Most interesting out landing?

[incode 0]

Not realy that far out but got droped a ways out and got a radio from the TA saying "i dont think you will make it back, your on your own.. Oh and remember to PLR." So short of the long I check my ground speed and hight then think yeah I can make it over that set of trees, came in on my rear risers and skimmed through the top of the trees and landed just on the edge of the DZ. This was my stage 3 Then I had to trudge back in 34 digree celcias nice hot aussie weather.

[jimjumper 25]

I landed out in LaPaz Mexico once. 2nd group out of a Casa. Looked around after opening and finally saw the hotel we were supposed to land in front of about 3 miles up the coast. Saw a nice open area that looked like a parking lot and landed there along with most of the people in my group. Gathered up our gear to leave and a guard stepped out of his shack holding a machine gun. He made us all sit down till someone from the hotel showed up and interpreted things between us and him. Turns out we had landed on a pier owned by the Mexican Navy! He finally let us go and we all took cabs back to the hotel.

[brianfry713 0]

I landed in a blackberry bush in Oregon after a wingsuit jump. I flew too far away and couldn't make it back. I didn't choose a good landing location since at 1000 feet I noticed it had stakes everywhere. I chose a backyard that had a dirt road in the middle of it. I missed the road by a few feet and rent through a bush, fortunetly not busting my self up on the rocks. It took me a while to get out of there and then clean myself up for one more jump. I also had to clean all the berry and blood stains off my stuff once I got home. It did make for cool video.

BASE 1224, Senior Parachute Rigger, CPL ASEL IA, AGI, IGI
USPA Coach & UPT Tandem Instructor, PRO, Altimaster Field Support Representative

[BikerBabe 0]

Wow, I can't believe I never posted in this thread. So let me share with you all the story of "Swamp Girl".



I had about 200 jumps when a summer internship program sent me to Norfolk, VA for 6 weeks. I had just bought my first civilian rig (200 jumps on a PD 235 for the Air Force Academy) and I brought it along.

I had heard about a great little DZ called Skydive Suffolk, so on Saturday morning I packed up my rental truck and headed that way. Mind you, I knew no one here...

The folks at Suffolk were a welcoming lot. Very kind, willing to include me, etc. The first jump as I recall, was some RW thing, small, and very fun. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky, moderate to high humidity, but not entirely unpleasant.

Next jump. Another small-way, but this time the spot was a bit longer...My mistake was not learning the lay of the land before I jumped, but I was a newb. Looking around, I saw a road with wires, and what looked like two fields with some random, widely-spaced dead trees in them on either side. Now let me add a disclaimer here...my depth perception has never been the best.

Well, I didn't want to land on the road...power lines = bad. I made a decision that I could probably avoid the little trees in the "field" and headed that way.

At about 50 feet I realized that this was no field. Oh no. This was a swamp. A bayou. A bog. Just perfect. Well, I was committed now, and I landed without incident in ankle-deep swamp water. It was OK, I thought, I knew which direction the road was. I gathered up my gear and started slogging that way.

Unfortunately, about 50 ft into my slog, the "underbrush" for lack of a better term, began to get thicker. And thicker. To the point to where continuing would have required a machete.

I was stuck.

It was hot. The sun began to beat down. Yes, I had on a BLACK jumpsuit, but I wasn't about to take it off and become the buffet for the SVAM's (Southern Virginia Association of Mosquitoes) annual convention.

So there I was, stuck in the swamp. Frantically looking for leeches and wracking my brain for some semblance of an idea about what to do next, I cock my head as a sweet, sweet sound reached my ears. The sound of a low-flying aircraft! Could it be? It was! The DZ's Cessna, obviously out searching for me!

I would be saved! Except that he didn't see me. The Cessna passed, no where near my location. Now was the time to call upon my elite survival skills taught to me at the Air Force Academy. I needed a way to signal my rescuers. As I had no radio to vector them in, I looked to my current inventory of items. Unfortunately, stainless steel hardware on rigs was not yet in fashion, and try as I might, I could not turn my harness fasteners into suitable light reflectors to flash at the passing Cessna.

