NickDG

You guys don’t know the half of it . . . Skydive SD (or Borderland) has always been a weird and somewhat flakey DZ. Mac and Nina McDonald owned it for many years back in the late 70s and early 80s. Mac was an oddball, but he was a cool and personable oddball. I jumped a lot there during that period. The next DZO to be, Don Muma, pulled a fast one down at City Hall and wrangled the DZ away from Mac by convincing the city council to award him the lease. Mac and Nina were heartbroken, but they moved to Warner Springs and started a sail plane operation. BTW, Tom Allen got stuck with a couple thousand dollars in worthless jump tickets (he showed them to me stacked in a shoebox) which I think he used to wallpaper his gear room at home. I didn’t like how underhanded Don was so I left and went to work for Debbie Blackmon in Lake Elsinore. Don Muma was the archetype for the next generations version of the cheap and greedy DZO. He skimped on the airplane maintenance, raised prices, and was the moody type. His idea of amenities was a small strip of grass to pack on. And he had a certain amount of bad luck right off the bat. John Nichols was hit and killed in freefall by a Navy transport (a C-130 if I remember right) on its way to North Island. That's why it's officially called Nichols Field, but we always, and still do, just call it Borderland. Not long after John died Don had a JM working for him that put out a female first jump student without hooking up the static line. The student went in with no reserve pull and no AAD. Don, who was first to the body, pulled the static line and direct bag off the dead student, weighed them down with some rocks and threw them into Otay Lake. He might have gotten away with it, but the JM was so devastated she cracked and told how she failed to hook up the static line. Sometime after that Buzz started a DZ at Brown Field and eventually purchased Borderland too. So we were all pretty happy that Don Muma was out of business. Then Buzz shut down Brown Field and moved the entire operation to Borderland. I've never jumped there during the Buzz years and only knew him from evaluating in an occasional AFF Cert Course at his Brown Field DZ. He always seemed like an alright guy, so I'd like to hear the other side of the story. In any case, I'm sorry to hear of your current troubles at Skydive San Diego, but that's Borderland, as weird and flakey as ever . . . NickD

Before iPods (yes back in the Stone Age) and when I was jumping alone I used to take a portable CD player on night building jumps. I would listen to "(We Play) Underneath the Radar" by Underground which I always felt was very apropos to BASE (see lyrics below.) The first time I tried it I hadn't done many solos and was probably trying to focus on something besides the jump. I geared up and hung the player around my neck and down my shirt. I didn’t have a helmet and used a headband to secure the headphones. I looked over and down into the big dark gulp and all was clear. I fiddled with the volume and tone but all I was doing is stalling. I climbed over the safety cables (these should really be called danger cables) and I just stood there. There's no going back once you climb over the cables (unless something really bad happens like you zap your rig or a cop stops their car below to write a report or something.) The view was breathtaking and it's amazing how calm you can be with just your heels holding you forty stories above the street. BASE has always scared me more just thinking about it but once you're "in the moment" (as we used to say in the old days) it's a wondrous feeling. I checked the street one more time and saw no one and no cars. Jumping alone is enjoyable but there is no mechanism to tell you it's your turn or your time to launch. You think about going, but nothing stops you from just hanging out another few moments. The disc player was cranking and working fine and all of a sudden the lyric "See ya later, see ya later" came out of the machine, through my ears, and into my brain, and I just stepped off . . . UNDERNEATH THE RADAR by Underground Unknown Unseen We live underneath the radar No sign - on screen We dance underneath the radar Between the walls - well hey We're just too small to make a fuss about it Did something fall? Well hey What is the point in losin' sleep about it? See ya later - see ya later Hip-a-no-no-no-no Hip-a-no-no-no-no See ya later - call me We dance underneath the radar We live underneath the bomb When you live underneath the radar There's no way that you're ever gonna get far (So get hip) We speak Unheard Like ants we dance between the towers We sleep They move Come sailin' over the horizon Between the walls - well hey We're just too small to make a fuss about it Did something fall? Well hey What is the point in losin' sleep about it? See ya later - see ya later Hip a-no-no-no-no Hip-a-no-no-no-no See ya later - call me We dance underneath the radar We live underneath the bomb When you live underneath the radar There's no way that you're ever gonna get far (So get hip) He says i am the doctor In a B52 I come across the horizon Drop my love on you I'm gonna W-O-O-O-O-O ya call - watch out! I'm gonna W-O-O-O-O-O ya call See ya later! See ya later - see ya later Hip a-no-no-no-no Hip-a-no-no-no-no See ya later - call me Between the walls - well hey We're just too small to make a fuss about it Did something fall? Well hey What is the point in losin' sleep about it? We dance underneath the radar We live underneath the bomb When you live underneath the radar There's no way that you're ever gonna get far So get hip NickD

>>More info here http://www.groundrush.co.uk/>>this is a link to someone trying to make money out of BASE jumpers

"Higher three rig attachment?" Winner! Should have been "ring" of course. NickD

Dang, I never noticed the "chute" not being capitalized, but the real error is more glaring . . . Keep looking. NickD

>>Does anyone know what about this plane is considered to be "record breaking"?

Shit Happens . . . See if you can spot the mistake in the attached advert I created for Rigging Innovations. A month or so after it was published in PARACHUTIST I was reading the issue while sitting on the toilet when I spotted the blunder. I crapped myself but luckily I was sitting where I was sitting . . . I didn’t catch the mistake, nor did R.I. or PARACHUTIST. NickD

Ever see the one where the boys make a BASE jump from a high rise building? They are working as riveters and of course totally screwing up. When one of them tosses a hot rivet it accidentally lands in the foreman's pants who then orders them off the building. Because Curly is afraid of heights he's wearing a parachute. Moe says, "Let’s get ottta here," and like every BASE jumper that came later he also adds, "I hope that parachute works!" Then all three jump with Moe and Larry just hanging on. As they freefall down the face of the building Moe says, "Pull the ripcord!" "What ripcord?" Curly asks. "That one there on your chest." "This one?" and Curly pulls a bag of tobacco from his shirt pocket. "No you numbskull," Moe answers, "the other one, the shiny ring there." (If you are an AFF Instructor you can just feel Moe's frustration.) Curly finally pulls the ripcord and all three float safely down and land right in their open touring car and drive away without missing a beat. A classic BASE getaway . . . I have it on tape and if I ever get it digitized I'll upload it to Skydiving Movies. NickD

>>ARGON Helicopter Inspection Service route.

>>Every "safety" type article I've submitted to them about BASE has been rejected.

Talk to anyone who flies face to earth at the drop zone. I call it lawndartism . . . Sometimes, the entire world is in your own backyard. NickD

>>But to defend Mike, most times he takes his frap hat off after he opens, cause he's so old and deaf, he needs to hear people yelling at him to get the hell out of the way.

Looking into those deep pools of blue at this year's Bridge Day I was enchanted with the idea of such beauty, brains, and compassion all wrapped up in one package. My first thought was, "Chute, I gotta get me some of that . . ." NickD

>>the problem with the rocket-EZ is there's no room for a single passenger, let alone skydivers

Someday fast climbers like Mike Mullin's King Air may be considered a Model-T . . . http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/12/05/xcor.rocket/index.html NickD

The thing that burned me up after the legal jumps at El Cap were stopped by the NPS is the USPA didn't raise a finger in protest. The reason they did nothing is more simple than the legalities or the pirate aspect of BASE at the time. The people at USPA headquarters had all made their jumps at El Cap, at least the ones who wanted to and Joe Svec and Bill Ottly and the rest just didn’t give a shit about those who didn’t yet get the chance. I've never been a proponent of USPA running in-depth BASE articles like the "How to Jump El Cap" ones that Svec wrote, but they do have a certain responsibility, because they have the ear of beginner skydivers, to inform them from time to time about the realities of BASE. Right now they just basically ignore the fact their most vulnerable members are drawn to it. NickD

Thanks for the clarification, Rob . . . I don't understand why the military hasn't gone to squares for pilots. They could build them super bullet proof for high and fast punch outs and they would still open faster than a round when low and slow. And we've done square BASE jumps lower than zero-zero ejections. I know the military is anal about live practice jumps for pilots but that altitude seems outdated nowadays. A tandem or something should be part of their pilot training. The benefits I see are not coming down in the fireball that was your aircraft and escape and evasion when over the bad guys. Navel aviators could also avoid being run over by the aircraft carrier on cold shots and engine failures on take offs. Heck, the really head's up ones might avoid getting wet altogether by landing back on the deck. If under a round and your enemy is smart enough to read the winds he'll know right about where you'll land. If under a square you could wear them out by changing direction or leading them into rougher terrain. You could also make less of a target in the air by spiraling down, or if needed, and when not being shot at, use the brakes to stay up longer. Another benefit could be ground re-launching the canopy after a landing in the mountains. And how hard would it be to teach a fighter pilot to fly a square? Is there something I'm missing? The only thing I can think of is that the majority of punch outs result in some kind of injury during the ejection process. But a big square set in deep brake mode wouldn’t be any worse than a round in that situation. The only drawback I see would be all the canopy manufactures dumping the sport side of the business in favor of government contracts. NickD

The photo isn't real, but the incident is. There's a video of it on one of the early "Faces of Death" tapes. I swear I think the place was called "Wally's Alligator Emporium." NickD

