steve1 5 #1 September 12, 2004 I haven't jumped a Para-commander in about 30 years, and I've had a real hankering to jump one for a long time now. I finally got my chance last weekend at a small boogie in Stevensville. An old friend was going to jump one and he offered to let me jump after he did. Bob who is 65 years old landed just fine. I spent almost an hour trying to recall how to pack one. The harness and container was newer than the ones we used in the early 70's. Instead of pins and cones, and shot and a half capewells...this container had some type of velcro to hold the capewells shut and had nylon loops instead of cones. The reserve was also on the back pack, instead of the old belly reserve I was used to. This gear probably came out in the latter 70s. I quit jumping in the mid 70s, so this equipment was slightly different than I used in the old days. At any rate I dawned my old French jump boots, crawled into my new old rig, and boarded the Caravan with seven of my old pals. We built a nice eight way. At around six thousand they all backed off a little and watched me pull in place. I sat up a little to make sure the pilot chute would take off. The opening was brisk. The harness was comfortable and the quick ejector hardware worked just fine. The canopy ride was quiet and lot's of old memoried came rushing back. Luckily there was little wind because there sure isn't much forward speed to an old P.C. At the last minute I hooked it into the wind a little, then reached up and pulled down hard on the back risers. Everyone expects you to land like a ton of crap under a round, so I was determined to get a nice landing. My Frenchies absorbed most of the landing force and I stood it up. Can you believe that? Everyone at the boogie started yahooing and clapping. Not bad for an old fat guy! After that a group of us old timers got to talking about the old days so we decided to put together a load of old farts and try to build a 11 way speed star. Prior to that we added up all of our combined years of skydiving experience on this load, and came up with 235 years. Blaine Wright, who's been in a bunch of world record big ways, wanted to fall base. He told us that he was going to crawl out and give a count. On jump run he decided to trick all of us and went one, two, three, go, and dove out the door laughing.. Then he went spiraling away from us for a ways, so we all got a long swoop out of things. One old guy (who put me out on my first free-fall in 72) went low. He's not very current and needs a bigger jump suit. The rest of us got in. That was the last load of the boogie, and we all lived happily ever after. (What a great weekend!)...Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeTJumps 4 #2 September 12, 2004 Neat story! I have over 300 jumps on a Star Lite (Strong Enterprises small PC class) and they were lots of fun. Not quite a square but faster than a standard Para Commander and a Piglet.Mike Turoff Instructor Examiner, USPA Co-author of Parachuting, The Skydiver's Handbook Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
headoverheels 334 #3 September 12, 2004 Good one Steve. I have about 600 jumps on PC's and Papillons. I have more cutaways on shot and a half capewells than I have on 3-rings. I was just thinking recently that I have no interest in jumping one of those again! The liner of my Paraboots rotted away many years ago, but I still have some of those high-top Adidas that we jumped in the late 70's. It looks like we started about the same time, in 1972. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGUN 1,483 #4 September 12, 2004 Thank you for the memories. I learned on a Papillon and bought a PC. It was solid black H/C and belly wart with red/white/blue canopy for $350.00. The owner even thru in the belly-wart dashboard which housed an altimeter and stopwatch.Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmytavino 16 #5 September 13, 2004 ............ I DO remember you mentioning that you would like to make one on a P C again... I bet the memories came flooding back...... there's nothing like jumping a "high performance round"... hahahah now there's an oxymoron!!!! .... to get that feeling like you are making a bungee jump !!!... opening has a sort of "elastic" feel to it.....doesn't it????? and the stand up landing sounds like it was the cherry on top of the sundae !!!!!... way to go. jimmy A3914 D12122 4stack 930 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites flygirl03 0 #6 September 13, 2004 OUTSTANDING!! What a wonderful trip down memory lane for you and a little glimpse of the past for us. Thanks for sharing.. Any Pics?? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ earthbound misfit Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites steve1 5 #7 September 13, 2004 Quote The owner even thru in the belly-wart dashboard which housed an altimeter and stopwatch. I used to have a belly-wart dashboard. Even had a stop watch for a while. Never looked at the stop watch, but it looked cool. I recall one really hard openning under my PC when I actually banged my face on my altimeter mount. Man that was a terrible openning. Some of the old timers even used a big altimeter taken out of an airplane. The dashboard for that altimeter was huge. I was glad I didn't jump one of those much. Lot's of times we'd use somebody elses reserve if ours was out of date, etc. I don't miss some of the old gear. I loved jumping the PC again though.....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
flygirl03 0 #6 September 13, 2004 OUTSTANDING!! What a wonderful trip down memory lane for you and a little glimpse of the past for us. Thanks for sharing.. Any Pics?? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ earthbound misfit Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve1 5 #7 September 13, 2004 Quote The owner even thru in the belly-wart dashboard which housed an altimeter and stopwatch. I used to have a belly-wart dashboard. Even had a stop watch for a while. Never looked at the stop watch, but it looked cool. I recall one really hard openning under my PC when I actually banged my face on my altimeter mount. Man that was a terrible openning. Some of the old timers even used a big altimeter taken out of an airplane. The dashboard for that altimeter was huge. I was glad I didn't jump one of those much. Lot's of times we'd use somebody elses reserve if ours was out of date, etc. I don't miss some of the old gear. I loved jumping the PC again though.....Steve1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
