1982 Crash Info?

[jonstark 8]

I will have to disagree. The Beech 18 was and is a very good flying machine. Stable, responsive and powerfull. Yes on the ground they required a little more skill then the average pilot possessed, but in the air it is quite pleasant to fly.
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Right on AirCav. I have many many jumps out of them and almost as many fond memories. Their kiss of death was a spar beef-up which was pretty onerous and caused a few to disappear. Once complied with the wing was fine.

Bobby Frierson in Barnwell, SC had a Lockheed Electra which was just about the same as an early Beech-18 with a low cabin. It's the one featured in Andy Keeches book with the jumpers all over the wing and fuselage. I got to climb all over that a/c of Bobby's and it was steady as a rock.

Anybody to ever fly one will tell you a Beech 18 handles like a sports car. On ground handling, all us taildragger jocks will tell you the same thing; Rudder skills or maintenance bills.

jon

[cosmobuddy 0]

25 Years ago . . . October 17, 1982

www.SkydiveLostPrairie.com

[airdvr 210]

I remember there was a story running around about the Hinckley crash. The story said there was carpet on the floor and on rotation everyone took a magic carpet ride to the back of the plane.

Anyone know if it's true.

I loved the Beech 18 at Cleveland. http://www.dropzone.com/photos/Detailed/Jumpships/checkerboard_100327.html Used to stand behind the pilot and watch his work. Johnny Molleck (sp) would get it off the runway and fly in "ground effect" towards those 80+ ft trees at the end of the strip. Some of those high humidity 90+ July days in Ohio made for some dramatic views through the windscreen. Anyone know where that ship is now?

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[lekstrom10k 0]

The plane you were referring to is now in the back corner of the hangar at Richmond In. Steve Stewart sent pictures like yours into Parachutist for October featuring Twin Beeches. He called last month and we talked about it and Jon. I would have someone walk up to Jon while he was always working on his plane to ask him one question. "Hey mister can I borrow a screwdriver so I can pop the emblem off your engine to make me a belt buckle?" He wouldnt even turn around and say "Hi Larry" how did he know? He could have stripped the leading edge heating gear and more but he wanted to keep it authentic WW11 C-45.
In an earlier comment about Stormville Lodestar, I also jumped it at Poppenhager,s at Indiantown Fl. It seems to me the Farmer Nasty at Stormville was a Federal Prison . "Dont land there no matter what"
Another Lodestar out of Michigan 17 Gulf [Garbage] ended up being the one that got burnt up in the hangar of the "Yankee Air Force Museum" Willow Run Air Port Ypsilanti Mi a few years ago.I was onetime part owner but never got paid back when it was sold. It was weird to walk into a museum to see the actual airplane you jumped from. Going to Wright-Patt was OK "I jumped one of those and one of those" . ,but the actual plane.

[steve1 5]

The sight of a twin beech brings back a lot of memories. The Smoke Jumper Center (in Missoula)had several of them during the early 70's. We used to all pitch in and rent one, if we could get enough jumpers together. I think the price was around $7.00 to 12,500 back then.

I got my SCR and SCS the same weekend, jumping with a bunch of Missoula and Kalispell jumpers, out of one of those same twin beechs. Dave and Nick Tousey, Fred Sands, Pug, Gordy Listor, B.J. Worth, Steve Nardi, Tom Kaiser, Bill Blair, and Stinky were all there.

If I remember right Dave Tousey bought a twin beech in about 76 for the Osprey D.Z. in Kalispell.

Alva Simon bought another one in Missoula after the smokejumpers decided to quit renting to us. On take off one day the wiring (in Alva's beech) shorted out filling the plane with smoke. We all made an emergency exit at a lower altitude.

If I recall, the FAA was grounding most of them until the wing spars were worked on.

In the later (70's) possibly early (80's) Rozzo rented his beech to fly the Mission Mtn. Wood Band to and from a concert in Western Montana. It crashed when the pilot did a hammer-head stall to impress a crowd of people near Flathead Lake. It was overloaded and couldn't pull out of that dive.

Maybe Fred can clean up some of my writing here. I have forgotten many details of the early jumping in Montana.

I also recall a twin beech that Mayfield had in Sheridan, Oregon. It had a much bigger door than I was used to. It was piloted by a young kid named "Elevator".

I think I've told all these stories, at least once, on here. Since I'm running out of stories, I figured I'd tell them again.....

[JerryBaumchen 1,466]

Hi steve1,

Well, as you can understand, Elevator is no longer a kid.

He is flying somewhere in Africa these days.

He's probably the best pilot I've ever had fly me,

JerryBaumchen

[airgord 1]

Gary "Otis Elevator" Olson

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

When I was growing up, we'd jump from Mr. Coors, from Superior, Wisconsin, and Robbie's Beach from Osceola, Wis, and the beach from Baldwin, Wis, now known as Skydive Twin Cities. All my experiences with the Beach were good even though they were also known as "the flying Coffin."

One time at band camp, I mean when we were flying down to Kansas, from St. Paul, Mn, to do a demo, we took a flash light and shined it out onto the wing. We were flying at night and were losing oil pressure fast. We all peered out the windows and saw a river of oil flowing over the wing. We soon landed at an airport to get more oil, and then continued on to Kansas, for our demo. Apparently, we blew a ring, cylinder, or something.


Also, at Marana, AZ, during the collegiate's back in 81, we were jumping from a D18. Super clean!

I really enjoyed jumping from the old D18s.

Pete