Dallas Demo Fatality (Rev.1)

[BigM 2]

I posted earlier about trying to run down some details about a demo fatality in the Dallas area around 1990. I have since come across a few more details that may help find out about it.

It was said to be in Nagadoches, TX. Time frame was around 1983. Jumpers name was Jeff Kaplan. I hope this helps jar someone's memory. Many thanks in advance.

Jeff

PS- Greenies please feel free to delete my earlier post.

"When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

[usedtajump 1]

I remember this happening but am somewhat hazy as to the details. It seems Jeff was jumping a rig which had the pilot chute mounted on a belly band. Also mounted on this belly band was a flag which was to be deployed after opening. Seems that the bag containing the flag was inadvertently mounted over the bridle cord for the pilot chute creating a pilot chute in tow situation. Jeff tried to remedy the situation by attempting to cut the bridle with a hook knife and messed with it until way too low resulting in his death. Jeff bounced off some high tension power lines creating a power outage in the local area. I think this was his demo team's first show together. Attended his memorial service, the first of many such events attended.

This is just what I remember and if anyone else has more detailed information, please jump in here.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[airtwardo 7]

Quote

I remember this happening but am somewhat hazy as to the details. It seems Jeff was jumping a rig which had the pilot chute mounted on a belly band. Also mounted on this belly band was a flag which was to be deployed after opening. Seems that the bag containing the flag was inadvertently mounted over the bridle cord for the pilot chute creating a pilot chute in tow situation. Jeff tried to remedy the situation by attempting to cut the bridle with a hook knife and messed with it until way too low resulting in his death. Jeff bounced off some high tension power lines creating a power outage in the local area. I think this was his demo team's first show together. Attended his memorial service, the first of many such events attended.

This is just what I remember and if anyone else has more detailed information, please jump in here.

***

That demo scenario rings a bell...I remember hearing of / discussing that event in detail with someone that 'supposedly' witnessed it way back then...I didn't know of the jumpers name or location of the incident though.

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

[BigM 2]

The ragged info I got about this was that the flag and his "chute" got tangled up. I had a hard time trying to figure out how this could have happened (especially with today's configurations). I just thought that he had gotten things mixed up. The belly band set-up explains that.

Many thanks-
Jeff

Anyone else have anything???

"When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

[Taylor610 0]

Hey Jeff, Back "in the day" I saw a number of flag jumps where the flag was actually attached to a "D" line and packed inside the container. I also saw a couple of cut-aways because of it. It was done by routing that one line outside of the slider, had to do a hop and pop because the container looked like it had 2 canopies packed in it. Really strange stuff...

PM me and I will tell you who it was and if you like you can call him and ask him about the 50% working rate. We actually laughed about it working 50% of the time and the last practice jump before the demo needed to be a cut-away so it would work for the demo.

Not to make light of the Dallas accident, just to say way back, flags were hooked up all kinds of different ways. If I were to date those jumps, I would guess we did them around '79 or '80.

[mjosparky 4]

Quote

Hey Jeff, Back "in the day" I saw a number of flag jumps where the flag was actually attached to a "D" line and packed inside the container. I also saw a couple of cut-aways because of it. It was done by routing that one line outside of the slider,

Part of the reason for the cutaways was the line running outside of the slider grommet. I jumped a setup similar to that for a couple of years. I had a halyard running from a center D line down to the speed link. I would carry the flag in a fanny pack around my waist. After opening I would run the flag up with the halyard. If I didn’t run the halyard through the grommet I would have a slider hang up every time.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[skydiverek 63]

The EXACT same scenarion killed the Polish national champion (2400 jumps). All the detalis are the same: the flag, entanglement, trying to cut the mess with the knife, bouncing in front of people during the demo jump. That happened in 1999. Scarry...