gjhdiver

The cool thing about this thread is that in a year, pretty much none of this will be remembered, and none of the ideas here will be followed up on. Hell, in two years, with the influx of new jumpers, the general reaction will probably be "Jan who ?". It's in the nature of skydivers to really not follow through politically once the weather improves and we're all jumping a lot. We kind of blow it all off until it's more convenient to deal with it all, which approximates to never. USPA elections roll around, and the involvement by the membership is usually minimal at best, incumbents are re-elected and the odd fresh face comes in and does one term before realizing that the work is thankless and for the most part, procedural and deathly dull, and bails out at the first available opportunity. The general populace doesn't even pay attention in general elections, so it's not really a wonder is it ? All I really want from USPA is insurance, a deep pocket to fight for airport access, and a voice at a governmental level to intercede with the FAA. I'll take care of the rest myself.

Well, I'd say it's either a piston porter or a Heliostallion. Single Otters have the door on the other side BTW. I got a bunch of jumps out of one.

Norseman ?

Let's just say without giving away too much, that you all need to read this post carefully, then go away, sit down and think for a while, read it again, and then pause before you all post some more conspricacy theories. Whilst I don't always agree with USPA on all issues, the fact is, that if it goes away, so will half of your drop zones. SIngle entities won't have the collective bargaining power to fight for access like the association does. Complaining about USPA being political is laughable. You hold fucking elections for it. Of course it's political. I guarantee that whatever drop zone you jump at is politcal at a local level too. It's the nature of the beast. On the whole, USPA does a good job for all of us. Let this play out, look at the issues and the evidence and reasoning, and then form your opinions. Then vote accordingly. If it's that bad, stand for the board. The voting for baord members is laughably low for the membership. We really have very little to bitch about if we don't pay enough attention to vote.

I shall reserve judgment until I am in receipt of all the facts. I know that may strike some of you as a radical suggestion, when clearly, there's no problem so severe that it can't be solved by some keyboard flexing on dropzone.com In the near on quarter century that I've been a USPA member, I can't recall more than a couple of impeachment attempts. It's not done lightly, and I doubt sincerely whether it would be brought by one Skyride influenced board member, as there would be little or no chance of success. There's a procedure in place to let this play out. Turning up at board meeting wearing matching T-Shirts is not going to influence it. Boycotting a DZ isn't going to influence it. Let's see just what the issue is shall we ?

As with most of these things, you'll find that it's not the actions of the jumpers that have caused the animosity, but rather those of the owners. Don't bother with any reconciliation,. The jumpers are already reconciled. Just jump where you can have fun. In other words, come jump at Byron

They moved back to the UK a few years back. They are both out of skydiving now as far as I know.

If someone looks poor, and they are stealing food, I don't think I'd care too much if they got away. I might even hold the door open for them. I lead a relatively comfortable life, and as such, I've never been forced into the position where I feel that I would have to steal to eat. I'm not prepared to judge anybody who does. (I'm presuming that they are stealing to eat here, as food has just about the lowest resale value of anything that you could possibly steal to make money from.)

Yep. I love that plane. It was so cool just having a DC-3 at a local DZ. The last jump I did out of it was a tandem when they brought it over to Byron about 10 years ago. Now it just sits there because it broke down years back and not enough people care to jump it, so it really doesn't make any sense for Bill to spend money on it to fix it and keep it in the air when he has a fleet of turbines. It's also not going to be attractive to a buyer for any reason, so there it sits, year after year. The jumpers put a stripper pole in it one year and held a party in it, but it's a sad end for a great plane. It would be nice if there was enough interest to get a consortium of jumpers together to buy it and restore it and keep it flying. It's got the big door on it, so it's actually a really nice plane to jump out of. It's not even that slow to altitude. It ain't Otter fast, but it gets there OK.

It's a sanctuary for marine life. It's still in better condition than Bill Dause's though

A quick check of tail numbers indicates that it is now registered to an individual in Miramar, FL and is listed as a turboprop aircraft. HW I jumped one of those turbo prop DC3's once. It was fun, but it didn't seem quite right. Nothing fell off or anything.

