Jim_Hooper

Well, as I live and breathe - Dana Parker. How the decades fly. I'm fully willing to concede the year, but have a look at my thread "Try Again" and take a look at the photo of that bunch of ne'er do wells (excepting your presence, of course) and tell me if its the 17-man of which you speak. You might be able to fill in the names of the Valley Mills guys. Hoop

The first one I heard of was Z-hills 1972. I was ASO at the time but was in Deland watching the Collegiate Nationals. Tony Fredine(sp?) from CA was the so honored guest. He won the the low pull, aka chicken jump, contest the night before around 0200. Ron – I forgot the name, you forgot the year. Tony Fredin was among the California jumpers that came to the First “Big Z” (Turkey) Meet in 1969. That was the era of smoking it down (literally and metaphorically) and the first day he asked Searles if he could put on a low-pull demo, and was much offended when the answer was no. The next night, about 2 a.m., a few folks were partying hard, when Fredin convinced a very drunk Moriarity to take him and fellow Californian Slick Armstrong up in his 172 for a low-pull contest. Fredin was just getting line stretch when he impacted feet first and an open canopy settled over his body. When I got to the DZ a few hours later, the small crater had been tastefully decorated with someone’s hash pipe as sort of a posthumous first place trophy. (“Well, he won, didn’t he?” a California confrere said reverentially.) If there was a plaster cast made, it must have gone back to the Left coast. I never saw it. Hoop

In all the time I was at Z'hills I never heard that one. The Gulch maybe? Hoop

Could any of the '60 and '70s Texas bunch have a look at my Try Again thread and give me the handles of the unnamed Valley Mills jumpers? Hoop

Can any of the old Texas crowd help with the names of the Valley Mills team in the attachment. Standing left to right Hank Asciuto Pat Works Dana Parker Hoop Al Kruger VALLEY MILLS VALLEY MILLS John Sherman Phil Smith Scratch Garrison Tom Ham Bob Federman Kneeling or sitting left to right Matt Farmer VALLEY MILLS Jim "Streak" Marr Lou Jecker VALLEY MILLS VALLEY MILLS Jerry Bird Dick Giarrusso Ken Gillespie - VALLEY MILLS Jim Baron Bill "TBow" Smith

My thanks to all who have posted on the Fate, RW and Z’hills and Try again threads. These and more via the email address on my profile has been humbling in their reminders of special Z’hills moments that have lain dormant (some for – ahem – good reason) entirely too long. Which has raised the possibility of a disgraceful second instalment. Thus, a request for tales of favorite memories from those who came, saw and added to the magic of those days. I cannot promise to use all, as the purpose remains to entertain. Readers will have noted that I enjoy laughing at myself: (“A good thing,” someone observed, “as there’s so much to laugh about.”) In any case, should you wish to share them - with the understanding that I will be the final arbiter and editor – they will be gratefully received. Jim Hooper

My thanks to all who have posted on the Fate, RW and Z’hills and Try again threads. These and more via the email address on my profile has been humbling in their reminders of special Z’hills moments that have lain dormant (some for – ahem – good reason) entirely too long. Which has raised the possibility of a disgraceful second instalment. Thus, a request for tales of favorite memories from those who came, saw and added to the magic of those days. I cannot promise to use all, as the purpose remains to entertain. Readers will have noted that I enjoy laughing at myself: (“A good thing,” someone observed, “as there’s so much to laugh about.”) In any case, should you wish to share them - with the understanding that I will be the final arbiter and editor – they will be gratefully received. Jim Hooper

