howardwhite

You might be right. It's been several years since I've jumped out of a Caravan (not that I'm sorry about that.) HW

That would be Skydive San Marcos. (Scroll to the bottom of the page.) 125PM is at Mile Hi in Colorado. Picture is from a long time ago, when it was at Pepperell for a Halloween boogie. The plywood door with the pumpkin fell out on the way to altitude one load and was never seen again. HW

I was unfortunately not curious enough to look under the flap. The PC I was thinking of jumping was in a Strong piggyback with SOS. HW

Here's the morning-after drying session for the old mains and reserves. HW

Yes, I guess. Marty Sosville and Howard Martin were sort of partners. But Dick Swanson says they're Sosville rigs. HW

I wouldn't be surprised. It was made by Marty Sosville, a rigger based in the upper New York state area (Seneca Falls, Malone.) He also made the ram-air pilot chute I still have (pictures posted a while ago.) These rigs now belong to Dick Swanson. They were being used for water jumps into Lake Champlain Monday out of Vermont Skydiving Adventures. I was gonna jump his PC into the lake until I found out it was going to be a static line jump. HW

I'm guessing this will be a stumper; a very local rig. They were used today (with round canopies) for a water jump. HW

From today: -windblades -lights -GPS HW

From a web notice: (In case you doubted my reportage.) HW

Well, yes, there is a GPS. The lights are not, AFAIK, connected to it in any way. HW

The cause of skydiving in the mass media is further enhanced this week by the inclusion of a scene in "The Goods," a new Will Ferrell movie. Note that the pilot of a King Air waves back at the jumper in the door of a Twin Otter. The jumper is wearing a back pack, which, remarkably, stays on. Among the things that falls out is a purple dildo. Def on my weekend movie list. HW

What else can we possibly post? (Well, there is a new windblade in the 121PM colors). (And a new set of door/exit lights which blink like Christmas tree ornaments.) I've made several jumps out of it/her this week. HW

The two Sellick books were, I think, remarkable for a couple of reasons. They reported a lot about what was actually going on all around the country -- not area or DZ-specific -- and they described techniques and equipment you would not learn about in a first jump course. The first book came out in 1961 -- 1964 was a fourth printing -- which was pretty early in the history of U.S. skydiving. It contained some interesting pictures and illustrations of "advanced" skydiving techniques of the time. A couple of examples: -Foot turn. -Two variations on tracking/head down; -Back flying. I talked to Bud Sellick on the phone last month. He said he hasn't written or thought about skydiving for at least 15 years. HW

I have, I think, all of them. Found them on the net, all packaged and not too much money for reasonable quality. HW

Hank McCarrick jumped at and may have been a part owner of the Taunton, MA DZ in the late 60s. He was a party animal and had something of a reputation for flying drunk. He and three other jumpers were killed when his Mooney hit an island off the Massachusetts coast late one weekend night. HW

Err..I didn't jump with you (although I was on an Otter load with Bolas...) HW

Wanna see some windy PC landings? I put a video of PC jumps at the Orange, MA, Parachute Center circa 1968 on the Jumptown Facebook page. (You don't have to be on Facebook to see it.) HW

I had either forgotten this thread or never saw it when it was happening. Most of the first bunch from Twardo were initially collected in a booklet published by Dan Poynter when he was working for PI in Orange. He sold it via mail and it had an Orange, MA PO box number for the return address. The Orange postmaster had a problem with lyrics such as "Francine McFilthy, the skydiving whore," and told Dan he could no longer mail it as it had been published; an alternate adress sticker was pasted over the original one. Scary.. I know/knew a lot of the original lyricists and some of the people and places mentioned in them. If anyone wants an annotated version, I suppose I could provide it. HW

I have scanned Daryl's "Command the Commander" (published both in Parachutist and Sky Diver) and have his permission to republish them. It was one of a series of well-done (if sometimes too technical) stories on everything from accuracy to baton passes. They are a little too big to post here, but when I have time, I'll figure out something. HW

Yup. It appears to be Clair Nicholas Halliday, whose web site describes how she became a teenage BASE jumper. Which doesn't explain how this footage got into an FCP training video. HW

Here are some screen grabs from a set of training videos on new features in the just-released version of Final Cut Studio. I'm idly curious about who, when, where these were shot. HW (and why is there a "Morgue Attendant" in the credits?)

From TIME Magazine, Jan. 5 1925 Maybe this should be in "Incidents." HW

Some more: Harry Abbott was the father of the legendary Dan-San Abbott, a recipient in 1990 of PIA's Lifetime Achievement Award for his many roles in the parachute industry. Dan-San is also an expert on early German military airplanes. Here's a chunk of a contemporary newspaper story about "Dummy" Mahan and a picture of him on board the plane.. I assume that's the pilot all duded up in his white suit. HW

1. Go to My Profile, top left. 2. Choose "Edit Picture." 3. Follow the directions. Note size limitations on picture to be uploaded. HW

Just to close this one down .. I talked with Bud Sellick on the phone today. He's living on a remote farm south of Nashville. He hasn't thought much about skydiving for a lot of years, but we had a good talk. HW