Zing

I just watched both the videos referred to where the birdman soars above the tail. It looks like that is what happens, but the reality is that the airplane has already started to descend before the last jumpers leave. Still agood looking video though. Zing Lurks

It means, be close together when you go out the door ... that way, you all might still be somewhat close together when you recover stability. Its faster than anything you ever jumped out of ... so far. Zing Lurks

Somebody here, myself included, could help you with those photo files. If you can put them on a CD and send them, or email the files to me, I should be able to open them, change them into files your new computer will recognize and email them back to you. Send a private message if you'd like my email address. Zing Lurks

"Well....it wouldnt be the first time sumbuddy added a little more to a good story....." I never fail to be amazed at the stories I hear told by others about some of my past escapades ... particularly the ones when I was there, and they weren't. Zing Lurks

Strange, since we jumped again later that day and the next weekend. Zing Lurks

In Reply To -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I loved that sceen where everyone was hanging out of the Beach with the one guy waiving continuously at the chase/filming plane. This was followed by the guy that slid down the top of the beach striking his head on the horizontal stabilizer... --------------------------------------------------------- He actually struck and broke his shoulder. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That was Dirty Fred who slid down the fuselage. He didn't hit his head ... he didn't break his shoulder. The leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer hit him under the arm and made him tumble impressively. Fred said, "It would have killed a normal man." But it didn't even make a dent in the stabilizer. I was the one hanging on the rear floater handle, waving at the camera. Prior to the filming, a couple hang loads had been done, one of which appeared on the cover of a Sunday newspaper magazine in the southwest, and another that became a poster. The picture made it to the FAA, who came down and insisted that the handles be removed and refused to consider granting a field approval for the airframe modification. It really sucked, because we used those handles for RW dives more than we did for hang loads. When Ghoulidge owner, Bill (Darth) Dailey, was offered money to have is airplanes used in Carl Boenish's filming, we put the handles back on. Did the filming ... and let me tell you, Boenish's high-speed slo-mo 16mm camera weighs about a ton and mounted on the helmet, is wider than the riser span of the Paradactyl I jumped back then ... and went back to our normal Ghoulidge-style jumping. A few months after the movie came out, someone at the FAA got wind of it and after seeing the movie, made another visit to the drop zone. The FAA guy told Bill that if they had to talk to him again about handles on the airplane, they'd let Bill keep the handles ... and they'd confiscate the airplane. That kind of pissed old Bill off, something I know from personal experience to be an unwise and foolhardy thing to do. Hell was raised, phone calls were made, letters were sent, and all of a sudden, the FAA granted Bill a field approval for the handles. Bill Dailey was one of those incorrigible, unforgettable characters you only get to meet a few of in the course of a lifetime ... I still miss him. Zing Lurks

I have 16 mm copies of "This Is A Sport," labeled as good quality, "Masters of the Sky," labeled as fair to good quality, and another labeled "El Capitan with sound," labeled as excellent quality. Every time I've checked, its been prohibitively expensive to have them transposed to video tape or digital ... hell, I can't even find anyone with a 16mm projector anymore. Even took them over to Elroy for the recent Pops Boogie, hoping someone else might have brought old movies and equipment, but no such luck. Anybody have any idea what they might be worth? Zing Lurks

If that is the C119 I think it is ... it ended its days in a belly landing on a gravel bar in a river in Alaska. The story pilot dEd Dugan and co-pilot Jim Slocum tell about the final flight of that airplane is really something. A jump from a burning airplane below 300 feet ... after pushing out a bladder full of fuel ... watching the floor under the pilot's seat start to tear loose and curl under the nose as the airplane slid to a stop. No shit, you wouldn't have wanted to be there! Zing Lurks

That pilot later wrote a book about the experience, it was called "The Man Who Jumped Thunder." I read it when I was about 8 years old. He ejected and his parachute opened at about 10 grand. He was under canopy for about 25 to 40 minutes, went up and down in updrafts/downdrafts, iced up several times, was injured by hail and suffered frostbite before finally landing. He recovered and returned to flight status. Zing Lurks

Thus one got played on me. While managing the Ghoulidge dropzone, I had a 1961 Plymouth Fury that had been a state highway patrol vehicle ... huge V-8 with two four-barrel carbs, headers and dual exhausts, and a certified speedometer that clocked to 135 mph. The car had no brakes and the suspension was pretty well gone, but it would really fly, and it made many a high-speed, needle buried, pass down the runway ... at night ... with the lights out. There were four other magically electrified people with me as we returned from a late night beer run to town one New Year's Eve. I took the shortcut through the fence and someone called for a runway excursion as we were crossing runway 23. From a dead start at the end of the runway, I punched it, and we were well past 100 mph at 1500 feet of a 5500-foot runway. The needle on the speedometer was still pegged when we passed the 1000 feet left markers. Fire and sparks poured out the back as the engine-braking kicked in ... then, for just a fraction of a second, I thought I saw the silhouette of a person or two ... but then we went bumping off the end of the runway into the desert and the outside world disappeared in a cloud of dust and exhaust smoke. Fortunately, there was about 1200 feet of flat desert over-run out there with no obstacles. Once I was slow enough, we did a couple of donuts and, as the dust cleared, ended up facing back toward the runway and away we went, back down the runway in the opposite direction. We were going about 60-70 when we hit the edge of the runway asphalt and the car bottomed out with an impressive spray of sparks and pieces of muffler ... but once again, I thought I might have seen someone standing on the runway. Roared off into the night, made it back to the Wreck Hall, partied for a while and crashed for the night. The next morning, I stumbled into the hangar about 7 am and a jumper down from Alaska who came every winter walked up to me with a serious look on his face. 'Was that you roaring down the runway last night, Zing?" says John. And, of course, I admitted that it was and that we were going real fast when we left the runway. "I know," says John, " A dozen of us were out there laying in a circle staring at the moon and you went right through the middle of us." I suddenly recalled those people I thought I saw and those bumps as we went off the runway, and I must have turned pale as a ghost. John really had me going until he started laughing when I asked him how many people I hit. Turns out, a bunch of shroomers had gone out there to stare at the moon and were laying in a circle with their heads together when they heard the engine of the car coming. At first, they thought it was an airplane and that it would take off and fly over them. Somebody figured it out and they all scattered in plenty of time, but I always kept the lights on for future runway excursions. Good one, John. Zing Lurks

Looks like the scent trail of several twin-breated split-tail squatters. Zing Lurks

"In my 3,000 hours flying skydivers I've had: 5 engine failures. 3 forced landings. 1 jumper main bridle/seatbelt entanglement Fuel flow problems Carb ice Pencil whipped annuals/100 hour inspections Jumpers climb on top of my tail for the "photo op" without telling me Over 10 friends die in jump plane accidents Been owed thousands of dollars in back pay ....etc.... " It's been my experience that if you keep doing it, that list will get longer. At a SoCal dropzone around 1994, an about to be retired airline guy with 30 years on the line picked up my logbook and after paging through it for a few minutes, came over and asked, "How many engine failures have you had?" Bob had three times the amount of flight time that I did at the time and claimed he'd never shut an engine down except in the simulators. Zing Lurks

That was a lot of brain cells ago, but I recall a bailout hatch in the belly of the slurry tanker. Zing Lurks

Seems to me, after reading the book about the project that it was about 11 minutes or so. Wouldn't want to swear to that, but with full equipment, that parachute was carrying a much heavier load than the average sport jumper or ejected pilots who used the same canopy. Zing Lurks

At a Michigan dropzone, we did 16 ways with two photographers using a Cessna 182, a Cessna 180 and a Cessna 206 ... nicknamed the "DC-206." This was early 70s and we all had gutter gear except for one or two jumpers. All the airplanes were packed. Zing Lurks

The 500 hour requirement is usually due to the insurance rather than an FAA thing. Higher time pilots equal lower insurance premiums. Zing Lurks

With the money being spent developing erectile dysfunction remedies and breast enhancement surgery, we will soon be facing an entire generation of Alzheimer's patients with hardons and perky breasts ... who have no idea what to do with them. Zing Lurks

I did a bunch of jumps with a few guys recreating some of the Gypsy Moth's stunts and a few other things for airshows. Depending on the amount of drag generated by something trailing from a freefalling body, we found that you could let things stand you up, or continue to fly on your belly or back or however you cared to flail. Once a certain amount of drag was generated though, you were merely the weight anchoring the streamer or bag trailing above. Zing Lurks

I did see that photo. In fact, I was probably on one of, if not, the last load that Norseman flew at Elsinore. It was having engine problems, along with a few others. We were going to go to 7,500 feet, but it was SO LOUD and the engine was backfiring so much that we gave up and got out at 4,000. The only other Norseman I've encountered was on floats in north Canada at Big Grassy Lake. I tagged along on a couple flights going to pick up fishermen at trophy lakes and Ike Ennes allowed me a bit of stick time and a couple landings and takeoffs. Once tried to get a job up there, but they were only allowd to hire Canadian pilots. Funny how stuff sort of stacks up in boxes over the years. I've got a few minor treasures of parachute stuff that I can't even find anymore. They're in a box ... somewhere. Zing Lurks

maybe that's because she doesn't have a foot! Zing Lurks

Howard, Never had the pleasure of making a leap at Orange. Did jump out of that Norseman at Elsinore and the DC3 ... but I was wondering if there were any of these at the reunion? Sorry, the stop watch says Parachutes Incorporated across the face and has the PI logo beneath second hand. Just some stuff I've pack-ratted away over the years. Zing Lurks

The last time I saw Joe K. he was still jumping. Zing Lurks

Just a hunch, but I'm guessing for the sex. Damn, and here I am at 55 and never knew you had to get married for sex ... Zing Lurks

Thanks for so eloquently saying what needed to be said. Consider for just a moment, what if he really was the guy? Even if it doesn't solve the mystery, it certainly will add to the mystique. Zing Lurks

Unless, of course, the City Elders of Elroy and the political/business/military (take your pick according to your own paranoia) machine sees a potentially more-profitable alternative to Larry's business staying at that airport. I'd bet this dispute is merely the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" in the structure of some entity's long-range master-plan for Elroy and it's airport. Even at the local level of lower economy towns and counties such as Elroy and Pinal, the political structure is complexly convoluted. This will get even more "interesting" before the dust settles. Zing Lurks