krkeenan

What's really weird is that I was back at Elsinore a year ago for the first time since then (30 yrs.). I was telling some people that story, and it turns out that one of the guys I was doing CRW with had been on that load that day. We got a hell of a laugh over that. kevin ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

Great Thread - Thanks. Here's an old one... As a young Texas jumper in 1972, I made a trip to Elsinore, the Mecca of skydiving in those days. I was on an RW load going up in the Twin Beech. There were no seatbelts on jump planes, then, nor were jump doors seen very often. I was sitting in the back looking out the door as we started the takeoff. As the tail came up, I could feel it swing one way, then past the center the other way, then farther back again. It was much later, after I became a pilot and had flown Beech a D-18, that I really understood how a ground loop works. The simple version is that the center of gravity is behind the landing gear, and if you're not careful, it tries to spin the airplane around. After a couple swings of the tail, we broke loose into a ground loop. This was essentially a series of 360 degree turns while going down the runway at about 60-70 mph. Everyone was hanging onto rivets with their fingernails and everything else they could grab. I watched out the door as the entire airport went by several times, and the left wingtip got closer and closer to the ground. I figured that if that wingtip touched down, we could start to cartwheel. Luckily, that didn't happen, and we spun to a stop. Everyone's eyes were huge as we all looked at each other- freaked out and speechless. We couldn't even see anything outside because of all the dust stirred up by the plane. After the pilot caught his breath, he yells. "Is everybody OK ?" We said we were, so he runs the engines back up, and taxis back to the end of the runway. I figured that was plenty of excitement for the moment, and we were probably going to take a break and check the airplane. Nope. He turns the plane around at the end of the runway and starts the takeoff again. This time, it went OK, and I thought, "Geez, these are sure some hard-core bastards out here." It turned out that the jumper who was riding in the copilot seat was a friend of the pilot, so the pilot was letting him make the takeoff. Presumably, they both learned something from that incident. Kevin K. ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

The version I heard was that Cowboy's Caravan went in due to fuel contamination caused by some Colombians that he and Drew Thornton ripped off in a smuggling operation. That was all quite a story in itself. Kevin K ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

There are plenty of Them ToadSuckers still around. I'm sure if you post your question in the CRW forum, you will get more CRW history. Kevin K. TS 46 ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

Well, in about one week, we will see a gathering of the Great, the Near Great, and the Wannabe Great at Lake Wales Fla. for an attempt at breaking the World Record for large CRW formations. This will surely be a landmark event. In a year which has been full of great CRW gatherings, this will really top it off - complete with the world record CRW Thanksgiving Dinner. It will be like Thanksgiving with all of your most freaky, dysfunctional relatives. I, for one, am looking forward to it. Woo-Hoo !!

I prefer dive loops. I think that grabbing blocks would make it easy to lose your grip on a toggle. I don't see how someone could get their hand stuck in a dive loop. The object is to grasp it with several fingers, not to put your whole hand into it. I think there have been people who crash because of not letting go, but that's more likely caused by freezing up than by hand entrapment. kevin ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I'm by no means great. However I know some people who are, and I occasionally jump with them. That's close enough to greatness for me. There's a lot more on those sites than meets the eye. If you've already read all that, then go back and look at it some more. There's bound to be something you missed. kk ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

Now , wait a minute. I'm not advocating that anyone actually try CRW. It's very dangerous, and can leave you either dead or horribly disfigured and in terrible suffering for the rest of your life. Like this guy here... Other than that, it's OK. So, try it if you want, but if you get killed, don't come crying to me. kevin ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

