NickDG

>>I think this big PC of yours would take too long to open.

When we used Hank's 52" (the bomb drogues used in Vietnam that Para-Innovators built) we'd throw pilot chutes like they were hand grenades. Then (after cheap video was invented) we found deployments would follow in the same direction depending on how hard you threw all that heft. No matter though, in the future we're all going mortar deployed. I want to be the first to cock, jump, and fire . . . NickD

>>Day/Date: Thursday, August 24, 1995

Rangers don't bust otherwise innocent vacationing skydivers anymore as they know a Prism from a Vector, and that's because they do Flash Card drills . . . "Atom!" That's a skydiving rig, sir!" "Very good, probably a tourist, okay, try this one?" "Vertigo!" "Be specific." "A Wizard! Sir." "Excellent, this one?" "Early classic flap rig, sir, possibly BR, maybe CR, an old schooler, sir!" "Anything else?" "Old schoolers all limp, and they are easy to catch, sir" "Outstanding, now watch this one, it's tricky?" "I got it, sir, that's a Sorcerer!" "Very good, and this one?" "It looks like a big X, sir!" "That's correct, we don't know what they're up to, so we call it rig X. "Alright, gather up, the next class is how to spot the BASE jumper in a sea of Beaver Cleavers . . . BASE jumpers are easy to spot because they always . . . ? NickD

It was the 17th issue of SKYDIVING published March 3rd, 1981 where Carl Boenish announced the BASE number award to the world. This is also when everyone started calling it BASE jumping. Here are a few other stories SKYDIVING printed that issue . . . -Details for The Riggers Convention. (This later became PIA). -Skydivers Jump California Bridge; Royal Gorge Jumps Continue. (Mike Truffer took to publishing BASE articles from the very beginning. Someday we have to give him some kind of award). -Canopy Soaring. (Remember running down a hill trying to get your Cruiselite flying, this is what started that). -Upside Down Skydiving Made Easy. (The beginning of the end of RW). -Gear Ad Stirs Controversy; (This was the ISADRN advert wasn't it)? -Para-Gear Needs Photos; (Always a cool cover photo, and how long have they been doing that)? -Pioneer Unveils 20 Foot Reserve. (This was the K-series I think. Didn't they need an apex fix later on)? -Manufacturers Invited to Riggers Convention; (This really was, at one time, just a few riggers sitting around talking). -Advanced Air Sports Now Owned Solely by Handbury. (Jim Handbury, a Master Rigger from Lake Elsinore built the first two Velcro closed BASE rigs for Carl and Jean Boenish. He later died testing a parachute system for airplanes after bailing out at a low altitude). -M Anderson Jenkins Drowns. (This was the Godflicker. He was walking through the shallow waters of Lake Elsinore after a long spot. He fell in a deep hole wearing his camera helmet and his hands are full of s-folded canopy.) - Para-Flite Grounds Some Safety Flyers (Five cells square reserves. These are reliable and would always save your life. You'd then spend the canopy ride praying there's some wind blowing). - Colorado Gets Beech (and they mean a D-18 Twin Beech, not a KingAir). - Boenish Announces BASE Award for Fixed Object Jumps (And here we are 24 years later). . . NickD

Peace . . . NickD

My two favorite TV shows from childhood were Ripcord and Sea Hunt. So it could have gone either way . . . I'm in the Marine Corps and on assignment to cover the sport parachute club we had on base. (I was a photographer). I went up in a CH-46 helicopter and shot jumpers exiting and then wound up spending the evening listening to the first jump stories I ever heard and drinking beer. I knew right off I wanted nothing else but to be like these guys. I signed up and paid my thirty five dollars for the first jump course. It consisted of three hours a night over the next five days with the jump on Saturday morning. Each evening's session is followed with Carl Boenish movies and more beer. Friday was packing night, and we (there were five of us) packed our own mains. The packing is done under direct supervision, and they tied the important knots, but not being able to follow shouted directions and get the rig closed meant no jump for you. I was more than ready when Saturday morning came. We went to 2800-feet and I stepped backwards off the tailgate and floated down under my 28-foot Cheapo crabbing across two runways (crabbing was a whole two hours on Tuesday night) before backing myself into a fairly small grass area. I made almost a hundred more jumps before my enlistment ended and all I ever paid was ten dollars a month in club dues. And that went right into the beer kitty. The next DZ I went to was Elsinore. When manifest said it was seven dollars to 7,500-feet, I almost died. That was the day I decided to become an Instructor . . . NickD

>>they dont care to get more knowledge about the way gear is made/maintained/repaired

>>>All other things being equal, a BASE jumping rigger is going to have an edge over his non-BASE counterpart. The former can't help but understand parachutes better than the latter. NickD BASE 194I believe this to be an absurd statement.

