steve1

A friend of mine,s son was making his first tandem, out of a Otter. We built an eight way, with he and his tandem instructor falling base. That would be a great way to start skydiving....

Airtwardo, Thanks for sharing. You tell the best stories. I hope you can tell us some more....

I remember lot's of pre-jump briefings in the army, where a sargent in charge would say in a booming voice, (with delight in his eyes)...."And if you are hung up behind the plane, and are able to, put one or both hands on your helmet. Then we'll cut your ass away." "If you are unconscious or hurt bad, we'll foam down the runway, and land with you dragging behind the aircraft!" Do they still give that speech in the Army? Little did I know, a little helicopter could zoom in and save your ass.

Oh hell, that story scared me. Tell us, another one...

One of my rigs has painful leg straps. I took some strips of dense foam and put those between the leg strap and their covers. It helped a bunch...

We had some training, for a message pickup. If you had no radio or other means of communication, you could put a message in a tin can. You'd tie some cord on it, and rig it between two poles. A Cessna would fly over with a big hook, and snag the line. It was then pulled into the plane. I saw that done. It worked slick. We had a little training in rigging up a system to recover a downed pilot or other high priority person. The rumor was that an officer was reeled into a C-130 several times. He loved doing this. Then one day he came unhooked and was killed. I heard that people started wearing reserve chutes after that, for this. Maybe all this is all rumor. You heard a lot of stories....

I think I may have already told these hard pull stories. I hate to sound like a broken record all the time. But I'm about out of old stories..... Anyhow, I remember a small girl in the 70's who couldn't open her B-12 container on two different jumps. She had an awful time just opening her belly reserve. She ended up with the nickname of "Total". Most people were trained to pull with two hands if one didn't work. I'd think that most could pull more than 22 pounds, with two hands. I remember one jumper who survived a midair collision with another plane. A year later he had a hard pull, couldn't open his main....(It may have been a b-12). He thought there could have been a piece of gravel in his rip cord housing. He openned his round belly reserve, and found it full of holes. He ended up in the hospital. A year or so after that, he was killed in a plane crash, on a snowy day. I guess he ran out of luck....

I had no idea that 13 people had died at Sheridan. That is a lot for a small drop zone. Ted let me use one of his rigs one day. Little did I know I could have been flirting with death. And I thought I had problems with authority! That was an interesting article Krip....

For some reason, that story does not surprise me much....That might have been a tough place to start jumping. Airtwardo told a story of a guy who burned in, near a hangar, somewhere in Arizona. There was dead silence inside the hangar, and then an old salt piped up, and said, "I don't know who spotted that load, but whoever it was, they must be good!" I wonder if that old salt's name, was Ted Mayfield?

What happened Jerry?....Do you have any more Ted Mayfield stories? I'm still laughing at the girl who fell through the sheet rock, story....

reply] Was the cover red plastic with a snap? Sparky Yep, that's the one....

Does anyone remember the red, log books that held 100 jumps. Many skydivers used them in about 1974. They might have become obsolete after that....

I thought I invented a hook turn into the wind, on a P.C.....but yet this is still another story, that proves lot's of others did the same thing...Back in the day. I'd do about anything to avoid a rear PLF. It was no fun to land feet, rear, head, on a windy day. I know you're supposed to twist to your side, but it never seemed to work out that way. If you timed this hook turn, just right, into the wind,you could swing into the wind, and land really soft, under a P.C. There was a lot of oscillation with a long lined P.C. I had a mark1. I hooked it in a little too late on one wind jump. I sure landed hard....but that still was better than a rear PLF. Those french jump boots saved me from injury, on that jump, and a lot of others. I still own a couple pair of Frenchies. Last time I wore them was on a P.C. jump, a few years ago. I even stood it up. Not bad, for an old fat boy! I couldn't have done that, without those boots, to take up the shock....

Anybody who can jump out of a perfectly good airplane, without a parachute, has got to be wild!!!

I went to a training, on domestic violence, recently. A FBI investigator was one of the speakers. He told of an investigation, where a Native American woman was beaten to death with a tire iron. The restraining order she had, on her nut case boyfriend, didn't help one bit. She tried to defend herself with a knife, but that proved futile. She was hit close to fifty times in the back of the head with a tire iron. Blood spatters were found thirty feet away from the body. Too bad she didn't have a glock, to protect herself with!

I could never keep up with the wild partiers at Lost Prairie. Toe sucking wasn't done back in the 70's. Now that I'm an old fart I'm only good for a couple beers, and then I head for my tent or camper....In fact I'm so old I haven't even jumped, or been to Lost Prairie in three years. So, I can't give much info. on this toe sucking thing. I wonder if Jaque La Strap is still at Lost Prairie. He was the wildest Canadian that I ever met. Maybe the years have tamed him down some. He was still a wild character, when I saw him three years ago.....even if he didn't wear a kilt anymore!....

reply] I don't want that kind of power. When a patient is clearly a danger to himself or to others, I present he case to a judge. The patient has a representative. Both sides are heard. The judge makes a decision. It's called due process. It's what we all deserve. I wonder what it takes to become a judge. Aren't they just elected from off the street. Then there is the problem that many just can't afford a good legal defense. While someone with lot's of bucks can get off easily. Such is the legal system in our country....We've all seen bad things happen because of that.... We had a relative who was found incompetent and sent to a home to live out her remaining years. First their was a nut house they sent her to, then another home she had to stay in. Her husband had been colonel in the Air Force, prior to his death. He had a huge retirement and many investments. This lady had once been a successful realtor. She had more money than she knew what to do with. Her kids wanted her money, and they got it easy enough. All they had to do was to have dear old Mom declared nuts. She did have a drinking problem. She did probably appear more than a little crazy, when she was going through detox. But she wasn't nuts. Maybe she was too ravelled to put together a legal defense. At any rate she was put away....She died a couple years later, alone. Her kids were too busy to even show up. So much for justice in America....Are judges now going to decide who can own a gun?

