howardwhite

Last night I ran into two well-known skydivers who made their first jumps at Greene: -Al King, former USPA assistant executive director, made his first there in 1969. (Al is now an instructor/AFF evaluator out of Northampton, MA.) -Mike Perry, USPA VP and chair of the Safety and Training Committee, made his first there in 1974. Both noted that when they told people where they jumped, it was generally confused with Greene County (Ohio.) They were at the New England S&TA meeting at Jumptown Orange, MA HW

Many posts on the Base section here.

The red rubber suits, as worn by Nancy LaRiviere of Jump Shack, might attract some.

I was probably there sometime in the mid-70s, when I was USPA conference director and the territory included upper NY state as well as New England, but I don't remember much about it. I think I visited a DZ at Kirkwood also. Pete Hyde was from that area but also showed up at Seneca Falls and elsewhere. So much for my memory. Dan Poynter would probably remember more, but he's much too busy to waste his time here. HW

The hunt continues; in the process, some helpful folks in New Hampshire have pointed me to: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/index.htm which is a really cool national webside of abandoned or underused airports. (pm sent to GravityGirl) HW

Hmm, do you know where the airport was? The pilot's name doesn't ring a bell. Some possibilities: -Pepperell, MA, less than one mile from the NH border, run in earliest days by a guy named Ralph Wright, who later ran a DZ at: -New London, NH -Rochester, as noted. Much later run by Buddy Keefe and with a landing area on a nearby field in NH; Charlie Dame is immortalized in the Poynter rigging manual (and, I think, in other Poynter books), in a photo of a barnstorming jump; -Lake Winnepesaukee area; couple of different DZs at different times in Moultonboro and environs; -Berlin. DZ in the 60s, maybe into the seventies. -North Conway airport, maybe in the seventies; That about exhausts my recall; now ask me about Massachusetts

clicky http://projectpi.skydiveworld.com/index.htm is unfortunately quite full of errors and out of date, and the proprietor is not interested in fixing it up. Lots of good stuff there; I wouldn't mind (as one who's on the site and has bitched about its contents) taking it over and bringing it up to date. I have lots of additional pictures, additional info, and maintain contact with a lot of the people who are featured there (some of whom plan a reunion in September.) Of the places mentioned there, I've jumped at Good Hill Farm, Orange, Lakewood, and Elsinore (both when PI was running it and later.) The Orange center opened May 2, 1959; anniversary coming up. Many who now hang out there still value its heritage, including Gary Pond (D-6969), son of Nate Pond (D-69), who was one of the founders. HW

Well, Parachutes Incorporated was (at least) two businesses, one distributing and selling gear, the other running DZs. Both underwent substantial changes in the early 80s and PI either couldn't or didn't want to change with them. The flagship Orange, MA, DZ closed at least in part because of conflicts with the town of Orange over money, as well as expressed concern about insurance and liability. Other DZs at Lakewood, NJ, Crawfordsville, IN, and Hemet and Elsinore, CA also had problems -- some already mentioned in this thread. Similarly the gear business became more competitive and diversified;no longer did one need to look at Pioneer and PI as the prime source for new stuff. And -- personal guess -- Jacques Istel got bored and wanted to move on to something else, like creating the "Center of the World." Interesting question, and I will talk to some folks who were involved in PI at the time of the closure. HW

The books alrady suggested are useful. You need --especially in such a short paper -- to figure out a focus. The first collegiate parchute meet was in 1957, at Good Hill Farm in Connecticut. The first commerical sport parachute center opened May 2, 1959 in Orange MA. For a look at the history of those and related things, see: http://projectpi.skydiveworld.com/index.htm which is somewhat inaccurate in places and is no no longer being actively maintained. Jim Bates's articles in recent Parachutist magazines also shed some light on this. Meanwhile, parachute clubs seemed to sprout all over the country in 1959 -- there's lots of argument about which was the first. And while the big commercial operations did their thing in the northeast and southern California, the Star Crest site referenced here points to a different kind of skydiving life. So do you want to write about people and how they decided to jump out of planes? Or about commercial vs. club approaches to supporting the habit? Or about how equipment has evolved from military surplus rounds to tiny squares? Or how training has evolved from static line to AFF and Tandem. Only six or so pages? Have fun. HW

The R200 cartridges don't have little plastic strips that need to be stripped. HW

I'm making blanks for several folks, both DVD-R and CD. I have orders for about 300 total (~200 DVD and 100 CD). We tested Memorex over the weekend and they worked fine, but I'm leaning toward Maxell or Verbatim. I saw LtDiver's post. I'm burning mostly on Macs myself, but others will use a variety of pieces of stand-alone hardware. The interaction among all this stuff is mind-warping. I think I'll order a small number of two or three different brands and put them to the test. There are lots of less well-known names at lower prices, but I don't want to take a chance with them. HW

In looking for good DVD-r blanks for inkjet labelling, I've come across "silver inkjet printble." The descriptions imply these give a special, some say "almost holographic," appearance to the labels. Any experience with them? Do they affect quality of recording surface? Brand name recommendations? HW

TNT (Truth, News, Trends) was published by Parachutes Incorporated with a specific agenda -- to "punish" USPA for its decision to abolish the position of "Honorary Lifetime President." held by Jacques Andre Istel. Of course it also pitched PI and Pioneer products. It was edited by Skip Kniley, who's still active as an organizer. Then, of course, there was DZ USA, edited by Gene Hunnel. I have a partial collection of issues. HW

I have the same issue -- and it's the only one I know of. There's no reference inside to anyone named "Leigh." Saltonstall was, of course, co-owner with Curt Curtis of Pope Valley Parachute Ranch. Both lived in adjacent wonderful big houses in the woods above the airport. HW

