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steve1

Scary stories from the old days?

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Hi Swoop,
If it's too windy to jump what makes one think that "Para-sailing" would be a good idea?? Oh well, the stories abound. I remember hearing a story from some of the guys from the old "Louisiana Skydivers" from Baton Rouge trying to "Para-sail" back when, probably about 1963 or 4. They had rigged up a "disconnect fitting" between the "V" bridle and tow rope. When whoever it was got towed up he was going to pull the release and fly the chute to a target they had set up on the ground. Think Fast now!! About a nanosecond after he pulled the release he realized that it should have been attached to the tow rope instead of the "V" bridle!! BONK!!! The fitting shot straight back and got him right between the runninglights on the forehead!! All he got was stitiches (nice scar!) and one hell of a headache!!! "Plus!" having to explain how all this transpired. Most of todays' jumpers weren't even born yet!!!
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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CReW

Didn't anybody ever do the car / parachute thing successfully?



If you define "successfully" as "not ending up dead", then yeah, most of us were successful.

I can echo everyone's comments here. We tried all the stuff mentioned from pulling with a vehicle and tethering in high winds. Lots of bruises, scratches and a loss of wanting to do it twice. For the most part it was too much work for too little fun.

On the other hand, a few times we took our Parasail to a beach along the Delaware Bay and pulled it with a boat. This was much more fun and rewarding for the work involved. Lots of student jumpers told me that they decided to make a jump because of the fun they had while Parasailing in the Caribbean.
Guru312

I am not DB Cooper

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A long time ago my wife, got a ride on a gyro copter thing, that someone brought out to the dz.

It was almost like a helicopter without a engine, and was towed behind a truck to get the blades moving.

Once it got airborne the machine even sounded like a chopper, and was able to stay airborne as long as the tow vehicle kept on moving. Of course it was a two seater, the pilot had a pair of flight helmets, the tow rope wasn't to long and it obviously wasn't the pilots first flight.


The machine looked stable in the air, and made a sweet landing once the tow vehicle came to a stop.

What me worry? Hell yes, I turned my back and she takes off with some dude to go up there.:D

One Jump Wonder

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When I had about 20 jumps I bought my first rig, a Parafoil 252 in a Wonderhog. I was dreaming of flying it but it would be a while until I could get to the DZ.

It was windy, I thought I'd just tie off to a tree and give it a go. Couldn't find a rope so I used a 60ft extension cord, tied around the chest strap with no release.

About 2 seconds after I inflated the chute I was directly over the tree in the 20 knot winds. My life flashed before my eyes as I buried one toggle to get to one side and the cut away the main at about 12 ft. Looking back, it could have been sooo bad, I was super lucky the cable didn't break. When I inspected it after it was full of big bumps, every inch. I lived to walk away though.

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I remember a story of a jumper who got a long rope and tied it to a goal post on a football field. It was very windy. Quite a crowd had gathered to watch. His para-commander lifted him right up, but there he was, with no way to get down. He was stuck up there for a very long time, until the wind died down.

I'd hate to be stuck up there with B-12 leg straps digging into me, for over an hour. I'll bet he was hurting from that....

Another time it was too windy to jump at a boogie. Someone tied a rope to a para-commander and harness. One guy grabbed ahold of that harness, and up he went. Fortunately he had sense enough to let loose at about 15 feet, because he was climbing fast, He slamned into the black top. If he hadn't let loose he would have been hanging by his fingers at a break neck altitude.

Yep, "Stupid is, as stupid does!"....."Been there, done that!"[:/]

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The first time I did the parasailing bit was in about 1969. It was very windy at Holtville (near El Centro, CA) so I, or one of the group, came up with the idea to try it. We took a bunch of tubular nylon we had (probably "borrowed" from the Navy) and made a "Y" connected at the risers of my new PC and tied it to someone's El Camino. Several of us tried it and nobody got hurt. It was fun and only once or twice did we have any butt puckering incidents. Those were the days.
If you know how many guns you have - you don't have enough!

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That was how the story was told to me....Maybe it was a big lie. Either that or nobody was smart enough to figure that out.

