zoobrothertom 5 #1051 January 16, 2010 Quote Quote were probably 30 to 35. Three of us really wanted to jump. The rest were content to start drinking. Some body said, "Cross country" Yup, that's how it works, all right Wendy P. Yep, I'm guilty.____________________________________ I'm back in the USA!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bozo 0 #1052 January 16, 2010 I have a good wind jump story. One weekend at the old Pahrump Nevada ( yeah where the whorehouses are ) Dropzone , the wind was howling. Me and my cohorts were the hotdogs on the DZ with hundreds of jumps.....like 200 maybe......and we decided a wind jump was in order. We sat down and along with some beer laid out wind direction, speed at altitudes from 12,5 on down. Man we were gonna do this right. There were four of us in the 182 and it was November and being the dumbasses that we were at the time never gave a thought to how cold it was gonna be at 12k. We were six miles out on opening, I had a sweater on and lite gloves cuz it was nice on the ground. By the time I hit 9 grand doing about 60 in the uppers I was a frozen block. I couldnt even feel my hands. I pulled em down inside my jumpsuit for some protection.....then thought...if I have to cutaway i'm fucked. ok , i'm fucked , its too cold to get them out. Needless to say we landed all over the Nevada desert with only a broken leg by a fella named Steve who said he was too cold to flare. I managed to land into the wind, the sagebrush tore the shit out of the seat of my jumpsuit and my butt before I collapsed the Unit. Live and learn , if ya live. bozo Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSBIRD 1 #1053 January 17, 2010 Quote ...tore the shit out of the seat of my jumpsuit and my butt before I collapsed the Unit. Live and learn , if ya live. Geez Jim, that is a terrifying story from the old days. A Unit, eh? Brrrr...gives me chills just to think about it! 359"Now I've settled down, in a quiet little town, and forgot about everything" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skypuppy 1 #1054 January 17, 2010 I heard there was a lot of torn butts all around there....If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bozo 0 #1055 January 17, 2010 QuoteQuote ...tore the shit out of the seat of my jumpsuit and my butt before I collapsed the Unit. Live and learn , if ya live. Geez Jim, that is a terrifying story from the old days. A Unit, eh? Brrrr...gives me chills just to think about it! --------------------------------------------------------- Ok.....pull yer tongue out of yer cheek now smartass. bozo Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Niki1 1 #1056 January 17, 2010 Quote I have a good wind jump story. One weekend at the old Pahrump Nevada ( yeah where the whorehouses are ) Dropzone , the wind was howling. Me and my cohorts were the hotdogs on the DZ with hundreds of jumps.....like 200 maybe......and we decided a wind jump was in order. We sat down and along with some beer laid out wind direction, speed at altitudes from 12,5 on down. Man we were gonna do this right. There were four of us in the 182 and it was November and being the dumbasses that we were at the time never gave a thought to how cold it was gonna be at 12k. We were six miles out on opening, I had a sweater on and lite gloves cuz it was nice on the ground. By the time I hit 9 grand doing about 60 in the uppers I was a frozen block. I couldnt even feel my hands. I pulled em down inside my jumpsuit for some protection.....then thought...if I have to cutaway i'm fucked. ok , i'm fucked , its too cold to get them out. Needless to say we landed all over the Nevada desert with only a broken leg by a fella named Steve who said he was too cold to flare. I managed to land into the wind, the sagebrush tore the shit out of the seat of my jumpsuit and my butt before I collapsed the Unit. Live and learn , if ya live. OK, let's keep going with high wind stories: This was about a year after I learned that I didn't want to jump in hight winds, In Jacksonville we had been kicked off Herlong Field and went to a cow pasture across the highway. It was a wide open field with one pine tree in it. We were under the packing tree guessing that the wind was around 20 MPH. We were about to go get beer when tha pilot metioned that he had a glider plane tow rope in his trumk. Yeah, we might have some fun with that. Out comes a T-10 and an old harness. We attach the tow rope to the harness at the crossing diagonals so that the rider is facing the canopy. Well, this was kinda fun. We just got dragged back and forth in a 45 degree arc. The beer got back and that made it a little more fun. Then Albert (forgot his last name) says a PC would get us off the ground. I don't remember who it was that said, "Yeah, but would that be a good idia?" Albert wanted to do it so why not. And he did get off the ground. About 15 or 20 feet. I took a ride and almost immediately knew this to be a BAD idia for me. I got down