dudeman17

I guess it goes both ways...

I've always referred to DC-3's (and twin Beeches) as 'the Harley-Davidson of airplanes'.

Then one day I was sittin' at a DZ with an old timer when someone rode by on a classic ol' Harley. He said, "There goes the DC-3 of motorcycles".

I think it's actually, 'What's the difference between a professional skydiver and a large pizza?'


A large pizza can feed a family of four.

I remember when that happened. It was a building in Century City that a bunch of us used to jump regularly while it was under construction. It's right next door to the Century Plaza Hotel, which was where Bush Sr. was staying when Chuck had his run in. My buddy and I used to joke about the possibility of just such an occurrence, and when it actually happened we couldn't believe it. And if I remember correctly, I think they did put a bullet hole in his car. We thought, 'Jeez, maybe this is dangerous!'


(P.S. It was that same building where, sadly, Dick Pedley was killed.)

If you've confirmed from your dad that it was indeed a Wonderhog, ok, but it sure looks like a Handbury rig to me. I've still got one in my closet somewhere, and the yoke design, the way the cutaway handle is longer and the corners more squared off, the way the 3-rings attach, the two tack points of the reserve ripcord housing by the three ring, and a few other points sure make it look like one of Jim's rigs to me.

Oh well, could be wrong...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxNylksy4-E&feature=related

Funny scary story from the OLD days (Twardo was a young man).

flat out flippin' funnier than snot

Just kind of a funny related story...

Some years back Bob Celaya called me and asked if I could come out to Cal City to do a few tandems on a weekday when none of his regular instructors were available. I wasn't normally jumping out there at the time, but I could get the day off so I did. When I showed up he had four young, healthy guys there that wanted to jump. If I remember correctly, they were roadies for the band Limp Biscuit. Bob had some rigging to do, so he left me to it while Judy waivered them in. If you know Cal City, you know it can get pretty windy out there.

Anyways, I trained them up and off I went in the 206 with the first guy. I had the nagging feeling that I had forgotten something. But I had the gear on correctly, got the guy hooked up, and out we went. After opening, I did my best to get into the target, but we were backing up and were going to be just a bit short. I looked down to see poor Judy running her heart out to get to us while the other 3 just stood there watching. That was it! I had forgotten to train the other guys how to shag us! She made it ok, but needless to say she had help for the other three. Oh well...

Back in the early-mid eighties a pilot friend of mine got hold of a Stearman and invited me out to Joshua Tree to go flying with him for a weekend. It didn't have the full harness, so he couldn't invert it, but I got to do some wingwalking and made some jumps into various little dirt-strips out there where he was visiting friends.

One jump I made into his grandparents' cabin out there, and his grandparents, parents and fiancee were there. When I landed, his dad came walking up to me with a stopwatch - "I timed your parachute descent - 22 seconds!" I thought, 'geez, clear out here and I'm gonna get in trouble'. But he just kept smiling and I realized he didn't know any better. Hehehe.

Just a couple cents' worth from someone who's been doing tandems for 20 years...

If the student can't get their legs up enough, you can have them put their feet on top of yours and you push them forward on landing so they don't fold under. Or, if they can't move their legs at all (I've had a few people who were passed out) you can put your feet on one side of their legs (one foot to the side of each leg) and push them to one side on landing and roll into a sort-of PLF. Looks awkward as hell, but it works.

As for having them help flare, I've done it both ways and prefer not to . They tend to want to slam on the brakes too hard too fast (even with practice beforehand) and you lose the ability to milk the flare through the current conditions.

Larry, I think it was the late 80's - early 90's at Perris when Jeff Jones ran the school and Jim Wallace was the chief instructor there. I believe her name was Shelby, a pretty lil blond. Really, really sweet girl, fun to be around.

On jump run in the Otter or even in the King Air she'd stand fully up to get ready, like she thought she was in a DC-3 or something.

Anyone who was around a dropzone when Point Break came out will remember the positive influence that movie had on our sport. Skydiving schools saw a great increase at the time, and I used to think, 'geez, if that many people came skydiving because of that, I wonder how many people took up surfing?'

If I recall correctly, Patrick and some of the other actors (but not Keanu Reeves) made some jumps, and he did make some jumps in the movie but was mostly doubled by Jim Wallace. Jeff Jones, Jeff Habberstad, Steve Rahm and Ted Barba were some of the others who worked on the film.

His brother Don was an active skydiver and base jumper, but I don't believe he made any jumps in Point Break. I think Don did do the building jump in the movie Drop Zone, though.

Condolences to Don and the rest of Patrick's family. Unlike a lot of Hollywood, he seemed like a class act.

" The Sigma main closing flap is pretty worthless at staying closed. "



If you tuck one of the edges of the pin flap under one of the side flaps it stays closed pretty well.

That reminds me of a story that happened a few years ago. Not really a jump story either, but it happened on the way to the drop zone.

I was on my way to Taft from L.A., and after getting off the freeway was driving down a road that runs between farmlands. Power lines run along the road. Ahead in the distance i could see a cropduster working the fields to my right, the side the power lines are on. He would buzz in over the lines, do his thing, turn around and dust the field again, pulling up over the lines at the last second.

I was driving an old 280Z with clear glass T-tops. As I approached where he was working, the timing was just right to where he was going to buzz me, so I came to a stop to get a good view. I sat there stopped on the road and watched as he approached from the right. He was right at ground level, and as he got closer and closer, my grin widened. Well, my eyes were the next thing that widened, because it became clear that the sumbitch wasn't gonna pull up!! I jammed it in first gear and stepped on it, getting out of his way just as he flew under the lines and right behind me.

It's not every day you almost get hit by an airplane in your car. And I still wonder whether he was laughing or cursing at me as he flew by.

I remember the number system. Carl had patches made for I think the first 500. I've got one. I first did El Cap in Oct. of '81, the year after the legal jumps.

Here's a bit of perspective: El Cap was my first BASE jump. My El Cap number is four hundred something. My BASE number is under twenty.

In Nick's 'Freedom Bridge' pic, the guys in the back are Lane Kent (with the hat) and John Starr. The girl with Don is Dana (I think that was her name), his girlfriend at the time. I took her on a tandem once. And the guy sitting at the right of the pic is Simon 'Jake" Jakeman, author of the book 'Groundrush'.

Just came across this thread. In Bird5 my guesses of Tommy Owens and Jim Wallace were confirmed by other posts, and the sitting guy in the yellow tank top looks like maybe Mike Sheerin.

The question i have is, well, they all look kinda serious, and Tommy Owens looks like he's gazing intently at something and he has his camera... might that indicate that somebody's bounced?

Lots o' variables here. I tend not to arch so much, because as has been pointed out, my hips aren't so much in the wind as in the student's burble. With my knees down a bit and out, they are like outriggers, giving me more control. It's called 'anhedral'.

The student's leg position can contribute to chipping. If their legs are outstretched, it seems to want to chip more, if their feet are up on your butt it seems not to want to do it. If it is wanting to chip, more arch, outstretched legs and arms more forward will help quell it.

But what do I know, I've only been doing them for eighteen years...

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Tail pocket or as you say “tailgate” was an invention of Hank Ascuitto in the early 80’s to control lines during deployment on free packed mains. Had nothing to do with BASE.

Actually, Hank did not invent the line stow pocket. It was invented by someone at Para-Flite, I think Elek Puskas or Jake Brake if I had to hazard a guess, when they came out with the first square reserves, the Safety Star and the Safety Flyer, and it was on the side of the deployment bag as it is today. Hank, Al Frisby and a few others adapted it to the tail for freepacked mains. Al put one on my canopy when i got my first square about that time. I was the one who then brought it to BASE jumping, well over two and a half decades ago, when BASE jumping was first beginning.

The other reply about the tail pocket and the tailgate being two different things is correct.