Blue Skies, Black Death

[billbooth 10]

"Blue Skies, Black Death" was a take off on the movie about great white sharks that preceded "Jaws", called "Blue Water, White Death". All the live shark cage scenes in "Jaws" were lifted from that movie. Also, I do remember the world meet in Z-hills being called Blue Sky, Black Feet". It was true. It took me about a week to get my feet and ankles truly clean after that meet.

[darkwing 5]

Interesting. The movie "Blue Water, White Death" came out in 1971. How does that fit with the appearance of the skydiving phrase, BSBD? It seems consistent to me, as I don't recall hearing the phrase BSBD until at least 1974.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[rdufokker 6]

I recall it being the "Ghoulidge crowd" headed by Ma Death. I don't remember her being one of the Snoots team members. But I do remember her sitting in Mr. Douglas and starting the whole airplane to chant, "Death, Death, Death". As I recall she is the one with her son strapped to her in the Skies Call book.

Irony: "the History and Trivia section hijacked by the D.B. Cooper thread"

[patworks 5]

Quote

Newsgroups: rec.skydiving, Subject: Re: Why Blue Skies ?
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 1996 20:46:10 -0800; Keith Levine wrote: Please anyone, why do we sign off with "Blue Skies", how did this get started & what is the intended interpretation.

When sequential RW (now formation skydiving) was just getting started in the mid 1970s it started in ST, AZ, CA, TX, KS, IL western USA. Jumpsuits were small. Most skydivers wore boots. Belly reserves and ripcords were the norm.

Of course, good intelligent, cool skydivers never got caught dead. We believed that until Jim Heydorn bounced with a double total. Poof, the myth of the right stuff vanished. If Heydorn could bounce, ANYBODY can bounce! Thus, the brighter pioneer sequential types began to notice that the quality/quantity of people getting killed by impact appeared random... good skydivers and bad skydivers both bounced about as high. We noticed that it was not that He screwed up but rather that fate is the hunter and there is a real element of chance in skydiving.

We learned that the bright blue friendly sky was balanced, yin/yang style, by a dark foreboding ground. Since the ground snuffed the life it was/is death. Unsafe practices, as a group were termed black death. The exit count used by my 8-way teams and several others was Blue sky/ Black Death. Sport parachuting became Sport Death. While the Black Death thing was an insider thing which translated to Hey yall, lets avoid danger up there it later got adopted and/or banned by folks who did not and do not understand what it means.

So just as goodbye means God be with you

Blue sky/black death is a salute to the sky/earth that means
something like lovely up there/watch out

crazy pat '96

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[patworks 5]

Yep, It Came from the Gulch and Goulidge

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[patworks 5]

...Red eyes" Came from smoking 'n joking AKA safety meetings. The winning team at the 1st North American Sequential Sweepstakes at Ft. Lewis, Sept 3-6, 1976 was named Clear-Eye Express because they used the eye-drops Clear Eye... But only in one-eye! ..... yuk, yuk + gigggle

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[patworks 5]

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They'd set up this flagpole and would fly a torn black flag... under it would fly the shirt of a jumper friend of theirs who'd burned in...

They still jump! They still fly the Jolly Roger! They are Air Trash
. . . I'm a member

Check 'em out at
http://www.airtrash.com/

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[airdvr 210]

I had the black 'Sport Death' tee. I can remember my mom being very upset when she saw me in it.

For me it was always ying/yang. Way too much fun to be all that safe.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[beenthere 0]

(Quote)
When sequential RW (now formation skydiving) was just getting started in the mid 1970s it started in ST, AZ, CA, TX, KS, IL western USA. Jumpsuits were small. Most skydivers wore boots. Belly reserves and ripcords were the norm.

Of course, good intelligent, cool skydivers never got caught dead. We believed that until Jim Heydorn bounced with a double total.


I quess we all have different versions of what happened when.

It was January 4th 1975. Jim Heydorn had a streamering PC that he tried to deploy his reserve past. Both canopies entangled. I tracked away in the opposite direction, and when I landed I remember someone coming up to me saying..."hey somebody on your load just went in" many thoughts ran through my mind, since I was jumping with some of my closest skydiving friends. It was a very sad day. You can find the complete stiry in your book United We Fall on page 274. "A freind goes in" by Matt Farmer. Will attach a couple photos from the jump.

Jim Captain

[feuergnom 28]

Quote

Quote

Newsgroups: rec.skydiving, Subject: Re: Why Blue Skies ?
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 1996 20:46:10 -0800; Keith Levine wrote: Please anyone, why do we sign off with "Blue Skies", how did this get started & what is the intended interpretation.

When sequential RW (now formation skydiving) was just getting started in the mid 1970s it started in ST, AZ, CA, TX, KS, IL western USA. Jumpsuits were small. Most skydivers wore boots. Belly reserves and ripcords were the norm.

Of course, good intelligent, cool skydivers never got caught dead. We believed that until Jim Heydorn bounced with a double total. Poof, the myth of the right stuff vanished. If Heydorn could bounce, ANYBODY can bounce! Thus, the brighter pioneer sequential types began to notice that the quality/quantity of people getting killed by impact appeared random... good skydivers and bad skydivers both bounced about as high. We noticed that it was not that He screwed up but rather that fate is the hunter and there is a real element of chance in skydiving.

We learned that the bright blue friendly sky was balanced, yin/yang style, by a dark foreboding ground. Since the ground snuffed the life it was/is death. Unsafe practices, as a group were termed black death. The exit count used by my 8-way teams and several others was Blue sky/ Black Death. Sport parachuting became Sport Death. While the Black Death thing was an insider thing which translated to Hey yall, lets avoid danger up there it later got adopted and/or banned by folks who did not and do not understand what it means.

So just as goodbye means God be with you

Blue sky/black death is a salute to the sky/earth that means
something like lovely up there/watch out

crazy pat '96

I remember reading the story of heydorn (your page? can't remember...) and that about summed up many things and still is one of the most intense things i have read so far on skydiving

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[kimemerson 7]

When I was a pup in the sport (still am, really) Tommy Piras and I were chatting and he was telling me how he got started skydiving. He was living in Arizona at the time and one day his brother came home and said he'd seen a bunch of parachutes in the air, and asked if Tommy wanted to go watch. So they rode off together to see the fun.

There was a load up at the dz by the time Tommy and his brother got there, and Tommy had found the DZ manager or owner and as they all were watching the skydivers opening from the ground, the DZO looked up and said, "Blues Skies". But then they could see that one of the skydivers was having a malfunction. So the DZO said, "Black Death." Then, just as the main was cut away and the white, round reserve deployed, the DZO said, "White Life." Tommy told me that as far as he knew, the whole expression is, "Blues skies, black death, white life." I've never heard any one confirm or deny that and no one has ever said it to me since.

When the skydiver who had the malfunction was doing ok, Tommy told the DZO that that was the guy he wanted as his instructor. So when the jumper landed and walked in their general direction, the DZO introduced Tommy to Bob Hallett. And the rest, as they say...

[likvidskaj 0]

It would be very, very interesting to hear some first-hand stories about Tom Piras, Desert Heat 4-way team, Mirror Image, Visions, and other hard core teams and personalities of that time.

[quade 4]

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i have no idea if you tripped over this clicky blues skies - pat works should be a reliable source

Pat Works is THE reliable source on this.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Heatmiser 0]

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i have no idea if you tripped over this clicky blues skies - pat works should be a reliable source

Pat Works is THE reliable source on this.

Weird, I keep getting a "Forbidden on this server" message. with this link.

What you say is reflective of your knowledge...HOW ya say it is reflective of your experience. Airtwardo

Someone's going to be spanked! Hopefully, it will be me. Skymama

[kimemerson 7]

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It would be very, very interesting to hear some first-hand stories about Tom Piras, Desert Heat 4-way team, Mirror Image, Visions, and other hard core teams and personalities of that time.

Yes, it would...is. I enjoy history in general. And in our case so many of the original pioneers are still right here, alive and in some cases, still jumping (hello Lew). And I'm damn sure quite a few are willing to talk. It doesn't just have to be the well known among us (Sanborn, Bird, Istel) but also the not as well knowns (hello Howard) but still important. Add to that the complete unknowns who were there at the time and we have a book in the making.

One thing I love about this sport is that, though USPA and others are talking retention rates in decline, we also have people who have been with it 30, 40 years. Or more. So getting to hear some first hand stories from those who were there then is still pretty easy.

[Rstanley0312 1]

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Quote

Quote

i have no idea if you tripped over this clicky blues skies - pat works should be a reliable source

Pat Works is THE reliable source on this.

Weird, I keep getting a "Forbidden on this server" message. with this link.

I get the same thing.

Life is all about ass....either you're kicking it, kissing it, working it off, or trying to get a piece of it.
Muff Brother #4382 Dudeist Skydiver #000
www.fundraiseadventure.com

[riggermick 7]

Quote

Quote

Newsgroups: rec.skydiving, Subject: Re: Why Blue Skies ?
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 1996 20:46:10 -0800; Keith Levine wrote: Please anyone, why do we sign off with "Blue Skies", how did this get started & what is the intended interpretation.

When sequential RW (now formation skydiving) was just getting started in the mid 1970s it started in ST, AZ, CA, TX, KS, IL western USA. Jumpsuits were small. Most skydivers wore boots. Belly reserves and ripcords were the norm.

Of course, good intelligent, cool skydivers never got caught dead. We believed that until Jim Heydorn bounced with a double total. Poof, the myth of the right stuff vanished. If Heydorn could bounce, ANYBODY can bounce! Thus, the brighter pioneer sequential types began to notice that the quality/quantity of people getting killed by impact appeared random... good skydivers and bad skydivers both bounced about as high. We noticed that it was not that He screwed up but rather that fate is the hunter and there is a real element of chance in skydiving.

We learned that the bright blue friendly sky was balanced, yin/yang style, by a dark foreboding ground. Since the ground snuffed the life it was/is death. Unsafe practices, as a group were termed black death. The exit count used by my 8-way teams and several others was Blue sky/ Black Death. Sport parachuting became Sport Death. While the Black Death thing was an insider thing which translated to Hey yall, lets avoid danger up there it later got adopted and/or banned by folks who did not and do not understand what it means.

So just as goodbye means God be with you

Blue sky/black death is a salute to the sky/earth that means
something like lovely up there/watch out

crazy pat '96

well said Pat!!

Mick.

[patworks 5]

Quote

i have no idea if you tripped over this clicky blues skies - pat works should be a reliable source

Darn!!, I keep getting a "Forbidden on this server" message. with this link.

Roadblock: anybody know how to get past the barrier to the Rec.Skydiving Link??? Great site! There is a treasure trove of skydiving history and bon mots lurking there as pearls shining quietly admidst pig poop.

The web masters of Rec.Skydiving deserve high praise indeed for fielding this. They indeedsatisfied the 'Communication Imperative' .... a basic tenet of our sport. Plaudits + HELP!

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[cosmobuddy 0]

Jim Heydorn. It is now Jan 4th, 2014.

www.SkydiveLostPrairie.com

[patworks 5]

Quote

1996-Why we say Blue Sky; Black Death!
[1996 original post with original HTML text emphasis in Works’ response]

Newsgroups: rec.skydiving,
Subject: Re: Why Blue Skies ?
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 1996 20:46:10 -0800; Keith Levine wrote: Please anyone, why do we sign off with "Blue Skies", how did this get started & what is the intended interpretation?
________________________________________


When sequential RW (now formation skydiving) was just getting started in the mid 1970s it started in ST, AZ, CA, TX, KS, IL western USA. Jumpsuits were small. Most skydivers wore boots. Belly reserves and ripcords were the norm.

Of course, good intelligent, cool skydivers never got caught dead. We believed that until Jim Heydorn bounced with a double total. Poof, the myth of the right stuff vanished. If Heydorn could bounce, ANYBODY can bounce! Thus, the brighter pioneer sequential types began to notice that the quality/quantity of people getting killed by impact appeared random... good skydivers and bad skydivers both bounced about as high. We noticed that it was not that He screwed up but rather that fate is the hunter and there is a real element of chance in skydiving.

We learned that the bright blue friendly sky was balanced, yin/yang style, by a dark foreboding ground. Since the ground snuffed the life it was/is death. Unsafe practices, as a group were termed black death. The exit count used by my 8-way teams and several others was Blue sky/ Black Death. Sport parachuting became Sport Death. While the Black Death thing was an insider thing which translated to ‘Hey yall, lets avoid danger up there.’ It later got adopted and/or banned by folks who did not and do not understand what it means.

So just as Goodbye means God be with you

Blue sky/black death is a salute to the sky/earth that means
something like Lovely Up There/Watch Out

patworks '96 [

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[chuteless 1]

Its a stupid saying. People who use it are trying to impress people who don't jump, like they are some sort of high risk daredevil. It reminds me of John Wayne, who often had some dumb remark in his movies, and this is the same dumb thing.

[dzswoop717 5]

In my younger, dumber, macho days. We did stupid stuff, pulled low, jumped low, over grossed airplanes, broke off down planes LOW, and so on. We were young and full of piss and vinegar. We lived the "Sport Death" life style. But NEVER do I remember using the phrase Blue skies black death, outside my skydiving group to impress anyone. We were to busy trying to impress each other with our acts of bravery and skill to worry about non jumpers. I can't recall ever using this phrase to impress a non skydiver, but that was many brain cells ago!

[airtwardo 7]

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In my younger, dumber, macho days. We did stupid stuff, pulled low, jumped low, over grossed airplanes, broke off down planes LOW, and so on. We were young and full of piss and vinegar. We lived the "Sport Death" life style.

Yeah a lot of 'we' did...but the number of 'us' making 'Chute-less' jumps was pretty small back then. Ya gotta kinda think Mr. Cole has a pretty good grasp on the whole 'Sport Death' lifestyle!

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

[dzswoop717 5]

You are right. Any thing short of a chuteless jump is for pussies to him. I retract my last post. We still had fun living the lifestyle thow.

[chuteless 1]

Hey Jim, Thanks for the compliment. I will be 82 this year, and I tried to get permission from a DZ owner/operator to do a Mr. Bill, but I would beholding onto the other guy and not wearing chute, so I would land with him. I got a real stern look from the DZO, and said, no I don't think I can allow that. There is getting less fun to the sport now, a guy can't even try something different. I suppose its time to make 1 more this summer with my daughter, and then disappear into the trees at the edge of the DZ and just watch.