Dale Gates

[airdvr 210]

...turned 80 last week.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[grimmie 186]

Wow. He trained me for my first jump in 1980. Bob flew the plane.


I was 20 and thought Dale was pretty "OLD" to be skydiving back then!!!!!

[airdvr 210]

Made my first one there in '81. Your name sounds familiar Rich.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[jimartle 0]

Happy Birthday Boss! I started jumping there in 1969 and Dale and Lucinda were my instructors. Bob was a teenager and had already been jumping for a year. I wound up teaching for them for about 6 years. Dale always made the place a comfortable, Safe, laid back place to jump. Bob continues the tradition to this day.
I've got lots of good memories of Dale (D-91 if I remember correctly) and always try to stop by when I'm back in NE Ohio.

[airdvr 210]

Quote

Happy Birthday Boss! I started jumping there in 1969 and Dale and Lucinda were my instructors. Bob was a teenager and had already been jumping for a year. I wound up teaching for them for about 6 years. Dale always made the place a comfortable, Safe, laid back place to jump. Bob continues the tradition to this day.
I've got lots of good memories of Dale (D-91 if I remember correctly) and always try to stop by when I'm back in NE Ohio.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3766213;search_string=cleveland%20parachute;#3766213

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[grimmie 186]

Quote

Made my first one there in '81. Your name sounds familiar Rich.

I made a handfull of jumps in Ohio and then "retired" until starting again in '90 at Taft, then Perris.

The first jump we did there was a bunch of Sharon, PA firefighters. We came up and did the first jump static line course. A kids TV show came to film called "The Trolley Show" out of Pittsburgh (KDKA). They highlited one of the guys and of course...he broke his ankle on his second leap of the day.

Some of our fellow FF's drove up with a few cases of beer and lawn chairs to heckle us and watch the carnage! That was a fun day!

I had the honor of being on Bob's daughters "pin dive" when she was 16 years ago. She did great! Jim West flew a Casa up for the weekend and brought Scotty Carbone along. I was back in town for my cousin's wedding and on a whim brought my rig. Lucky me! Almost missed the wedding due to jumping, of course!

I feel honored that my first few instructors were Dale, Bill Jones at Taft and Jim Wallace at Perris.

[airdvr 210]

Bob's daughter? You might mean Esther...anyways it's not looking good for the future of CSPC. Lots of problems there. Hopefully they can get them ironed out.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[racerman 0]

Made my first jump in 76 there. Lucinda taught the course and Dale flew the load. I had been going there to watch since I was seven and couldn't wait to turn sixteen. I've been jumping all over the world and consider it my Home DZ. I hope it can survive this latest turmoil. Happy Birthday Dale! (We need to have a reunion)

[airdvr 210]

I'm sure of it if you're jumping a Racer. I still do.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[skypuppy 1]

Found this.

Dale assisted Bill Cole in getting his balloon licence in 1977, which led to Bill's adding a tethered balloon to skydiving team act.

Bill first flew for Toyota for 2 years, then when they decided to mothball the balloon he sold the idea to Canadian Tire, who had the same colors, and simply changed the banner with the name.

After a couple years of that balloon, he started flying for the Yellow Pages, and was getting so much for that that he quit jumping. Figured he couldn't risk getting injured and not being able to fly.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone