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steve1

Scary stories from the old days?

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Got this in an email from Lou Aug:

just because its a snowy sleety nasty day here in cedar ,mi. i'll float one out to see if anyone can top it.

bob alm and dick parker during deployments with bob spinning thru dicks lines and wound up hanging below dick. the canopy was wrapped around dick and he could not see what was going on. bob shouted at dick and when they both decided they were ok they decided to ride it out. these were pc's (any body remember those?) and handled very differently with weight. bob called the turns but they coming down very fast.
they were the only 2 guys jumping that day at streator, il airport and typical of those days you could show up and if the flight instructor wasn't doing any thing he'd pop the door and take your up for tach time. it was springtime and some time prior to the event a severe windstorm blew thru and wrecked some planes and tore the sheet metal off a set of t hangars. the only thing left standing was the steel skeleton and stacked inside was the broken aircraft, twisted sheet metal and whatever else from the storm. i think even the airport tractor was in there.
now our two intrepid skydivers were heading right for the building. bob thought they would land short of it but no, they didn't. bob flew in the hangar just below the header for the hangar door and dick flew over the roof to the length of bob's suspension lines and was pulled down inside the building. his canopy stayed inflated above the roof and there they were both hung inside the hangar from the steelwork and few feet off the ground and unhurt. they both cut-a-way and dropped unscathed to the ground. they should have gone out and bought a lotto ticket ! no, wait, Illinois didn't have public gambling in those days.

should bob have cutaway at altitude and let dick figure out what to do ? yeah, but it made for a great story and turned out fine.
streator was the first place i jumped as a civilian. i had 40 some odd jumps then and used to the strict operations that the military clubs ran. it was pretty loosey-goosey operation to say the least but hey it was jumping. i came down thru a broken cloud cover at about a 500 feet once and landed on the roof of the pig barn across the road from the ap. i had a golf ball sized lump on my elbow for about a year after that. i wonder if there any operations like that any more ? there were a number around ill. and wisc. back then. modified b-4's and splitting tach time probably are a thing of the past. being a rigger i was acquainted with some and with my little cessna 120 I'd get around to a few dz's, pack a few reserves (on a mat on the ground).
skydiving is big business now. i'm trying to make myself think that its a good thing.
lou
U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

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i wonder if there any operations like that any more ? there were a number around ill. and wisc. back then.


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There was kind of one at the Spring Valley airport about 25 miles from Streator.

For a bottle of good scotch, fuel and the tach time a crusty ole jumper named Earl would take ya up in a rental for a few leaps...I THINK he was a pilot. :$

One scorching July day the only plane available for a while was a 150, somebody had the 172 out on a cross country and since Earl was already into the scotch we figured it was now or never...:ph34r:

My buddy Tom & I shoe horned ourselves into the airplane, we were 18, had about 25 jumps in our logbooks and were pretty fearless dumb.

220 pounds each plus the gut gear, short strip & a hot day... Hell, what could possibly go wrong?!

Earl stood on the brakes, wound her up and then down the little grass strip we went.

Under the wires at the end of the strip with the stall horn screaming, Earl says something about a good thing the corn is low as we cross the highway and put the wheels between the rows.

Over the hill and now we're following the Illinois River down stream, where it's cooler and we can start to climb...

At about 2200' over a city park in Peru, we roll out thankful to be in free-fall, where it's safe.

Funny how even on a round, traffic, power lines and trees below ya can be a welcome sight!

We packed the gear and walked a few blocks to my folks house...called the airport to tell ole Earl we were done for the day.

"You guys sure, I have the whole afternoon free!" :S:D











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

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That was indeed Norton laying inside of one of the cells of Steve Haley's canopy. It was at Pope Valley and they landed it like that. Norton swung his feet down as Haley's canopy went slack when Haley touched down. Norton did a stand up still inside of Haley's canopy. Norton had Haley's canopy clinched in his teeth and controlling his flare with his hands/toggles.

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I was just wondering if anyone had a scary jump story from way back when? Steve1



Steve you da man thanks for the thread it's time to bump it up.

Saw the recent post about the value of a historic jumpsuit with lots of nice patch's etc which brought a smile to my face anf made me LOL.

Remind me of a jumpsuit patch thing that was both Scary and funny.

ET AL

Funny story about jump suits and patch's. Not sure if this is the correct thread could even belong in the scary stories thread from the old days.

