Eike Hohenadl passes at Eloy today 4-25-14

[MissBuffDiver 0]

While jumping in Eloy today Eike died doing what he loved. I'll enclose the Newspaper article...

Sandy

[MissBuffDiver 0]

Home > Local News > Riverside County > Lake Elsinore > Lake Elsinore Headlines
LAKE ELSINORE: Local skydiver dies in Arizona

/FILE PHOTO
Eike Hohenadl parachutes to the ground at Margarita Middle School in Temecula in 2011 as the American flag waves behind him. The jump was part of the school's Veterans Day celebration.
1 of 2 Next Image
372 2 0 A Text Size
BY SARAH BURGE April 25, 2014; 03:38 PM
Eike Hohenadl, a well-known Lake Elsinore resident and leader in the local skydiving community, died Friday, April 25, in Arizona after his parachute malfunctioned. He was 72.
According to a news release from Skydive Arizona, in Eloy, Arizona, an experienced skydiver’s main parachute was not released on the first jump of the day, about 7:40 a.m., and the skydiver did not open the reserve parachute. He died at the scene.
The man’s name was not released but Carol Wakefield, a family friend, confirmed that the skydiver who died was Hohenadl.
The release said he was participating in a large formation jump, described by the skydiving facility as an invitational 88-way record attempt, but that the incident was not related to the size of the group. No other skydivers were involved in the accident.
There were no problems related to the aircraft, and weather conditions were good at the time of the jump, Skydive Arizona said.
Hohenadl was an active skydiver and wingsuit instructor who enjoyed doing skydiving demonstrations at public events.
In a 2009 interview with The Press-Enterprise, he described the thrill of wingsuit jumping – which involves suits that use fabric stretched between the limbs to create wing-like surfaces that allow a skydiver to glide and spend more time in the air.
“Wingsuiters like to live life a little more than the average Kmart shopper,” he said. “It’s the closest thing to human flight.”
He was not jumping in a wingsuit on Friday, according to Jocelyn Bernatchez, a spokeswoman for the skydiving facility.
Hohenadl had thousands of jumps under his belt and held numerous U.S. Parachute Association licenses and ratings, including safety and training adviser.
Hohenadl had escaped from East Germany as a boy and eventually made his way to the United States.
He had described that experience as “way more nerve-wracking than jumping from a plane.”
Hohenadl fought in the Vietnam War, stationed aboard a 173-foot minesweeper that patrolled the Mekong Delta and the Gulf of Tonkin.
In the 90s, he served as manager of a major disposal project at the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Facility involving Vietnam-era napalm.
He retired from the U.S. Navy with the rank of captain after more than 30 years of service.

Sandy

[quade 4]

Such a great guy. Such a professional attitude toward every aspect of what he did. I respect him a lot.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[patworks 5]

OUCH!
SHIT!
DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!
Dammit It ALL TO HELL! and gone
Hurt. Empty. Ouch. Bad Hurt.
Big Ouch.
Vast empty.
Big Icon. Gone.
Large love lives on.
Big Eike. Bigger smile. Huge persona...
A living poem.
Sharing the song we love.
Happy. Pleased. Proud with our existance.
Delighted with sharing love of the air.
Delightful. Tall. . Iron man, he by action lived, by words shared, that wonderous world we live upstairs.
WOE! Pain,
I've lost a love that time claims.

OUCH!
SHIT!
DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!
Dammit It ALL TO HELL! and gone
Hurt. Big Ouch.
Vast empty.
Big Icon. Gone.
. . . no aspirin for this pain....
Large love lives on.
Pain endures.

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[Usetawuz 1]

There's a new and painful hole in the world.

_________________________________________
The older I get, the better I was!

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

Yesterday was a very sad day. I teared up many times, as I'm sure many others did.

Eike was such a wonderful person- a true gentleman. It was always a pleasure to see and to chat with him at the DZ. His impressive log books contained skydiving history. Everyone loved Eike. We will definitely feel his absence.

I'm sending my deepest condolences to his loved ones, especially his wife and family. Our hearts are with yours.

Fly free, Eike.

[jdobleman 0]

Well written, Pat.

Eike was one of the first people I would look for at the SOS record attempts. Wonderful guy, a great loss.

madjohn

Main goals in life: Be on the "Jumpers Over Eighty" (JOE) World Record and attend the Lost Prairie Boogie once after I'm gone.

[DSE 5]

Eike was a gentleman in every respect.
Always a good story, always had words, and always right there to jump with anyone, any time. His logbooks are legendary, and I was privileged enough to have held a few of them in my possession for a few days. They should end up in the Skydiving Museum, they're the most incredible logbooks I've ever seen (which is why I chronicled them for dropzone.com a few years back).
He was the first person at Elsinore to welcome me in a wingsuit nearly 7 years ago.
Eike was a fixture at Skydive Elsinore, but he'd touched the world with his demos all over the globe, and his constant travels to jump with and for old military friends.

[Labrat 0]

Eike was a really nice person to be around. Skydiving just had a great lost. Sad.

[skyrider 0]

An update on the incident , and the arrangements ...A posted on Facebook:

Subject: Eike's services

Hey all,
Michael Burt and Jay Fragoso drove from Calif to AZ to retrieve all of Eike's gear, car and other personal items. Michael and Jay received tremendous help from both the Skydive AZ management (especially Aaron O'Brien) and also from the organizers of the POPS event (Kimbo Godwin and Tom Webber). Eike's wife Joyce was very relieved that she did not have to do this job. The following paragraph is more information that was gathered by Michael regarding the incident.

I talked to a German jumper, who also participated on the 88-Ways at Eloy, that had docked on Eike on that first jump on Friday, April 25th. He stated that Eike was in his slot rock-solid and flying very well - nothing out of the ordinary occured during the building of this formation. He also witnessed Eike's canopy, on opening, slowly rotating in one direction as the steering toggles remained stowed. The main canopy had opened A-ok. He also noted that Eike appeared to be unconscious during the entire canopy ride. The canopy landed uneventful but there was an unofficial statement that the landing may have caused a bone or two to break in one arm and one leg as well as a broken nose. The account also stated - as one of the Paramedics, or Coroner, had mentioned - that his canopy landing most likely did not cause his demise. On the ground, the Paramedics made every attempt to revive Eike.

Joyce has made arrangements for services for Eike

Eike H. Eike Hohenadl
Celebration of Life
Monday, May 12th, 2014
10:00AM
Evans Brown Sun City Chapel
27010 Encanto Drive
Sun City, CA 92585
David Luyben - Funeral Arranger
(951) 679-1114

[gregpso 1]

Reading about Mr Hohendahl I keep thinking What a life well lived !!

Still jumping and enjoying life at 72. The comments about how good a man he was tells it all.

Bravo that man !! A life well lived indeed

All the best to his family and (many) friends

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[grimmie 179]

Eike was a class act. He was soft spoken and very kind. He would jump with anyone, anytime. He did more demos, wing suit jumps and just plain old fun jumps than someone a third of his age.

His passing leaves a big gap in the SoCal, POPS, SOS world.

Fly Free my friend...

[greybeard 0]

I made some of my first wingsuit flights with eike around about 2001. when i told him that i only had a 'A' lisence after twelve years of jumping, he told me that the 'A' was all he had and would ever have, fly on brother.

[Capt36 6]

Sometimes, I embarrass myself, by not knowing people's names as well as I know I should.... This is one of those moments.....

It was only when I took the time to view that nice picture that Sandy posted, that I remember a great guy, a great jumper, a great personality! It was nice knowing you, all those years. And, as everyone has mentioned, you were a really good guy in this sport! Thanks for setting a good example of how one should live their life!!!

Check's in the mail.....

Practice random acts of kindness, and senseless beauty...

And, give money for Mr Douglas! www.mrdouglas.org

[MakeItHappen 15]

Please note that Eike's services are given at this url
http://www.evans-brownmortuary.com/obituaries/Eike-Hohenadl/#!/Obituary

(The notice upstream has the wrong address.)

RIP Eike.

.

.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[swovelin 11]

Eike Hohenadl was one amazingly successful fellow; he was loved by EVERYONE who knew him! Eike was given a suitable send off today, dignified and loving in equal parts. Godspeed Eike Hohenadl!