377

LODI (near Stockton CA) gives the lowest up jumper prices. http://www.parachutecenter.com 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

New non obvious uses for old technology can be patented. Millions have been spent litigating over what is and is not obvious. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

"BTW, people often want larger canopies for bigger formation jumps, not smaller. It gives you more time to find a safe place to land. Just something to think about." Good point. With light wing loading you can usually be among the last to touch down and that is a safety benefit. Can't collide with canopies that are far below you. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I'm your weight exactly and find a Triathlon 210 is a really sweet ride in everything from zero wind to about 15 mph. I also have a Tri 190 that I use when winds are higher. I once flew with a couple of Sabres nearby through some really rough air and they BOTH had end cell partial collapse issues. My Tri was rock solid. Perhaps the Sabre pilots were applying some braking. I fly full speed through turbulence to keep ram air inflation pressure up. Learned that from Brian Germain. HIGHLY recommend his book The Parachute and Its Pilot. Pricey but worth every penny. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I took S/L training in 1968 and am still an active jumper. In my S/L class we had one young woman who just couldn't get it right on emergency procedures practice. She got confused, hesitated, and sometimes did the wrong thing. She was given a full refund and dismissed from the class even though she wanted to continue the training and jump. Does that ever happen these days? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Nice job! You were trained well and performed well. You will no longer have to wonder how you will perform if you have a malfunction. You now KNOW you can handle it. Don't forget to buy your rigger a bottle of something real nice. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Somehow I don't see the FAA following suit on 180 day reserve repacks, i.e. from required to highly recommended. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

One of the more extreme things I've seen in my 48 years of skydiving were the initial Skyhook demos at the World free fall Convention in Illinois. Those cutaways were done so low I was scared to watch. Somebody complained and they stopped doing it. Used to be a big deal if you just skydived. Now days you aint shit if you don't wingsuit within two inches of a granite face and have the YouTube video to prove it. I'd like to see this WSJ author write an article on BASE jumping. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

"But according to Jeb Corliss, skydiving is like walking across the street to get a muffin! Totally safe! Laugh (Unless one considers getting hit by a car crossing the street more dangerous than rollercoasters.)" Jeb wouldn't walk across the street, he'd hop from roof to roof on moving cars. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

WSJ uses fact checkers and I am pretty sure that no falsehoods or material inaccuracies were found. It's more about omitting facts than misrepresentation. I shouldn't complain. If this article brings more people into the sport by reducing initial fear that's good. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You raise some good points too. It's not like surfing where any newbie can buy a board and paddle out. Gypsy Moths... I LOVE that movie. I started jumping in 68 and things weren't all that different than the movie depicted e.g. low pull contests, gutter gear, 10 pound helmet cam setups, beer at DZ lunch, even jumped a Howard DGA like in the movie. That WSJ photo of the guy in the hammock under canopy is classic. I want the T Shirt. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-scaredy-cats-guide-to-skydiving-1461256932 Jerry Baumchen posted this in the History and Trivia section. Thought I'd repost it here to get more attention. Please read the article and post your thoughts. Mine are below: WSJ article makes skydiving look nearly foolproof. I like to see more people enter the sport, but they should know what they are getting into risk wise. Not sure this article tells it like it really is. Makes it look like your gadgets will save you without fail if you screw up, so nothing to worry about. As I recall most injuries and fatalities come from bad landings (which no AAD can prevent). The article makes it sound like a running stumbling landing is the worst case. If only that were true... I've been jumping since 1968. Jumped last weekend. The surplus gear I started with has been replaced by far better stuff, but gravity hasn't changed one bit. The Grim Reaper still finds plenty to harvest at DZs. I wish the author had consulted with Bryan Burke for balance. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

No reserves on the Humvees. No AADs. Coulda told ya this would happen. Probably shoulda had had RSLs as well. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Never jumped a Twin Bo, but had one taxy past me in WA. What a distinctive sound. Sounded like two Harleys headed for the active runway. The Baron right behind it sounded so wimpy in comparison. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

