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steve1

Scary stories from the old days?

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When jumping in the army they used to scare the hell out of everyone, when they said they would foam down the run way, and land with you in tow. And yes, they would cut you away if you put one or both hands on your helmet, and showed that you were responsive. It would be interesting to know if this was ever done.

I used to jumpmaster army jumpers, but never had a knife. I imagine the airforce crew chief had one.




Hi Steve

No big deal but, crew chiefs didn't fly we were called loadmasters, opened the door 20 minute warning etc.

We did have a knife and a winch. My plan was to give the jumpmaster the knife if he needed one amd stand back:)
One Jump Wonder

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That student in tow climb down the SL scenario, sure got thrashed out at length, don|t know of anzone who ever tried it. Our theory was that the most dangerous part was the SL cutting bit, because it would be under such tension that when it was cut it would twang back like a rubber band and wrap around whoever was on the end of it.



It certainly has been done in the UK and the guy that did it was awarded the George Medal.

"Staff Sergeant Mick Reeves was awarded the George Medal for saving the life of a student who had static line hang-up at Halfpenny Green in 1966. As jumpmaster, Mick Reeves climbed down the line, cutting it free, free-falling with the student and deploying his reserve. Both landed safely."

http://www.shobdon.shaunmcguire.co.uk/History.htm

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It certainly has been done in the UK and the guy that did it was awarded the George Medal.



Oh yeah, now I remember reading about that way back. My alzheimers must be getting more effective.

I always thought a George medal was a bit OTT for that......
My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

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



Sorry steve were getting so old that we ca't even remember the scary stories ay ore or we've already told them.

Now there's a whole new set of stupid stories. People that can't land a perfectly good parachute. Select a canopy thats to small, and don't know their gear.

"Who says skydivers are stupid? We invented a whole new way to kill ourselves" 1985

Used to be a joke at first but it's still happening. Thats scary!!! :(:(

R

Take the DB!!!!

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.




Hi Steve

No big deal but, crew chiefs didn't fly we were called loadmasters, :)

Oh hell, I knew it was something like that. Some days I forget my own name.....I used to look at loadmasters and ask myself why I didn't join that branch. They sure looked a lot happier than the grunts I hung out with....

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Hi Steve

No big deal but, crew chiefs didn't fly we were called loadmasters, :)

Oh hell, I knew it was something like that. Some days I forget my own name.....I used to look at loadmasters and ask myself why I didn't join that branch. They sure looked a lot happier than the grunts I hung out with....

Hi Steve

I think the branch of service we went into had something to do with where we grew up.

You came from Montana, went beaver traping, hunting with guns, all that stuff.

OTOH some of us grew up in the concrete jungle, never touched a gun, or walked on grass or even saw a 4 legged beaver.

Everyone we knew worked behind a desk or carried a lunch box. The air force or navy was a no brainer for most of us poor folks that needed to dodge the draft. ;)

Time to take a nap:D

R.
One Jump Wonder

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Hi Steve

No big deal but, crew chiefs didn't fly we were called loadmasters, :)

Oh hell, I knew it was something like that. Some days I forget my own name.....I used to look at loadmasters and ask myself why I didn't join that branch. They sure looked a lot happier than the grunts I hung out with....


Circa 1984, I'm JM on a nightjump.
Couldn't see the L so I waved off to the Loadmaster.
I'm hanging out the door and the plane does a hard left bank and I'm staring at the ground.
Load master taps me to com in and shut the door for the six minute race-track.
I back in, flop the step and close the door.
I turn to the Loadmaster and tell him, "I can't believe they pay me an extra $100.00 a month to do this shit!!"
He tells me, "I can't believe they pay me $150.00 to watch you go."


Huh?!???!?! WTF!! Over!! :S:o:D
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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Hell, I only got $50. a month, for jump pay. That was 70 thru 76.

Those air force guys just seemed a lot happier than us. I didn't know they also got more money....If I had only been a little smarter, when I signed up....

Back when I was a Whipper Snapper, I worked with a kid who I figured was dumber than a box of rocks. We worked in the saw mill together. During those years he joined Air Force ROTC.

Next thing you know he's flying jets.....Years later he became Commander of the Air National Guard for Montana. He retired as a colonel or something like that. He even flew air-liners for a while.

He's is now retired and spends the winters in Hawaii. That is when he's not traveling to some other foreign locale. He often takes an Air Force hop to different places. He's got great health insurance, and a big check every month for doing nothing.

Me?.....well I still work for a living in North East Montana. Last winter it got down to forty below. If I knew I was going to live this long I would have planned ahead, and joined the Air Force...[:/] Hell, I probably could have made general, if this other ding dong made colonel.

If anyone needs advice on life you can PM me. I know now what not to do.;)

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This story is about another military guy who made good.

I think I already talked about Jeff Frangos. He was a Vietnam helicopter pilot who was fed up with the army and all the B.S. in Nam. He was one of our heroes in the early 70's. They still tell stories about him from the "Gulch" days. He made good flying medical choppers in civilian life.

Then there was Russ Beree. He flew bird dog aircraft in Vietnam. Last I heard he was chief of the fire dept. in Missoula.

Both these guy were tougher than nails and wilder than March Hares back in the day.

This story is about Randy Mosely. He was an ex-vietnam helicopter pilot. Randy jumped a para-plane back in the early 70's. When I first watched him land that thing, I was amazed....he'd flare it out and land just perfect, every time. Randy had a good looking blonde wife. He didn't spend a lot of time at the D.Z., but I sure looked up to him.

When we jumped choppers in the guards, Randy was usually one of the pilots.

Years later Randy became commander of the National Guard in Montana. Next thing you know he was a general. Can you believe that? You'd see his picture in the paper all the time with General Mosley doing this, and General Mosely doing that.

The National Guard has a helicopter in the schools program. They fly in a helicopter and show the kids.

I figured I'd call up General Mosely and see if I could jump out of one of his choppers, into the school I work at. After a few calls I got ahold of Mosley's aide. I told him that I was an old bud of Randy's. I don't think he was too impressed because Randy never called back.[:/] I guess that's what happens when you become rich and famous. You forget your old buddies.:S

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Quatorze,
I remember a friend who used to race his morocycle to the DZ with a rig on his back. I often wondered what would happen if it opened.

I think one of the stupider things I have ever done is try to kick a dead cat in the road going about 40 on motorcycle. I never claimed to be too bright. Steve1



I suspect that Jeb "Rocky" Corliss would agree that trying to kick a dead cat in the road going about 40 on a motorcycle is not nearly as stupid as trying to kick a balloon on a ledge going about 100 in a wingsuit.

The cool thing is.... you're both still alive to tell lies about it!

44
B|
SCR-6933 / SCS-3463 / D-5533 / BASE 44 / CCS-37 / 82d Airborne (Ret.)

"The beginning of wisdom is to first call things by their right names."

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Oh, I've done stupider things than that. Maybe I should start a dumb and dumber thread....Did I ever tell about the time that I fell a tree on the cab of my pickup. The windshield was broke out and the door was sprung out. It was going to be a while before I got all that fixed, and I still had to get around. People would see me speeding down the turn pike wearing a big-black pair of skydiving goggles. My right arm was in a cast. I'd broke it earlier rodeoing. The door was tied shut with a towel and it wasflopping around in the wind. People were straining their necks in all directions to get a better look at me.

Skydivers then might have been a different breed than the ones you see now days....

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1992/3? Eloy. Turbine boogie. It was like $13 back then.

Doing like a 12-way out of an otter with a crew from SD New Mexico. Another fairly new (<200 jumps) skydiver grabbed me and we decided since the breakoff was SO goddamn high (I was like 21 mind you...and an idiot) we should come together at do 2-way rw after breakoff. We'd breakoff the 2-way at a grand and all is good. Pulling lowish wasn't uncommon.

I'm jumping a wonderhog with like a 170 BruiseAir and a round reserve. Leg-mounted PC. Never heard of an AAD.

