vanair

you were her plan B. got stood up or something.

Was waiting for that answer, thought it would be the first answer. Never sold anything but worked in a bakery at 0430-0830 on weekends and 1630-2030 school days washing pots to buy my first rig. Then 1 time I actually hitchhiked to Lakewood NJ 65 miles away with my rig cause I was too young to drive and borrow the family car, not that they would let me. Another time at the DZ I had I think $4.00, could eat lunch or do a hop & pop from 4,500'. Jumped!

Kind of agree, I only have an AA degree cause at the time I was trying to get into the W/O army helicopter program that required 2 yrs of college. A whole other long story, anyway I took a lot of Psyc courses cause they were easy A's. I saw a lot of the same people in many of my courses and came to the conclusion that they were trying to help themselves. But then I heard that 20 percent of the population has some form of mental illness. I thought of my 4 best friends and they seemed OK AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH

Cool old plane the Norseman. Jumped out of in mid 70s, Orange Mass. Didn't want to take in past 4,000', Snail of all climbing snails but cool plane. Was banned from Lakewood NJ for noise. Prop tips broke sound barrier. Can't believe how loud is was, had to hear to believe.

What? you must be a puppy. A woman 30-45 is usually at her sexual peak. And fine looking. I remember yrs ago my manager 50ish, said Ya know, I first realized I was getting older when I was watching a rerun of "Leave it to beaver" and I thought, wow June is a hot babe. Now me 53 think the same thing. But yes this one is bat shit crazy.

How about removing the rear view mirror in the car that's being chased so the actor has to always look over their shoulder for dramatic effect. tonight just saw special victims unit, Det. Elliot came up to the car passenger side tried the door, knocked on the window, said open up, to a fellow Det. she leaned over, (what no auto unlock?) and opened the door. It was an older car, manual lock button was already in the up position and didn't move when she opened the door. I love catching this stuff.

I let owen call the press on mine, they were on his street and told him to give my # . This was huge in the media. NY Daily News Headlines, not page 42, some nut parachutes from the WTC, like I thought it would. But the headline. Also several people were saying they did it. One guy on Long Island was even interviewed in The NY Post. So yes I came forward, it's not like it was a quiet event. And yes I thought why not make some money. Can't say I burnt the place when 2 others did it after me.

don't know who Jeb is but 2 guys did it after me. can't remember their names and one other got caught on the roof prior to jumping. They never did change the barbed wire to make it harder.

OK, I'm home sick and have time. In 1975 my friend Owen Quin made a jump from the world trade center, Knew him from jumping at Sha-wan-ga NY. I was in boot camp (USMC) at the time. We Sha-wan-gans thought he was nuts. He got arrested fined etc. Said he was doing it to draw attention to kids world hunger. Fast forward 5 years I have 600+ jumps watched Carl Boenish and crew jump El Cap. Now doesn't seem so nuts. So I planned it out, went in to the city 3 times casing the joint. I was the only jumper but had my crew of helpers. We started at my house watching cartoons cause we were waiting for the fog to clear. At one point Wiley coyote goes off the cliff and makes a crater. My friend Tom says hey Van thats you my wife starts crying. I try to reasure her that I will be OK.So the fog clears, I call to make sure the observation deck is open. We roll. We drive 2 cars, 1 will wait where I intend to land, it's a no stopping or standing zone. 2 cars so if a cop comes along and says move on, he will circle around the block and the 2nd car will move up to take his place. And if no cars are there I have a trash bag in my pocket to stuff my chute in and will meet 3 blocks away. So my wife and I get dropped off, I'm in jeans and a blue polo shirt that later witnesses in the paper will call a blue jumpsuit. I had my Safety Star reserve in a shopping bag, My regular rig minus main. I had it stapled shut with a sales receipt so it would look inconspicuous. We go up like the lovey dovy couple. On the roof we pass the security guard. If you have never been there the WTC had an elevator to the 110th floor then an escalater to the roof walkway. the walkway was about 10' wide about 10' above the roof going around the roof about 20' from the edge. I almost got busted when I was about to put on my rig next to an under cover cop. I was lucky I heard his radio. At this time I was behind the up escalator which was enclosed so the security guard couldn't see me. So I went around to the enclosed down escalator on the other side where the security guard couldn't see looking across. said goodbye to my wife, she was going to the floor below, the enclosed observation deck, where she can go right up to the glass and look straight down to take pictures, which she did. At this point I was having serious 2nd thoughts. This was my 1st base jump, and I was scared. Unlike jump run I had all the time in the world. My wife had said you don't have to do this but I did. I had told all my friends I was going to do this. I had one High school buddy basically tell me I was an asshole that will never do this. So I had to jump. I just gave myself the talk and to trust in myself. So it's Sept. 13th Sat afternoon at about 1:30 about 200 other people on the deck. So it's now or never. I open the shopping bag and slowly and calmly put on my rig and rubber gloves. No one pays any attention to me. I climb over the railing and drop down to the actual roof. In the process I bump into a tourist that say Vos is lous? don't know the spelling, german for what's up. I then trot over to the fence. Chain link with 3 strands of electrified barbed wire. I went to the gate that lets the window washing machine out. cause on top of the gate the wire goes up not angled like on the rest of the fence. So I figure it will be easier climbing thru where there is a 45 degree gap. I reach up and grab. Zapp!!!!! I feel the electricity going from one hand to the other thru my chest. Ouch!!!!!, Let go my stupid garden rubber gloves weren't thick enough. So now with adreneline flowing. I do NOT want to get caught before the fact. I reach up and grab the bar between the electrified barbed wire strands. I pretty much vaulted over the fence. I was 23 running 6 miles a day and at that moment a deer. I landed on the other side on a metal grate like the type they have on sidewalks covering the stairs to a basement. It made a big noise, this is when people became aware of me. I felt better cause now they can't stop me. I ran to the other side of the building to the corner I wanted to jump off. As I was taking off my rubber gloves I heard some kid say He"s Crazy. I leaned over the edge to wave to get ready with the camera. The cop started yelling at me to stop. I put my left foot up on the edge. I had thought of running and diving but the edge was high enough that I was worried I might catch the edge. I dove off, that instant is etched in my mind. I felt a great sense of acceleration as any base jumper knows. Nothing like jumping out of an airplane that's already going 80+ MPH. My plan was to get stable and track when it felt right. I pushed off as hard as I could, for one thing the first 20' is angled in that I had to get over. Plus I wanted to get away from the building. As I fell perfectly stable I could see I was moving away from the building. Maybe from my hard push off or jumping down wind. Either way I just fell flat and stable no need to track. About half way down opened facing about 45 degrees to the building. No problem plenty of room to turn away. Do a nice stand up landing not bad for 186 sqr foot and me 230 lbs. My get away car pulls up. I went about 1 block past him, thought that was better. Bundle up and hop in. I'm taking off my rig and shoving it in the trash bag when we stop at a light. A guy in the car next to me is yelling at me . I'm worried am I busted? He says I saw you land, where'd you jump from? I said the world trade center, He said "Great, I was in Army airborne in WWII that was great" Light turned green and we were on our way home. My friend in the other car got my freebag from a construction worker. Went home to party!!!!! Next day, must be slow news day, Headlines Daily news. Chutes from twin towers disappears, Who's the mystery person. WOW it was like Owen didn't do the same thing 5 yrs ago. I get the pictures back and think wow maybe I could sell these. Meanwhile several people said they did it. The last straw was a guy saying he did it with a harness his brother designed, like you would really test it on a building jump. So I called the port Authority police, the cop that answered the phone said about 20 people called to say they did it. I gave him some details ie leaving my THIN rubber gloves. He was like a of a sudden WOW your the guy. Put me thru to the Capt. of the Port Authority Police. Had about a 30 minute conversation. asking what would happen if I admited to it etc. He said they will not push the issue if I told them how I did it and how to prevent others. Sorry fellow Base jumpers I did. I had heard that Mayor Kotch wanted to make an example of me. So at the end of the very amicable conversation he said, well I just gave you about a half hour of free legal advise. And he had, I felt like I was talking to a friend. So I said how about I sent you an autographed 8x10. He said great and called to thank me and said it's on his office wall. So now I'm not so worried about having to talk my way out of Bellevue . I call my friend Owen Quinn and tell him I will go public. he has a news crew on his street doing a pothole story. He tells them, one hour later they are at my house. Melinda Nix interviews me, she talks to her editor over the phone. No not like the last guy, this guy has pictures! An hour later I'm the breaking news story on the 11 o clock news. Here I thought it's really not a hugh deal and I'm on TV and sell the pics to the NY post. Most money I made in one day. Tried to think of every thing that could go wrong and work backwards. only 2 things, 1. I should have said Hey look folks I am not committing suicide I have a parachute. I was told I scared some people. 2. Not that it mattered but I used a Bambergers shopping bag. There were no Bambergers in NYC.

Back in the day there was a bit of anti USPA attitude, big brother etc. Would have had a lower # but only got my C + D, I forget, I think one was needed to be a JM and the other for Demos I think, long time ago. Glad now, shows I'm a veteran.

3000+ tandems never had a puker, like to think I'm proactive, only as wild as they want it. if they get quiet I talk to them. also if they do feel ill I do slow turns when needed, and have them look at the horizon.

aaawwwww, don't trust anyone that doesn't like pets

Wow, I honk at the light to keep the delay to only a few seconds. I never got into texting, would take too long to learn to do it fast. When in a few years (now) they will have a phone that I can talk to and then hit the convert to text button. not now but my next phone will be. My Droid is great. I can just talk to it. Years ago 1980-1ish I'm 53 now. Data processing concepts, !st yr Community college. We had a discussion about the concept of voice recignition (just said to Droid, it said recognition, Great) Like on the Star trek TV show when they would talk to the computer. Early 80s popular on TV. He said never possible, too complex Etc. Etc. I thought yes they will. TA-DA 30 yrs later.

theres another one out there that has a huge udder.

from alcatraz to shore

in some ways this makes alot of sense http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269640

that wasn't the right one, there must be a longer version, cause i remember her saying how if only she was armed.

Forget where I found it. But not too long ago I saw a video of a woman testifying before congress about a shooting someplace that she was at. She normally carries a hand gun but left it home because where she was going it would not be permitted. A nut started shooting at the indoor crowd, she said of watching him kill several people including her father, she could have easily taken him out from her protected position. She was basically lambasting them for their gun control laws. Very emotional to watch. I'm sure if googled it could be found. Found it. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7a3_1206074739

Guns don't kill people, Husbands that come home early kill people.

I had that! Lost many years ago. Anywhere I can get one? of course on dvd.

Thank God for men like him. I speak english and if I choose can go to a synagogue.

Congrats, I started in 73 at 16. Only 4,000+, never went a yr without a couple of jumps. Hope to live and jump long enough to be the oldest continuous skydiver. Never got hurt enough that I couldn't jump the next day, but sure did have a few that felt like I got beat up with a bat. Had over a hundred jumps before I even saw a Square. Lots of stories. Congrats to another old timer!

Semper Fi, I 30+ yrs ago 1976-79 we had a jump club and had a chopper every sat or sun. They had to build time anyway so they flew for us, we just got em a couple of cases of beer. In the club we had a Maj. so I guess that helped. Other than the comraderie, helicopter jumps is the only thing I miss from the corp. We did the first all marine 18 way. Doesn't sound too impressive now but then it was. Try going to Ft Brag about 1.5 hrs away should still have a skydiving club and cheap military backed sport jumping.

20 years ago my mgr was saying he first realized he was getting old, when he was watching a Leave it to Beaver rerun and he said mmmmm, that June is not bad. Now me, 53 thinks the same thing.

unfortunately the law is having the reverse effect, more are having accidents because they are worried about being caught, they are holding it down low so as not to be seen (caught). thereby eliminating peripheral awareness. as in if you held it up in front of you, you have a chance of seeing things in the background. I read this in a study. I'm sure if you google it you will find the info.