Scary stories from the old days?

[markd_nscr986 0]

Well,there I was skydiving hard...........
This happened at a Zhills meet in the late 70's (78?)
Going for a 24 way out of a lodestar based in Stormville,N.Y.........spotting was slow,people were unorganized lining up....floaters were slow getting out and.......the plane began to buffet........Mr No.24 starting screaming(like a girl)"he's losing it,he's losing it,get out, get out!!!!!Well the plane went tail down attitude and the power came back on....the 3 floaters blew off and a panic scramble for the door ensued I was # 9 and floated out the door got big and went over the tail.......people were everywhere.....the "lodestall "passes me in freefall nose to earth at this point with landing gear down people still dribbling out of it.Started looking around say a 4 way on the horizon tracked over and closed 6th or so...built to a 8 or 9 way round......lodestall recovered about 5 or 6000 ft(we had started at 15k)everyone made it to the ground and started congratulating themselves on making it out alive and adjourned to a local saloon for some tuborg gold.....moral of story.....dont pile up a bunch of people for any length of time in a slow moving lodestall!!!

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[RogerRamjet 0]

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your plane losing a whole landing gear with jumpers and having to land at McDill (foam). Was that a tale, or did it really happen?

I remember reading the article in Parachutist, complete with pictures -- I'd say it was real. But I thought it was Tampa Bay skydivers (of course, that may have been Pop's plane). I remember the Tampa Bay because when I next went to visit my grandmother in Clearwater, I looked for the DZ in the phone book. Couldn't find it.

Wendy W.

Entirely possible, remember this was 30 years ago and I got it 2nd hand. Let's see, Tampa Bay Skydivers... I think that might have been the group at State Road 54 and I-75. There were only so many groups around the area at that time, Z-Hills (commercial center at the time), Riverview, SR54, and the Sod Farm near 301 in Tampa. Maybe another old-timer will remember the facts better.

It also makes sense because I think Pop and his operation are/were too far South for MCDill, he probably would have gone to Homestead AFB for foam landing.

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Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

[nitrochute 2]

tampa bay parachute ranch was run by mac macgraw.i remember seeing the story about the landing gear falling off in flite in parachutist circa 1978.also mac was the only survivor from a 1966 jump plane crash at united p.c. in pennsylvania.he was jumpmastering a load of novices for the first Mid Eastern Parachute Association (MEPA)meet of the year.it was a pilot who was just starting to fly jumpers in the Howard DGA 15(this was his first day). shortly after takeoff ,around 500 feet a.g.l.,the aircraft entered a dynamic stall,and went over onto its back.mac was in the jumpmaster seat with his reserve off on the floor. ( the right seat had been turned around so he was facing the rear of the aircraft) .as the aircraft went over he reportedly shouted "follow me" and actually left the aircraft with the door strait up.his para commander(PC) barely had time to open.only one other person made it out but deployed his main canopy and impacted on line stretch.the air craft with 4 on board (and full fuel) exploded and burned on impact.at the time, mac reported that when he left the pilot had the yolk in his gut and full right rudder.

[poppenhager 1]

Windy is right,it was Tampa Bay Skydivers and it did happen.C-182 right main gear separated when jumpers were standing on it during exit.Mac Mcgraw was the pilot.
Pop D-47

[pa2themd 0]

WOW!!!!!

Thanks to all for sharing....can we have some more??? It took me two days to read this instead of working and studying and my tummy ached from laughing so much!!

If we had to pull any of this shit now...I guess my grandchildrens, grandchildren will never be allowed near a DZ!!!
Thanks to those who came before us, whom we now learn from and look up to!!

"Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's
addressed to someone else!" Ivern Ball

[skybill 22]

Scary Stories!!! They are all scary, just some more than others!! New Years Eve '63-64' don't remember which, Ben and Barry Seal are going to make a "New Year Jump" leave the Piper Tri-pacer 30 seconds before midnight and open 30 seconds after midnight. This was at Hammond Airport Louisiana at that time DZ for Southland Skydivers and Louisiana Skydivers and other Jump Bums. The jump went as planned, they exit, freefall, do a night 2-man, separate and dump. Ben gets open and Barry has a Total!!!! He shakes the rig (remember boys and girls this is early 60's B-4 harness, chest reserve and a "NAVY NB-8" container!! It had a stifiner accross the top under the top cone to help flatten out the pack.) The pilot chute was caught under the top cone and down Barry goes!! They were probably a bit low? but time flys when you're having fun! Barry shakes the rig a couple of times and rolls over as he goes for his reserve. He pulls the ripcord and tosses out the reserve(remember, no pilot chute) . The ground was right there and "BAM" Barry thought he bounced!!! He was on the deck and quite alive! Got out of his rig and was running around, jumping up and down yelling,"I'M ALIVE, I'M ALIVE!!" This happened at the north end or runway 36-18 and most of us ground crew were at the south end. A bunch of us get in Billy Bankston's convertable and head to the "Scene" Barry is running around still yelling "I'M ALIVE!!" and some of us check out his gear. From the harness, the main (28' 7-TU) was open and colapsed (no wind!) just like normal. The reserve was stretched out and still folded with about 2/3rds of the lines out just like it was on a table being packed!!!!!! When Barry rolled over the wind blast blew his pack open and started his main deploying, it got open just above the deck!! His strung out reserve just settled to the ground as I said. He probably got primary opening shock and hit the ground!!! Close? Yeah, I'd say that was close. Don't know where Ben is these days, Barry Seal was involved in some strange deals, got killed years later and that's another story. As for the jump, I was there and I saw it. As I remember, also in attendance were Numan Gill B-1929 ( my later to be first jump instructor) Ken Gillard, Billy Bankston, Ben and Barry's dad and younger brother Wendell and a few other "spectators."

