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Yeah. It's in the Bible. God gave us the right to carry Glocks and also the right to ignore the IRS. Don't you guys ever listen to late night AM radio? Don't bet on the Supremes upholding any "radical" 9th Circuit decisions. The Left Coast Court of Appeals doesn't get much respect in DC. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Blevins wrote Bush and Cheney endorse an alternative method. John Yu says it's legal. Want the "truth"? Just add water. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Amazon wrote Got ya beat on instruments Amazon. Two helmet audibles. Wrist analog (often one of your military MA2-30s) and a chest analog so my partners in crime can see how high we are without turning their head or moving their wrists. I love electronics but when it comes to altimeters I prefer simple. No code. No processors. No batteries. Just aneroid bellows, gears and a pointer. One of my fellow ham skydivers scratch built a very sophisticated digital wrist altimeter. He even made the case with a 3D printer. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I read that book G. Very illuminating. My wife is a mathematician. She thinks most everything can be explained by functions and equations. It's just a matter of recognizing all the variables and constructing a proper model. I go with hunches and feelings. Except on altitude. I am strictly a numbers guy at terminal velocity. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

For me it's not just a job - it's an adventure! Evidently you are the good looking one with the bag - but who are the others? One looks like Rudoph the red NOSE reindeer, but who are the other two? Here is the picture Jo is referring to: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=142013; Look at the huge PYRO packages carried by these exhibition jumpers on their boots. Holy Cow Batman. Janet sure could have seen them exiting. I heard stories from old timers about demo jumpers getting seriously burned in freefall from malfunctioning flare and smoke gear. Does that ever worry you Airtwardo? Jumping is dangrous enough without producing a fireworks show while you are doing it. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Duane was obviously a very dedicated trouble groupie. JFK, RFK, MLK, DBC... Somehow he missed it when the Pope was shot. You gotta choose your continent. A guy cant be everywhere. Hey, dont be so skeptical, it coulda happened. As my statistical physics professor said: "Amazing coincidences do happen, but not very often. The more amazing, the less often." 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Georger wrote She is waaaay ahead of that G. Jo was a very early beta tester and UI tech adviser for Google Glasses. Just being around Duane gave her the equivalent of a BSEE. Dialup? Yeah right. More like beamup. Fiber right to her desk and tracking laser sat links as backups. Bruce is right. How could we have been so blind? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote I really doubt that Jo. Hams and CB "jock carriers" dont mix real well. I see no evidence that Duane ever held and FCC license of any kind. How could you credibly judge what the extent of Duane's ham radio expertise was? Duane's CB-aircraft dual band two way radio is vaporware Jo. it never existed. Yet you persist in believing that it did. At best some guys in a plane may have had a CB radio but even that is highly doubtful. It's also possible that some prankster CBers pretended they were transmitting from a plane. Jo, how did you first learn about Sheridan Peterson's job as a Bubbleator operator? 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote The plot thickens Jo. Bruce will be all over this. Did you know that Quade was tracked by USAF radar skydiving through AREA 51 airspace Found this while searching for info on radar tracking of skydivers. It's our Quade for sure. http://www.futurecam.com/area51.html It's labeled fiction, but thats CIA SOP, something about "plausible deniability". I guess the CIA didn't properly coordinate the op with the Air Force. No prob. A call to Langley and Nellis AFB brass were soon apologizing to Quade and inviting him to the Officers Club for drinks. Q didn't even ask to see the captured flying disc or the embalmed aliens, as he had already seen the full report and didnt want to be perceived as a gawking tourist in Dreamland. Jo, can you get me a few of those CIA get out of jail free jump anywhere cards? I'll recruit Hangdiver, Airtwardo, Amazon and some of my other friends here to do an El Capitan jump. I'll even invite Snow. It can be his first jump. If they are good in Area 51 it should be a piece of cake jumping in Yosemite. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote I see hope for you overcoming procrastination Jo. But full disclosure, no secrets, no teases? From Jo??? NOT A CHANCE. Why do you persist in pursuing info about the VOR towers when they have no relevance to Norjack.? There is simply no credible way Cooper could have used them for navigation info. No VOR proximity detecting vibrating corset stays. No microwave comms from the dam control network. No CB radio that could also communicate with aircraft on the VHF aviation band. NADA. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote: Jo, Since this has become your life's work and possible swan song shouldn't you reconsider dial up and go to something better? Fast internet access abounds and can be quite inexpensive. Bruce probably thinks you already have rooms full of servers, web crawlers galore and several T 10 lines. Maybe even an encrypted hotline to your "handlers" in Langley, Capetown and Quantico. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Airtwardo wrote Brings to mind the curiously out of place sequence in Sheridan Peterson's book about Nam. The hero Grecco is walking along the banks of the Columbia River in winter with bitterly cold feet because of inadequate footwear. Just odd. Doesnt really mesh with the rest of the book. Also odd that you can no longer buy his book online. He was hawking it aggressively a few years ago. Now it's unobtainable. From Wikipedia: From Backtalk, an anti war site: Negatives include: Blue eyes, FBI Cooper tie DNA mismatch, long time proponent of non violence, claims to have been in Nepal at the time of the crime. But you'd be very hard pressed to find a more qualified candidate skills and experience wise. I don't think the FBI believed the Nepal alibi otherwise they would not have kept pressing him for a DNA sample. Why didn't they rule him out immediately based on eye color? Did they see brown contacts as a credible disguise in 1971? If Mitchells "turkey" chin/neck observation is accurate Melvin Wilson sure has that characteristic. So does Gosset in Blevins photo taken about a year after the skyjack, but not nearly as pronounced as Wilson. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Nope. No DC 10 skyjack jumps as far as I know. DC 10s did, however, have a problem with cargo doors popping open in flight with catastrophic results. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Zero proof about his parachuting experience. It's ALL speculation. His 727 configuration commands evidence some knowledge about aircraft flight characteristics, but not necesaarily about the 727 in particular. Frustrating. But that's life in the big vortex. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

NORCAL DZs. All ratings just my personal opnion. Others disagree. Lowest Prices: Lodi (Parachute Center) Warmest Vibe: Byron (Bay Area Skydiving) Best Planes: Yolo (Skydance) Best Views: Monterey (Skydive Monterey Bay) There are also DZs at Madera, Cloverdale, Lincoln and Hollister but I have not jumped there so cannot opine. If you really want to stretch your dollars, LODI's prices cannot be beat anywhere. Check schedules, some DZs are not in operation on weekdays. SF is a GREAT city to visit and you might want to choose a DZ that is commutable from SF. We NORCAL residents are blessed with an abundance of DZs and even a wind tunnel in Union City. I am not an instructor but my guess is that you'd benefit hugely from learning how to fly stable in a wind tunnel before starting AFF. Instructors can weigh in on this as they know more than I do about teaching and learning skydiving. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I jumped several times with an aymmetric bag. See attached photos. It was full of GPS and radio telemetry gear. It definitely tips you in freefall and you have to compensate. Without a visual horizon and heading ref you could spin pretty easily, BUT: I learned freefall in 1968. No tandems. No AFF. You exited solo, arched and tried to teach yourself stable freefall. Spins, even violent ones, were almost inevitable. My JM said if you get in a spin and can't immediately stop it JUST PULL. I did, many times in fact, and no matter how bad my spin was, in a few seconds I was hanging under a fully opened C9. I was not only spinning but also tumbling wildly on a few of those jumps. I had frightening visions of opening in a wild tangle of lines and canopy material but NOPE, perfect fully open canopy every time. Spins dont render you unconscious immediately. It takes a few seconds. All you need to do is pull and you will probably be OK, especially if you have a pit bull tough C9 canopy. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Confusing is right. If they disagree which one is correct? You need one or three. Two is no good. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I jumped the Perris DC 9 at WFFC 2006. I assume it was quite similar to the 727 jump-wise. Piece of cake exiting, no wind at all until you were completely out. Then once clear you hit the slipstream and it's FAST. I think our jump run was about 180++. it sure wasn't like a Twin Otter exit. Some folks tumbled for a few sec. A few accessories were lost, goggles, fanny packs and a wrist altimeter that had worn out Velcro. My goggles were stripped off my face but the helmet kept them from detaching. The DC 9 had the stairs removed for the jump. There are YouTube videos of WFFC 727 and DC 9 jumps. It cost $100 but was worth every penny. The speed and single file exit put some jumpers quite a way off the DZ for their landings. Later loads did two passes to minimize the spread. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

When I started in 68 I couldn't afford an altimeter. My first 35 jumps were made without one. I just counted out seconds. It works. If you lose track you can just pull. My first altimeter was a big military surplus aircraft instrument with a homemade belly reserve mount that I made from a piece of aluminum using a hacksaw, a nibbling tool and a file. What safety it added in altitude awareness it subtracted in being a snag hazard. Now I have two audibles, a wrist and a chest pillow mounted visual altimeter. I love gadgets. But I was actually more tuned in to altitude when I had no altimeter. I literally thought about it every second as I counted them off. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Amazon wrote Carnival ride is a bit harsh Amazon. I welcome those carnival riders into the fold. They have experienced the thrill and risk of freefall albeit with stability assistance and a hired canopy pilot. Wind tunnels are carnival rides. Tandem jumping is several notches above in my opinion. Tandems can be scary if you are the kind of person who wants to be in control. Johnny Horton aka "Johnny Love" was a USAF PJ and skydiver. When he was getting his tandem JM rating I was offered a free tandem ride. I declined. First because I need to be in control if I am falling and second because I just knew Johnny would try his best to make me puke during the canopy ride. Sadly, Johnny was killed a few years ago in a military training accident at Ft Leggett. So Bruce, skip a few cheeseburgers and save up for a tandem. Or maybe you can just levitate to 14.5 and save a couple of bills. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Spooky 52, I jumped at Antioch in the late 60s to early 70s. I recall a very decrepit Lockheed Lodestar there that looked complete but abandoned. Do you remember it? I wonder if it flew out or was scrapped? Perry Stevens taught me how to jump out at his old Oakland Airport location. We did ground school on weeknights there and jumped at Livermore on the weekend. He's still around. I was sure glad to see the USPA recognize his contribution to safety with his RSL (Stevens Lanyard) invention. The last time I jumped at Antioch they were flyng a Pilatus Porter, a very lng nosed STOL plane. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

G wrote Georger, I know you see nothing redeeming in Blevins but if he truly is a VENOM MAGNET doesnt that serve a valuable function? The ideal filter not only strains but attracts and affixes contaminants. But I am assuming that supply of venom here is limited and therfore controllable, which may be an incorrect assumption. Been looking at alleged CIA uses of 727s. Found some claims on fringe websites that the CIA used drug smuggling to finance black ops and that 727s and C 130s were flown between Columbia and Panama at low altitude aided by specially installed LF radiobeacons. Drugs were allegedly dropped out the rear of both types of acft during flight. http://nstarzone.com/DRUG.html I, of course, like the radio angle. Low freq beacons wouldnt require any new gear in the C 130 or 727 as both have ADF receivers that can home in on LF beacons. No way to know if this info is paranoid fantasy or has a grain of truth. The Iran Contra affair showed us that the CIA isnt above selling guns to US enemies in the Middle East to finance covert anti communist ops in Central America. Is it crazy to think that other crimes (such as drug smuggling) were committed to raise funds? From Wikipedia 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Guru wrote I've noticed this too Guru, but it's probably not unique to skydiving. I wonder if its found in most extreme sports? Might have something to do with shared risks and trust. I'll query Snow. He has done some radical climbing stuff including extreme ice ascents at night. Wonder if that community is similar to the skydiving one in collegiality and minimal sniping, dissing and fighting? We all tend to idealize our own communities, but I've been a jumper for 46 years now and it's been a very smooth ride people wise. I've never been in a fight or even had harsh words with another jumper. It is amazing how patient and helpful some superstar jumpers were with me when I was a tumbling newbie. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I wonder what it is about the a Internet that brings out Lord of the Flies behavior? At the Portland Symposium everybody got along really well. Even JT was a cordial gentleman. I never heard a raised voice or mean word even among people who had taken opposing views on this forum. Put the same people behind a keyboard and sparks fly. I'm all for free speech. I don't want Jo banned and I wish Quade would let Snow return. But why can't we all be more congenial? Why do we act mean to each other here? I'm guilty too. I take a shot at Jo now and then. BK and GreyCop too. Maybe some researcher has figured out why we grow fangs online. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Jo wrote Move over FBI. Jo has a new enemy number one: Bruce "killer" Smith. 377 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.