patworks

I LOVE Jerry McCauley and miss him sorely. We had great freefly skydives together training for and competing at the 1st American Championships of Free Flight in '95 w/ Brad Chatelier flying camers... It was a hoot! We burned the blue and laughed as we flew. Major fun Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

I wrote this in ~ 1964 Come with me and we'll go up there Where the wind blows cold and there ain’t much air. Where clouds are ice and your blood runs thin But—no sweat, buddy—we’re coming down again ... Like an eagle. A screaming eagle. When the Cessna gets so high she won't go no more With a laugh and a holler it's out the door Down amoungst those clouds to play Like that old eagle who does nothin else all day Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Night Jump I wrote this in about 1963 Think of the night as a plane lifts off with her engines screaming high. Just you, your friends, and dim small lights in God’s great empty sky. Now, hear the plane! Feel the wind! and see the lights below and jump into a wonderous world that few will ever know. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

A Toast to the Sky [adapted from a WWII Toast] O look to the skies of clear-shot blue And lift your glasses tall And think of the world Like a map unfurled beneath your screaming fall For here's to the sky for you and I With our silken banners pinned For here's a crew that burns the blue and rides on wings of wind. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Starting tomorror in Yuma Arizona is a "Pioneers of Sport Parachuting Reunion" hosted by mayor, Jacques-André Istel, D-2. Diverse folk who started jumping in the 1940-50-60 ++ will meet to celebrate shared skies of clear-shot blue. We gather. We'll lift our glasses tall 'n toast to all who've burn the blue and rode with wings of wind. FYI, Host Istel led the USA towards that still blue sky. Respect. Check out Mr. Istel in LIFE magazine at [Google: Parachute Jumping source:LIFE]. [/url]http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Parachute+Jumping+source%3Alife&btnG=Search+Images[url] Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

I started at 17 but had to get a paper signed by my Mom first. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Bill Stage SCR-5 died yesterday, Jan 30, 2010, after a long illness. An Arvin Good Guy Bill was on the worlds first 8-man star as well as the first 10-man star. Bill had health problems for many years and seemed to be near death on several occasions. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Wow! Well said, brother. The sky-father, Skratch again affirms that 'flight for the joy of flying' is both a path and a goal that our soul poet and mind song-singers all blither towards. Join us. Look over the sunrise. Insist. Continue to listen, learn, and see. Nice place to be. Great spot to lurk in. Come with notions of flight towards joy which transcend today to become a potential tomorrow! Skr is waiting. I too lurk here.. . Where are you now in expanding our envelope of winged potentials? Amaze yourself. Amaze us. Those who fly highest see furtherest. Envision our tomorrow, today. And share that dream! The brotherhood of freefall will be with you. Shoulder to shoulder. ‘Hand to hand. Level-to-level. Dimension-to Mind Warp. Sky-mat to sky-mat. All of us, Kids, & critters alike will map a today that envisages that tomorrow where Joy transcends comprehension. And perfecting flight engenders competitions that spread glories all over. That perfection of levels and proximity engender fulfillment. And the skies are won with wings we earned ourselves. So that our joy abides And grows Forever. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Group Swoop Definitions FREEFLY when: Freeflying or Vertical RW (vRW) – An emerging skydiving discipline (first practiced by Olav Zipser, 1986) that focuses on the ability to control levels and proximity while flying vertical positions - - - - Why: Today, vertical RW embraces a variety of body positions to fly relative with others at any fall-rate. Freeflyers do their vertical relative work in a variety of modes including head-down, standing, sitting, back-flying, and belly-flying. Pretty, graceful body form is not the most important aspect in vertical RW; rather, as in all forms of RW, precise control of levels and proximity is the main objective. The intent is to be able to fly in any position relative to another skydiver within a space constrained only by time. Compared to “flat” or planar RW, vRW is spherical or three-dimensional. Larger formations resemble a swarm of bees more than a dinner plate. To illustrate, RW dives can be stamped out on a flat piece of paper, while vRW dives cannot. Video presentation is from the side or a 3-D spherical point-of-view. From Pat Works' The Art of vRW, the way of freefly; (C) 1998 Pat works; ISBN 0-930438-04-3 Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Thank you HW. Your posts opened this up to more and many folk.... Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

When Ted Webster sponsored the first U.S. Freefall Exibition Team (USFET) in Bled, the US Team Captain, J. Bird, stole the Russian Flag, was captured, imprisioned, and escaped by walking out of the police station to a waiting car headed to the border. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Pre slider days, "Billy" Reevis jumped a 7-Cell Cloud Square with neither slider nor any other deployment device. He said, 'Opens hard. I tolerate opening delays of up to about 10 seconds, but after that I lose consciousness.' Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Hey Skratch! You started jumping in the 50's.... did you guys use the USAF equipment then? And, if you remember, what was the date of your 1st 5-way? Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

