howardwhite

.. this well-known skydiver? And for a lot of extra points, when and where was the picture taken? HW

Plum Island is a "once in a while" DZ and probably shouldn't be listed at all. The USPA DZ listing says "Skydive Plum Island is currently not operating but will resume operations on future dates." HW

pix HW

Hmm. I had dinner last year at JAI's summer camp in New Hampshire and, unless I'm mistaken, I wore my baseball cap indoors throughout the evening, and Felicia was present. I put her out on her first (and only) jump. I thought Jacques had hand-picked me for this assignment, as he had for a previous wife, but she told me last year she hadn't told him until after the jump. Jacques has always been masterful in getting good press, and his mastery continues in this story. HW

A piece of advice I frequently hear given to student skydivers (and have occasionally dispensed myself) is: Don't overthink your skydive. Just listen to (and be sure you understand) what you're taught. And then have fun. HW

Just as a reminder: there is another long thread here, fairly recent, where some of the same stuff has already come up.

I don't take responsibility for what Time wrote. From a couple of other contemporary news stories: Oct. 17, '85 "Andrew Thornton II's fatal plunge while smuggling drugs last month into Knoxville probably did not prompt the sabotage of a plane that crashed in Georgia 2 1/2 weeks later, authorities said yesterday. After intensive investigation by at least six federal agencies, no connection has been found between Thornton's drug smuggling and the crash in Jenkinsburg, Ga., which killed 17 people. 'We're keeping our eyes open for a possible connection...' " Dec. 24, '85 "Investigators searching for cocaine dropped by an airborne smuggler have found a ripped-up shipment of the sweet-smelling powder and the remains of a bear that apparently died of a multimillion-dollar high. 'The bear got to it before we could, and he tore the duffel bag open, got him some cocaine and OD`d (overdosed),' said Gary Garner of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). 'There`s nothing left but bones and a big hide.'" HW

The 1980 date comes directly from the New York Times clip I chopped up for posting. The clip is attached as a PDF; see the bottom of it. HW

See also http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960158,00.html HW

Couple of other WTC BASE stories for you. 1. In November, 1977, Jim "Zoom" Campbell was arrested on the roof of the South Tower. (Some of you may have other memories of Zoom.) 2. On Sept. 13, 1980, an unidentified jumper successfully jumped off the WTC. (Partial story in two chunks so they'll upload.) HW

Yup. I guess that's where I stole the picture. That's what it says, but no way it will hold three jumpers. HW

It is in fact an Airtourer 115, built by Victa Ltd. in Australia. This one was first registered in March, 1967, and is still registered in Queensland. The design was later sold to the New Zealand company that became PAC and made the CT4 (and PAC 750). The Airtourer does look sort of like the American/Grumman American line (based on a design by Jim Bede of BD5 Jet fame), but as I noted earlier, the nose gear on those was quite different (picture attached). Taxiing them without nosewheel steering took a little getting used to. The fuel gauges -- at least in the original AA1-A -- were plastic sight tubes in the side walls. Flaps, even fully extended, were pretty ineffective. HW

If you follow the Wikipedia links you posted, you'll find a fairly long article -- post 9/11 -- with an interview. Lots has been written about it. One example, from "Parachuting's Unforgettable Jumps III" by Howard Gregory: "After free-falling for 50 floors to make sure I had enough speed to pull the chute off my back, the people on the upper floors reported a suicide because they had seen a body go falling past their windows.. But the lower floors reported seeing a man in a parachute outside waving to them, which I was doing to those people who had their faces pressed against the windows of the Trade Center." Attached is the same photo, autographed to Dan Poynter. Mike Sergio, who took the picture, made a bandit demo into Shea Stadium during game 6 of the 1986 World Series. He was fined $500 and sentenced to 100 hours of community service. Attached is part of a newspaper story about that one. HW

I am a squirrel. It is listed in my "Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft," Barnes and Noble 1998. The one in this picture (serial #14) seems to be still registered. Until roughly August, 1976, it was not hard to get jumps out of Hueys. At Pepperell, MA, we often got free jumps from Hueys based at nearby Ft. Devens. We also had them for meets at the West Point cadet DZ at Walkill, NY. Something happened in 1976 that stopped all this, but that's for another day. HW

Nah. A Tiger has a free-swiveling (not steerable) nose gear, meaning ground steering is via brakes. HW

OK, I think this one is really obscure. Which, of course, means some one will get it right almost immediately. HW

Unless the ad copy (cleverly cropped out) is wrong, the item on the right is the Strato-Style. HW

Many, many threads on Cowboy's Caravan, including this one. HW

Adding to my previous.... Attached is the start of a long story about the 1967 fatality count as of mid-September. Considering there were far fewer jumpers then, it's a pretty scary number. HW

Just for the record, my remark about wind and temperature was intended to provoke sympathy for vpjr, who flew from St. Louis to Pepperell wrapped in plastic bags. HW

The Wasik story -- aside from its tabloid interest -- came at a really bad time for skydiving in the US because it happened only about a month after 16 jumpers had drowned in Lake Erie after jumping through clouds from a B-25. There were Congressional hearings going on about regulating the sport. (All of this has been covered in other threads here.) Time (in the snotty-punny style for which it was then famous) referred to the incident as a "paracide." The safety officer was Lyle Goodin (not Goodwin). The attached newsclip is pretty hard to read because I had to compress it a lot to make it fit. I can PM more legible clips to the morbidly curious. HW

The chest reserve is the Rumor. Fun to pull with thick gloves on, I bet. But the ad says it has "multiple safety features." The item at right is the Strato-Style, descried as "lightweight mini pack for the stylist." HW

Very old picture of very old airplane flying near very old mountain. HW

Here's the Altitude Shop stable as of early 1977. Top Secret top middle. Care to identify the others? (Common characteristics seem to be wrinkly containers.) HW

There has already been a thread here which included references to, and pictures of, Top Secret containers. IIRC, Jerry Myers at The Altitude Shop installed a slider on my Strato-Star (replacing ropes and rings) when I was on a California trip in 1976. I probably first jumped it at Pope Valley, and then shortly later at Elsinore. And I think Jerry MacDonald later took off the cotton padding and grommets associated with the ropes and rings. I just saw an Altitude Shop ad the other day with a picture of all of these rigs. As it's probably still near the top of the pile, I'll scan and post it later (too nice today; an Otter is calling.) HW