Near Death Experiences

[Sheenster303 0]

Today in my Philosophy class we talked about near death experiences and I got to thinking about skydiving accidents. I was wondering if anyone has ever had a near death experience during a skydiving-related accident.

We could also expand this discussion into whether you've had a near death experience at all. I was wondering what kind of stories people had and if they are at all similar to one another.

My professor discussed what constituted a near death experience and I wanted to see if any of the things he said were realistic.

I'm so funny I crack my head open!

P.M.S. #102

[diablopilot 2]

I nearly died from spewing soda all over my computer when I read about Pammi's hic-up cure, does that count?

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[Blahr 0]

Quote

Today in my Philosophy class we talked about near death experiences and I got to thinking about skydiving accidents. I was wondering if anyone has ever had a near death experience during a skydiving-related accident.

We could also expand this discussion into whether you've had a near death experience at all. I was wondering what kind of stories people had and if they are at all similar to one another.

My professor discussed what constituted a near death experience and I wanted to see if any of the things he said were realistic.

I've been clinically dead (no heartbeat, no breathing)
2 times in my life now. Once for 2 minutes and once for 4 and a half.

I wish I could say that I had one. If I did I dont remember it. First time I was a small child and the second time I had a .36 blood/alcohol level (yes that says .36, I was a chronic alcoholic)

Fact is, I DO believe that god saved me.

[TribalTalon 0]

hmmm.. my closest near death experience was definitely when i started losing control of my car at 160 mph on 290 coming back from austin. Came over a hill and a gust of wind got my car just right and started lifting the front end up and started fish tailing. Man i just knew i was fucked. still dont know how i managed to get out of that, but after swerving through all the lanes and both shoulders, and getting back in control, i went about 30 mph the rest of the way home. hahaha.

[benny 0]

If a vampire had drank your blood, it'd get drunk. damn... nearly choked on a piece of chicken once myself, no not choked my chicken...

Never go to a DZ strip show.

[Gravitymaster 0]

I've actually had several of them.

Once when I was about 18, I was headed to Chicago from Charlottesville, VA. with 3 other people in the car. We were on Rt. 250 which is a very senic 2 lane road that winds thru the mountains of VA and W.V.

I was driving and we were in a hurry because we had a gig in the Chicago area. I was doing about 85 MPH in a 1966 Corvair. As we were coming down a steep incline with the pedal to the metal, we rounded a curve in the road and there, right in front of me, less than 150 ft. was a car stopped trying to make a left turn.

My first reaction was to slam on the brakes, which only caused the Corvair to fish-tail to the left. Quickly realizing this wasn't going to keep us from slamming into the stopped car, I swung the wheel to the right and instinctively slammed my foot down on the accellerator. This caused the car to surge forward and catch traction and then fish-tail to the right. Fighting the wheel I managed to barely squeek us between the stopped car on my left and trees on my right. I couldn't even see the tires on the passenger side of the stopped car as we slid by it on the grass. I don't know what our speed was at this point but I remember feeling this peaceful calm feeling that told me we were going to live and that I was in complete control. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

As soon as we cleared the car, I was able to swerve us back on the road and, giving it a little gas straightened us back out. We drove in complete silence for about 5 minutes. You could almost read the thoughts of everybody in the car as everyone was to terrified to even speak. I finally decided to pull over because I felt we all needed to talk about what had just happened so we could relieve the stress. I told everyone I thought I should probably slow it down a little to which my friends all nodded without speaking. I went inside and bought all my friends a coke and finally somebody just said "You know, I was scared shitless back there". "Me too. I wasn't sure whether we were going to make it" I said.

I have been a very defensive driver since this incident.

[Hooknswoop 19]

Does this count?:

I sat in the elevator, wrapped in a warm steel cage of safety. Suspended by two steel cables certified by some government agency to a minimum performance and strength criteria. They are probably inspected on a yearly basis. A lattice-work door sealed the fourth side. I was coming down from approximately 500 feet. If safety is relative, I was safe. Physically anyway. There was no longer a risk of imminent major injury or death. As I passed the alternatively flashing and steady red lights, they cast eerie shadows on the walls of my sanctuary. The shadows slid down the white-painted walls, pulsating in tune with the flashing lights and steadily slid as I past the steady lights. I sat there, contemplating the dramatic change in my environment. Emotionally, I was still in great danger. I hadn't yet transitioned emotionally to being safe. Physically I could relax, but I still hadn't accepted that I had escaped death's firm grasp.

My calmness only relented to my emotions once. My thoughts turned to my girlfriend. I decided that I should make sure that she knew how I felt about her, just in case. I grabbed the radio, still clipped to my chest strap, to my lips and hit the transmit button. "I don't want to sound all melodramatic here, but if this doesn't work out……..Joe, would you tell Mary,…….. 'I love her?'" Hearing myself say that brought on a surge of emotions. I almost failed to contain them. "Sure buddy, you know I would do that for you." I knew he meant it. I took a couple of deep breaths, cleared my throat, and forced myself to go back to considering my situation and the solution to fixing it.

I exited from the antenna at about 1550 feet, feeling calm and in control, my brand new Ace 240 packed slider up on my back. The exit was clean with just the right amount of rotation. I swept my arms back and extended my legs into a tracking position quickly. My arms not completely swept back to compensate for the higher drag of the baggy pants, just as I had decided beforehand would be the optimum tracking position. As I picked up speed I could feel a head wind pushing me from the front-left side. At the exit point there had been zero wind and Joe had exited 15 minutes earlier from the same exit point. I compensated by raising my left arm and bringing my left leg in a bit. I wasn't getting the speed that had expected and decided to take a longer delay than planned, using the extra fee-fall to get more distance from the structure. The Sidewinder helmet was working very well to keep the wind out of my eyes so they wouldn't tear up. I reached in to pull, felt a slight panic as I fumbled for the handle, but knew I would find it quickly. I threw the pilot chute, glancing over my right shoulder to see it leave. There was the customary surge of adrenaline after throwing the pilot chute and before feeling anything deploy. Then the canopy opened. I didn't look up as was my skydiving habit, a habit that doesn't carry over to BASE jumping well. The canopy felt as if I began a quick right turn and stopped turning after 180-degrees. In reality, it had opened 180-degrees to the left, I discovered after reviewing the video, and the sensation was me untwisting to face the same direction as the canopy. The structure was close, very close. The canopy's speed was much higher than I had expected. I grabbed the toggles and based on my position relative to the structure, began a right turn. I knew I was off-set to the left and there was more room between the guy wires to my right than to my left. I added more right toggle as I was flying towards the structure very quickly. I knew I would miss the structure and wasn't worried. I had visualized the flight path of the canopy relative to the structure and I knew I would clear it. I had a lot of right toggle in and was swung out from under the canopy quite a bit, almost perpendicular. Then I saw the guy wire, directly in front of me and about six feet away. My flight path was going to take me into the guy wire. I had no where to go, no time to decide on a new course of action, much less execute it. I was going to hit the guy wire. There was nothing left to do. I brought the other toggle down to match the first in an effort to miss the guy wire to no avail. Maybe it was a reaction to flare when you are going to hit something, but bring the other toggle down wasn't a conscious decision, I just did it. The guy wire hit my lines just above the risers. I passed within reach of the nose of the canopy as it wrapped around the wire. The nose grabbed the slider and pulled it back up as I slide down the opposite side of the wire. I was sliding down, away from the guy wire and pulling the canopy to the wire and, at the same time, sliding down the wire towards the ground. The canopy wrapped around the cable and the sliding was making a sound similar to running a fingernail down a guitar string. The canopy wrapped around the wire and cinched tight, stopping all movement except for a little bouncing and swaying as I hung there. The slider managed to work free of the nose and drop down the lines and came to rest at the links. I thought there might be a chance that it wouldn't hang up. It might slide off, re-inflate and give me a chance to fly the canopy to the ground but this was not to be. I took a couple rapid deep breaths, then began to take stock of my situation. I tried to swing towards the guy wire, but couldn't get any motion going.
sterile
I realized I was going to die. I accepted my fate with dignity and composure. I wondered exactly how the end would come. Would I slide down the wire, impact with enough force to break my body, slowly bleeding out to a final blackness? Would the canopy give way with just enough left to keep me up-right so that I hit the ground 500 feet below standing up and dying instantly? Would I decide that cutting away and taking that last free-fall was my best option? I didn't know the details, but I knew the final result would be the same. I was going to die. It surprised how easily I accepted my fate. It was only logical and logic is easy for me to accept and understand. I decided I wasn't going to go out like a pathetic, whimpering mass. I would go out in style, my last words some witty joke that made everyone laugh in spite of themselves. My only complaint was that I had to wait for the end to come. I'm not a very patient person and didn't like to be kept waiting, especially if it was inevitable. "Let's get it over with.", I thought.

The situation progressed and I continued to run through possible scenarios that could happen during the rescue attempt Joe had radioed up to me. While hey were busy getting gear together, I created a mental 'box' of which contained things that I didn't want to think about. I would go through a scenario and inject 'what-if's' into it. The 'what-if's' without a solution went into the box. "What if the canopy comes off the wire and re-inflates?" I decided to put the toggles back on the risers so that I could find them quickly if that happened. I decided I would fly towards the road, fly down the road until I ran out of altitude and land on the road, downwind. No turns if possible. "What if the canopy comes off the wire and is in tatters?" In the box that thought goes. "What if the rope over the wire wears through before I get to the structure?" I would fall, with my entire weight on a series of 9-foot bridles lark's-headed together. "Hmm, type IV webbing. That is rated to 1000-pounds. That will not hold if the rope fails." Toss that thought in the box. The box was getting full. I had a lot of time to consider my position.

At one point, just before the sun went down, a BK-117 helicopter (we saw it the next day, it was a life-flight helicopter), flew by, very close to the antenna. I thought for sure it would see me. I decided I would wave cheerfully if it flew up to me, but it flew past without even slowing down. Later, Mike actually suggested an airbag be brought out for me to land on. I explained to him over the radio that there were two guy wires under me, and Joe explained that 1) This wasn't Hollywood, California, and 2) The record high fall was something like 180 feet, I was about 500 feet up. It was good for a laugh though.

On the ground Joe, Arron, and Mike were working frantically to put together enough equipment to rescue me. They went though bags, ripped open packed BASE rigs and removed the bridles, anything and everything they could find. It took a while to rig up everything before they could begin the rescue. Even though they were working quickly, it felt like it was taking a long time. I knew that I could fall at any time and hoped they could get a line to me I time. I was scared.

Now it was dark and a steady wind was blowing. Once they began to lower the line to me, my emotions soared, finally the plan is in motion and might actually work. Something that I could see was happening, something that could lead to my rescue. It also reinforced how exposed I was. I could still fall at any time and the closer to being rescued I got the more antsy I got to clip that carabiner into my swami belt. Only after I clipped into my belt would I be able to relax a little. Then they couldn't get the rope to slide down the wire. It needed weight. So they pulled it back up, forcing me to go back to depending on the canopy not slipping for an indefinite length of time. My emotions plummeted. Rescue was no longer on the way, it was being pulled back in. I radioed up, "Weight the end of the line, use boots, anything." They connected a large flashlight to the end. I had put red taillight tape over the lens of that flashlight earlier in the day. Then they began to lower the line again. It was working. It didn't slide easily and the wind was blowing the type IV 1-inch webbing of the bridles in a wide arc away from the wire. There wasn't enough bridles. They pulled it back up, attached another bridle and lowered it again. The line was now long enough but the flashlight on the end of the rope was about 5 feet above my reach. I visualized myself standing on my slider with my waist even with the end of the rope dangling from the wire. I could easily clip in and work from there. My emotions soared to new heights. This was going to work, I could do this. I radioed up, I'm going to pull myself up and stand on my slider to clip in. "No, don't do that, the canopy may slip" Joe told me over the radio. But salvation was so close at hand. I was willing to take any risk to save myself. I figured I was already lost, so any risk that paid off was worth it. And if it failed, I had lost nothing because I was going to die anyway. There wasn't anything I could to make the situation worse. It was strange, working without a safety net, anything goes. Joe pleaded with me not to attempt it. I finally relented after doing a pull up on my risers. They hauled the line back up the wire and again my emotions plummeted. There was no middle ground. I was either elated that I rescue was imminent or shattered, despairing that rescue would never come. I was becoming emotionally exhausted from the constant skyrocketing and plummeting I was going through. "I'm going to live!" "Nope, I'm going to die…….." I felt like either rescue me or let me die, but quit toying with me. They slid the line back down with a very old and worn piece of cotton rope dangling from the black static line looped over the wire that they had found this rope at the base of the antenna. A scene from the movie "Indiana Jones" came to mind where instead of a rope being lowered to climb out on, they drop a few flags tied together. We had no idea how long it had been there, but obviously a long time. Joe had tied two loops in the rope for me to climb with. They were out of ideas and materials. I was either going to make it to the guy wire with I had on me and what they had given me or I was going to die trying. It felt better to know that it was up to me and the emotional roller coaster ride had come to an end.

I thought to myself, make sure each step is going to work and make sure you don't make a mistake that will prevent final salvation later on. First I had to get locked into the black line. I reached for the cotton rope, taking a couple of swings at it, knowing that if I couldn't reach it all was lost. I caught it on the third swipe for it. Feeling the rope in my hand was very re-assuring, step one of getting my self to the guy wire was complete. I was on my way. I hauled myself up the cotton rope to the black line but couldn't hold the black line above the figure eight knot and couldn't get my waist to the knot in my hands. I put myself in a cradle formed by the risers, slider, and lines of my canopy, which suspended me with my waist about 2 feet from the carabiner that represented life. I clipped the carabiner from my pocket to the black line. "That's step 2." I thought. I rested and thought. I tried and tried to clip the carabiner into my rescue belt, but I couldn't pull myself up far enough and use the other hand to make the clip. I settled back into the cradle and breathing hard, tried to think. "I'll clip into my chest strap.", I decided. I pulled up hard trying to clip the carabiner to my chest strap. I could get my chest strap to within about 3 inches of the carabiner. I struggled, knowing that this simple connection meant the difference between living and dying. I was loading only a few lines on the canopy in my cradled position and feared it might release at any time. I knew that if the canopy came off the wire or just slide down the wire any more I was good as dead. I had to clip in. I decided to loosen the chest strap as much as I could to get more slack. I looked at the one-inch webbing and friction adapter and figured it couldn't be worse than the type IV that was part of the improvised rescue gear. Then I pulled myself up again and barely managed to clip into the carabiner. Step 3 was complete. The chances of falling had been dramatically reduced and I was on my way to being rescued. I hung there, breathing hard, preparing for the next step.

