PeteS

Takashi's V-3 got here yesterday and it's a beauty. I'm stashing it until he comes back for it.If I was not spending money in other places I would order one now.

I don't know why they are called "soft links", there is a hard as steel ring on them!

Monty died today at around 10:00 am, his son Nick was at his side. Monty started jumping in 1962 at the Lincoln, CA DZ and quit the first time in 1965, in order to raise his family. He was active in the motorcycle racing scene, doing engine work and setting up race bikes for offroad, flattrack and others. He told me ,"I was the best port and polish guy around for a long time, machine shops tried to get me to work for them but I was having too much fun!". His nickname was "Maco Monty" in racing circles. I met him in 1995 at a friends wake, we hit it off right away. He started jumping again in 1996 I believe, and we got into trouble right away,but thats another story. Monty went on to make another 55 or 60 jumps, quite a few with me. He took to flying these "Square" parachutes really well and could put them where he wanted. I went to see him last week in the hospital, we talked and I told him that when he was done I would take him for one more skydive. I explained that the Lincoln, DZ was open again and thats where we were going to make his "last jump". He got a big smile and said" Hey, take half of my ashes and half of Lelanis' (his late wife) ashes and spread 'em there, cause thats where we met!!!! The other half is goin' to our favorite fishin' hole. I asked,"tell me how you two met." The story goes that Monty was jumping at Lincoln and a guy was hanging around a couple of weekends. Monty told him to come out next week and they would make a skydiver out of him. After two or three months he decides no more skydiving, but his girlfriend wanted to be a skydivers' girlfriend. They were together thirty two years and loved each other very much, now Monty is that young badass again and Lelani is the hottie skydivers' girlfriend,forever........

Is there a computer whizz out there that could write a program to show repack ranges. Say, if todays date is xx/xx/xx, it would show the date before, 180 days and the date in the future 180 days.I would be great if it could be a feature here on this forum. I challenge somebody to do it first, and best. Good luck, prizes to the winner to be announced later.

Sparky, when I checked simpledick's profile I noticed that too. Ten years in the sport and a D- lic. in the 5000's? I am a full time Master Rigger running my shop in Nor Cal. I'm not raising my rates until my rent go's up again. Why not get your rating, simpledick, and pack your own goddam racer?

"Hey, hold mah beer and watch THIS!!!!"

That album cover was shot at the Yolo DZ, that George Morar owned. Early eighties as I remember, and the jump crew was Altitude shop employees'. Steve Perry's head was put into Beckys' position.

Ol' Moose, Hungry Horses MC............

As a rigger, I have had to replace two control panels due to the lcd screen breaking. If there is a weak spot, I think that is it. Also , two sets of batteries have needed replacing in what I would consider a short period( one was maybe 6 months).

TSO'ed gear required, and you can do what Bill is ok with. I would not push it with low pulls, with the guy dying back east. This an FAA controlled activity, so we need to respect what we do and who is allowing us to do it.

I got to make two wingsuit jumps from a R-44 today. The owner and pilots that lease the bird were glad to have us jump. Oh yea, the owner is a jumper himself. They are wanting to do Heli jumps here on a weekend day or whole weekend. Lets' make this happen!

I used to work for Bill, so talking to him is easy. Anyway, I saw a 5 cell Aqutron a couple of days back. The canopy was a 280, it's serial # started with A3B5-xxxx. The A stands for Aqutron, the 3 is for the size, 1= 240, 2= 260, 3= 280 and 4=300. I saw from the pictures that you had a large canopy, but didn't know exactly. I ran my thoughts on size by Bill, and he thinks I'm right. My best estimate of size is a 300' Aqutron 7 cell, I seem to remember that pink one going through production around that time and it was the first canopy made by a really talented rigger named Tim McVey.

C'mon, Bill knows where everyone of his otters, beech 99's and king airs are.............

If you come out to Lodi, make sure you talk to Stretch, the chief pilot. He's a retired AF Captain with _ALOT_ of stories to tell. What do you fly?

Bill sent me a message and he thinks it's a 240 he says he will check further.It's been some years since he has had to think about this stuff so the memory....uh, what was I saying?

I'm checking, but 260 seems about right. PIA std measurements are taken on the top skin, and chord is on the rib from the farthest point forward to the most rearward point. hope this helps.

Hey Nick, Bob Sinclair already had the "Zap Strap" in the 60's. Lodi is a Tandem mill but when the fun jumpers show up, Bill pulls out a Twin Otter and another if needed.

Yes, several Vectors both sport and tandem. I've seen alot of Wings with this type of failure also. There was a service bulletin on the tdm vector some years ago regarding this very problem.

I jumped my RW PC a few years ago and BOOM! they open pretty hard but it landed well.. for a PC.

I worked for Quantum Parachutes for five years, I should be able to give a little confusion to this thread. First, I can't tell exactly what model is in your pic. because of the wide angle. The purpose of the three chambered cells on #'s 2 and 6 is what Bill Gargano calls "Dual centers of pressure". He has had a patent on this cell arrangement. It helps with providing spanwise tension on the center cells, giving a "cleaner" airfoil. they also give two balance points for airflow, providing stability. Bill has always been a forward thinker and one of the best friends you could hope for in life.

i say .....Bumblebee!

I wanna say some sort of Pioneer brand, early. Before my time! Thinking a little more I'm going to say a "Multi-cell" ,Manuf. unknown.

If Mel is out of the shop, I can do the same work for you as he set me up for it. The blue HMA lasts' longer than you would think, we have a VX out here with around 1000 jumps on a 350 lb lineset. Mel, are you home?

Go to basejumper.com i am sure you will be taken seriously over there.

I need a little help getting a canopy to skydive Santa Barbara for sat morning. I do not want to send it overnight, sat delivery, it will kill me $$ wise. My ph# (209) 365 9114, thanks, Pete Swan