Fortunately, my new Sabre had two neon pink cells! That was the ticket! Neon Pink is the most unnatural color on earth! So as the plane passed by once more, I began to spread out my canopy, laying it over some of the highest bushes I could reach. The additional benefit of this was that it made a nice shelter from the now extremely hot sun. Eventually, the scouters in the Cessna saw my canopy.

20 minutes later, I hear a voice calling my name through the swamp. I stand up, gather my gear, and look to my left, to see a local and a DZ representative coming to lead me to freedom. LOL, wouldn't you know it, there was a farmhouse about 500 meters to my left the entire time. heh.

So to all the folks that were at Skydive Suffolk that day back in 1996, I salute you. Especially Larry Pennington, who was nice enough to pull his cessna out and fly it around looking for my stupid ass while I was chillin' in the swamp.

I bet they remember me, too =)

Andi

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[Skykat108 0]

Well my only real out landing is jump number 17, yeah I only have 45 now.. but hey I have an out story.

It was a monday morning.. Clouds covered the sky, but they looked high so we took our tandem up.there was NO wind on the ground what so ever. So at about 2,000 feet our pilot(and DZO) says there's about a 30 MPH out of the south (south winds suck for us cause there's a tree line directly south of the LZ that cause some poopy turbulance) The rigger and I tried to do a two way. He gets out the door and I'm still inside the C-206. We exit and we're smacked with ice crystals. I freak and let go of my bud, and I back slid and we both knew the jump was screwed right then. We flipped on his back, and I just keep going belly to earth going, "ow ow ow ow ow" Anyways, our spot was good, a good mile south of the LZ. Well my stupid butt heads right back towards the airport. then turn into the wind and get pushed backwards. after quite a while of going oh shit oh shit oh shit. I'm over forest... more oh shits.. I see the only clearing in this forest, and spiraled down to it, had to do low turns so I could make it in. I landed right NEXT to a tree... the canopy kept going and landed in the tree. So then 20 mins of getting the canopy out of the tree... then walking in a circle trying to figure out where I was... walked across a river... then came to our airport manager putting out turkey traps.... He doesn't like us all that much... but he gave me a ride back and we called it after that. The only people that made it to the DZ were the rigger and the vidiot. Tandem and I landed out...but Tandem was closer than I was ^_^

[highfly 0]

I was jumping at Seb in Florida.
2 way sit fly for the 1st time.
We had got out of the door at the end of the jump run and unfortunatly we didnt see the red light or hear the buzzer? because we were well out the door.

Not until about 4k did we realise where we were in the sky.

I had to look real hard for a nice spot to land. If you have jumped at Seb there is a lot of open area around the runways.
Guess what ? I was nowhere near this open area.

Instead I was finding myself in the saddle at 2500 downwind of the dz.
Below me were houses, swimming pools, electric cables, telephone cables and a busy rd.

The only place I could see to land was in the bushy part of the scrub.

As I came in to land I noticed a small bush which I couldnt avoid. If I had of avoided it I would've been a tree hugger.,

When I landed I hit the bush pretty hard , but still maanged to stand it up.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, there were wild pigs running in that part of the scrub and they had decided to make home in the bush which I landed on.

With a loud squeal (not from hurting them) they ran out and dissapeared into some other bush. Daddy pig was followed by Mummy pig which was followed by baby pigs. 6 of them I seem to recall.

If anyone has landed inthe area which I am talking about knows how overgrown it is or was.

It took almost 1.5 hrs to get back to the dz.
The dz was searching for me all that time.
As I was walking back to manifest the sky turned real black and then dropped a huge downpour on me.


No injuries though just my pride dented a little.

www.myspace.com/durtymac

[avenfoto 0]

id have taken the docks.... just one actually, and set it up longways..

[Andre1 0]

Yesterday I landed out on an empty high school football field due to winds and no penetration. I did my base parallel to the end zone. Then I turned and was just right of the goal post on final. I did a very minor turn to get me going straight down the field. I went to half brakes at 15 feet above the ground. I went to full flare a millisecond before my foot touched the ground and did a perfect stand up landing. My feet touched down on the 25 yard line and I was standing up on the 8 yard line.

[kimgriffin 0]

Last out of the Hercules at a Herc Boogie in Sweden, instructing a first time BirdMan flight (a 2-way), clouds everywhere below, the student lost the line of flight and flight plan and took off over a large lake, I stayed w him for a while until I realized how far out I must be, dumped somewhat high but no way I was getting back, lots of tall trees beneath my feet, spotted a clear area with a couple of trucks driving around, ends up I landed at the the local trash dump. Got a ride back to the DZ in one of the trucks.

[highfly 0]

What happened to the student?

www.myspace.com/durtymac

[Andrelr 0]

Just saw this thread for the first time today.
CRW spots make interesting landings, particularly that first one of the day when you have no idea what the upper winds are doing!
Even better is to open above a cloud layer with no ground reference at all.
Did that in Swaziland once in the mid 80s, jumping an Arava at 14000 ft. Cloud base around 4000 ft. After several minutes of CRW, we broke through the clouds with no idea of where the DZ was: above several small hills in a VERY rural area.
I looked hard and saw a hut on a hill with a road leading to it and a car parked outside. No problem.
I shouted at my mates and pointed to our new landing area.
We all landed next to the hut with the car.
Only problem was: that car had been on bricks for a long long time...
It took most of the rest of the day to get back.

[ripcord4 0]

PLF'ed into the back seat of a '66 Ford convertible under a 28' 7 TU. Luckily, the top was down.

[FrEaK_aCcIdEnT 0]

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PLF'ed into the back seat of a '66 Ford convertible under a 28' 7 TU. Luckily, the top was down.

this requires more explination.

ExPeCt ThE uNeXpEcTeD!
DoNt MiNd ThE tYpOs, Im LaZy On CoRrEcTiOnS!

[Dumpster 0]

Landing near a cemetary - Found an area that was away from the headstones. Might have been bad juju to land amongst them.

Easy Does It

[pjchis 0]

Did you have a lady named "Christine" as a tandem passenger?

[Dumpster 0]

LOL! - Nah - But I think there may have been a "Christine" on the load -

Easy Does It

[lewmonst 0]

I missed this thread first time around....

Here's a pic from that jump.

and yes, please don't ever forget one index finger means PULL.


peace
lew

http://www.exitshot.com

[airtwardo 7]

~Most interesting out landing?

It was about 1976...I had been jumping only a short time, and had less than 100 jumps.
We'd done an afternoon demo jump into John O'Donald Stadium in Davenport, Iowa...a semi-pro baseball field.

We of course had to celebrate our successful jump with several visits to the beer stand at the ball park, as well as numerous quick stops at most every bar between the stadium and Davenport 'International' airport, where our club's 182 was parked with the pilot patiently waiting in the local pub.

Three of us on the load had never jumped into the stadium before, a demo our club did often during the season....so along with 4 fairly large, Mid West corn fed jumpers...we had 3 cases of beer to haul back to the little 'private' DZ located basically in the middle of a corn field in Illinois.

Short on room, and wanting to give the pilot some time to detox...we fortunately decided to pack up before departing on the 40 mile flight back East.

So now it's about 10:30 at night...and we're doing several low level orbits around an area we believe to be the club house and un lighted / un marked grass strip we call home...

The driver says he can't tell for sure, but he's not gonna chance it with all the weight IN the bird...so you guys gotta get out, when you land...park some cars along the strip to give some reference.

At 3500 feet, I step out into the black hole that we think is a cluster of houses and barns on a line with where the airstrip 'should' be...

Three seconds later, I'm hanging under my trusty Papillon...Pitch black out, I'm realizing the winds are significantly stronger than they were sitting inside the plane when I see the small light on the 'target' barn getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

2-3 hundred feet off the deck and and getting backed up at a pretty good clip, I pass over a stand of trees that looks even more ominous than the endless corn fields I've been scooting over the past few minutes...Pulling down my goggles, crossing my legs, and covering my face...I prepare to hang the Pap in a tree.

At the last second, I see that I've just barely cleared the mini forest by 20 feet and slam down backward onto what seems to be a manicured grass lawn...with a small house just off to my left.
Just kinda laying there on my back for a few moments, waiting for the adrenaline rush to subside,
I hear a deep throated "OH FUCK!" right over my head as Tom...another low timer also on a Pap comes swinging by in the middle of a low hook that was initiated 'just a hair' TOO low...

He crashes into / through a little backyard gazebo transforming it into a scattered pile of kindling as he bounces off the picnic table within it.

He's on his back next to the mess he just created, laughing his ass off...when I scared the shit out of him by running up from behind yelling "YOU OKAY?!"


...After field packing the gear, we're beating on the door of this little farm house, to both asked where the Hell we are, and explain about the devastation in the yard. A little old lady finally answers, and is so nonchalant about the two 1/2 drunk 20 year olds in canvas clown suits standing on her porch in the middle of the night...that we get the feeling we've entered the twilight zone!

Old Granny has no clue where our airstrip is in relation to our present location, but puts a call into her daughter to ask if SHE can help...

Just imagine how THAT conversation went, Granny calls ya just shy of midnight to say a couple of 'young fellas' lost their way parachuting and landed in the yard, could you come out and give them a ride to town?

I think 'daughter' was wondering if maybe 'Ma' had gotten into the 'rumitiz medicine' again....until I got on the phone and assured her we were 'real'!!

Belly full of Cake, Cookies, and Ice Tea later...the daughter shows up from town to give us a ride back 'home'.
Ended up we were no where near where I thought we were, about 6-7 miles West...

And Ole Granny was having the time of her life the next day, when the whole club showed up to rebuild her back yard...turns out she was one of those women pilots that ferried military aircraft around the country during World War ll...

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

[NWFlyer 2]

As usual, airtwardo wins the "tell me a story" thread.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[azureriders 0]

great story but what happened to the jump plane, did he find the strip or opp for the alternate

[pjchis 0]

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great story but what happened to the jump plane

Exactly my thought! You didn't mention him so I'm guessing (and hoping) he was alright! That's definitely one of the best "out" stories I've ever heard. My barely compares to that but I did land at the wrong dropzone (right airport) during my AFF in New Zealand and walked into the hanger like everything is normal. Started wondering why there was no one I recognized... and the plane looked different... and oops.

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

Dropped an Otter load through some industrial haze and came out the bottom about two miles off the DZ... and to this day I still take crap from the then DZO ... who followed me out of the airplane later in the stick with an AFF student!

[philip2005 0]

Well i've only had one. It was my first time jumping without the radio. Basically i underestimated how strong the wind was. I turned into wind and immediately knew i wouldnt make it. I headed for a small ploughed field next to the airfield with trees either side of it. Thought "please dont land in the trees". I didnt, i did my best landing but nobody saw it! Did get a ride back in the van tho

• Quote

[airtwardo 7]

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great story but what happened to the jump plane, did he find the strip or opp for the alternate

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He eventually made it down to the right place.

After circling for about 1/2 an hour...he was getting ready to head back toward Davenport for fuel, when the red rotating beacon...(Stolen from a squad car) ...that was on top of the club house came on....
One of the other two guys on the load...(they both had squares) landed next to a road and flagged down a ride to the strip...

Tom and me, didn't get back to the club house until about 1:30 AM...

