drjump

Is that Doc Anagnostis's red van?

I think the burial plane was a C-206 with Dr. Ed's friends a bottle of wiskey. And, a chase plane for family.

25 years ago, today. Dave Boatman, D-890 passed away. Fly free my friend.

Most fun you can have with your clothes on ! Welcome back.

Beautiful John--#3.

Go ahead and make the jump--Knees need replacing anyway! Enjoy and have fun.

Feb. 1995 issue has story and results of the 1994 National Para-Ski Chanps. I have that issue.

Nothing in Poynter's manual matches this canopy! Looks home made to me! With lots of patches.

My log book shows -1 s/l and 1 10sec FF student jumpmastered that day. Must not have been me because I spotted better than that!

John--car speeds depend upon which freeway you are driving on! LOL

I forgot to mention the worst part! The camera broke open on impact and exposed the film. LOL

As always the press got the story printed ALL wrong.

Andy wanted to try out his new 8 MM motion picture helmet mounted camera by filming a static line student. After the student climbed out on the step Andy leaned way out the door and yelled 'Go'. As the student exited and arched Andy was trying to keep him in the sight frame. Andy dragged his chest reserve handle on the door frame opening his reserve container! He did not realize what was happening as he was consentrating on keeping the student in focus. The student's rig, sleeved 7TU 28', deployed normally. Andy's spring loaded MA1 pilot chute pulled the 23' Tri-con out of the container and up over the right horozontal stabilizer, and Andy around and partialy through the right door post. The door post looked as though it had been hit with a telephone pole putting a large u-shaped bend in it! Doc A., the pilot, stated that the arelion controls became very heavy and stiff, but, he was able to maintain control of the C-180. The 23' hung on the tail for a short time and then came free. All of this took place at 2800 ft/AGL. Andy had been stunned by the impact at about 1200' he pulled his main ripcord deploying his sleeved PC. This wrapped around the partially inflated reserve. The reserve would re-inflate and everything would rotate 2-3 revoloutions and then the canopy would streammer for a couple of seconds. Then it would catch air and everything would start over, spin, streammer, re-inflate. Andy impacted the soft field between Sam's club and I-45 on a re-inflation sequence. He was ex-airborne and did the best PLF of his life. His Bell helmet was knocked backwards off of his head and he was chokling to death on the chin strap. Help was at his side within 15 seconds of impact. Once the chin strap was removed he started breathing without dificulity. He was banged up pretty good but concious and alert. A shot of bourbon and a ride to the hospital for x-rays. A couple of compression fx's in the lumbar spine, and some cracked ribs (FROM THE DOOR POST) were the only broken bones. No reported internal injuries except a little pericardial bleeding. He walked back to work a couple of weeks later. The plane was repaired and flying jumpers in about a month.

Galveston Sky Divers story: C-182 ran out of gas on jumprun. The pilot didn't think he could make it to the run way, behind Sam's, so he puts it in a field off of 1-45 north of the DZ behind a furniture store. We all load up, drive over there and push the pland out into the parking lot. Put 5 gallons of gas into the tanks and it starts right up. Dave Boatman had walked off of the parking lot into the field checking for obstacles, ditches, etc. As Dave was climbing into the plane I started to hand him the pilot's rig. He threw it on the ground saying I don't need the added weight and I won't get high enough to use it! Dave does a great "short" field takeoff, goes over the power lines and I-45 pushes the nose over and lands on Doc A's strip! The engine quits again as he was taxiing to the gas pump. As Dave said All I need is enough gas to get over the freeway". Another plane saved to haul jumpers again.

Sad but true! Lots of great stories from that DZ. Good jumping, and great friends.

I thought the 'oops' was for the off landing untill I looked closely!

Pat--The photo of the PC landing off the DZ, into the trees, looks like it was attached to the harness 'backwards'!

I rember a flight in Dickenson that Tim was flying. Doc A's C-195 had a run-a-way prop! Tim shut the engine off and dead sticked it into Spaceland, for the longer runway, instead of the short dirt strip at the DZ. Doc was made has hell! Chewed Tim out as only Doc could. Told Tim he should have trimmed the plane nose down, pointed towards the gulf and bailed out. Doc wanted to get rid of that 195. The following Sunday we put the tail in the bet of a pickup, hung a 10 day temporary license plate on the prop and towed her down I-45 to the DZ, with a police escort. A couple of weeks later some guy from NM took the wings off, loaded her on a trailer and she was gone to a new home.

Tim Hinkle, I think.

RIP and fly free, my friend.

Hi John--Good to hear from you after all these years! I'm practicing in Stephenville, Tx., and live in Dublin. Running a small Cessna DZ on the weekends. Carl died in Aug., 1986 from a brain tumor. Mike and Maxine retired from N.C. and moved to Ocala, Fl. last fall. Both are doing well.

You are correct- the Rice Univ. SPC. We had been jumping in Conroe but were asked to leave! It seems we had put a large cloth "X", with 30 legs, in the center of the airport for a student target. Airport management could not understand why his resturant buiness was declining over the last couple of weekends. None of the club members were pilots! Little did we know that an "x" ment that the airport was closed to air traffic. The man had no sense of humor.

Justed checked my log book--4 jumps that day in Angleton on the last one I JM'd 2 S/L students.

Where did Boatman land, Doc's or the original Spaceland? It was I-45. Pete and I jumped into the Chiropractic colloge on Spencer Hwy. in Pasadena. I remember Steve Hazen, and Pete when they jumped with us at a little Cessna DZ in Angleton, TX. Pete is practicing Chiropractic in Austin these days. Still walks with a limp due to that mid-air with an oipening canopy in Valley Mills.

8 man round star out of two planes was hard to do! But that was the way to earn your SCR/S number. We were good hard fast flyers in those days! We all knew how to have fun with skydiving. I'm not taking anything away from today's jumper. But, they make it look like work. Seem to take falling out of an airplane seriousy!