skypuppy

I know many highly trained individuals that didn't use altimeters. Even the Cdn 4-way team at one point didn't wear altimeters because they were a distraction and could cost them points at the bottom end of their working time. At the Nationals a big thing was made of it and they had to put them back on, but they used black electrical tape to cover the face and thus render them non-distracting again, anyway. I have 1-200 jumps without an altimeter. It's not really difficult. The main reason I started wearing one again was for when I worked with students - for THEM to see. 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

Age has absoulutely nothing to do with knowledge, learning, respect, attitude, or personality. __________________________________________________ That's just a dumb statement. When I went to Teachers' College we spent a long time learning JUST HOW age effects knowledge, learning, attitude and personality. That evolution doesn't stop just because someone reaches the'age of majority'. Just ask the companies that provide automobile insurance about the effect of age on knowledge, learning, attitude and personality. Young guys behind the wheel have been endangering themselves and others since junior league chariot-racing in the Circus Maximus.... (said tongue-in-cheek, to be sure). Certainly age may not be the only factor, but it can be an issue. And it's the guy under a small, fast canopy who's more likely to cause someone else danger then the one under a slow accuracy canopy trying to get set up on the bowl, who at least everyone can keep an eye on. 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

If your granddad was a skydiver, almost certainly he would have packed his own gear.... Using packers for your personal gear is a fad that only appeared in the last 15 years or so around here. Most people in the 80's wouldn't want someone else packing their shit. 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

I think the secret is to get good harness grips, but don't try to get one person to exit for you. Exit together, holding on, then bring your legs up around the waist/legs of the person dumping.... I've done several, most of them successful, never really got hurt on one, altho' I have heard of people hurting their fingers. 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

Actually, it's the old schoolers that don't like the present format of the fatality list. I count 15, 17, and 25 years in the sport for the most outspoken opponents. ________________________________________________ In that case I have to add my name to the List's supporters. I remember reading or hearing about most of these fatalities when they happened, but they make much more sense in a list where you can view trends, etc. rather than hearing about it and then forgetting a month or a year down the road. Skypuppy BASE 92 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

The Cdn 4-way team at the world's last year was RW legend Michel Lemay and 2 of his sons with another jumper. You may have seen an article about them in Canpara this month, and there was a small article last year. Since last year a new son has joined and they are expecting to do even better in international competition. 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

Lastly, please describe in vivid detail the experience and feelings of jumping out of an airplane and falling toward the earth. What do you see, feel (both physically and emotionally), hear, smell, taste (?) – be specific, I want to relive this jump with you! ______________________________________________ see attached demo at sunset 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

I would really like to get ahold of John Simis, formally of the Skydive Burnaby group in Southern Ontario. If anyone knows where he is or how to contact him now, I would appreciate a pm. 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

It's not so much the length of time between base jumps as the length of time since he had parachuted at all. Even with bad legs, a few water jumps from a plane would have been a good idea. 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

Rod Pack did one. Bill Cole did it twice. Jimmy Tyler did it twice. There are people on this website who were involved in his jumps. A Frenchman did it more than once for television and at airshows, using a direct-bag reserve deployed by the jumper holding it once he hooked up. Not sure how many times he got away with it, but the last time he did it, at an airshow, the canopy malled and he went in. A German did it last year. (Oh and Wesley Snipes fell out of the hatch of a Porter once without being attached to his tandem master. Yancy Butler had to chase him down, front flip onto his back, then hook up the snaps before she could deploy the canopy.) 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

You have non-jumping friends? Oh, I just checked your profile. Give it another year or two. Even my family doesn't bother me about doing things on weekends anymore. To them I think I'm a distant memory. 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

[ Because drop zones are not democracies. Most DZO's are very reluctant to make new rules that will piss 25% of their customers off if they do not see it as a big problem. Yes, but they are businesses, the do whats good for business, and if 75% of their customer are making the demands. its an easy decision which group your going to follow. _________________________________________________ They may only be 25 % or less of the customers, but as Bill was pointing out, because of the number of jumps they make, and the number and caliber of the people that come out to jump with them because they're so 'good' they may very well be responsible for closer to 50 % of the airlifts at the dz. And they may be responsible for well over 50 % of the instructional activities going on at the dz. It's unfortunate that some of them may be responsible for a higher incidence of deaths and injuries than necessary as well. 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

Not a first question, but what's the best "History of Sport Parachuting" book and author---in your opinion? Just a few. Several books by Peter Hearn, many with military connotations; Skyhigh Irvin, Parachutist and the Yorkshire Birdman, to name 3 (also Sky People) Birdman by Leo Valentin Silken Canopy by John Lucas 'The Barnstormers' and 'Bailout' by Dwiggins Barnstorming by Martin Caidin Baling Wire, Chewing Gum and Guts by Rhodes Endless Fall by Mike Swain and of course United We Fall, Pat Works 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

. First time a blind person was taught to jump: Instructor, DZ, jumper, location, date? My buddy Frog did the jumps for the movie 'If you could see what I hear', based on Tom Sullivan's Adventures in Darkness. The book is copyrighted in 1976. His jumps (Sullivan's) were in Springfield Mass. 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

