Anyone hear about the camera-man who jumps without gear?

[medusa 0]

Several times I have heard the story of a camera-man who was filming a 4-way RW team.
The 4-way RW were waiting for him on the plane, he got on the air plane holding his gear in his hand “he was supposed to gear up on the plane”.
The airplane arrived to the desired altitude and the 4-way team got in the door ready to jump, the camera-man was focused on doing his job.
The 4-way team jumped off the plane, followed by their camera-man, everything went smooth. The 4-way team broke off and deployed. But when the camera-man tried to deploy he couldn’t because he had jumped with no gear!
He fell all the way to his death!

Supposedly, you can see his video and you can see him moving around trying to find his gear while he’s still on free fall!

I believe this is a myth, because it is just too hard for me to think that such an experienced sky diver like a camera-man can make such a stupid mistake, and without anyone noticing!

Anyway, with my minimal experience as a skydiver, I have seen people gearing up in the plane minutes before jumping. And what is ironic is that any type of distraction such as filming and being responsible for a camera, it is very likely that something like that might happen.

I also think that every body in an airplane is responsible not only for their own gear check, but also to check their fellow skydivers as well.

Anyway, regardless of your level of experience as skydivers I believe that everybody has to be ready even before walking out of the hangar, no matter if you risk missing your plane.

any info will be welcome

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[bigway 4]

i belive it to be a myth as my jumpmaster said this to me when i was a student on my first day and have heard many wuffos ask me this before.
but the guy was not on a 4-way, i think he was an aff indtructor or something.......
who's knows, could be true, i am interested in finding out how many things my jumpmaster said to me just to make me keep my head screwed on.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[quade 3]

Absolutely happened at least once. More than once if I'm not mistaken but I have documentation from the late 70s early 80s in the form of an accident report of it happening at least once.

I'll have to find it, scan it and put it on line someday.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bigway 4]

WOW....what can you say to that?

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[murrays 0]

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Absolutely happened at least once. More than once if I'm not mistaken but I have documentation from the late 70s early 80s in the form of an accident report of it happening at least once.

I'll have to find it, scan it and put it on line someday.

It's not a myth. It happened in 1987 in North Carolina. The cameraman was videoing a tandem. Here's a thread about it.

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

[medusa 0]

I think that in order to happened something like this the person involve has to be the last one living the plane other ways some one will notice it!
So if you are saying that was an AFF ins, it could be possible!

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[medusa 0]

I read all I could about it, and is truth it was a tandem cameraman name Ivan Lester McGuire 35 years old.

there is a video about it, but there is nothing to learn frome it the only thing you can see is the pective of a man falling to his death.

you can learn frome this incident with out looking at a video. is easy just "GEAR UP BEFORE BORDING!!!

thats what the teach me at my DZ

here is the link for the news http://www.aarrgghh.com/no_way/noChute.htm[url]

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[ltdiver 3]

True story.

Ivan Lester McGuire


And a forum that includes discussion on this fatality. Scroll down to read the entry from Ivan's co-worker. This is someone who knew Ivan and had a possible inside view of what happened that day. "The gentlemen you are referring to was a co-worker in North Carolina and had the misfortune of working the night shift, 12:00 PM - 07:00 AM...."

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[BlindBrick 0]

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I think that in order to happened something like this the person involve has to be the last one living the plane other ways some one will notice it!

I knew a guy renting student gear who was first out and no one noticed the bright red static line fastened across the back of his blue and gray rig.

-Blind

"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

[tbrown 26]

Another good reason for gear checks before boarding and before exit. We used to routinely do gear checks before jump run.

And once, we actually did catch a camera jumper with no rig. We asked him where his rig was and he said, "What do you mean where's my....oh holy shit !" He took the plane back down. This really happened, in So. Cal, back in '79. I completely believe the guy in NC would've bounced, obviously nobody gave him a gear check.

So if you don't trust a stranger to "fuck with your gear" in the plane, then trust one friend who you're jumping with. Check each other's gear, just the two of you. Show each other how to open and close the flaps on your rigs. Do it.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[b1jercat 0]

They showed the video on tv years ago. In the end all you see is the camera tumbling. sad day

blues

jerry

[freakflyer9999 1]

I was sitting in the boarding area waiting on the plane with the rest of the load. We had already dirt dived and were just waiting. One of the girls on the dive with me was sitting next to me without her rig on, so I reached over, patted her on the back and said "Did you forget something?". She had gotten so involved in the dirt dive and everything else that she forgot to go back to the hangar to get her rig. It shook her up quite a bit that she was ready to get on the plane without her rig. We do get very complacent about this sport sometimes. The door opens and it seems natural to get out without giving it another thought. Unfortunately, complacency kills in this sport.

[VisionAir 0]

Quote

Quote

I think that in order to happened something like this the person involve has to be the last one living the plane other ways some one will notice it!

I knew a guy renting student gear who was first out and no one noticed the bright red static line fastened across the back of his blue and gray rig.

-Blind

Not to steal the thread but....
He was not first out...I was...He had his back to the pilot, (C-182) which is why no one noticed the static line, and he was last out.

Huh?!? What cloud?!? Oh that!!! That's just Industrial Haze
Alex M.

[toreandomuerte 0]

ok all you geezers out there... this is a very heart warming thread of group therapy comfort. ughhhhhhhhh Forget that; show me the video!!! I won't believe a thing until I see it.. i don't care, I'm a voyeuristic pig. Show me!!

[medusa 0]

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ok all you geezers out there... this is a very heart warming thread of group therapy comfort. ughhhhhhhhh Forget that; show me the video!!! I won't believe a thing until I see it.. i don't care, I'm a voyeuristic pig. Show me!!

sick buster!!
voyeuristic pig!!
you should be kick out!!!!!!!

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[toreandomuerte 0]

Hey, seeing is believing.. SHOW ME, and I'll discuss it. You don't like it, go back to the girl scouts Medusa!

[medusa 0]

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Hey, seeing is believing.. SHOW ME, and I'll discuss it. You don't like it, go back to the girl scouts Medusa!

are you retard ore something??
there is nothing to disscuss in this video!
nothing can be learn by waching it!
***Re: [Hazarrd] crash of a videoman:legend or...? [In reply to] Quote | Reply

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In Reply To
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Where can I get this video from??

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your request to see footage of a mans last seconds alive, footage which holds no lesson to be learned, which has been described in minute detail, borders on pornographic and i personally take offense. go rent faces of death or something.

There is nothing that can be learned from watching this video.

It is not a mal that must be looked at.
It is not a procedure issue that needs to be studied.
It is not a low turn showing pilot error.
***

the only think for sure is that you are a voyeuristic pig.

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[sangiro 4]

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are you retard ore something??
there is nothing to disscuss in this video!
nothing can be learn by waching it!

You need to calm down please. This is your one and only warning about personal attacks on these forums. Read the rules. If you go down this path again you'll loose your posting privileges.

Safe swoops
Sangiro

[skr 1]

>I believe this is a myth, because it is just too hard
>for me to think that such an experienced sky diver like a
>camera-man can make such a stupid mistake, and
>without anyone noticing!

I think this story tells us several things:

1 - People make mistakes.

2 - Skydiving is so intense that people are often so
caught up in their own world that they don't notice
even gross and blatant warning flags.

I see this fairly regularly.

It also tells us:

3 - Compassion for others' humanity is a good thing.

4 - Making regular efforts to upgrade our own awareness
is a good thing.


So far I have survived my stupid mistakes, but they
could easily have gone the other way.

Maybe it's better to be lucky than good :-) :-)


Increasing awareness takes training and regular practice
just like any skill.

Mine goes up and down like a sine wave, but over time
the average has gone up, often prodded by getting the
crap scared out of me at one of the low spots.

Skr

[skybill 18]

Hi Skratch,
Dial up a few posts and read about Lester. Hard to believe he would do something that dumb. Maybe he didn't. Maybe it was intentional. One sure way to kill yourself is to jump out of an airplane sans chute.

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[jimmytavino 16]

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Increasing awareness take training and regular practice

.........reminds me of a parachutist center page photo from many many years ago....

It was basically 2 separate 4 ways..... flying
on the same level,,, and about 8 feet apart from one another...

It was titled,,, "Expanding Awareness" and the neat thing about it was..... All four of the jumpers in One 4 way... were docked together but EVERY one of them had their heads turned so that they could SEE the other 4 way.... while those IN the other 4 way... were "tunnel vision locked" on only the people to whom they were attached....
trust yourself to do more, see more, feel more and appreciate MORE on every skydive that you make.....
You will surprise yourself about all that you otherwise might have missed.......
skydive softly, skydive often, skydive with friends

[medusa 0]

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Hi Skratch,
Dial up a few posts and read about Lester. Hard to believe he would do something that dumb. Maybe he didn't. Maybe it was intentional. One sure way to kill yourself is to jump out of an airplane sans chute.

It could be possible, but rememer that the guy was looking for his gear to deploy!

Medusa

Get Killed or Die Trying!
Patent pending ATFK15456

[airtwardo 6]

A couple of points not brought up..

That was the 2nd time that day the photog 'forgot' his rig,
the first time it was pointed out as he boarded the plane.

He was jumping a video recorder that was larger that what's common today,
the bulk of the unit was in a harness attached to his chest.

Confusion from being tired and having a harness on may have contributed.

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

[hlroux 0]

Hi,
I'm Henri le Roux. Just to put the record straight - around 1994 I saw the video played on the morning news in Cape Town, South Africa. The problem that caused this to happen was two-fold.
1) Some experienced sky-gods tend to smoke it up before a jump. Highly illegal, I know. There is no way I can prove this was the case, but there have been comments by people present at the time this took place.
2) At the time of the incident the video gear was still the bulky Betamax recorders, which was carried BELOW the main, on the jumpers back. The fact that he had all the camera equipment on may have made him unaware that there was something missing. Sort of like a shoe doesn't fit properly and hurts a bit. You wear the shoe for a day and you don't notice the slight pain any more.
Then something else to note - the whole jump was caught on video as seen from the doomed cameraman's viewpoint, meaning the video equipment impacted with him - and survived the extreme deceleration at some 120 miles an hour?
Now here is the rub - all of this could have been faked, including the reported 'sources' that suggested there had been peace pipe activity before the jump. I would suggest you get a hold of the video, look at it yourself, then judge the authenticity. You could try the S.A.B.C. in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. Blue skies!

[mccurley 0]

Henry I don't know where you got your ideas or rumors from. But I don't ever recall anyone saying he was smoking pot. Maybee he was but I don't know that and havn't heard it.
He was tired from working all night and then jumping all day. This was the second time he forgot his rig that day as stated by others in this thread. From the reports I read at the time, which was right after it happened the video was a belly mount rig. I don't know how you could fit one of these things under your back pack.
Any ways I guess the piont is that we should stick to facts on a thread like this rather then rumers and inuendo which do nothing to educate and possibly besmurch the memory of someone who may have alot of friends still involved in this sport.

Live hard and land soft.

Watch my video Fat Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWkEky8GoI