If Dan O'Brian is out there, thanks for giving SKR a heads-up. Hoop

Joe – I am impressed by your reply. The initial tone of resentment over perceived slights from the old and bold soon settled down to a broader and more balanced view. Perhaps a more fitting title for my piece would have been IRONY, which I suspect was not lost on you. As mentioned in the Author’s Note, parts were lifted from something I wrote long ago. You may find it particularly ironical that the thrust of that long-forgotten piece was a diatribe against sequential when it replaced the 10-man event in international competition. Skydiving is a dynamic activity driven by intelligent, imaginative and ego-centric personalities prepared to push the boundaries of current knowledge. Always has been, always will be. For those whose earlier hard-won accomplishments and reputations are threatened with eclipse, there will inevitably be a degree of resentment no different from the innovators who see their cutting-edge accomplishments as insufficiently appreciated or admired. We all crave recognition. It’s human nature. Call it social Darwinism. Which raises the spectre of you, too, being categorized as 'a grumpy old fart' one day. Although I wrote FATE, RW and Zhills for fun and to make readers laugh (or at least raise a few wry and knowing smiles), I am delighted by the unintended consequence of stirring the kettle a little. Reasoned debate is always constructive. Thus, I take it as a compliment that you found time to mull it over and respond. Having once occupied exactly the same mind set as yours, I applaud your determination to develop and expand new skills within this extraordinary phenomenon called skydiving. I hope you are not a minority of one within your discipline in appreciating those who built its foundations. Best regards, Jim Hooper In keeping with the quote at the end of your post, I offer this: If the past cannot teach the present and father cannot teach the son, then history need not have bothered to go on, and the world has wasted a great deal of time. Russell Hoban The Lion of Boaz-Jochim and Jochim-Boaz

Jack G - good basic training for that GV! Here a couple shots of 'belly flyers'. Hoop

Kate - I remember very well indeed. I just happened to be in Kenya on my way to cover the war in southern Sudan. Sheer coincidence that there was a delay getting me across the border while the CIP was being held in Nairobi. I pointed out that I was no more than a footnote in the history of skydiving, and you very graciously said, "But such a distinguished footnote." Nicest thing anyone had said to me in a long time. Jim

Rog - glad you enjoyed it. Howard - you weren't the only Yankee/foreigner I kept out of jail. There was at least one future world champion that got nailed at Publix with a couple of pounds of sirloin steak under his jacket. Selling up and going off to get shot at was a breeze compared to hassling with a PD and a neanderthalic city council. Here are a couple of photos to give a flavor of the early days. Hoop

Damn these new-fangled contraptions! Try again

FOREWORD Since setting off a lifetime ago to pursue my dream of being a war correspondent and writer, the thought of recounting my years at Z’hills has vexed me. For one thing, who’s gonna be interested? But nostalgia, a phenomenon as predictable as wrinkles when dotage gathers pace, can scramble neurons. Thus, when a chance email from Roger Ramjet sent me to dropzone.com and its wistful dollops of yesteryear, I reconsidered. Perhaps between assignments I could knock something out. No deadlines, no editor breathing down my neck, more a lazy, self-indulgent exercise whenever the spirit moved me sort of thing. And if it’s panned, what the hell – I’ve satisfied the itch and can concentrate on the novel that’s been languishing unfinished for entirely too long. So taking a deep breath in preparation for shoving a bunch of words together, I hope you’ll allow me to describe the fateful string of events that led me to the sleepy dropzone that was once Zephyrhills. The story begins with the attachment titled FATE. Jim Hooper SCR242 SCS90 NSCR26 D4019

Skratch! You completed the quote exactly. Can’t imagine why it came to mind, other than perhaps triggered by the eloquence ("MUTHAH FUCKER, LET ME IN!") of someone I probably should remember. Sardonic? Disingenuous? Me? Perish the thought. There is, however, no hesitancy in remembering Skratch Garrison, one of the sport’s great contributors and innovators. Hmmm, 2.7 decades ago … let’s see, the first time was your chief judgeship at the 1970 Turkey Meet and having our ten-mans scored in fractions rather than decimals. (‘Whoever heard of 40 1/3 seconds?’ ‘Shhh, don’t argue; the guy’s got about 16 PhDs.’) And then the first Ten-man Nationals at Tahlequah; and then, and then… Rumor has it that you’re teaching theoretical mathematics in a Far Eastern tonal language these days. And I thought I was doing good ordering a meal in pidgin French! Nice to know the good guys are still hanging in there. Hoop

Roger – Thanks for the heads-up. Just back from the Middle East and pushing deadlines, so I’m weeks behind the latest Forum threads. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to contradict anyone’s description of himself, especially when there are so many really neat people I do remember; as for the others, I suppose I’ll have to chalk up a failing memory to senile dementia or – what’s the old Arab proverb? – ‘something, something and the caravan passes on’? Must do a Google to find the first part of it. Look forward to seeing you in London. Hoop SCR242 SCS90 NSCR26

