Niki1

If I remember correctly, the US Team was jumping a complete Swift System from Para Flite. __________________________________________________ I think Mirror Image used the orignal Vectors. Bill Booth used this meet to debut the next generation of gear. Maybe it did look a lot like another rig but that other rig never got nearly as popular, did it? The Army Team used Racers, I think. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Jon, I lurk here most of the time. Believe it or not I've learned to keep my mouth shut unless I've got someting to say. Well, most of the time, anyway. I gave my Z-Hills 10 Man patch to Fred Cruess a bunch of years ago. He bought us each one in the spring of '72 and tossed me one. Then some one else pointed out that mine had only 9 stars on it. A mistake at the embrodery company, I guess. Fred was good natured about it (sort of) and I gave it back about '91 when we had a Palatka reunion. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

I think that it was late Feb. of '78. Kivi (John Kivipelto) and Harold went down South. A lot of stories, mostly speculation, about that. We called that Lodestar the "Foxy Lady". John and I put carpet on the floor and walls up to the windows. (Thank God it wasn't shag carpet. We would've had an extra 200 pounds of sand in about a month). I think it was one of the nicer Lodestars flying jumpers but since it was from my home DZ, I'm probably not objective.*** Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Damn, Jim, 30 years down the road the only two I can positively identify are 43WT (Bob Sweet's Lodestar, second from left), 40T, and then possibly Harold Lang's Lodestar from Palatka. And yes, that would have been the '76 Turkey Meet with 102 registered 10-man teams, eight DC-3/C-47s and two Lodestars (one of the three in the pic did not fly the meet). Hoop Jim, Good to see your name on here. And the Z-Hills Ten Man Patch sure brings back a lot of good mimories. That Lodestar with the long windows belonged to Harold Stewart who was the DZ owner at Palatka. Even more great memories along with a lump in my throat. That meet was the culmination of everything that was Skydiving in the '70s. After that, things seemed to sort "platteu off" for a while. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

The world record might be 0 or 1 second off a tailgate. The real record is 3 seconds (give or take a tenth) by Carl Daugherty's team in about '87(?). Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

I think it opened hard (very fast) because it had such a short profile. It was only 3 & 1/2 feet ((I don't think 4') from skirt to the top when you were side packing it. It didn't have to travel through much air to inflate. The same difference as a 22 ft. Featherlite and a 22 ft. Tri-Conical. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

For the Para Commander to be the most popular canopy for over 15 years sure says something about the power of a good marketing department. Of course I had one. I started jumping it with 6 jumps in March of '70. (My training is a seperate, long story) By the late 70s, I had a Starlite. Another PC class canopy but it did not open squirrelly. After throwing the pilot chute, I could feel the pin being pulled and the container opening, the bag lifting off, and when I hit the end of the lines, I went, maybe, another 25 feet and I was under an open canopy. Total time: about 3 seconds from 120 MPH to 11 MPH. Yeah, kind of brutal but it packed up small. It let another diver in the line to the wall in 10 way without changeing the angle. (Actually, not such a big deal since we were jumping a Lodestar in Palatka at the time) What I really liked about the Starlite, is that I could let my pilot chute go at at 1,300 ft. and know by 1,000 ft. if I needed to cut-a-way. I did this for a few years. No one ever said anything about it. I don't know if they just didn't care if I went in or if it was just part of the times. I do know that I would speak to anyone I saw being so stupid nowadays. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

It was Paul Poppenhager (sp?) at Indiantown out of a Lodestar. Seems like the blue one from New York owned by Bob Sweet. Tom Plonka asked the jumpers on the DZ with the most jumps if they wanted to go on Pop's 3,000th. Most said yes even though it was only to 3,500 ft and kind of windy. Poppenhager spoted the load and started putting people out before the plane even reached the WDI. Over half the load gets out when Poppenhager jumps in line and out the door and starts tracking upwind (line of flight). The next jumper out sees this and thinks, "I'll get a hook-up with Pop on his 3,000th" Well, this guy gives up at 1,200 ft. Poppenhager saddles out about 300 ft. He holds for a bit, then turns 180 for an accuracy run and gets the disk (or pretty close) Very good on the skill level but pretty tacky on the personal level. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

John, don't forget the slack in the 550. You need enough slack so that the pin clears BEFORE the 550 starts to pull the flap. Gary Dupuis in DeLand put one on a rig in the early 70s. Steve Snyder saw it and went back to NJ and put one on his own rig. Snyder was back in DeLand a few weeks later and showed the rig to Gary. Gary says, "You ain't had no malfunctions, have you?" Snyder replied, "No but how did you know?" Gary said, "Because you're still alive." Gary then picked up Snyders rig by the reserve handle. There was no slack in the Last Hope Rope and would've totaled if it had been needed. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

I have a glove rule. If it's cold enough to wear gloves, it's too cold to jump. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?