So fast forward to 1000'...I wave to breakoff and dudeman GRABS me in a bearhug. A tight one. I eventually wrench myself loose and now I'm back-to-earth.

I flip over and have hella ground rush...I'm focused on a white paper sack next to some brush just about where the swoop pond is now.

Can't find my leg-mount...it's twisted somewhere.

Reach with both hands, find it, pitch...watch the bag getting closer, fast.

had a 10-ish second canopy ride and burned in like a lawn dart.

Brian Burke met me on the way in. I was done jumping that weekend.

Been pulling high ever since. (It was another 14-15 years before I started BASE jumping.)
- Harvey, BASE 1232
TAN-I, IAD-I, S&TA

BLiNC Magazine Team Member

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1979 (I didn't log it because it wasn't a jump)

Elsinore, in the winter before the flood.

We were headed to altitude in a Cessna with a door that lifted up and latched to the underside of the wing for exit. There were four jumpers, a solo who was to get out at 9 grand and the rest of us who were going to go as high as the pilot would take us without me flashing him :P.

The solo gets up and unlatches the door in preparation to jump and zaps his reserve.:o

All three of us jumped on him and his pilot chute! We all start yelling about the loose P.C. The pilot somehow reached over us and managed to close the door. He takes us into a dive to get down as quickly as possible. We all start to relax a little, but we are not about to let go of the guy and his loose P.C. and reserve.

We get to about 7 grand, and while we are still on the guy, KABOOOM!!!!! We have no idea what the heck is happening. Wind everywhere. I thought this is it, but wait, the guy and his loose stuff is still under us. We are now yelling louder. At this point the yells may have migrated into the scream realm. :$

The plexiglass window somehow blew out from the precipitous dive. Now we're back where we were when he zapped himself. :(

The noise level has not gone down any. We were still yelling things at the pilot and he was yelling back at us. Communication at it's finest.

It was a long way down, even in the dive this pilot had put us in.

We landed, and as he was taxiing the pilot said we could get off the poor guy. We all yelled at him, "No effing way, until you turn the effing engines OFF. He turned off the engines, and my heart started to beat again.

As we peeled ourselves of the poor guy on the bottom, we all had a hard time. Various aches and uncooperative body parts. My right arm was dead. The poor guy with the loose reserve had an imprint of the rail the seats are bolted to and the bolts ON HIS FACE.

When he showed up at the dz the next weekend, his face was still black and blue with a ghost print of the rail and bolts as a rash keepsake.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

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Hi

About 5 yr's before the rear window blew out in your :o.

We were jumping a spare cessna without a door:( We were sitting in the back and Poof:o The damn window Iwas sitting next to shattered:o

We did get to jumpB| and I even offered to pay for the window:). The pilot declined:)
Then someone told us that the OEM windows on 180/182 jump planes had been replaced with stronger materials due to the extra wind pressure inside the cabin with the door open.

Don't know if it was true but I was always carefull when moving around inside the plane. If I breathed on the winndow it wasn't hard. But I was :$:$:$.

R.

One Jump Wonder

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Hi Ripper and Lisa,
Open rigs in airplanes!! ;)B|:ph34r::D:D Closed one of my own and 2 others!! Fortunately I'm a Rigger so things like this are just another day at the office.;);) BTW it's a lot easier in big airplanes like Otters and DC-3's. Coupla' times to get the guy on the last load, after we were up, we cleared a path up the center and packed his rig on the way up!! Sometimes ya' gotta' do what ya' gotta' do!! For details, bring beer,...lots of Beer, "COLD BEER!!" I'll explain. BTW ya' can toss in a bottle of Crown too!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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Bill, hope things are going well for you.