But I'm old,confused and can't spell[:/]

Person shows up at the DZ in Fulton MO wearing a jumpsuit with some very nice skydiving patch's. SCR SCS night SCR double eagle, double falcon etc. you name he had it:)
I still remember jumpsuit, don't remember the dudes rig but I sure remember the jumpsuit B|

Don't need to stinkin log books ettc the dude had the jumpsuit and patch'sB|

WE took the jumpsuit guy up on a load (they were all small ) in the heartland at a stinkhole one cessna DZ with a howard.

We thought the jumpsuit guy could teach us some thingB| Worse than combat RW :o, the dude was like a ping pong ball bounceing off of everone one in the formation multiple times.

Back in the day of a single point and no tunnels we learned together, the rule of thumb was always go for the low man. (If my old brain is still working)

Everytime the jumpuit with the patch's went low after bounching of of everyone, funnels etc. We went after him as a chance to practice a swoop etc. After 30 seconds it was time to go.

It actually was kind of a fun jump and since we all survived. We thought the jumpsuit guy was so good he was just showing off and acting sillyB|

We asked the dude how many jumps he had don't recall the exact number but it was in the single digits[:/]

He wasn't flying that bad because he was that good he was clueless. We asked the about the nice jumpsuit with all the patch's.

Bought it, patch's and all:|

Scary or funny:|. I'm still:D:D, we lived even the dude in the jumpsuit.

R.I.P.

If your a spelling/grammer nazi bite me:P
One Jump Wonder

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I was just wondering if anyone had a scary jump story from way back when? Steve1



Steve you da man thanks for the thread it's time to bump it up.

Saw the recent post about the value of a historic jumpsuit with lots of nice patch's etc which brought a smile to my face anf made me LOL.

Remind me of a jumpsuit patch thing that was both Scary and funny.

ET AL

Funny story about jump suits and patch's. Not sure if this is the correct thread could even belong in the scary stories thread from the old days.

But I'm old,confused and can't spell[:/]

Person shows up at the DZ in Fulton MO wearing a jumpsuit with some very nice skydiving patch's. SCR SCS night SCR double eagle, double falcon etc. you name he had it:)
I still remember jumpsuit, don't remember the dudes rig but I sure remember the jumpsuit B|

Don't need to stinkin log books ettc the dude had the jumpsuit and patch'sB|

WE took the jumpsuit guy up on a load (they were all small ) in the heartland at a stinkhole one cessna DZ with a howard.

We thought the jumpsuit guy could teach us some thingB| Worse than combat RW :o, the dude was like a ping pong ball bounceing off of everone one in the formation multiple times.

Back in the day of a single point and no tunnels we learned together, the rule of thumb was always go for the low man. (If my old brain is still working)

Everytime the jumpuit with the patch's went low after bounching of of everyone, funnels etc. We went after him as a chance to practice a swoop etc. After 30 seconds it was time to go.

It actually was kind of a fun jump and since we all survived. We thought the jumpsuit guy was so good he was just showing off and acting sillyB|

We asked the dude how many jumps he had don't recall the exact number but it was in the single digits[:/]

He wasn't flying that bad because he was that good he was clueless. We asked the about the nice jumpsuit with all the patch's.

Bought it, patch's and all:|

Scary or funny:|. I'm still:D:D, we lived even the dude in the jumpsuit.

R.I.P.

If your a spelling/grammer nazi bite me:P[/repl

Hi Ripper,
Thx that you all lived so you can LOL!! 'Could have plantd one of your bunch!! Shows to go ya' jez some dude shows up wit gear and a jumpsuit with patches, like he said, Oh no it's not mine I bought it from somebody!! Years ago I was on the USS Okinawa LPH-3 and we pulled into Subic on 'Nam Cruise of 70. Went over to the Cubi Pt. Para Loft to see if any riggers had any jumping ops going on!! Way Yay there was a Club going and jumps were on the roster,"'Ya got log books, gear and any other 'PROOF!' that you're "Qualified!!??" Sure I said and showed them my stuff!! Come to find out, some dude showed up a couple of months prior and talked the talk, had gear and stuff but chickened out in the Airplane!! Turned out he was a scammer!! 'Coulda' planted himself!! Shows ta' go ya!!
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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Person shows up at the DZ in Fulton MO wearing a jumpsuit with some very nice skydiving patch's. SCR SCS night SCR double eagle, double falcon etc. you name he had it