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[chuteless 1]

I attended the boogie at SGC in May of this year. Before going to Xenia, I visited an old friend Gary Freeze, once known as the Buckeye Gypsy Moth.

Gary would often come to Ontario and make demos with me and I would go to Greensprings Ohio and make demos with him.

I hadnt seen Gary for 30 years (1974) and when I visited him in May, he told me he had had both hips replaced "twice". This was the result of a demo back in the mid 1970s. He is now in constant pain and waddles like a wounded duck when he walks.

It was a local jump in the Greensprings area, and he had a main chute malfunction.

He quickly cutaway, and pulled his front mount reserve chute, and it stayed in the pack.

Gary drove it with his fist, and it came out somewhat reluctantly, but the canopy although it was a streamer behind him, refuse to inflate.

He grabbed the lines and shook them, and the reserve finally opened close to the ground, and began to osscillate wildly.

Gary hit the pavement flat on his back, and was hurting badly.

He later made a few more jumps, before finding out he had cracked his pelvis, and for some medical reason, the blood flow wasnt getting to the hurt spot, so it wasnt healing as it should have.

When I was at SGC, I met a mutual friend, Paul Nineinger, a man now 68 yrs old. He and I sat on the porch of SGC and we were discussing Gary's malfunction, and Paul told me that Gary had left out one key factor when he related the story to me.

A few days before Gary made the jump and had to use his reserve, he had made another jump, and landed in some water.

Being as it was February, his reserve was frozen shut, and that was the reason both the container and the canopy refused to open when he cutaway a few days later.

When Paul told me this truth, I laughed for a week, and vowed to visit Gary again and kick his butt for using a frozen reserve.

On a night jump many years ago, one of those nights with no moon, and no light from any other source, Gary jumped carrying a flare inside his jumpsuit which he intened to light after opening, and let hang on a 15 foot line below him when under the canopy. This would give him some light as he approached the ground.
. Since the night sky was as black as the insides of a bruised crow, Gary couldnt see his instruments, so guessed he had fallen long enough and opened his chute.

He pulled the flare from his jumpsuit, and struck the ignitor, and the flare burst into a red glow. Gary threw it hard beneath him, and the flare bounced of the ground, just as he hit the earth himself.

Close....but close dont count.

[airtwardo 7]

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Since the night sky was as black as the insides of a bruised crow,

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Bill...I so badly want to ask just
HOW you know what the inside....

Never mind!

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

[RogerRamjet 0]

Ok, scary stories from the past, lets see. Somehow this didn't scare me nearly as much at the time as it does now....

Z-Hills, circa late 1973, 4 man RW jump from a 182. Jim Thrasher is flying, don't remember the other three jumpers, but I was on the jump. We're on jump run, I get out and hang from the strut with just my toes on the step. Two jumpers on the step, one poised in the door. We start the count, 3, 2,... right about there Jim yells "have a good jump!" Or.. that's what I thought I heard... 1, go! I let go and immediately go face down and look right into the eyes of two guys looking right back up at us from within a twin (something fairly small) about 30 feet below us. They were about 50 feet below the jump plane going in the opposite direction. Jim was yelling "Don't jump!" as loud as he could. Oh well, we missed them, but not by much. Somewhere on an aircraft forum, some old timer pilot is leaving a message about the time some skydivers almost dropped into his plane.....

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Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

[FlailingJohn 0]

Thank you for this thread. It gives a perspective to us newbie jumpers just how far the sport has evoultionized in in the past 20 or more years.

Indeed best thread ever!!!!



^^

I threw my confidence out the airplane door years ago.........

