96 yr. old man does solo skydive!

[hooked 0]

Didn't go as planned, but he did it! Anyone see this story?

J


Seattle skydiver, 96, recovering after try at record hits turbulence


BREMERTON — A 96-year-old man aiming to become the oldest person to make a solo skydive had a rough landing near Bremerton and suffered a dislocated shoulder, but otherwise emerged unscathed.

Milburn Hart of Seattle jumped out of a plane Friday afternoon near the Bremerton airport.

"He said his arm hurt on the way out the door, so he had a little problem turning," said Dina Fodd of Blue Skies Skydiving Adventures.

Hart, who lives in North Seattle, prepared for the jump with five hours of training and a written test Friday. He'd made two jumps in tandem with an experienced jumper last year.

His entourage included six friends from his retirement center and, from Elma, Grays Harbor County, daughter Diane Hamilton, her husband, Dave, and their daughter, who angrily refused to watch her grandfather's risky venture.

Blue Skies staff members took extra precautions, putting a radio receiver in Hart's ears to compensate for hearing loss and planning radio instructions from the ground to help him steer to the landing site.

Then they saw he couldn't lift his arms much higher than the top of his head with a 35-pound parachute pack on his back. They replaced his confining jumpsuit with a sweat shirt and spent nearly an hour lengthening the lanyards so he could reach them and control the parachute when it opened.

A static line clipped to the plane would open the parachute. No rip cord was needed.

But participants didn't count on whatever misfortune struck as Hart stepped out of the plane.

Rick Frazier, who jumped with him to videotape the descent, said Hart held on to a plane strut for a second or two instead of free-falling. "I sort of slipped and hit my shoulder on the plane and that's what caused the problem," Hart later told KING-TV news.


He could only reach one of the two lanyards.

The folks on the ground watched anxiously as he swung toward the landing site and then away. "Make a left turn, make a left turn," they cried into the radio. But he couldn't, and with no mouthpiece, couldn't tell them why.

Struggling to avoid power lines and make a soft landing, Hart told KING-TV, he managed to maneuver himself over a field of Scots broom shrubs.

"So when I hit those things, branches flew and leaves and whatever, because it wasn't a real landing, you know, it was a landing to save my bacon, really," Hart said.

Lucid when found, he initially was treated at Harrison Hospital in Bremerton. He later was admitted to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia for overnight observation and was reported in stable condition last night.

Mike Faught of Blue Skies said Hart told him he'd like to jump again.

Hart is hoping his jump will qualify him for the Guinness World Record held by Herb Tanner of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, who was 92 when he jumped in June 1998.

Onlookers discussed whether Hart's adventure would qualify for Guinness despite the ragged finale. That remains up in the air.

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Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings.

[ltdiver 3]

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Onlookers discussed whether Hart's adventure would qualify for Guinness despite the ragged finale. That remains up in the air.

For an FAI record, all the participants must still be alive 24 hours after the completion of the record. Not sure what Guinness uses as their criteria.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[Belgian_Skygirl 0]

When you are 96, and you have still a dream you want to make true... why not? Even if the risk is bigger than for other people... at that age, even if you still feel good, death can come suddenly... so ... why not enjoy life?

On the other hand... it must be hard for the relatives. No one lives for ever... Good for him, but I don't think I would like to see jump my father at that age. But speaking fot myself... I am capable of doing crazy stuff myself hehe...

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No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

[The111 1]

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Onlookers discussed whether Hart's adventure would qualify for Guinness despite the ragged finale. That remains up in the air.

He made a skydive, didn't he? The definition of a skydive is jumping out of an airplane and deploying a parachute, right?

If bad landings make it not a skydive, then no skydiver has ever been hurt on landing. Think about that one!

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[davelepka 4]

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Hart is hoping his jump will qualify him for the Guinness World Record held by Herb Tanner of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, who was 92 when he jumped in June 1998.

I pushed that guy out the plane in 98. He wasn't strong enough to climb into the airstream, so I 'helped'. The guy was all of 90-some pounds, but he did OK, and had a good landing.

I looked over his waiver, and it turned out we had the same birthday, although his was 69 years before mine. He also had a picture of himself with Amelia Erhart from when he was a line-boy at some airport somewhere a million years ago. Good times.

[hooked 0]

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When you are 96, and you have still a dream you want to make true... why not? Even if the risk is bigger than for other people... at that age, even if you still feel good, death can come suddenly... so ... why not enjoy life?

I agree, you might as well fulfill your dreams, if possible. You only live once, you might as well enjoy life. I say, good for him! It should be recognized for the Guiness record, he jumped, he landed, he made it!!!!

J

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Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings.

[obelixtim 106]

Excellent story!!!!....Well done to this man.....I'd love to be able to jump at 96 years of age....if I make it that far.....and if you are at the end of your life, what a nice way to round it off......

Quality.......

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[NickDG 23]

For a completly different take on this see:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1493122;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

NickD BASE 194

[Liemberg 0]

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Anyone see this story?

On dutch news television this morning.

Was that smart? Probably not.

Now lets see how many more people visit my dz's website today compared to a normal tuesday

BTW: two years ago almost exactly the same happened at my place with a 26 year old...
(i.e. hurt his arm on exit and was not able to steer with both arms or make a good flare...)
So...

"Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci
A thousand words...

[ltdiver 3]

Picture of Milburn Hart from this web page. (might be a subscription web page).

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[themitchyone 0]

I say good for him for trying, and it's great that he'll be ok and wants to jump again, but it seems like the instructors knew it wasn't safe considering that before he jumped

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they saw he couldn't lift his arms much higher than the top of his head with a 35-pound parachute pack on his back. They replaced his confining jumpsuit with a sweat shirt and spent nearly an hour lengthening the lanyards so he could reach them and control the parachute when it opened.

Probably should stick to tandems in the future.

"If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, it's that girls should stick to girl's sports such as hot oil wrestling and foxy boxing." - Homer Simpson

[RMURRAY 1]

we had a guy 84 years old doing a solo (static line) jump. he wasn't listening to instructions very well - maybe could not hear the radio. He pounded in pretty good but got up and was fine. Tough old guy. After watching that I'd say tandem is the way to go.

rm