I had my sidewinder with a PC-101 video camera in it (I left it still recording intentionally) and a radio on my chest strap. The cotton rope was hanging below me with the red-taped lens shining on he ground near the building at the base of the antenna. I lay there, breathing hard, trying to relax, knowing that I still had to get up the black static line rope to the wire and I wasn't done then either. I needed Prussiks to get up the black static line. I pulled the sling off of the flashlight, tying the flashlight directly to the cotton rope. I attached the sling, Prussik style to the black line. It wasn't a very long sling and I couldn't find the other sling they had told me they had lowered to me. I later found out that what I though was one sling was actually two that had been larks-headed together. They weren't long enough to make two Prussiks out of though. Then, cringing, I opened the gate to the carabiner I was suspended on and put the sling through the carabiner. Then I re-locked the carabiner. I knew that opening a weighted carabiner was a no-no in climbing, but I had little choice. Then I pulled up the cotton rope, put the flashlight in my helmet and began to forma Prussik out of the cotton rope. I had to remove the knots Joe had tied for me and use my Leatherman from my pocket to cut the rope. There was one very old overhand knot that I had to work around. I was very careful not to drop either the rope or my Leatherman. It was dark, the wind was blowing and Arron was shining his headlamp at me so I had light to work with. There was a mess of gear in front of me. Sometime, while rigging the Prussiks, my radio fell off my chest strap. (I later found it, amazingly still working). I finally managed to tie the cotton rope into a Prussik and get it on the black line. Then I tested them. They both slipped down the black line when I loaded them. They wouldn't work! I couldn't get up the black rope to the guy wire. "OK, think." I remembered that I had read in a climbing book that Prussiks could be wrapped more around the rope to increase their grip. I wrapped both Prussiks a third time, carefully dressing them. Working over my head so much was tiring my arms. I knew I was going to need my arms to go up the guy wire. I tested the triple-wrapped Prussiks. They worked! I was on my way up the black line to the guy wire. It didn't take long to get where I could grab the wire. I rested next to the wire, hanging from the sling-Prussik. I tried to figure out how to make a Prussik to go on the guy wire, but realized I would have to cut the black line while hanging from the sling-Prussik with no safety backup. Should the Prussik start to slip, I would come off the end of the rope and not be able to reach it from the end of the canopies lines, if they held. I decided not to attach a Prussik to the guy wire. I would have to rely on the Type IV to hold me while I rested as I climbed up the guy wire.

It was very dark and with the red lens flashlight hanging of the rope, shining in different directions, Arron shining his head lamp at me from the antenna, the constant and flashing red lights of the antenna all mixing together to make a very eerie environment to be working in. At least with the darkness, we would be harder to spot.

I pulled on the canopy and it didn't budge. I jerked a little and it still wouldn't move. I decided to abandon it. I had a long way to go and if I tired myself out getting the canopy, I wouldn't have the strength to climb the wire. We were also still exposed on the antenna, lights everywhere and radio discipline had been abandoned in an effort to work faster and avoid confusion. I yelled up that I was climbing and was told to hang tight while they figured out a belay system. After about 10 minutes which felt like an hour, they yelled down to go ahead and start climbing, that I was belayed. I climbed up the wire about 6 feet and told them I had to stop to rest. As I put my weight on the black rope, it slid down the wire several feet until the type IV stopped stretching. I rested and decided I was going to cut away the canopy now. I yelled up that I was going to cut away and received an "OK" from the structure. It was a big moment. I pulled the cutaway handle and stuffed it inside my jacket. I didn't want to get teased later for "throwing my handles". I was tangled a little in the lines, so I pulled out my hook knife and cut a riser to free myself. I remember thinking, "That is the first time I have actually used my hook knife."

I continued to haul myself up the guy wire, using the type IV to prevent me from sliding back down the wire. Joe and Arron where belaying my climb and we soon were working together very well, minimizing any extra climbing. I would yell up, "Climbing!", and Arron would respond, "Climb on!", typical dialogue between a rock climber and their belayer. I didn't know before then, but surmised that Arron was a climber. That was re-assuring. The higher I climbed, the less the type IV would stretch when I rested. Each time I rested and the type IV stretched, I would have to re-climb the section of guy wire that I slide down while resting. I knew that the type IV would stretch less as I got closer, but Arron had also warned me that the wire got steeper closer to the structure. The climb was exhausting. My mouth was completely dry and the skin on my lips were chapped and began to peel. During one of the breaks I took while climbing the wire, Joe called out to me, "Hang in there buddy!" I replied, "That's not fucking funny!" But it was. I had to laugh. I got within about 10 feet of the structure and I knew I would make it. My arms and legs were on fire, exhausted. Arron asked me to look at the black rope that was looped around the guy wire, but I didn't want to, knowing that it had been chaffing and that there was nothing I could do about it. It was one of the items in my mental 'box', full of things that I didn't want to think about. When he insisted I glanced at it and told him it looked OK. He was concerned that the type IV was chaffing against the guy wire and if it wore through, I would slide back down the guy wire and probably die. Arron called down "Not to worry" and that he "had me in a secure body-belay." I didn't know if he was joking or trying to reassure me, but I laughed thinking that is an oxymoron. (I didn't find out until later that Joe and Arron had worked most of the rescue without any safety lines. Only near the end did they manage to both get a rope tying them to the structure in case they fell.) As I climbed closer to the structure, I could hear Joe and Arron talking back and forth, working the belay system they had set up. Their voices were tense and they communicated in short, terse sentences. I knew that the belay system was working, but wasn't bomber. The faster I got to the structure, the better. They called out encouragement and advice. "Keep your arms straight. Shake your arms out. You can do it, you're almost here." Their positive, encouraging voices helped keep my motivation and focus.

