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Wonder if Don Kirlin would do it again for old timesake? A massive "last tango" for WFFC in 2020 at Rantoul. I have not recovered from the demise of the World Free Fall Convention after 2006. I went to many WFFCs in Quincy and Rantoul and every one was a blast. Kinda like Burning Man with back to back jumpships. WFFC's termination left a hole in my soul. I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. With a lot of marketing and a big turnout I'll bet it could be profitable. Does anyone know DK personally? Is there even a prayer he might do just one more? I can dream can't I? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Uwe, Thanks for the info on the SF-10A canopies. They do sound very good. I have become spoiled, however, and at age 66 my round parachute days are probably over, with the possible exception of a water jump. To be honest, I never once stood up my old C-9 and I had well over 100 opportunities to do it. I did stand up my one round reserve ride, a wonderful Navy 26 ft conical. One thing I miss is the silence of a round ride. Very different acoustic experience in a ram air. I do quite a few ham radio jumps with high openings. www.parachutemobile.com The wind noise creates a challenge as it is picked up by the transceiver mic. I have been tempted to use a big round for that reason, but opening at 12,500 ft I could end up miles from the DZ. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Right on Jimmy, my technique exactly. I sure got a scare packing my 1951 C-9. I was jostling the sleeve which appeared to be in very good condition, no fading, and my fingers went right through the cotton fabric. It tore like paper. I could just imagine the canopy partially escaping though a big sleeve rip during deployment and giving me a malf. Got a new sleeve ($35

I was still jumping a 1951 orange and white candy striped C-9 at Pope Valley CA in the 70s when PCs were long gone and everyone was jumping squares. It landed HARD, had a zillion jumps on it. I bought it used in 68. Not one rip or tear, just very porous. You could hold the ripstop nylon over your mouth and breath through it waaaay too easily. I had to do a cutaway at Pope and rode down in a pristine 26 ft Navy Conical. It seemed like a feather landing compared to my leaky C-9. Those who jump ancient canopies today have my admiration, but I will remain a spectator on those jumps. I was fortunate that as I aged, canopies progressed at a rate which offset my increasing vulnerability to bone fractures. My Triathlon "Sky-Pig" won't win any swoop contests, but it puts me down real easy every time. Thank God, Domina Jalbert and Steve Snyder for modern ram airs. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Welcome to the sport Eddie! Congrats on your new license. Made my first jump at age 18 in 1968. Still jumping. It's a sport you can stay with for a long long time if you pay attention to safety. I've never been injured jumping. I've never done a swoop landing. Might be a connection there. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

My Mom was a parachute packer in WW2. She said if I packed like she did I never would have any troubles. She just couldn't believe how sloppily skydivers packed their round canopies. "Appalling" is the word she used. Actually I packed my surplus C-9 round canopy VERY neatly by skydiver standards but my Mom was not at all impressed. She proceeded to demonstrate how the skirt sections should be "dressed" after the panels were flaked. It looked picture perfect but I doubt if it served any useful function other than a cosmetic one. When I had my first cutaway from a fouled up C-9 cheapo guess what she said? "I warned you honey. You just didn't listen to your Mom." 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I'd be impressed if the Conatsers got 1.1 million for a short body DC 9 with one timed out JT8 engine. The DC 9 was clean as a whistle though. Really nice inside and out. Old steam guage panel though. 2 million might buy John Fry's (Fry's Electronics) luxury 747SP in airworthy condition. It's listed at 3,000,000 but no takers. Of course a 747 would not make much of a jumpship. This C 133 was the bargain of all time. $6500. Could have carried many hundreds of jumpers. Was jumped by USAF in a test. https://sites.google.com/site/boeing377/c133 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Perris DC 9 sold? http://www.moodypas.com/pistons/dc-9-21/ If so who bought it? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I thought Angry Sky was well done. If you made a Nick Piantanida documentary that would totally satisfy skydivers, it would lose some of its mass appeal. The book Magnificent Failure is a great read. Highly recommended. I remain baffled by the evidence that suggests Nick opened his pressure suit visor at 56000 feet. The huge risk to just clear some condensation seems insane. Might he have already been hypoxic? Nick was sure a "larger than life" guy. That comes across really well in Angry Sky. What a shame he died so young. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Thanks. I'll post a picture of the vent mod next week when I am back home. It's wonderful that the guys who know the old gear are still in the game. Those ancient D numbers give you away. The only spot on pea gravel dead center I ever got on a round was on that 26 conical after a cutaway over Pope Valley. Needless to say back in the day I wasn't so good at accuracy, or RW, or really anything, but I was a safe jumper... and nobody loved the sport more than I did. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Hard to toss a canopy that saved your life, so I have hung onto my 26 ft conical long after it became (arguably) obsolete. Last night I pulled it out and looked it over. In addition to the military data it has a stamp from Perry Stevens's Stevens Paraloft. Is this a TSO? Or? What was done to the stock Navy canopy? Just curious. I'm not a rigger. See photos attached. Perry Stevens taught me how to skydive in 1968 at age 18. I still jump and hope to continue for many more years. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I recently lost a lot of vision in one eye due to corneal erosion and worried that it might end my jumping days. Happily it didn't. Despite contrary training I have NEVER looked at the horizon when I land and I haven't biffed in 46 years of jumping. I look at the imaginary threshold of my "runway". As I get close to the ground I look down to see what familiar objects like weeds, grass blades and stones look like. What can I resolve, what is still beyond resolution. My brain converts that changing info into distance cues and tells me when its time to flare. Hard to explain but it works. Here is what it looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiiHs_OtGJA You can see I am looking down a lot not just out. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

