Pictures Of Your First Static Line Jump?

[GreenLight 8]

Got pictures of your first static line jump? Here's mine... Photo taken by Tom Sanders in 1982 out of EPC's DC-3 (915). John Campbel was my instructor and that's his arm turning me into the wind. Notice the proximity of the lake to the east west runway...

Green Light
"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."
"Your statement answered your question."

[NickDG 23]

Here's mine, 2800-feet over Kaneohe, Hawaii in 1975.

NickD
BASE 194

[wartload 0]

They tried to take a picture of mine, but the photographer couldn't keep his head under the fabric hood of the wooden camera in that much prop wash.

[wartload 0]

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Here's mine, 2800-feet over Kaneohe, Hawaii in 1975.

Hey, Nick. If that's the end of the runway that I think it is (ocean side), about 12 years before your first jump I lived not too far from where you made that jump.

[JohnRich 4]

I don't have a photo of the jump itself, as cameras had not yet been invented. But attached is an oil painting of me, all geared-up as I headed to the plane balloon with my DaVinci Mark I static line rig.

[GreenLight 8]

Hope that wasn't your first water jump too... LOL!

Green Light
"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."
"Your statement answered your question."

[wartload 0]

If he's where I think he was (is that the point with the Hawai'ian temple below?), there usually was a good breeze coming off the ocean, so he'd be blown back toward the runway. The bay side of the runway was usually nice and calm ... not many big sharks, either ... but the ocean side could often be rough, with bad currents and big stuff with teeth.

Perhaps even more dangerous, the base CO's house was on a bluff at that end of the runway (one of the most beautiful homesites on earth!).

[NickDG 23]

>>there usually was a good breeze coming off the ocean<<

Yes, the trade winds there are (almost) always a steady 15 mph. For my first hundred or so jumps I thought flying and landing while going backwards was quite normal.

That beach below had an official name, but locals called it Pyramid Rock, and it's where I learned to surf and we saw sharks all the time. This was the same year the movie "JAWS" came out (1975) but thankfully I didn’t see it until years later . . .

One time we put out a load that landed on the Airstation's golf course and disrupted and scared the heck out of some visiting dignitaries including the Japanese ambassador to the United States. The next morning our club President was called on the carpet to explain.

In front of the Airstation's CO and a very pissed off Japanese Ambassador (who took his golf very seriously) he was told if he couldn't launch things from aircraft and have them land on target, then maybe they should knock it off.

Without blinking he replied, "Well sir, we didn’t do so bad in Hiroshima."

It effectively ended his Marine Corps career, but it took the fuel crisis a few years later to finally shut down the club . . .

NickD BASE 194

[airtwardo 7]

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I don't have a photo of the jump itself, as cameras had not yet been invented. But attached is an oil painting of me, all geared-up as I headed to the plane balloon with my DaVinci Mark I static line rig.

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Great errr...'Painting'!

Two words....BOOT POLISH!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[JohnRich 4]

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Great errr...'Painting'!
Two words....BOOT POLISH!

One thing I learned to hate in the Marines was shining boots. After doing it every day for five years, I figured I had done it enough for a lifetime. So when I got out, I never shined a boot again. The boots in that photo are a testament to my boot-shining hatred.