Way off

[kas]

Visitors are welcome from net.aviation any ol' time...

Just thought I'd pass on another "long walk" story...only this one had a
happy ending (i.e., a ride showed up; therefore, this probably doesn't count).
Many moons ago when I was a new jumper in Arizona, our DZ purchased a
"new" airplane -- a '44 Navy Howard (sp?). Nice plane for jumping. Anyway,
the pilot took it around the block a few times to get used to the "feel" of it,
but he never had a full load in it. After he was "checked out" in that air-
craft, we were all eager to be on the first load. I got lucky(?) and was one
of six chosen. As we were passing through 2000 feet, he initiated a turn, and
the plane began to wallow unnervingly. Taking no chances, the pilot yelled
"Get out!", and so we hastily exited. The DZ was out in the middle of the
Arizona desert, and we were miles from it (or anything else, for that matter).
Fortunately, there was a road not too far away, so we all headed for it.
After landing and fieldpacking our gear, we started the long trek back, but
fortunately someone at the DZ had seen us exit and sent out a truck to get us.
It turned out that nothing in particular was wrong with the plane, but
the pilot found out the hard way what the minimum airspeed was when making a
turn with a full load. Apparently, the plane was on the verge of a stall,
but when we exited, it behaved just fine again. Sigh...

*
/ \
|---/---\---| Ken Scofield C-9355
| Gone | Hewlett-Packard PCD
| Jumpin' | Corvallis, OR
|-----------|
{ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kas