crewdog2

Ah, a skydiving goddess from the past! < bows with respect >

***It would be interesting to know what you grew up to be, Russ. Where are you living these days? Quote Send me a PM and I'll tell ya all about it. ***Also, exactly WHERE are you in that 85-way diamond? Quote Right in the center; tail of the 36-way.

Hey, you know way too much! Gonna make me guess who you are, eh?

Thanks, I found him in there. Hell, I even found myself in there.

Greg was a helicopter pilot in the Army. He may be working as a pilot somewhere.

Has anyone seen the likes of any of the following skydivers: David Rodriques David Altieri (sp) Vickie Michaels Guy Labreque Greg Lawson I had a blast jumping with these people at Fort Campbell - where are they now?

A little perspective on what it's like to be in the middle of the formation: I'm the tail of the 36 way, and I have to say that with all the problems the base had during the week, when the 36 way came together she flew like a champ. However, when we grew to 49 and larger, the center of the formation was a real handful. Canopies were very loose with a lot of line travel. Scary shit sometimes. Not unmanageable, but pucker factor upped. From talks with Chris and Mike, the formation was designed this way with the 81 way in mind. Our center flew fast at times (I was out in front and could see all the way to the top at #36) . All of this paid off upon completion of the 64 way - damn, those babies flew great. And I have to say I was comfortable. Our organizers knew what they were doing, and we're grateful.

I owned one for a while ...never had any problems. I thought the reason USPA banned them was because a couple of people went-in tugging on an open capewell cover. You know, didn't look at what they were pulling, and the cover had the same T-shape.

I remember Billy Reed. In fact I was thinking about him the other day. I was in Palm Springs and past a restaurant named "Billy Reed's Restaurant." Do you know if that place belongs to him?

Several teams have been forced to wear aad's in order to compete - and it's bullshit! These teams were competing on the national and world level and had to conform. They didn't feel a need for the device - they carried one to jump at that dz. What a waste of fucking money. Personally, I will boycott any dz that makes it mandatory that I wear an aad while jumping at their facility. Aad's aren't for everybody!

Quote Some of the old Perris jumpers might recall the history of that aircraft. It was only around for a short while between say '89 & '91. I was told John Travolta had owned the 3 at one time.

QuotePic definetly taken at Perris. Haven't seen a pic of Danny Gainer (Bear) in a long time. Quote A little off topic, but old 'Bear (Denny) and I were very good friends for a long time. We had a falling out and then patched it up. He sent me a heart-felt letter one day and I quickly put the disagreement behind us. The big guy is one of my oldest skydiving friends - I love you bro! Nuff said.

I believe this is Travolta's DC3 in the background. I'm pretty sure it belonged to him at one time. We did find a box containing a collection of rubber lips under the co-pilot's seat.

Quote Yeah we found that the Pegasus was a pretty good canopy for CRW - back in those days. We used them on the backwards jumps that we made, and I could even stand up the landings. I wouldn't dare attempt something like that on a Lightning. The "trashplane" (I'm not sure we had a name for that at the time) was a different animal. One of my teammates and I used to do a lot of them - not backwards. I'd be interested to see your photo. I always piloted the biplane when we did these trashplane dives. Barry Fields (yep, that's his name) was underneath me. We would usually link-up at the end of an 8-way speed dive. When we got ready to make the transition from the biplane, I would cinch my ankles deep into the "V" of his risers and grab my front riser dive loops. He would take a double wrap of his toggles. Following that, I would pull down front risers while he put his canopy into a full stall. We had it dialed in; my canopy would dive over as his gave it up in a stall. As soon as the canopies departed, he would take a grip with his legs around my body. We had a blast doing these maneuvers. Sometimes I would reach under and smack him on the ass. He would respond by letting up on the brakes a little, causing a startling jolt to me in front. We often took these formations low as we both felt they were safer than a downplane. You can turn them into the wind, break-off high enough for the forward canopy to pull out of a dive and the rear canopy recover from the stall - unlike a downplane. I haven't done one of these dives since the early 80's, and here's why: At the time Barry and I were doing these maneuvers we didn't know anything about wing loading. Barry was flying the lower/stalling canopy and was 25 - 30 lbs. heavier than me. It worked fine. On another dive, one of my teammates - jumping the same size Pegasus, but weighing 40 lbs. more than me - asked me if I would be interested in doing this formation with him at the end of the dive. His name is Bob Atkins, "Space" to those who know him. Old Space wants to fly the pilot slot on this maneuver so I am on the bottom. After our 8-way dive we do pilot pin. We transition to the "trashplane" but immediately I find myself having trouble keeping my canopy in a stall. It wants to recover even though I have a double wrap with the toggles and it's in a full stall. I can feel my canopy buffeting. In an instant, my caonpy does a shotgun recovery overhead, flinging Space over his own slider and into his lines and canopy. I couldn't believe what had just happened. From my position above, he was in freefall, entangled in the lines of his own canopy. I immediately went into a front riser spiral in an attempt to stay with him. His canopy was a bed sheet with him inside - I couldn't stay with him at that speed. He was in deep shit. I was screaming my head off to no avail. He tried to free himself from the lines but couldn't get out. He finally cutaway, but remained in the lines like a spider in a web. He couldn't get out, so crossing under 1200' he fired the reserve. I watched from above as the reserve pilot chute, trapped in the burble of the main, stayed on his back. In my mind, he had already bounced, and his girlfriend, Denise was running out to the impact area. But guess what, at about 800', the reserve launches and extracts him right out of the main. After a very brief reserve ride he landed in the peas. We used to call old Space "Death from Above". I just figured that the devil needed guys like him and wouldn't let them go with out a fight. Blue Skies, Bob, wherever you are. Russ

Back in the early 80's, out at Perris, Gary Cobb was into hooking up his parachute backwards and doing CRW. He talked a couple of us into trying it. We even landed a triplane backwards.

It's 1981, and i'm leaving Perris after a day of skydiving. I turn on to Van Buren and suddenly this big rig veers into my lane. I fall back, thinking this dude is hell bent on taking the lane. He sits tight, so I attempt to run past him. He veers into my lane again, preventing me from passing. I fall back once again. The next thing I know, the driver is honking his horn and giving me the finger out of his window. I'm wondering what I did to piss this guy off. He stays in his lane for awhile, so I run up along side him. I roll down the passenger side window as I come up on him. Before I can say what the fuck is the problem, I see the driver is Jimmy Crawford. He's laughing his ass off and I'm thinking you sack of shit! He yells out the window "do you want to get a cup of coffee?" So we did. Jimmy was a cool guy.

***Hey all!!! Anybody out there remember ECLIPSE? Quote I remember you guys. Also remember your 4-way team "Considerable Difficulty." We competed against you as "Wrapture" and "Trapped Like Rats." Remember? I still see Doug Scofield (your captain) once and a while. Blue Skies, Russ Pinney

I remember jumping from the "Riptide" helicopter. Damn, was that thing a sight! Around the same time ('85?), diecast models of the pink beast were selling in stores. I bought a couple of them and gave them to my wife's little brothers. Recently, I was wishing I would have held on to one of them - they're pretty hard to find now. After wheeling and dealing on e-bay for awhile, I managed to purchase one of the original models. Didn't pay the same price as I did 20 years ago, but still a lot of fun to have. Russ

Hey Mark, I finally got that photo scanned, but it didn't come out to well. It's a small instamatic shot. Russ

Hi Mark, You were correct regarding the individuals in each of the photos. And you're right, that is Jon Pejka at the front of the team shot. I'm to his right; Lally to the left; Bliss at the other end with Doug Harris and Johnny Shelton. I'm not sure of the base, but my guess is Dave Rodriguez and Paul Reynolds. Here's a scanned photo that Tom Balboni sent me after Paul, Tom and I met in Florida for the CRW America's Record in 2002. I even found a photo with you in it from Paducah. I'll scan when I get my scanner back from my son. Blues Skies, Russ