The jumpers at Beeline in Houston did a similar thing around that same time as a flight experiment. However, being a novice, the chicken was put out on its own pass as the 185 climbed up. Some feathers flew but the bird did not. Its wings blew back over its back and it sorta streamered in. Another experiment attempt with, well, a cat, was aborted when the test subject violently objected, refused to exit, puffed up like a balloon, and used teeth and claws to demand a ride down in the plane. Its tormentors salved their wounds and quit running live tests. I think it was George the undertaker, but I forget. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Scary Old Wind Days leave scars -- With a flat 28' USAF main winds of over about 12 MPH were dangerous. 15+ was very dangerous. You'd be backing up at that speed and lands were heels-to-head. No chance for a PLF. To add to the excitement, get caught in really high winds and sometimes the canopy would "breathe" & close up on descent. No Joy. With a hot modification like a 7-gore "TUE" mod itself took away a lot of the back side of the parachute. The result was good for perhaps a 5-7 MPH forward speed in light winds. In high winds, the canopy would squid closed about every 200' drop you fast; then reopen only to close again. Horror-show Scary, you are backing up like a bandit and your canopy drops you like a yo-yo on a string. The visuals give big fright, high pucker, and a strong-sick wiish to be anywhere else. Heavy Fear sits on you hard. You have about a 60-40 chance in favor of a soft landing. If you are lucky you'd land just after it reopened. With bad luck you'd fall about 20' and break/ sprain/ bruise stuff. You'd be crippled for weeks-months. Ouch. No fun. Bad memories. Heavy flinch-reflex. Thrill ride Cool tip: If you'd like to simulate one of these horror landings just get into a sturdy child's swing. Make it go! Make the swings huge. Get up as high as you possibly can. Fun. Now, at the apex of your next swing, look over your shoulder at the ground rushing up...... EEEEeKkkk!!! WOW!.... That's how it looks + feels. Still scares the holy shit out of me 48+ years later…Damn. Hurts to think about it now. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Catching your main canopy under your reserve is dumb. I know. I did it once. The falling main latched onto my reserve endcell and things got very exciting in a slow, nearly boring way for about 800'. ... it cleared. On cutaway I either follow my main or watch it land. Tip. Your Pilot chute + freebag will be only a few yards upwind or downwind of your main. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

The Panel was the 'dashboard' on our belly-mounted reserves which housed both a stopwatch and a BIG aircraft-size altimeter oft taken from an actual airplane. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Wow! Good-0. Well said.... Memories... Yep, you did what we did at the same times: 1960+. -- It was the standard operating procedure then. SOP. A complete USAF emergency bail-out B4 with canopy was only $25. Deployment bag or sleeve was another $15. I sewed my reserve D-rings to the Outside of my harness by hand. My 24' flat reserve w/ belly container cost me $50 bucks (actually, I traded a radio for it). Altimeters were roughly the size of a can of beans and paired with a stopwatch. We never looked at them either. Floating ripcords, well, floated. Yes, we walked the same path in the same foot prints. Neat that Omaha was just as 'evolved' as Houston back in '61- +. Often your rigger was yourself and your reserve packer was your pencil. You are indeed a living fossil. Perhaps a relic. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Comment from pal Ed Burran, D1856, one of Wallace's Outlaws at our Houston Texas DZ, " You did not mention the presence of guns at the drop zone which was guiet common." Ed... Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Review of my post by early '60s jump mate Don Deveny, c-1753 "Nasty Old Man" -- -- Don made these commments/ additions: . "Well lets see: - A&M legal pull altitude was 2K. Frequently ignored - The first addition to style and accuracy was baton passing events judged from the ground via binocs - Sprained/bent everything was common under home modified 28' Airforce canopies - Jumping interfered with drinking and drugging. - CG Wallace D-152 was the only one I knew who put lead behind his reserve. He would sling it to one side for target approaches. It knocked him cold on landing one time. - Welders gloves were common and killed Bill Nicholson - The hot rod aircraft was a 195 plus the Howard and Staggerwing Beech. Especially CG' (D152)experimental 195 that had a P&W 450 hung on the front. - We got away with turn 180 and dump because the forward surge of the home modified Airforce 28' flat canopies was not that great. It got dicier when we got ParaCommanders. Remember when some tried jumping Parasails. - - - All else be true" . s/ D. Deveny Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Like our team Capt. Bohr, after I chop, I don't dump my reserve until I've burned through worry time. However, 500' is as low as I will go. (Jack had 1K + skydives before he traded his rig for a chair) Airtwardo thinks like I do. Also, he too is a Texan skydiver. Together, this makes him doubly suspect. Moreover, he too is a living sky dinosaur (old fart). That’s 3-strikes. (But, probably a good man on your 6:00 tho) Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Yep. Saw it. Weird thing about Hinckley DZ then was several folks would commonly chop their main to air out a reserve due for repack. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

“For curing Sunday morning hangovers I used a shopping bag with a cheapo rigged to streamer, for 3000' exits, cutaway and opened P.C. main at 2000', cutaway P.C. and opened reserve at 500' ….. guaranteed to cure any hangover.” Said my friend Fedo, SCR 155 (Bob Federman, teammate on the Hinckley James-Gang and GodFrog RW teams ’70-’73) Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

When that happens to me; it has twice, I chop. I've had several friends break bones with RR Landings. With 1,500+ Round canopy-landdings, my ankles won't tolerate any more abuse. I do like walking. Also, i jump a very lightly loaded canopy; you can do chin-ups on the risers. Moreover I am very comfortable with cut aways and reserve rides having experienced 3 dozen or so. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,