and opened a beer. Albert on the other hand, said if a PC would do this well what would my Delta II be like? Well, it was Albert and he wanted to so... As I was getting it out of the trunk, the wind REALLY kicked up. 35 to 40. Albert goes up and starts hollerin' "GET ME DOWN!! GET ME DOWN!!!!" The rope is 100 feet long and it's up at 40 or 45 degrees. We start to try to get on the rope and walk it down but it's also going back and forth trying to kill us all. We got Albert down to maybe 15 or 20 feet when he, for some unknown reason, thought it would be better to slide out of the saddle and just hang on with his hands.With the canopy going back and forth he lets go and to this day I have no idea how he managed to not land on his head. One ankle had a broken bone or 2. The other ankle was destroyed. This was in 1971, before all the replacement parts came to be. Albert made one jump a year and a half later and we had to carry him to the plane. When tha winds come up, GO TO THE BAR.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? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumpa 0 #1057 January 17, 2010 I have a bit more time and my log book is packed away in Montana but here goes. Was jumping my Russian Para Comander at Sky Unlimited in Helena late 70 or so. This day had several prospect jumpers out to visit the D.Z. and see how it works. We jumped from the 182 and opend normal. The wind picked up just a bit and I was holding just fine concentrating on the pea gravel out front in a accuracy approach. The pea gravel mound was about 80 yards infront of the D.Z. trailer. A security chain link with barb wire on top fence was right next to the trailer. As I was comming down I began to back up just enough to cover that spooky distance between the two. At about 60 feet up I realized there was no getting away from that fence in my present decent. Solution to the problem was to bury one toggle and turn down wind and back again 180 degrees. Oh man was that intertaining. Those that know. A Russian PC turned on a dime and this one literally screwed me into the earth just on the other side of the security fence. Missed the fence but crushed my heel on a big old rock! I hit hard and infront of everyone. They were concerned and all watching me. I bravely stood up and smiled standing on almost one foot. They all laughed and went into the trailer. I gimped off to my truck located a short distance away. I got my rig off and in the back it went. I drove the 30 miles home with an excruciating pain. I told the emergency room doctor I did it jumping off a roof! Leg turned blue from heal to knee. Took me out for about 2 months. I put on a heck of a show that day. Thank god for motorcycle helmits and jump boots and bags of crushed ice and pain killers. Linsey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
patworks 5 #1058 January 18, 2010 Scary Old Wind Days leave scars -- With a flat 28' USAF main winds of over about 12 MPH were dangerous. 15+ was very dangerous. You'd be backing up at that speed and lands were heels-to-head. No chance for a PLF. To add to the excitement, get caught in really high winds and sometimes the canopy would "breathe" & close up on descent. No Joy. With a hot modification like a 7-gore "TUE" mod itself took away a lot of the back side of the parachute. The result was good for perhaps a 5-7 MPH forward speed in light winds. In high winds, the canopy would squid closed about every 200' drop you fast; then reopen only to close again. Horror-show Scary, you are backing up like a bandit and your canopy drops you like a yo-yo on a string. The visuals give big fright, high pucker, and a strong-sick wiish to be anywhere else. Heavy Fear sits on you hard. You have about a 60-40 chance in favor of a soft landing. If you are lucky you'd land just after it reopened. With bad luck you'd fall about 20' and break/ sprain/ bruise stuff. You'd be crippled for weeks-months. Ouch. No fun. Bad memories. Heavy flinch-reflex. Thrill ride Cool tip: If you'd like to simulate one of these horror landings just get into a sturdy child's swing. Make it go! Make the swings huge. Get up as high as you possibly can. Fun. Now, at the apex of your next swing, look over your shoulder at the ground rushing up...... EEEEeKkkk!!! WOW!.... That's how it looks + feels. Still scares the holy shit out of me 48+ years later…Damn. Hurts to think about it now.Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
