John Hanson Schuman January 19, 1951 to March 21, 1998
The JHS Internet Jump Report
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August [1996] jump report

August weather started on a sour note but rolled into a dog day patern towards the end. Since the 15th, almost everyday has been way jumpable. I made 26 jumps on the month, 24 in the last 10 days of it.

Because of my construction business, I have never attended the Freefall convention in Quincy as it is the busiest time of year. I wanted to go bad this year as a whole covey of freeflyers were there. C'est la vie.... In the meantime, I am planning on going to the Freefly Boogie in Eloy in November and so that should make-up for lost time. I've heard the clowns will be working on 10-ways so I'm hoping to get on a B-team and try some VRW bigways. I have my up-right working sweet and my head-down may be there by then. I'm moving it around pretty good now.

I am continueing to have tremendous success with the camera. I have about 30 minutes of good stuff now. I made 8 dives with Hubert T. and his board and got some great stuff. He is excited enough now we are talking about an Intermediate board team in '97. He is an airline pilot and former special forces guy and a natural. I made 15 VRW dives with Tammy K. and she is parked solidily in front of me all the time. We do lots of fun 'skill' dives together. We practice basic VRW skills each dive and always try to get a point or to. She can dock on me at will for the most part, except I get a little twitchy wearing the camera when she gets in close sometimes. Our best one this month involved a butterfly exit which we landed in a solid upright/head-down point. This month I had my first attack of camera gremlins. 2 dives in a row, Doug M. got in front of me and performed some brilliant vertical free style and both times I lost the footage. In over 35 lifts, it was the first film I've lost. Gremlins... I think I've solved the problem now as I have rigged my camera with some heads up display lights that show when I'm recording and when I'm on standby.

This month I got 2 bitchin' night dives in. Both involved VRW. On the first, Wade M. and I exited the aircraft at 9 K. as fogg closed in darkening the city lights and leaving only a hole below showing the DZ lights. He nailed me in a head down and we held the point for a good 3 seconds. In the other night dive 4 days later. Hubert took his board out and I flew in on him and got a momentary point standing on his board with him. Excellent......

This month I reached 2 more milestones in my career. I made my 2 thousandth jump on 8/24. I was later treated to several flavorfull cream pies and washed down with champagne. The pictures were ugly... I also received my Pterodactyl Number (111) for 25 years of skydiving. I'm still not sure what it all means, but I will continue to try and figure it out.

Our DZ will have another Porter Boogie the end of Sept. and TK and I and the other DZ freefly rats will have a clinic. We are chargeing $50 and have about 10 signed up so far. More will tag on towards the end I'm sure as we are offering jump discounts and video critiques. Blue Skies all.....jhs/dzp

July 96 Jump Report
August 96 Jump Report
September 96 Jump Report
November 96 Jump Report
December 96 Jump Report
February 97 Jump Report
March 97 Jump Report
April 97 Jump Report
May 97 Jump Report
June 97 Jump Report
July 97 Jump Report
October 97 Jump Report
November 97 Jump Report
December 97 Jump Report
January 98 Jump Report
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Web Site Posted in 1998.