patworks

This Great input by Mr. Nuez provides good information that is not easily available. His comments help to flesh out the history of AADs. Good Job Juan! Thanks from all of us. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Don is doing a lot better. He's been talking with Stan Troller and Dennis Henley who say hes walking + talking fine. Contact information is on the AirTrash web site Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Thanks, Good post. I'm afraid i just duplicated some of the info. I just heard about it from Sandy Callum. Pat Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Heads up,Pioneer parachutist, SCR 007, Don Henderson had a stroke and is somewhat messed up more than usual. FYI: In Skydiving the SCR award number "7" means that Don was part of the first-ever freefall 8-man "star" formation. Everything else grew from that. Info at AirTrash.com web site. --- CLICK "MESSAGES" Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Roger "Ramjet" Clark made me think of this low opening photo. I think Red Kostaba (Hinckley, James Gang) shot it in the late '60s Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

41 it is! Congratulations mate! It has been a fun run, eh? Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Right on. Both Jan and I hold Jim Stoyas in high regard. He was an esteemed friend and fine person. He radiated the energy of blue skies but the reaper nabbed him that jump. It was a sad thing to lose him. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Darn!!, I keep getting a "Forbidden on this server" message. with this link. Roadblock: anybody know how to get past the barrier to the Rec.Skydiving Link??? Great site! There is a treasure trove of skydiving history and bon mots lurking there as pearls shining quietly admidst pig poop. The web masters of Rec.Skydiving deserve high praise indeed for fielding this. They indeedsatisfied the 'Communication Imperative' .... a basic tenet of our sport. Plaudits + HELP! Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Even at about $5.00 -$7.00 per jump, I could not well afford it. As a starving college student I could only afford to jump if I eliminated other activities. I could do what I wanted by simply selecting what I wanted to do the most. My choices were: 1. Eat (No $$ = no food) 2. Drink (No $$ = no beer) 3. Skydive. 4. Date All seemed to be necessary at the time. My solution was to rotate between choices whilst skimping on food costs. For about .25 cents per day I could cook up a mess of dried red beans. That bounty gave me the freedom to select yet another choice to satisfy whichever choice that fate, luck, or a lust directed me to. Also back when the earth was flat and canopies were round, a novice could make demo jumps which were free albeit made dicey by high wind, slow canopies, and low skill. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Hooper has better info than I re Bob Shafer... me thinks that he is mostly dead. - Memory fades... but shafer and his brother and Simon Fraizer, big guy from Florida wore cowboy boots. ... all 3 died flying North under the radar in AZ (??) returning from somewhere South w/ the Lodestall. Nap of earth flying. They impacted a chunk of rock that sat higher than they flew. (? Power line?) Crashed and burned. Heard the Feds were lurking it too. Big loss. Bob Shafer was jumping with us on the 1st CA formation team, Elsinore *Terminal Chaos * . ... at that time, we had to import Az divers like Bob to do sequential in Ca. because all locals were dedicated to round-only formations. Ref. Terminal Chaos at the North American Sequential Sweepstakes. Our 8-man team out at Elsinore had only six people "How do you do 8-man team freefall with only six people??" https://users.cs.fiu.edu/~esj/uwf/uwf4.htm chapter 4, Competition Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

C-54 Photos: Inside shot of DC-4... a long walk; + Pat and Janner loading the DC-4 (C-54) @ Coolidge. Janner and Co. are at photo-left. Pat w/1-foot on ramp. {Photos by Zing} Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Tom Phillips splattered on the highway just in front of the Casa Gulch town mayor. I was on the load. It was mainly the Elsinore A-1 Downers group who ate reds whilst jumping. When Stonely called the load on the PA his word-slurs scared me so that I grabbed my rig and got on a taxing plane, "Hey, ... you're not on this load!" Me, "Yes. Now, I am." …. 9-way; I landed out. A whuffo watching me field pack points, "Say, what's that falling...?" I say, "Just a D-bag." He sez, "Well that 'bag' had a screaming man with it." (Dead Tom). Like I feared, they broke off real low and hummed it. Reflexes slowed, Phillips pulled too low. Splattered he did. Sport Death. Later, loveable Terry Ward brought a small chunk of Tom over to my van and fed it to my cat Wizard. Wizard gagged and upchucked Tom. .... You don't need to hear the rest. --------------------- PS -- As Howard mentioned, the Gulch had a lot of bounces. Windy days we'd load onto the Trans Gulch flat bed w/ beer and do a bounce-crater tour of those who'd made their last jump. The famous Monty & Link dual crater is a highlight attraction. With respective holes about 4 feet apart, that was a dead serious two-way, that. Sport Death. + + + + PSS – Notwithstanding all that XXX stuff… Skr sez it best...Later on, with the sequential + USFET dives it was a Wonderful Time and place that changed our skies forever. [Ref. Watch "Wings" and see and agree.] BTW, both BJ and Randy DeLuca also made that long LA-Gulch weekend trip. On the trips home they’d stop by and share the weekend’s takes of "Wings" They flew our dreams Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Robin Heid bought it and lived in it for years... sold it a few years ago to Swooper Clint Clausson. Still has the ParaDeath catalog on the wall. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

*Para Death Sky Dieing Equipment Catalogue* Pub. by Casa Grande, Arizona DZ [Casa Gulch] 5x11", B/W Felt tip pen, hand-lettered with 11 pen illustrations. USFET era. Published after Heydorn bounced. (Warning: R-rated, Black humor & Black Death. Now offensive to some.) - - - Item #1 - PARA-DEATH LAST CHANCE PRY BAR Use in addition to your last chance cord to pry open a hogback pack closure after cutting away. Makes a nice gift for your friends. Also available with rubber tips in case they’re not your friends. - - - Item #2 - PARA DEATH ANVIL RESERVE Your base man will never "Z" on you again. Never needs repacking. Complete with short chain link risers. - - - Item #3 - PARA DEATH EXTRA DIVE ALTIMETER > Reads 50% high. Get 45 seconds on a 30 second load. More dive for your diving dollar. - - - Item #4 - PARA DEATH BLINDER GOGGLES Allows you to concentrate directly ahead. Why be paranoid about all those other turkeys on your load. - - - Item #5 - PARADEATH PACKING TABLE > Order several if you have an active DZ (Death Zone) - - - Item #6 - PARADEATH SOLID STATE ALTIMETER > No moving parts. Absolutely accurate when you're at 2,000 feet. Never be accused of low pulls again. - - - Item #7 - PARA DEATH HUNDRED MILE AN HOUR TAPE (also called Duct Tape) Tape up broken jumpsuit zippers, rips and tears, tape down ripcords to prevent getting zapped, repair canopies, lines, tape over goggles to avoid getting ground rush. - - - Item #8 - PARA-DEATH SURE GRIPS (Order thru Hudson Bay Trapper Co.) > - - - Item #9 - PARA-DEATH AUTOMATIC OPENER Designed especially for the RW freak. Solves the problem of sometimes getting down there. 100% reliable. Fires on impact. - - - SPORT DEATH Compute your teams bounce index (frapp factor) : Add points for all questions and divide by 10. Teams with Bounce Index greater than 8 should pay entry fee in Cash only. Individual bounce potentials (in days of expected lifetime) are computed by dividing you number of jumps by the team bounce index. - 1. In case of malfunction, team member’s emergency procedures are: *Cut-away.................... 0 Points *Hand-Deploy (belly reserve)..... 0 Points *Analyze the situation............ 1 point *Observe the crowds' reaction... 5 Points *Kick, scream, and freak the Whuffs....10 points 2. Team compliance with USPA BSRs: *Always............. 0 Points *What are BSRs? ...1 Point *What is USPA? ... 5 Points *Fuck USPA.........10 points 3. When was the last time your team saw a bounce: *On the way into Casa Grande... 0 Points *Last month.................. 1 Point *Last Year..................... 5 points *Never...........................10 Points 4. Team Members Gear: *Mostly conventional gear and new rags.... 0 Points *Assorted PC's, Death Rags, Pigs, Pop Tops, Plop Tops, etc... 1 Point *X-Bows, T-Bows, ParaPlanes, Delta-IIs, 24' twills, etc... 5 Points *What gear?.............................. 10 points 5. Team Objectives: *Win the meet.......... 0 Points *Scare each other ..... 2 Points * Freak the Whuffs ... 5 Points *Freak the other jumpers... 8 points *Freak the Casa Grande Mortician.. 10 Points 6. After-Star Sequential Maneuvers: * Never done........... 0 Points *Sometimes not completed before break off. 1 Point *Always completed before impact.... 5 Points *A good after-star is reflected by the symmetry of the craters.... 10 Points. 7. Team Philosophy: *Exit fast, fly slow, and break clean.. 0 Points *Get in or go in ........................ 1 Point *First one to the ground wins..... 5 Points *They don't pay to see a carnival ride kid (Gypsy Moths) .... 10 Points) 8. Where do you jump: *Coolidge .................... 0 Points * Casper Wyoming ........ 5 Points * Elsinore..................... 8 Points *Casa Grande Death Zone... 10 Points 9. Team's state of consciousness: * Slightly altered............. 0 Points * Spaced........................ 1 Point * Drunk.......................... 5 Points *Unconscious.................. 10 Points 10. Team's attitude toward fatality Reports *Avidly read all incident reports .... 0 Points *Enjoy good Bounce stories........... 5 Points * Tired of being upstaged by nonspectacular mundane bounces...10 Points * * * PS, I'll provide a copy to the cataqlog to anyone who will scan it in to a computer and post the page images , PDFs or whatever, on Dropzone.com *** Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Flight for the joy of flying. Plus awesome visuals + vistas. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