26 ft Navy Conical gave me a great reserve ride back in the early 70s at Pope Valley. Had the 4 line release mod. Strong canopy, decent descent rate, no worries about acid mesh or other mfg defects. Old, simple, reliable. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Katzas wrote I started in the late 60s (still jumping) and it was a wonderful experience, but "dope was something jazz musicians did"??? In the early 70s I saw people snorting coke on a DC 3 riding up to 12.5. Lunch with a beer or two and jumping afterwards was no big deal. The smell of pot smoke wasn't uncommon in the parking area. Maybe these jumpers were jazz musicians on their day jobs? I was poor then and couldn't afford anything better than surplus rounds. The landings in afternoon winds backing up fast were brutal, but somehow nothing got broken. Still, jumping in the 60s was magic. I feel truly privileged to have been part of that era. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

A new review, five stars, but only one word. http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/1849631999/ref=acr_search_see_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Bruce wrote: Bruce, If you could remote view Cooper on the 727 why cant you go to the crime scene right before Cossey was whacked then tell us what you saw? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

What all have we resorted to LMAO! IF D.B.COOPER DIED BEFORE CONFESSING HIS CRIME...I WILL SERIOUSLY KILL HIM!! See attached screen shot. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Brown contacts are a possibility. But when you have to resort to extreme explanations to keep a suspect viable you have to wonder if you are trying to force the facts to fit rather than take them as they likely are. Sheridan doesn't have brown eyes but he sure makes a supremely qualified Cooper otherwise. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Was Sheridan cooking a turkey in Nepal? If the FBI belived his mud hut alibi they wouldnt have come back requesting a DNA swab. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

If the pilot chute launches and hits the slipstream, even if the canopy doesn't inflate, you will probably be pulled off the stairs and fast. It doesn't take much surface area to generate a large force in 200 mph of relative wind. The pilot chute and the attached unopened extended canopy would likely be plenty. If the FBI sabotaged a chute so that the ripcord handle wasn't connected to the pins or if they otherwise rigged it so that the pack would stay closed after a pull, then you could climb back up the stairs no problem. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I think there a lot of single socks and gloves at that place. A lot of small parts too. No other explanation for their disappearance. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo, The chutes are 60s era just like the car. They are military emergency chutes modified for skydiving. The Cooper labeling is something added by the user, not a part of a stock military rig. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Cooper's rigs. Photo attached. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Blevins wrote: The Cooper Vortex sucks money and time. Anyone who expects to turn a profit on a Cooper literary project will almost certainly be disappointed. Look at how many have tried and failed. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Bruce wrote: I have a sneaking suspicion that the butts are not lost and never were. Just a hunch, but a hunch based on direct experience with FBI evidence handling in far less important criminal cases. They know the consequences of losing or even just mishandling potentially exculpatory physical evidence in criminal cases: DISMISSAL. They take considerable care not to give a free pass to a defendant. Princes and heroes... nice to be in such illustrious company. Anybody can be a hero. All they need to claim the title is an admirer who thinks they deserve it. Take Duane for example... 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.