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I've jumped at Bill's DZs starting at Pope Valley in the early 1970s. I jump at Lodi once in a while, but Byron is closer to home. Bill is the only DZO I have ever seen actually kick jumpers off his DZ for unsafe skydiving. I saw this happen at Pope valley and at Lodi. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Byron (Bay Area Skydiving) is a little bit closer to SF. What distinguishes Byron and is good for students, is the HUGE area of safe landing spots outside of the DZ perimeter. If you make a mistake and cant get back to the DZ there are a zillion alternatives. I have jumped Skydive California at Tracy too and loved it. Look on YELP, lots of reviews of all the Bay Area DZs. My advice is to learn how to fly stable in a vertical wind tunnel before you take AFF. It won't take long and it will make AFF go a lot better. https://www.iflyworld.com/sfbay/ 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hah. I remember when the first news of DB Cooper's amazing skyjack came out. I was jumping at Livermore back then. Many Nor Cal jumpers were convinced Bill Dause did the job but then the witness descriptions and FBI drawing came out and that myth died fast. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I thought after 49 years of jumping I was over the fear but technology proved that assumption was wrong. My resting heart rate is around 67-72 BPM. My ham radio buddies and I have rigged up radio telemetry gear that sends jumper position, altitude, speed, heart rate and blood oxygen level to the ground in real time. My HR has soared as high as 173 BPM during jumps, so yeah I am still scared. I just didn't want to admit it. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Thanks Jerry. That makes me wonder if the feds are working with local prosecutors to investigate fatalities and evaluate possible criminal charges. I can't see how the seized jumper waivers and customer credit card charges would be directly relevant to tax or labor issues or Bill's FAA troubles over AD compliance on his Twin Otter. Time will tell. Ted Mayfield, the DZO who pled guilty to negligent homicide, died hand propping a plane a couple of years ago. Seemed like Ted was always in some kind of trouble. He had been convicted of armed robbery a long time ago. Busted for flying without a current license too. Some speculated he could have been DB Cooper but he doesn't match the witness descriptions. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I hope the investigation isn't about manslaughter or negligent homicide. Those kinds of cases are almost always brought by county prosecutors not feds. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/may/19/man-sentenced-in-deaths-of-two-parachuters-former/ 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Great job Bryan, clear explanations. I wish every jumpship had a GPS GROUND SPEED readout right next to the door. Doesn't solve all the horizontal flight issues raised in your article but would generally make safe exit spacing a lot easier. Actually not that hard to do but I have yet to see one. I put an old Garmin Summit on a wrist mount and it got a solid ground speed reading right next to King Air and Twin Otter doors. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to write this. You give a lot to skydiving safety and I deeply appreciate it.

Jumped there for the first time last month at a boogie. Very modern, clean, nice people. Even at a crowded event the safety officer sought me out and give me a very detailed briefing on how to approach the DZ, where all the nearby hazards were and what to expect wind wise. Friendly, helpful, not preachy or condescending. They had a Caravan and a couple of Twin Otters. I think the Caravan is their normal jump plane. Not very scenic but thats about the only negative I can think of. I'll be back.

Jumped at Monterey many times over the years. Back when Jess and Mike owned it we all had to use O2 nose cannulas on 18K jumps which as I recall we made from a Twotter. The 18 K jumps I made at Monterey under the new owners used a King Air that got us up to 18K FAST, with no supplemental O2 breathed by jumpers. Lots of tandems paid extra to ride to 18K. No King Air jumpship I've ever been in climbs like Mike Mullins does. Had the pleasure of making two 23,000 ft + jumps at WFFC from his rocket ship for the amazingly low price of $48 per jump. We breathed supplemental O2 through masks literally until we went out the door. Who has the world's highest tandems? Not sure but I know it is not Monterey. The coastal scenery at Monterey is spectacular so do visit the DZ if you're passing through the area. They run a lot of tandems there but it's still worth your time. 18 K freefalls with a great view are really fun. What just KILLS me about Monterey is their high priced "VIP Tandem Package" which offers "priority boarding". The VIP package is $419! I think the purchasers have visions of a first class airport lounge and a separate cabin forward once aboard. Perhaps some caviar on the way up to jump run. Nope, same fart can as everyone else boards, you just go in first. http://www.skydivemontereybay.com/skydive/pricing/ 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

