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This is the second year that commercial and sport ocean salmon fishing has been banned in California. The recently plentiful natural runs of Chinooks have been decimated by diverting too much river water for agriculture. Inadequate flow makes the rivers too warm and too shallow for successful reproduction. The farmers have far more effective lobbyists than the fishermen. Somewhere out there is Cooper's chute. Some of the metal hardware will last for a century or more. Not so sure about the fabric and webbing. Havent heard from Galen lately. Tom K is maintaining radio silence. Quiet times here. Sir it up someone, please. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo, Have you tried zillow.com? It can lead you from a map to info on addresses etc. With an address it is pretty easy to find out who owns the property. Some county assessors offices have online info identifying property owners by address and by assessors parcel number. As a realtor it should be easy to find out who owns a piece of property. As for things going "poof" and disappearing, could you please mention my alimony order and make it go away? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Snow could tell you a lot more about band conditions than I could Georger. My home HF antenna is a pathetic corroded trap vertical with inadequate radials. Local RF noise is high. Snow has a very impressive antenna farm and a quiet QTH. I live in a pleasant neighborhood but it's a violent RF ghetto. Elk jerky. Now there's something I've never tasted. I have eaten crow a few times. 73 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

hmmm. You might be right. Unless the canopy plane became less vertical it wouldn't really help. Anyone else have a response? Where is Brian Germain when we need him? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8234173.stm Question: if you are down to your last chute and it is all spun up like in this video, is there anything that can be done? What would happen if you threw out a 4 ft diameter pilot chute attached to your harness? Would it slow the spin down enough to make the canopy more parallel to the ground and slow the rate of descent to something survivable? I know its a wacky idea but I was just wondering... I cant quite figure out the aerodynamics. I am an EE not an ME or Aero E. No, I am not advocating three chutes so don't flame me. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Sorry to hear about the flooding Georger. You had enough of that last year. Jerry, what kind of salmon did you smoke? Kings (Chinook) or Silvers (Coho)? One of the coastal buyers I used to sell salmon to in my comercial fishing days ran a huge commercial smokehouse. Fishermen who sold to his buying station got a side (half a fish) of smoked King Salmon any time they wanted one, free. I ate a LOT! Smoked meat is supposed to be carcinogenic. If so I am living on borrowed time. Making some more HAHO ham radio communication jumps on Saturday. Hope the winds are mild. I am really enjoying those long high canopy flights. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo, Put Duane at Tena Bar before the money find and I'll pay attention. A nebulous stealthy meeting with unknown people at the Fontaine Blue Bar proves nothing with respect to Norjack. Better yet, put Duane in a chute. You said you could. You said you had proof he was Cooper. Stop teasing and show it, or admit you mislead us. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Really good HARP calc presentation Lou, thanks. I wonder if there is any EASY way to use a GPS for measuring winds aloft as you fly through them under canopy? A simple 360 degree turn should show a ground speed peak when you are running directly downwind and a minum when flying directly upwind. The difference between this max ground speed and the min groundspeed 180 degrees from that direction should give you windspeed... unless I am missing something. I wish there was a GPS program suitable for cheap hand held units that would let you make a circle and just readout windspeed and direction without the jumper having to monitor and calculate. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Thanks Lou. We actually have your prior posts printed and laminated in plastic as part of our mission planning bible. We are going to pre breathe oxygen. Looking for any additional suggestions including how to mount the tank, route the hose, what is the best mount for or radio gear and battery (currently planning chest pack attached so it cannot cover pillow or reserve handle), etc. I like to jump with my Cypres on. I have tested the radio gear by transmitting on the ground and it does not seem to affect the Cypres, but could altitude change this? Would you exit far upwind or close to the DZ if winds are below forward speed of the canopies? Thanks, 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You are right. I incorrrectly thought the SAAF conversions were done by Basler. From a scale model website: 7/23/2005- Updated information on the Heritage Aviation conversion! David Gait emailed me with the following information- "The conversion set for the BT67 produced by Heritage Aviation is not for the Basler. It is based on the South African Air Force (SAAF) conversion, which is similar to the Conroy Conversion. The fuselage plug forward of the wing is the same, but the engine configuration is different- notably, the exhaust for the SAAF is either side, while the exhaust for the Basler is above the engine. Also, the fairing aft of the Basler engine is squared off, whereas the SAAF uses the orginal fairing. The Basler wing tips are aslo modified. I did prepare masters of the engines and wing tips for Heritage Aviatin (Martin Brundle) two years ago, and I am still awaiting production. I know of several other modellers who are interested in this as well." *************** I once saw the Conroy Tri Turbo Three at Santa Barbara CA. That DC 3 had THREE PT-6 turboprop engines (one on the nose). Check out these photos: Note the big radome on the belly in one photo. http://www.douglasdc3.com/polair/polair.htm 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I figure from 24K we could go about 13 miles in calm air... more with the typical winds of 10-15 knots in the afternoon if we ran downwind, maybe another 3 or 4 miles. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I believe I have bought one of every skydiving product L&B has made including some early obscure ones. Some were better than others, but I have been 100% satisfied because of how they treat the customer after the purchase. Their customer support has been UNBELIEVABLY great. On thing you never hear from L&B is "sorry we no longer support this product" or "you are out of warranty, tough luck." If there is a solution they will find it, even on older products. Lars and Mad bend over backwards to keep their customers happy. Their US service prices are very cheap and save you the considerable cost of shipping to Denmark. I have never seen their equal in customer service with any other kind of product in or out of skydiving. L&B has earned my loyalty. If they make it I will buy it. It is amazing that they don't make an AAD? They are most of the way there in the guts of their current products. They must have good friends at AIRTEC. L&B define excellent customer service. They are at the very tip top in my book with nobody in a close second place. I just wish other companies would be half as good. And no, they don't pay me or give me stuff to write this gushing praise. They earned it. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

