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pds

Hypothetical Burial in sky question

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Does anyone have any information or links describing past skydive scatters. If one were to have intentions of doing such, are there legal issues, traditional dives, what kind of container etc.

This is a time sensitive question. If one were to have intentions of such, one would need to be organized by saturday. ;)
namaste, motherfucker.

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I just did one for a friend about 3 months ago. I used an ashes bag built by a rigger that was designed similar to a small freefly tube. The end of the tube had a ring with a handle to attach to your wrist. That was folded halfway up then the ashes were poured into the open end and the whole thing rolled closed. The bag was then held closed with a couple rubber bands. I tied pull-up cords on them to make them easier to get off in freefall. I exited with to 2 other friends in an AFF type jump and they helped keep stability in freefall. To release the ashes I pulled off the rubber bands and let the bag go while holding on to the ring end. The tube went up and the air goes thru the bag blowing all the ashes out the top. It looked spectacular from the ground and on video. As far as the legal stuff, I didn't ask and I didn't hear any complaints. The best part of using the bag was that you don't get ashes all over yourself and your gear. If you want any further details let me know via private e-mail at [email protected].

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Not to make light of a serious question, but a word of caution. If you're scattering the ashes from an airplane, make sure the container is all the way out before opening it. A friend of mine was the pilot on a scatter from a Cessna once. Spmeone opened the bag too soon and the ashes blew back in the plane. The pilot was blinded for over a minute.

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I remember a similar event, except instead of ashes it was urine. I was in the right seat. Fortunately, the pilot and I could open the windows and stick our heads out. Everyone in the back just had to breathe the yellow mist.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

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Hi PDS,
Some 20 years ago as a young special forces trooper we had a team member killed - his only family left were his team mates - on the next C130 blast we convinced the pilot to do a fly by - the team all geared up for a night equipment jump stood up, passed the ashes up towards the door, each saying his good byes - then the team sgt scattered his ashes over the DZ through the troop door - on the second pass we jumped - the Airforce crew chief thought we were all crazy - but to this day it still warms my heart when I think about it.
phat, dumb & happy

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Hi Steve,
I retired in 98, and have been working in Saudi since with Aramco (oil company). Chances are that I ran into skymonkey1 - but I can't say I know him, I have a bad case of CRS. My last assignment was with ASOC at Ft. Bragg - and I did spend what free time I had at the GB club and Raeford. In Saudi most of the SF types are working for contractor in the Riyadh area - I am in Dhahran - so I don't get to see much of them, except at the annual Saudi Arabian Softball Tournament. Hopefully I will get a chance to visit Raeford - get some jumps in during the April time frame , and look up some of the gang.
Cheers
phat, dumb & happy

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Dave,
I went through S.F. training back in the early 70's. A friend that I trained with got sick of all the B.S. in our Guard Unit (19th S.F.) and went regular Army. After his tour of duty he went to work for someone in Africa. I'm not sure what he was doing, but I imagine it was training personnel and running missions with them. In other words he was working as a mercenary soldier. He survived all that and returned to Smoke Jumping here in Montana. Let's hope you are doing something safer than that. Best of luck, Steve1

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In 1975, my wife's mother died of cancer, and with my wife in the jump plane, I opened the door and scattered her mother's ashes across the farms between Coldwater Ontario and Orillia. I didnt ask for permission...I just did it. My wife thought it was a nice idea as she read a poem about her mother, and how her ashes were part of the sky. I'm sure "motyher" would have landed by the time the next load of jumpers made their exit...so there wouldnt have been a mid air collision. B . Cole D41




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Yeah, Jim Wallace, he da' man. He can tell you. For a fact, there have been any number of ash dives at Perris, there was one just two weeks ago for one of the Air Trash brethren who died of cancer. Pictures are on the Perris webcam site.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

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In 1975, my wife's mother died of cancer, and with my wife in the jump plane, I opened the door and scattered her mother's ashes across the farms between Coldwater Ontario and Orillia. I didn't ask for permission...I just did it. My wife thought it was a nice idea as she read a poem about her mother, and how her ashes were part of the sky. I'm sure "mother" would have landed by the time the next load of jumpers made their exit...so there wouldnt have been a mid air collision. B . Cole D41



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Just a caution, a friend who used to work as an undertaker in Vancouver, told me about an embarrassing incident involving spreading ashes from a Piper Cherokee Six. Remember that the horizontal stabilizer is much lower on a Cherokee (than most regular jump planes),
Any ways, my friend spread the ashes over the Pacific Ocean, then landed on the mainland. They were surprised to see that all the paint - on the left horizontal stabilizer - was stripped off by the bone fragments!

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