Debbie (Debra) Scadding 07/81

[thora47 0]

Someone recommended that I post my request here... so, here goes:

I'm looking for anyone who knew and/or jumped with my aunt Debbie (Debra) Scadding. She died in a plane crash in July of 1981 (a plane she had no intention of jumping out of, sadly). I know her to have spent a lot of time in Arizona and Alaska and I have heard from someone here that Coolige may have been her home DZ and she jumped in So Cal too.

I never knew her, but she left a legacy in her family and I grew up admiring photos of her in formations and on the ground... maybe with some of you?
I've always wanted to sky dive and plan to finally do a tandem jump this summer here in Minneapolis (which is where I live). Anything you can share with me about my aunt will make my experience infinitely more special for me.

Debbie would have brought me on my first jump herself had she not passed.

Blue Skies...

[skyjumpenfool 2]

I don't remember the name, but I live here in Minneapolis and I was jumping in those days. Come on out to Skydive Twin Cities. There are some old timers here that may have crossed paths with her. Can you give us a little more background??

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[thora47 0]

Thanks for the response!

We are actually planning on going out to Skydive Twin Cities. We're looking at June 5th right now.

I would be happy to give more background, but I have no idea what is relevant.

At the suggestion of someone here who did jump with her from time to time, I've asked my mom to find out exactly what she has left of Debbie's, namely to see if there is a logbook. I'm also going to see if I can get my hands on some of the photos of Debbie and will post them up here if I can.

Here's a link to her obituary in the Anchorage Daily News:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1828&dat=19810704&id=uiAuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YacEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2512,1015473

Gary Hannah was on the plane with her - I'm not sure about anyone else.

Again, thank you!

[Jim_Hooper 4]

I believe they had just taken off in N111ST, over-grossed with a load of fish, when they lost an engine. Rising terrain forced a turn that led to a stall. Greg Wirth was the third person on board.

They and the C-47 had spent the previous year or two at Z'hills.

Hoop

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

This wasn't Sky Train that crashed, and the pilot's nickname was "Goofy.?" Where during the summers he would fly loads at Osceola Wisonsin?

[thora47 0]

Yeah - I had been told the plane was over with fish...
I didn't say that initially as I wasn't sure the etiquette nor the certainty with which that was relayed to me.

Thank you for the details.

[3331 113]

I knew your Aunt Debbie very well from Skydiving in Coolidge Arizona and Flagstaff. We also jumped together in California. She was a good friend. Last time I saw her was at a New Years Eve party in Deland Florida. She has many friends on this site and Facebook.

You should scan and post those pictures.

I Jumped with the guys who invented Skydiving.

[Jim_Hooper 4]

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This wasn't Sky Train that crashed, and the pilot's nickname was "Goofy.?" Where during the summers he would fly loads at Osceola Wisonsin?

You may be thinking of another crash.

I well remember hearing the news that Sky Train crashed in the Aleutians, Gary Hannah was flying, his girlfriend Debbie and Greg Wirth were on board. Might ask Mark Borghorst, who was a close friend of Hannah.

Hoop

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

I think this is the same crash. Everyone died. Sky Train would fly for the North Central Conference in 1980, or 81? at Osceola Wisconsin. Goofy flew for the jumpers for awhile, and I believe started to fly/ owned Sky Train, and had this accident.

Pete

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Hi Pete, That's the plane we jumped out of the time Hernick tracked thru the middle of a five way round. I think you were on that load. It was the NCC Boogie I believe. I can check my jump logs, in those days I acually logged my jumps.

OP.... See you in Baldwin in June!

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[thora47 0]

Steve, Thanks for the kind words about Debbie.

My mom, Nancy (Debbie's sister), and I spoke briefly yesterday and I let her know that I had reached out on this forum; she was very excited to hear about the responses thus far.
She said that Debbie's friends were good people and she remembers several.

My mom is visiting me in a couple of weeks and will bring me the photos of Debbie, which I will post.
I'm excited to see what we come up with.

Evidently Debbie survived a bounce (at which point my mom said she honestly thought this woman might live forever) which was written up in a magazine. Does anyone happen to have further details of that? Maybe approx. when it happened and if it was "Skydiving" magazine?

Skyjumpenfool, I canNOT WAIT to see you in June!!!

[skybill 19]

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Steve, Thanks for the kind words about Debbie.

My mom, Nancy (Debbie's sister), and I spoke briefly yesterday and I let her know that I had reached out on this forum; she was very excited to hear about the responses thus far.
She said that Debbie's friends were good people and she remembers several.

My mom is visiting me in a couple of weeks and will bring me the photos of Debbie, which I will post.
I'm excited to see what we come up with.

Evidently Debbie survived a bounce (at which point my mom said she honestly thought this woman might live forever) which was written up in a magazine. Does anyone happen to have further details of that? Maybe approx. when it happened and if it was "Skydiving" magazine?

Skyjumpenfool, I canNOT WAIT to see you in June!!!