“I’m vacuuming and there they are,” she said of the skydiver noise breaking the peace and quiet. “It’s hard to understand if you don’t live here.” Uh yes, it is... http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20170818/NEWS/170819650 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Once at WFFC when the weather turned ugly FAST during our climb. It was a good call. Those who left had lightning nearby during their descent. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You guys are GOOD. I initially thought Soviet DC 3 copy Li 2, but the cockpit side windows were not quite right. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Flight scrubbed again today, after high speed taxy down the runway. More glitches. Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Flight scrubbed. Taxied into position for TO but a problem with one engine arose. Back to the ramp. Maybe tomorrow. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

See this group on Facebook for up to the minute updates: Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation Also see this for general info: http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-restorations/c-97g-angel-deliverance-flight-imminent.html Back in the 70s a surplus C 97 based at Long Beach CA flew jumpers who were involved in a demo for the California 1000 Air Race held over Mojave CA. See attached photo. The C 97 that is scheduled to fly today has been under restoration for 15 years by an insanely dedicated group of volunteers. Plane has four R 4360-59B 28 cylinder radial engines. Wish the crew luck. This is one VERY complex aircraft and even the USAF with all its resources had a hard time keeping them from becoming Boeing Tri Motors. I am hoping that someday we can jump from this magnificent beast of a plane. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

"Well if you want to get old school you can just stare at the ground the whole time. " Or just count in your head. That's what I did for my first 35 jumps off student status. I could buy an altimeter or buy more jumps. Easy choice for a kid to make. One thousand, two thousand... 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Somehow timing is different on some versions. Jumper can be seen starting at 16:56 minutes. http://www.openculture.com/2014/09/rare-footage-of-human-be-in.html Somebody out there must know who the jumper was. So far nobody has been IDd. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Iron Annie, Martin Caidins's JU 52. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Looks like we have the canopy ID'd as a PC or PC clone. Now who was the jumper? And is there any truth to the story about the jumper doing an airdrop of LSD tabs? Quite likely this was a Nor Cal skydiver and there weren't all that many in 1967. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hippie History: http://www.openculture.com/2014/09/rare-footage-of-human-be-in.html Can see jumper descending starting around 9:29 in the video. Reportedly a skydiver jumped in to this historic event and spread LSD tabs. See attached article. Who was the jumper? Any details on the jump? Can't quite ID the canopy type. Looks like it might have a keel in some angles. Dactyl? PC? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Enjoyed it. Thanks Brian. Hope you do more of these. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Great pics and narrative. Thanks for posting! 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Quade. Any chance of locking this thread. R It would be more helpful if people just let it die. It's essentially dead right now. Nothing to worry about. I don't think it hurts to have an occasional skydiver post about DBC, the subject is relevant to parachuting history, but the old forum just got crazy and poisonous near the end. I don't recall that jumpers (or knowledgeable aviators) caused much trouble however. There is a forum that started away from Dropzone and it is active. Its moderator has had to do what Quade did, expel and ban people. Sad how these online forums become nasty no matter who runs them. Would be an interesting behavioral science study. R.I.P. DB Cooper forum. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Actually the probability of DBC's exit ending up in the Columbia River is low (someone did the rough math), but that very well could have been what happened. Bad spot, bad luck, bad ending. The waterlogged loot money found years later on a Columbia River sandbar sure doesn't argue for a dry landing and successful escape. A drowned Cooper is no fun, so the legend lives on. Dead or alive, it's kinda surprising that the FBI couldn't identify who he really was. There were lots of clues. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.