dzswoop717

If you drink the free beer, you must buy beer, no matter how many jumps you have. I never heard of the 1000 jump rule.

I operate a small custom paint shop. I have been painting Bikes, Cars, Airplanes , and anything that will sit still long enough to spray for over 35 years. If you need any speciality painting pm me. Good luck with your new business venture. It can be very rewarding.

I have a couple of thousand jumps on a stileto. Openings were the only thing I didn't care for. You must have your sholders square at pull time and keep your legs even thoughout the opening. You can use your legs to control the heading during opening if it starts to turn on you,, just don't over do it. Keep fresh linesets on them and they open and fly much better. A couple of years ago I gave my canopy to MEL to have it relined. He put Vectran lines on it and it now opens much slower and smoother. I had 3000 f111 jumps when I started jumping my stileto. It took me a couple of hundred jumps to learn how to get it to open on heading consistantly. I will admit that I still get a wild ride every once in a while but, I think that is because of my crappy packing skills. I have jumped several different ZP canopies over the years and I just feel at home under a stileto.

I'm sorry , it is off topic. I was just responding to JONSTARK'S comments about being fortunate enough to meet and talk to WWII vets. Clint is the real deal and there is very little BS that comes out of him.

On an observer ride in the early seventies I watched Jim Selway Sr. (Beets Dad) do a poised exit off the step of a cessna 185. He went over on his back and for some reason pulled his belly wart. From my vantage point I could see his body bend into a U and it looked like his heels touched his helmet. I was probably 10 years old and I remember looking up at my dad, flying the plane, who was also watching. Dad says OUCH that's gotta hurt. Mr Selway had to take a while off from jumping to heal up. Mr. Selway's two sons , daughter in law , 3 grand children and a great nephew are all still activly jumping.

Just the kind of thing all Americans should do for men like Clint. It was our honor. He is the hero!

The paint delivery guy at my body shop was a WWII B-17 captain who flew 35 missions.His name is Clint Hammond and couple of years ago he asked my business partner and I if we would paint his car. It had a bad case of pealing clear and a little rust. He also wanted a small picture of the B-17 he flew and his unit crest on it somewhere. He let us know that he was on a small budget and that the paint store he delivered paint for would provide the paint. As soon as he left our shop, we started throwing ideas back and forth about the paint job. Clint was taking several of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildern to FL to visit the theme parks so we would have his car for a little over a week. When he dropped his car off we already had all the pictures chosen and a layout figured out. Skip, my business partner, and I busted ass, we each worked over 100 hours that week airbrushing murals on every panel of the car of B-17's and other related images. Another one of our customers saw what we were doing for Clint and called the local news paper who wanted to be present at the reveal of the car to clint. I pulled some strings and had another local businessman donate a set of mag wheels and new tires to finish out the customization. On the day of the reveal we sat Clint in a chair out side the shop door and told him to close his eyes, we opened the door and drove the car out and told him he could open his eyes. For the first time in the 8 years that we had known Clint, He was speechless. With tears running down all our cheeks we hugged and thanked each other. We thanked him for his service to our country and he thanked us for the paint job. It was the best feeling in the world to give back to some one from the generation who did so much for our country. He has had a ball with the car taking it to car shows getting interviewd by local TV and newspapers. He plans to donate the car to a museum when he feels that he can no longer drive safely. He drops by the shop every couple of weeks since he retired from delivering paint and visits. He shows up with cookies and sometimes a case of beer. He was here on Monday, it was his 94th birthday. If you google search Clint Hammond B-17 you can read about him. If you click on images there may still be some pictures of his car.