Checks out here . . . NickD

I learned a valuable lesson years ago from Tony Dominico. I had designed the first back pack that looked like a Velcro closed BASE rig and had the late Bobby Smith building them for me. They sold like hotcakes in the BASE community. One day I walked into Square One and there they were hanging on the wall. When I brought it up with Tony, and said he was ripping me off, he said, "Tough shit, that's how it is in the sewing industry." NickD

I'm not a fan of tandem progression. I guess I'm not a fan of tandem in general unless there is a real practical reason for it. And a student being afraid to exit alone isn't a practical reason. Do you think the thousands of us who began jumping before tandem weren't scared? DZOs rave about tandem progression, and students who go through it love it. Of the former I suspect it's because it's cheaper staff wise and in the latter students don’t know any better and just naturally love the way they learned, and who taught them, as long as they don’t get killed. The real point is what kind of skydiver does tandem progression produce? I've never bought into the idea that tandem is like dual instruction as in learning to fly an airplane. With tandem it's more like you are sitting on your flight instructor's lap. Go to any driving school, does anyone sit on their teacher's lap? AFF is more like true dual instruction than tandem is. There is something even more insidious going on here. AFF Instructors are a big cash drain and most DZO's would do anything possible to get rid of this extra expense. For those out of the way DZ's, or the smaller ones that have trouble attracting quality AFF Instructors, I say sweeten the pot and offer more in the way of pay and perks. I'm all for making student jumps safer for beginners, but I'm not so sure we should be making it easier. I can see the difference (in general) between the jumpers who learned on static line, the ones who learned on pure AFF, and later the ones who began with a tandem jump. We are dumbing it down too much. I always shudder when I hear a tandem first jumper land and say, "Wow, I never could have done that by myself." I'm sad, in a way, because I know they could have done it alone if someone had just given them the chance. This is the first step in building confidence. And to those who argue tandems are less prone to injury that's true, but I'd rather see a student turn an ankle or even break a leg under a big student canopy early on rather than when they move into the world of real skydiving and cream in under something smaller. Those early bumps and bruises are what teach them respect for the ground. Who doesn't see the correlation between making entry level skydiving "easier" and how device dependant we've become? We are actually getting to the point where pulling two handles in an emergency is believed to be beyond our ability. Sometimes I think when manufactures come up with a device that saves an extra five people a year the unintended consequence is we will lose more in the long run by further taking the jumper out of the loop. On "private programs" of instruction, well sure, we all "tweak" AFF to fit individual teaching styles and situations. And there's nothing wrong with it and I especially don’t have a problem with very experienced Instructors who go a few steps further than that. My concern would be those who just scrap the entire AFF program and do whatever they want. When we get to the point where student instruction becomes willy-nilly across the board we are going to be royally screwed. What's next? Tandem masters without Instructional ratings doing more besides the first jump in a tandem progression program? We are slowly but surely neutering the ability of our AFF Instructors to teach skydiving, and while it comes in the guise of ease and safety, the wolf underneath the sheep's clothing is nothing more than pure profit motive. NickD

>>You just need to buy a new canopy, take it up apart, draw some sewing patterns and make an exact replica

Rigging Innovations makes a pilot rig called the Aviator that is square. What's novel about it is the toggle/brake system. I think it was factory set in the half or three quarter brake position and you rode it in like a round with a comparable decent rate. If the passenger was just a little hip they could also riser themselves into the wind. It's here: http://www.rigginginnovations.com/aviator.htm NickD

Let me just throw this out there . . . It's cool to post the photos here, but Mike Truffer at SKYDIVING gave us BASE jumpers a voice when we had none. Twenty years before USPA would even print the word "BASE" Mike was giving us coverage. He published the articles USPA wouldn't touch concerning events, accidents, and safety and he's been the bridge between the times we had no BASE magazines of our own. A one year twelve issue subscription is only 15 dollars and they're having a thing right now where you can subscribe and they’ll bill you later. There are a few other good reasons to subscribe too. On the skydiving side you'll get all the latest news usually two weeks before PARACHUTIST comes out. And unlike PARACHUTIST, which is mostly good news happy talk, you get more of straight slant on things. Mike Truffer is also known for his hard hitting editorials that make Chris Needles at USPA sound like, well, Chris Needles at USPA. . . Finally on the gear side, unlike PARACHUTIST, SKYDIVING will call a piece of crap a piece of crap whether the company that makes it advertises with them or not. USPA was still running adverts for the Nova canopy long after everyone in the field knew there was something wrong with them. Anyway, no pressure, but I think SKYDIVING deserves support from the BASE community . . . NickD

>>Radio is where I helped out when I could.