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steve1

Scary stories from the old days?

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I didn't know that Stinky ever flew jumpers. I jumped with him a lot during the early 70's. I hope he is still kicking. He was one of my best friends in the Osprey Parachute Club, back in the day. I heard his son jumps, but I've never met him....

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yeah stinky is still around and kicking, lives out at the prairie, and his kid Adam is jumping, my son, Adam and I did some jumps together summer of 2015, Adam falls the same as stinky did, like a bowling ball!
Experience is a difficult teacher, she gives you the test first and the lesson afterward

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Well, this isn't really a scary story, but it's from the old days. We jumped at Issaquah WA in the late 60's I think. One of the guys had some older relative that gave him a WWI (I think) flare parachute, and he wanted to find something fun to do with it. He secured a rock to it somehow, possibly in a little bucket, for weight. Some of us were going up for a jump and he wanted us to throw it out and he would be on the ground to go get it.
So, during climb out, at about 500 feet we opened the door and pitched this thing out, aiming to have it land in a dusty open field on the other side of Hwy 10. Somehow the chute gobbed up and went whistling down and thumped in prettly dramatically. There were cars stopping and people getting out and running out to where it came down. My buddy was there and was picking it up when several whuffos came running up and yelling "is he ok?" He made motions like dusting himself off and just said "yeah, I'll be ok" Everybodies jaw hit the floor, and when they recovered they all walked slowly back to their cars shaking their heads in amazement.
I don't remember any news stories in the paper, but I bet that somebody reported it.

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BobBurnham

Well, this isn't really a scary story, but it's from the old days. We jumped at Issaquah WA in the late 60's I think. One of the guys had some older relative that gave him a WWI (I think) flare parachute, and he wanted to find something fun to do with it. He secured a rock to it somehow, possibly in a little bucket, for weight. Some of us were going up for a jump and he wanted us to throw it out and he would be on the ground to go get it.
So, during climb out, at about 500 feet we opened the door and pitched this thing out, aiming to have it land in a dusty open field on the other side of Hwy 10. Somehow the chute gobbed up and went whistling down and thumped in prettly dramatically. There were cars stopping and people getting out and running out to where it came down. My buddy was there and was picking it up when several whuffos came running up and yelling "is he ok?" He made motions like dusting himself off and just said "yeah, I'll be ok" Everybodies jaw hit the floor, and when they recovered they all walked slowly back to their cars shaking their heads in amazement.
I don't remember any news stories in the paper, but I bet that somebody reported it.




Some what similar story. It's the early 90's in DeLand. I'm driving south on Marsh Rd that runs just east of the airport. I look up and see a cutaway canopy coming down. I go around a curve just in time to see it land right in the middle of the road. I stop, get out and as I'm taking a few steps to the canopy a pickup comes screeching to a halt. A guy jumps out yelling, "Don't touch him! Don't touch him! I'm a medic!" I'm looking at this crazy person wondering if he's panics easily or if he's overly excited to use his medical skills. I stand back not saying anything as he tries to find the body. He finally stands up with a very puzzled look and I explain it's just a canopy. The jumper has landed at the DZ under his reserve. He gets a very sheepish look on his face and as he goes back to his truck his wife/girlfriend is giving him hell for driving like an idiot to get to a bunch of fabric. I wish I had had the wherewithal to do what BobBurnhams' buddy did.

Bump.
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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We were getting one last load in as the sun disappeared and I was in the kneeling in the student position. They'd been doing work on the airport all summer so I didn't think anything of the new lights at the far end of the strip. I said "damn, those runway lights look the same as wingtip lights" just joking around. From the sound John made I assumed the they weren't runway lights. John mushed the 182 barely into the sky and as the incoming plane passed below us by maybe three feet, tops, I could see the other pilot's face, even in the low light conditions. And he was pissed, as you would expect.

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Hi Bob....
Only thing I can say after 54 yrs + of doing this stuff is "Thank GOD someone invented/Discovered/ or what-ever........ WHISKEY!! If it wasn't for "Whiskey" and "Skydivin'" I'd a been a "Basket case years ago!!
It keeps me sane and my BP...
113/59...64 this morning!!
skybill
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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skybill

Hi Bob....
Only thing I can say after 54 yrs + of doing this stuff is "Thank GOD someone invented/Discovered/ or what-ever........ WHISKEY!! If it wasn't for "Whiskey" and "Skydivin'" I'd a been a "Basket case years ago!!
It keeps me sane and my BP...
113/59...64 this morning!!
skybill



Ain't it the truth!

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skybill

Hi Bob....
Only thing I can say after 54 yrs + of doing this stuff is "Thank GOD someone invented/Discovered/ or what-ever........ WHISKEY!! If it wasn't for "Whiskey" and "Skydivin'" I'd a been a "Basket case years ago!!
It keeps me sane and my BP...
113/59...64 this morning!!
skybill



I remember when I first started and Gary W warned me about drinking beer and skydiving. He said it was a rainy day so he drank a shitload of beer, then the skies opened up and they put a load together. He said "Bob, as I exited," and then he had to stop and choke back a tear and start again, "Bob, as soon as I exited I was stone cold sober". I thought he was going to start crying when he said "I wasted all that good beer!"

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Hi Bob......!!,
WIND & BEER!!!
Back in the Day......OLD Elsinore..... sometime in 1967-early 68.... the "Santa Ana Winds" started to blow through!! Everybody "Kicked dirt" for a while then retired to the "RUMBLESEAT TAVERN!!" ran by Dickie and Marilyn Webb!! I eventually hooked a ride and got there later in the afternoon!! JOHN "MAGPIE" Forsythe!!! was already heavy into his cups!! later I found out he blew a "POPE" Demo and had to "HANG" a 64 oz. Pitcher of cold beer till he drank it "A-L-L-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"........lo and behold the winds subsided and everyone scrambled back to the DZ for a "JUMP!!" "That's why we do this..REMEMBER???????" 'Managed to get on a 3 way out of the Cessna 180.. (Beech loads were already full) it turned out to be "ME!!!!!!," MAGPIE!! (Remember Magpie, there's a story about Magpie!!!!) So!!!!! "ME!!!!" and "Stanley Troller" and "MAGPIE" end up being the 3-way to 3-5 in the cesna180!! We were going to doa 3 way fro 3-5 untill magpie missed, we went low!! about 15-200' and watched magpie open down in the misquite!! I think th opening of his canopy kicked up dust!!....Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, Stanley and I are walkin' in after that fiasco and Stan says to me,"I hope nobody saw that??? All anybody saw was MAGPIE's almost BOUNCE!! Jerry Meyers was at the target when Magpie hummed it and he said,"I thought he was going to bounce so I turned around so I didn't have to see his splatter......."THEN" his chute opened!!!! ....Stan and I thought for sure we'd be grouunded for piulling beLow minimums but THANK Again
skybll
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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We were doing a two plane shot with two 182's at Minier back around '81 or '82. I was in the second plane and going from the step. 

The lead plane opened the door to spot and we all climbed out. Our que to go was the lead plane exiting. The base and hanger left followed by the guy facing backward on the step. Then the guy diving the door went out and.... he was wearing a well worn Shooby suit. The Shooby had a heavy webbing around the cuff and the suit had worn fabric around the webbing.  Long story short the webbing caught on the step and the jumper was blowing in the wind at 10,500, just him and the pilot. 

Me,  I was still on the strip in the tail plane starting at the show.  The jumper in the door was screaming at me to go,  I finally did but the dive wasn't going to get together and I'd never seen what was going on above us. 

Neither the pilot,  plane or the jumper hanging from the step had a knife. They flew around for a while with the jumper in tow.

The pilot finally broke the glass on one of the instruments and used that to cut the webbing. As he described it he'd stabilize the plane, then lean out the door to cut some webbing and then go back in,  level the plane and cut some more.

The jumper got down,  the plane got down, we went drinking. 

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Back in the Day... I think around '78-'79 when we were still doin' the S/L Program at Perris before Hank made all those godawful red and yellow Hankpigrigs!!  we'd have an average of 30 or more FJC students on a Saturday or Sunday morning Class!!!!  Hooodogies!  So at least a DC-3 load..  GOOD FUN!!   One Sunday.. or was it a Saturday??  either way.. Got the load geared up, a couple of extra J/M helpers in the plane and taxi out!!!  Ron Lay does the 30 inch check on starboard ..OK.. then PORT.....  POPPOPPOPOP..no go taxi back!!!  run everyone over to the other DC-3 ...taxi out, take off.. turn around and land!!!!!  Don't remember what the gig was but we were down!!!!!!  They had Howie warm up this cargo door Beech 18 we had at the time so I took up 10 students at a time!!  First group... OK.. Second group ....well some "Chatter" in the starboard engine!!  Students were eager to get out is an under statement!!  We got the 3rd group up and 3 to a pass and 4 on the last....  As 2 and 3 go ... Howie starts workin' the throttles yelling...."GET OUT!!!!...GET OUT!!!!"  Stu #4 didn't even wait for me to say GO!!!  He was "GONE!!!!"

Funny how that goes!!

skybill

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(edited)
Quote

Back years ago when Steve Fielding was organizing the night record attempts we had one going for the night 16 man record.  I can't remember everybody that was on the load but Bud Kruger was Base, I think Allen Kruger was 3rd or 4th, Jim Wallace, Sam Marshall was on the load Allen Babick I think, naturally Steve was last,  I lost my log book with all the record  attempts I was on and a lot of the big day jumps anyway, we had two beeches (that was really the scary part) over Elsinore one dark winter evening and Bud was spotting, it went together fairly well, a little up and down but settled in nicely and we were waiting for the last guy to come in and I look at Bud and he shook his hands, turned and split.  Everybody turned and tracked away.  I had borrowed Dale Thurber's Piggyback and had a heck of a time getting the ripcord handle out, I look down and thought "Damn we are over the Ortegas"  but it was actually the ground.  When we got opened I was either low man or 2nd to low and I was only about 300ft high, Allen was next, there were about 4 of us REAL low, the rest were about a 1000ft.  Allen Kruger walked up to me and said "Larry, don't you ever tell anyone how low we were.

 

Edited by SCS422
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On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 1:24 PM, BobBurnham said:

Well, this isn't really a scary story, but it's from the old days. We jumped at Issaquah WA in the late 60's I think. One of the guys had some older relative that gave him a WWI (I think) flare parachute, and he wanted to find something fun to do with it. He secured a rock to it somehow, possibly in a little bucket, for weight. Some of us were going up for a jump and he wanted us to throw it out and he would be on the ground to go get it.
So, during climb out, at about 500 feet we opened the door and pitched this thing out, aiming to have it land in a dusty open field on the other side of Hwy 10. Somehow the chute gobbed up and went whistling down and thumped in prettly dramatically. There were cars stopping and people getting out and running out to where it came down. My buddy was there and was picking it up when several whuffos came running up and yelling "is he ok?" He made motions like dusting himself off and just said "yeah, I'll be ok" Everybodies jaw hit the floor, and when they recovered they all walked slowly back to their cars shaking their heads in amazement.
I don't remember any news stories in the paper, but I bet that somebody reported it.

I remember jumping with the "Clear Eye Express" from there    great bunch of guys

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Scary to today's jumper's....  have to check my log's  .. think it was March of '66  me, Don McQuattie and Pat Larkin's did a "Double Baton Pass!!!!  My friend Jim Day .. an aspiring Photographer was at the DZ and shot me under canopy!!  YUP a "7-TU!! 28' C-9!!"  ....  OH yes... Check out our Altimeter's!!!!!

skybill SCR-2034, SCS-680

DSCI2678.JPG

Break off!!!! - Copy.jpg

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On 8/24/2023 at 5:04 PM, wmw999 said:

I can believe it. Worst I did was drag off a diamond from a 182 right at 2000. But we split after that. Very few dirty low-pulling women out there. I don’t think it was our thing

Wendy P. 

It helped that back in the good-old-days, our main canopies (e.g. Cruiselite) opened promptly.

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Well, it's been a while... but mentioning pulling off pieces at low altitudes....    Back "in the Day" at Scare-Us-Valley in the early mornings with the cloud ceiling around 3 to 3,5K and no holes.. Bob Webb would get on the Mike and say he'd take a load to the cloud base f anyone wanted... Well "GOOD FUN"  we called them TORPEDO RUN'S!!!  the Otter throttles Ballz2Dwall and above the DZ we'd Launch.. Donuts, Diamonds, Rounds .. trying to "Frisby launch" the piece!!  We'd get a good 10 to 15 seconds and a couple of points!!!  Did I say "GOOD FUN!!!"  .. The Best of times!!!  foto:   anybody remember this place??  Note!!:  no Rock Crushing plant in the background and YOU may be in the foto .. if yer' old enough!!!!   skybill

Bomb Shelter.jpg

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Yes I'm old enough to remember that place. That picture is BS! Actually, two BS's - the Bomb Shelter and a Brick Shithouse!

 

On 12/4/2023 at 1:14 AM, skybill said:

with the cloud ceiling around 3 to 3,5K and no holes... ...take a load to the cloud base... ...the Otter throttles Ballz2Dwall... ...trying to "Frisby launch" the piece!!  We'd get a good 10 to 15 seconds and a couple of points!!!

What's "Frisby launch"? Putting a spin on the formation so it stays flat in the high airspeed? Or trying to do the whole thing successfully so that Al wouldn't have to get involved in the aftermath? Ha!!

 

- tacos and hobbits!

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