Jock and I served in the army together and I talked him into making his first jump with the Berlin Parachute Club in 1967. After getting out and touring Africa for a year, he stayed in my house in Florida while waiting for his start date with the State Department. As I'm sure you're aware, after his time in Pretoria, he became Kissinger's PA. Last time I saw him was in Sarajevo in 1996 when he was UN Deputy High Commissioner for Bosnia. Jim Hooper

Roger's recollection of the temporary pins brought to mind another sound reason for professional riggers to pack reserves and examine and maintain equipment. In the late '70s an experienced European skydiver arrived at Z'hills - his first time in the States - and went moderately ballistic when told that he had to pay for a reserve repack. "But I have malfunction last month and pack it myself in Holland!" he hollared. "Sorry, pal." "But I repack it only last month!" "Sorry, Max." "Okay! Okay! But I pull it," he demanded. "No problem. You pull it." So a really steaming Max put the rig on and fired the reserve. And found himself staring at the handle as the ball swedge went bouncing merrily across the floor of the loft. If I remember correctly, he had lost his reserve ripcord when he'd used the reserve a month earlier, and a local rigger had made a new one for him. Consensus was that the ball swedge had been over-tightened, resulting in a hairline fracture. A much-chastened Max happily paid his $15 and brought back two cases of beer.

Howard - nope, that's a Twin Beech. Hoop

Rick - This is the only snap I have of the L10E, taken the day the Ten High Bunch were setting off for Tahlequah and the first 10-man championships, where we took second to Jerry Bird's All Stars. Kneeling from left: Terry Maznio, Mike 'Mr Rumpson' Patterson, Dennis Glaves; Standing: Billy 'Yossarian' Revis, Phil 'Foul' Smith, Tony 'Ferret' Patterson, Jeff Searles, Ron Brissey, Don 'Fog' Fournier, Mary Donnan; Hooper on wing. SCR242, SCS90, NSCR26

As far as my memory (notoriously unreliable after 30+ years) goes, I can remember only one T-10 malfunction from the early '70s, a high speed mess, no streamer but barely half of the canopy open. The student, a burly VW mechanic and part-time pro-wrestler, ended up with a main/reserve entannglement. Hit the ground very hard and broke his back. Underwent a couple of operations and the inevitable law suit arrived, which dragged on for about a year before the insurance company sacked the first lawyer and hired a really nasty one, who called in the disabled first-jumper for a deposition. He arrived, inching his way painfully into the office with the aid of a walker. "I understand you are unable to work as a Volkswagen mechanic or as a professional wrestler due to your injuries," the nasty lawyer said. "Yeah." Pitifully. "And that your wife has also filed a suit for 'lack of consortium'." "Yeah." Groan. "And that you are receiving social security benefits as the result of your injuries, which prevent you from working." "Yeah." "Hmmmm." Pause as the lawyer looks through a stack of 8X10 glossies. Then - "Do you understand that fraudulently claiming social security benefits is a federal offense?" "Uh, well, ah, no." "Tell me," says the lawyer, slapping down a long-distance photo of our crippled first jump student, "is that you lifting the engine out of the back of a VW Beetle last Monday?" And without waiting for a reply, slaps down another. "And is this a photo of you chasing our photographer with a very large crowbar?" Case dismissed. But the insurance company still paid out, I think, 20K. Hoop

In order: Stinson V-77 SNB (Navy Twin Beech) Howard DGA-15 DeHavilland Otter DeHavilland Beaver Cessna 172 Cessna 180 Dornier Do-27 Sikorsky H-34 Nord Noratlas Bell UH1B Fairchild 24W Piper J3 Taylorcraft Broussard Cessna 170 Piper Tripacer Cessna 196 Douglas DC-3/C-47 Cessna 206 Cessna 182 Aeronca Champ American Yankee Lockheed L10E Stearman N3N Lockheed L-18 Curtis C-46 Beechcraft T-34 Piper Cherokee 6 Bell JetRanger Cessna 207 DeHavilland Tiger Moth Britten-Norman Islander Aèrospatiale Puma Casa C-235 Lockheed C-130 C-160 Transall Mil Mi-8/17 Augusta 109