Hi Thora,
I remember the "incident!" I was at the packing tables at Old Elsinore a lot of yelling and screaming, people pointintg out to the DZ, someone (Debbie) under a violently spinning main canopy!! By the time I saw what was happening, Debbie had already ID'ed the malfunction and initiated cutaway proceedures with only one side releasing! Had it not been for the slider being down, the canopy would have gone into a full tilt steamer! Although the spinning of the canopy kept the verticle speed down, she still hit "HARD!!" I don't even remember if she pulled her reserve, anyway I think she did! "Get something out!!" The word from the DZ came back, she's banged up but she's alive!!! After we got Debbie back to the hanger and although beat up from the landing she was going to be OK, the "Big Question?? "What the He2xL Happened??" Investigating the rig, one of the canopy releases, was installed "WRONG!!" (I don't know about the other??) Anyway, the malfunction of the release boiled down to attention to the details of how the release works and was put together!! I could show you on an actual piece of the equipment how this happened but describing it in print, it will get lost in translation. Bottom line, Debbie lived and Tapewells got raked over the coals!! Knowledge is power, pay attention to details. Anybody want more info on this particular Tapewell mal, I'm sure we can get a bunch of Old Fart Riggers to revive this now obsolete piece of equipment and how it malfunctioned!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

I was on the ground when Hernick and you guys did this jump. I was still a newby blasting through formations. I also remember when Hernick had a mid-air on deployment at the Osceola DZ, and did a cut-away. GT Bogut gave him some crap about how shake'n up he was and Hernick blasted him with a bunch of F... Y..!

Good times!

Pete

[thora47 0]

Wow, Bill!!
Thanks for the story.

I think it's pretty incredible the way you guys remember details.

It sounds like I will likely not be able to get my hands on Debbie's logbook - but the photos will be here and posted by the end of the month.

[thora47 0]

Wow. I thought this would be a good project to start with a beer after work. Three Four beers later and I'm resizing photos of photos ad infinitum. I had to take photos of the photos as the scanned copies were absolute crap (can I say that here?).

If anyone wants to see the full-size photos (particularly of the group shot), please let me know - I'm happy to send them to you via email. The quality is far superior at their original 4 MB size.

Photo 1: Debbie and Gary Hannah and unknown.

Photo 2: Unknown DZ... Someone help me with this one, please! I don't suppose it still sits there, with that message on the roof?

Photo 3: Debbie must have been behind the camera here? My Grandmother Shirley, and Aunt Patty are on the left in the back row.

Photo 4: "Little Debbie" That's a cockpit, right?

Photo 5: A formation photo. I have a few of these - but to me the subjects are completely indiscernible from one another. Let me know if you'd like more of the photos - I'll email them all to you.

My sister and I are going to plan a trip out to make a tandem jump... I'm thinking we'll have to visit Granny's Closet in Flagstaff....
If Debbie were alive today, where would she have her beer(s) at night??

You guys have been wonderful. Thank you for your time and stories. Debbie truly is lost but not forgotten. My mom logged on to my computer and read the threads thus far and was excited to see memories of her dear sister.

Blue Skies.
-Thora

[thora47 0]

For future reference, three beers is my limit for intelligent internet activity.
Here's photo 5 - a formation.

Cheers!

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

The unknown dz is Coolidge, AZ, aka, Goulidge. The locals their got pissed at the skydivers for that piece of art on the roof.

The driveway into the dz has a small sign at the side of the road saying, "Skydivers go in here," with an arrow pointing into the enterance. That sign is now gone too.

My friend has a picture of the club house roof at the late Osceola, Wis DZ saying, "Goofy Lives." This, I believe refers to Gary Hannah, I think.

Gary Hannah, or Greg Wirth, use to jump at Osceola and fly jumpers as well. This was before my time, but I remember the late JQ, and the other club members would always talk about these guys after their crash.

Pete

[skybill 19]

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For future reference, three beers is my limit for intelligent internet activity.
Here's photo 5 - a formation.

Cheers!

Hi Thora,
Thanks for the photos!! In the groupshot 3rd photo some of the people from LtoR I think that's Jeff Barbanni (dark suit) then Tom Pirus over a few more is Irv Callahan and The prominent guy standing it the white suit is Dan Peters then over a few more is Mike "Rufus" Raible. I have some photos from that time frame and looking at them now,"How young we were!!!"

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[kimemerson 7]

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19810701-1

[Jim_Hooper 4]

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http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19810701-1

Thanks for confirming that the memory banks are functioning. Perhaps the reason Gary was confident in taking off over-grossed was that N111ST had 1830-94s (same as Mr Douglas), which were rated at 1350hp, rather than the 1200hp of the standard 1830-92s. And he might still have made it if he hadn't been forced to turn into the dead engine because of the rising terrain ahead and to the right. But the extra 4,000lbs he allowed on board played a major part in killing everyone.

[33zulu 22]

<<< ...the prominent guy standing it the white suit is Dan Peters.... >>>


I believe the one behind Dan is Zing.

Great shot, btw. Thanks for posting it, Thora.

[kimemerson 7]

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the scanned copies were absolute crap (can I say that here?).

Fuck, yeah. And then some.

[thora47 0]

Thank you all for your responses.
I was a bit overwhelmed - sorry it's taken me so long to acknowledge them.

So, thank you all again for humoring me in my quest for information about Debbie. Your words have been greatly appreciated.

[skybill 19]

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Thank you all for your responses.
I was a bit overwhelmed - sorry it's taken me so long to acknowledge them.

So, thank you all again for humoring me in my quest for information about Debbie. Your words have been greatly appreciated.

Hi Thora,

"You're Home!"

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[starlene1125 0]

Hi Thora! My name is Amber Bertschman and Debbie Scadding was my Aunt. Although she passed away before I was born her brother Fred Scadding was my biological father. I never actually knew him but my half-sister Melanie was in his life until she was 7 years old and my grandmother Barbara who is still alive was Fred and Debbie's step-mom. I know that your Mom Nancy raised Fred until he went to live with grandma and grandpa. It would be really great to speak with you. I know just about nothing regarding my biological family and anything would be great. Thank you.

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