It was about '77 at the Z-Hills Turkey Boogie, I was on one of the Palatka teams. We were the 4th team to jump and as the second one left we got up and started to get in line. Jimmy Thrift asked me for a pin check. I told him his main pin wasn't seated all the way. He said go ahead and seat it. As soon as I touched it, it broke and his main container opened. Now we were forward in the DC-3, up by the cockpit, so not much chance of the thing getting out the door but our jump was going to be either a 9 man or we would all ride the plane down and pay for another ticket. I got his pilot chute out of his leg pouch and wrapped the bridle around the bag and strffed the pilot chute into the bag. At that point, Jimmy gave me the biggest (dumbest) compliment of my life. He said, "Come on. We can still do this. I'll just jump my reserve. You packed it so I'm not worried about it." I said being in freefall intentionally with only one parachute was a really bad idea no matter who packed it. I almost had to pull his reserve to get him to pomise not to follow us out. (No body wanted to pay for another jump.) We went out and had a pretty good jump, for us anyway. As we were packing some one came up and said we had been scored for a 21 second TEN way. The judges saw every one in and stopped the watch without counting the jumpers. I think it was Mike Waddel who went to the scoring table and told them the truth. We grumbled until we started congratulating each other on how honest and noble we ALL were.

Nothing make the "good old days" as good as a bad memory of the good things.
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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Nothing make the "good old days" as good as a bad memory of the good things.



This is the best line I've read since reading comments in SH&T. I'm sure that the older I get the more sense it will make.



...or a Good memory of the Bad things! ;)

I was Skypeing with an ole jump buddy last light, couple of Friday night beers 'together' so to speak.

Reminiscing about a few of the dumber thing we 'got away' with back in the day, he said ya can't ever tell anybody about this stuff.

Unless they were there and understand how 'things' were in the sport back then, they tend to think you're either nuts or a liar.

I directed him to this site & this thread...told him he just might be surprised at how many Skydivers 'new & old' truly do understand & appreciate not only the tales of yore, but the people relating them.

Kinda hope he checks in, guy has got about 50 years in, is still somewhat active in the sport...hell of a good memory & ain't hittin' on all 8 cylinders if ya get my drift!

:ph34r:










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

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After several months of dipping in and out (don't say it...), I have finally - and regrettably - reached the end of this thread.

Definitely the best thread ever - thank you all for sharing :)
Bump.

"If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation."
David Brent

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Just stumbled onto this thread and enjoyed the h*** out of all the "there I was" stories. As someone mentioned in one of the posts, if you weren't there in the early days, you just can't comprend what it was really like. Kind of how I can't believe some of the videos that I watch now days......base jumping a mountain then flying down slope through the valleys...DAMN. My first jump was in 1966 and last one in 1997 and ended with a little over 1100.
There simply seemed to be a different mind set back then. It wasn't smart or safe but we would jump any rig, out of any thing with wings, in any conditions, into any target (think county bars with backyards just big enough to fit your para commander between the powerlines and trees)and walk away feeling happier than any human has a right to feel!!! My first demo was on my 20th jump into a race track using a double LL cheapo out of a C170 with the door off (damn it was cold on the climb out).
As great as the jumps were, the people (characters) that were around were even better. I jumped out of a small club in Superior, WI. We got together a lot with fellows from other small clubs from Osceola and Eau Claire, WI .... the jumps were a blast and the after jump stories are MEMORABLE!
One comment about gear. If you haven't cut away using shot and a halfs then going to a front mount reserve with no pilot chute, you haven't lived! The first time I had to chop a wildly spinning square using 3rings, I thought I had died and gone to heaven it was so slick.
I don't know if this post will ever even get read but thanks for letting me write it. B6666, C5281, SCR 1399, FOB 303

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I don't know if this post will ever even get read but thanks for letting me write it. B6666, C5281, SCR 1399, FOB 303



Just read it. Thanks for sharing :)
NEXT!
"If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation."
David Brent

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There simply seemed to be a different mind set back then.

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I worked my way through college back in the '70's teaching S/L & doing demos...I had many of the same experiences as you except one state south, I'm a Flat-lander. B|

I'll never forget the last night I spent on the DZ before graduating the next day and moving on...through the drunken haze I kept thinkin' ~ ~ "SOMEDAY all this is gonna end". :(

Well - That part of the 'fun' has, but it's STILL pretty good! ;)











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

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