Open house

Posted on November 15, 2013 by KG

“If at first you don’t succeed….. then skydiving is not your sport.”

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31 Responses to Open house

  1. Seneca III says:
    November 15, 2013 at 02:07

    Did my last one just over six years ago and that was it because my bloody doctor wouldn’t sign off on my bi-annual medical any more – said my blood pressure was too high. I tried to explain that after a lifetime of dealing with arseholes this was not a new phenomenon but he still wouldn’t buy it. Sold my ‘chute to a trainee and, as he wasn’t a Muslim, I was able to pack it one last time without any…err…interesting modifications, shall we say. Still miss it, though.http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_cry.gif

  2. MvL says:
    November 15, 2013 at 04:01

    Did a few also Seneca, back in the late 60’s. NZ Licence number 145, so
    I wasn’t the first. Pretty disaster prone sport back then with ex military gear modified into shapes like the “TU. Double T. Single T” etc. Back pack with reserve on your chest. The Paracommander was state of the art then and the PTCH6 was imported here too. Don’t miss it but glad I did it. :mrgreen:

    • Seneca III says:
      November 15, 2013 at 04:49

      I do remember the Paracommander, the first really steerable ‘chute but, the (civilian(?)) rig I borrowed, if I remember correctly, had both the reserve and main on the back or maybe I am just confused, at my age there has been a lot of water under the bridge. :sad: Anyway, nice to talk to another ‘flyer :smile:

      • KG says:
        November 15, 2013 at 05:21

        Irving T10, if memory serves. Modified by someone’s mum with a Singer sewing machine. :lol:
        Like MvL, reserve on chest.

        • Seneca III says:
          November 15, 2013 at 06:37

          Irvin, KG, not Irving (so glad that that my brain is not the only one going down the drain these dayshttp://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_heart.gif)
          As for the T10 remind me to tell you one of these about daisy chaining them with a few of the gores cut out by mum in order to give a bit more steerage – coupled with a faster rate of descent…Oh, Shit, does that make the orifice pucker!?http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_unsure.gif

          • KG says:
            November 15, 2013 at 07:55

            :shock: The bloody rate of descent was fast enough as it was!
            And thanks for the correction. :grin:

          • LesterPK says:
            November 15, 2013 at 13:09

            Have 13 jumps on the T10, descent rate was indeed high, especially for a 110kg guy carrying a pack and rifle as well. Last jump was into AKL Harbour during the ”95 skyshow, 2nd out the door in a 15man stick, great to watch the last few come out once drills complete.

  3. KG says:
    November 15, 2013 at 07:57

    Speaking of brains down the drain….I went out early this morning for a shoot and managed to get bitten (entirely unnecessarily) by a pig-dog I met. :mrgreen:

  4. WebWrat says:
    November 15, 2013 at 10:23

    The only thing I’ve to do with skydiving is dropping meat bombs out of a perfectly good aeroplane :!:

    Parapenting …. now that’s different. Did it for a couple of years at Mount Cook. The best spot was off Wakefeild Ridge with a 10 to 15 knot southerly on it. You could launch off the ridge and fly for a couple of hours … or until you got sick of it. Bloody hard on the nuts though if you didn’t get your harness right before you took off. :shock:

    I was a bloody idiot one day when I let a guy talk me into going for a fly when there was a strong sou’ wester coming over the divide. I should have known better because we’d cancelled flying because it was too rough and knocked off early. You know what boys are like, call them a wimp a few times and they will try anything!

    Well we climbed about 1000 feet to Sealy Tarns and took off. About 10 minutes into the flight I hit some turbulence and about half of my canopy folded under itself and I went into a very scary spiral descent beside the hillside. With lots of vigorous yanking on the left hand control lines I got the canopy to pop out again and got it back under control.

    After severely crapping myself (what colour is adrenaline?), all I wanted to do was get on the ground, but I couldn’t get out of the up-draughts and ended up at about 3000′ over the Hooker Flats near the Hermitage Hotel.

    I finally found some air going my way and to my utmost relief, landed!! http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_yahoo.gif

    • KG says:
      November 15, 2013 at 13:24

      :shock: You DO have some interesting flying experiences, Wratty. :mrgreen:
      I’d hate to be your insurer. ;-)
      As for Lester jumping into Auckland harbour……*shudders*

      • pmofnz says:
        November 15, 2013 at 13:55

        Not the only one. BTDT out of an Iroquois, right off Devonport. After being wet winched up from an Air Force crash boat in overalls, lifejacket and little else. 5 Min tiki tour round harbour for a bit of added wind chill, then onto chopper skids and jump back into water, swim back to boat. Navy promotion sea survival course, mid June (deepest winter), sea with mist rising, temp in positive single digits if it was lucky. Young and stupid days when Buck Shelford was still in the mob. Unfortunately, some might say otherwise, such thermal shock probably would kill me outright these days.

  5. Darin says:
    November 15, 2013 at 10:33

    A Paratrooper jumps out of an airplane with a parachute on his back. As he’s falling, he realizes his chute is broken. He doesn’t know anything about parachutes, but as the earth rapidly approaches, he realizes his options are limited; he takes off the parachute and tries to fix it himself on the way down. The wind is ripping past his face, he’s dropping like a rock, and at 500 feet, another Soldier goes shooting up past him. In desperation, the Paratrooper looks up and yells, “Hey do you know anything about parachutes?!”

    The Combat Engineer flying up looks down and yells, “No, … do you know anything about C-4 Plastic Explosives?!” :mrgreen:

  6. Phil Stephenson says:
    November 15, 2013 at 10:39

    I found a book in the detective’s office of the police station where I worked about fifteen years ago, with an article about investigating parachuting accidents. It came with some forensic photos of people whose parachutes had failed to open, and after reading it, I lost any desire I might have had to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft.

  7. KG says:
    November 15, 2013 at 13:25

    The only pancake I saw, Phil, was still more or less…um..contained by his overalls. Not too grisly at all, really.

  8. Darin says:
    November 15, 2013 at 15:42

    Just a few minutes north from me-

    http://halojumper.com/

    Low altitude Skydiving doesn’t hold much appeal for me,but HALO is a whole nother thing :cool:

    • KG says:
      November 15, 2013 at 20:21

      Lowlow is somewhat..um…tense Darin. You might enjoy that. :twisted:
      The worst thing about HALO is the cold.

  10. KG says:
    November 15, 2013 at 20:31

    Bawaaahahaha!
    ‘Al-Qaeda-linked rebels apologise after cutting off head of wrong person.
    Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham militants say sorry for decapitating a fellow extremist rather than enemy’
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10449815/Al-Qaeda-linked-rebels-apologise-after-cutting-off-head-of-wrong-person.html

  13. Flashman says:
    November 16, 2013 at 10:08

    One of the most heart-warming stories I’ve read in recent times.

    I have tears of gratitude in my eyes for the compassion demonstrated by that wonderful country called Britain…. Enjoy and be prepared to be uplifted… Inspired by mankind’s generosity and nobility of spirit thus:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2508063/UK-pay-4m-fund-Ethiopian-Spice-Girls-New-aid-project-Yegna-ridiculed.html

    • KG says:
      November 16, 2013 at 11:33

      Do I smell sarcasm and satire, Flashy?http://falfn.com/CrusaderRabbit/wp-content/plugins/wp-monalisa/icons/wpml_smile.gif
      Having read the article, deservedly so. What a vomitous load of crap! Very easy for bureaucrats to be generous with other people’s money, isn’t it?

  14. KG says:
    November 16, 2013 at 11:40

    Pass me the world’s smallest violin…
    ‘Relatives of two Greenpeace activists detained with 28 others in Russia over an Arctic oil drilling protest have told of their heartbreak over their extended detention….’

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11158332

  16. KG says:
    November 16, 2013 at 15:50

    ‘ Administration issues new directive on immigration…
    Will not deport illegal relatives of troops, veterans…’
    That in itself is an illegal directive, surely?

    • Darin says:
      November 16, 2013 at 23:28

      Nothing is illegal if someone in the regime does it,hell they can’t even remember what they did,when they did it,or who did it. :evil: