Jumping at Casa Grande

What a great thread.
Miss you Pat!!! And ALL, Scotty...
Took me this long to get it.

Rocking-M

Just want to let y'all know. Doug Iverson is alive and well.
Still a wild man just doesn't jump anymore.

OMG!!! IVER DIVER!! If you see him tell him "HI!!" from BILL DELI!! We had some "Bitchn' times on dives at Ghoulidge and Perris!!!"
BSBD

What a place. Was there about 1975 and jumped with Hinckley people on the Freaknuts team. Saw Dead Duggan lead the dance of the flaming assholes. Reid was rigger there. I still have a copy of the "Sky Dieing" catalog. Priceless Jim T

Both Bob and Doug Iverson were living with me when Doug broke his leg. Two CRAZY brothers. When Doug was in the hospital we visited him; he shared a room with a biker who was banged up badly. Both of them were grimacing from the pain they had. When we asked them why they didn't have drugs, Doug lifted his pillow, showing three pills -- "They give us painkillers, but we are saving them for a party tonight."

I jumped at the gulch for two years, during the death days. Our team during the ChuteOut was the Frapp Factory. Sport Death was born there for a good reason, which I'll write about some other time.

Cartwright had a horseshoe malfunction. The last pic of him is unforgettable.

Jerry Belcher has passed away, if you recall him.

The city of Casa Grande !!!! Yes, yes and hell yes !!! They did get tired of it. Really tired.

On 12/12/2007 at 11:09 AM, Juicer said:

I know this is really late in the game, but I just discovered this site. (Love it!)

I started jumping at the Gulch in Nov 1974. It was an amazing place for a wet-behind-the-ears AFROTC student from the Univ of AZ who wanted to learn to skydive. Bob Iverson was my instructor; the place was run by Mike Larson and Bob Shafer. I was hooked early and got into RW with some of the premier folks of the era. BJ Worth showed up (and signed my ACE patch jump); Jerry Bird and the Wings of Orange were there during the winter months.

Yes, the legends of the "claw" are true. It was kept by Terry Cooper, who was a real character, as were most of the denizens of the DZ. Hod Sanders, Rich Feigle, Bob Taylor, Rande Deluca, Ded Dugan, Ron Luginbill and many more were some of the better-known folks around. Randy Kempf (or Randy Roach, as he was known) was the main pilot of the Twin Beech and the Lodestar (known as the LodeStall after stalling it on jumprun at 10,500, spewing jumpers during the stall recovery in about 1975.)

The place closed down in 1976 or so, after investigations from the city of Casa Grande and the FAA, from what I understand. There were at least 11 fatalities in the less than two years I jumped there. Most of us moved to Coolidge (run by Steve ?), and then Skydive Marana opened a couple of years later, with Tony Frost and Greg Behrens running the place. Mike Larson went on to fly for Northwest, I thnk, and I'd heard that Shafer was killed flying helicopters in South America. (Can't verify that, but I'll check the site and see if anyone else knows.)

The "Sport Death" thing was true, too. You always said it and raised your fist with the thumb tucked inside it, because one of the guys (can't remember his name but he ran a little greasy food shack occasionally) had lost his thumb, and couldn't do a "thumbs up" sign.

I jumped with Scotty Carbone once, and got into an low pull contest with him. He won, with me opening at around 500. He told me, "Don't ever try to beat me in a low pull contest. You'll never win." I didn't beat him, but I think I scared him. He was right...at best, you can only tie.

Jimmy Juicer

Jimmy Juicer
SCR 4181, SCS 1978, NSCR 791, ACE 63

 

On 12/12/2007 at 12:07 PM, Gene03 said:

Anyone remember Tom Phillips?
He bounced in 72-73.

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

I was there the day Philips went in at Casa Grand. It was the first time I ever saw a jumper bounce. He landed right in the middle of the highway (2 lanes) and had pulled his reserve a few seconds too late. His reserve was black and it covered him up when it settled down. There was an elderly women who was driving a 1949 light green Dodge sedan and Philips landed right in front of the women and she slammed on her brakes when Philips hit the ground. When the ambulance got there they took the women who had a heart attack. 

The other memorable event on the same day or maybe the day before was the Loadstar stalled on a jump run and became inverted. I was jumping base and was the first one out. When I got stable, the Loadstar was maybe 1000 feet below me. Not every every one on the flight got out before the pilot got control of the plane.  It was a crazy few days at Casa Grande, and BTW the drop zone gave everyone on that jump a free jump. 

We flew in from Pope Valley CA in a beech 18 and when we were over Palm Springs, we lost an engine and had to make an emergency landing there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

p

On 9/11/2002 at 12:00 PM, steve1 said:

 He was once credited with helping out a girl in our club who had a line over malfunction. Supposedly he landed on top of her canopy (a thunderbow) and walked off the top with the line. Thus fixing her malfunction. This may be BS, but that is how the story was told to me. 

old but interesting thread. I believe the thunderbow story. I've seen / done multiple instances of in-flight- sorting -shit -out -that -would- have- otherwise- caused -a -cutaway" while doing CReW.