Cutaway01 0 #1 October 11, 2007 Hi my name is Robert and I have been recovering lost main canopys and freebags and other items that are lost while skydiving for over thirty five years. I am thinking on writing a book on how to recover a lost main and freebag I was wondering if there is a interest in such a book. I know of countless main canopys and freebags that could have been recovered should I have been there or the skydiver had the know how that I have. please send me a reply and let me know if there is an interest. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RedBaron 0 #2 October 11, 2007 I'd be interested to know the best tips on how to recover a main / bag after a cutaway...but would it really take a BOOK? How about posting your "Top 10" tactics for revovery here for review, and that would give us all a much more educated choice in voting for a book on the subject. Then, you would get meaningful feedback on what seems best / worst / reasonable / etc. Good feedback to start with I think! Red Baron www.kneeriders.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,991 #3 October 11, 2007 >I am thinking on writing a book on how to recover a lost main and freebag . . . Perhaps a website or a pamphlet would be more appropriate. A book about finding freebags brings to mind a book about how to find your keys. Now, OTOH, if you were to write a book along the lines of "The Adventures of Cutaway and the Search for the Lost Main" that might make some money . . . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parajesus 0 #4 October 11, 2007 John Doe and the Raiders of the Lost Main... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maxx 1 #5 October 11, 2007 Go for it! This is gonna be the perfect Skydivers Christmas Present! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tsalnukt 1 #6 October 11, 2007 Any one that has spent days on end bangin' through the woods looking for gear would buy...book, pamphlet, whatever. sign me up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hackish 8 #7 October 11, 2007 I don't think a book would fly (haha) but definitely an article would be useful. -Michael Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #8 October 11, 2007 QuoteI don't think a book would fly (haha) but definitely an article would be useful. -Michael Oh, so now you're slamming EVERYONE with their book ideas? The man has a dream! Actually, what came to mind was the scene from Airplane: Stewardess: Ma'am would you like something to read? Woman: Yes, but something light. Stewardess: How about this pamphlete on Jewish sports legends?"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RB_Hammer 0 #9 October 11, 2007 QuoteQuoteI don't think a book would fly (haha) but definitely an article would be useful. -Michael Oh, so now you're slamming EVERYONE with their book ideas? The man has a dream! Actually, what came to mind was the scene from Airplane: Stewardess: Ma'am would you like something to read? Woman: Yes, but something light. Stewardess: How about this pamphlete on Jewish sports legends? Now THATS funny, I don't care who you are..."I'm not lost. I don't know where I'm going, but there's no sense in being late." Mathew Quigley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Para_Frog 1 #10 October 11, 2007 It's already been written (sort of). It's called FM 57-38: Pathfinder Operations. There is a section on drift calculations from jumpships, etc.- Harvey, BASE 1232 TAN-I, IAD-I, S&TA BLiNC Magazine Team Member Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hongkongluna 0 #11 October 11, 2007 Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. Don't listen to the online haters. It WOULD make a cool skydiver's xmas present. How much crap do we buy thats even remotely skydiving related ? lots. t-shirts, keychains, videos, bags, necklaces...etc. This would be useful.-Rainier Sparks Brother #1 // "I vaguely heard someone yell "wait!" but by that point i was out the door." Quote from dz.com somewhere Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWFlyer 2 #12 October 11, 2007 Get input from JohnMitchell. He's the canopy whisperer. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZigZagMarquis 9 #13 October 11, 2007 Quote Hi my name is Robert and I have been recovering lost main canopys and freebags and other items that are lost while skydiving for over thirty five years. Robert, You're not saying you have a collection of cutaway mains, freebags & handles dating back 35 years? You gave the stuff back that you found, right? Don't laugh, all, I jumped at a DZ years ago that lost an anthropomorphic dummy and rig that went way off spot on a test drop that some passer by saw come down, loaded it up and took off with it because they thought it would be "cool to have". The items were later found by a Sheriff going from residence to residence in the area asking if anyone had seen it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ether 0 #14 October 11, 2007 This thread reminds me of a related question I had: where is the best/safest place to put one's name/contact info on gear so that it can be returned in the case of a lost cutaway? Is there *anywhere* where a label can be pinned/sewn, or is permanent marker the only way to go?Looking for newbie rig, all components... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #15 October 11, 2007 Quote This thread reminds me of a related question I had: where is the best/safest place to put one's name/contact info on gear so that it can be returned in the case of a lost cutaway? Is there *anywhere* where a label can be pinned/sewn, or is permanent marker the only way to go? Sew a label on the main riser and get a sky-hook. ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydude2000 3 #16 October 11, 2007 Has anyone ever thought of something like GPS? Or would that be too risky/expensive/high tech, for something as simple as a lack of the 'finding' gene?PULL!! or DIE!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ether 0 #17 October 11, 2007 QuoteHas anyone ever thought of something like GPS? Or would that be too risky/expensive/high tech, for something as simple as a lack of the 'finding' gene? Ooh, an RFID tag might fit the bill.. I don't know how good a range they have though -- you'd want at least a few hundred feet.Looking for newbie rig, all components... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hackish 8 #18 October 11, 2007 QuoteQuoteI don't think a book would fly (haha) but definitely an article would be useful. -Michael Oh, so now you're slamming EVERYONE with their book ideas? The man has a dream! Actually, what came to mind was the scene from Airplane: If you think the response to a solicited opinion is slamming then so be it. I wouldn't want to risk causing you any extreme mental anguish and criticize your remarks by pointing out how helpful they were to the original poster. Here is why I don't think the book would fly: a) It will be difficult to come up with enough material to write an entire book on the subject - this is why I agree with billvon's suggestion of an article. b) It would be very difficult to convince a publisher that such a book would sell. There is considerable cost associated with publishing a book and the publisher will only do it if they feel that there will be a reasonable return on their investment. c) The skydiving audience is small. The skydiving population frustrated by a lost canopy and freebag is even smaller. When we went to look for my freebag - even at a small dropzone everyone there had a good idea on the physics behind where the bag would have landed and that's where it was. Agree or disagree - those are my opinions. -Michael Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stratostar 5 #19 October 11, 2007 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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #20 October 12, 2007 I would love to give you the top ten tips but I would have to explane each one. I have developed a method of finding the canopy and freebag in a short amount of time. I wanted to try just a pamplet but there is so much info that the pamplet would turn into a book anyway you have to understand I have years of recovering just about everything lost during a skydive. There is more to it than everyone relize. For example your main canopy goes in a corn field and the corn field is so large that searching the field would take you a couple of weeks I can recover it inside a half day and I have done just that before in Quency Ill. Now to explain how I would go about doing that would take alone a couple of pages. I would use a step by step method to recover it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #21 October 12, 2007 Whatever happened to following it down? ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #22 October 12, 2007 I have never ever kept any canopy freebag or anything else I have recovered I have returned everything to its owner. I was accused in Quincy Ill at the Freefall convention of holding canopys for ransum but that wasn't me any canopy I recovered at the convention was returned because I had all jumpers who lost something fill out and sign a form allowing me and my crew to recover it. Even if someone didn't want to give us anything for the recovery we still gave it to the owner. I am very perticular about that. But your right there are those who take things that dont belong to them and keep it. There in a law in place that covers abanded or lost items and the law states that the item has to be turned in to the police and after thirty days the finder can lay claim to it. But to just pick up a canopy and take it home is theft. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #23 October 12, 2007 Just curious, what is the normal 'contribution' by someone if you recover the canopy & or free-bag? Is it a standard cost, or more if it takes a lot more time? ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cutaway01 0 #24 October 12, 2007 most people write there name and phone number on the bridle of the freebag. Its not a bad idea but from experene if the freebag dont find its way back to the drop zone in the first two days chances are it wont. Recording the seral number of your canopy and keeping the info in a same place will help more than anything. If the canopy or freebag is stolen the first thing a cop is going to ask is the seral number. If a canopy or freebag is found the finder usually will contact the drop zone anyway. so a good idea is to drop off your personal info with manifest. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lauras 0 #25 October 12, 2007 Hi Robert!! All: Robert is THE man Zhills calls when there's a lost canopy & free bag. He's gone out after everyone else has tried and found stuff like altis, camera helmets, bag-locks, etc. and we've got a big nasty swamp filled with gators, snakes & rednecks. If Robert can't find it, it's because someone took it. You can put money on that. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
