diverdriver

Ooooooooo.........you're gonna get it Marcus.

While I don't know the formula, I believe that it is now thought that there is no increase in wind chill after 40mph. The wind has already wisked away all the heat that it can from you. So....any airspeed over 40 makes no decrease in perceived temperature. Also.....if -34F is a problem why isn't -20F? That's what the temp was ALL the time at 20,000 feet. I think the actual problem came from the low ambient temperature at take off. An object that is heated (goggles, helmets) before takeoff will carry a certain amount of heat with it to altitude before exit. If the object is colder before exit then more moisture will condense on it before exit. Once in freefall, the increased airflow will dry out the air inside the helmet or goggles. I think it is a coincidence that we went higher on that load and a lot of people had problems. During the day, there is almost no temperature change at such high altitudes so the organizers decision to wait for "warmer temps aloft" was a bit of misunderstanding of the problem. Here's one more picture of the record formation that I had. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

DD!!!!!!!! Miss you gal! Chris

[edited because I just didn't like how my post came off there.] Ok, Karl did blow a tire cuz of the locked break. But he never lost control. He didn't slide off the runway. He was in control through the event. He intentionally turned off the runway into the dirt because of the other otters on final. They went around to ensure seperation. The tire is toast but the rim is fine. Chris

Yes, he's a very good pilot. I flew with him on the 1998 record 246-way. Chris

Actually, we are "occupants" not passengers. The FAA was out yesterday and went over all the aircraft after our first load. They had some comments but that's their job. No problems. No show stoppers. The FAA also recognizes that skydivers are a more than normally informed group and thus accept the increased risk involved. It's not like you paid an airline for a ticket from point a to b and an F-16 formed up. Oh wait, they already do that without your permission. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Ok......some photos....I'm too tired to post much more. Maybe more tomorrow. Early start tomorrow too. Nite all. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Dude....braah.......

Jeff is flying Kapowsin's otter. I think. Man, so many names and faces. Chris

The nose is not what makes it a super otter. It's the engines Super Otters on floats have to have that big rounded nose. Same engines. You don't have to have the nose modified when making a regular otter into a super otter. Chris

Ok, some photos from Day 2. I flew on the first 3 100-way jumps to work out the final aircraft kinks. There were 3 cycles of 3. A different set of otters flew on the three cycles to let everyone get set. The formations came together much smoother today (as expected). We had one glitch with a plane too high on the Skyvan so they left late as they could not see the van unload. Problem fixed. We also practiced our takeoff and landing procedures for the 300-way. We are using the main runway AND the taxiway for departures and landings. It is much faster and effecient. With 14 planes launching this should be interesting tomorrow. There is going to be one more practice load for the 100 way base. So the first 300-way will go up late morning. The pilots will be doing their own "dirt-dive" after this 100-way load getting reading for the taxi out and departure on the 300-way. It's a lot of turbine burning engines so we want to be effecient. I hope we get video cuz this aught to be a hoot. Well, getting tired so I'll just end it there and post some pictures. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Day 1: Well, I write this Sunday morning cause I was too tired after posting the pics to have anything meaningful to say. It was very interesting. They were rotating the different planes into formations to get our feet wet and see how we do in formation. We did one load low to 14 and then went high to above 20K to test the oxygen. A small number of jumpers complained about the oxygen helmets. They are supposed to be able to put the oxygen hose directly into the back of the helmet and get oxygen. Aparently the hose pinched off the connection for some people and they did feel the effects of hypoxia. They are busily correcting the problem. The pilots meeting was spirited last night as we are all perfectionists and want to do better. The communication problems are typical for an endevour this large. Fortunately, we have a large number of pilots who have flown on the 1998 record and/or the attempts of 2000 in Ottawa. Myself, Doug Evans, Eric (skyvan), Carl (elsinore), Steve Stewart (Chicago Otter), John Schulz. The pilot staff is very strong and I'm confident that this formation will be whipped into shape in short order. The big inverted V formation they want us to do is going to be a real big challenge with 14 aircraft. I look forward to the challenge. Well, off to the pilot briefing this morning. 3-2-1 SEE YAH!! Chris

K

And some ground shots from day one.

