Wow! I just stumbled upon this website and was flooded with a string of memories about the Casa Gulch days. What a blast from the past! Lots of families were involved - - Bob and Jeff Taylor. The Inverson brothers Doug, Greg and Bob. The Farnsworth boys from Canada were also there, as well as the Wilkies. (BTW, Tommy lost his thumb from a firecracker as a kid. A hospital in Tucson did some experimental surgery on him by rotating his forefinger to become an opposing digit. Amazing stuff! Tommy was so proud of it.) More info for the readers: Dave Cartwright's malfunction was due to his pilot chute hanging up on the smoke bracket taped to his shoe during a demo jump in Phoenix. The rally cry exiting the beechcraft was "Blue Skies, Black Death!" The first hand deployed pilot chute in the tandem pack was tested at the Gulch; Jerry Bird's team was outfitted with the new sleek gear design. Oh, I could go on for hours about this stuff - - lots of good, clean fun in those days. I hope everyone is doing well these days...
