crewdog2

We used them for CRW in the early '80s. Good canopy. -Russ Pinney

I jumped the Riptide helicopter and Travolta's DC3. Does anyone have photos of those birds? As I recall, someone ripped off the batteries out of the helicopter, and so the owners got pissed and removed it from the dz. There was also a diecast model available at the time. I gave one to my wife's little brother. Damn, wish I would have kept that. Russ

Wow, really sorry to hear that the military's oldest skydiving club is closing. I was a member of the club (and on the team) from 1977 - 1979. That's where I learned to jump. Kurt Eckstein ran the club back in those days, and basically owned the place. Kurt became the club's first fatality in May of '78 after 20 years of fatality free jumping. The club was closed for a short while during the investigation but later opened again. I had a blast jumping at Fort Campbell, and still jump with a couple of guys that I learned with while stationed there. Some of my fondest memories are of jumping out on Son dz and hanging out at the club afterward. We were spoiled rotten jumping from Hueys four days a week. Russ Pinney Screaming Eagles Parachute Team '78 - '79

Well, as it turns out, old Avgjoe is one of ours. The son-of-bitch!

Sorry, too late!

Hey, I can be wrong. It's happened before, and it will probably happen again. If people wouldn't play all this "Secret Squirrel" stuff it would certainly be a lot easier to make an accurate assessment of their comments. It appeared to me that AggieDave was asking the CRW community a legitimate question. Then, someone unknown to us (Avgjoe), replies with the beer can story. "A" license, no jump numbers, no dz entered, and no name. Just figured he wasn't one of ours. I would say to Avgjoe, come forward and I will personally apoligize. Then after that, we're going to do some CReW. Blue skies & black nights, Russ

I recent your remark.

It's pretty obvious that you don't do CRW. Why don't you play with your beer cans while someone more knowledgeable addresses this subject.

That's actually a dragplane. Pretty cool!

Southern California Military Academy (SCMA) - 1971. Just one year. My dad got a taste of what it cost to send two kids to private school and decided my brother and I could return to public school.

Those night dives are always a challenge. I especially love that moment right after opening when I don't have a clue where anyone is. 36 next year? Russ

Thanks again, bro! You da man. And thanks to Brett and Glen for landing with my main. At that altitude (~11,000 ft.), I never thought I would see my baby again. Well, maybe at some swap meet in Riverside a year from now. Also, a big thanks to Frank for the great pack job on my reserve - both before and after. Russ

As this is the forum for Canopy Relative Work, I was addressing the CRW community.

And if you're the one who cutaway, do yourself and everyone else a favor and try to land safely back at the dz. I was following this guy's main down one time and he damn near collided with me while under his reserve. He was so hell bent on not losing that canopy that he never saw me. Let your friends follow your gear down while you stay clear of others and land the only parachute you have left. Russ

I knew I had this somewhere... Russ Pinney BCRW #7

Doug, the larger covers are needed to contain all the crap we add to our risers. Larger toggles that spring open, dive loops, front riser blocks and pulley systems really "bulk-up" the risers and make them difficult to stow on any conventional rig. I still see CRWdogs on the plane that have their toggles hanging outside of their rigs because they don't fit inside the covers. Scary shit to me. You catch one of those exposed toggles on something and you're going to be in a world of hurt. Anyway, you need to cover all that stuff, that is the reason for the larger covers.

I made around 10 jumps at Lake Wales with the brakes unstowed. All of the openings were soft and on heading. Besides the brake setting, we also rolled the three outside cells on each side tightly and stuffed them into the center cell. The canopy has a tail pocket and I always flat pack it (I know, old school). In between jumps at Lake Wales I tried putting the canopy in a bag, but didn't have the correct bridle. We were getting ready to go up again so I yanked it off real quick and used the tail pocket.

I'm not sure the otter pilot was giving us the exit speed requested. I was up front in the aircraft, and due to injuries I sustained in a previous hard opening (a week before the world record jumps), I definitely had a vested interest in slowing the aircraft down as much as possible. I asked the pilot on each jump for the slowest exit speed he could obtain (short of a stall). A quick glance at the airspeed indicator prior to exit suggested that we were still going a bit fast. As for the hard openings, I had to put a stop to mine or quit and go home. Due to the torn stomach muscles I had I couldn't go on, and was planning to throw in the towel and fly home on Monday. I didn't want to go. I love being a part of these jumps as much as anyone, but I couldn't take the opening shocks. Because I felt the most pain during opening, I had to look for ways to slow the deployment of my canopy. Chris Gay allowed me to install a slider cover on the record jumps which I could rip off after opening. It helped a little bit. But, I still couldn't take that "thump-opening" you get on a Lightning. Me and my Washington buddies tried a number of things to slow my openings - just short of tying the slider off with 550. Roger McClelland suggested I pack the canopy with the brakes at full glide (unstowed). Man, what a difference! The canopy mushed open and I had to pump the slider down. Saved my ass, and allowed me to be on the record jumps. Thanks Roger! I wouldn't suggest packing your Lightning this way for competition, but for big-ways or fun jumps, I don't see any problem. Russ