I struggled up the last few feet of guy wire and frantically swung my feet to get a hold of the structure. Byran was telling me to just relax but I wanted to be on the structure. I knew that being 2 feet away or 40 made no difference. I wouldn't be safe until I was back on the structure. I got a foot on the structure, then a handhold and pulled myself onto it. The elation was incredible. I had made it. I was going to live. I couldn't believe it. I held on tight, not moving and Arron used a hook knife to cut the type IV off of me because it was pulling me away from the structure. After a few minutes I gingerly, under Arron and Joe's watchful eye, climbed down to the platform and hugged Joe. Then I climbed into the elevator. Joe told me he wanted me to sit down and had a bottle of much needed water in the elevator waiting for me. I was too drained to argue. I took a drink of the water and offered the rest to Arron. I passed the bottle to him, then closed the door. Joe called Mike on the radio and directed him to bring the elevator down.

I stepped out of the elevator, hugged Mike and climbed down the last 30-feet of ladder. As I walked to the gate, I noticed my two medic bags on the ground. I mentally thanked my rescue crew for thinking of everything and threw them back over the fence, even though Joe had ordered me not to climb it, and climbed over after them. I stripped off what was left of my gear and drank some more water. I was exhausted in every sense of the word. I looked up, trying to spot my canopy above me, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't believe I had made it. It was actually harder to accept that I had made it than it was to accept that I was going to die.

We piled into my truck and drove to Joe's car with Joe driving. Before we got a few feet, jacked up the front end and pulled the tire off because it was making an awful squealing noise. Turned out to just be a rock on the rotor of the disk brake, so we put the tire back on. At Joe's car, we had something to eat and drink (I couldn't eat for many hours afterward and even then only a little). Then we discussed the potential for recovering the canopy. One idea that we eventually went with was to attach a weighted bag to the guy wire and slide it down the wire, ramming it and hopefully sliding all the way to the bottom and taking the canopy with it. We used several carabiners and a stash bag full of bottled water. No one said as much, but nobody wanted to go back up the antenna that night. I knew I would be one of the two and Arron gamely volunteered. We discussed how tired we were, exactly what we were going to do and cautioned each other to go slow and not to make a mistake now. Arron and I went back up the elevator, clipped into the structure, attached the bag and let it go. It took off and gained a lot of speed before hitting the canopy. The canopy didn't budge, but the stash bag split open, dropping all the water bottles out. They hit sounding like a cluster bomb going off. We quietly rode the elevator back down.

Everyone was dealing with a tremendous amount of different fears. The fear of getting caught, the fear of dying, the fear of making a mistake and watching me fall to my death. The longer I was out there, the more likely one of our fears would be realized, so time was a big factor. Joe ,Arron, and Mike worked as a team, quickly and efficiently to rescue me from the guy wire, 500 feet up. They did a tremendous job, piecing together enough equipment to improvise a rescue system and getting me to safety. They never considered abandoning me. They were willing to do whatever it took to ensure my safety. They are heroes.


Transcript from PC-101 helmet video camera:

September, 25, 2003

33:32 John: Let's get Mike to get a look at what I'm suspended by here.

33:35 John: Mike, you're behind the dish from me.

33:36 Mike: I need to go up, I'm right behind the dish

33:40 John: No, you need to go DOWN.

33:45 Joe: Do you want down Mike?

38:48 Mike: Mike wants up, I'm immediately behind the dish

33:51 John: Mike, you're above me.

33:56 Mike: No, I'm almost level with uh, with John. I need you to take the elevator up about 10 to 15 feet

34:05 Joe: I'm getting ready to start up, are you ready?

34:07 Mike: Confirm up

34:14 Mike: Stop, stop ,stop

34:22 Mike: From what I can see it looks pretty wrapped. it is not just the uh, the uh, the bridle looks like it is really caught, it looks like it is really wrapped and the other stuff is not just a thread, it is around that trail.

34:45 Mike: It does not look like it is just dangling. Something that would open up that trail if he would kinda jar it. It looks like it caught and it looks like it is not going anywhere on that trail.

34:57 Joe: OK one thing to consider, thinking this thing through, it's friction that's got us there because to the best of my knowledge there is nothing other than the thick steel cable that on that thing for it to catch on. Would that be correct John?

35:12 John: That is correct.

35:18 Joe: I'm pretty confident guys that it is complete friction that is keeping everything where it is at.

35:12 John: Concur.

35:24 Mike: I can tell you from this view point that it looks like it took a wrap, that its not just friction, it took a wrap.

35:36 (helicopter noise in background) excellent. I've already concurred, conjured up a good idea. Let me put this by you. Are you ready?

35:39 John: Ready.

35:42 Joe: Here's what were gonna do, exactly what were gonna do. It's gonna be a carabiner or a bunch of them or something, preferably metal wrapped around the cable. With about 18 feet, 27 feet of bridle coming down off of that. What's gonna happen is, we are gonna belay that to you get the bridles to you so that we at least hook in so that we have a safety line so if something fails. The question is, can a carabiner go around the cable?

36:12 John: Hey, there's a helicopter inbound.

36:21 Joe: OK, from what angle, I hear it.

36:24 John: Nine-o'clock.

36: 28 Joe: It may or may not hear, may or may not see you. Probably does.

(Helicopter flying by)

36:45 Joe: Just (unintelligible) now. Let's just stay without it for now, OK?

36:53 John: Kay, a carabiner will not go around the cable

37:01 Joe: You said 'will not'?

37:03 John: Will not. What I need you to do is use the black rope to make Prussiks

37:11 Joe: Copy. I'm just worried that with the friction that it might wear through.

37:14 John: I mean, I'm gonna, I can Prussik down if you can get me the tools

37:19 Joe: Copy all, copy all, good idea

37:24 Arron: I've got all the uh, the bags bridles and what not.

37:27 Joe: (stepped on) through everything in the truck the, the top of the truck and come on over here. Mike, we need to get the vador down here so we can come up again. Are you ready to come down?

37:37 Mike: Ready and waiting and the (bridles?) are off.

37:39 Joe: OK, you're ready for down.

37:43 Mike: Confirm down

38:03 Joe: Hey buddy, I know you're calm and doing good, but you are in great hands. We ARE going to square you away.

38:09 John: Roger that.

38:24 Joe: Hey Mike, you should take quick film if you have the chance.

38:35 Joe: Sorry John, I know that's not the right thing to say, but what the heck it would just be for you only.

38:53 Joe: Are you doing OK in the harness John?

38:55 John: Ya, I'm doing alright.

39:06 John: Hey, be thinking about getting me a headlamp too.

39:12 Joe: Alright. We also got big flashlights. We aren't concerned about how much light we shine. Your safety is top priority and that's all that matters.

39:26 Joe: (stepped on) we will bring in any all help we need to and that is the case.

39:30 Mike: I lost a good vantage point when I started to come down.

39:40 Joe: I just want to double check John, are you ok right now? Or do you want me to get....I think we can move faster any other emergency vehicles could.

39:47 John: Roger that. If I can get the tools, I'm OK.

39:51 Joe: I just want to re-confirm. Are you OK with only us working on this? Because I can call in the re-enforcement's while we're working if you want.

39:57 John: Negative, let's see if I can get the tools and set this up.

40:02 Joe: Ok, but if start to feel unstable, let us know, because like I said, your safety is our number one priority.

40:21 John: There is another option.

40:23 Joe: Go ahead.

40:24 John: If this idea doesn't work, uh, how do you feel about, uh, giving me another uh rig and, and, static lining from where I'm at?

40:40 Joe: I don't like it. I'm also concerned too much movement will cause the friction. That's why I want you to be as still as you can through this entire process while we try and rig things up for you.

41:01 Mike: Hey uh, I'll make a suggestion when you get down.

41:03 Joe: Copy

43:10 John: (Not on radio) Dam it.

43:58 Joe: I've found some more rope at the bottom. I'm securing things here so we can use it.

44:03 John: Roger.

44:26 Joe: Not that we're gonna need it, but I just got us an extra sixty feet of rope.

44:32 John: Terrific, you can use that to get me the stuff I need.

44:35 Joe: Yep, we'll get everything we can.

46:40 John: I had another thought.

46:46 Joe: Go ahead.

46:51 John: Making some sort of loop or ring or something that goes over the cable, a suspended line with a carabiner or two on the end, I can clip into those, cutaway, you guys can haul me up the wire.

47:03 Joe: Yep that's what we are thinking about doing.

47:05 John: OK.

49:41 John: Joe, you know what a Prussik is?

49:49 Joe: Affirmative, we know what a Prussik is.

49:50 John: OK that's what I'm gonna need. Oh, hey, I just remembered, I have one carabiner with me.

49: 58 Arron: Is that on your person?

50:00 John: Yes.

(sound of Velcro and a carabiner's gate snapping, then a deep breathe)

51:28 John: Not to rush you or anything, but how are we doing?

51:32 Joe: We're doing good. I won't talk now. We getting equipment moved fast. We've got a great system to get you. Just stand by we're doing really good, we've got it all dialed in.

51:38 John: That's the information I wanted to hear. Thank you.

52:24 [Tape ends]

Derek

[jumprunner 0]

A long time ago, I was a drug addict addicted to narcotic painkillers, one day I ODed by mistake. Was trying to fight from losing conciousness when I realized I had ODed but lost the battle and went unconcious for four days. Four days went by I didnt have any recollection of.

Was I near dead? Under that kind of anesthesia, I dont know how I could have kept breathing the entire time, all I can remember is waking up, feeling like I weighed a thousand pounds, and asking someone what day it was. I was still sitting upright in the chair I passed out in, slumped over, and my arms were still positioned on the arm rests, as if I had been in suspended animation. Fucking unreal.

Anyway...dont fuck with narcotics. They seem to "put to sleep" that part of your mind that has any form of reason.

[crapflinger2000 1]

Not meant in a wise-ass way at all...