3. First AFF course taught: DZ, Instructor, location, date? Not Aff, persay, but Jim Hall and Dave Burt of Para-Ventures designed a 12-hour training program to teach pilots in the US air force. The program involved the single instructor buddy-system as demonstrated by Johnny Carson's parachute jump with Bob Sinclair, as shown on the Tonight Show in the 60's. The program involved a buddy jump from 8 grand, followed by another from 12,000, after which the student would sometimes make a third solo jump during which an instructor would fly beside, but not in contact. Students wore aads. 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

Actually, Sky-high Irvin did not design the chute he made the first freefall on. The unit at McCook Field made many test drops of at least 17 different designs of chutes over about a year -- including England's Guardian Angel and the German Heinecke, as well as chutes from Broadwick, Glenn Martin and Leo Stevens. Many failed at various times, the reason Irvin's design ultimately proved the best of the static-line rigs was because he would return to Buffalo after testing and modify and resew new features, while the other designs were essentially finished. However it became clear to most, as it was to Floyd Smith, who ran the test program, that the static-lined emergency chute could catch on an out-of-control airplane as it was spinning, and cause a malfunction of the canopy. So Smith came up with a design, which eventually Irvin was the test jumper of, since he had more jumps than Smith, who was essentially a pilot. Following the jump, on which he broke an ankle, Irvin raced home and made up a proposal to manufacture large quantities for the government, and with the backing he'd already lined up, he was awarded the contract over Floyd Smith, the original designer. Others later claimed that they did perform freefall jumps before Irvin's, but Tiny Broadwick's testimony during patent litigation was so confused her evidence was discounted as 'uncorroborated and conflicting' (examination of the Broadwick pack showed it would have been a difficult operation indeed). Leo Stevens had designed a rig with a ripcord 10 years earlier, but it seemed to have been used with a static-line attached to the ripcord. Indeed, one of Steven's test jumpers, Rod Law (famous for jumping off the Statue of Liberty in 1912, and the Bankers Trust Building, as well as the Williamsburg Bridge) was adamant that a man could NOT freefall and open a parachute manually. 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

How much was tunnel time, and how much for coaching? 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

Parachuting industry is trying to make this sport so safe that it's becoming almost stupid. (in the next 10 years we are going to be forced to have 2 AADs maybe - just kidding, No!!) __________________________________________________ Actually, the dropzone I jump at, all freefall students DO wear two aad's, and it's one of the things that the dzo is most proud of that makes his dz stand out as safer than the rest. Personally, I think it adds complexity to the problem, and is not necessarily justified. 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

BASE does have it's share of pranksters doing daft things off objects for the glory or for the notoriety but again, I've seen the pogo sticks, skateboards and stilts pranks off el cap in the day. They weren't done in the name of scientific discovery or progress were they. __________________________________________________ I seem to recall they had ropes attached so the objects didn't plunge down the side of the cliff and knock climbers off the wall. After they went they just pulled them back up. 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

BUYING ?? I thought the word "FREE" stood out in a paragraph like nun in a whorehouse? j/k . . . yah, this is a fun project for now. We're really using it as a promotional tool for our dropzone, and trust me its working amazing so far. Its a little bit of Advertising-101. __________________________________________________ Funny. I would have thought you'd be using it to pick up chicks.... 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

__________________________________________________ LOL.... I remember watching Jimmy Tyler without a rig chasing a reserve strapped to a baker's bowl through the sky on 'That's Incredible'.... We always turned the sound off and played Pink Floyd or something. Lots of fun. 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

An Instructor should receive a fair wage for time spent. 6-8 hours of work training 30 jumpers (and that is how it was back in the day and still is at some smaller DZs), the instructor should be compensated for travel to the DZ, and work done. $150 plus another $150 for dispatching is $300. As it would take about 9-10 hours to do, you can see that $30+ an hour is quite fair. (I used to get $150 for classes up to 50-60 in the early 90s!) I think it's highly doubtful the FJ instructor who taught the class would drop all thirty students. Therefore he is making less than the $150 quoted for dropping, but is still probably there until all are dropped (or sunset, whichever comes first). Therefore he should be getting a higher per head fee for teaching. In my experience it DOES take longer to teach more than, say 8 students then to teach 4-6 or less. Not double, but certainly 1-3 hours more some days is not unheard of, depending on class sizes. 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

Almost looks like Bill Cole to me. LOL. (I'm pretty sure it isn't. Bill isn't dead, for one thing, and wouldn't be old enough. But maybe Chuteless will comment.) 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

From Skydive Burnaby near Niagara Falls to the CSPA chatlist We are organizing a POPS Record on September 15 - 16 2007. There will be 2 Otters available to us so that will allow us to try for a 45 way POPS record and Guy Wright will be coming up to organize the dives. It is also Mike Pitt's BIG 4-0 that weekend and we will be celebrating all weekend long with a POPS record, food, party beverages and plenty of surprises for everyone. All are welcome in celebrating with us! If you require further details in becoming a POP please contact blarkin@rogers.com or brian@dicenzo.ca for record details contact tara@skydiveburnaby.com Should be an awesome time for everyone and a great send off for the 2007 season!!! More details will follow at a later time. Take care everyone Looks like an early SPRING!!!!! Your friends at Skydive Burnaby ----- Original Message ----- 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

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