Guru312

I fixed it...you fixed it. Thanks! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I just saw this in my nightly news round-up. Click on the picture you'll notice that he has two combat stars on his wings. An interesting story, for sure. AIRBORNE! All the way! [I can't believe that URL but it seems to work OK] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100412/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_filthy13_member;_ylt=At_w1mlDbH6ORyOUFz4sFtSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNyc2E3b2dnBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDEyL3VzX29iaXRfZmlsdGh5MTNfbWVtYmVyBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDNwRwb3MDNARwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA21lbWJlcm9mdW5pdA-- Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Jeesh, age is getting to be such a pain in the ass. I replied similarly earlier, up thread. Sorry! Let us not forget the drop zone operated at the three runway WWII airport in Woodbine, NJ. DZ operational time period was 1969-1973. Located 10 miles inland from Sea Isle City, NJ in Cape May County. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I sure as hell hope I can. I have six computers on my network and I can't find where I put the info from which I got my information. I'm still looking; the parachuting and SCUBA world is waiting. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

What may amaze everyone here is that cheerleading is MUCH more dangerous than either sky or SCUBA diving. My daughter does competition cheering. I researched both cheering and skydiving. I was very surprised that many more deaths and serious injury from cheering. Of course, she has my D4DR genes so she'll be doing skydiving, SCUBA, BASE and all the other crazy shit that I did, or still want to do. It was difficult watching her cheer; it'll be difficult watching her jump in 11 months. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

N/A

You caught me. But I'm really BS. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

.. and, of course, dumbness And your undumbness provided this from Tom: You are welcome to use it! I wish you had been on that trip too! Aloha Tom Aloha, Tom Thanks Howard and Thanks Tom. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Jeesh, how dumb of me. I use Google 50 times a day. I have no excuse except age, dumbness and age. Thanks! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I just posted a photo of Harvey Soss, Herd jumper extraordinaire and one of my students, on my Facebook page that Harvey gave me shortly after he did the Angel Falls jump. The photo is copyrighted by Tom Sanders. Does anyone know Tom's email, phone or other contact address so I can ask permission to use it? This is sort of a compromise of the Grace Hopper quote: “It’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission” You can see this fantastic picture here: http://www.aicommand.com/SossAtAngelFalls.htm Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Thanks for creating this...I think. It'll be one more Internet place to visit regularly...instead of dealing with real life. All kidding aside, good job. I agree with others the layout is just right. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

+1 ...what the man said. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I built one. I flew it for a couple of years. I crashed it 5-6 times. Other pilot friends flew it and crashed it. I was a DZO, J/M, I-rating, 2000 hours flying jumpers, hot air ballooning and...nothing scared me as much as flying my ultra-light. Nothing. Why? Take a look: http://www.aicommand.com/ultralite.htm Notice that it has two engines of 5.5 HP each. What you can't notice is that it will not fly with only one. That's a poor design. In fairness to the guy who designed the machine, after 30 units with the 5.5 HP engines they increased the horsepower. With more HP--which I never upgraded to--my machine would be a very fun experience. Without enough HP I was victim of every little downdraft or crosswind. Not enough power and with a reverse-ruddervator not enough control. Bottom line: Learn to fly first, at a minimum solo. I had 1000 hours flying jumpers when I started flying mine. LOTS of heart-pumping, adrenaline flow and fear---if that's what you like. Spend a few hours using google; you'll learn everything you need to know. Be warned: They will scare you more than anything you've ever done. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Or to get a J/M or I. It wasn't until I wanted to start a DZ that I concerned myself with a license. Matter of fact, I think my C license, J/M and I were all issued at the same time. When I started jumping in 1960 it was possible to request almost any number desired. I wish I had done that. Having a two digit D would be a real status symbol. As if 50 years in the sport isn't symbol enough. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I wrote this in another thread a few years ago: In the late '60s when I was a DZO, I had an 'older' guy approach me and ask, "I've made a few jumps what do I need to do to jump here? I asked if he had a log book. He told me he did and that he was on 10 second delays. He said he had a bunch of static line jumps but didn't have a logbook for them. I told him to get his log book to show me and put on his jump coveralls. When he came over to me with his log book and dressed in some coveralls I looked him over and saw an 82nd Airborne patch on his shoulder and cloth military wings sewn onto the left front. I did a double take when I looked at the wings: there were four combat stars on the wings. I told him that I had been in the 82nd Airborne in the early '60s but I was curious where he bought the jump wings. He got an attitude very fast! I countered with something like, "...I'm not a fool. There can't be too many guys with four combat jumps. Are you saying you actually made four combat jumps?" He rattled off Normandy, Salerno, Nijmegen and Algeria and then said, "There aren't very many of us left." At that point, I believed him. We spent many hours over many beers listening to him tell jump stories and combat stories. He wouldn't talk about any of it until he had a few beers. We became very good friends. I taught two of his sons to jump. And, unfortunately, attended his funeral after he died of cancer. What an amazing guy he was. I'm talking about Walt Santman for those of you on the East coast who maybe jumped at Ripcord Paracenter or United PC. Walt was one of the finest people I've ever known. RIP, Walt. And Thank You! AIRBORNE! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