Dear Fellow CRWDogs, Dogettes, and anyone interested in Canopy Work - For anyone wanting to learn more about CRW, I suggest you look at the web sites below. The first was put together by famed CRWDog photographer Bryan Scott. It contains a lot of great photos as well as good CRW info for those of us who just can't get enough on weekends. It will inspire you to do great things. http://www.crwphoto.com/bry.html The next one by Jon Sikorsky contains (among other things) the Accellerated Canopy Control (ACC) course, developed by Jon, Allen Gutshall, and other CRW experts. There are a lot of good links here also. It will tell you how to do great things, and what to do if they go wrong. http://www.dqnt.com/acc.htm And last, but not least, is a collection of all kinds of CRW stuff by the incomparable Wendy Faulkner. Wendy wrote the new CRW section of USPA's SIM, and she has forgotten more about CRW than most of us will ever know. She can fly the hell out of any canopy ever made. Listen to her. http://crw.boxofclue.com/skydive/crw.html That ought to give you all plenty to read for a while. CRW Skies, Kevin K. ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I'm not sure if I am allowed to call you a twit for that statement. If not, then I'll say I disagree. Surely you must agree that someone can do a lot of wrong things in an emergency and still survive due to lucky circumstances. Does that mean they did everything right ?? Of course not ! It means they got lucky. If they did all of those things in enough situations, sooner or later they will not be so lucky. The idea is to get better at what we do. EP execution is something that we do, just as much as RW docks, head down turns, or landing swoops. Having people point out things that can be improved makes us better (if we listen to them). I can't think of anything more worthwhile to be better at than handling of emergencies. Someone may think that since they survived a problem, they're OK and nothing will happen again for a while. (Believe me, some people think this) Remember that it could happen again on the very next jump. Study the emergency responses of others and cast judgement upon them. Use these observations to learn from. You cannot survive making all of the mistakes yourself. kevin k. ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I don't think one should consider the costs as part of an EP decision. However, in the case of the jump you described, you probably could have landed the main. The wind, turbulence, etc. were just as much of a factor to a good reserve landing as for landing the main. The main thing to consider, I think, is that if the main is landable, why chop it for an unopened reserve ? True, reserves rarely malfunction, but the main is already open and flying. There is some extra risk, even if it is small. So why do it ? As always, I advise: Please get all of your Emergency Procedure advise from your instructor, not some moron on the internet. kevin k ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

As far as I know, the U. S. Team consists of the following. Probably not all will be instructing at this camp, but time spent in the air or on the ground with any of these folks will teach you a huge amount about CRW. Ladies and gentlemen, I present your U. S. CRW Team - Chris Gay Mark Gregory Mike Paolin Paul Quandt Kevin Ingley Brian Pangburn Bob Feisthamel Jeff Cornelius Scott Chew ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

In a lot of areas, there are not too many CRWDogs on any one DZ. That makes travel and getting together for practice a big problem. On my team, we have people from different areas of the U. S. That made it tremendously difficult to get together. We had a 4-way team as the first half of the team, and they practiced a lot, so that was a big help. After that, I think it's important to have someone to lead and call the shots. Everyone should have input and get listened to, but one person should have everyone's confidence to make decisions when the time comes. The rest is just learning the tricks of each formation, how your teammates do and react to things, and how to fly your slot for the quickest build. kevin Pulse-8 ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I'm not sure what you are calling the "stabilizer". It sounds like what I usually hear of as the wing strut. Anyway, that sounds like a good plan for simultaneous exit on line of flight. BM operations from a Cessna seem tough for me, so far. It's pretty hard to do much climbing around outside the door without exposing wings and getting pulled off. There's also the limited arm reach due to the wings. I'm sure a little more practice is all I need. Thanks for the advice. kevin ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I'll tie a pilot chute to your foot. That should make us even. ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

Where we jump in Puerto Rico is about 1/2 mile from the ocean, which is usually where the wind is from. I'm not sure if I will start from 3-4 mi. out, but flying in from over the ocean to dry land will indeed be a strong motivator. If I come back to the DZ wet and covered with seaweed, everyone will know that I'm not as good as I thought I was. kevin ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

are you talking about me? *** Ivan - I actually had the other guru in mind (Julio), but I will be very pleased to fly with anyone who straps on some wings. kevin ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I'm definitely hooked on BM flying. I have a nice used GTI, which I took out for 6 jumps this weekend. I'm grateful for this forum and all the helpful stuff I've read here. Here's my question. I got initial briefing and checkout from my local BM guru, but our schedules differ, and I still have not been able to jump with him or any other BM-I. I'm jumping in Puerto Rico, and while it is a nice place, it's no DeLand or Perris when it comes to skydiving. I'm mostly teaching myself to fly the suit, and I'm looking for advice as to what training maneuvers, etc. to work on to get my skills up. I have a good deal of skydiving experience, and a fair amount of time in powered airplanes. What I have done so far is about what I would do in checking out a new type of airplane - straight flight, turns, etc. I've tried a few barrel rolls and inverted flight. These still need work, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Has anyone written up a training syllabus for jumps past the initial checkout, or at least a progression of skills to be mastered before other things are tried ? I'm anxious to get in the air with others, since I think that's got to be the best way to enjoy BM flying. I think its incredible what these folks have done in the development of this suit. I've been jumping for quite a while, and the history of our sport is full of people who tried to make this work and only succeeded in getting killed. I was having visions of the movie, "Gypsy Moths", as I was flying this weekend. Anyway, enough BS. If anyone has some ideas of stuff for me to practice until i get over to the mainland, I'd appreciate it. Kevin K. Squawking in the Nest ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

For those following Mike Goodin's progress, I have copied an e-mail from his wife, Kristy to the CRWDog list: ---------------- Hello all, my name is Kristy and I'm Mike's wife. Mike left himself logged on to his e-mail, so I've taken the liberty of preparing this e-mail with a quick update on him regarding surgery today for any of you interested. I know many of you from the past 20 years, but there are also many I don't know. Anyway, surgery was just under 3 hours, when the doctor came out he said that on a scale from 1 - 10 this was a 10. The bone below the eye was crushed and was a mess with many fragments throughout the sinus cavity. So he had a lot of cleanup removing small pieces of bone. He used a few of the bone fragments along with some titanium mesh to re-build the bottom portion of the eye-socket. He indicated once he put the first piece in that it started going together just like a jigsaw puzzle. Still not positive about his vision but time will tell on that. Sounds like he'll be discharged tomorrow. I (and Mike as well) appreciate all the prayers, thoughts, e-mails, cards etc. that you all have sent. He'll be home for awhile so anyone wishing to reply to this e-mail please do so. It will give him something to do for awhile and keep him occupied. Again, thanks from the bottom of my heart. It's great to have so many who care. Kristy ------------------------------ If anyone wants to send Mike an e-mail, his address is: sumguts@cfl.rr.com CRW Skies, Kevin K. ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

Since this is the place for good CRW stories, here is one from Lk. Wales last week that turned out to be one of the strangest I've been on. An unusual occurrence in a CRW event, but with no injuries. I was docking on my teammate, Martin, in 4-way rotations, and had a semi-wrap. It wasn't too bad, a lot like many such docks in rotations. (At least on our team) It's fairly easy to get the canopy sorted out into a clean stack and continue the rotations. Somehow, in the course of this wrap, however, his cutaway handle was pulled. At this point, I was the bottom of the 4-way, with Martin above me. That dropped him into my canopy, and released both of us from the stack above. We started falling, with him in my canopy, and me spinning around the entanglement. Now, it never occurred to me that his canopy had been released, since that is the worst thing he could have done in a case like that. I thought he was still attached to his canopy, and I just couldn't see it. I thought we had been dropped from the remaining stack. The indicated thing for me at that point would be to perform my cutaway. We were spinning so fast, that g-forces made it hard to get my hand up to my cutaway handle. I finally reached it, peeled the velcro and looked back up at Martin to see how he was doing. He was upside down with his foot wrapped in lines, and just then he kicked off his shoe. The shoe went flying one way, and Martin went the other way. My canopy popped open, and I was left hanging there with the cutaway handle in my hand. "Dude", I thought, "That was weird". This was a near miss of a big problem. If I had chopped the main with him tangled in it, it is questionable whether he would have been able to get loose to pull his reserve. It was only luck that I didn't cut it away, because I was fully intending to. Luckily, the only casualties were our team's score, Martin's shoe and his freebag. CRW Skies, Kevin "It's always something..." Roseanne Rosanadanna ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I haven't heard Dwayne Brouette's name in a while. He was on my SCR load in '72 in Cleveland TX, and always great to jump with. He used to flip upside down while descending under his PC, and hook his feet in the risers to hold himself that way until just before landing, when he would flip back over to feet-down position to land. One day he got hung up in the risers, couldn't get rightside up in time, and landed on his head. I think he had a hurt neck for a while. He didn't hang upside down too much after that. Kevin Keenan SCR-3022 ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

Or you can go to the Puerto Rico Freefall Festival (Feb 11-15) check here for more information. Puerto Rico is the island next of Dominican Republic in case you didn't know Kevin you are more than welcome to be on our boogie!

Mark, you are the absolute best freefly CRW video dude. You jumped your ass off in that competition, and we all appreciate it. Having you in on the rotations was a blast. As for making me look good on the vid, you know what they say, "You can't make a silk purse from a Toad's rear". Or something like that... ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

I haven't seen any ads, I just heard someone talking about it at the Nationals. I am living in Puerto rico, and the boogies in this neighborhood are limited. After researching the previous comments about the DR boogie, it sounds like things were really hosed up. Thanks for the info. kevin ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...

After doing "fun" CRW for a long time, I just returned from my first competition run at the Nationals. It was really great seeing so many folks of the CRW community and doing a lot of CRW jumps. Neither of the teams I was jumping on took home medals, but the experience was definitely worth it. The pace is pretty demanding, and seeing the performance of the top-rated teams was great to see. I got to know a lot of the competition folks who don't do a lot of the "CRW Boogie" circuit, and I definitely got in lots of quality bonding with my teammates. I'm resolving to (a) Jump in the Nationals again next year. (b) Practice between now and then so that I don't look so bad on the videos. (c) Get one of those Hannibal Lechter face masks to wear when doing CRW with Allen Gutshall. CRW Skies, Kevin K ====================== Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the Wind, the Sun, or the Rain...