Indeed I do, and I'll have you know, that like me, they get better with age, and may indeed have aquired magicai powers.

I dunno, but I have to ask, why did we wear our shorts so snug back then ? I'm still paying the price for that now if I stand up too quickly.

This Our Douglas? Dunno where the picture was taken; looks like a glider operation in the background. Where did Our Douglas come from? HW Yep, good old one hour douglas. Jan Aarvik was the pilot. Slow to altitude, but fun all the same. I'm thinking back to a time when there was full cloud cover over the Hills, and the pilot yelled back "can you see the ground ?". We said no, and he said, "then hang on !" and did a 360 barrel roll so perfectly that no-one left the floor by as much as an inch. I'm not saying this was Jan or Our Douglas though , because that would have been highly illegal wouldn't it ? I might be wrong, but I think that Our Douglas is the DC3 now at Eloy in their colors. A quick check of tail numbers might confirm that.

There was the outside chance that someone might have been deriving some enjoyment from it, so it was promptly deleted as per standard dropzone.com policy.

Is that 66 Whiskey, the Bird machine in that photo ? All the great DC3's I jumped at the Hills. 66W, Lucaya Air, Our Douglas (One Hour Douglas), Southern Cross, Mr.D. I miss 'em. I was down at Perris this year when they fired up the 3 there for "specialty" jumps at $60 a pop. I still get a woody when I hear one cough into life. Since Bill Dause turned his into a bar complete with stripper pole and parked it up, I don't get to jump one on a regular weekly basis any more....

I had one in good condition in a container with a reserve, ready to jump. I gave it away. That's how much it's worth.

That would be the show that he got thrown off of because of his ill-prepared stunt off the Empire State Building. Something tells me that, and the subsequent legal issues involving it, aren't going to play too well with any potential sponsors. For the money, they could get a better reyurn on their investment elsewhere.

Yep indeed. It's a Britten-Norman Islander. The piston version takes 9 jumpers, and the turbine version (BN2T) takes 10. They were really popular in the 80's in Europe, though they've been in decline for a number of years now. I have a great soft spot for them though, as I did most of my student jumps out of one with no door, using front and back gear. That fixed gear was positioned just right to fling rain, snow, dirt, and whatever else was lying on the runway in through the open door and onto you in the back of it. It took about 25 minutes to get to 10,000 with a full load and fuel. There's a longer three enginged version called the Trislander, that has the third motor up in the tail fin, but I've never seen one used for jumping. It's most commonly confused with the AirCommander in the US as they have a simialr profile.

Not too hard, but I've got a soft spot for them. Did my first jump out of one of these.....

I loved the Chipmunk. First powered plane I ever learned to fly in when I was an RAF cadet a million years ago. That ain't one of them BTW.

It's not hard. People have been landing wingsuits since the 1920's. It's doing it a second time that's been proving difficult. Let's hope he puts a bit more planning into it than he did for his Empire State building jump.

Don't anybody fret about the demise of rec.skydiving This place is no different. It just has a nicer front end and a few moderators to round off some of the rough edges (on the few occaisions that they can be actually bothered to do so consistently). It's still the same loose collection of trolls, goons, and 50 jump wonders that made rec dot the delightful place it was. Then, just like rec dot, there's the 10% of people who know what they are talking about and whose posts are worth reading. The trick on usenet was the judicious use of kill files. The trick here seems to be a restained mouse clicking hand, and avoidance of Speakers Corner at all costs. (On another note, Speaker's Corner in London was famed as place where you were, are still are, allowed to get up and say just about anything you like. The use of moderators in SC seems to be conterintuitive to that heritage.)

I spoke with Corrine, JP's wife last night. She's doing as well as can be expected, and so are the girls. She just wanted me to pass on her thanks for all the little cards and gifts that everyone sent to the girls for their birthdays in September. The girls were really excited at getting so many cards and little gifts, and it really made a difference to them. It also helped Corrine to realise that there was a community out there that cared too. I'll try to remember to send Christmas cards too. So, nice work everyone

I can break into any car too. All I need is a rock.