grimmie

We were hiking down with "Duck", the nekkid navy dude after his crash landing way up on the mountain. The Flathead Valley Rescue Team met up with us and were in radio contact with the ALERT helicopter nurse. He wanted to know what kind of Dr. Pete Hill was. We laughed our asses off! But the best part was the dumb ass rescue guys didn't want to listen to Lanny and how to find our way down. They got lost twice and then figured out Lanny knew what he was talking about! Duck got on the helicopter at 3:01 AM. The cracks got cancelled. The moral of the story. Don't jump nekkid on the sunset load if the spot is horrible(another story for another time!) and you can't land your canopy on a fire road!!!!!!!!!!

Good job Nick! PM me if you need some equipment to start a great ground crew kit. For those of you checking out a FD career check out the LAFD website. They are hiring a few hundred FF's this year.

A valuable lesson learned years ago... Turkey Twenty Ways, Thanksgiving weekend. Our team was very experienced except for myself and one other jumper. We both had about 500 jumps. During a training jump we were waiting forever for the next point key, when all of a sudden a team member went flying by on his back, trying to route his chest strap, which had come completely undone. He managed to pull and land without incident, never managing to get it routed. Our entire team of experienced jumpers never noticed it... ...the next weekend I was jumping and started to look at everyone's gear. A jumper from Europe was loading the plane with a flipped in cutaway pillow. I mentioned it to him and he was very thankful...he had a reserve ride on that jump. I didn't buy a beer all night! I have seen people get on the plane with no container, instead focusing on his skyboard, and all sorts of other possible dilemmas. If you see something that doesn't look right, mention it to the jumper...it may save their life.

We gave Tom a glorious send off yesterday. His family loved being around his jumping family and hearing some great, funny stories. Tammi held up incredible and was a rock. Thanks to everyone that shared the day with us. Fly Free my friend!

I'm going to miss him calling out my name loudly at the Lounge in that gravely voice..."Look out, the fireman from East LA is here"!!! "Stay away from my daughter, Grimm!!!". And then we would laugh and have a beer or three together and catch up on the past year's events. The party nights on his deck are ledgendary, his fishing prowess amazing and his line of BS never ending. He taught many of the LP regulars how to jump years ago. It will be strange not to see him sitting at the bar, eye glasses all crooked, drinking a Bud, wearing an old blue shirt and some ugly ass to short for him plaid shorts and chomping a cigar. I'm gonna miss that ol' coot... Him... Him... Fuck Him! Fly free Mac!!!!!!

We will be spreading Tom Slocums ashes this Sunday at Perris Valley. Everyone is invited. It will be a glorious celebration of a wonderful human being... Damn I miss him...

Hi Caroline, I can still see that huge grin of your brothers... He was a gem...

I witnessed a reserve pop right before rotation. The jumper was sitting on the back bench of an otter right next to the door and slouched down to get comfy. His reserve fell to the floor as he leaned forward to see what happened... just as we got airborne. It was about 95 degrees that day. The door was closed. Another jumper grabbed it and got it all collected. The jumpers reserve pin hooked the open area ledge. I think it was a Javelin container. Zing should also post again what happens to an aircraft that looses an engine with the door up.

Perris Valley's N141PV crashed on take off... We lost some great people that morning...many of them my friends. Rowland Guilford Chris Harrel Geoffrey Anderson Scott Border Anthony Cabrera Jaqui Downs Larry Fatino James Layne John Mitchell Christophe Ribet Dwight Sanders Dave Clarke Rolondo Dajay Ray Herder 'Kiwi" Henderson Jacobus Strating John M. taught me how to pack, hook up a canopy and how to look after your gear. James L. taught me how to do RW, and he was a fantastic jumper already at 21. He had a strong after hours game also! Geoffrey A. made me laugh. Kiwi helped my 4-way skills. Christophe was jumping that day because he snuck out to brush up his RW, we were doing an RW camp with his sister and some others the upcoming Saturday. Jaqui always taught us safety, she was so cautious. I did AFF with Scott B. Larry F. was always smiling. I miss jumping and hanging out at the Bomb Shelter with those guys. Tomorrow I will make some leaps and smile, for I had the opportunity to know them. Be safe. Buckle up and wear your lids.

