uwf/uwf.html The Art of Freefall RW was successful because of good timing. In the 1960s-early 1970s, an infant RW was disrespected and disdained as “just Fun Jumping, certainly not authentic parachuting” with a conviction that real parachutists did style and accuracy (S&A). All parachuting competitions were S&A events; fun jumps were not on the dance card. There wasn’t a word for relative work until the mid-to-early 1960s. Contact freefall parachuting consisted of baton passes or aerial grab-ass, and the lone book on parachuting technique was Russ Gunby’s “Sport Parachuting - a basic handbook of sport parachuting” (1960) which described the two basic-stable positions and how to make turns. Contact RW remained elusive. At any parachute club that you traveled to, finding enough fun-jumpers to make a three-way was a Big Deal indeed. One of my goals with RWunderground and then The Art of Freefall RW was to describe how to do relative work skydiving, make its participants feel like part of a fraternity, and promote it as a legitimate competition discipline. The book, being the first recipe book which told would-be flyers how to be RW skydivers, evolved into “The Bible” for performing those skills. I am pleased that it has done much more than I originally anticipated. (specialty question) What has been your primary motivator for 50 years (and counting) as a skydiver? FUN and sharing it, i.e. “the communication imperative.” What goes around comes around for me. Learning what others know and then passing it on is a good path to keeping the fun in skydiving. Listen, learn and share with skymates, because learning skydiving in isolation takes a long time and costs a lot of money. More importantly, it can be downright dangerous. Honor the Communication Imperative by being open to learning new things and then sharing what you’ve learned with others. (specialty question) How did you cope with periods of burnout? Any advice for your fellow jumpers? Focus on skydiving’s fun and its glorious visuals; that’s the key to jumping continuity. Any closing comments? Of all skydivers, scribes are but a splendid few.* Recall and respect those who capture our history with their words and art. Hail our scribes or else our history is but dust in a wind. Honor our traditions else respect disappears. Say your story else the world is dumb and trees fall silently in our forests. * These writers, plus all emerging wordsmiths: J. Scott Hamilton Lyle Cameron (RIP) Skratch Garrison Dan Poynter Uwe Beckman (RIP) Matt Farmer Roger Hull Carl Nelson (RIP) Roger Nelson (RIP) BJ Worth Howard White (RIP) Bill Ottley (RIP) Bud Sellick Russ A. Gunby (RIP) Tamara Koyn John Schuman (RIP) Brian Germain Charles Shea-Simonds (RIP) Michael Horan C.W. Ryan A.C. Keech Gene Hunnell Kevin Gibson Brian Giboney Robin Heid J. L. Seagull Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Damn difficult.... it took me 250-300 jumps to get an SCR (8-way). Staying relative 'hovering', moving forward horizontally, flat turns... were self-taught. Took time. Wasn't until the SCR and the book The Art of Freefall RW happened that one could learn and use what others knew. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

My name is Madden Travis Works, Jr. ..being born on St. Patricks day = "Pat" Recently, researching parachuting's writings for a display I discovered that "Pat Works" didn't write any books, however, Madden Works did. Oh well, someday I'll try to sort it out. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Dear SKR Well, yes. Recall Military types and i suspect prison inmates too, slept on 6" thin mattress you can roll up and slip into a 195 easy. [Recall 2-3 tier iron bunk beds, wire frames, thin pads, and sheets you could bounce a .25-cent piece on for inspections] We used those. We figured that a real full-size mattress could await our recognition and BIG $$$ from BeautyRest Co. along with large aircraft and SAG cards. Later on I did hear my stalwart pals did a (thin-pad-military) mattress dive. How some ever, apparently it rolled up on the reposing skydiver like a corn-dog on a wiener. (he escaped but was grumpy about the dive) Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Hummn; . . . sorta like listening in on a phone. The befuddled I that is me still cradles in a sea of sky thoughts. Yep. I do like to paint that mural with words. If I could but reflect images flashing in my mind of sky days and dives with folks of SKR's kind I'd be Van Gogh stars and booming sun. Agree that the profile-paste was lame; hard to read... I'll do it right next time i feel well. (HTML formatting is Hell) Somehow, we are still soup cooking into a broth that shall refresh and sustain. Still, clearly, you are the cook. Perhaps I am seasoning. . . . I think I'd like that. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Yep. Jumped flour in our jumpsuit leg pockets for a demo way deep into Mexico. Carried rolls of toilet paper to fling on open. Both worked fine. Mucho happy Orphans. Home bound, US Customs busts us for white powder in our jumpsuits. Strip search, big scene. Detained, we await a small man in a dowdy suit & tie with a huge toolbox of vials + chemical stuff. He does his scene, even tastes and sniffs the powder. Finailly closes the toolbox, stands up, nods politely to the uniformed cops, tersely exclaims, "Tortilla flour!" decisively and departs. Fedo tried to get outraged but fell asleep. (Good Party too). RW? Hey pre RW it was called freefall "Contact." ... resembled bowling. A strike was all that mattered. \ Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,