Paso Robles stories?

Yo! Sky Bytch! Sounds like your reply brought a lot of Paso Robles people out of the wood work.
Did the CHP still let the hot pink "SkyDive Paso Robles" stickers on the roof slide by the ariel (sp?) speed traps? I was there for a short time when Tom & Carrie Place still ran the place with Al Stepehns. I came over from Germany in March '90 to do my A&P license and my buddy was working at the FBO next door fixing choppers part-time on the weekends. I had a blast during my 3 months there. Every weekend sleeping in the "loft" on the floor in my sleeping bag. Taught a bunch of people some CRW while there and Tom & Carrie comped my last weekend plus a hooded "Skydive Paso Robles" sweat shirt that I still have! Al was great and I remember a guy named Craig who was kind of their up and coming gopher and jumper. Sorry to hear about Al. '94 I think it was.
Dave "Bonz" Alterie (I can't spell his last name) who had Brown Dog Productions showed up while I was there. We knew each other from Ft. Bragg. Karen Berling ring a bell? We brought her up as a student one weekend.
Did Kyobo helicopter flight school last very long? I remember we shared the hangar with CHP and the school. All Japanese students because it was cheaper to fly to California than train in Japan. I remember one weekend I arrived and found a craked up R-22 helicopter pushed off to one side of the hangar. It seems that the student autorotated whithout a substantial flare right into the ground! After that, we started calling it the Kyobo Kamakazi Flight School!
I also have a picture of 4 of us dirt diving under the wing of a CHP Cessna. Let me know if you want a copy, it'll take me a while to find a scanner.
Okay, so much for now. Oh well, off to drinking and bed. Let me know how the reunion jump goes....
Later Daze!

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Did the CHP still let the hot pink "SkyDive Paso Robles" stickers on the roof slide by the ariel (sp?) speed traps?

OMFG!! Was that you??? I still tell that story!!!

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Karen Berling ring a bell? We brought her up as a student one weekend.

Holy shit!!! Bonz transitioned me from S/L to AFP that same weekend! Karen ended up on the GK's; last I heard from Chuck Blue (from Raeford, his ex-wife was on the team with Karen) she's now married and has a kid or two.

Paso, Yes I remember some of those days and nights...kinda. I had some pictures I brought out to a first time jump class that were with a 70lb pumpkin that we put out at Cal City and the pictures showed the pumpkin going in. Just as I got to the last picture Al walked up because the crowed was growing and he wanted to see what the hoop law was and lets just say he was not a happy, but it was funny to see the look on his face. And the stories go on as we all know.
Blues Skies
With Hook Knives
Brian Fairhurst

Wow skybytch! So you were there at the same time! My memory's a little fuzzy on all the names, but we probably shared a beer or two after jumping.

So Karen made the Knights?! You know, about 10 years or so ago Karen's name started popping up in the winners column for style and accuracy in Parachutist(I think it was S&A). I often wondered if she was the same Karen I knew from Germany and California. That makes her the second person I turned on to jumping who made the Knights! What really sucks is that they both now have thousands of more jumps than we do! Thanks for the info on Karen. I'm really happy for her!

About the speed trap and hot pink "Paso Robles" stickers... We put one on our roof and never got a ticket coming down the valley from Monterey. But, honestly, we never had a pilot say anything to us personally. There was a time or two when we knew we were kinda of speeding and nothing happened. I think it was kind of our urban legend. I still tell the story too!

Take care lady and blue skies

Wow, stumbled on this site just tonight, May 25, 2020.  Brings back great memories of Paso and Star Farms.  Did my ICC there in 1989, and did bunches of AFF afterwards with Dave Hughes, Raff, Josh, Mike Badnarik. Kevin the Video Guy would make animal signs with his hands during the AFF dives, the shadows reflected off the students' rigs!.  I was Barbara Risch's (of the Risch Girls) first-jump instructor.   Once our group was in freefall near big cumulus clouds, and a big double rainbow was visible to the east (on video it shows as a simple gold flash).  The tragic accidents (Al Stephens tandem; plane crash with Dan Daugherty and others), got it closed down.  However, I've heard rumors of Star Farm's Reunions...

Mike McCarthy 

9 hours ago, mrmike333 said:

However, I've heard rumors of Star Farm's Reunions...

 

If someone else organizes one, I'll show up.  Putting on two was enough for me.

Reunion story - the first one, we had a paragraph in the waiver that warned everyone of rule 1 - DO NOT SWOOP THE POND.  So on the first load of the boogie, someone who shall remain nameless decided it was a good idea to swoop the pond.  Let's just say he didn't make it back to the dirt, and that was his last skydive of the boogie.

He did hang around though.  That evening we put on a Lancaster Bomber re-creation.  Guess who was engine #3? 

 

On 5/26/2020 at 11:35 AM, skybytch said:

That evening we put on a Lancaster Bomber re-creation.  Guess who was engine #3? 

more details on this please. 

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 6:41 AM, SethInMI said:

 

more details on this please. 

The Lancaster bomber was a British aircraft used in WWII.  The re-enactment is loosely based on a raid over the oil fields of Ploesti, Romania, which was under Nazi control.  It's way more fun than it sounds.  Chairs are set up in the shape of an aircraft.  There is a pilot, co-pilot, bombardier, side gunners, tail gunner, nose gunner (yes, the actual bomber didn't have all those gunners, but more people equals more fun), four engines, several Messerschmidts and the narrator.  I like to have real pilots at the controls to keep things a bit more authentic.

The story begins with a takeoff at an airfield somewhere in Britain. At several points, the aircraft is attacked by Messerschmidts.  Other things happen and eventually the story ends.  I am not at liberty to disclose any further details beyond what I already have. 

Al Stephens used to do it on occasion back in the day.  After he went in, several jumpers suggested that the honor of being the narrator be passed to me.  I've put on several over the years.  Really fun bit of performance art, especially when done while imbibing in a favorite adult beverage after a day of jumping. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by skybytch

1 hour ago, skybytch said:

Really fun bit of performance art, especially when done while imbibing in a favorite adult beverage after a day of jumping. 

i'm familiar with the plane.
with a good narrator that sounds like a lot of fun.

Not much about Paso Robles itself, but Al Stephens introduced me to the Tampa Sky Divers at Z'hills when I started St Petersburg Junior College in 1965. We remained close friends until his death at Paso Robles. His ex-wife Evie came to the DZ where I was a tandem instructor to inform me of his tragedy.

I visited him and earned my Instructor rating from him at the time. This was the late '80s and he invited me to come out and be one of his tandem instructors. I was living in FL at the time and turned down the opportunity.

His daughter, name forgotten, was on my Gold Wings jump at Skydive Tampa Bay. About the same time frame. 

Back in the '60s before Al joined the ARMY he was known as "Omar the Tent Maker" because he always seemed to have gear for sale or knew where to get some. Those were military surplus days.

One of his favorite sayings about skydiving was, "Ya pays your money and ya takes your chances."

I miss him, good times, good memories.

Edited July 7, 2020 by RonD1120

On 9/30/2005 at 7:27 AM, skybytch said:

 

I still have and use the camo field jacket (with liner!) that he gave me for a repack.



Chris Hall. His mom Karla did manifest for awhile.



Saw him last weekend. He worked at Paso? Whoa.



Eric was dating Chris' sister. I think he's married to someone else now.



Laura Risch. Of the incredible flying Risch sisters - Claire, Laura and I forget the other one's name.



Tom Place. He's still around, jumping at Madera and getting on SOS loads at Elsinore last I heard.

 

Barbara Risch was the third Risch sister...I was her First Jump Instructor.  Such fun days!!!