[skybill 22]

See the Video!!!!!!!!!!! Sinko-D-Mayo (05MAY85) ScareusValley, Fielding Fiasco (Night) Forty-way Attempt Sunset Practice Load!!!! N157Undertaker DC-3 and the Twin otter A/C involved. 57U is suppose to take off first and the otter will "catchup!!" Jerry Spencer is videoing a student on a tandem. Lots of ground shots and then we get to the plane. As was common back then, Jerry gets in the door and begins to film the takeoff. We taxi out to the north side of the runway all the way to the end out in the dirt. Skip turns 57U around and starts the takeoff roll. Jerry is filming from the door. I'm up by the bulkhead sitting by the left side window watching the action. The engines are singing, we're picking up speed and then BANG SPUTTER SPUTTER LOTS OF ORANGE (FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) The left engine is broken free from the mount just hanging by some wires and cables and it's on fire. Skip shuts everything down and we roll to a stop. Everyone keeps their cool and Al Krueger is by the door taking charge saying, "You out, you out, you out...) came my turn, I was gone!! We ran out into the field and within what seemed like no time at all everyone was out!!! The plane was now engulfed in flames, Jerry is still out in the field with the camera still runing!!!!!
You really have to see the video!!!!!!!!
After it rains, if you walk out to just past the end of the asphalt where 57U burned you may still find pieces of the melted aluminum in the dirt. Kick around, you'll find something. Then look down the runway to the south. If we had gotten off the ground before the engine blew, ...............??????

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[mjosparky 4]

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Everyone keeps their cool and Al Krueger is by the door taking charge saying, "You out, you out, you out...) came my turn, I was gone

Bill,
That was Chet Bennett at the door.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[skybill 22]

Thanks Sparky!,
I stand corrected. Things were sure happening fast for those few seconds! Thanks again to "Bad man Bennet!!"

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[mjosparky 4]

Bill,
When you going to make it out to the west coast.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[hottamaly 1]

I just saw Chet the other day, he looks good.

Skydiving gave me a reason to live
I'm not afraid of what I'll miss when I die...I'm afraid of what I'll miss as I live

[tonybrogdon 0]

Sorry it has taken so much time to respond on this one. You are right about the hotel on the beach in Enseneda. It was after the one first descibed above. The one one you mentioned we helped open the Baja Country Club south of Enseneda then made two jumps on the beach of the Baja Beach and Tennis Club (same owners), the second being at sunet. That was an exciting time jumping onto the pennsula.

Tony Brogdon
D-12855

[skybill 22]

Hi there 986,
Funny about Loadstalls, they have problems on the ground as well as in the air!!!! Drag your brain back to the SCR Stumbles, Elsinore, Labor Day Weekend '75. Besides the Beeches and Howards in attendance, someone brought in a "Loadstall!!" I think it was Larson and Schaffer's from Casa Grande (anyone remember for sure who???) Anyway, we're having fun at the Stumbles and there is a wind change now "to the lake" so the airplanes taxi down to the far end and takeoff toward the hanger!! 'Twas fun, people would get in the middle of the "approach" between the hanger and the ghetto cheering as the planes tookoff and passed overhead!!! I was hanging out at the old covered packing tables talking to Chuck Knight and his girlfriend Cissy when the Loadstall comes by the gaspumps at high speed, brakes screeching and smoking, people scattering out of its' way and comes to a stop just inches from the chain fence!!!! The jumpers in the plane make a mad dash exit "And Do A Ground Star!!!" Pandemonium insues and the Loadstall is the center of attention!! On takeoff run (lake to hanger) at about Vmc (the speed at which the aircraft is suppose to fly with the {critical} engine out!!)[yeah right!!] the Loadstall blew a jug "just" before liftoff or thereabouts!!!!!! The pilots did a great job stopping the plane and thank the almighty nobody got hurt!!! The Reaper swung hard on that one!! Or was it only a practice swing?? That was the end of the Loadstall jumps for the Stumbles. I have some slides (35mm) I took right after the plane stopped. I'll try to get them scanned or whatever and post them. Any hot tips on how to repro slides to disc ??

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[markd_nscr986 0]

Hey Bill......I think it was Larsons????I did make some dives out of a C195 he had at casa gulch and tried to talk him into making a dive out of his heliocourier......needless to say,I wont repeat the language he used to reply to thatI will scan some more of my stuff in ( probably this weekend if I get time,be in my "gallery")No clue on slides to a disc......only way I know of is slide to print then scan print..........

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[Raistlin 0]

I guess year 2000 makes it old, right?

Anyway, our DZO was asked to do a stunt for some show. The stunt was to imitate a helicopter emergency exit, the door is stuck, and he kind of knocks the door out with his legs, slides out with it for a few seconds standing on it (like skysurf), then breaks off and deploys. The door is basically a 6x6 (maybe less) feet sheet of metal.

Exit altitude was 7k. They modified it - gave it a 3-ring release so he could stand on it. The first take went uneventfully. They asked to do a second take. He kicked the door out, slided out with it, and could not release the door to get away from it (later found out his shin was somehow blocking the 3-ring - it doesn't take much pressure to hold it y'know)

He decides to throw his main which was a Velocity 84 (ack). The air bubble above is pretty big so first two tries the pilot chute would just fall back onto the door. The third time he threw it out really far and it deployed his x-brace, but gave him an awful spinning momentum, so he is now spinning really fast, and the Velo opened with about 5 twists. By this time the centrifugal force gives him a hard time cutting away - which he does - and pulling the reserve - which he doesn't.

He spun all the way to the ground on the door. The Cypres did not fire.

It was March. There was some snow on the ground still. He lived. He had a blue face and blue limbs from all the spinning, and internal injuries and broken bones, but he lived (in the end he had more injuries from spinning than the impact).

He still jumps, a living legend...

[skypuppy 1]

Name ???

not to poke fun at or make trouble, I just think he did really well in a bad situation... My hat is off to him...

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

[Raistlin 0]

PM sent

[airtwardo 7]

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Well,there I was skydiving hard...........
This happened at a Zhills meet in the late 70's (78?)

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My Zhills story~

It was a year or two before your's...

I went down to Florida from Illinois with a
bunch of club members for some mid-winter
jumping and consumption drills.



I didn't have a whole lot of jumps at the time,
and this was my first venture into BIG airplane
skydiving.

Gut gear..Bell helmet...faded Para-Gear jumpsuit,
looking around skydiving's Mecca...
~ I was a tad self conscious to say the least,
feeling WAY out of my element.

Staying both wide eyed and invisible,
I was the brunt way of too many jokes and good
natured kidding about my gear and experience...

Being the only guy on a round (Pap) I was
always first out of the DC3 in hopes of shortening
the walk back to the drop zone...

In the aeroplane on takeoff roll for yet another
60 second, 'one way' solo RW jump, I was looking
around at the guys close to me...thinking;
"Some Day....!"

The guy across from me, in the jumpsuit with the
Golden Knight and US Parachute Team patches,
taps on the altimeter / stopwatch plate affixed to
top of my reserve..and winks saying~

"At least you're always on time for lunch!"

...which brings quite a laugh from all on board
that were close enough to hear.

We're climbing through about 9 grand...
1/2 the guys are 'sleeping'... some talking,
some deciding if it's time yet to start getting
the rest of their gear on...

I'm staring at my GK tormentor thinking
to myself how if we were back in MY element...
a football field or a boxing ring...

I'd unceremoniously mop the floor with him
for further bruising what was left of my ego...



...When...




I thought I heard / felt / censed...
something 'different' about the aircraft.

Almost no one else seemed to notice, except
for 'GI Joe" across from me...
who quickly strapped on his helmet and
tightened his harness...

I followed suit...but really didn't know why.

"Be ready...do what I do" he said to me
with a nod, and as if on cue-
A jug or two on the right engine lets loose!

"WE'RE OUTTA HERE!" he yells slapping my arm
as I dumbly follow him out the door.
I'm trying to get stable looking back up at
the ole '3' as black smoke pours from
behind the old girl...when from nowhere
~almost as if rehearsed...

My NEW best friend grabs my hands and gives
me the warmest smile I'd ever seen.
We (he actually!) broke it into a line
so we both could look up at the plane
as a comical trail of people...helmets...gloves...
everything imaginable FINALLY begins to rain
from the wounded bird.

I looked at the 'dashboard' on my reserve
to check altitude when my favorite RW partner
nods and mouths "NOW!" so I smiled and dumped...

I opened around 4500' and with the winds...
landed spitting distance from the peas !!!

A pack job and a Ham Sandwich later ~
the rest of the load starts walking in...

WHERE THE HELL did you get out!?
one of the hikers asked us...

"Beats ME" my buddy said nodding my direction...

"I just followed the 'KID'...he seemed to
know the drill."



The rest of the vacation went GREAT!


"Hoop" loaned me a 'real' parachute to use
the rest of the week...
somebody GAVE me a real jumpsuit!

And....I even got my SCR!!!

My "Solo RW" ~ Being 'Invisible' ~
days were over,

................FOREVER!!




-

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

[mjosparky 4]

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Staying both wide eyed and invisible,

6' 5" or 6' 6" or so, how and the hell do you stay invisible at that altitude wearing gutter gear?

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somebody GAVE me a real jumpsuit!

Paul Gorman is the only one I can think of back then that would have a jumpsuit to fit you.

Another example of how you can learn by listening to the more experienced jumpers.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[airtwardo 7]

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6' 5" or 6' 6" or so, how and the hell do you stay invisible at that altitude wearing gutter gear?

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Sure...

I may fly like a Man Hole Cover~


But I'm "STEALTHY"

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

[mjosparky 4]

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I may fly like a Man Hole Cover~

But a "Man Hole Cover" with "Cool". After all, you have been to Kill Devil Hills.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals