dks13827

I had a total on jump 15. pulled, braced,, say what ?? nothing !! Looked at the ripcord in my hand, yep, it's pulled. pitched it !! looked up .. yep, nothing there,, pulled reserve, no questions asked !! T-10 then came out hanging from me, chopped it,, right now ( reserve was open fine ). Very hard pull on jump 60, new larger canopy...oh my God,, one more try and it is reserve time !! I got the main pulled with 2 hands.

Fred Leslie, Steve Howe, John Hager ( Anderson ), and Dave Stephens, from Norman, OK, went to a boogie in Hutchinson to get some Lodestall jumps.

if one has the money a PD Pulse looks superb. there are some fine buys on gear on the classified ads in DZ.com

well, it does not look like the Ripcord 210 though.

In the summer of 72 we jumped at Stroud, OK, always from DZ owner Jim's Cessna 180. Sometimes his son would also bring out a 182. I was still a 30 jump guy falling base for 2 mans. Anyway, we were hearing about the Elsinore, Taft, Perris, Arvin guys making bigger and bigger stars. We wanted to do that in OK as well. Our guys were good, too, we just didnt have the aircraft and could only do 4 mans. Late one Sunday we had 8 experienced jumpers and 2 Cessna's ready to go for an 8 man. The excitement and tension were high as they took off and headed for 10,500. A great and solid 7 man was built before they ran out if time as the 8th man got below. There were many tears on the ground as they got so so close, but didnt get it. Well, Sept 1, 1972 we had the DC-3 at Guthrie ready to take the jumpers up high, about 14,500. Watching our guys make it was unbelievably exciting, here they are, SCR#'s: Award Last_Name First_Name MI City State Date 1878 Harvey Lee M Guthrie Oklahoma 10-1-72 1879 Pitts David M Guthrie Oklahoma 10-1-72 1880 Mansfield Jr. C. (Buster) A Guthrie Oklahoma 1881 Van Eman Fred H Guthrie Oklahoma 10-1-72 1891 Hill Fred M Guthrie Oklahoma 10-1-72 1924 Crenshaw Fred E Guthrie California 10-1-72 2nd jump, 9 man: SCS awards: 552 Van Eman Fred H. Guthrie Oklahoma 10-1-72 9th 585 Crenshaw Fred E. Guthrie Oklahoma 10-1-72 8th I dont know the other names but that day our guys made an 8 and later a 9 man. God, but were we proud of them. It was a very difficult thing to do at that time.

note the stylish footwear, as well as headgear and jumpsuits !

Ken had the extreme misfortune of being in a funneled star and his reserve deployed accidentally. A jumper went through the reserve canopy, killing Ken and collapsing the canopy.

and ask about Tom Phillips, Casa Grande 1974. he hit highway 93 !!!!!!!!!

RW with another passenger ?? LMFAO !!!! thanks.

photo: Terry Chavez C-7041, Ken Trommer* C-7845, Dave Stephens B-9369, C-9293, SCS 2247, SCR 3589, James Mendez.

photo, left to right: unknown, Ken Trommer* C-7845 SCR 2298, Paula Nailon D-3535, David M. Pitts D-2359

Ken Trommer, Stroud, Ok 1972 2nd from left

Kenneth R. Trommer Nov. 1949 - Aug 1973, Guthrie, Ok. C-7845 SCR 2298. My best skydiving friend. 23 years old. Univ of OK. from Rehobeth, Massachusetts

my understanding is that AAF has a really low fatal accident rate.... correct me if I am wrong. Note that I was saying that SL has many pluses, however, anyone watching SL or IAD students for long will get the hell scared out of them watching near disasters and close calls.

dont worry, Huey's fly with doors open, a lot... got a few very very fun jumps from one at a Ft Sill jump day one time. I dont know that they do that these days... fun jumps that is. too bad.

the apollo block 2 hatch could not be blown from the spacecraft. absolutely not.

what I was trying to convey is that AAF has been proven to be much safer than S/L ( or IAD ) as 1st jump students can really get into a world of hurt right off the step.. however my view is that the old Cessna drop zones where your instructors quickly became your buddy and that the hangar talk after hours and learning to spot starting on jump 7 or 8 was a great way to really really learn. I think some of that is missing these days.. IMO

yes I recall that Sandy was on the Beechnuts. please send or post your new strato star pic, would love to see it.

I was the first Strato Star dealer in Oklahoma, Jan. 1975. The first guys to buy were Neal Rutledge, John Hager ( Anderson ), Fred Leslie, Steve Howe, Nokey Klutts, Carl Bevan, Dave Voeller, Tim Booher. The Stratos were great, reliable, soft opening, good landings, I was a big guy at 6'2" and 185. We had very few malfunctions on them. The Beechnuts 10 man team from Michigan all had Stratos at the Nationals, June 1975 and the response was overwhelming ! We had some Pop Top reserves but I dont recall anyone using one. We always, well nearly always, made it back in in those OK winds !! We did demos and 10 - 12 mans and it was all great. Dave Stephens C9293

when my daughter made a tandem we calculated 1 in 80,000 and she said that sounded okay !!

I knew guys whose Army buddies picked them up on a farm for a quick ( totally against regulations ) ride to 7500' and it is a very good thing that no one bounced or there would have been a heap of trouble !!

I would recommend the tunnel because it will teach you the sounds and sensations in a less stressful situation. NASA taught the first astronauts in simulations that were loud, hot, shaking, etc. so that they could ignore the distractions and function properly.

go to the drop zone and watch before the jump day.

My daughter made a tandem for fun, and it was great, she has other interests now. If she wanted to get her license I like the hybrid idea, tandems, S/L and then some AAF........... I have seen videos of the 30 jump wonders having trouble in freefall (stabilty wise ), I dont recall myself or other S/L buddies having such troubles back in the day ( if we stuck with the program, of course ). Now, I have to agree, HUGELY, that some S/L students REALLY do try do become fatalities !!!