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gary0302

1977 Easter Meet at Z-Hills, last 40-way attempt

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Is there anyone out there that participated in the last 40-way attempt that took place at the 1977 Easter Meet at Z-Hills? I am particularly looking for anyone that exited the Lockheed Lodestar, which was the trail plane for that particular attempt. This jump took place at sunset on that Sunday afternoon, and was billed as a world record attempt. Something unique happened on this jump, and I would be interested in getting someone else's perspective. Thanks.
Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

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I can't be positive, but I was on the first 40 round attempt about that time. We had made the first 50 way and they took the "best" 40 people from it. Turned into a giant cluster fuck. It was like everyone took there brain out, stepped on it and then jumped out the door.
U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

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gary0302

Is there anyone out there that participated in the last 40-way attempt that took place at the 1977 Easter Meet at Z-Hills? I am particularly looking for anyone that exited the Lockheed Lodestar, which was the trail plane for that particular attempt. This jump took place at sunset on that Sunday afternoon, and was billed as a world record attempt. Something unique happened on this jump, and I would be interested in getting someone else's perspective. Thanks.




I'll bite.

What happened?
Propblast

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Maybe those really were flashing UFO's with lizards flying them...

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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I was hoping to get this point of view from another perspective, but this is what happened from my end:

Before leaving for Z-Hills for my very first large boogie of this kind, I only had 271 jumps, with a successful 5 way round being the largest load I had ever been on. All of my jumps beforehand had either been out of a Cessna 172, 180, 182, or 207. So, my buddies and I got to Z-Hills to experience a world that we had only read about in Parachutist magazine. At the time I was jumping a 28’ 7TU that had been shortlined and gutted, which I was stuffing in a Jumpshack SST. For all practical purposes, our group from NC was in absolute heaven and we soaked up every minute of it. I ended up making a total of 9 jumps that weekend, with the very first one building to 8 skydivers; hell yes baby!

The weekend was just about over, and the group that was trying to build a 40-way box decided to make one final attempt before the sun set and the meet was over. It was announced that there need to be more skydivers needed to fill the DC-3 before takeoff, so our group of 9 jumped on board with another smaller group. The DC-3 was to be in the lead, with the Lodestar as trail aircraft.

Obviously, being in the same plane with what I knew to be some of the world’s finest skydivers was pretty overwhelming, but our group tried to keep a low profile to the best of our abilities. I did remember one comment; “do the guys in the Lodestar know that we are making 2 passes before our exit?” Others in their group just blew it off and continued to focus on the task at hand.

Each group had its own separate pass; our group of 9 exiting second. Once our jump run started and knowing that this would be my last jump out of a big plane for quite some time, I tried my best to concentrate on what we had planned. I can’t specifically remember what sequence of formations we had hoped to accomplish, but it started with a 9 way round. Our exit was relatively good and our round began to build one by one.

The next thing I knew, the sky was filled with people! The jumpers in the Lodestar apparently had been misinformed, and they thought that our pass contained their group. I can’t know for sure what was actually going through their minds at that moment, but I can imagine that they were highly pissed. But, skydivers do what they do; they make formations larger. Our original 9 way round started growing bigger and bigger, and bigger.

At one point, the round started to waffle, and just after a grip was dropped, another one on the other side broke as well, and before I knew it, each group had closed the gaps and created 2 separate rounds. It goes without saying that I was so stoked that I felt like I was in a dream. But then, reality set in; it was breakoff time and I needed to track my butt off in order to make sure I was clear. I remember turning towards the city of Zephyrhills and tracking as hard as I could at least down to 2000’ or so, hoping for the best.

After landing, our group had to discreetly celebrate, because the other jumpers were extremely unhappy; both those in the Lodestar and DC-3. Arguments were still taking place a little later when we went to the main building for the last time for that weekend. Too bad for them; very, very cool for us. It wasn’t until I got back to NC that it dawned on me that I could have registered for my SCR that weekend, but oh well; win some lose some.
Gary David Holbrook on Facebook/YouTube, D-5857, SCS 3657, NSCR 1219, Former S/L Instructor, Former Wizards 4-way RW, Former SE Conference Judge

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What a cool story ! A bunch of us were down from Seneca Falls, NY and it was our first bigtime boogie with big planes too. I had about 110 jumps at the time.
All I really remember about Easter Sunday is that it was very windy and not much was going up. We did watch from the ground as Exitus, Slots, and The Herd made a 30 Way Tri Wedge, broke grips, rotated the wedges and redocked them. It was the most awesome thing I'd ever seen. But the winds were still blowing, so we broke camp and headed off to Disney World.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

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