htrammel 0 #1059 January 18, 2010 I remember sitting in the back of Lucaya Air next to Bird. It was a boogie in Palatka and the winds were HOWLING. As we broke ground I mentioned that it might be too breezy for some reserves (many still had round reserves then). Bird looks me in the eye and says, "Hell, it's too windy for our mains." I was jumping borrowed gear and a camera. You could see my shadow backing up as I landed on the taxiway. The sound of my flip-flops trying to keep up as I ran with the canopy got faster and faster. Finally, on the video you can hear me say "Sorry dude." as I chopped the main. St Pat's Boogie if I recall. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybill 22 #1060 January 19, 2010 Hi Guys, High winds? what else is new!! "Old Elsinore" about '78 or '79, have to dig thru the logs to confirm the date, just another RW load major winds from the lake got open out towards Rome hill with a slider hang up on my old Viking Superlite!! Got under my 26' NAVCON with my Waters 4-line release and the winds were blowing me past the DZ towards the High School!! Later I heard that people at the DZ were yelling about the winds and "the malfunction-reserve out up there!!" Leo Orlowski comes running out of manifest yelling who is it?? Joanie Williams says,"It's Bill Deli." They say Leo just shook his hands and said,"Ah he can handle it!" and went back inside!! MEANWHILE up in the sky I'm wondering if I'll need a radio to get into Palm Springs!! Well, I found a space in somebody's back yard and got down OK over by the Highschool and Gypsy Dave and "Tootch" showed up seconds later to give me a ride back!! No broken bones but that was the longest 26'NAVCON cross-country fron 2 grand I ever did!!SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JDutton 0 #1061 January 19, 2010 Littleton, CO, 1974-75. The wind was around 5 mph when we took off. We had very diligent ground crews who would not hesitate to pop a smoke canister if the winds got too high. It was very nice of them to pop it just AFTER we left the plane at 7500'. After opening, I looked straight down between my feet to see a fast moving stream of smoke hugging the ground. We were planning to land at the airport instead of the DZ, which meant that instead of a large open area, I was backing into an area containing a river surrounded by large oak trees. As I got low, I realized that I was backing straight toward a BIG tree. Feeling somewhat desperate, I made a quick 180, sailed over the tree, clearing it by what seemed like just a few feet, and hooked back around, straight over the river. The tree blocked the wind and I landed gently in knee deep water about 50' from the tree. The worst part was that I had to lug the waterlogged (borrowed) PC about 3/4 of a mile back to the airport. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Niki1 1 #1062 January 20, 2010 The visuals give big fright, high pucker, and a strong-sick wiish to be anywhere else. Heavy Fear sits on you hard. Quote "It's better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you down here." Goes along with: "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." And like someones signature line here: "Live and learn,,, if ya live."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? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites jonstark 8 #1063 March 3, 2010 I heard a story, second hand, of a jumper laying in bed during that magic hour of the morning when the bed feels soooo good. He was dreaming of skydiving and in the dream he pulled. Opening shock woke him. He had actually been knocked unconscious during a big-way attempt funnel and saved himself in that dream state by pulling for real. (pre-Cypres) jon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites lapster 0 #1064 March 9, 2010 ...it was a Dornier....dated a lady who was on the plane...great story, great lady still miss her and she still lives in Mass. and I in Texas. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites mwabd1 0 #1065 April 6, 2010 This thread deserves a shameless bump back to the top...........maybe that will jog some memories!.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites airtwardo 7 #1066 April 7, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N--qHBEOEY8&feature=related ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites howardwhite 6 #1067 April 7, 2010 Quote...it was a Dornier....dated a lady who was on the plane...great story, great lady still miss her and she still lives in Mass. and I in Texas. Well, actually there was a Beech AND a Dornier. I think the statue of limitations is in place. (I was on the Dornier.) HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites danchapman 0 #1068 April 7, 2010 OK, this goes back to '63 jumping open team accuracy competition, MEPA meet in NJ. We put together a team of 'B' license holders my brother, Paul Caprone, and myself and we are all jumping cheapos. The idea was to all go out at about 3k, and open sequentially, 2800, 2400 and 2000, for seperation. The lowest guy should be the heaviest, greatest sink rate and the highest guy the lightest, lowest sink rate, so there is no crowding when it comes time to hit the pea gravel. Sounded good in theory. We bail out and opened, proper stagger. Then its just keeping an eye on the disc, the wind sock and the glide angle. If the glide angle opens, run, if it steepen, hold. Set up to run on final and hook into the disc the last 30-50 feet. I am middle man and turn to run in for final