A friend and I want to make HAHO jumps from 18K to 24K, with alt depending on FAA issues. We will be using ham radio gear on our jumps and trying to make very long distance comms. We have done some recent ham radio practice HAHOs from 14K, no problems at all, but higher will take oxygen gear, warmer suits and other safety preparations and precautions. I have done two HALO jumps from 23K-24K with no oxygen (just breathed it in the plane). I have zero high altitude hop and pop experience. What do we need to know, prepare and train for to make safe HAHOs from 18K to 24K? I figure this is the right forum for asking these kinds of questions and would appreciate all suggestions and gudiance offered. Any tips on the best way to mount the O2 tank and route the hose to the mask? We are going to use aircrew masks with built in demand regulators and internal mics for the radio comms. The tank mounted regulator is a medical type constant (adjustable) flow. Don't flame me if I am asking dumb questions. I am just looking to do this thing safely and am starting with very little knowledge. If it can't be done safely we will stick to 14K HAHOs. Thanks for any advice you can offer. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I saw some newsgroup reports that the South African Air Force was unhappy with their Basler DC 3 turbine conversions and are selling them off. Any known reasons for their dissatisfaction? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo Did you answer my question? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo There is another side door. See photo. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Syrianair_Boeing_727.jpg Have you ever previously mentioned Duane explaining 727 stair deployment to you? Describe the "wheel" in more detail. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3660264#3660264 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I have seen a lot of the MA 2-30 altimeters but this setup for a chest reserve mount is new to me. It appears to be made for the miltary and has a battery plug, switch and lighted hood for night jumping. North Star 20K altimeters were used by some jumpers in the 70s. This looks the same as the ones I saw then. I remember they were a hassle to wrist mount beacuse they had only 3 instead of four mounting holes. Take a look at the photo. Any info welcomed. The Army SOG were doing night HALOs in Viet Nam, wonder if this was made for those ops? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo, I get a kick out of your lexicon: "dislusional" and "probable proof". Give us more. What evidence puts Duane in a parachute? Are you sure it wasn't "pair of shoes"? Seriously though, if you have evidence that Duane was a jumper this is the place to post it. The FBI has already decided that Cooper was not a jumper. Some of us here are not so sure. Against my better judgement I still keep searching for evidence of California prison inmate smoke jumpers. So far zero, just inmate ground based fire crews. Snowmman raises a good point. Both Folsom and San Quentin are far from any air attack fire bases from which smoke jumpers have ever operated. Wearing their jump gear in front of the prison sounds far fetched, but maybe it was done for a good publicity shot. I am really wondering if you saw a movie poster photo. Also, why would inmates be used when there are so many non criminals who wish to enroll as smoke jumpers? What's the point? Way more risk using inmates and no more reward. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo, Surely you have more than Duane's "plane sight" spelling to put him in a chute... right? So what do you have? Don't revert to the tease mode. Put your cards on the table. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Good point Nigel and even more instances with non fatal but serious injuries. It isn't just speed. Angle of attack is a factor too. Lodi DZ was sued over a tail strike. An experienced jumper exited during climb, hit the horizontal stab and suffered very serious injuries. Fortunately his canopy deployed. A tail strike is less of a factor on a tailgate or ventral stair exit but the awareness of speed and the need for flap extension shows me that Cooper knew something about air drops. When I was a kid I was obsessed with chutes and skydiving but it never occurred to me that exit speed reduction was vitally important. I think most whuffos never consider it. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~glwells/Wells_articles_pdf/Applied_Eyewitness-Testimony_Research.pdf This might lead to some eye color recollection accuracy research. I mean Braden is too good a Cooper to rule him out on eye color French Paraboots added quite a bit of height. With trousers pulled over I wonder if they would have been perceived as something different? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

There is a lot of research published about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. Wonder if any studies separately measured ability to correctly recall eye color? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

The Slovenians tell me that the C 123K is not an option and that my kids will suffer harm unless we buy their Antonov. I told them not to mess with me cause I know someone high up at Snowmman industries. They couldn't stop laughing. They said that Snowmman personally brokered the deal to get the Antonovs out of Soviet military hands and into theirs. My latest thinking is that Cooper was no Whuffo. Too much attention to exit speed and related aircraft configuration. Most whuffos wouldn't even think about exit airspeeds much less flap settings. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Yes Orange, 377 is a whore for cheap dope. Snow, I've made dozens of tailgate jumps from CASA 212s but not the later model. Working on oxygen and radio comm gear for a high altitude HAHO jump in Oct. Been doing 14000 ft HAHOs and just loving it. It really prolongs the sky experience. I love freefall but this has opened my eyes to another dimension of jumping. Snow's SOG SF RT stuff just fascinates me and I have been reading a lot more. Bruce's follow ups add incredible value. Braden sure makes a great Cooper even if he wasn't. Sluggo, I once defended a case where an illegal firearms charge was prosecuted. The weapon in question was a hand modfied M1 carbine with "bananna" clip. The seer mech had been altered to produce fully automatic fire. I asked the DA about evidence that the weapon was in fact a machine gun. He said "would you like to shoot it?" So we make arrangements to shoot it at the police range. I am squeezing off the second short burst and let go of the trigger. This miserable beast of a gun keeps firing until the clip is empty!!!! So much for homemade machine guns. Kinda scary. I kept my head and just pointed it straight ahead but there was an urge to just toss it which would have been disasterous. Carry on. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.