I was bitten in freefall once. In 86 or 87 a group of us went to Palatka for the St. Patty's boogie. We were on a weather hold, rain and low clouds, so we piled in our trusty saftey meeting van and conducted a couple hour saftey meeting. None of us thought that there would be anymore jumping that day so we got pretty ripped thinking that the jumping was over for the day. The rain stops so we open the doors and to our surprise there is a big sucker hole on it's way. The PA system comes to life and they call our load that had been put on hold earlier. We all look at each other and agree to just go do a simple 10 way and pull high because of the buzz we all had. We get our shit together , dirt dive and head to the DC3. We are in a hurry because the sucker hole is about to dissapear. We get to 5500' and we are in the clouds. We make the buzzed decision to build a 10 way speed star and break off at 3k. A guy from the group behind us asks if he can join us and we all agree that it will be fine. We got a little more altitude and turned on jump run. Ready,set,go, and out the door assholes and elbows. We build a very quick star and are humming through 3k when it's time to break off. I go to turn and track at break off and I am being held by the guys on each side of me. Paul Rafferty is to my right and Billy ( last name left blank as to not incriminate him) is on my left. I perk up from my haze and see my buddies laughing, they want to take me low with them. Ok, 2 can play at this game. When they decide it is time to break off, around 2000' I grab them and don't let them go. Boy did they NOT see that coming. Paul had a free right hand and just threw his pilot chute out at 1500' . As I watched him go I felt a pain on my left arm. Billy was bitting me as we were going through around 1200'. I let him go, he instantly pitches out, I give him a second and pitch out my pilotchute. But it aint over yet, as I watch billy get line stretch and just start to snivel he cuts away and pulls his round reserve. Wham, his reserve opens and I watch him go up and away like I am still in freefall. I am having an extra long snivel and that is when reality sunk in, I am very LOW. I pumped my brakes and got the canopy open, did a 90 degree turn and flaired for landing. Billy landed a hundred yards away and his cut away canopy landed right beside him. Don Yarling (DZO) was not impressed, needless to say we were grounded for the rest of the boogie but, Paul sweet talked Don into letting us jump the next day. The only person I know of, that is possibly still jumping, that witnessed this event is Bill Scott from GA. Every time we have bumped into each other through the years he gives me a bunch of shit about that jump. BY the way, Paul and Billy were not part of our saftey meeting because they were good soldiers in the US Army. I was very short or out of the army at the time so No comment on my behavior. Later that drunk night Billy and Paul tell me they had it planned to dock on each side of me and smoke me down. They promised they would never do it again. First jump the next day, Paul is on my legs for a cat grip when it is time for break off. I start to turn and realize he isn't letting go. we track the cat to 2k, I flair out and dump with him still holding on to me. A short snivel follows and away falls Paul with a huge smile on his face. Man F111 7 cells were fun. More than anything, I really Miss Paul.

I ran into another liar. This guy has been bullshitting a skydiving buddy of mine for years. My buddies wife works with this guy, that claims to be a skydiver. He knows all the terminoligy and many of the local jumpers from the past. He told many jump stories to my buddies wife and has even told stories to my buddy with names, dates and other info that make him sound credible. My buddy has asked around and no one has ever heard of the guy. About a month ago I was in my hanger working and another one of our old skydiving friends comes in with a friend of his that I had never met before. We were introduced and after some small talk he tells me he works with my buddies wife. As soon as I put 2 and 2 together, that this is the guy my buddy has been asking about, He realizes at about the same time, he might be had and he quickly changes the subject. They leave and later that week I ask the friend who visited my hanger who that guy was. He told me they have been friends for years. I then asked if he was a skydiver and my friend told me that he made 1 tandem back in the late eighties. I went on to tell him some of the stories that my other buddies wife had told us and he says "Those are my jump stories." This liar had been repeating our friends jump stories as if they were his stories. This guy is a master liar because he told the stories exactly as he had heard them with out embelishing at all. The liar has not been informed yet that we are on to him, but after our meeting the stories have ended. We will let it simmer for a while. Maybe he will think he got away with it and start telling stories again. This liar also had many NASCAR stories that he also stopped telling at work. The world is full of them!

That would work if you have enough area. We unfortunatly didn't have enough space the day George was up in the very high winds . We all grabbed the rope and walked towards him to get him down. Another time we tied a rope to the center line of the PC and we would pull the parasail down by that rope, it worked pretty well but, I only remember doing that one day.

Most of the time when we parasailed with a pc it was on very windy days. We would tie off a couple of hundred feet of rope to a telephone pole, tree, or car bumper and let the wind lift us like a kite. I only remember actually towing up with a truck once and that was in the eighties with a 288 sg ft manta. One time in the early seventies when I was just a kid the guys tied off the rope to the back of a chevy van and it started to lift and drag the van. My hero, George Whittington was under the PC getting tossed around like a rag doll. Everyone on the ground had to grab a hold of the rope and walk it out to pull him down. It was way to windy to be parasailing. I even remember them parasailing with a 7tu t-10. it didn't climb near as high as a pc but they did get off the ground. George also parasailed with a Paraplane Cloud in the early seventies. It had no stabilizers and was a hand full for him to keep flying straight. I was 13 years old the first time they let me try it. the winds were starting to die down and there wasn't enough wind to lift a 150lb adult so they put me in the harness. I got about a 45 second flight and several high hops before the wind petered out. I was on cloud nine for weeks after that. When it was windy I would be the first one to start the "let's parasail" idea into motion.

You bring up a good point. There are USPA members doing balloon and helicopter jumps from altitudes way lower than 2500', USPA's recommended opening altitude, wearing only a base rig with no reserve parachute (FAA violation). Do these people lose their membership? I would guess some of them are instructors, do they lose their ratings? Just go to you tube and see how many USPA and FAA rules are broken by these people. If they are not at a USPA affiliated DZ, is there no policing of these activities by USPA?

If there were more bad weather days back then, there would be a lot less old skydivers. Young, dumb, and full of rum, killed it's share of skydivers that never left the ground when they died. Everyone of my skydiving buddies who were killed in unusual ways (not skydiving) were high on something at the time of their death.

