377

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Everything posted by 377

  1. What size person and canopies is a Stunts Eclipse B/B size harness/container meant for? Thanks Mark
  2. Flyjack wrote: “Also, I don't think there is necessarily a significant difference in functionality between 24 and 26 foot chutes as people make it out to be,,, The 26 ft container was originally a 24 ft,, and 24 was more common in WW2.. Also, chutes of different sizes can have the same descent rate.. Cossey "claimed" he made them the same descent rate.” As far as I know there was only one 26 ft military canopy and that was the famous 26 ft Navy Conical. It wasn’t the same “flat circular” design as T5 or C9 canopies. It had far better stability and a slower descent rate than the common 24 ft round military canopies. I owe my life to a 26 ft Navy Conical that was my plan B canopy (reserve) back in 1972 when I had a high speed malfunction on my 28 ft C9 main. I did a cutaway and did a soft standup landing under that wonderful reserve. it’s true that canopies of different sizes can have similar descent rates. But trust me, if you have a choice, you DEFINITELY want to be under a 28 ft C9 or 26 ft Navy Conical rather than a 24 ft military round. The mil surplus 24 ft ripstop reserves used by skydivers were no fun to land especially for heavier jumpers. Certain death or injury? Of course not. Look at all the WW2 aircrew who landed without injury under 24 ft rounds. But they upped the injury risk compared to larger canopies. My late friend Paul Spellman was a WW2 P 47 pilot. Retired flying DC 8 airliners. I asked him about parachutes and training. He said he never jumped and had only cursory instruction on how to use his parachute. He said, basically they just told you to get clear of the aircraft and pull the ripcord. He had no idea what size or type canopy was in his military container. 377
  3. 377

    Dekunu One

    Damn I wish this could go back into production and get further improvements. It’s a truly amazing device and although it has a few rough edges the basics are rock solid. Very usable as is. Given how small the skydiving market is, I am amazed that anybody was able to develop something this sophisticated. Perhaps that is why they ran out of funds. Don’t be afraid to buy a used one. The cloud server is still active and the team does respond to inquiries. I am hoping, hoping, hoping that somehow they get a second round of funding and continue to develop this amazing device. It could very easily become the perfect altimeter. It has GPS, Wi-Fi, baro sensing and a touch screen that you can read in sunlight, and a host of super useful features. Read about it here. https://help.dekunu.tech/article/211-device-faqs
  4. Robert, I’ll concede that you know much more than any of us about publishing and distribution but ponder this for a moment: Sheridan’s book has very limited appeal. Even if it were sold for $5 I doubt that it would sell more than a few dozen copies. It’s interesting to me because it gives insight into a person I knew. On its own merits as a novel it hasn’t and won’t sell well. Price isn’t the reason. Content is. I hope Snowmman makes a cheap version available (Kindle?) to test my prediction. Sheridan made efforts to get Oliver Stone interested in the book. That went nowhere. I found the book interesting and gave it a positive review but I’m well aware that my interest is unique and not based on literary merit. What’s your personal opinion of the book? I suppose with MAJOR revisions it had a possibility of success, but Sheridan would never ever allow it. Not a chance. As it stands, none of the editions will get much attention from readers outside of the Vortex. If, however, it were proven that SP was DBC it would likely sell like crazy just based on the fact that it was written by Cooper. You are reasonably convinced (but not 100% certain) that Kenny C. was Cooper so perhaps it’s hard for you to envision such a turn of events. I’m jumping again after taking a break for Covid safety. Vaccination rates are now very high in my area which gives me some protection. Skydivers still get more than their share of STDs. Jumpers obviously aren’t the best group for rationally managing health risks, especially if it requires reducing a thrill. Fortunately they seem to embrace Covid vaccination. 377