Would it have been quicker - safer to bite the bullet, call the authorities, take the bust, and have fire/rescue/sheriff help on this? Sounds like the rescue took a heck of a long time.... long enuff for pros to get there.... (not to degrade your buddies efforts of course).

__________________________________________________
What would Vic Mackey do?

[benny 0]

Quote

Not meant in a wise-ass way at all...

Would it have been quicker - safer to bite the bullet, call the authorities, take the bust, and have fire/rescue/sheriff help on this? Sounds like the rescue took a heck of a long time.... long enuff for pros to get there.... (not to degrade your buddies efforts of course).

funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing. I know I'd rather end up in jail (not prison) than dead

Never go to a DZ strip show.

[LouDiamond 1]

HA, I could talk for an hour without pause on this subject, it goes with my line of work.

One I will share that I think most will be able to relate to is an inccident that happened to myself and several others when we were in Guyana. Some background info first.

Guyana is a former Brit colony among other nations influence and hence have right hand drive cars and roads. The road system in Guyana really can't be called that since there are more holes than asphalt. Everybody and everything to include animals walk in the road so they are very crowded and have many obstacles. One of the obstacles happens to be large dirt mounds(piles of dirt or gravel) on the edge of the road way.

It's like everyone had a mound in front of their little hut and they were constantly there. One night we were going into Georgetown to get something to eat in our rented Toyota mini van( not produced or sold in the states). I'm driving the music is playing and guys froom my team are BSing and everyone and their brother is out in the street that night to include theese HUGE dump trucks and lumber trucks. It's a swarm of humanity and machine. If you've never been to a third world country you can't comprehend the utter unrule and chaos I am speaking off, it is insane. So I'm tooling along on the left side of the road sitting on the right side of the vehicle driving. A lumber truck decides to pass a stopped dump truck in the opposite lane and is pretty much in my lane. I cannot immediately move over as I would kill a handful of people as well as hit at least one cow and several dogs and or goats. My only option is to gun it and try to squeeze past the mass of flesh on my left and sweerve closer to the shoulder before the truck hits us head on. So being the rally race car licened driver that I am, I go for it. Now I am basically speeding toward a semi truck with no escape to the left or the right(people& animals on the left and a dump truck on the right.)

I squeeze the mini van through the small opening like something out of a movie and have enough room to move left towards the shoulder. You have to keep in mind that this is all happening at about 35-40 miles an hour and happened very quickly. As I initiated the squeeze manuver the guys in the mini van keyed in on what was happening and started to look outside the vehicle. A couple of oh shits were heard as I threaded the needle and continued to the left side of the road. Once I cleared the truck I figured I'd be home free but Murphy was there and low and behold there was one of those dirt mounds. So I have successfully sweerved past several tons of steel and am now looking at a dirt pile about 2-3 feet high to my front on the left hand side of the mini van. We strike the dirt mound and the whole left side of the mini van is thrown up into the air. I am now on two wheels, with a mini van full of dudes going down a crowded road. It got deathly quite when we hit the dirt mound and were on two wheels. I am driving the mini van trying to avoid people, cars and cows for about 1/2 a block before I can get the mini van back on 4 wheels. Not one word was said the whole time we were up on 4 wheels by anyone. It was as if I could see everything and knew exactely what was going to happen. It wasn't quite slow motion but I felt like I was seeing everything in great clarity even though it was night time and there were no street lights, only lights from cars or fires. So the vehicle plops back down and I immediately start gigling like a kid. No one in the vehicle said a thing for about 5 minutes. I continued to giggle the whole night. Hell I'm giggling about it now.

I wouldn't put it up there with some of the times where I just knew I was gonna die or get seriously wounded moments because combat is in a class by itself and it's usually afterwards when it hits you. I have more of those types of stories than I care to have let alone talk about.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[skypuppy 1]

The question is do you log this in your logbook - you jumped, but you never landed? Quite the conundrum....

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

[Sheenster303 0]

The kinds of stuff that we were talking about in my class were like whether or not you saw your life flash before your eyes and things like that.

Maybe we could go into out-of-body experiences too. Had any of those?

My father had one of those when he was in a bad car wreck. Kind of a freaky story I think.

I'm so funny I crack my head open!

P.M.S. #102

[Gravitymaster 0]

I've had a couple of more serious experience than I care to share the details on but I have never had my life flash before my eyes, had an out of body experience or felt I was walking towards "the light".

[freeflir29 0]

Hmmmm....where would I start. All mine are...Damn that was close....but close only counts in Hand grenades type experiences. One or two bad hook turns that I Barely saved. Sliding sideways around a corner, at night, with oncoming traffic, at about 130+ MPH, on a country road. I was 17 and LOVED to drive fast. Got shot about 6 months after that. It was only in the knee. Merely a flesh wound! Had a large chunk of shrapnel miss my head by what had to be less than a foot on range 51 at Ft. Campbell one day. Sounded like someone let off a fire cracker next to my ear. A couple of nice car accidents. I wasn't driving of course! Been shot at a few other times, sometimes on purpose. Like laying artillery or Close Air Support in WAY CLOSE..... but I would struggle to call ANY of these a "Near Death" experience. I guess I COULD have died easily.....but I didn't......it wasn't MY time. When it's my time....I'll go....even if I have to slip in the tub. In the mean time.....if you aren't living on the edge....you're taking up too much space!

[perfectweather 0]

I have had a Near Death Experience and my thoughts were -"Oh fuck! This is going to hurt." and -"I will die"

The rest was very bizarre. I believe that someone saved me on that day though.

"You're not going to let a little near-death experience ruin your mood, are you?"

Z (Woody Allen from Antz)

[freeflir29 0]

Quote

The kinds of stuff that we were talking about in my class were like whether or not you saw your life flash before your eyes and things like that.

In the Air Force CCT/PJ selection course they call it "Seeing the Wizard." More than a couple people I know have drowned and been revived.

[Kramer 0]

That was one of the most incredible stories I've ever read.

-Kramer

The FAKE KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!

[MuffDiver 0]

That is a very immpresive story. I'm nervous just from reading it. Glad everything worked out.

__________________________________________________
Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive.

[damion75 0]

Quote

] In the mean time.....if you aren't living on the edge....you're taking up too much space!

I saw that on a T-Shirt once, but I bought the one which said, If you ARE living on the edge, it's probably cos you're too chicken to jump!

***************

Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

[smiles 0]

closest I've been to death:

riding on the back of a soft tail with suicide clutch, traveling over 120 mph- screaming around a corner to find traffic backed up in both lanes- initial reaction was to jump off --but held onto my partner with all my life and rode it out sideways between traffic, out a space to right and along shoulder of rode / burnt hole in my heel as was wearing thongs and gripping bike on exhast pipe- huge rode rash along side of my body but we survived...so close. To this day I can close my eyes and visualize the whole thing (happened 20 yrs. ago)-- was so fast- no time for my life to flash before my eyes- in shock that I had survived and was able to stand up but passed out looking over the cliff we were so close to going over/ woke up in hospital very pleased.

during birth of my son, morphine epideral for cesarean section- anesthetist was injecting morphine in my spine and kept asking me to wiggle my toes, so I kept wiggling my toes- my legs were numb but I could wiggle my toes!! The morphine came right up into my head (best rush anyone could ever ask for --but I am having a baby here and this was extremely dangerous)......I was given some drug to counter react the morphine and came to -barfin my cookies- babe was born fine/ I was scratchin my body all over for days. To this day wonder how much my son was affected as was very quite as a newborn.

AAD saved my life when I was very young in this sport (static line progression outa cessnas in canada-mastering 15 sec. delays and worried about starting to turn and correcting it to stay on course heading)...headed with friends to boogie in coolidge.
Simply put I should not of been there. Manifest arranged an instructor to jump 1 on 1 with me. He checked out my log book and said what I needed was to get some freefall time from 13, 500 (first jump was tandem back home-) Everything inside was screaming "don't go for this"...
climbing to altitude I was to nervous to visualize my jump- exit aircraft with instructor having grips/ fall flat and stable/ instructor would release grips and fly infront/ I would practise 180 turns to right and left/ altitude awareness/.......all went to hell the second we left the plane, he lost his grips/ I was alone and started a great flat spin/ instructor tried to dock and I kicked him in the head/ - worked with upper body to stop spins not aware I had legs (one knee down)- brain locked. Stopped my spin- then checked altimeter- 18,000 came in to pull and whommmpa- there was a huge round reserve over my head....enough time to make a turn and catch my breath before landing----between 2 huge cacti.
In shock I was alive- looked down to see I still had both my handles- had not deployed my main.
Debrief debrief debrief- leave me alone- I want to smoke- I am in shock- I am alive....and totally afeared. Walked into shop and my eyes focused on a sticker that read "shit happens" and bought it, quit skydiving for afew months angry that I did not go with my gut instinct and learned --learned a good lesson-- still have my shit happens sticker.

out of body experience:

really really high on mda, (it wasn't dry yet, placed on a glass sheet and spread out thin to dry, I licked my fingers a few times)
laying on my bed- I floated out of my body up about six feet and looked down at myself....wow

SMiles

[gravitysurfer 0]

Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The kinds of stuff that we were talking about in my class were like whether or not you saw your life flash before your eyes and things like that.

------------------------------------------------------------

Yes!!

When this experience occured with me I seem to recall coincided around the same time as my 'first jump'.

aloha.

[pds 0]

by all accounts i should have died 3 times, not skydiving. gave me a new perspective.

r/e/ skydiving: i am fairly certain that most all neardeath experiences happen about 5 inches before a death experience.

namaste, motherfucker.

[gravitysurfer 0]

Quote

by all accounts i should have died 3 times, not skydiving. gave me a new perspective.

r/e/ skydiving: i am fairly certain that most all neardeath experiences happen about 5 inches before a death experience.

3 times should get ones attention. Wow! Care to share?


Re: 5 inches.... Temporal Distortion is an amazing thing.

aloha.

[pds 0]

twice in cars - sideway rollover 4 times, end over end 9 times. once by bullets. sure looked to me like i was a dead man. made me stop and think.

namaste, motherfucker.