peckerhead

www.magicarpets.com

900 feet on a round reserve, cutaway at 1200....not very smart.....I should have taken care of it sooner, but hey! I was just a kid. Lowest main open 1500.

Thanks for that one, My mom thinks if I "REALLY" cared about my family I would not jump at all..... It is because I do that I ask for input.

Ok, so today I am ordering a new rig from Call Ralph. I am getting an infinity with a 150 tempo and a 150 Tri. I am thinking about buying my first AAD and I have a real serious mental issue..... I have been air diving for 22 years, almost 2000 jumps, I have not had a cutaway since 1988 (8 reserve rides in the 80's) I always wear a helmet, never pull low , and I am in good health...... I mostly jump at a small cessna drop zone but, once in awhile I go to boogies and get on big ways. I hate gadgets! Beepers, rsls, aads, altimeters, etc. I have always felt they were a crutch for scaredy-cats with bad eyesight, people with no sense of time and altitude. BUT..... Now I am a skydiver looking at forty, I have two small kids and I find myself thinking "What if" What if I do everything right and some dork takes me out? What if I have a medical emergency in freefall? What if the damn thing fires when I am sitting in the crotch of a 182? What if the damn thing fires and I have two canopies out? What if it saves my life? What if it kills me? Money is not the issue in any way. More frequent repacks are not the issue, those things don't EVEN matter..... I kinda feel like I am throwing in the towell if I get one. It is like I am saying "I am too old and stupid to skydive anymore so I better get a gadget to save my ass".... I invite your comments.. .

The first one I jumped was some sort of modified military surplus, I have no idea what it was, probably a t-10 t-u or double LL I did not jump a ram-air till I had 56 jumps but I did 4-way RW on rounds with belly mount reserves before that....In those days you did not buy parachutes until you could afford a square. My first canopy I owned was a Para-flite Strato-flyer..... It had a real short life when it opened over the tail of a cessna 182. .

Back in 1983 I was doing a 3 way and I was the last one going out of a c-182. I was still in the door (on my knees) when my main deployment bag went out the door and my main inflated over the tail. I had just over 100 jumps and it almost knocked me out. I cut away and dumped my 22 foot round reserve at around 10,000 feet. I was 19 years old and scarred to death! I could not figure out what had happened, I just reacted.....My main was shreaded, the plane was damaged but he was able to land. That was a long reserve ride, the uppers were cranking and I landed about 6 miles from the drop zone and was lost for some time. No roads, no help. I can't believe I still do this..... .

Skydiving? Back in the '80s (whoa remember the 80's?) I had two malfunctions on back to back loads.... I had to buy a case for each reserve ride, plus one for a dropped rip cord, and another one for something else I can't remember.......two jumps, 4 cases!!!!!! I was glad to do it, actually I am glad just to be alive!

ORYGUN WORSHINGTON IDAHO MONTANA COLORADO UTAH ARIZONA

69 Chris, the guy who looks like a really tall Rodger Daltrey..... Remember that night I pulled those drunk loggers off your ass in Estacada?

Lighten up spike! Grant linn was the artist, Frank Sevic was one of my best friends. Me and Frank made our first freefalls together. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about those guys. Bill Partlow and I were good buddies, Scott Farmer was one of my students. I made a jump with Ferrell a few years back...... Yeah, I did kick your ass did'nt I?...... We sure did have a blast at lost prarie though, I got in and you did not...... The last time I saw you, me and your brother were having bloody mary's at the bar at lost prarie. It was the last day of the boogie...... One of these days I am going to show up at Toledo and kick your ass again! I think you are wrong about Zeke, It was not just Kapow and Beaver Oaks, in those days it was also Beagle, Eugene, (harrisburg) Scravel hill, sheridan, snohomish, tri cities and more...... I guess you did not know the man like I did. The 80's were a great time. Zeke was a great CD, I think you are just cheesed off because he did not visit Toledo Me and Zeke were judges at the convention that awarded Martin and the maggotts first place..... I went up as an "air Judge" You remember that?

Actually Brett you got it part right....Zeke Lenn was critical of RN because of his alleged (later proven and convicted) drug smuggling. Roger ran the ad "a vote for Zeke is a vote for a geek" but he also took some shots at skydivers from the NW in general. As I recall Zeke had reservations about Nelson representing USPA when he was facing criminal charges (Nelson did time for his crimes) Zeke won the conference director position in a landslide with the support of skydivers from the NW who were pissed off at Nelsons comments. I don't think any NW director has ever received as many votes..... Last election nobody even bothered to run for the position. Ralph then ran an ad in parachutist in support of Zeke that was signed by skydivers from the NW, myself included. If you took the first letter from each name on the list it spelled out E-A-T-S-H-I-T-A-N-D-D-I-E-R-O-D-G-E-R-N-E-L-S-O-N It was hilarious, of course parachutist did not catch it until after it was printed. I think I still have a copy somewhere....1986 I believe. So instead of having the freak brothers convention we started having the "geek brothers" convention and Zeke was # 1. Some of the best boogies I have ever attended. I always liked Zeke, he spent alot of his own money to do the job and traveled the conference visiting all the drop zones (well, maybe not yours LOL! ) I can't remember anyone else doing that. He was fun to jump with and was a long time veteran in the sport. Scott Geek Brother # 12 -

I heard his old lady ran off with a skydiver and that's what started it all....If he wasn't such a prick maybe she would not have left him?

March 8 is the USPA safety day. Since the early 90's our fatality rate has not changed significantly. Our gear has improved but we seem to have the same number of deaths each year (on average) Most deaths we see in modern times come from skydivers with "perfectly good parachutes" What is you comment on the state of safety in our sport today?

I was born in BadKrueznach West Germany, My mom is from Texas, My dad is from Kansas. I grew up in Oregon, Utah, Washington, Idaho, Colorado... Sigh...I don't know where I am from..... I have spent most of my life in ORYGUN so I guess that is it.

My children Oh yeah, and Samwise Gamgee, without him Frodo would have never made it into the depths of Mordor.

21 Cline falls OR Central Oregon Skysports Bend OR Beaver Oaks (wspc)OR Lost Prairie MT Kapowsin Wa Tri cities Wa Beagle Sky Ranch OR Snohomish WA Yakima WA Eloy AZ Marana AZ Cedar Valley UT Salt Lake UT Heber Valley UT Littleton CO (1st jump 1981) Albany OR Harrisburg OR Skydive Oregon Mosco ID Sadly, some of these DZs are no longer in operation... (Not including demos and Para-ski meets, when you are skydiving the world is a dropzone!)

Our good friend and fellow skydiver Steve Hopkins was involved in a helicopter crash in Antarctica. He has been air lifted to New Zealand. The reports we have got are sketchy at best, from what we know he has broke both femurs, his pelvis, several ribs and his back. He is expected to make it but his injuries are severe.....He is still not out of the woods. Steve -O (or smokey) is an airdiver and a Smoke jumper and we are very worried about him, if you have any info about the crash or his current status please e-mail me. Thanks, Scott

Thanks Igor, I hate you less now!

Pack your own and don't worry about it....unless you have some sort of handicap. I have learned my lesson, the worst openings I have ever had were on someone elses packjobs. But hey, that's what you get for 5 bucks.

I tell my male students to "ahem" adjust your package. -Cause I aint gonna do that for ya! The girls get a free adjustment. (For safety of course!)

Spending your unemployment check to buy spa chemicals for your hot tub. ...what's left over you buy jump tickets and lunch.

Actually what she said was at 7000 feet she looked out and realized she was only halfway up. I took that to mean she jumped from 14k.... Tandems have turned our sport into a big carnival ride.

I got the Cascades out my back door!

That is 68 Charlie, the best climbing 180 tail dragger in the northwest. Some whuffos that hated skydivers broke into it one night and doused it with fuel and burned it to the ground.... The dickheads have never been caught or prosecuted. These stupid fuckheads broke into it even though it was UNLOCKED! Really sad.... There is still a reward since it was a federal crime. Yeah, I am only 5 foot 6......I made my first freefall out of that plane. I loved that airplane!

Get the fuck out! We are going down!