377

This detailed discussion of post PC canopy development is GREAT! Please post more if you have it. Hydraulic reefing? Amazing stuff. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Congrats to those who correctly identified the Argosy, a rather obscure cargo plane that never was very successful. Despite having four turboprop engines it was considered quite underpowered and could not take heavy loads long distances as was originally envisioned. None remain in service. There is still one Noratlas flyable in Europe, restored by enthusiasts. It uses Bristol radial piston engines which had sleeve valves rather than valves in the cylinder head. Spare engines and parts are scarce. A C 119 and C 82 were recently ferried in the US from Hawkins and Powers, a bankrupt air tanker contractor in Wyoming. Both have twin booms and are ex RCAF and USAF respectively. I keep being amazed at the variety of heavy prop transports that have served as jumpships. The Boeing 307 photo blew me away and then the Argosy photo pops up. Man I wish I had jumped those rare birds. My only truly rare catch is the ATL 98 Carvair (double decked DC 4 conversion) that showed up at WFFC a couple of years ago. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Amazing!!! I had no idea that a 307 was ever jumped. How did I miss this? Any details on owner, pilots, reg number? I believe the 307 was the first pressurized airliner. A surplus Boeing C 97 Stratofreighter was jumped also. I am told this took place in Florida, date unknown. It was the subject of a poster that was sold by gear suppliers in the 70s. There is still one flyable C 97 currently being overhauled in New Jersey. I am hoping for a miracle and the opportunity to jump it someday. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

You will find that the cobwebs come off pretty fast and that the new gear is soooooo much better than the stuff we jumped back in the day. I restarted seven years ago after a long absence. I just could not believe how great the new canopies fly. I thought there would never be a better canopy than the ParaCommander. I really miss the old planes (DC 3, Twin Beech, Lodestars, etc) but not the old gear. Mark 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I have two rigs, one which I jump a lot and one (my spare rig) which I jump less often take with me to WFFC every summer. The spare rig had the main packed last August and had been jumped with a year between main repacks several times before with zero problems. I got the reserve repacked a few days ago so I could legally jump the rig and just on a whim paid the rigger to unpack the main (Triathlon 190) and inspect and repack it too. He told me the main was like a solid brick and he had to get help in peeling it open carefully with the fabric being "stuck" together. The reserve was fine. He told me he wondered if the main would have opened when deployed. Once he got it all unstuck and aired out it was repacked and seemed fine. He said TRIs are known to have tacky fabric. Anyone else run into this? It wasnt just the rigger's opinion. The packer/jumper who helped him unstick the "brick" said he too had serious doubts if it would have opened. he said it was very stuck together and took a lot of time and effort to undo without damaging anything. The F 111 PD reserve was just fine and the rig had not been exposed to liquids or any extreme temperatures. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Maggot, That was a close call. I had a similar thing happen, interestingly involving a Lockheed PV2 Harpoon, kinda like a Lodestar. I was bumped from a ride to buzz a seaplane meet at Clear Lake CA. I had helped the owner pilot with some electrical work on the plane and he promised me the ride. A couple of days before the event asked if he could give me a rain check because he had to take the sister of the guy who was doing his annual inspection. He stalled it during a low level zoom climb and push over. It went down into the lake killing all seven aboard. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Wait until skydiving starts getting seriously attacked for contributing to global warming and being 100% non essential. When that happens I am going to start espousing that pre 2007 Republican line that there is no scientific proof of global warming. Guess we will have to be winched up to stationary helium balloons that have a pulley attached.. The ground based winches will be driven by solar electric power. As long as gravity still works, there will always be a way to skydive 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I made lots of jumps in the 60s with no altimeter, couldnt afford one. I got really good at eyeballing altitude. Now I jump with one analog and one digital. I still eyeball it and compare my estimate with what the altimeters say, but having two altimeters is a good idea. Twice I have had an altimeter fail in freefall, that's why I like to have a couple. I often jump with 3, one chest mount on a wedge so others can see it in an RW formation and two on my wrist... and two audibles, so 5 altimeters altogether. No, I don't wear two helmets and I only have one reserve. I just like altimeters. The more the merrier. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I have always had very good service from Aerodyne with only one exception, misrigged lines on a relined canopy, put in wrong sequence on one french link. Check yours carefully. I have owned several Triathlons and LOVE the fact that Aerodyne does upgrades on old canopies for really fair prices. They wont try to sell you a new canopy if yours if upgradeable to the latest configuration. I had the "Beef Mod" done and my old Tri flared MUCH better. Everyone screws up customer service sometime. At least they owned up to it and aplologized in a public forum. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

