johng3592

DB Cooper, Alabama style: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/12/florida.plane.crash/index.html He's been seen on the ground, with goggles still on, being a wacky bastard.

Dr. Joel is just known as Dr. Joel around Deland. He fixed the eyes (lasik) of a wide swath of the locals in Deland, including mine. He was leading edge. My eyes were fixed back when Lasik was still a evolving technology(8-9 yrs ago?), and my eyes came out 20/15 both eyes. This was not an uncommon result. But what really showed the kind of doctor he was, were the people that he turned down for surgery. He wasn't just pushing people thru for the money. If his tests showed that a patient's eyes were not fit - weren't stable enough or would change or loose focus some time after the operation, he turned down the business. There are a few skydivers in Deland who went thru that too. Knowing that he wouldn't do a 'bad' operation to make money was a big factor in my confidence in letting someone cut and lase my eyeballs. I didn't know the guy very well at all. I just stopped in to say he was a hell of an eye doctor who helped a lot of skydivers.

Well, I had my first cutaway in 20 years yesterday. My freebag went into the woods and we could not locate it. The company "Stunts" that made my Eclipse rig went out of business some years ago, AFAIK. How do I get a freebag (which needs to be TSO'd) in this situation? The best option I've thought of so far is to get a freebag that's a close match from one of the active manufacturers since it will be TSO'd. Suggestions?

Thanks for the clip Lee. I 'bout lost it when that clip opened on my rig. Did the 8-way B.O.B. scrambles yesterday. Best, most positive day I've had at the DZ since Bob was around.

There was a pair of paraglider pilots sucked up in the last year down in NZ, I believe. I think one was killed from hypoxia, one blacked out from hypoxia but recovered on the ride down... Correct me if you have a better memory/info

Some observations from a PAC user both for sport and business: I've been jumping in Deland since a Porter was THE turbine on the drop zone, and they often had to wait until they had 16 people to justify starting it. (back to back, 80's style) The last Porter they had there was much loved. It was fresh out of major overhaul, painted clean white inside & out, and had a big engine. I'm a fan of the Porter anyway, and this one was a great example. When it crashed, the DZ took a PAC on loan to evaluate. As an aero engineer I'd seen the marketing claims for the PAC and was highly skeptical. Somehow it would take more people to altitude faster and burn less fuel, while using the same engine as the Porter. That would take major savings in weight and/or drag. But sure enough, seems to be true. The DZ bought their own, brand new. Seems that the costs are low enough that the management is not so cheap as to try to unnaturally jam too many people in there. I believe they consider it full with 15. That's no tighter than a full Otter. These claims of 17 or 18 must be for little european dudes (I'm 6'3", 250). The times I've rode a caravan, It's been much less comfortable, as they try to jam more butts per square foot in there. Just my experience there. The gripes I'm seeing about CG on this plane are no different than any other plane with a door behind the wing. Twin otters have been known to stall with a crowd in the door. Skyvan and Casa both have a limit line behind which the number of jumpers is restricted. So to act like this plane has a problem with CG is silly. In fact. in a former life I acted as loadmaster for the test drops that were used for FAA approval of the PD Optima low-bulk reserve. That meant I took the test requirements, and analyzed the available aircraft for performance and safety. The allowable CG range on the PAC is much larger than for either the Skyvan or the Twin Otter, all per the Operating Handbooks for each plane. We still used forward balast when putting 1000 lbs at the door for a 60kt pass at 500 feet tho. The plane did a 60 kt drop one one pass, and a 160 kt drop on the very next. That's versatile. As for the spar, if your PAC does not have one, I suggest you not ride in it. Tell the DZ to send it back, since thats a pretty important part of the structure. Plus, it's the first plane I've seen with a roll-up jump door engineered into it from the beginning, not grafted on. it doesn't seem to have the sticking/ jamming problems I've seen from time to time on every otter door. The concern on this plane is the low tail. You don't want to have a canopy dump in the door on this one. Make sure your pins are tight.

Florida, summertime. Big clouds and cool air make the choice to do a canopy jump from 13k an easy one. Last few summers have been active for this sort of thing over Deland.

Memorial for B.O.B. Holler will be Friday afternoon at Skydive Deland. Call the DZ for details.

At 6'3" and 240 I gotta question people who "can't stand" the Porter with 10 in it. Need to spend some days doing 182 loads to appreciate the Porter I guess. 10 ain't great, but it's not the end of the world if the seats are laid out right. I loved having the Porter here, but since we lost ours the PAC has been on line. And I hate to say it, but it's a better jump plane. Door is a cross between a Porter and an TwOtter door. Takes more jumpers to altitude faster for less fuel. That means it can keep running with less jumpers too. Jumpers and mgmt can be happy with that. I don't want to sound like a PAC PR guy, I'm just a jumper. Actually, I'm a huge fan of the Porter as a utility airplane. But the PAC is a purpose built jump plane. And it's at least as ugly.

Actually, if you apply the theory of the first para to the second, you have a solution. Locate the blower fans remotely enough, like around a 90 deg curve, and you don't see 'burble effects'. - And world champion 4-way folks say they feel the difference between suck & blow when doing vertical transitions.

I'm pretty good at the clicky thing. Didn't see any names but Ivar....