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RememberJohnny

John Foster Died Last Night

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A Pensacola Beach skydiver died Thursday after falling 11,000 feet when his parachutes failed.
John Foster, 37, was videotaping a tandem pair of skydivers - an instructor and a student - about 2 p.m. when his main parachute became entangled with his reserve chute, and both failed to open. He landed in a field in Elberta, Ala., after the plunge.
"I was on the phone calling 911 before he hit the ground," said Pat Stack, 42, of Pensacola. Stack, who works for Emerald Coast Skydiving, was the drop zone manager for the jump. She was on the ground during the jump and said she saw Foster fall.
The group had taken off from Horak Field in Elberta.
Foster was taken by BaptistFlight to Baptist Hospital, where he died about four hours later.
Hospital spokeswoman Karen Smith said Foster suffered injuries to his head and both legs, but she could not elaborate.
Tricia Speziale, a friend of Foster's, said Foster deployed his main chute at 2,500 feet, but it got tangled in the camera on his helmet. He tried to cut away the main chute but could not get it completely cleared. As he deployed his reserve chute at 1,000 feet, it got tangled up in the main chute, Speziale said.
Stack said the chutes getting tangled was a freak accident.
"It's just not something that happens," she said.
Lt. Charlie Jones of the Sheriff's Office in Baldwin County, Ala., was one of the responders.
"When we arrived," Jones said, "there was already an ambulance on the scene, and he was fading in and out of consciousness.
"We understand he was extrememly critical when he left Baldwin County."
Stack said Foster was a very experienced skydiver, having made 6,000 to 7,000 jumps.
He was the primary photographer for Emerald Coast Skydiving, which is based in Elberta, and often was hired to record other divers' jumps.
Stack said Foster also worked as a model.
"He jumped all the time. He loved the sport," Stack said. "He was a great guy."
Rich Cobler/Emerald Coast Skydiving;: "What happened with John was totally an unusual thing. I've been skydiving for 35 years. I have only seen one other incident where both chutes malfunctioned on the same jump and the person died because of it."
Read more at:
www.wear3.com
www.pensacolanewsjournal.com

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First off, my condolences to John's family and friends.
The scary thing is that it isn't that unusual... that's the third fatality we've seen this year due to camera gear entanglement.
Blue skies forever John!
------------
Blue Skies!
Zennie

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not trying to be mean or anything but could you guys stop posting this kinda stuff just before the weekend starts!! i am sure i am not the only one that will be that much for scared b/c of reading this. atleast hold off until monday or something.
Remember when Sex was safe and skydiving was Dangerous?

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My condolences and best wishes for the famly and the witnesses. John's skies will be blue forever.
Viking, I understand how you feel. It saddens and frightens me too, but those emotions will happen whether or not it's posted on Friday or any other day of the week. This is part of the sport. And as part of this sport, it should be dealt with as it arises. To be reminded just before we jump may assist us in making that one gear check, or checking our friends' gear, which may prevent such occurances, or minimize the chances of it happening.
I'll see you tomorrow, Viking.
ciel bleu-
Michele

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"The scary thing is that it isn't that unusual... that's the third fatality we've seen this year due to camera gear entanglement.
Blue skies forever John!"
What's really weird is that camera equipment is so much better than it was just a few years ago, but I've yet to see a season so uncanny as this one with all these entanglements and fatalities.... It's crazy.
Tonight was kind of crazy too. I held a preterm newborn baby right after he died. He was tiny....only a couple pounds. His mother let me take him from her right after she said her good-byes.
Skydiving is good for your soul.....I thank Allah or whoever's responsible for it for the opportunity to live life every day.
Peace~
Lindsey
http://home.earthlink.net/~linzwalley
"I live with fear and terror, but sometimes I leave him and go skydiving!"

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What's really weird is that camera equipment is so much better than it was just a few years ago, but I've yet to see a season so uncanny as this one with all these entanglements and fatalities.... It's crazy.

It might be that because the equipment is getting so much smaller and lighter, more and more people are taking it up.
Plus as more people hit the DZs and do their single tandem and split, more and more video is probably getting sold.
Condolences to the family.
Anyone who's thinking about getting into skydiving photography might want to consider if the added risk is worth it.

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We are all saddened to hear that John was the third freefall videographer to die this year from the same problem. We owe it to John's family to make sure that he did not die in vain. We should try to learn something from John's mistake. The best eulogy we can give John is for every freefall videographer on the planet to spend a couple of minutes this Saturday morning taping over that last possible snag point on his/her camera helmet.

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I don't know if it was due to this latest incident or not, but on the ride up this morning I watched one of our video guys giving a long hard look at his ringsight. Bet he looked it over for about 30 seconds or so. I started thinking to myself that that thing was a prime candidate for a heavy dose of gaffer's tape.
Be careful you video guys!
------------
Blue Skies!
Zennie

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My condolences also to his friends and family. I realized today that I, and probably some of you others out there, always say that when we read of something like this happening on the forum, but please know that I sincerely mean it each and every time. I will leave the more personal notes from those who knew them and hope that I will never have to write "I knew them..." myself anytime soon.
My prayers.
Pamela
Merrick's SCR Ceremony

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Pammi, you said it so well...
Yes, we always profess our respects, but I believe that we all truly mean them. A lost skybrother or sister is something that brings speechlessness to me. I don't know quite what to say, except just sigh and pray...(Yes, I DO pray.)
I think in these situations, you say what you can and leave the rest silent. Skydivers can occasionally be all-knowing.
Sis
I'm not crazy because I take the right pills everyday.

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I would like to offer my heart-felt sympathy to John's family and friends. It is so hard to loose someone you care about. From the way this reads John died doing something he loved to do....thankfully. I'm sure he will be greatly missed for a long time.
May you always have blue skies John..............

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not trying to be mean or anything but could you guys stop posting this kinda stuff just before the weekend
starts!! i am sure i am not the only one that will be that much for scared b/c of reading this. atleast hold off until monday or something.

Not trying to be mean or anything..... but if you can't accept the fact that people die skydiving - SOMETIMES EVEN WHEN THEY DO EVERYTHING RIGHT - then this is NOT the sport for you.
Like Michele said a post like this can save lives!! Why do you think Parachutist publishes incident reports and an annual fatality summary? Hint - they don't do it to scare people.
pull and flare,
lisa
----
I am a nobody.
Nobody's perfect.
Therefore, I am perfect!

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I just found this thread and couldnt help but make a comment: I cant believe it is coming up on 10 years since this incident.
I was not a member of DZ.com when it happened and wasnt privy to any of the reports or videos. I first learned of the incident by the photographs in Parachutist on a memorial page. I recognized one specifically of John jumping from a balloon. The reason I recognized it; I not only took the picture but I was on the balloon with him. I even have a full video of us climbing to 4000 feet and laughing the whole way up. As usual John has that white smile and zest for life that I can only wish on others. He was up pre dawn, dragging me out of bed to make the 5am balloon. In fact I traveled to Quincy, Ill with John to partake in the infamous world freefall convention. We rented a big camper and we hit the road.
I still rmember the great times and most importantly what a unbelievable guy John was. I cant express properly, in words anyhow, how much this has changed my skydiving career. I always said, and continue to preach if a guy of this guality, experience, and athletic ability could die then so could I. I used this tragedy to help me through the last 10 years and to instruct as many new jumpers as I can to understand the risks and importance of being at the top of your game. Always minding that even if you are, like John, bad things could still happen.
I was so sad and deeply hurt by this that even typing this is hard.
I just wanted to say where ever you are my friend I hope you are having a blast. You are so missed.
Blue Skys my friend.

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This happened before I got on DZ.com too. I used to come down to Emerald Coast a bunch of times in the mid to late 90's, and John was always there. Looked like a movie star or model. We used to give him shit for being a Parisian's model and hung up a full page ad from a newspaper with him posing. :D

A friend of mine and I went to Pensacola once to meet up with Cap'n Jimbo for a showing of The Odd Couple play and John tagged along.

He was a good man... [:/]

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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