basejumper9

Aloha Everyone~ If any of you know the whereabouts of Rick and Donna Wittrig and/or Jim and Judy Guyer, please email me or ask them to email me. Or, you can call me at 808-497-6033. I need to send them some DVD's and have lost track of them. Thanks in advance~ Denise “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

I couldn't agree with you more! This has been an ongoing issue in my homestate. There are two dz's here in Hawaii. One of them states in all their ads to tourists "Impeccable safety record". This is the DZ that had ALL 3 of their planes grounded in one week's time due to.... you figure it out: Day 1: Hot section in Caravan blows at 6K 4 days later: 206 blows a rod at 2K 2 days later: 182 is gounded with a bad alternator YES, the FAA was called. NO, nobody was injured. BUT, would you call this "Impeccable"? In January of this year, this is the same DZ that had a double tandem fatality. Our dear friend MM and his tandem passenger drowned just offshore the DZ. While the coronor's reports said the cause of death was drowning, those of us who knew MM KNOW that something must've happened to him (medically) which incapacitated him to the point he was not able to turn his fully functional canopy into the LZ. I guess you could call this pilot error.... doesn't even matter. No, it isn't the drop zone's fault that a medical emergency incapacitated our friend. What bothers me is that this particular DZ STILL LIES stating that they have an "Impeccable safety record". They also lie stating that they are USPA DZ when in fact they are NOT. WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT THE BLATANT LIES THAT A DZ PUTS OUT THERE TO THE UNSUSPECTING COMMUNITY??? I thank my lucky stars that I survived my first few jumps, when I didn't know any better.... when I didn't know what questions to ask. It's sad that drop zones can pretty much get away with saying whatever they want. “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

Oh crap! I vaguely remember someone telling me this a long time ago Oh well, I guess the damage is done from that last posting.... I'll keep that in mind for future reference, tho! THANKS! D~ “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

Aloha Nick! THANKS! I'll check back later for that number. Tom says ALOHA to you too! Denise “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

My apologies, when you said in your original post "We need to educate each other and stop doing stupid things." I mistakenly took you to mean BASE jump. Now I see that you meant more BASE from a balloon at the convention. Sorry. I am curious about the WFFC in 97 when Dennis and Avery had the balloon there for low altitude jumps... does anyone know about that? “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

Check this out! I had, on one occasion, an FAA person tell me, to my face, that we could jump thru a cloud! For real! I was working on a TV show as ground control. Time was of the essense. We were in class D airspace. He had contact with the tower and all other air ops had been halted, I had contact with the spotter on the load and ground (rescue) personnel. There was to be one tandem and one cameraman jumping. I was told, cloud or no cloud, when they were over the DZ, they could jump. Blew my socks off!!! I had to grab his arm, look him straight in the eye, and ask him if he just said what I thought he said. He was really cool... just smiled and said, "Yup." Now the really rad thing about this was that when they got over the DZ, there just HAPPENED to be this 10,000 foot towering cumulous right over us, with a big, blue hole right next to it. Needless to say..... the visuals on THAT VIDEO were RAD! And the tandem master has those memories embedded in his head forever! (I don't think the tandem student even noticed..... :-) GOOD FUN! “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

Out of the 7 people I was trying to find, dropzone.com helped me find 4 of them in 2 days. Thank you so much for viewing these posts and helping. This is my last one... if you know Allen Richter, please ask him to email Denise at [email protected] or email me with his contact info, home dz, anything would be helpful. Mahalo Denise “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

I'm still trying to locate Donna and Rick Wittrig. When last I saw them, Rick was jumping, Donna, his wife, was not. If anyone knows them, please ask them to email Denise at [email protected] Thank you! Denise “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

AGREED! Get as many people as you can on the load! Bring a fanny pack and the beverage of your choice.... oh and some of those 2 way FRS radios are fun to bring along too! Careful if you do the sunset cross country naked tho.... good chance of landing out! (Nothing like wrapping your your bare ass in nylon and trying to hitch-hike back to the DZ!) D~ “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

For some reason people seem to think of ballons as one of the BASE objects, but I assure you they are not! They are an aircraft and must be treated like one. This is our sport, folks. We need to educate ourselves and keep each other from doing stupid things. I'm not sure what you're mad about? BASE jumping out of a balloon OR BASE jumping out of THIS balloon at THAT venue. I have many balloon jumps done with BASE gear. It is NOT illegal and it is NOT stupid. Balloons have been and still are used as a very good platform for teaching first BASE jump students. There's nothing to run into (with the exception of a tetherline if the balloon is tethered). Now, what IS wrong is doing it without the balloon owner's permission. From your post, it seemed you were so miffed at the guy and had such a preconcieved notion that this was SO WRONG you had to sick the FAA on him, that PERHAPS you didn't notice if he really DID have the balloon owner's permission. The other thing you need is the landowner's permission to land. BASE or skydiving, this should be followed. Did they? Do you even know? Chill out dude. Just cuz you don't like BASE jumping and think it's stupid, you should take a deep breathe before you get so wound up and think it through. BASE #532 “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

I did a bellyfly sign jump... made it out of plywood. Dimensions were 24 inches wide by 14 tall. I cut out handles at each end with a jigsaw. At that size and freefall speed, I found it to be totally controllable in freefall and I was able to hold it easily in my left hand during deployment. Not sure if this helps you or not. Good luck ! “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Kobi Yamada

I live here and I jump at Pacific. If you're thinking about doing a tandem jump here in Hawaii... Pacific is the place to go! Their King Air rocks... gets to 14K (yes, 14K! Every jump (tandems and upjumpers! Every time!) in 10 min or less. The staff is friendly to upjumpers and tandem students alike. The jump tix have recently gone up from $22 to $24, however you can still get them for $22 by buying a block of 25 at a time. The jump staff is obviously happy about where they work. They are regular spreaders of the great vibes you'll feel here. The packers are almost always avialable for upjumpers (although their priority is to the tandems and video staff) they do their very best to accomodate. And there's a big tarp under a tree which makes for good packing space. The pilots are a happy crew (OK, they ARE flying the biggest, baddest, most kick-butt plane on the field!) and they all skydive on their days off. Their plane is in tip top shape. I see them do regular maintenence on it. Their chief mechanic gets in the plane 6 days a week (videographer/photographer) and is constantly there to monitor the plane's condition. This place is very welcoming to visiting jumpers. I've seen the owner (World Record Skydiver Guy Banal) and the staff give great briefings (trust me, you'll want a great briefing here in Hawaii) and local jumpers are quick to introduce themselves and extend a hand. THIS IS A USPA DROP ZONE RUN BY SKYDIVERS FOR SKYDIVERS! COME ON OVER!

I can't believe no one has brought this up yet! May 28th - Engine trouble with their Cessna Caravan at 6K. All jumpers get out and pilot dead-sticks it in uneventfully. Needs new hot section. Down for a month. June 1st (4 days later)- Cessna 206 experiences catastrophic engine failure at 2,000 feet. Connecting rod punctured engine case.. Jumpers unalbe to get out. Pilot dead-sticks it in uneventfully. June 3rd (2 days after that) - Their last plane, the Cessna 182, is grounded needing a new alternator. Skydive Hawaii was closed for the next 3 days. The mechanic has resigned. All of the above was witnessed by me and many of the local skydivers here in Hawaii. The FAA is aware of it as well. If you doubt any of it, just ask local jumpers and other pilots at Dillingham Airfield. I welcome the administrator of dropzone.com to call or email me if you feel you need further explanation or substantiation of any of the above.