I'm still wondering though....would that bring you back down in high winds? I've never seen anyone try that. This might make a good science experiment. I've got an old P.C. and harness, and climbing rope. Now all we need is a test pilot and a windy day....P.S.....I'm too old for para-sailing....[:/]

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That would work if you have enough area. We unfortunatly didn't have enough space the day George was up in the very high winds . We all grabbed the rope and walked towards him to get him down. Another time we tied a rope to the center line of the PC and we would pull the parasail down by that rope, it worked pretty well but, I only remember doing that one day.

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A logbook entry from a long time ago ends with 'I could have died. Probably should have."

What happened? I was in a twenty or thirty way or something, way on the outside (as befits a smallish woman in big suit days). But it was a fast day for me, and I felt myself going low, and losing my grip. With big jumpsuits there weren't grippers; you just took a handful of suit. So to get a better handful, I gripped the suit with my teeth and re-gripped. Dodged a bullet there, right?

When we landed, the guy I was docked on showed me the bite mark :$.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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wmw999

I gripped the suit with my teeth and re-gripped... When we landed, the guy I was docked on showed me the bite mark :$.



Leg grip I presume. He must have really been wondering what the hell you were doing back there. Lucky you didn't get kicked in the face to make you let go.

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I was bitten in freefall once. In 86 or 87 a group of us went to Palatka for the St. Patty's boogie. We were on a weather hold, rain and low clouds, so we piled in our trusty saftey meeting van and conducted a couple hour saftey meeting. None of us thought that there would be anymore jumping that day so we got pretty ripped thinking that the jumping was over for the day. The rain stops so we open the doors and to our surprise there is a big sucker hole on it's way. The PA system comes to life and they call our load that had been put on hold earlier. We all look at each other and agree to just go do a simple 10 way and pull high because of the buzz we all had. We get our shit together , dirt dive and head to the DC3. We are in a hurry because the sucker hole is about to dissapear. We get to 5500' and we are in the clouds. We make the buzzed decision to build a 10 way speed star and break off at 3k. A guy from the group behind us asks if he can join us and we all agree that it will be fine. We got a little more altitude and turned on jump run. Ready,set,go, and out the door assholes and elbows. We build a very quick star and are humming through 3k when it's time to break off. I go to turn and track at break off and I am being held by the guys on each side of me. Paul Rafferty is to my right and Billy ( last name left blank as to not incriminate him) is on my left. I perk up from my haze and see my buddies laughing, they want to take me low with them. Ok, 2 can play at this game. When they decide it is time to break off, around 2000' I grab them and don't let them go. Boy did they NOT see that coming. Paul had a free right hand and just threw his pilot chute out at 1500' . As I watched him go I felt a pain on my left arm. Billy was bitting me as we were going through around 1200'. I let him go, he instantly pitches out, I give him a second and pitch out my pilotchute. But it aint over yet, as I watch billy get line stretch and just start to snivel he cuts away and pulls his round reserve. Wham, his reserve opens and I watch him go up and away like I am still in freefall. I am having an extra long snivel and that is when reality sunk in, I am very LOW. I pumped my brakes and got the canopy open, did a 90 degree turn and flaired for landing. Billy landed a hundred yards away and his cut away canopy landed right beside him. Don Yarling (DZO) was not impressed, needless to say we were grounded for the rest of the boogie but, Paul sweet talked Don into letting us jump the next day. The only person I know of, that is possibly still jumping, that witnessed this event is Bill Scott from GA. Every time we have bumped into each other through the years he gives me a bunch of shit about that jump. BY the way, Paul and Billy were not part of our saftey meeting because they were good soldiers in the US Army. I was very short or out of the army at the time so No comment on my behavior. Later that drunk night Billy and Paul tell me they had it planned to dock on each side of me and smoke me down. They promised they would never do it again. First jump the next day, Paul is on my legs for a cat grip when it is time for break off. I start to turn and realize he isn't letting go. we track the cat to 2k, I flair out and dump with him still holding on to me. A short snivel follows and away falls Paul with a huge smile on his face. Man F111 7 cells were fun. More than anything, I really Miss Paul.

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Ok, time for someone else to post an embarrassing story and keep this thread on top

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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