The inside back cover of the April Parachutist is a tribute to Rik Hustler. We lose many skydivers every year; not every one inspires his friends to such a tribute. For the many who didn't know him, here's what you might want to know. Richard Lee Hustler jumped for three decades at drop zones in his home state of Vermont and in Western Massachusetts and eastern New York. Rik died of natural causes April 16, 2005, after a day of fun jumping at Jumptown, Orange, MA. As Dave Bryce says in his tribute: "He sat down, laid back to rest a moment and probably never even felt a thing. He didn’t even have to pack his rig. Now that’s what I call a fitting ending." For Rik, every jump was a fun jump. I never saw him upset about a bad jump or about a bad person. He was always smiling, always wisecracking, but never used his wit to diminish another person. A "Ricky Rocket Playground" for kids is under construction at the new Jumptown site, and a memorial event of some sort is planned for this month. Vermont Skydiving Adventures paid tribute to Rik last summer; see; http://www.vtskydiving.com/ash.html I'm attaching the full text of Dave Bryce's moving appreciation of Rik's life. Blue skies, Ricky HW

Skr.. Lots of others thought highly of Pat, so much so that an annual meet is planned in his memory every June at Orange. Scheduling conflicts make it unclear right now when this year's meet will be held, but Judd Raymond, another early Orange jumper, is raising funds for a Waterford crystal bowl trophy and Lew Sanborn, Ted Strong, and Nate Pond are likely to be there. More will be posted at: www.jumptown.com and I'll post here when a date is set. HW

In addition to looking at Final Cut, take a look at Avid. It will run fine on your Mac as long as you have at least 1 gb of memory -- more is better. You can get Avid FreeDV for -- yes -- free and get a feel for how it works and for the user interface, which is somewhat different from that of FCX/FCP. And if you happen also to have a PC, the same Avid product will run on it, as well. HW

Apple's a computer. Widely used in video editing, and not generically prone to the kinds of problems you report. What editing software was used? iMovie is free, but limited. Final Cut and Avid are more professional (and more expensive). (And Premiere, which I don't know at all.) Hardware (CPU and memory) also are important factors. Don't dismiss Apple for video app. Just tell us more about the particular computer which produced the stuff you saw. HW

Ted Strong has informed me of the death, in late February, of Pat Gorham, D-556. Pat was an esarly jumpmaster and instructor at Orange,MA, SPC. A big guy, he taught me spotting by sticking my helmet outside the Norseman door and cranking it around in the direction he wanted me to look. Pat was also the first Hasbro model for GI Joe: see http://projectpi.skydiveworld.com/GI_joe.html Pat and his wife Irene lived in Bradenton, FL after retiring from a long career as a power lineman in Massachusetts. The Gorhams ran The Inn at Orange one season. If you remember and would like to help memorialize Pat (or any other old-time Orange jumper), you might be interested in the "Buy a Brick" program for the plaza at the new Jumptown Orange building. See: www.jumptown.com for details. HW

Any reason not to consider Avid Xpress DV as an alternative? I have it (along with FCX), and like it because I can install and run also on a PC when necessary. (Yee, I know this subject has been discussed here before.) HW

There was a Lodestar for one summer in mid-seventies at Turners Falls, MA, mostly flown by Nate Pond, D-69. Though Nate's a fairly wild guy, he was very careful to warn jumpers against crowding the back of the airplane on jump run (stall city.) I will ask around to find out the year, as I can't find a logbook at hand for that period. Earlier and maybe at the same time, a Lodestar was standard fare at the Stormville, NY, DZ, flown by Bobby Sweet. (He was the brother of Willie Sweet, the DZO at Stormvile, and much later, he went in on a jump in Maine.) As others have noted, the fatal accident in Washington state pretty well killed the Lodestar as a jump plane. I knew one or two of the people on it (they had been on Jerry Bird's '74 Wings of Orange team). HW

OK, I got the Alera and it's awesome. I have copied to CD but I have also used it to read a memory stick directly into Photoshop on Mac laptop. Then I have written Photoshopped image back out to memory stick where it can be written to CD. This is going to be fun. (Not that I would normally expect this to be a workflow -- but if you know that the image is going to be used, say in a newspaper and you have good Photoshop skills, you might want to do it.) Thanks to all for pointing me to this toy and to B&H for getting it to me so quickly. HW

Thanks for all the helpful replies and pointer to the thread I'd missed. pcalandra: Jumptown is a club, too; our Otter and yours are just east of Jumptown at their winter home in Gardner, MA. (I saw Kevin McCole Saturday.) I've picked up on the pointers to memory stick -> CD toys and will look at them. Keep those helpful messages coming. Meanwhile, check out Jumptown's web site: www.jumptown.com and you can download the brochure there, with current pricing. The brochure (and pricing) are being redone for the new season. HW

Jumptown (Orange, MA) is in transition between film and digital stills -- the current active staff is about 50/50. When you shoot digital stills, what do you give the customer? Prints? A CD? If a CD, how do you manage burning them while getting ready for the next load? (Of course the same question occurs about editing videos.) Do any of you use an online service such as Shutterfly to sell and deliver prints? If so, how is it working out? Slightly separate question -- do you have a separate process for tandem landing stills? If so, same questions. Input welcome, as well as pointers to relevant previous threads. HW

If you have access to a car, there are several slightly nearer Boston http://huntsphotoandvideo.com/ (Melrose) Calumet Photo (international chain has outlet in Cambridge MA) http://www.camerasinc.com/ (Arlington) http://www.zeffphoto.com/filesnew/storeinfo/storeinfo.html (Belmont) Hunt's Photo is particularly well-regarded for a big stock and good prices. HW