Skydiving cats. Have we talked about this before?

[quade 4]

Just asking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TVVROJgHoc

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Bolas 5]

I'm impressed they used modern canopies and not rounds.

Sliders, pilot chutes and d-bags too.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[quade 4]

You know what movie somebody needs to make? "Cataway."

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[normiss 895]

Perfect.

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

Nice.
Not quite as good as the topless women shilling washing machines, but pretty good.

I was actually expecting the "Georgia State Cat Chasing Championships" again.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

Nice.
Not quite as good as the topless women shilling washing machines, but pretty good.

I was actually expecting the "Georgia State Cat Chasing Championships" again.

Same here.
I'd still love to hear a recording of that.
I have a photocopy of the chapter in the book about it.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[dthames 0]

Note that at time index 00:31 the audible is sounding as the canopy inflates.

Nice touch!

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[kd5xb 1]

Didn't find a recording, but at http://www.ajc.com/news/news/opinion/neal-boortz-like-a-tossed-cat-ill-keep-on-howlin/nQY3k/ I found this:

There’s been a lot of fun also. One of my favorite scams was the 1988 Georgia Cat Chasing Championships. Cat lovers, you’re going to love this one.

Here’s what we did: I told my listeners we were going to do a remote broadcast from “some airport in South Georgia,” where the Georgia round of the National Cat Chasing Championship was going to be held.

Cat chasing? Simple: You take a cat and about eight sky divers in an airplane up to around 12,000 feet. You toss the cat out, and the eight skydivers tumble out to give chase. The first skydiver who lands with a cat wins.

So there I am, promoting this thing for weeks. Cat lovers are going nuts. All the while we’re preparing for the broadcast. We put together a cast to play the cat-chasing contestants. We gather the necessary sound effects: wind, aircraft engines, flapping parachutes, howling cats and the noise of the appreciative crowds.

To create the sound effect of a cat that had not been successfully caught, we dropped 5 pounds of wet paper towels on a tile floor. Very realistic.

The day of the competition arrives. The actors assemble in the studios. The Fulton County sheriff is downstairs demanding to know where this atrocity is going to be held. We won’t talk to him.

What an hour. A Hall of Fame Hour, if I don’t say so myself. It wasn’t until the last 10 seconds of the program that I told the listeners they had been had. In the meantime, multiple advertisers pulled their ads.

If I had more space I could have told you about the dolphins who infiltrated the torpedo tubes of a nuclear sub and threatened to nuke Los Angeles if those durned tuna fishermen continued snagging them in their nets. Some other time?

Forty years of stirrin’ the puddin’, and I’m just getting started.

I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.

[CarpeDiem3 0]

Quote

Perfect.

Purrfect.

[GalFisk 0]

In case you're curious: the skydiving was filmed at Stockholms Fallskärmsklubb in Tierp, Sweden. The cats were green-screened in afterwards. IIRC, five skydives were made in order to get all the necessary footage.
I was not involved, but got this info from "Svensk Fallskärmssport" (Swedish equivalent to "Parachutist").

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

Didn't find a recording, but at http://www.ajc.com/news/news/opinion/neal-boortz-like-a-tossed-cat-ill-keep-on-howlin/nQY3k/ I found this:

There’s been a lot of fun also. One of my favorite scams was the 1988 Georgia Cat Chasing Championships. Cat lovers, you’re going to love this one.

Here’s what we did: I told my listeners we were going to do a remote broadcast from “some airport in South Georgia,” where the Georgia round of the National Cat Chasing Championship was going to be held.

Cat chasing? Simple: You take a cat and about eight sky divers in an airplane up to around 12,000 feet. You toss the cat out, and the eight skydivers tumble out to give chase. The first skydiver who lands with a cat wins.

So there I am, promoting this thing for weeks. Cat lovers are going nuts. All the while we’re preparing for the broadcast. We put together a cast to play the cat-chasing contestants. We gather the necessary sound effects: wind, aircraft engines, flapping parachutes, howling cats and the noise of the appreciative crowds.

To create the sound effect of a cat that had not been successfully caught, we dropped 5 pounds of wet paper towels on a tile floor. Very realistic.

The day of the competition arrives. The actors assemble in the studios. The Fulton County sheriff is downstairs demanding to know where this atrocity is going to be held. We won’t talk to him.

What an hour. A Hall of Fame Hour, if I don’t say so myself. It wasn’t until the last 10 seconds of the program that I told the listeners they had been had. In the meantime, multiple advertisers pulled their ads.

If I had more space I could have told you about the dolphins who infiltrated the torpedo tubes of a nuclear sub and threatened to nuke Los Angeles if those durned tuna fishermen continued snagging them in their nets. Some other time?

Forty years of stirrin’ the puddin’, and I’m just getting started.

The Cat Chasing story is a chapter in his book. Someone gave me a photocopy of it, and I *really* wanted to post it, but after doing some research, it seems he is a real stickler about his copyrighted material.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[zoobrothertom 5]

I remember that Skydiving Magazine ran an April Fools Day article called "National Cat Catching Championships" sometime in the 80's IIRC.

Is this from the same guy with the radio show?

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

I remember that Skydiving Magazine ran an April Fools Day article called "National Cat Catching Championships" sometime in the 80's IIRC.

Is this from the same guy with the radio show?

Neal Boortz is the guy with the radio show who hosted the Georgia Cat Chasing Championships: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Boortz

Apparently, it was not Parachutist, but "Skydiving" magazine: 1987 "The Man Who Loved Cat Chasing" by Larry Schatz

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Snowwhite 0]

Back in rec.skydiving days, there was a very lengthy pretty funny thread about 'cat passing'. Or maybe it was just the late hours and the wine....

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