I understand that but, isn't it sad that a 55 year old, out of shape, with heart condition, mid life crissis , with no aviation back ground, can walk in off the street and make a static line jump with 4 hours of exposure to the sport while a 16 year old healthy, physically fit, Years on a DZ, can pack a rig in 5 minutes, Has listened to and whitnessed thousands of jump stories and skydives, can't. It makes no sense at all when put in this context. It really sucks that America has turned into such a bullshit , sue happy country.

Was an under age student skydiver the reason for any of these law suit? Any time an under age kid gets hurt doing ANYTHING, there can be legal action taken against everyone involved. If a kid drowns while taking scuba diving lessons, every one including the manufactures gets sued. If an adult drowns while taking scuba diving lessons, everyone including the manufactures gets sued. What is the difference. It is a sue happy world, if you are afraid of the risk involved get out of the business. If a 15 year old kid sneaks his dad's old rig out of the closet, climbs a local antenna, and leaps to his death. The manufacturer of the equipment can still be sued. You can't stop people from slapping a lawsuit against you. I just don't think that the number of 16 year old students is high enough to make the risk that much greater. I do understand the extra liability that a 16 year old with no DZ upbringing puts on a DZ but, kids that are raised on a DZ and know and understand the sport, are less of a liability than a whuffo off the street, of any age, making there first jump after spending a total of 4 to 6 hrs of their entire life on a DZ! USPA's decision makes no sense to me. attempting to reduce liability this way is like trying to save a sinking ship with a dixie cup.

Do you think that if a 16 year old kid was paralized sking, snowboarding, motocross racing, skateboarding, BMX racing, Or playing football, the powers to be would have a knee jerk reaction and stop all under 18's from participating in these sports. These injuries happen every year in the prementioned sports. USPA didn't think this one through. DZ kids across the US will now be forced to go to Uafilliated DZ's or put off jumping until age 18. BUMMER! I had a calender For the last year of my 12 year wait to turn 16 so I could jump. Crossing off the days was one of the very best feelings I can remember of my preskydiving youth. To add 730 days to my calender back then would have destroyed me. How many 15 year old dz brats are counting the days? For those of you who started jumping after age 18 and were not raised on a DZ, you have NO idea how much we look forward to turning 16 so we could jump. Some of you with the biggest opinion don't even have kids, so you could care less. USPA screwed up on this one. It has always been up to the DZO to allow 16 year olds to jump. Most DZ's in my area have a minimum age of 18 by choice. Now, because of one accident they kill so many kids dreams.

You can solo a powered aircraft at age 16. you need to be 17 to get your private license but, that is still under the age of 18. If you want to have your kids jump at age 16 go to a non uspa DZ and do it. USPA only governs group member DZ's. They are not the FAA and the FAA has no minimum age for skydiving. I agree that a 16 year old kid with no exposure to skydiving is a huge liability. I also know that when I made my first jump at the age of 16 I had been on a DZ for 12 years and was ready to start jumping. A skydiving parent probably knows if there child is mature enough to skydive.

On a snowy day at our little DZ we sent 3 people to the hospital without ever getting the airplane out of the hanger. Snow boards had just become the rage and my girlfriend gave me one for Christmas. We tied a rope to the back of a Honda 3 wheeler and started the carnage. 2 broken collar bones and a dislocated shoulder later, we figured out that this was a bad idea and returned to our more accomplished bad weather activity of drinking. Nothing else got injured that day except some brain cells. We also did some Parasailing with PC's and a couple of times with squares. It was always a drunken activity and we were lucky no one ever got killed.

40. High wing loading and very few jumps in the last year. I have over 3000 jumps on my current canopy model but, last time I jumped I wished I had a bigger canopy or a lighter me. Diet starts monday.

I was feeling like the fat kid that got picked last in gym class.

I didn't know you had it in ya', I never saw you drink a beer that I can remember. Sounds like something Georgie would have done. Good story.

Why don't you like me? You don't even know me.

Why didn't 377 and Sparky get corrected by Atrwardo like I did. You boys better stay in line.

I had this happen to me during a boogie in NC about 15 years ago. My episode happened in freefall, I had a very shakey canopy ride and fell flat on my face during landing. I couldn't even stand up once back on earth. It was one of those extremely hot southern days. I contribute the whole thing to dehydration. I was down for a couple of hours after that jump drinking water and laying in my airconditioned office. Scary and eye opening. I make sure I stay hydrated during all my aviation activities these days.

Old: Age 16 to 40 ate, breathed, slept, dreamed SKYDIVING. At the DZ always. Loved every minute of it. Thought it would never end. Now: Age 40 to 51, too busy with business , family and life to get to a DZ. My brother , myself and a few friends make a hand full of jumps each summer from our own airplanes. Haven't been to a commercial DZ in a couple of years. Appreciate each jump I get to make. Still dream every night about jumping.