My confidence in Aitrec is shaken by these reports. Since a malfunctioning AAD can kill not only the user but others as well I am astounded that they let these rogue units remain in use. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I have to say that I am disturbed by this event and even more by Airtec's response. I would have expected them to give you a new unit and retire yours to a lab for extensive testing. You are now the lab, and that ain't right. With no nearby radio transmissions (and I assume no nearby lightning strikes if you were boarding to jump) and an RF shield in place I am baffled as to what caused your Cypres fire. If I were the mfr and I were baffled I sure wouldn't send the unit back to the user with no changes and a shrug of my shoulders. I experienced several Sentinel 2000 AAD firings upon landing back in the old days. The mfr was baffled too, but finally made a mod (an RC time delay) to cure the problem. I was coming down so hard in my tired 3d hand surplus C 9 canopy that the rate switch would bounce and fire from the G forces when I hit. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

No disrespect meant regarding Adrian's Adrian's death. He was killed by his AAD plain and simple. I know that it was advertised as safe for swoops prior to him proving with his tragic accident just how wrong Airtec was in their estimates. I actually have talked with Airtec engineers for several hours about components (especially capacitors which change with age) and failure modes. I used to work in the implantable heart defibrillator business and we shared stories about how despite best intentions and rigorous testing, unexpected and unforeseeable failures can and do occur. My take is that Airtec is VERY conscientious and not complacent. For example, they were at WFFC strapping data recorders on volunteers (including me) for high speed C 130 exits to look at transient pressure spikes coming out of their aneroid sensor when a jumper tumbles and gets hit by a strong propblast and wake turbulence. I just think they have more experience than the other mfrs of sport AADs. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

By the way manufacturer attempts to control retail pricing have been successfully attacked in court as illegal price fixing in violation of federal antitrust and unfair competition laws... but very few small dealers have the bucks to fight in federal court. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

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

contact Bry at skydiverbry@yahoo.com. He has consistently given me better price quotes than any other dealers. I was always a bit cautious on buying from him since he is just an Internet dealer with no real store, but I finally took the plunge. I just bought a new PD 193 reserve from him at waaaay less than any one else offered. It arrived straight from PD in record time. I am sure he can get the AAD you seek for under $1300. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I just had my old Cypres 1 expire and went through all the available choices before settling on buying a Cypres 2. I am an electrical engineer and know that with mission critical systems you want proven hardware and proven software, not the latest product necessarily. Airtec has more experience in sport AADs than their competitors do. They test, analyse and update all the time. They are not a complacent company. They have made some mistakes (like mis-estimating how fast some highly loaded canopies can descend in the hands of radical flyers) but they generally have it all figured out. No AAD is perfect, but in my opinion Cypres 2 is the best choice right now. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

I trained in 1968 on S/L, still active and have never made a tandem jump. I was offered a free tandem ride a few years ago and declined. It is amazing how many people have made a single tandem jump. I think it is great in that it allows anyone with a hundred bucks (Lodi CA DZ price) to experience freefall. Freefall changes your outlook, even if you only do it once. Also, people who have made a tandem jump think of themselves as quasi-skydivers and are likely allies if the govt. starts messing with our right to jump. I dont ever care to make a tandem jump, but I am 100% in favor of tandems as they subsidize up jumpers, bring freefall to the masses and keep DZs afloat financially. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

That indeed looks like the Antioch landing area but far from the peas. How do I know? Because I usually landed far from the peas, despite my best efforts with a C9 cheapo back in the 70s when Perry Stevens was running the DZ at Antioch. I also learned how to fly ultralights there and always avoided those hills on the other side of the road from the airport. Does anyone remember that totally derelict Lockheed Lodestar that was sitting there for years? I heard it flew out on a ferry permit which is almost unbelievable. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Skydive Santa Rosa shut down. Doug took the operation to somewhere in Missouri is what I heard. Too much hassle running a DZ at a busy controlled airport? I really liked jumping there during the fire season. When fires were active, there would be lots of air tankers operating out of the airport including Neptunes, Broncos, Trackers, DC 4s, P3s, Skycranes etc. Quite a show for an aircraft buff. I wonder if anyone else will try to open a DZ at the Sonoma County Airport? They had a fair amount of tandem customers on the weekends. Palo Alto has a bunch of DZs within a 1.5 hour drive. Byron is the closest. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

How cool, a tunnel close by. I plan to seriously lighten my bank account when it opens. Mark 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Here I am, lit up and pulled over for not having a current license sticker, my 13 year old boy in the passenger seat. I told the cop truthfully that I had put on a current sticker and it had apparently been swiped. The cop started giving me a really hard time for no good reason. I just shut up and listened. My kid pipes up: "hey, I know you, you're the cop who tickets skateboarders aren't you? And now you are making a big deal over sticker when all you have to do is call it in and see that the registration is current? You ever do any real police work, you know, the kind with criminals and danger?" Think I got a ticket? 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Man does that suck. How would the video shown only on a local rural TV station have come to the immediate attention of his insurer? I made every load but one on the C 54 at WFFC (LOVED that plane). Everyone was belted during the takeoff roll on every flight I was on, but there was a lot of moving around afterwards. The C 54 didn't sell for several years after the WFFC flights according to what I read. Maybe it takes that long to find a buyer. What a damned shame. Insurance is a real hassle and is the reason the Super Connie in Kansas City no longer flies jumpers at WFFC. I wonder how the Carvair and C 130A we had at WFFC handled it? What if you just formed a corp with no assets other than the plane and flew uninsured? Does the FAA mandate liability insurance? 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

This looks like the C 54G then owned, maintained and flown by DC 4 expert Jim Blumenthal of AZ. It flew jumpers at WFFC in Quincy about 5 years ago. It was in great shape and performed numerous lifts (with 85 jumpers) with only one minor hitch, a blown starter motor which Jim replaced within a half hour from his store of spares that he hauls with the plane. He also owned a C 123K with props and jets, like the one in the movie Con Air. His C 54G was sold to a fuel hauler in AK a couple of years ago and is still flying as far as I know. Jim also once owned N 89FA, Fat Annie, the ATL 98 Carvair double decked DC 4 conversion. I am a Big Doug fan (old Douglas propliners). Jim knew literally every part in a DC 4 having restored a number of surplus airframes back to flying condition. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

A C9 TU7 surplus canopy that was given to me FREE with only one jump on it. The prior owner was in the military. He had a horrible ball of garbage streamer on the first jump and cut away. The base rigger was a friend and repaired it. The canopy still spooked the owner so he gave it away with full disclosure. I took the canopy to Perry Stevens, a master rigger for a complete inspection. He admired the quality of the repairs, pronounced it airworthy and off I went to jump in a novice accuracy contest that weekend. You guessed it, ball of flapping spinning garbage and I had to cut away and go to my $25 Navy conical reserve. The main chute had actually melted in portions from fabric friction. Do you think a chute can be cursed? It was truly the canopy from hell. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

Cypres, just because it has been around longer and the mfr has more AAD experience than the others. Also, the mfr test and tests and tests. 2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.