  5. Nice truck Robert. 4 Liter engine. Nice to have the towing power but is it a gas hog? Many aftermarket LED “upgrade” headlight bulbs that are installed in place of incandescent actually perform worse. It depends on the type of headlight reflector and lens. I went full circle from incandescent to HID to LED and now I am back to the original incandescent bulbs. Live and learn. The Candlepower Forum is full of real experts, optical engineers and such. You wrote “Fortunately, I have extricated myself from the Cooper Vortex and now have other goals.” Nobody extricates themselves from the Vortex. The recent UFO feint didn’t fool me. I’m one of the few people who haven’t dissed you online, ever. I do, however, think your accusations against Snow for “ripping off” Sheridan Peterson are undeserved. I knew Sheridan and know Snowmman. To imply that there was a material financial gain misappropriated by Snow is just absurd. Sheridan’s book is hardly a best seller to put it mildly. I doubt if it has sold even 25 copies. Snow put a HUGE amount of work into editing and improving Sheridan’s book. He was alternately praised and ripped by Sheridan regarding this selfless work. Sheridan did the same to me. One moment he was singing my praises but these good times were inevitably followed by disrespectful and inaccurate accusations. He published posts accusing me of being FBI and CIA. He also accused me privately of hacking his computers and his cell phone, a complaint he made about many others. Truth is he was a novice and gullible user who screwed things up himself and consistently mistook the results of his own missteps for malicious third party hacks. I did occasional pro bono work for him mainly to prevent evictions. He had a real knack for pissing off landlords and fellow residents. Eric Ullis also helped keep Sheridan housed. Sheridan was mercurial to say the least. Still, I really liked Sheridan. He was a troubled soul who just could never find peace or maintain long term friendships. If he found peace he’d wreck it, every single time. Sheridan’s book is far more readable after Snow’s editing. He didn’t change anything Sheridan said in the first edition. He just did what any good editor does. He cleaned up clumsy structure and syntax. Working with Sheridan must have been trying. You experienced some of that. I’m a very patient person and I found it hard to help him. Was SP DBC? I honestly don’t know. If someone could credibly tag Sheridan as a smoker I’d be less inclined to exclude him. Nobody has done that to the best of my knowledge. 377
  6. As for military surplus round canopies, I’m so glad they are in my past. I jumped last Saturday with my modern “square” ram air canopy. See pics below. Cushy landings. The military rounds could give you “crunchy” landings, with the crunch coming from your ankle bones breaking. Fortunately my 100+ surplus round jumps were injury free.
  7. I strongly believe that Cooper’s rig is out there somewhere. No reason to carry it with him. Good reason to quickly conceal it. No reason for a deep burial. The concealment requirements were modest and temporary. Just keep it from being easily sighted in the initial hours of the search. Discovery of the rig would allow the cops to center their search. I believe the rig was an NB8 with an unmodified C9 28 ft diameter round canopy. It was easy to find C9 canopies in surplus stores back then. I never once saw a Navy 26 ft Conical in a surplus store and I did a LOT of looking. The parachute gear companies seemed to snag them all in DOD surplus auctions. I bought my Navy Conical from a sailor-skydiver who was based at Iwakuni Japan. The base rigger “traded” him this perfect but time expired canopy for some trashed sport canopy. The rigger needed to destroy/demilitarize the timed out canopies.
  8. Metal isn’t needed to reflect radar signals, I saw birds nearly every day on X band marine radar when I was skippering commercial fishing boats. Radar signals are reflected by any object having a density difference from air. Furuno makes specialized S band bird radars that can image a single seabird many miles away. I got it first hand from an FAA controller who also skydives that exiting skydivers can be seen on radar. He has seen them many times.
  9. No video recording for 2019 but the 2018 talk is here:
  10. I think some of you may have missed the part where I said I do NOT believe LD was DBC and I give credit to Robert Blevins for leading me to this conclusion. I just don't ascribe evil cunning motives to Marla. It's easy for time and subsequent events to morph memories, especially distant ones from childhood. 377
  11. Thanks Flyjack. I recall reading something about a jettisonable tailcone on some DC 9s. 377
  12. I jumped from a DC 9-21 in 2006. The ventral airstair door wasn't small. Are you saying that there was another door that LaPoint used? 377
  13. I thought Marla's written answers were, as usual, quite articulate. Sure there was some sarcasm, but that is certainly understandable given the disrespect and hostility thats been directed towards her. I don't think her uncle was Cooper, but I think her story reflected childhood memories not made-up facts. I talked with her at some length at Grays Portland symposium and didn't detect any indicia of lying. I asked her a lot about the CB walkie talkies used by LD and her answers told me without any doubt that she really saw these in use. We really should try to get her to speak at Coopercon 2019. She lights up a room. Very attractive, intelligent, articulate and willing to answer tough questions. It has occurred to me that LD wasn't Cooper but was trying to find Cooper's loot right after the news broke and before the authorities found it. One could get pretty banged up searching through thick brush at night. 377
  14. ParrotheadVol wrote: "To me, the biggest evidence against Reca being Cooper is the recorded confession. He was led on many of the answers. Some of the other answers he gave were very questionable as well, such as when he said that he had no idea what kind of plane he was hijacking, and had planned to jump out the side door and had no knowledge of the aft stairs. That to me is a bigger red flag than the Cle Elum thing." Good points. The interviewer's question were sooooo leading, which would be impermissible on direct exam in a courtoom. Opposing counsel: "objection, leading question." Judge: "OBJECTION SUSTAINED! Counsel, I suggest you ask your witness questions not suggest his answers" Also, no experienced skydiver and PJ would take such a lackadaisical attitude about the aircraft type and exit locations, especially in a jet, simply not credible. In any high-speed exit, aircraft structure strikes are a huge risk. Lots of folks who haven't made much out of their lives sling bullshit about being CIA, Navy SEAL, Special Forces, etc. Undercover work can explain away years of apparent non-productive time. I don't know much about military special ops activities but I do know the parachuting aspects of that work. When I hear a barroom claim about being a SEAL, I ask parachute questions. It almost always filters out the liars. I had one alleged SEAL go on and on about the "parasails" they used for deep black HALO insertions into Sakhalin Island at night where they planted acoustic tracking devices on Soviet subs. Real Mission Impossible stuff. I should have got his autograph. 377
  15. Recca (a USAF trained PJ and accomplished skydiver) had ALL the skills but the Cle Elum landing story is just not credible. Why on earth would he tell such a story? A liar would, of course, pick a credible V 23 proximal landing area. Recca didn't. It does make me wonder... His extensive collection of foreign passports also makes me wonder. Most of the passports were not genuine (thanks Snow for showing me evidence of counterfeiting) but why did he have them? Was he a Walter Mitty 007 pretender or was he up to something serious? I do admire the candor of his Cooper proponents. Putting forth the whole story including Cle Elum has my respect. They didn't spin or cherry-pick facts. It's so tempting to ignore facts that cast doubt on favorite suspects. 377
  16. OK. What should we look for? Be explicit, not mystic cryptic. 377
  17. Executing a successful cutaway on jump 19 is great. Congratulations. I have been jumping for 50 years and have had 2 cutaways, one in 1972 using 100% military surplus gear and one in 2005 using modern gear. I am thankful I wasn't tested at jump 19. Not sure I would have done as well as you did. 377
  18. Jumper 34 wrote: "Also had a Herc break apart there from the 304th where I was stationed. One survivor out of PDX." I'm familiar with that tragic accident. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19961122-1 I always thought Lockheed should have been held liable. Amazingly that model Herc could not be restarted in the air if all four engines flamed out (e.g. from fuel starvation). What a monumentally stupid design error. The crew accidentally ran the interior Fulton Tank dry leading to loss of all four engines. There was plenty of fuel in other tanks but there was not enough electrical power from the battery buss to do an engine relight, so down they went. The only possible way to have saved the day was if the FE had cut safety wire on the terminal box that had squat switch terminals that inhibited starting the GPU after wheels up and disconnected (or jumpered?) the wires that prevented a GPU inflight start. That's asking way too much in a critical or chaotic emergency situation. It's truly amazing that a survivor was found at night offshore. I find conspiracy theories and inside job allegations fascinating but I normally discount them because I do not believe that they could stay secret for so long. Many people would be involved and when lots of people are involved leaks are inevitable. I have a Cooper 20. I wonder if it might have any traces or residue that would link it to the unique chemistry and ecology of La Camas Lake? I do not believe Norjack was an inside job, but your landing zone theories are worth exploring. Wouldnt dragging the lake for the canopy using a grapnel hook be more effective and far less dangerous than diving for it? As far as I have been able to discover in my research, the SAT 727 test airdrops over Korat Thailand were the only 727 airdrops made during the war. No 727 airdrops were made in Vietnam. Dr. Joe Leeker, the premier historian of covert air ops in SE Asia, agrees. The MAC SOG guys I've talked to said they never jumped from or heard about any jumps from 727s in Vietnam. Far more suitable aircraft were available such as Hercs, C 123s, C 119s and Caribous. There was no need to masquerade as a civil airliner. If you have info to the contrary post it here. I'll keep an open mind. Cossey's murder was very odd. If it was connected with his gambling it seems that leads would have developed. Grudges and player to player animosity at casinos gets noticed. What relevant evidence has been found by the authorities? Zero. Nada. Nothing of value appears to have been taken. A junkie burglar would definitely have taken stuff. The murder weapon was a club, not a gun. No loud noise to attract police. A thief could have taken his time to look for and steal valuables. BTW, what does the 34 in your screen name mean? 377
  19. I and most other old school skydivers would be flattered if we were considered DBC suspects. Many jumpers claimed to have been investigated by the FBI. I think most of them were lying. That’s how much of a status symbol it was. I’ll wave all defamation claims in advance. I had a 727 flight manual in 1971 and lots of jumps with military surplus gear I had flown to Seattle in 71 a few months prior to the skyjack on a 727. Sigh, still no takers. What’s a guy gotta do? 377
  20. I've been trying to imagine how Cooper came up with the idea for this bold venture. I sometimes mused about how skydiving could be used to facilitate a crime. I always imagined parachuting as a way to get into a guarded site. My thinking was way too narrow. It literally never occurred to me that you could force authorities to deliver cash to a hijacked plane which would then fly to a remote location where one could jump with the loot and avoid discovery and capture. 377
  21. Thanks Marty, much appreciated.
  22. Andrade wrote: "Forty-eight of these jumps are inexplicable: Good weather, experienced and healthy skydivers with no history of depression, working equipment, etc." I am familiar with a number of these inexplicable no pulls Marty and they scare me a bit. What the hell happened? Could it possibly happen to me? In addition to at least one visual altimeter, I wear an audible altimeter and jump with an AAD. Theoretically, that gear should dramatically reduce the chance of me replicating those mystery no pull deaths.
  23. I don't know those exact numbers 812Shadow, but if Cooper pulled right away after exiting they wouldn't matter. The whole idea of the skyjack was so innovative. Cooper had to be a really creative guy, an out-of-the-box thinker. Those who went before him just used the planes to go to Cuba or some other venue that wouldn't extradite. What makes you so sure he was military? I think he was too but I can't articulate exactly why. Peterson said on the History Channel interview that he could have done the Cooper jump successfully. I agree. He had all the skills needed and the guts as well. His ability, however, didn't come from military training. He was a Marine and did not take jump training in the service. I bet against Peterson once. We bet $20 on the outcome of the last presidential election. I felt bad, like I was taking $20 from an old man who didn't see the big picture. I sure don't think that anymore. I paid him with ten two dollar bills. 377
  24. Gloves are a mixed bag Marty. When it's so cold you can't feel your bare hands (as it was on my two 24,000 ft jumps), they are almost essential. They do, however, significantly reduce your ability to identify and correctly grasp objects using tackle feedback. On modern gear, it is impossible to see the object that is used to initiate the opening sequence on your main. It is located behind you. Only by feeling around can you locate, grasp and extract it from its elasticized pocket. I've been experimenting with gloves the fingertips cut off and so far so good. You get most of your hand protected from the cold but maintain uncovered fingertips for max sensitivity.