>>What I've seen, more often than not, as the cause of orbiting or oscillation is asymmetric attachment

Rich, To help you understand, let's go back to the beginning . . . There were many skydiving and BASE gear manufacturers (and still are) who build pilot chutes improperly. When all pilot chutes were made from F-111 these design problems didn't matter much, but when Zero-P material came into use the problems of bad pilot chute design became apparent. Picture in your mind a very early round parachute with no modifications (no apex or steering vents). The problem with these parachutes is they would oscillate. The reason for this is the great amount of air trapped inside the parachute had no where to go, so it would spill out from under the skirt. This caused the canopy to tip one way and then the other, hence the oscillations. On a smaller scale the same thing happens to pilot chutes. The F-111 material in the top of the PC negated this effect somewhat because air can actually pass through this fabric and this has a stabilizing effect. The problem began when Zero-P replaced F-111. We then began to see wildly oscillating pilot chutes. (Check out the Radix video page for Bridge Day 2004, in one of the teaser videos you can see a good example of this, and the effect it has on the canopy). The underlying problem is really not the Zero-P material itself, it's the way the PC is manufactured. If the trim of the pilot chute is incorrect when manufactured then when inflated the upper surface forms a perfect circle. This will cause the oscillations. A better design will make an inflated pilot chute looked lobed (the trim tapes break up this circle and forms channels down the side of the PC.) These channels allow air to pass by the pilot chute and at the same time stabilize it. There's much more to pilot chute trim, but in simple form that's it. I'm not convinced, at this point, that vented pilot chutes aren't just a quick fix for badly designed pilot chutes. NickD

>>I can not tell you the number of times I was on a scene and had to call in the troops for additional help.

Good thought . . . I think we are far passed the point where large DZs should have a staff of EMTs at the ready. Seconds do count sometimes. Also, I've seen too much confusion when clueless wuffo med-techs respond to the DZ. When told by manifest on the phone a jumper didn't flare, they assume the worst. I've seen EMTs walking way slowly toward a broken leg, afraid of what they might see. Rigs get chopped up too when it's not always necessary. In Perris they always rolled a fire engine (waste of money and resources) along with the ambulance. This caused more than one injured jumper to say, "Oh crap, am I on fire too!" Most ski resorts have this service, why not DZs? With the amount of jumpers corkscrewing themselves into the ground these days, it makes more sense than ever and I think it would almost be a selling point for the DZ. NickD

I understand what he means, and there is something to it. All other things being equal, a BASE jumping rigger is going to have an edge over his non-BASE counterpart. The former can't help but understand parachutes better than the latter. But, for all intents and purposes, it shouldn't matter to the point skydivers start seeking out BASE jumping riggers. I know riggers on both sides of the fence that should have their tickets lifted. NickD

Cool beans, thanks, Ray . . . NickD

Tom Aiello has it the toughest. He's walking the razor line of BASE jumping . . . Thanks, Brother . . . NickD

>>Who knows what will happen tonight!

Thanks, Tom . . . I didn't think so, that was just me trying to act responsibly, HA! NickD

Merry Christmas Rick and Joy. . . Tell Rick Payne I said hey. Marah, I'll be thinking of your Uncle Mike later tonight. Joy, we've hit BASE 1000, haven't we? NickD

J, Thanks for the heads up. I've only talked on the phone with him and we are hooking up later this evening. As Mike Allen used to say, "it's a full moon tonight [well almost] and it makes me smile to know all over the planet people are jumping off of things, what a nutty, nutty world." Seriously, he sounded okay on the phone, if there's issues, PM me. NickD

I've known several police officers and also a few prison guards who BASE jump. We had one cop here named John (I'm serious) who jumped many times in the city with us. He was very well known and respected in the Police Department and we knew flashing his tin would get us out of just about any trouble. That "get out of jail card" lasted a year or so, then John went in on a skydive trying to find a floating pud on a borrowed Racer . . . The Department suspected foul play, being the wuffos they are, combined with the fact policeman always make enemies. Someone in John's family asked us to get involved and Anne and I went to headquarters where John's skydiving rig was being held. We explained to the Detectives what happened and why it happened and it satisfied them and we made a few friends in the process. But, John was a really cool guy, and I miss him . . . NickD

Tom, It's a matter of degrees. I did a jump from 120-feet over hard ground and for one or two seconds I was looking very good and then in the third second I looked like an idiot and broke myself into a thousand little pieces . . . So for me, meaning you can stow all the time, doesn't mean on everything, every time, and for everybody. I sometimes forget that people reading what I write won't be able to grasp that. Thanks for setting me straight. I'm as guilty as anyone when remembering what this site is all about. I am, however, responsible enough to hit delete on about 50 percent of what I write here. I'm saving all that deleted stuff for the book . . . NickD

Thanks everyone, Manbird replied. Game on . . . NickD

Perfect and done . . . That was fun! NickD BASE 194

>>Unknown nugget: "If you can go, you can stow".