The funny part is that Tom had no idea he was 'just' above me for probably most of the jump...just as I didn't know where he was until he whizzed by at landing.

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

[sfullerman 0]

1983, Covington ,La. Sugar Alfa (DC-3) was brought in for a weekend. The weather was bunk, 200 ft
ceiling, DZO gets on the phone to McGee Ms and asks hows the weather......"blue skies dudes!" He asks if they mind if he and a few friends come over to jump...they tell him to bring it on. He says "be watching for us, we're in a little red plane"
If you're not familiar with Sugar Alfa, the underside was painted red.

The DZ at McGee is watching for a Cesna to come over and drop 4 jumpers.....they spot the little red plane (at around 14 grand) then they see 40 folks come piling out. Those of you who grew up on a Cesna DZ know that anything over 4 canopies in the air looks like a military invasion. I land, and one of the ole vets (Leon-RIP) walks up smiling and shaking his head. He said "I've seen stranger things in my life, I just cant remember when !"

We all pack up and grab the four or five jumpers from McGee that were out that day, and take off for another load. Around 3000 ft the sky is solid over cast. We ride up to just over 13,000...and the story we heard from the pilots was "we called the tower in Jackson Ms and asked if they had us on radar. And if they did, were we anywhere near McGee? They said a 90 degree left turn and about 2 minutes would put'em right over the airport" Like I said, thats what we were told...they just as well could have been operating on the "whole world is a dropzone" program, I dont know. What I DO know is,
after dumping out just over the overcast, and cruising in the soup for a couple minutes....just like an old WWII movie where the bomb target finally comes into view thru patches of clouds, I look down and see that I'm over a 4 lane HWY. I've been to McGee enough times to know that the highway is 6-7 miles from the dz. To top it off, I can see the rest of the load landing a mile or two closer to the dz, as I have spent the entire time in the clouds going the wrong way. I'm the only dufus coming down in that part of the country side. Land by the gate in a big field, and not 30 seconds after I reach the road, I hear a vehicle coming up behind me. I dont turn and look, I just start limping and keep heading down the road.
It was a pickup truck, and he passed right by....crap!...But wait...he goes around a curve, and I hear him stop, and then I can hear him backing up!
He's coming back for me..(the limp and the puppy dog look on my face that he saw in his rearview mirror worked!!)
As I pile into the back I notice its a brand new truck...shiny, spotless...I tell you that so you can appreciate the next part. About a mile from the dz I see a vehicle in front of us kind'a pluggin along. My ride pulls around and zips past the 20-30? year old pickup owned by a chicken farmer. In the back it's got chicken wire, farm implements, feed, a dead chicken, and about a dozen skydivers all piled on top of each other. I cruise past riding solo, smiling and waving. Several of them waved back......with one finger.

By the time the whole load gets back, it's time to leave. The sun is not long from setting, and the DC-3 crew says we gotta get going cause they dont have any running lights on the plane. We flew all the way back at 7-800 feet, and by the time we get to Covington, it's BEEN dark for awhile. Covington was a grass strip in the the middle of some sod farms...no lights of course. The manifest building had the only light on the dz, and from the direction we were landing, it was about 2/3rds of the way down the runway. Looking out the door, we see the manifest building go by FAST....one of the Covington regulars (Bubba- the Emperor of the Universe) shouts above the den of engine noise "100% Lord...I'll give'ya 100% of every thing I have if you get us outta this" ..the pilots stand on the brakes and do all that nifty stuff they do...and we come to a stop unscathed. They shut the engines off, the silence is deafening, and in that silence you hear Bubba say "10% God ...well you know, over head and all" Which drew several shouts of "move away from Bubba, he's fix'en to get kilt with lightening!"

The next morning, daylight revealed the plane sitting
20-30? feet from the tree line at the end of the runway. Took a bunch of jumpers to push it back so the pilots could fire it up and turn it around.
Happy ending...and as far as we know, Bubba never got kilt with lightening.