Hey Mark, how are you doing? It's been a long time. You're another one who learned at the Campbell club and stayed with it. I linked up with Paul Bliss and Tom Balboni several years ago after an absence of 20 years. We've jumped together on the world record CRW dives in recent years. I have been down to Florida several times over the past few years, and will be back again in November for the 81-way jumps. I'll see these guys again. I don't know if you knew this, but Paul was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident on his way to the CRW Record jumps in 2003. He is still recouping. I found Ed Lally on the Internet a couple of years ago. We spoke on the phone a few times and he agreed to meet Paul, Tom and I in Florida. He didn't show up. I never see Weber's name or some of the others in Parachutist, so I just assumed that they no longer jump. I hope some of these guys are still active. Ft. Campbell spawned a lot of great skydivers. I live in Southern California and jump at Perris and Lodi. If you are ever out this way, stop by and say hi. Russ

Chris, Thanks again for the detailed account of the club's demise. It appears that you guys fought the good fight to try and save the place. Damn shame. Correct me if I am wrong, but weren't you considering writing an article for Parachutist about the club? If so, you're probably the right person to pen such an article. Thanks for adding the photos. I have some, but they are showing their age. Russ

Thanks for the info Chris. Boy things really changed over time. When I jumped there we had a Huey four times a week with one on standby. Club dues were $5.00 a month. We were spoiled rotten and we knew it. I tried to make as many jumps as I could while I was there because I knew how much civilians were paying for them. The club was under attack even back then. The key seemed to be as it had always been in the military - to have friends in high places. SFC Eckstein ran the club when I was there and had the support of the 101st Aviation Battalion Commander, Col. Watke. That was always our ace in the hole. We also had a club member who was a Lt. in the CID. Just like business, it's who you know. When Eckstein bounced one of our guys did a demo into the PX for him. I went over to watch and was wearing my team uniform. After the guy landed, a large figure of man standing next to me put his arm around me and gave a consoling hug. To my astonishment, he was 101st Airborne Division Commander, Major General, John M. Brandenburg. Eckstein was promoted to MSG posthumously, and buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The club had some pull back then, and was respected. It sounds as though you were the last to carry the torch, and the last of those that enjoyed the skydiving experience there. Have any photos of the dz's or the club? I'm surprised that with all the people who have jumped there, that there isn't a bigger response to this thread. What happened to all these people? Blue Skies Russ Pinney

Here's a shot of the old Tension Free CRW team. I go way back with these guys. I still run into Feisty at the CRW record jumps. Russ

A 24' flat is biased constructed with continuous lines. I have seen them take 450 pounds at 135 knots. They are tough. Sparky Yeah, the 24' flat was pretty rugged. And cheap. I had a couple of rides on one (none terminal). Only paid $50 for it. Reading Airtwardo's post about his partner's bent pin and subsequent reserve ride reminded me of a situation one of my friends got into back in 1978. This guy was big boy who didn't own a rig. All he had was a Paracommander in a bag with a hotdog pilot chute attached to it. He had permanently borrowed a student B-12 container from our club to pack the PC in and would check out a chest-mounted 24' flat to use on the weekends. One Saturday my buddy comes smoking in right over the packing area with what looked like a bag lock. The bag and a few line stows were out, and that's it. I thought for sure I was going to witness a fatality when at around 800 ft. he goes feet first and dumps that 24' flat. BLAMO! I've never seen anyone come to such a complete stop so fast in all my life. He just hung there in the harness for a few seconds and then drifted across the street and landed. We raced over to meet him in the club's ambulance (like the kind you see on the old *MASH* show). We found him standing there in the middle of the reserve with the main bag and a few line stow hanging down one side. When asked if he was alright, he replied: "Wow, that was pretty intense!" After examining his gear, we discovered that one of the hooks on a pack opening band had dug all the way through the container and snagged lines on the bag preventing its deployment. Russ