As a recent arrival to this website, I was initially dismayed by the references of former Z’hills habitués to my threatening to ground them. Not the legacy I might have hoped for, but probably not entirely undeserved. I also accept a degree of historical inconsistency to my attitude back then – I had certainly done my share of stupid and dangerous things, even reveled in them afterwards (they make some of the best jump stories, after all). We’re already attracted by the risk; if we can push the boundaries even further it makes it that much more exciting, not to mention psychologically self-perpetuating: the satisfying notoriety that comes from making skydiving more dangerous than it already is inevitably leads some to take progressively higher risks. Upping the odds of hitting the ground faster than is healthy may be childish but all part of the personality profile most of us share to a greater or lesser degree. Yet when I shouldered the mantle of DZO, I knew that I had become, to some extent, responsible for the lives of others. I couldn’t prevent human errors, but I could discourage some behavior by refusing the worst perpetrators access to my airplanes. Twelve died at Z’hills during my time there and I agonized over each of them. The first was Slick Armstrong, a talented California relative worker, who had come out for the first Turkey Meet in 1969. About two o’clock in the morning, he and a buddy found someone to take them up for a low pull contest. Slick won, the Feds pulled the pilot’s ticket, and I saw my first crater. However much I understood that the danger was the attraction (would we even do it if there were absolutely no risk?), I could never rationalize people dying doing something that I loved so much. Thousand of skydivers visited Z’hills, and by the time I sold it in 1984, I already knew over 160 people, either in the States or overseas, who died after exit, and maybe another 40 to 50 killed when the jump ship crashed. Sobering figures. As Roger Clark already noted in this thread, one of my favorite, confidence-inspiring lines at the beginning of a first-jump course was that they'd already done the most dangerous part of making a skydive, which was the drive to the airport. The irony is that I'd never known anyone killed in a car crash, and everyone I knew drove a car. Not everyone I knew was a skydiver. So to all those whom I threatened with a grounding, I trust you’ll cut me a little retrospective slack, along with every other DZO past and present. Hoop SCR242, SCS90, NSCR26

Roger, Jack, Howard and Rob The 196 (N4395N) was one of four 195s modified with a 450hp P&W R-985 for an aerial survey company in 1947. Yes, it is the same engine found on the Twin Beech (the L10E carried R-1340s). As far a carrying capacity, I was on the first, and possibly only, eight-man out of it. With all but two people wearing gutter gear, it was a little cramped, but she carried us quite happily to 12,5. 95N went to a DZ in south Florida, where she ended up on her back after a landing mishap. She is now completely restored and the following lists her specs: N4395N trues out at 155 kts, checked on every leg so far. GPH is around 20 to 21. (Actually, she cruises on MONEY, and lots of it. Only went over budget so far by 50 g's. Ouch, but seems well worth it on climb out.) Range is 3+30 with an IFR reserve. That's about 540 nm. Log books have 17,000 hours on em, most of the airframe is NEW. Has been to 27,000 feet while aerial survey of the Rockies. The company who converted, did four of them, only two survive, mine and Richard Porters. The number 196 comes from a discussion between the company pilots and mechanics, while consuming many adult beverages. They detirmined it was better than a 195. So 195 + one better = 196. The next day the pilots came to work to find that the mechanics had stenceled 196 on the side. There was also a placard installed, but only temporarily, that said "Made in Disenyland, by Mickey Mouse" The survey company owner was not amused by the placard. The last 30 years of her working life were as a JUMP plane, which turned her into a JUNK plane. She was ready for the beer can factory. Oh well it only take money! Calvin Arter, Jr. Hooper: the owner contacted me after I posted the photo on http://www.cessna195.org/ and asked for any photos and background. If anyone can accommodate him, I'm sure he'd be very grateful. Hoop

"Amelia" - the Lockheed L10E Electra - had long been sold to Paul Fayard when the photo of 40T and 95N was taken from my 182. The distinctive rainbow pattern was painted in 1978 by Dean Daubenspeck. (Peter Gabrial had first painted a rainbow on the old building, and it became part of the Z'hills logo.) Given its history, I suspect the DEA breathed a sigh of relief that no one would ever be so foolish as to use it for importing questionable produce. Hoop SCR242, SCS90, NSCR26