stratostar

Three years ago Billy Weber was @ the Richmond Boogie and hanging out in the loft admiring the old shit collection we have and he looked at me a said, "you know I still got my dads old SST (struggle, struggle, thump) down home in the storage shed and, well if you guy's want it I'll ship it up here for you". So the next year (the year he found out he couldn't jump anymore) he sent the rig to me for rehabing. I spent some time fixing it up, mostly a wash and new rubber bands and other minor stuff and then put it back together and got it ready to jump. The rig sat for a year and I was wanting to test jump it, but just never got around to it, over the year I had put on more weight then I care for landing a MK-1 with, and I had been bugging my "test jumper" Ray to do it, now they don't call these rig's "struggle, struggle, thump" for nothing and Ray was not real hip on the idea of being the first person since 1974 to jump this damn thing. Well the rig sat till the day Mom stewart died, 8-11-07. I had already been teasing Ray that morning about not being a pussy and just jump it. Then we got the news about Mom, and the day went to hell & then went on, we were packed with Students so the staff stepped up took over and ran the show. At the end of the day on the last load I had the only solo slot left, only me and ray hadn't got to jump yet for the day, Ray was like damn I wanted to jump. So I told him I'll give you my slot, BUT you got to test jump the Billy Weber SST rig. Well he went and got it, looked at me and said " If I get killed today, Jamie (dzo) is going to kill me", I replied, If you get killed today, she'll kill me first and then kill you for letting me talk you into this! He got in the 182 and took off and I took these series of images from the ground. This would be Ray's 4 or 5th PC jump. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Free advertising for Webb's legal services and the 800 #..... classic. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

IDK about all that, but I do know that it wouldn't be the first plane messed up (sabotage), in Hawaii we had a c-170 for jump op's and we used it for spotting fish and using radio to tell the boat where to drop the nets, well one day the 170 was burnt to the ground, no more fish spotting. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

See I wasn't just making shit up... Link:http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960158-1,00.html Thanks for looking that up hongkongluna. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

PJ Kind of on my side/back rolling to belly on the hill. Arvel & McDuck, PJ Thanks for the kudos...

We did a ""Gypsy moths " (all rounds) 9-way jump back 04 and guess I should have gave him Taggerts jumbo, but he got a pioneer recovery systems MK-1 (an all f-111 PC) his fat ass was the only one who didn't get in and was down & dirty, then he slamed in on landing. The next day I went to interview him for the boogie video and found him sitting in a chair with a jumbo bag of ice on his ass and crying about the pain, till the camera came on and then he was all smiles and hid the bag of ice. To this day when I ask if wants to do a jump all he says is FUCK YOU! (with a smile of course) you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Lee, was a guy doing solo's, so I asked if I could go with him, students always dig the first photos they ever get. So while these are nothing special to us, I'm sure Lee was digging getting these.

I haven't played in a while, so here are a few. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Or place the sharp broken parts under the work truck tires... you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Ya I know, "Just wanted to keep me posted" you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Gee guess I need to quit doing that shit for free and raise my prices. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Well that could be, or I just got lucky and got 3 good one's. I removed my video and still an equal amount. I have heard others talk about the same problems as you have. When I talked about the mounting screws I use, I use the big one and both of the small ones, or at least one of them to keep the plate from moving (anti twist) And this use of the small mounting holes can pull the plate "flat" if you will, the tighter I make those the harder it is to open or close. A good tight close, makes a good tight hold on the cam plate. With that said, your experiance may vary. I do like Terry's and cookie style plates, but till the strobos fail or get broken I can't see spending more cash to fix something that's not broken. The manfroto I have on my tripod for a rotator is also nice and locks very good, as you know from using them in your line of work, I assume. For me the lighter the better for the whole set up # 1, ease of use #2, function and style #3. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

My first few used rigs had the name and number for the orginal owners on the freebag bridal, but after being at the dz a couple of times and seeing a no so happy farmer returning a chewed up and trashed freebag and even a main once and looking for the person who owned them, it was decided that having ones contact info on your stuff is not such a great idea, at least in the midwest, have you ever seen what a canopy or freebag dose to a combine, well not near as much damage as the combine dose to the gear, but it dose piss off the farmers when they don't see it in time and they have to spend hours getting the crap out of the harvester machines. If you can't find it by the time the farmers do, you don't want to own it anyway. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Ah the fandango 182, what a work of art that was. It has inspired more then one nut job, that's for sure. If you like fandango, do a search on youtube for "proof" and take a look, it is a short that was the idea behind fandango. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Did you mess with the color of your eye in that image? Looks like you turned it up to 11. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I have to second what Quade and Phil have said, I own 3 and have used only them for 5 years now the same ones and I do notice that they stick, I say it has a lot to do with the mounting screws and how tight they are, if I really tighten them down it is not only hard to open, but hard to close, sorta, as well. If I back off the tightness some they get easier. I have never had any shake or sloppy movement on my cameras with a strobo, however I have had a latch get hit and open enough to allow a 10d to go into freefall. That had more to do with poor layout design then bad QR. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Very good point and from someone who would know, meaning a guy who takes his own bottle to the dance. Dispite this, my point was this kind of stuff is great to show people to educate them, but not a good idea for youtube or other outlets where it could be known that is was in the states, the AC, the DZ etc. But you bring up a damn good point. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I never said it was impossible to do, did I! Once again if you really want to know then hire you a plane & pilot and go find out first hand. At least this guy didn't have 10 or 12 other bodies stuck to the walls and also trying to crawl out too. If you look at the number of events of loaded AC's going down like this the number of people able to get out is VERY VERY low, while the body count for those stuck inside is VERY VERY high, and that is a fact. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

hotdgr1980... you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

The face should have told you I was only being a smartass. Seeing how you post your having a shitty day, I was hoping you would laugh or at least giggle some. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

They don't care if you kill yourself, that is why the FAR's read you must wear a TSO'ed dual parachute system in sport jumping, BUT no where dose it say you have to open them, BUT you can't land on anyone or damage thier property when you go in or the pilot get;s it for the endangerment to people or property on the ground, not murder. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Or in hindsight you live long enough to think back and know you did some really stupid shit and got away with it a time or two and now days you wouldn't do the same stupid shit as back then or advise young jumpers to do the same stupid shit we did back then. These days the only bar I ever see, has lettuce & tomatos. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

C-205 the door is in the front like a 182. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

What you fail to grasp in your original post, that I called you on is the forces at play in a rapid descent that maybe spining or producing high G forces. I invite you to find a pilot willing to take you up and let you try to tighten up your rig and open the door or doors while under a rapid high G descent, once your done with that do it again this time add in a spin, let us know how well it gose and get video too. This statement is what I'm calling bullshit on, and again you fail to grasp the reality of the forces at play in a out of control aircraft. For one thing I NEVER said it was "a worthless propsition" See above! I for one would have voted to leave off the hard door and carry blankets to help with the cold, YES you would have found me in the back next to the lexan door with a rig on ready to bail out (NOT lOOSELY on) and I might not have gone had the OP's insisted to have the hard door on, depending on the terrain we are flying over and the experiance of the pilot, even pilots I trust very well I wear my rig if it is there, ready to bail out. No hard doors, easier to open only the lexan if your lucky, if thrown into it by G forces good chance your now out, open even a little you might crawl out dispite the G forces. IF YOUR LUCKY Open even a little, the guy in front of you who has his rig on LOOSLEY an while blocking the door trying to tighten up his straps and wasting time, you can throw out his pilot chute and hold on to him to clear the door. My ego has nothing to do my statement when pointing out your less then informed statements and while I have no transcript on your education/experiance in front of me, I do have your post to guild me and they speak large volumes as to your clear lack of understanding as to what happends to occupants of an out of control aircraft and the odds of getting out of an open door let alone one or maybe two that are closed. With my age I can back up my statements with the deaths of many of our friends over the years because I already lived it and you are the type of person I'm talking about who don't seem to have all available infomation on this and why this thread was posted, now you can take it all personal if you wish, or you can get informed based on facts and a large pile of bodies, not your wishful thinking before you find your ass pinned to the side wall or roof wishing you could crawl to the friken closed door(s) or out an open door one day. I will give you, the the fact that you are thinking about a plan is a step in the right direction. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

The fact that you even have to ask as well as your following posts, proves my point. If you would like to debate this to a greater detail, please seek out the thread in safety & training and Please let's have some respect & leave this thread for exchanges about the current well wishes and thoughts ONLY! you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo