jpgoggin

30 years ago this month, Jack died of a heart attack at age 48. I saw him the night he died, strangely enough, at a visitation for our FBO who had died. He went out on a bender that night and had a heart attack. He had a heart attack a few years earlier and the doctors told him he could live a very long time if he changed his ways. He chose to go out on his own terms. Jack was one of the more colorful characters I have ever met. I worked for him at the nationals in '84 and it was a great experience. Jack was Treasurer of the USPA in those days and ran the Nationals for several years. Jack was nice enough to leave some money in his will so everyone could have a blowout party after he was gone. And a party it was. BSBD Jack.

AADs used to be called Automatic Opening Device (AOD) until sometime in the '80s when they decided that AOD implied that you would for sure get an open parachute.

If the police treat you like this, explain that you would be happy to schedule an appointment with them and answer their questions with a attorney present.

As I recall they had a huge oscillation.

I think I remember Animal from Air Trash telling me that Larry was his brother.

I met Señor in the '90s when I was working for some weeks in Schenectady and jumping at Duanesburg in the evenings. Bob was a nice guy, fun to jump with, and went out of his way to be nice to me when I was visiting. He will be missed. Jamie

I met Audrey when she was hanging out for some months at Archway in Valdalia, IL. Neat lady.

I jumped 'em both. Southern Cross was much faster. To be fair, I may not have see Mr. Douglas in its best days. I loved both of them. Southern Cross was the fastest and loudest DC-3 I ever flew in. Also the only one I can recall with Wright Cyclones. Pretty sure Mr. D. had Pratt and Whitney engines. I remember Southern Cross racing turbines to altitude at Freak Brothers.

Yes that looks like a piglet container. We had a couple of them at our club. The piglet canopy was really scary and had big oscillations.

Archway's Queen Air. Now that was one scarry piece of machinery. Jamie

My dad flew those planes in the 60s in Alaska for the Air Force. He once flew one all the way to the Fairchild factory for repairs with the gear down all the way just so he could go somewhere warm for a few days. When I started skydiving, he warned me never to get in a C-119. He said it was the scarriest machine he ever flew.

Back in the early '80s, Jack Bergman, USPA Treasurer, used to wear a t-shirt that said "batman is a leg".