Smallest DZ for a PC?

[C348 0]

Recently I found some old photos on the Singapore National Archives website of a demo jump I made with the Singapore Joint Services Parachute Team for the 1971 Singapore Grand Prix.

http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/photographs/record-details/d8b2bdce-1161-11e3-83d5-0050568939ad

The club was affiliated with the British and Singapore military but also had civilian members. Because of the restricted air space over Singapore normally we had to go up to Malaysia to jump. The only time we were allowed to jump over Singapore was for demo jumps but in 1970 at the request of the Ministry of Defense we had started the initial training of candidates for the newly formed Singapore Commando Brigade and we were provided air space over the Seletar air base. Our involvement in the training was to quickly weed out the non-hackers. No use spending time and effort training someone as a commando who wasn’t willing to jump.

In those days the Grand Prix track was a road course located on sections of Upper Thompson Road and Old Upper Thompson Road and the DZ was a small strip of grass on a hairpin corner of the race circuit in front of the VIP stand. It wasn’t much bigger than a tennis court and an incredibly small landing area for a Para Commander.

The C.O. of the Red Devils parachute team from the British Parachute Regiment was visiting Singapore that week and prior to the jump he tried to have the jumps stopped because he considered the landing site too hazardous. His complaint was a lack of alternate landing sites in the event of missing the DZ. We only had one alternate landing area but below 300 ft. we either hit the DZ or ended up in the trees or on someone’s roof. There had been a previous jump into the same location for the 1969 Grand Prix and we informed the organizers that if the weather wasn’t perfect there wouldn’t be a jump. Besides the Devils CO was out ranked by one of the members our team.

We made one jump on the opening day of the Grand Prix and another on the following day. On opening day the VIP’s included the President of Singapore and the Prime Minister. The intent was to land in front of the VIP stand and then be presented to the President who would sign our log books. Good incentive to keep out of the trees. Jumping from a helicopter was a big help in getting a good exit point from 7000 ft. All five of us made it into the DZ and we had our 15 minutes of fame.

That was the last time a jump was made for the GP. The 1972 jump was weathered out. Because of race fatalities on the dangerous track, there were no more Grand Prix events in Singapore until the recent advent of the F1 races.

I'm the one with the "Sun Burst" PC Mark II on a Crossbow piggy back container with "one-shots".

[SCS292 1]

I love pictures of PCs. They make my heart beat faster.

[377 22]

Great pics and narrative. Thanks for posting!

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[Bob_Church 7]

I used to jump a Paracommander into the DZ at Chesapeake Ohio.
The last time I was there was about five years ago. Neil drove an hour to pick me up then we drove another three hours only to find they were closed for the day. A guy with a powered parachute had put his card on the terminal's message board so we called him up. We paid him something like $75 each but after all that driving it was worth it to get a jump in, plus it was a memorable jump. That thing climbed slow. No, I mean slow. I could smell the ozone off the power lines and count the gravel on the roof of the K-Mart but the real trip was the north part of the circle. It's all hills and valleys so one moment you had hundreds of feet below you and the next you could almost reach down and pick leaves.
During takeoff the thing would sway and twist like you were sitting on a swing which, as Neil said, wasn't right when you could still smell the fresh mown grass. But I think that's the smallest regularly operating DZ I ever jumped a PC at.

[JohnyCrawford 0]

Titusville, Florida, in the old days, when it was run by Lyle Goodin.

Google maps:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Arthur+Dunn+Airpark-x21/@28.622555,-80.8350419,3841m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88e74c95b2402cfd:0xb7c6d9fc029e78cb!8m2!3d28.6225503!4d-80.8328479

One "out" landing site I used once was the grave yard to the southeast.

[Bob_Church 7]

JohnyCrawford

Titusville, Florida, in the old days, when it was run by Lyle Goodin.

Google maps:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Arthur+Dunn+Airpark-x21/@28.622555,-80.8350419,3841m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88e74c95b2402cfd:0xb7c6d9fc029e78cb!8m2!3d28.6225503!4d-80.8328479

One "out" landing site I used once was the grave yard to the southeast.

I've never gotten to jump there, at least not yet, but Roy Fox has told me some stories about the place.

[jim gentry 5]

The stage at the Calaveras County Annual Frog jump.