Yah, when I was an outer whacker in the 2000 attempts the track was AMAZING! Watching the ground really shoot by. Man, it was stand on your head after exit.......swoop, swoop, swoop.......BREAAAAAAAAKKKKKSSS!!!!!!!!!!....dock.....hold.....float, track track track......dump. What a jump. Then to turn around under canopy and see the whole sky filled with tons of canopies. Man. You just don't know, until you've been up there with "it". Chris

Good idea. Chris

Well, if they actually borrowed it and didn't return it then this is a no brainer in my opinion. NASA had it. Out of good will they loaned it back to the family. They didn't return it? That's theft. Now, I don't like the last bit about how much the widow of an American Hero is getting for his sacrifice. That just seems weak. Chris

Yah they got an indication. Right as the thing popped open. Our indication system in the RJ only tells us the proximity of the door. It does NOT tell us if it is actually secure. That has to be done visually by the person closing the door to make sure the tumblers are in place and fully engaged. On the DC-8 I have know idea how it looks or is done. But I'm sure it's the same principal. The "Door" warning light comes on only when the door is not near the proximity switch. Well, that's my highly uneducated guess at how a DC-8 door indication system works. Chris

But it's more than the free jumps. (I don't JM right now. I do some low time organizing when I'm jumping and not driving.) I actually enjoy jumping with the newbies. It's fun to watch them grow and pass on some good knowledge. Yah, there are weekends where I devote my time to the high end dives that Max Meijer organizes. I gotta challenge myself in different ways. Chris

I'll second that vote. Tony was great as a Meet Director for Nationals. When I was working as Air Boss during the event he was easy to work with and wanted only the best product for the competitors. Chris Schindler

To all: They (the FAA) intentionally leave the last column "Unk:" (unknown) blank. If there is anything to put there it is usually a "Y" (yes) instead of a number. So it reads Crew: One.......Fatal: Zero.....etc.... Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Sandy, What load of the day was this? The FAA report listed 2 on board. Was the other person an observer? Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Ouch....and it's not the first time this has happened to this plane. It was on a charter years ago. Different operation. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X28923&key=1 NTSB Identification: MKC89IA168 . The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 39019. 14 CFRPart 135 operation of Air Taxi & Commuter CENTRAL FLYING SERVICE Incident occurred Wednesday, July 26, 1989 at SPRINGDALE, AR Aircraft:BEECH 65-90, registration: N195DP Injuries: 4 Uninjured. THE INCIDENT AIRCRAFT LANDED WITH THE GEAR IN THE RETRACTED POSITION. THE AIRCRAFT WAS RAISED DURING THE RECOVERY PROCESS AND THE GEAR SELECTOR WAS PLACED IN THE EXTEND POSITION. THE GEAR EXTENDED NORMALLY. THIS PROCESS WAS REPEATED SEVERAL TIMES WITH THE SAME RESULTS. UPON ARRIVAL AT THE SCENE, THE GEAR UNSAFE LIGHTS WERE ILLUMINATED. WITNESSES ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT STATED THAT THEY OBSERVED THE AMBER (GEAR UP) LIGHTS JUST PRIOR TO IMPACTING THE RUNWAY. THE LANDING GEAR WARNING HORN WAS TESTED AND FOUND TO BE INOPERATIVE. THE WARNING HORN WAS NOT THE WARNING HORN SPECIFIED IN THE BEECH PARTS MANUAL. The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows. THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO EXTEND THE LANDING GEAR. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Is this your King Air? N195DP? From the FAA site: IDENTIFICATION Regis#: 195DP Make/Model: BE9L Description: 90, A90 to E90 King Air (T-44, Date: 11/29/2002 Time: 2225 Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N Damage: Unknown LOCATION City: CULLMAN State: AL Country: US DESCRIPTION ACFT LANDED GEAR UP ON RWY 20. CULLMQAN, AL INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0 # Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Pass: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: WEATHER: METAR KHSV 292153Z 22010KT 10SM CLR 12/00 A2998 OTHER DATA Activity: Pleasure Phase: Landing Operation: General Aviation Departed: CULLMAN, AL Dep Date: 11/29/2002 Dep. Time: 2200 Destination: CULLMAN, AL Flt Plan: NONE Wx Briefing: Y Last Radio Cont: HSV APPROACH Last Clearance: FAA FSDO: BIRMINGHAM, AL (SO09) Entry date: 12/02/2002 Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Say you feel really strong about the candidates you have voted for. But one of them will be a bottom vote getter. By voting for more candidates you may inadvertantly give a deciding vote to someone that you were just "filling in". Do you want that? I don't know of any elections for ND that were decided by one vote. But.....there's always a first time right? Chris