JuanF

I am interested in getting information about some of the early pioneers in RC Skyding here in the United States. People such as Bob Patterson, Wally Gitches, etc. Also when some of the members of this forum started RC Skydiving and some of your experiences. Pictures would be helpful. Also if you have any catalogs or brochures. Thanks for any information.
Juan

edge_pilot

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Doesn't seems to be anybody who knows the history of radio controlled skydiving?

I know the first time I saw anything was when the original plans got release in the RCM magazine in the early 80's I believe. I was to young then to do anything about it, but I knew it was something that I wanted to do and it kept my interest for many years to come. I did not try skydiving myself until the late 90's. I bought my first chute from Skydive USA, and I built my own skydiver from the RCM plans. I had very little luck with this setup, way more dirt dives than open chutes. I gave it up for a couple years, then I got the itch again and started to redesign the skydiver. Once we got the skydiver to work we started designing a chute that would perform better, and as we all say the rest is history. That is how RCSkydiving was born.

veloskey

We also started with the RCM plans but found they didn't work. After many modifications to the basic RCM design we produced a skydiver that did function, but was less than ideal. We went back to the drawing board and created our own design with the help of local parachute designer Ted Strong. After many iterations of both skydiver and chute we arrived at the design shown in these pics. The photo is from the late 80's, but the design of the skydiver was mature by 82 or 83. We performed airshows across the country with them until about 1994. I still have two in my garage but no longer have a plane to carry them aloft. The plane in the picture could take 6 at a time, although it easily had the power and lift for 8. Usually the divers would drop in about 1/3 second intervals to avoid collisions although we did do some drops where all the divers were released at the same time. The highest altitude (AGL) we ever dropped from was about 6,000ft (the plane was a speck) and we did do a bit of base jumping from cliffs, bridges and buildings.

Tom Veloskey
former Cloud Dancer #2