WSJ article makes skydiving look nearly foolproof. I like to see more people enter the sport, but they should know what they are getting into risk wise. Not sure this article tells it like it really is. Makes it look like your gadgets will save you without fail if you screw up, so nothing to worry about. As I recall most injuries and fatalities come from bad landings (which no AAD can prevent). The article makes it sound like a running stumbling landing is the worst case. If only that were true... I've been jumping since 1968. Jumped yesterday. The surplus gear I started with has been replaced by far better stuff, but gravity hasn't changed one bit. The Grim Reaper still finds plenty to harvest at DZs. I wish the author had consulted with Brian Burke for balance. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Learned a lot from Peter Kaltoff at Livermore back in the day. He was such a patient and kind teacher. No tandems, no AFF, you learned freefall solo. Pete, noting my wild rigid spin on my second terminal freefall jump, got me to relax. Bingo. Stability. He will be missed. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Endless Mountain Skydivers website appears to show a Twin Beech with radials as their jumpship. See attached. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

From a friend who is a jet pack fanatic: Jetcat P200-RX is rated at 24.7 fl oz per minute at full thrust of 52 lbsf. Then having 4 turbines would be 98.8 fl oz/minute or 0.77 gal/min. Since a gal of jet-A or kerosene weighs about 6.5 lbs, then to fly 5 minutes the pilot would need to carry 32.5 lbs of fuel. Not very efficient and this is in part, because the turbines are single stage. The original jetpack of Bell Aerosystems using the Williams Research WR19 turbine weighed 49 lbs, put out 410 lbsf and consumed 64 fl oz/minute at full thrust. However it was a 2 stage turbine with a bypass fan. Still, a remarkable engineering feat. So amazing to watch the video. When will we see tandems ? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I stand corrected and happily so. Glad to know that a Beech 18, albeit a screaming turbine version, still hauls jumpers every weekend. The website mentions a pair actually. From their website Our primary aircraft is a Twin Turbine Westwind! Skydive Greene County is proud to be flying TWO Westwinds. These amazing airplanes are two of the fastest jumps planes in the country! These unique jumpships have a large interior and huge door, you will have no trouble jumping from this plane. Our twin turbines sit up to 12 jumpers and have a turn around time to 12,500 ft of nearly fifteen minutes. We also have two Cessna 182’s on stand-by that will take up four jumpers from 4,500 ft up to 9,000 ft. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

To the best of my knowledge there are no more Twin Beeches regularly flying as jumpships. The ones in Canada were the last I believe. Some still haul jumpers on special occasions but sadly the days of the every weekend round engine Beech 18 jumps are gone forever. Turboprop a Beech 18 mods were made by Volpar and others. I always hoped one of these might make a cost effective King Air alternative, but apparently very few remain airworthy and none regularly fly jumpers. Id like to be proven wrong. I loved it when Beech 18s, Lockheed Lodestars and DC 3s were common. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Or you could just go whole hog: http://artnalls.com 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I think Frankie Z is blowing a little smoke to make this seem more complex than it really is while he moves to get patent protection. I'd be willing to bet that there are no in-flight moveable thrust vectoring nozzles. My strong hunch is that the platform draws its stability from the precession forces of the 4 turbines rotating at the same time at 100k RPM. It is basically a giant 'top' so it is inherently stable. The only problem is the tangential forces that would make it spin in a cyclic catenary fashion, and that is counteracted by the two side turbines that push in the opposite direction. Flight attitude is effected by kinesthetic movement of his body, similar to the Hiller platform https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3FS3D1rCos . None of this tech puffery detracts from the stunning accomplishment of Mr. Z and his team. BRAVO! 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I could be wrong, but I think it is real. Here is how you could do it 4 each JetCat model P200RX turbines each 52lbsf of thrust (210 lbsf total) and each turbine weighing 5.6 lbs, the total dry weight of the thrusters is 22.4 lbs, leaving about 190 lbs for pilot+fuel+clothing and etc. hardware. http://www.jetcatusa.com/rc-turbines/turbine-details/p200-sx/ Short flight times though. Add more fuel, need more thrust, makes it even heavier, you just can't easily engineer your way out of the range limiting corner. The old Bell peroxide rocket "Jet Packs" had the same problem. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I've done 3 HF jumps using a trailing wire antenna and a YAESU FT 817 transceiver operating on the 10 meter band. Lots of solid contacts on 28 MHz band USB but all within a hundred and fifty miles. Ionospheric conditions for DX just weren't there. Did one jump with a WW 2 surplus BC 611 (huge) vacuum tube walkie talkie on 3885 KHz AM. Heard stations clearly but they could just barely hear me. That rig only puts out about 300 milliwatts. Hop and pops from 14,000. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Google Earth is so YESTERDAY. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.