Community Forums

Murf2u · 03-30-2017, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Traildust

What are you flying?

I am not surprised that you feel that way, I met a lot of pilots that loved to take us up but would never try it themselves.

Bill

It depends on the load, either a Shorts Skyvan or a Grand Caravan.

Traildust · 03-31-2017, 06:35 PM

The Grand Caravan is one nice aircraft. How was the Shorts for climbing to altitude with a full load? The only rear exit I ever got to do was out of a C130 with about 25 other jumpers for a major stack attempt which failed miserably I might add.
Bill

Murf2u · 03-31-2017, 07:00 PM

The Caravan is a Texas Turbines 900 hp conversion so it's a rocket ship, it goes up like a homesick Angel, but too expensive to 'play with' on the way down.

The Skyvan is quite a bit slower to jump run, but with more jumpers onboard that's to be expected. It does however get almost the same cycle times with equal sized loads. That's mostly due to the fact that it descends like a rock, in a downdraft.

SailorSam · 03-31-2017, 07:17 PM

Interesting discussion. BUT, I think you are all crazy! I have never understood the desire to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. I will admit to the military purpose though... And I have thought about getting into one of the wind tunnels - a lot closer to the ground.
With all that said, I did a lot of scuba and have done wrecks, night and ice diving - the underside of the ice on a frozen lake looks like a modern art painting!

Murf2u · 04-01-2017, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SailorSam

I have never understood the desire to jump out of perfectly good airplanes.

There's a friendly rivalry between skydive pilots, "diver drivers" and the jumper themselves. They say we're missing the fun, I tell them I get to the ground first.

Our guys got so tired of hearing that line they got t-shirts made up that say "There are NO perfectly good airplanes.".

CWJK55 · 04-01-2017, 09:33 PM

I was a jumper from '79 through the'80s. I wound up with around 1100 jumps mostly in northern Illinois with some trips to Wisconsin and Florida.

Traildust · 04-14-2017, 05:02 PM

Bigd9 - that comment about the pilot releasing the wheel brake made me laugh myself silly! I also just noticed a mistake I made earlier, I had 1175 jumps not 175. I was lucky in a way as my Daughter was my jump buddy, she ended up with over 3000 jumps and then married a guy who was terrified of her jumping. She no longer jumps either.
The Army Helicopter we jumped from was at Fort Rucker Al. that was way back in 1993 and 94. All you needed was a military id card and your A-license or better plus your gear.
Worse thing to happen to me was a broken ankle as the result of very late flare and strong unexpected winds.

Bill

Bigd9 · 04-14-2017, 06:29 PM

Worst thing that happened to me was a bull with BIG horns was suddenly surprised at a human landing close to him on the ground and he came over to investigate! Do you know how big bull horns look when you are on the ground looking up at them?? Also, did you know cows don't know how to look up? As I was descending and yelling "get out of the way" they just stood there looking around.

Best thing....besides the cheerleaders helping us gather our parachutes was one very cold winter day. I jumped and it was so cold my mustache froze solid, snow was going straight up since I was falling faster than it was, and my googles frosted up. When I landed it was right on a fresh cow pie! Boy that was a welcome warmth to my frozen body!