diverdriver

Can I get the cost of a rig donated to the charity of my choice? Chris

Gotta love those guys zooming around aimlessly on ATVs looking self important. LOL.

Wow......very good.....and one of my favorite 80s tunes. Awesome video actually. Another great video.........In a big country, dreams stay with you, like a lover's voice on a mountain side....SHOT! Rolling out the "Wayback machine" now.

Agreed.

Ok....a slight alternative flavor....name this one: "Watching in a trance, the crew is certain. Nothing left to chance, all is working. Trying to relax up in the capsule "Send me up a drink." jokes Major Tom. The count goes on... 4, 3, 2, 1 Earth below us drifting, falling. Floating weightless calling, calling home"

I have two people (that I know of) that were saved by Cypres after jumping out of my aircraft. Another jumper was saved by a FXC 12000. In one case the female jumper just forgot to pull and was going in about 200 feet from the main hangar and crowd. I asked if they were going to ground her and they said that they would try to work with her. Say what? The next Cypres save was a female jumper who had a spinning main malfunction. She did not peel the velcro on her cutaway handle first before pulling it. She never gave up but ended up cutting away at about 500 feet AGL. She accelerated and the Cypres fired. She got about 3 to 4 cells open before hitting soft plowed farm field. The third jumper that was saved by her FXC 12000 had a pilot chute in tow induced by her JM on an IAD jump. After 6 seconds she did not perform her emergency procedures like trained but instead pulled on her main bridle. She eventually went for the handles just as the FXC fired at about 1,000 feet AGL. I don't know if the first one is still jumping but the last two I know are still jumping. The one who had the spinning main mal and hard cutaway is someone that I consider to be fairly "air aware". She definitely learned something about her cutaway system and I certainly make a point to ask every newbie female jumper I meet if they know to peel first then pull the cutaway handle. Chris

I can't believe what we thought was cool back in the early 90s let alone the 80s! Can you imagine all the teeny bobber girls that loved the New Kids On The Block? What kind of therapy must they be in now?

TOTO....Asia...Europe.....they all sounded the same. Great, now I feel old too. Anyone got some depends?

OMG.....I'm crying......bwwwhahahahahhahahaha

ASIA......"Africa"?

YOU BIG MEANIE!!!!!!!! It's ok. We don't have to jump with those mean people who make fun of you. I love you anyway. No other helmet fits over my glasses and so that means you complete me.[/dr. evil] Oh yah and

Unofficial record. But still damn big. Chris

Uhhh huh.

See...since I have my own camera My videos always show someone else. So I get the sensitive giving reputation. Awwwww......

But enough about me......let's watch videos of me. LOL.

25...would have been 24 but the DZ I was at closed after their first fatality in 7 years of operation the day I took the FJC. Chris

Anybody seen a Helio lately? How about a Load Stall, I mean, Loadstar. Chris

[nerd argument] Hmmm.....well I know we can debate this one until everyone is crying. It certainly was interesting to have people freezing over on certain jumps and not others. Again, I think this had to do with the low ambient temp at take off and not any decrease in temp at jump altitude since it was always below freezing. One bit that may help is what happened with ice on the windshields. We had problems with sun and ice on one sunset load. I have plenty of heat going on in 10EA but I froze over too. Luckily I had Kate Cooper in the right seat to pull the side window down so I could see. On subsequent loads we would open the window to try and dry the air out once the ice started to form. After a few more loads I left my side window open about half an inch right from take off. We never had icing problems again. I think this was due to evacuating the humidity all the way up to altitude rather than holding everything in and then trying to dry it all out at once. Not sure what was done on other aircraft but I know we all discussed how to get the moisture out before we built it up. I also did not see anyone wearing helmets and gogles more or less than any other load than the one with the most freezing problems. Again, I think this had to do with these helmets and gogles being colder than other loads to begin with. When the jumper put them on before jumping there was a greater chance of condensation. Once they hit the cold air outside the moisture froze instead of evaporating. On later loads when the ground temp was higher the helmets were warmer to begin with so were less likely to cause condensation when put on. When the jumper hit the cold air outside there was little or no condesation to freeze and what was there was blown away with the freefall airspeed blowing through the helmet. At best this is only a guess on my part since I didn't go in freefall with them but I do know what was happening with our windshields. [/nerd argument] Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Oh Pree, only you would have to go and ask that question. Big

Bill, sorry but we never had an all otter formation. When the skyvan went down we brought in a King Air 100 into the formation. So, the most otters we had was 14 on Saturday's attempts. We added a second otter from Elsinore flying left trail in between me and the farthest left otter. He did great considering we had a lot to learn ourselves all week. But you know, 14 otters is still a shit load of otters! And congratulations to you Bill and all for doing an excellent job in the sky. It makes all the work with the planes worth while. I'm exhausted and need a break. I know all you guys have got to be just as worn out. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

It's 14. And we flew with 15 aircraft today attempting a 328 way. We momentarily had a 316 way. So, I guess that is the new "unofficial" record skydive. Either way.....it was F'n awesome! Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

They are both Skydive Arizona Otters and have smoke generators on one engine. Makes it a bit easier to see the aircraft formation from the ground. Chris

14.....One Skyvan....13 Super Otters..... Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

ME!.......pilot.....left left left left left trail. Bill Von....greenie......100 way base. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Man.....I'm about speachless. I didn't know about the weekly update till I read that here. Roger has been rooting us on all week. He once said "Relative work has no limits" on one of the tapes I saw of his past world records and attempts. The saying goes double for aircraft formations. George has designed and requested us to fly one of the most difficult formations to drop jumpers. It was not your average 45 degree angle trail formation....NNnnoooooooo!!! We hast the first five planes in the 45 arrow and then the rest of the wings had to almost fly line abreast and on level with the other aircraft. Renee took a decent shot of the formation from the ground. We are spects but you can see how the formation flattens out. I'm the next to farthest plane on the right side of the picture (left wing). We are being asked to fly precision formation while looking across the cockpit in a very small sight picture. Not to mention that we are not practiced in line abreast flying to begin with. We worked out a lot of issues in order to make sure we were in position at the drop. The formation always made left turns. Now think about it, in order to stay in position you have to fly slow because we are on the inside of the turn. The lead did a great job but it's still a tough spot to be in. At some point the turn radius becomes zero and as we all know a plane doesn't fly very well with zero airspeed. Being at 20K feet and having to fly on the edge of performance was quite an experience. I will post more on what the formation is like later. But I will say, I am very indepted to Roger for giving me an opportunity to fly for him. I could not have learned and accomplished what I have without his support, trust, and faith. Thanks Roger. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125