Al Jones.....

[acerik 0]

Been a while since I've posted here.  Our good brotha Al Jones has moved on.  A friend of his stated that Al no longer needs a parachute....he has his wings now.

I knew Al from the old Palatka Para-Center.  We started jumping together shortly after I'd gotten off student status in '84.  I was the last graduate of the original (gutter gear) student progression at PPC and had known Al a few months at that point.  (PPC went all AFF for a while, then brought progression back a year or so later, but with AFF student gear.)  Always with an open mind, Al was willing to teach nearly anyone who was genuinely willing to absorb and learn....and to my genuine surprise, he took me in and taught me a lot during that A-license purgatory.  And we hit it off too!  He not only became a great friend to me, but also to my dear ol' dad Dick Emerson and to my sister Alicia Emerson.  Not to mention my dear ol' dad's second wife Saundra Thomasson Emerson.

A quick story.....we were doing this quasi-demo in Port Orange, FL in the late 80s.  Was it really a demo?  Not really.  In actuality we just filed some paperwork so we could jump into a party at my father's house that he was throwing.  On the skydive was the ol' man, Mike "Mad Dog" Maguire, Al Jones, and myself.  Al and I used to to a fair amount of CRW back then, and thought it'd be cool to downplane into the party.  So once we'd opened we quickly hooked up into a biplane.  But.......

The winds aloft were a little stiffer than we'd planned or expected.  We'd opened a little downwind of the target, and....well....we went a little further downwind hooking up for that biplane.  No penetration....time to change plans.  Dang!  Fortunately I knew the area really well.  It was Al's first time there, so he trusted me when I suggested we go a little further downwind from the ol' man's house to get to a nearby neighborhood.  I knew a trail we could cut through once we were on the ground.  So anyhow, we were approaching time to break off and I suggested a few spots to land in...offered Al his choice.  He chose a fairly open front yard.  Great!  I took the center of a street that was free of tree limbs and power lines.  Just before we touched down, about a dozen kids on bicycles appeared outta nowhere....clearly fascinated by what was <ahem> going down.  Managed to dodge 'em, gathered our gear, and convened at the nearest street corner.  I remember one of the kids asking "Where'd you guys come from?!?"  Ever the wise ass I replied, "The sky!"  Al was of course cracking up...and then we made our way to the nearby trail I knew.

And we're both in near hysterics walking along this trail in the woods in Port Orange imagining what these kids are telling their parents!  Oh.  One small detail for folks who never knew Al Jones......Al was a black man.  Kind of a rare breed among skydivers at that time.  So the kids are telling their parents -- "Mom!  Dad!  You're not gonna believe what we saw when we were out riding our bikes!  This white guy and this black guy came in under parachutes and landed right over there by Mrs. Johnson's front yard!  And then they scooped up their parachutes and ran off into the woods!!"

Al was a career Navy man.  He moved from Jacksonville, FL to Honolulu, HI at some point in the early / mid 90s and remained there.  His passing was related to some medical challenges he had around a decade ago.....

Blue Skies my brotha........

Edited September 16, 2023 by acerik