skybill

Hi DK, Remember one thing at the door, that the anxiety you feel is the "Fear of the unknown!!" Look at the experienced jumpers. Why are they lovin' it!! They took the plunge just like you, experienced, gained knowledge, put it to use and learned how to fly! You have to crawl before you walk and fall before you fly! "Knowledge is power!!" Keep us posted. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Dave! Ain't it great! When you left the sport, sliders were about the size of main canopys today!!! Well almost! LOL Have fun! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi DK, Well, besides remembering to breathe, Screaming at the top of your lungs seems to help a lot. Don't start kicking though, that will only upset your tandemmaster and scare the BJZ outa' him/her. As far as the Army is concerned, remember, those guys are soldiers first, if you think that that Paratrooping is skydiving for fun and profit, are you ever in for a surprise! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi DZ!!, Well far out!!! Tell em' both that Bill Deli says hi and to send me an e-mail. Get Charlie to show you his Twilight Zone Video!!! Those were the daze!!!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi DZD, Jim and Charlie used to jump at Perris back in the 80's and 90's. Jim is in S.D. somewhere. Havn't seen Charlie in years. Speaking of Charlie, you have to see his Twilight Zone spoof called,"A most unusual Skydive!!" SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Karen "Rokitmom," In reply to if any of us ever find ourselves "obsessed" with this sport? hahahahahahLOL The answer is NO. Obsession is a perfume, Skydiving is "LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I made my firsrt jump when I was 18 years old. Now, some 40 years later I have 3800+ jumps and as the joke goes, "I never could find a good reason to quit!!" I now have a house full of fotos, old skydiving mags., memoribilia, parachute gear, a couple of sewing machines and a world full of "Friends!!!" Right now you're in the learning curve. When you get to the point where you are calling all your shots, then YOU are the one who is responsible for your survival. "Knowledge is Power!!!!" Keep us posted on your progress. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

hi dude, Waz cruzn thru da posts an saw "Sparky" an i say,"could dis be my ol' Air Trash bud Mike "Sparky" Owens????" Yes it is and that's Sparky for ya!!! Well he and Michele made your day a bit more plesant!! What are friends for!!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Safety Meetings? Twinkies?? Where's "Bob" ??? SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Dude! Anvil, Home sick Brick, Home Sick Safe, oh well it's all the same, we go base unless we jump with our brothers, that famous team, "The High Speed Meat Missiles!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It's all relative! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Jon, Huntly Dufour?? From N.O. started jumping at Hammond before I joined the Navy. I believe he was the ASO for a while. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Will! You have been adopted by CAT!!! I have 4!! They all moved in and took over my life. Fuzzy, my oldest that looks a lot like yours, has been with me since 1989!! Enjoy. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Scotty!!!! Great seeing you again and a most fun 4 point 10 way skydive!!! Dirt dive 1 1/2 times and get in the plane- don't over train!!!! Hope we get to jump again soon. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Jon, Leon? Last I heard he was around Chat-a-nouga, Tenn. somewhere. But, what ever happened to Huntley????? SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Jay, What ever happened to Huntley????? Talk about Louisiana Old Farts, I made my first jump at Hammond on 08MAY64 with Southland Skydivers! Those were some good times back then. I was in the Navy when Leon moved the whole chebang to Covington. I was the last Secretary for Southland Skydivers and still have the club minutes in there original folder in my archives! Where's Leon these daze and what ever happened to Huntley. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Skip. Congrats and YOU buy beer!! Got my private (SEL) 06SEP79. Have fun and remember to lower the undercarridge BEFORE landing!!!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Eric, Deli here again. Yup, waz thar' fer bofum!! I was in 57Ugly when the engine spit the blade and it caught fire!! We were going up for a sunset practice 40-way Fielding Night Record atempt. The fire cut that short!!! as for 817, I was in the parking lot when that happened, what a drag, that event shut the airport down for the day!! Oh well, but I finally got a copy of the video of 57Ugly!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