That sure looks like a young Hod Sanders, dead center in the back row, (just to the right of the guy with a hat). There's a couple who might pass for B.J....not sure on that one....

This is your second warning....Amazon... Just kidding! I was just funning with ya....Us red necks like to have fun! Maybe we can all go shooting....and quit all the bickering....

I haven't been there in 40 years. I did like most Texans. Very friendly, down to earth people....

I think a lot of people hear the word mental illness, and immediately....they think danger, watch out, this person is dangerous! I'd bet half the people on this forum could have been diagnosed with one form of mental illness or another, sometime in their life. That doesn't necassarily mean, that they are, or were, a threat to anyone. Sure there are some dangerous, crazy, damn, people in the world, but usually they also have a track record of violence in their past. Someone already mentioned, that a person's past, is a huge predictor of what they may do in the future. By all means, if a person has a long history of violence, put their rear in jail, and take their guns away.... Often times this past record, get's overlooked, or the present laws simply aren't enforced. I don't think we need more laws that punish the wrong people.... I know a few folks who have committed felonies. They served time in prison, and have been told they can not own a gun....yet they do. Some of their friends are even cops. They all know what is going on yet nothing is done.... I went to a training recently by an FBI investigator. He told a story of a woman who was brutally beaten to death, with a tire iron. There was blood thirty feet away from the body. She had been hit maybe fifty times....or more. The guy who killed her, said it never should have happened. That he loved this woman....Sure he was crazier than a bed bug.....He also had a rap sheet as long as your arm....Why the hell wasn't he locked up a long time ago for violence. The courts kept giving him one more chance. Finally he killed someone in a very brutal manner. I think we need to enforce the damn laws we have now....I don't think we need more laws that only punish honest gun owners...

Back in the early 70's I was at a College Meet at Boise, Idaho. B.J. Worth had thrown together an eight way team. I was the most the inexperienced guy on the team with a whopping 85 jumps. But then again B.J. only had about 500. At any rate we were able to build two eight way stars. They were the first and second ever built by a collegiant team. We even beat the Air Force Academy. Ray Cottingham film things. We waited a long time for that 16 mm film to arrive. Finally it did arrive.... B.J. took it down to the local pub, and we played it over and over again, on the wall of the bar. It had some really cool scenes in it, and we just couldn't get enough of it. Well, some local wuffo's were getting sick of watching this. One of them ripped off the movie. We were all sick. I never did find out, who stole that movie. Apparently the thieving bastard, was a friend of my room mate. My room mate got the film back a few days later. I was able to return it to B.J. and we all lived happily ever after...

reply] Ha! I think you may be talking about the difference between "Christmas tree" packing, where you put a separate longitudinal fold in each flake, and "side packing" (a/k/a "California packing", where you just flake it all once, lay it on its side, and sleeve (or bag) it right up. Yeah, it was faster to pack - and faster to open! (And I never had a mal with a side-packed canopy.) We used to call it a factory pack if you followed the manual. It seemed like most people just flaked it and sleeved it. Not sure, which method is more reliable. I used to have some really hard openings when I factory packed, and burned the heck out of it a couple times. Maybe I should have just flaked it and sleeved it....I had two mallys due to too short of a retainer line....

There are a lot of wonderful mental health therapists out there. I don't mean to say they are all quacks. The problem is that it is really hard to find a good one, in my opinion. I think most everyone could benefit by seeing the right therapist. The only big draw back would be spending thousands of dollars in that process. Even with really good insurance you can lay out a lot of cash. I'm glad you got the help you needed, and are not ashamed to talk about it. We all get a little crazy at times. Some of us went through a real shit storm growing up. It's not easy forgetting all that....Therapy can help. I just hope the government doesn't start thinking they have the right to get their fat nose into confidential records. Who would ever go to therapy, if that was the case? The problem with mentally unstable people, getting guns, would get worse...

When my Dad died, I was having a hard time. I went to a licensed therapist to vent some garbage I was carrying around with me. The therapist I went to tried to convince me that I must be bi-polar. Yes, she said...."you are a skydiver, this certainly must indicate mania. Why else would you risk your life like that" ..."Yes, your sadness in combination with mania such as skydiving, rodeoing, etc. indicates that you must surely be bi-polar" ....Well, I too am a licensed therapist. It didn't take me long to figure out this gal was a "Quack"! She almost has a docotorate degree. Isn't that scary! Will the government come and confiscate my closet full of guns, now! A quack came up with the wrong diagnosis. "Am I now a danger to society?"....I think not! It might be scary to note that a Bi-polar diagnosis is often the wrong diagnosis. I hope the government doesn't start giving goofy therapists the right to pick and choose who should own a gun by coming up with the wrong diagnosis. I hope it never comes to that....I work in the mental health arena, and there are some scary, scary therapists out there.....Maybe we should confiscate all their guns while we are at it! Just have the BATF give me a call. I can be their inside man. It might be fun to work undercover for them....