They still jump! They still fly the Jolly Roger! They are Air Trash . . . I'm a member Check 'em out at http://www.airtrash.com/ Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

...Red eyes" Came from smoking 'n joking AKA safety meetings. The winning team at the 1st North American Sequential Sweepstakes at Ft. Lewis, Sept 3-6, 1976 was named Clear-Eye Express because they used the eye-drops Clear Eye... But only in one-eye! ..... yuk, yuk + gigggle Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Yep, It Came from the Gulch and Goulidge Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

When sequential RW (now formation skydiving) was just getting started in the mid 1970s it started in ST, AZ, CA, TX, KS, IL western USA. Jumpsuits were small. Most skydivers wore boots. Belly reserves and ripcords were the norm. Of course, good intelligent, cool skydivers never got caught dead. We believed that until Jim Heydorn bounced with a double total. Poof, the myth of the right stuff vanished. If Heydorn could bounce, ANYBODY can bounce! Thus, the brighter pioneer sequential types began to notice that the quality/quantity of people getting killed by impact appeared random... good skydivers and bad skydivers both bounced about as high. We noticed that it was not that He screwed up but rather that fate is the hunter and there is a real element of chance in skydiving. We learned that the bright blue friendly sky was balanced, yin/yang style, by a dark foreboding ground. Since the ground snuffed the life it was/is death. Unsafe practices, as a group were termed black death. The exit count used by my 8-way teams and several others was Blue sky/ Black Death. Sport parachuting became Sport Death. While the Black Death thing was an insider thing which translated to Hey yall, lets avoid danger up there it later got adopted and/or banned by folks who did not and do not understand what it means. So just as goodbye means God be with you Blue sky/black death is a salute to the sky/earth that means something like lovely up there/watch out crazy pat '96 Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

