P-MAN VI

The P-MAN VI expedition to Palau ended on 23 February 2004.


Background Map of Palau, as seen by US Marine Corps during WWII.
Map courtesy of USMC

Expedition Final Report

You can read the full expedition Final Report here.

Daily Progress Reports (See Below)

As with the past two P-MAN expeditions, we tried to post regular progress reports (daily when possible) here on the BentProp Web site, as the expedition proceeded. Reid Joyce, the BentProp Webmaster, who was in Palau again with the team (having participated in P-MAN II in 2000), assumed the duties of progress-report author for this expedition.

Flip Colmer wrote the progress reports for the two previous expeditions, and was in Palau for parts of this one. Flip's take on things - some related to P-MAN VI and some related to the World Team skydiving adventure in Thailand - are also presented here, as noted below. There IS a relationship between the two events: BentProp team members Flip, Dan O'Brien, Val Thal, and Kate Cooper all participated in the World Team effort, and all were scheduled to join the P-MAN VI expedition for the final two weeks or so. Both Val and Kate sustained injuries during jumps preceding the world record attempt, and were unable to join us in Palau. They made it back home, and recovered nicely. For parts of their stories and Flip's often-humorous, parallel-universe view of things, check Flip's reports.

Expedition Reports - Reid Joyce

Flip's Adventures - Flip Colmer

During the early part of this year's expedition, Lou Young, a reporter from WCBS-TV in New York City and his camera and sound crew were tagging along with the JPAC team to cover part of their mission. He had also visited JPAC's headquarters in Hawaii. Since the BentProp team's path crossed JPAC's path several times during that period, we got to meet Lou, and he got to interview Pat Scannon. The material that Lou gathered was assembled into a six-part presentation that aired shortly after he returned to New York. Last time I checked, I couldn't find the video files for Lou's series of reports, because WCBS-TV keeps moving them around on their site. But they may still be there somewhere. If you find them, let me know where they are!