Zing

The Arizona Hang Load with Hod holding the can of Coors was shot over the Ghoulidge drop zone in the late 70s by photog Tony Gonzales ... Carl boenish later shot film of it for his movie "Skydive." I think the Ghoulidge load was the first of a series of Twin beech hang loads that followed. Zing Lurks

You're already on pretty thin ice where the jump is concerned. FAA regs are pretty clear about notofication and property owners' permission for an intentional parachute jump. You'll likely get away with it in this instance, as it appears no one was injured and no damage was done, but if someone decided to make an issue of it, you'd lose the case, whether its at the local FSDO or in a court. Likewise, using that interpretation as a defense against a citation from the NPS would be a losing bet. Zing Lurks

Rose petals are quite edible. A cat named Flower I once knew was named because she would eat any blossoms brought into the house and had a feast of a dozen roses on my lady friend's birthday. No ill eefects from eating the roses, but I was afraid the lady was going to strangle her cat. Zing Lurks

Who would I let pack for me??? For my main ... No one, and there are damn few riggers I'd let pack my spare. Zing Lurks

I wonder how many of these are still floating around from the VI World Meet. Zing Lurks

"What skills did you work on after getting the A-license?" Survival skills ... so far, so good. Zing Lurks

From an old random-babble theory of flight discussion at Ghoulidge some years ago. "Freefalling? ... It ain't free, and it ain't falling!" Zing Lurks

I was never that much into any of the toys, but when I was 10 years old, I was down at the local hardware store with my dad and we looked at a brand new Browning 22 caliber semi-automatic rifle. I told my dad that someday, I was going to get one of those. It was under the Christmas tree with my name on it a few months later. I've still got it ... and I'd never part with it. Zing Lurks

Christ ...they'll let anyone into college! Even me and Twardo. Seems like a few of us were right on down there on the ACE dive I was on, too. I wasn't the first one open when I got mine, but I wasn't quite the last one either. ACE-82 Zing Lurks

Killer Kowalski ... the figure-four leglock ... and who could ever forget that greatest of all underdog losers, Kenny Jay. He'd get tossed around for a few minutes and generally abused, then make a big comeback and almost pin his opponent ... and then get his ass pinned, every time. Zing Lurks

It ain't easy being a fashion trend-setter! Zing Lurks

Congratulations Nick, that's no small achievement. Now I want all of you who go jumping with Nick to understand that you all now have a new motivation for your jumps ... if you fuck up, Nick's gonna be the first one to the crater ... first one to the crater gets the best souvenirs. Zing Lurks

So, Twardo ... how about you pm that one to me? Zing Lurks

You have to remember that the cowpoke who offered the advice to "not squat with yer spurs on" was speaking from experience. Zing Lurks

Geez ... like, nobody ever bought a used a hearse, painted it funny and took it to the dropzone before. Zing Lurks

Ah, damn! I met Mac at Ghoulidge back in the 70s and made a bunch of jumps with him. We had a place at the dropzone called "The Wreck Hall," where the motto was "don't wreck the wreck hall while you're getting wrecked." This was in the days before video, but there were a few folks around who shot a lot of still photos, and every weekend we'd have a slide show in the Wreck Hall's Ghoulidge Cinema. One night during one of Mac's visits, Danny peters and Tony Gonzales showed a bunch of their slides with a projector. We all enjoyed the slides awhole bunch, but nearly as much as Mac, because while we were all looking at slides, Mac was seeing a movie. He told me once at Lost Prairie that the Wreck Hall exposed him to a whole other aspect of skydiving. Mac was, all by himself, another aspect of skydiving. During one of the Lost Prairie boogies, Mac took me flyfishing for the first time in my life, told me everything I needed to know and damned if I didn't hook into a trophy-sized trout on the first cast. Mac was even more excited about it than I was, and told me, later that night in the bar, that he'd been after that monster trout for a couple years, but had never been able to entice it with a fly. I unhooked the fish and tossed it back in the water, and I thought Mac was going to kill me for it. "What in the hell did you do that for?" he roared at me in disgust ... until I told him it was only fitting that he should be the one to take that fish home. The following year, Mac gave me a photo of him holding that same fish, and at every other boogie I made it to at Lost Prairie, my money was no good for drinks at the bar. He was a character among mankind. I'm going to miss seeing Mac again. There won't be another man like him in my lifetime. Zing Lurks

I'll hold your beer for you ... and watch. Zing Lurks

I'll give you $100 for it. Zing Lurks

I coulda been a contender! Zing Lurks

My opinion ... there's always at least one idiot onboard who's trying to kill all of us ... unless I get to do it first. Zing Lurks

Sadly, I learned recently that Bobby Wallace, an Arizona jumper back in the mid-60s and early 70s died in the crash of a glider in Alabama about 10 days ago. Bobby was a fine mechanic and a talented race car driver, a state champion archer more than once and a lot of fun to jump with. I regret that I'll not see him again. Zing Lurks

Good to hear the airplane is still around. I don't rememer the 180 owner/pilot's name, but he was a one-legged guy and quite a character. Then there was Earl "Crash" Haines, who flew the 182 and the 206 at Charlotte. Druillard's name sounds familiar. I'd have to find my old logbooks to dredge up some other names from back then. I do better at remembering faces than I do names. Zing Lurks

BIFF = Balled In Free Fall ... though I always thought it should have been a FIFF number, but I guess it was called BIFF so as to not put off those offended by the word fuck. Zing Lurks

Well, that's not editing, that would be re-writing. Zing Lurks

Haven't you ever heard of BIFF numbers? There are a few of us around. Zing Lurks