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

We are talking 1960’s here. I made about 5 static line jumps. Then Jump & pull, and 3, 5, 10 second delays. Then 30 second delay. It was a special offer that Clyde D42 + Carlos D152 gave me contingent on my buying an altimeter then and there. I did. (Big: about the size of a can of soup) for $25, I could skip normal progression and go straight to 30 second delays. Clyde followed me out. Stayed real close, said that i looked "awful but pulled stable..." I spent the confusing part in a cannon-ball position so that the earth didn’t move so much…. We didn't jump above 9500 feet back then. It was 2 years later, in Nov '62 that I made a 60 second delay from a 182 at Doc Anagnostis Galveston Skydivers at Midway. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

History and research reference book: Parachuting: Webster's Timeline History, 1911 - 2007 [Paperback] Philip M. Parker, PhD, Editor Publisher: ICON Group International, Inc. (June 6, 2009) ISBN-10: 0546887988 ISBN-13: 978-0546887983 Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

1----- Original Message ----- From: don.deveny > > > Skippy "bought" Clyde's D-42 license from him, on his death bed, for a dollar.. > 2 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Deli" Hi Don, After 46 years the real deal surfaces!!!! Who'd a' known?? Deli-out PS, I wonder if Herb Golden (former Southern Conf. Champ) knows, he told the story?? 3----- Original Message ----- On 5/19/2010 5:43 PM, don.deveny wrote: The story was well known among the real oldtimers in the Houston area. Works knows it. Don't know about Golden. Clyde was stunting in a Skeeter Hawk and lost it. Broke him all to pieces but he lived for a few days. He and Skippy were old buddies. 4----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Works" Bill Deli, Ok, Skippy did not hold much truck with the PCA or the FAA Clyde Jacks was jumping w Skippy when I started in '61. Then The Instructor at the Houston Parachute CLub was Clyde. Clyde Jacks, D-42 who died Nov 26 '62 when I had about 50 jumps. I was jumping with the HPC (and the Galveston Skydivers). .....Of the 200+ dead skydivers you +me + we know, his hurt me lots. I cried. I burned a candle. ...And, , the plane that killed him was a small 1-seat yellow bi-plane called a Skeeter Hawk... I logged it. HPC president Herschel Lee reported it. Clyde had 1,172 jumps......on "November 17 at Skeeter-Hawk Ranch".... at 1,200' he gave an aerial salute.... perfect left roll" , the right killed him.... about 10 days later after he'd sold his "D" ticket to Skippy for $1 and checked out. (about 10 years later Don Deveney had a similar crash in Galveston but survived mentally, mostly. I think.) Clyde frapped at his place he called Skeeter-Hawk Ranch where I'd worked cutting brush for jumps from George Armstrong's tiny Luscomb. (very slow climber; Hard to get out of. He'd hand me my reserve after i'd got out on the step, i'd just hook up one D-link and go.... worked for me. I Had a Double "L") . A energetic, friendly, air athlete, Clyde impressed my 17 year old self much. He was my 1st + primary instructor... Gus "Doc" D114, CG Wallace D152 , and Ed Fitch (I-11), too. He had a creme tanker-truck. He pumped shit out of septic tanks. He was "the best spot jumper in the USA..." because he could land within 20' of the yard-square "dead Center" Cloth target using a 28' round. His girlfriend Sue did freestyle. He did a BASE jump in Downtown Houston in '61... he talked about freestyle and free flying. He and Sue also had sucessful sex from 7200' .... i'm told they gor started real good and a close friend rolled em out the door of the 185. He is also dead as a mackerel. Ouch. Hey Deli, Somebody ought to post this thread (below + etc.) on DZ.com.... Please do so, OK? If you will, I'll also send you the responses of several other of his/our friends who knew him to flesh out the record. Recording what went illuminates what comes. History don't mean shit if you print blank pages. Communicate! That is the imperative. The rest is talk. Talk don't carry time for shit. FUVM, Works 5-------- Original Message -------- From: don.deveny I hadn't thought about George Armstrong in many years. He was a frequent pilot of the Cessna 185 at HPC when I first jumped there shortly after Clyde was killed (I never met Clyde). I remember that on really hot days, when we would cram in 6 jumpers, George would have to pop the 185 off the ground at the end of the runway to get over the barbed wire fence and then go under the power lines on the other side of the road before he had enough airspeed to climb out. We didn't think anything of it, just SOP. A few years later George got busted for smuggling weed in from Mexico. The FBI looked hard at all of us after that 'cause they were sure that they had uncovered a big smuggling ring. Lots of seedy, dope smoke'n, pistol pack'n Texas guys with easy access to stripped out planes flying from uncontrolled dirt strips. Ah, the good ole days. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Proof: Right on Chuck, Skippy did do a lot of highly technical demo jumps with round canopies. Being Santa Clause, or whoever, He'd insist on a roof landing or wherever kids could not hear him talk. Having a cleft palate, he talked and sounded ‘different’ and it bugged him. He said, “I didn't want kids thinking their Santa sounded like me...." Demo jumps in the 1960’s…. So, picture a very tight landing spot in a back yard, a resort, a shopping center, a beach house, a sports field, a parking lot, a cemetery, whatever for a demo. …. He did all. Think of restricting yourself to landing wherever keeps you separated from the children until a "Real" Santa or Iron Man can step-in...... Try Round canopies and spotting yourself from a small Cessna over whereeverthehell Texas in winds under a small 28' round canopy that boasts about a a 3 MPH Fwd. speed. Think about doing tough guy stand up landings under a 28’ round canopy to wow the folks…. Do some of that, and you'll get the great stories Skippy related. Really crazy shit…. Don’t try it. Example: one cloudy day at CG Wallace’s DZ in Crosby Texas, some civilian restaurant owner invited us, “…. Common, fly on over and you boys can parachute in to my place…. … folks will love it and I’ll give you all free eats too.” So, five of us load up in the Cessna 195, climb to maximum altitude just below the clouds at about 1,600 feet AGL, throw 3-streamers to plot the spot and exit at about 1,500 AGL for the free-food demo. Carlos spots. Everybody does a fairly long delay except me. We all exit with our floating ripcords in-hand. Me, a turkey, arch a bit, popping my main just off the step. Ouch! Embarrassing! I’m open above a grand…. Nobody notices as this is a SMALL Restaurant with a not-big parking lot. Cars consumed space, too. It is real easy to get focused on landing. At about 200’ Carlos, freaked by all the obstacles, lands on the restaurant’s roof. Skippy, thinks that that is way COOL does the same. We land amongst parked cars. Me with a messy front-roll PLF (Still do). The restaurant owner was way impressed, saying something like, “Amazing, wonderful, great that you two fellows could actually land on my roof! Who would have thunk…. Course, you boys don't know you landing dropped our ceiling fluorescent light tubes smack onto my tables, customers, and food…. So, I’m gonna have to close down for a spell and clean thing up. Real sorry about that. But you men come on back by here some other time and I’ll give you that free lunch like I promised.” Whilst Carlos took the heat, the rest of us decided get beer and slink back to the DZ. It was to cloudy to jump anyhow. Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Skippy Mannino, Pioneer Texas Skydiver + one of the Houston "Wallace Outlaw" tribe died of old age. (!) Amazing. Skippy once survived landing in the houston ship channel by using the birthday cake + Box he was parachute delivering to a pary as floatation gear. Skippy, along with Carlos Wallace, RL Ticer, Doc Agnostis, Ed Fitch, Deveney, Works.... et al carried RW into the 1960s with their pre USPA (PCA) approach of 1k pulls, no altimeters, 5-way stars, and round canopies from 7.2K using Cessna 185 and Cessna 195s. A jump-story teller of hugely funny SNAFU jumps: easy to like. Respect. Skippy died of old age... far out!