10-4 Sparky!! Yes Ed Vickry did develope the Para-Commander as you say and the part about Jerry B. bringing back the "ascending -Lemoigne or what-ever canopy" is correct. When Ed left Pioneer and came to work at Irvin Aerospace in N.C. as the VP of Engineering I was the Lead Rigger in the loft. We got to talking and of course we got int the development of the P.C. He told how they took this french ascending canopy and configured crown lines on it to be able to pack and deploy it. Then he said that he still had that original canopy in his archives!!! Well, we got him to bring it to the loft and we got a good look at it! Too much fun. When he moved out to Ca. to be the head honcho of Irvin's Engineering dept., I boxed the P.C. back up and gave it to him. He's retired now but lives somewhere near "yall." give him a ring and maybe you can get him to drag it out again. That canopy is a treasure!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hi Dude, To start with, I really like the skull with the "twisted" cig!! About the P.C. Read all the posts and everyone has a lot of good info. Big thing was that when it came out, we had a 24' dia. canopy that came down "slower" than a 28' dia. canopy!! Stand up landings were the rule and sure beat the hell out of crashes!!!! Through this whole thread though, of all the mods and hybrid configs. (MK-II, Comp. P.C., Russian P.C., etc.) nobody mentioned the MK-69 MOD-O Command-O-Flex-Cross-Wing!!!!!!!!!! Now that was the ultimate High performance "round" canopy!!! There was an article or two about it in Scare-a-chutist mag. and I believe Gene Hunnel's " DZ-USA rag. Anyway, I believe it would have gone into production and run circles around everything in the air at "that" time but the project engineer blew all his R&D $$ at the DZ. BTW, without looking in my archives, I believe that article was in the April(Fool) issue of Scare-a-chutist!!!! It was still fun though, just like reading this thread!! After being around this great sport for 40 years now, it's fun to see how everyday dropzone events that we used to take for granted in the old daze have evolved into "bonfire legends!!" I love this sport!!!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Thanks Bodypilot! The beer is real. Lies, just being a bit facetious you know. And-there-I-was.....40 years though, is no joke! The storys and the dives wouldn't amount to a hill of beans if it wasn't for all my friends. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Thanks weegegirl!! FLY! While you still have your wings!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Well boys and girls, tomorrow is 08MAY2004, the big four-oh sinse I first stepped out of a perfectly good airplane!! Raeford N.C. Airport (PK Airpark) is where I'll be in the afternoon to partake of the sky. Hope to C-U there and if you'd like to jump with this really old fart, come on down "yall!!" I'll even drag out some old photos and other memorabilia from times past for you to see. Beer and Lies at the Bar afterwards. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Roger-that!!! The orange machine!! That's the one that flew lead plane for the 64-way dive at Perris (see Norm Kent's Film!!!!) I was #8 in the lineup. Fun Dive, Fun Plane. Then there was N157U. That's another story, and another film. SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Hey Eric! I remember theViking (had one), I remember Dick, New dimensions flite school, Scare-us Valley, and YOU!!! Time flys when you're having fun!! After a hundred or so jumps and two cut-aways AHHHHHH!!!!!, Willy Gargano gave me a set of his 220 Comet lines for mine, WOW!! what a difference! The new lines flattened out the angle of incidence and moved the C.G. back to the "B" lines instead of being under the nose!!! Results were easier and softer openings, a flater longer glide and definitely smoother, softer landings. Oh yes, I cross ported it also as it wasn't manufactured that way. Yes I remember the Viking only too well!! My last cutaway on it was in front of Manifest (2500') at perris on 09SEP1979!! one steering line broke and put me into a violent spin!!! When I cut away, I was thrown over into a back loop which I flew out of and deployed my 26' Conical reserve (Remember boys and girls that was about 25 years ago before most of you were born!!) Any way, someone said that Joe Morgan came running out of manifest when all this happened and was yelling,"TEN,TEN,TEN!!!!!!" That was quite a ride!! Blue skys Eric, good to hear from you again! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

10-4 Scratch!!!!! You hit the nail on the head with your eloquence. I was one of the lurkers at Elsinore back in the old daze of you guys in "The Group." Got my SCR and SCS at Otay and went to quite a few of the SCR Scrambles, those were fun times!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out

Ya' shoulda' been there dude! That was top of the line in '69!!! I would have given my "I" (as in incisor) teeth to have gotten a slot on the filming of the skydiving scenes! I don't think Lancaster got to jump, but I'd guess that he would have liked to!!! Look in your dad or uncles' closet and drag out his old B-4 rig with a P.C. in it and his old 26' Navy conical chest reserve!!! That's the way it was then. Those were the days when men were men and women were proud of it!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out