What a huge pain in the ass it is to read Morse typed out. I can copy about 1 word per minute or less that way. I renewed my license on line are you saying that the FCC is releasing SSNs to the world through that service? Why would they make yours available? That's some serious stuff. I'm going to check their website and see what's available. Thanks for the agony of copying dots and dashes like that. -. --- - Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

What I used was a surplus military WWII throat mike. It worked well. Receiving wasn't as easy because of wind noise overriding the headphone audio. The throat mike eliminated any rush sounds. I know of no regulation relating to an altitude restriction. A number of astronauts are hams and have made QSOs from space, Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

This one is. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I noticed recently that a number of skydivers are radio hams. I'm curious how many actually are willing to step up and admit to it. I just reconnected with a guy on DZ.com form the mid-70s. [Hi, Scott!] I've had an amateur license since I was eleven years old. My original call was W3ZLU and current call WB2ZTE. The hobby is about as far from skydiving as one can get. I once operated in freefall from 12,500 with a throat mike. I had the pleasure of working a U S naval station at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica where two of the operators were jumpers who had recently jumped onto the South Pole. My QSL card from them reads: "Stay stable and always land in the peas." When I was flying jumpers I flew for a guy who jumped into Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia. We used ham radio to coordinate the jump with me working the tower and ATC on the plane radio and a ham/jumper on the grounds at the stadium. I love working DX on CW on 15, 20 and 40. How about you? What is your call and your favorite bands and mode of operation? If you've been interested in ham radio but afraid of the code requirements you can rest easy: no code, no more. Tnx es 73, WB2ZTE. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I can help with that: 666.666 Mhz, lower sideband. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Are you kidding?! They are the young ones. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I have about 20 jumps on a TBow. I never learned how to pack it without considerable help. Since it wasn't mine, I never considered it worth the effort to learn. Weird packing and very weird openings. People did talk about them. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Well, yeah, I took my daughter to a Herd boogie before she could walk. She'll be taking her driver's test on Tuesday, her 17th birthday. If she has her way she'll be going to the drop zone on her 18th birthday. We have a year to work on her mother regarding that issue. Get your kids into skydiving early...you'll always know where they are. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Now THAT is funny! And...I'm waiting for the reply. Anxiously. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I first jumped out of an airplane in jump school with the 82nd Airborne Division in March, 1960. On the weekend before our 'jump week' I called my mom to tell her I was going to be jumping five times the following week. She asked me to call her at the end of the week. I forgot to call. I didn't speak to her for 3 weeks. She was a nervous wreck for the entire time. As I heard her tell friends and relatives for years afterward, it was the worst weeks of her life... except for this incident which stopped her from ever again watching me jump: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2584958;search_string=scary%20stories;#2584958 My daughter, Rebecca, will be 18 next year and she can't wait to jump. Needless to say, she has my total support and I hope I'm on the same load. Her mother...well, a totally different story. Dealing with her mom will take the next year to get her ready to accept it. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper