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shancat1

Dropping things out of the sky.....

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I just saw this on facebook. I am new to the sport but I have often thought of how dangerous things falling from the sky can be to us and others on the ground. I worry about rafts, hula hoops, etc.....and even cutaway mains. Of course the cutaway is in a different category. Be safe.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26l9kw_wingsuit-paratrooper-drops-his-iphone-6-plus-during-his-jump_sport?start=267

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It's definitely an important thing to think about when you're planning to drop an object on a jump. Stuff like this video, or the occasional altimeter or camera going flying (or even a helmet that's being cutaway), I'd put more into the "small stuff shit happens" category. But with larger items that could interfere with jump operations or airport operations, or which could cause damage to people or property if they were to land in the wrong place - you definitely want to plan ahead.

Some local jumpers did a couple of watermelon jumps this summer and planned their jump so that they exited over a wide open alternate landing area away from the airport. That way, the watermelon's final resting spot would be in a field, not a building or a car or a parked airplane.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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NWFlyer, thanks for the response and I respect your posts. Agreed, definitely a planned jump dropping things out of the sky in a place like Eloy where there are miles of open desert would be safer.....however, dropping a phone at 7000 that lands 50' off a road at Perris...not so much. Obviously just my opinion but a phone dropping at 120mph could seriously injure or kill someone. Just as an altimeter or a camera or a helmet could. Probably not likely but definitely possible and something that should be taken into consideration.

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Our DZ was right beside the golf club, the exit point was often over the top of it, and the greenkeeper used to show up now and then with a box of junk he'd picked up....odd shoes, busted up altimeters, cameras, gloves and steel ripcords, some of which he'd found with his mower.

Funny how no one really seemed to say anything about losing stuff, but it only got there from one direction.

If someone dropped an old B4 ripcord you'd often hear it coming if it was overhead, everyone would dive for cover under cars or into the hut. The old Sentinel power handles would be the worst, get hit by one of those it would likely kill you on the spot, a pound of solid steel.
My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

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shancat1

I just saw this on facebook. I am new to the sport but I have often thought of how dangerous things falling from the sky can be to us and others on the ground. I worry about rafts, hula hoops, etc.....and even cutaway mains. Of course the cutaway is in a different category. Be safe.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26l9kw_wingsuit-paratrooper-drops-his-iphone-6-plus-during-his-jump_sport?start=267


FIFY
www.facebook.com/FlintHillsRigging

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Mid sixties, there was a kind of mentality to take weird stuff out: Me and Stan Welniak took out a full-sized Christmas tree out of C 182 for no particular reason. Full delay of maybe 20 sec or 30 sec. Let go and tracked off. Farm fields in Midwest. Pretty sure it was a logged jump with comments.

Big plywood sign which was uncontrollable. Let that go too.

Uh... other stuff too. Seems like we were into ridiculous stuff back then

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That short story was fun to read. First I'm laughing, thinking, "A christmas tree. They jumped, a christmas tree. WHY!?! :)
Decorated or not decorated, and how did it hold up in freefall? That's got to be one of the weirdest objects I've heard of being jumped.
Oh, and how the heck did you guys manage the exit? Hell, nevermind getting it OUT of the plane how the heck did you get it in there?
-B

Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

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It would be fun to take an old dried-out xmas tree out in freefall. You know, the kind where the needles fall off when you rub your hand on the branches. Yeah, get that in freefall, and watch all the needles just slowly disappear in the wind blast, so that by pull time all you have left is a nude tree. And get it on video!

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Caution!
Some 30 years ago, some skydivers were dirt-diving a pumpkin pass to celebrate Halloween. I suggested that they take the spot long to avoid houses near the airport. They took the spot over a nearby tobacco farm. They lost the pumpkin and it fell through the roof of a tobacco-drying barn. Their careless act instantly converted a Farmer McFriendly into a Farmer McNasty!

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Yes we were idiots.

The Christmas tree was full sized, green needles, just off duty from Christmas. We never found either the tree or the plywood sign.

That was the "rage" back then. About 50 years ago

We heard of a pumpkin, a string of canned beers - shoot, a lot of things being thrown out.

Yes I heard of the pumpkin tossing thing where the pumpkin went through the roof, the ceiling and broke the dining room table.

No, we wouldn't do that shit now, but back then....we were 16 to 18 or so, and just did stuff. (OK to jump at age 16 back then). We were "a hell'in".

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Oh forgot to mention, no Cessna had any kind of door then. Just removed and open. Summer and Winter. Flip up doors weren't invented yet. Although I don't remember, I'm guessing half the tree was sticking out.

As I recall, when the 'flip up' door was invented, years later, it must have been in Snohomish Washington, as it was called the "Snohomish Door' for a while.

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Hi Walt,

Quote

As I recall, when the 'flip up' door was invented, years later, it must have been in Snohomish Washington, as it was called the "Snohomish Door' for a while.



That would be correct. I do not know when the Snohomish Door was actually developed; I started jumping in Feb '64 and it was in use then.

JerryBaumchen

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My comment was not directed at you, but at the guy who destroys something that required a lot of resources to produce just to show the world what an idiot he is. He also wasn't very creative in the process.
If it does not cost anything you are the product.

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Asked to drop an 90 pound cast iron cow into some 4H gathering back in the 70's...practiced half a dozen times getting the spot dead nuts on with an unmodified 24' flat from a grand...

Day of the event ~ the fuckin' thing streamered! [:/]

I heard it went in about 3 feet! B|











~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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At our little dz in Sturgis, Mi in the 70's we had a local tradition to pass a bottle of cheap champagne in freefall at each 100 jump mark. Don't recall any being dropped though. Used to open it under canopy. Only had about half a bottle left after opening it.
Shouldn't this be moved to history and trivia?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Lord, let me be the person my dog thinks I am.

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Coming up soon at the DZ I learned at and jumped my first couple years is the annual P-toss. Some jumper pulls their car out in the landing area and everyone could get a chance to hit it with a pumpkin. 500 Ft due north at 90 mph. Heard some stories from before my time of a 200 lb'r on the wrong line. Rolled it out and looked down with an "oh shit"
That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

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we used to do a pumpkin drop at Z-Hills every year at Halloween. Small pumpkins. You put your name all over it so they could tell who got closest to the target (they would paint a target in the grass).

Well did a full altitude RW jump with the pumpkin in my jump suit. When I deployed my chest strap pushed the damn thing out of the top of my jump suit. It came pretty damn close to hitting a glider parked near the runway. :o

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

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Years ago we managed to get a pumpkin that the local steak house was using as a Thanksgiving centerpiece. Probably weighed about 120-150 pounds, it took 3 of us to get it over the step and into the 182. The plan was to push it out in free fall but the pilot was slightly opposed to that idea! We talked him into letting us push it out at 1500' right over the top, just in case the pusher fell out. It was awesome!! That pumpkin bounced off the step, and just kept accelerating. It exploded like a bomb going off! There wasn't a piece left bigger than 3-4 inches. I can't imagine the damage if it had hit somebody or something. This was at Lakewood NJ so we had an 1800' target area in case of a long spot.

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I was on one of those jumps and aside from the need to be very careful on the ground, people also should use extra caution for planning them.

Those things can change direction in a hurry and with no warning. That combined with everyone fixated on trying to be the closest to it...could very easily turn ugly if the skill level isn't there.

Methane Freefly - got stink?

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We taped a 2x4 between the door and the step to keep it from hitting the step.;) Me as bombardier. That's as far as it got in the door. Rode up with it in my lap and my leg hanging out.

Guy that brought these usually threw them but he wanted to see one hit from the ground.:P

One of several. 2001 out at 500'. Divot, about 6" deep Private airstrip.

For two decades we had annual bombing contest at the Halloween party. 400-500' Three passes per load. $1 pumpkin winner takes all. For many years the target was a VW Bug. Nobody came close. The safest place was next to the target. We had pumpkins with parachutes, usually totaled, pumpkins with wings, elevator and rudder and propeller that almost pulled the throwee/launcher out of the door. Memorable was one year when I was dressed as a doctor with a long white coat. Someone filled their pumpkin with cherry jello. I often just stepped aside a step or two if a pumpkin was coming near. This one landed about 3' from me. I turned my back to keep from getting mud in my face but got covered in blood colored goo.

Later target was 3x4 cloth. Only person to EVER hit it was a pre teen kid. (tied in under parent supervision but throwing the pumpkin themselves.

Demise of pilot/DZO ended tradition.:|

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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shancat1

I just saw this on facebook. I am new to the sport but I have often thought of how dangerous things falling from the sky can be to us and others on the ground. I worry about rafts, hula hoops, etc.....and even cutaway mains. Of course the cutaway is in a different category. Be safe.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26l9kw_wingsuit-paratrooper-drops-his-iphone-6-plus-during-his-jump_sport?start=267



A selflie gone bad.:o[:/]

That was a expensive jump.:D

R.
One Jump Wonder

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