GTairhoss

Hi Hoop, I don't know where Warren Kauffman (D-263) was in '69 or '70, but I know where he was in February of '73. They had a small drop zone in Sun City (about 40 min SE of Tampa) with a pea gravel pit and a paved strip and that was it! The manifest was a card table. I made my first jump February 17, 1973 with the USF Sport Parachute Club and they took us to Sun City. Warren was still ASO and was pretty much in charge. As pilots we had Wes Mills (D-87) with a cherry C-185 and Jim Ellmacher with a C-180. I bought my first parachute from Warren (28' 7TU) and jumped it on my 4th static line jump - Warren was my jumpmaster. He was a great guy and we became fast friends. His house was skydive central - you never knew who would show up there and we spent many an hour listening to jump stories. When Mac McGraw opened the Riverview DZ we drifted apart as I was jumping with the USF club at the Sod Farm (doesn't sound like the same one that the Dobsons were involved in.) I agree with you that Warren never seemed to get the credit he deserved. As you may know, (I just found out) Warren made his last jump - 2,463 - at age 74 and passed away peacefully at home in Largo Fl May 18, 2008 at age 82. The end of a long and storied skydiving career - may he Rest In Peace. Blue Skies, Gary Thompson D-4616

The 3 that was lost in Alaska was N111ST - Skytrain. They were flying frozen fish to Anchorage. The story I got was that they lost an engine on climbout and seemed to be trying to set it down in a peat bog but caught a wingtip. Gary Hannah, Greg Wirth, and Debbie Scatting were killed in the crash. I knew Gary and Debbie but did not know Greg. Gary was the pilot, Debbie was a jumper who hung around with Gary. I heard that Greg was serving a co-pilot, but I really don't know about that. The accident happened on July 1, 1981. You can Google NTSB and click on Index of Months and read the NTSB account. It is pretty sparse on details but states the facts as NTSB sees it. This account closely matches other accounts of this accident which appear in the forum except the part about Greg. I'm pretty sure Debbie was not a pilot. So if Greg was a pilot it stands to reason he would have occupied the right seat. Maybe someone who knew Greg can shed some light on this. Blue Skies, Gary Thompson D-4616

There was a 3rd person in Skytrain when it crashed. That was Debbie Scatting. She was a jumper who used to hang around with Gary Hannah.

TJ went in at Z-Hills when George and Betty Kabeller ran the place. He had dumped a bit low and had a fast malfunction. Unfortunately, he played with it for too long. He finally chopped but he was too low. He went in with his reserve only part way through the deployment sequence. I wasn't there but got the details from a reliable jumper. It was a shock to all who knew him.