Jean Guy, International Man of Mystery... So many great times, fun skydives and hilarious stories... Damn Shell...we'll toast to them at the Prairie...

Merf, and her little white dog Nikki...thanks for the pic sis. One of the great loves of our life...Damn I miss her so much!

What a bunch of ROOKIES!!!!!! Boobie judges..as if we need that... Shell666 wins every year in a no contest!! They're immortalized above the bar!!! They're seen on every taxi out... But I suppose there will be some challengers...

The DZ there closed after a terrible aircraft incident.

Take out one flag and you get hounded by Canuckians for ever!!!!!!!! What was that..like 12 years ago????????? Exactly my point!!!! Send Fred the measurements and he can build one in front of manifest!!!!! The video could stream endlessly at registration..my finest hour north of the border!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fred...have shell666 bring down the "stocks" from Eden North! 20 minutes in that with people pouring crap all over your head and ripping down your britches will slow everyone down!! Not that I would know, or anything! We could put it right in front of manifest...very entertaining also!!!!!!

Mr. USPA Celebrity...I will sign your copy of this month's "Skydiving" and you can sign my copy of "Parachutist"...If we both bring beer it will be a good deal... In light of what has been happening lately at boogies I have already spoken with Fred. Doak and I will both be there...in the landing area...watching...observing...and taking names and kicking asses with a couple of Sherwood hockey sticks in the LZ... Be very afraid all of you hotshots... Be very afraid...

Happy Birthday sis... The new man is in the mail..he has money too!!!!!!

Nothing says fun like a bunch of Canucks running around in red nighties drinking "2 buck chuck" and singing old crack songs... How many sleeps until we're subjected to this horror??????

Ok ladydyver...you drink the Bartles and James then... Oh yeah...Madjohn..bring another $20...slowpoke...

Wow..drinking "Boones Farm" in Camp Canadia with this months Parachutist celebrity!!! I can hardly contain myself....

In the early days of skydiving the canopy was round, the LZ was large and the number of jumpers in the air was small. As ram air canopies developed the jump ships also got bigger and the LZ's got smaller due to the manueverability of the canopies. Then we progressed to the big DZ and boogie concept. Students, RW groups, Freeflyers and Swoopers...all using the same airspace and LZ. Add in parallel jump runs and now we have up to 46 or so people in the air flying many different size wings, all taught different landing techniques from various DZ's around the world. Canopy collisions aren't anything new. The first one I ever witnessed was in "92 at Eloy. A jumper on a straight in final was hit by a jumper coming out of a sort of 120 degree turn. He was an airline pilot. go figure! They both lived but had some serious effects of that incident. I also watched a Golden Knight and a French 8 Way team member collide in about '95. They both lived, but were pretty damaged. Two highly experienced canopy pilots...go figure. At the CRW Nationals around '95 or '96 I watched two teamates collide violently right over the peas 2 feet off of the ground. CRW teamates! They both lived, but were pretty messed up. Teamates...go figure! I watched two AFF students off radio fly into each other at about 1,500ft once. That was really dramatic! One cut away and they both landed unscathed! Go figure! I was nearly clipped twice. Once after a big way at Eloy and once at Perris on a normal load. Both times were close to the ground. Both times my canopy lost pressure and dropped. PLF's saved me. Both times the other jumper stated "I didn't see you". Pink and light blue stillettos are hard to see I suppose. Go figure. All of this canopy collision talk doesn't have much to do with 270, 180 or canopy sizes. It all comes down to good judgement... ..by the individual jumper and ..the DZ's. Maybe with the different size wings we need to rethink putting 46 people in the air at the same time. Or we need to have better canopy skills taught during AFF. Or better landing pattern ideas. And as far as the older guys passing on knowledge to the younger guys, it happens. But the younger guys sometimes look at us like we don't know what we're talking about. Like most of you that have been around a while I have seen friends kill themselves in some really unique ways. We begged a good friend of ours to slow down his landings, but he just wouldn't listen. His ash dive was really nice over the Lang Brewery. And as far as SDA or any other DZ implimenting new rules...it's their business, deal with it. Losing a few twin otters in a law suit would really suck. It's only a matter of time until someone wins a negligent homicide case against a jumper that kills someone else, or a huge financial judgement. Litigation has already been done jumper vs. jumper for a huge sum. We all need to just take a "Chill Pill", fly safe and heads up and re evaluate our own skills and habits. Be safe out there kids!

POPS has never hosted an LP big way. I have organized a 50+ way there the last 7 years or so. No cypres fires on those loads. "Skydive boogies don't kill people, skydivers do"

Stevo...very good points! One thing many jumpers don't get is what pattern to fly to a safe landing due to their opening position over the DZ. At the Nationals last year in Eloy our 4 way team was on the same load as the USAF team. They had big slow canopies. No big deal, except they were to ALWAYS land in the alternate LZ. They exited first, north of the DZ and we were second, on top and the next team to the south. Their canopies were always heading to the alternate area, flying down jump run as our team and the other team were flying to the main DZ. It created some mayhem and we would sort out the exit order before we loaded each jump so we wouldn't be flying into each others airspace in opposite directions. And yes, we did land in the alternate LZ on a few jumps to avoid the problem. So separate LZ's without jumper COMMON SENSE doesn't always work. In Belize we have an LZ 300' wide and 1,000' long. It doesn't have many outs except for the sea. I stand in the landing area the first couple of days and watch all of the landing patterns and spots. No one does more than a 90 unless they are clearly down first, or last with the tandems shooting video. I hold a very strict safety meeting before the boogie starts. We make evryone walk the LZ before they jump there. We discuss all of the landing patterns and what to do depending on where you open. My staff consists of some of the best jumpers in the business. They answer any and all questions by the jumpers. I brief every load on the good points and bad of that loads landings. Everyone is very receptive to the input and some jumpers didn't realize how they were affecting the pattern. Each year someone finds a way to screw up. Here is my opinion on skydiving safety... The low timers usually listen better than the 1,000+ jumpers. Common sense goes a long way towards safety. Some jumpers could wreck themselves in a 1,000,000,000 square foot open mowed soft grass field. "It won't happen to me" is very prevalent. Flying a downwind, base and STRAIGHT in final works well. The bigger the landing area and the flatter the surrounding area is, more sense of false security is instilled and less attention is given to the landing area. (Big sky, Big LZ theory) The jumpers that set up their landing just after opening and sort out the picture up high are usually landing in the clear. Ripping up jump tickets and sending unsafe rule breakers home sends a strong message. Zero tolerance works. What ever happened to the "GROUNDED BOARD" at most DZ's? everyone could see who the bad boy or girl was and who was banished for 30 days or so. USPA and DZ's don't banish as many jumpers to the penalty box these days. Skydivers seem to find amazing new ways to screw up. Many jumpers have never seen the after effects of a hook gone bad or heard the agonizing sound of a canopy collision. Those that have get a serious wake up call to the dangers of this sport. A DZO can only do so much...USPA can only do so much...it's up to YOU to open safe, fly safe, land safe. One last 2 cents worth. It's not a coincidence that aerobatic planes fly in separate areas while doing their thing...but they come to the same airport to land as the slow planes and airliners. And they fly a downwind, base and final. Stay safe everyone and see you guys at Lost Prairie!

Contaminated fuel. Pilot error. Reserve launch out the door. Canopy landing on the active runway. Catastrophic failure of parts. Skydivers walking across the active runway. Blown tire on take off. CG forward or aft of the datum line. Bird strike. Put your helmets on...

I called Fred yesterday...we have a simple solution. Doak and I will be in the LZ with hockey sticks...beatings will be given on first offenses!!!!!!! One thing that would improve safety is everyone showing up CURRENT!