crustySCSA69

is this Dave Cooper ? the one who stole Frenchie's first pin ?? if so, I still haven't forgiven you for that ...

With that underlined statement in mind, it appears by your own admission that the jet is more trouble than it’s worth. May I suggest we petition the owners to sell the jet and use the proceeds to update the bathrooms & bar? this was an old post, liked to by another post ... but I just could not believe what I read oh you poor spoiled little rich kid... when I hit Perris in early 80, the restaraunt was a ragged trailer tagged on to the end of the building block (Manifest, store and the best bathrooms I ever saw at a dz). The bar was a tin shack tacked on to the end of all that, it had a dirt floor with a few flagstones thrown down and we put out buckets on rainy days and moved the 'missile commander' game so it wouldn't get trashed. And all that was MILES ahead of the z-hills facilities at the time. Update the bar ? they spend a ton of money updating facilities and their is nothing wrong with the bar except it is far too 'swanky' for me (and you can't smoke in it ... health nazi assholes) .... I suppose you want an attendant in the bathrooms to hand you a towel after your shower ? what a pantywaist ... i bet if I took your AAD away you wouldn't jump.... take up bowling ...

until that side view, i was willing to entertain a 10 a/e or variant hypotheses (although looking a tad fat)... but the side view nailed it ... it's a lodestar of one version or another... i would happily jump one any day of the week that Bob Webb passed it as sound and Bill Buchman flew it ... roll that fat man, Bill, roll it !!!!

i had 35 jumps before i ever landed in ANY plane (and that was a L0111 into Halifax out of Newfoundland in 0/0, lightening and heavy rain... scared the bejeezus out of me) as a jumper... 2 in Nova Scotia, at about 200/300ft on take off in the 182, the windshield was suddenly coated in oil, pilot just eases it up and around, looking out his side window and we cruise back down, he wipes the windshield, puts on the oil cap he FORGOT to put on last time... and off we go again to altitude ... that was my second landing ever in an airplane... (that pilot, for those about to denigrate him, also flew us, probably a year or 2 later on out night demo into a rock festival .. in the middle of outback NS, miles from anywhere... only light on the ground for 20 miles was a kitchen light over the stage and a laser shooting at us from the stage ... with a high overcast and no moon and I think his instruments consisted of an altimeter ... and that was about it ... the plane was junk... the pilot was good) other landing was full load on 140T in z-hills with an engine out and cropduster (Rick Hernandez) at the helm..... he absolutely kissed it back on the runway ... amazing ...

3rd night jump was my NSCR, i got to go pin out of a beech at z-hills because i had 2 night jumps, poor Albert was relegated to base as it was his first, talent was, we were reversed here... 5 FIVE people )out of 10) on the load had NO LIGHTS at all... 3 of those had no altimeters... Hoop was on it, we had a guy was gonna solo from 7.5 on his first night and Hoop asked him if he'd like more altitude... so he gave him 12k then told the pilot to do a SLOW turn, climbing and we came over at 15.5K .... it built to 10 in about 15 seconds... like a speed star.. low clouds to the east all the way to Tampa all lit up... we flew it and flew it and flew it the no alti guys freaked out and left so i turned to track and noticed just above 6k on mine.... i tracked away and tracked and tracked and noticed I was going right off the airport and stopped at about 3k and just waited for 2.2 and dumped ... in many night jumps at Z-hills I don't remember anyone lighting up anything for landing ... I suppose they might have had the odd truck at the peas... I just don't remember that (maybe the Oysters and pitchers at OJs for the pre-jump safety meetings blurred my long term faculties)

mock not the pioneers !! in the 70's Carl Beck used to land on his Ass at Z-hills (he had a big old Cloud and his knees were shot) Carl's 6th jump was Normandy His 8th jump was Arnhem (where he got his face half blown off, why the beard).... as far as I was concerned, he could land any damn way he wanted ... miss you Carl... RIP

not sure of dates I saw Masters around 75 in Nova Scotia just after starting into this lunacy... (after a fat old ... never mind) later I watched Masters Of The Sky in the loft at the old Z-hills around 79-80 and we had Jerry Bird there narrating... what a trip ! (I think that was after another fat, old ... never mind)

directly above your head

sure... if your definition of lenient is a Wolverine that hasn't eaten in 3 days, has an irritable bowel and spent the time reading tracts by the Marquis d'Sade I think I'm still hungover ....

an Electric Star !!! it was pretty weird how there was just a tingle with about 10-12 in, but as people tracked off, 'electrifying!!'

hoop.... track down Bob Harman to run a little 'stealth' mission

i have landed in 40kts +, you do that intentionally and you deserve all the mayhem about to unleash itself on you .... but we'll give you a well deserved "Him" at your memorial ..

Hoop may remember the day I spotted a 20 way out on the edge of the far runway. I was avoiding clouds and I NEVER went around, we had a truck to pick everyone up, no big deal. 1/2 way to the ground I remember the truck keys, the only damned truck keys, are in my pocket. When I got back to the old loft, I just jumped in the truck went into town and bought 2 cases of beer, came back and put them on the back 'patio'. Went into the office and Hoop's first words were 'you better get some beer', I just said I already did... And if Wendy had been up with Bill Buchman flying, she'd have been fine, spotting with him was, wait,wait, wait, that's far enough, 'CUT' ... just never needed corrections..

what a 26' should look like DEMO jump into Halifax Natal Day Concert, landing area was a Rugby field half full of people, one side was a huge hillside covered with thousands of people. everything else was city, no outs... uppers were about 45mph, I opened about a mile away and and thought I took the spot to far, BUT if this uploads OK, you'll note some white stripes at the bottom on each side... I stood it up in the exact middle of the cloth cross they laid out... the squares were nowhere close...

Jack Peter Gabriel was working at Strong and I told him it would be great for Strong Reserves if people saw someone (me) standing one up in the bowl everyday. The 'new fangled' 26' lopo he brought out was Strong Reserve Serial #2 (that's right, the second one ever made), it had a single blow hole in the back, for early tests, so I just 4-lined it anyway. It was very sweet, same kind of opening but after 6 jumps on it, I was getting ready to do a 1 foot standup, (it could land that soft)... only it inverted on opening. I still think the problem was it had a solid cap, all the Navy Cony's I cut the cap out and I am sure that prevented that problem, but they didn't want it cut on. I just landed it backwards (by the bowl) and they took it back for 'study', and then never seemed to mention parachutes to me again !! haha .... if they let me cut the cap and do 1 footer's by the bowl, they might have sold more of them. And about that drop. Since my complete CRW briefing and instruction consisted of 'stick your arms out when you hear me yelling, then hook your feet in as the canopy comes down' , I refuse to accept all the blame for dropping Ferd thru your lines. It was kind of exciting watching you two spinning away below me. Good times.

yet, had you left it vanilla, with just a 4-line release, that 26' was as fast (I still think faster) than a PC. and a Lopo 26' with a 4-line was faster still. the 4-line, released, caused the rear to lift a bit, and your angle of descent to the ground was steeper than a PC, but you were going faster, then, burying the back-risers flattened the canopy out, the pooched in nose now also caught air (a flare, stop laughing, it was a flare), and voila, soft stand-ups

Hoop, Hoop, to me that whole first part is like painting a mustache on the Mon Lisa. And opening, an "unadulterated" 26' in a bag was/is the fastest opening canopy alive... consistently the same... AND it never hurts ? not sure how it managed to be super fast and zero painful, but it did, which was basically why I jumped it (well, I was cheap too) Mitch Decoteau was the ONLY person to ever jump my rig (which he easily stood up) and he told me on the ground he looked up quick after the opening, he thought something must be wrong BECAUSE HE HARDLY FELT THE OPENING ... that is exactly why I jumped one for so long ... fast/soft openings

Jack Paul Mitchelltree filmed it on 16MM camera, jumping a round !!! Most is Z-hills around 76... some of the smaller stuff is good old Nova Scotia (Tree was also from there) I suspect Tree wouldn't mind getting YouTube hits, too bad the audio crapped out so I can't hear my stirring rendition of 'Cocaine Blues' right in the middle, at least my credit at the end made it to YouTube.

I'd have to sew up that ridiculous blowhole in the back, but sure, what the hell is it exactly and how much ? If you say Tri-Con, forget it (though it doesn't look flat enough), they open HARD. You need a 26'conical with the crown chopped out to get those SOFT openings and it's a bad angle but it does have that 'pooched' in front I remember so well (I think taht was the secret of the soft landings, when you cranked back risers, all that area suddenly held air, tippy-toe)

of 1000 jumps, they were almost ALL on a 26' Navy Conical w/4 line release (no steering holes) as a main, and guess what my reserve was ? When main got sun-damaged enuff you could rip holes in the fabric by hand, main was thrown out, reserve was unattached and installed as main, new (surplus) 26' was purchased as reserve - for about 100 dollars. My complete gear, when everything was NEW was 400 dollars. I stood up all the time, and landed in pea gravel all the time (when I spotted). It was the only INTENTIONAL round on the first 64 way formation circa 81 (they had at least 1 actual reserve per load). Why jump it ? I was cheap and it was the ABSOLUTE FASTEST opening canopy around AND there was NO pain whatsoever, zero, every time. Dump at 2200 you are open at 2000, always (unless you happened to dump a little lower, purely by accident). I did DEMOs into some very tight areas with that thing and stood up (softly) every-one. If I ever get my hands on a 26 Lopo (with no st5eering holes, or maybe sew them up), you will see it live and in action.

WTF ??? the riff-raff were ALWAYS the best6 part of this whole thing .... why I loathed the corporatization of skydiving......

it's all in the name... but that doesn't mention Z-hills..

A. the guy fucked up he should be telling the organizer and other jumpers that he fucked up, before the organizer can tell him.... at that level, he should know what to do to correct it and tell the organizer that ... he might get another chance B. he did not fuck up ... if he didn't, he should never admit he did .. EVER, no matter what C. he fucked up, but the organizer thought he fucked up in a way totally different from the way he actually did (maybe organizer saw someone else and thought it was the fuckee) stick to your story ... organizers aren't GOD.. been there ... done that

as I would have ?? you are a damned liar !!!!! you arrogant and mis-informed snot .. my first look back thru the door ... OF A FRIGGIN CESSNA 182, when I had hardly any jumps at all (and had never been in any airplane other than the ones I jumped out of) convinced me that anything other than a 'DOWN' exit was stupid ... therefore, that guy was stupid ... DO NOT CALL ME A LIAR !!! an injury is a tough price to pay for stupidity (sometimes called carelessness...same thing) but he signed a waiver saying I COULD BE STUPID AND IT'S MY FAULT ... what about that is hard to understand ??? apparently, the jury realized the same thing ..

"And if it is...why would anybody...anybody...support a man who has said to his staff..."this is not a democracy...this is a dictatorship!" " have you EVER worked in a business where this wasn't the case ?? how sheltered are you ?? Mussolini, the 'father' of fascism , was quoted as saying he wished it was called 'corporation' it's a BUSINESS bonehead, not a happy band of brothers, whoever is in charge, is IN CHARGE, you just pray he is not a dickhead ...