Back in the day people earned patches and wore them with pride. You could look at his suit and get a pretty good idea of his jump history. They could be SCR, SCS, 16 way or a 24 way. If you hadn’t earned them it wasn’t a smart idea to wear them. You could end up having a one on one talk with Bill "Sled" Edwards

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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Person shows up at the DZ in Fulton MO wearing a jumpsuit with some very nice skydiving patch's. SCR SCS night SCR double eagle, double falcon etc. you name he had it



Back in the day people earned patches and wore them with pride. You could look at his suit and get a pretty good idea of his jump history. They could be SCR, SCS, 16 way or a 24 way. If you hadn’t earned them it wasn’t a smart idea to wear them. You could end up having a one on one talk with Bill "Sled" Edwards

Sparky


Considering the the #1 thread on this forum (DB) and the number of posts vs Hits. Scary stories from the old days is doing rather well.

Mosts hits with least posts. B|

We need some mature jumpers to start posting some more stories. You all can beat the DB thread.B|

Damn I hope I dont's get banned for saying that:(

R.I.P.
One Jump Wonder

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Person shows up at the DZ in Fulton MO wearing a jumpsuit with some very nice skydiving patch's. SCR SCS night SCR double eagle, double falcon etc. you name he had it



Back in the day people earned patches and wore them with pride. You could look at his suit and get a pretty good idea of his jump history. They could be SCR, SCS, 16 way or a 24 way. If you hadn’t earned them it wasn’t a smart idea to wear them. You could end up having a one on one talk with Bill "Sled" Edwards

Sparky


Hi Sparky

I'm old, can't spell,& l and can not tell a lie that I remember.

Those patch's you posted pic of. That is only the second time:P time I've seen them.:)
R
One Jump Wonder

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Those patch's you posted pic of. That is only the second time time I've seen them.



Do you remember any of these?

Sparky

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp55/mjosparky/Skydiving/Patches2_0002.jpg

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp55/mjosparky/Skydiving/Patches2_0004.jpg
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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Hi Sparky

I can not tell a lie your honor. I don't remember:ph34r:

I do remember hearing about the Perrisites at a boogie.

Later When I heard someone jumped at perris and used "the word" we got the look:(.

Self: don't say that again.B|

R.I.P.

weather check: 68 degrees today, tommorow 64 and rain

One Jump Wonder

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I'm waiting for a call so thought I'd tell this one, not scary, but funny.
We would do a demo every summer for the Catholic church that one of the guys uncle was the priest. They had a Canaveral thing, so we did a beer and pizza demo. That's what you'd get paid.
The church was in a piece of land right next to General Mitchell field in Milwaukee. This particular year the FAA said no when we filled the NOTAM. We told the Father we couldn't come. He told the congregation. In Milwaukee they have aldermen. Neighborhood politicians. Garbage not picked up call the alderman, snow not plowed call the alderman. THey get it done, or they're the ex-alderman. SOOOO the congregation calls the alderman. Next thing we know we are down at the city board meeting, with the airport management and the FAA.
We get introduced. As ex service members, Viet vets, the whole nine yards. The aldermen ask the FAA why all of a sudden we can't do what we've been doing for years. FAA gives some bull reason: disrupt air tarffic, dangerous, standard stuff.
We get asked what time we are jumping by the alderman. They confer and confer with the airport manager. There decision: CLOSE THE AIRPORT FOR AN HOUR. Holy crap. The FAA guy almost has a heart attack. We jump up and tell them no, no we need about 2 minutes. FAA guy all of a sudden is REEEEAL nice. Sure no problem.
So we made the jump. The feds even let an airliner vector over to watch us.
DAT's how they get things done in the midwest.
U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

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One particularly tense moment I experienced was the day I was at the drop zone (Green County, Covington, La. back in 1979) and was waiting for my ride up. I was packed, suited up, and just walking around chit-chatting with other divers. I decided to stop and watch a moment as the previous group of students were starting to come out above me. I watched the first come out and his chute billowed open. Then the next came out and his chute billowed open. The third came out and instead of his chute billowing open, he appeared to stop behind the plane and start following it! It took me a couple of heartbeats to realize what I was seeing--the guy's chute had somehow gotten caught on the tail of the plane! I yelled and got everyone's attention, and we all stood in rapt horror as the plane began its relentless ride to the ground trailing the hapless student. The reader might ask why the student didn't just cut away and open his reserve. Well he couldn't; during training it was explained that the capewells of the main canopies were wired shut because of an accident some years before when a girl had fallen to her death 200 feet above the ground when she accidently released one of her capewells.
The plane came down and landed dragging the unfortunate student behind it. Luckily the pilot was extremely skilled and landed the plane with a minimum of roll.
As it turned out the student survived with only a broken finger and a gash in his thigh. A local tv reporter interviewed him in the hospital and asked him if he would ever jump again. As I recall he said.."Absolutely! I have to do again so I can see what it's like when you do it right!"

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This has probably been told here before but just in case...

Z-Hills, C-47, Wing War days. The rear floater jumpsuit (inseam-cuff hem junction) gets pushed back between the door and the airframe. Ready, set. go everyone leaves and the floater is hanging upside down. Co-pilot looks back, plane is empty and the plane starts down. Plane lands and the pilots are wondering why everyone is running out to the plane. The guy was OK. Really torn up reserve and banged up helmet but otherwize OK. Seems lile it was a Silly Suit but it was a long time ago. Maybe lodestar can refresh the memories.
Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

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Can't say I remember that incident and don't have any recollections of that happening in the time span I was there ('69-76) but it can be fairly common throughout the para world.
Anyone wearing bulky gear and leaping out of aircraft may encounter the occasional snag here and there but relatively few (IMO) dragging incidents seem to happen.
I can remember jumpers who pulled early and became snagged in the tail section of some aircraft and a few who, in moving around inside the jump planes, opened a reserve and either got pulled through the side of the aircraft or pulled out and tangled with the tail section, often damaging the aircraft extensively. Cutaways saved their beans.
Personally I only had one incident of an early pull, jumper standing in the door of a 182 on a hop n pop, and pulling as she fell out the door, the pilot chute came in front of my nose and dangled over the steering column. Fortunately just as I picked it up, line stretch pulled it out of my hand and it did not snag the aircraft. It took about two weeks before I allowed her back in the plane with admonishments to never try that shit again. (Aero Park Airport, Menomenee Falls, Wis. 1965) Wisconsin Skydivers.

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That was Christmas 79. I have a photo of the landing which I have posted here before but can't find right now.

It was Captain Micheal reid of the Canadian forces.

Had to replace his reserve, container and helmet and was back up jumping in a couple days.

it's in the DC 3 thread

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1060319#1060319
Watch my video Fat Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWkEky8GoI

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I was filming a tandem on the rear step, when the tandem bag fell out in the plane. All I saw where lines coming at me, used my wings to get out of the way QUICK. Tandem opened below the tail, with 1 1/2 linetwist initially but that cleared itself. As soon as they passed over my head I opened and we did some proximity-flying as an attempt to make up for the video. (:S)

The passenger had a ball, he was allowed to steer for a lot of the time and it was pleasant weather so not that cold from 9k. We decided however to not hand him the video+stills but rather give him a coupon for a new tandem+video.

Now before jumping, the guy had expressed an interest in jumping himself (staticline), he was only doing the tandem because of some friends that were in the same airplane.

So, I made sure his coupon was valid for a SL course instead of another tandem if he wanted, since he had already had done his first AO :S:ph34r:

Oh, and the 2way that had exited before us got called to the DZO for pulling high without permission :)


ciel bleu,
Saskia

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Those patch's you posted pic of. That is only the second time time I've seen them.



Do you remember any of these?

Sparky

I've got one of the upper left in the 1st Jpg...... You gave it to me......'77 '78 Natl's in Richmond???????.

Have the Dope Vally (pun intended) in JPG#2


My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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I was just reading in the safety forum about saying something to someone about the safety of their and it reminded me.
First to you kids that don't know. At one time we put our leg straps through "pockets" in our jump suits.
I was sitting in a DC3 at Zhills, Turkey meet sometime in the 70's. Camera man sitting next to me had his pilot chute in his hand. I watched as he folded it and then put it in the pocket of his jump suit. I asked him how he did that. Didn't the pilot chute fall down in the leg of his jump suit. He said he put it in the pocket of his shorts. I asked how well that worked. He said: No one borrows my gear.
U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

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