approach and all of a sudden I'm looking at the low mans canopy, I pass below it but above him and his canopy 'steals the air' from my canopy. I plummet by him, we both have the 'Oh Shit' look in our eyes. He landed in the peas, as did I but hard so my chin contacted my instrument panel (front mounted reserve) and opened up my chin, nicely right across the edge of the sheet metal instrument housing. Larry Heasom's gal, a beautiful, sultry, dark eyed brunet was also a nurse, and managed to tape me up for the second jump. It seemed the more she fussed over me, the more attention I needed. We ended up second to Lenny Potts team. I never did get to see Larry's gal for my follow up, check-up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites hwt 0 #1069 April 9, 2010 The date was 2/2/80 and i was jumping at Pope Valley California and on opening, my Strato Cloud had 3 - 4 cells inflated on one side which put me in a fast spinning malfunction .I pulled my cut-away handle and to my shock it didn't cut-away but made me spin even faster, as only one side cut away. I tugged at the remaining riser in my left hand and reached for my hook knife in my right and checked my altitude at the same time. luckily after 2-3 tugs the remaining riser cut-away so i could open my lo-po reserve . The release system was called the myers system ( for those of you that remember ). I soon after switched over to the three ring. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites mwabd1 0 #1070 May 6, 2010 I must bump until Airwarto posts another Captain story! .......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Jumpah 0 #1071 June 2, 2010 Quote I must bump until Airwarto posts another Captain story! Captain! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites tharv17 0 #1072 June 2, 2010 Isn't it the Kaptain? I would look through the thread to confirm but that would make me not get any work done. Either way lets hear some more! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites skybill 22 #1073 July 4, 2010 Hi Tharv and everybody else, Tomorrow is the 4th of July!! In '75 my at the time girl friend Chris and I got to go to the Colorado River at Parker AZ for a weekend of fun, jumping (ground and water)and sun!! Scary? well looking back on the weekend, the worst injury was some guy busting an ankle landing a stratorag on the parking apron. It was really a fun time, Don Hansen organized it, got a Beech 18 "H" model from an Air Mail Pilot from Bakersfield named Leo Pike. That was the hottest Beech 18 I ever jumped!! Think I posted about this mini boogie elsewhere but the "Scary Part" is remembering now that it was "35 years Ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Seems like yesaterday and now when we look at those old snap shots from back then, how young we looked!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites RonD1120 58 #1074 July 8, 2010 QuoteI was just wondering if anyone had a scary jump story from way back when? Steve1 From 1963 to 2006 I experienced 39 malfunctions resulting in 14 reserve depolyments. None of those were scary at the time. They were simply fascinating jumps. My only scary jump story is the plane ride on my 10th jump for a 5 second delay. I was so scared I almost wet my jumpsuit. I wanted to cry but choked back the tears. It was the delayed stress of experiencing a streamer on my 8th jump. I used to teach students, at some point you will reach the maximum point on your fear curve.Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites airtwardo 7 #1075 July 8, 2010 ...at some point you will reach the maximum point on your fear curve. Well at least I got THAT goin' for me! I just hope I reach that point pretty soon Ron, I dunno if I can GO another 30 years scared shit-less! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Prev 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Next Page 43 of 62 Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. 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jonstark 8 #1063 March 3, 2010 I heard a story, second hand, of a jumper laying in bed during that magic hour of the morning when the bed feels soooo good. He was dreaming of skydiving and in the dream he pulled. Opening shock woke him. He had actually been knocked unconscious during a big-way attempt funnel and saved himself in that dream state by pulling for real. (pre-Cypres) jon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lapster 0 #1064 March 9, 2010 ...it was a Dornier....dated a lady who was on the plane...great story, great lady still miss her and she still lives in Mass. and I in Texas. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mwabd1 0 #1065 April 6, 2010 This thread deserves a shameless bump back to the top...........maybe that will jog some memories!.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #1066 April 7, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N--qHBEOEY8&feature=related ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
howardwhite 6 #1067 April 7, 2010 Quote...it was a Dornier....dated a lady who was on the plane...great story, great lady still miss her and she still lives in Mass. and I in Texas. Well, actually there was a Beech AND a Dornier. I think the statue of limitations is in place. (I was on the Dornier.) HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danchapman 0 #1068 April 7, 2010 OK, this goes back to '63 jumping open team accuracy competition, MEPA meet in NJ. We put together a team of 'B' license holders my brother, Paul Caprone, and myself and we are all jumping cheapos. The idea was to all go out at about 3k, and open sequentially, 2800, 2400 and 2000, for seperation. The lowest guy should be the heaviest, greatest sink rate and the highest guy the lightest, lowest sink rate, so there is no crowding when it comes time to hit the pea gravel. Sounded good in theory. We bail out and opened, proper stagger. Then its just keeping an eye on the disc, the wind sock and the glide angle. If the glide angle opens, run, if it steepen, hold. Set up to run on final and hook into the disc the last 30-50 feet. I am middle man and turn to run in for final approach and all of a sudden I'm looking at the low mans canopy, I pass below it but above him and his canopy 'steals the air' from my canopy. I plummet by him, we both have the 'Oh Shit' look in our eyes. He landed in the peas, as did I but hard so my chin contacted my instrument panel (front mounted reserve) and opened up my chin, nicely right across the edge of the sheet metal instrument housing. Larry Heasom's gal, a beautiful, sultry, dark eyed brunet was also a nurse, and managed to tape me up for the second jump. It seemed the more she fussed over me, the more attention I needed. We ended up second to Lenny Potts team. I never did get to see Larry's gal for my follow up, check-up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hwt 0 #1069 April 9, 2010 The date was 2/2/80 and i was jumping at Pope Valley California and on opening, my Strato Cloud had 3 - 4 cells inflated on one side which put me in a fast spinning malfunction .I pulled my cut-away handle and to my shock it didn't cut-away but made me spin even faster, as only one side cut away. I tugged at the remaining riser in my left hand and reached for my hook knife in my right and checked my altitude at the same time. luckily after 2-3 tugs the remaining riser cut-away so i could open my lo-po reserve . The release system was called the myers system ( for those of you that remember ). I soon after switched over to the three ring. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mwabd1 0 #1070 May 6, 2010 I must bump until Airwarto posts another Captain story! .......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumpah 0 #1071 June 2, 2010 Quote I must bump until Airwarto posts another Captain story! Captain! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tharv17 0 #1072 June 2, 2010 Isn't it the Kaptain? I would look through the thread to confirm but that would make me not get any work done. Either way lets hear some more! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybill 22 #1073 July 4, 2010 Hi Tharv and everybody else, Tomorrow is the 4th of July!! In '75 my at the time girl friend Chris and I got to go to the Colorado River at Parker AZ for a weekend of fun, jumping (ground and water)and sun!! Scary? well looking back on the weekend, the worst injury was some guy busting an ankle landing a stratorag on the parking apron. It was really a fun time, Don Hansen organized it, got a Beech 18 "H" model from an Air Mail Pilot from Bakersfield named Leo Pike. That was the hottest Beech 18 I ever jumped!! Think I posted about this mini boogie elsewhere but the "Scary Part" is remembering now that it was "35 years Ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Seems like yesaterday and now when we look at those old snap shots from back then, how young we looked!! SCR-2034, SCS-680 III%, Deli-out Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RonD1120 58 #1074 July 8, 2010 QuoteI was just wondering if anyone had a scary jump story from way back when? Steve1 From 1963 to 2006 I experienced 39 malfunctions resulting in 14 reserve depolyments. None of those were scary at the time. They were simply fascinating jumps. My only scary jump story is the plane ride on my 10th jump for a 5 second delay. I was so scared I almost wet my jumpsuit. I wanted to cry but choked back the tears. It was the delayed stress of experiencing a streamer on my 8th jump. I used to teach students, at some point you will reach the maximum point on your fear curve.Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #1075 July 8, 2010 ...at some point you will reach the maximum point on your fear curve. Well at least I got THAT goin' for me! I just hope I reach that point pretty soon Ron, I dunno if I can GO another 30 years scared shit-less! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites