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Carl “Smitty” Smith born August 24, 1948 in Miami Florida to Thelma and Eugene Smith of Belle Glade, died September 25, 2021. He was a longtime resident of Palm Beach County and most recently a resident of Landrum, South Carolina. He was retired from a long career in the construction industry, but his lifelong passion was skydiving. He was an instructor in Indiantown and Clewiston, FL, and a well-respected member of the skydiving community, where he impacted many individuals with his patience, quiet demeanor, and professionalism. He always took time to nurture people new to the sport, and was working with new jumpers up until the day he died. His newest skydive family was in Chester, SC. Another passion of his was photography, which he incorporated into both skydiving and his love of nature. Hours were spent in nature preserves, on land and kayaking on Florida rivers, getting the perfect shot. While on vacation, he would take breath-taking landscape photos, but had to be reminded sometimes to include people. He was always a craftsman, but most recently became a wood-turning artisan. Smitty is survived by his wife of 45 years, Jennifer Smith; his two daughters Stephanie Rudy (Tim), and Christy Herrmann (Michael); and his sister Linda Miles. I knew Smitty from jumping with him in Clewiston. He was a really nice person, avid photographer and a hell of a good jumper. I will definitely miss him. RIP Smitty, BSBD

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Thanks for posting this. I took the opportunity earlier this year to listen/watch a zoom BOD meeting. They were working it, taking it seriously. We should too. Wendy P.

LOL, that was me. As the main was deploying, I heard this weird buzz sound followed by some fluttering behind me. Looked back to see the reserve sneaking out, still inside the diaper. I pulled it in and initially held it under my arm, but then couldn't fly the main. So I held the reserve between my knees. I think I dropped it as I landed. Edit: This is why when people ask how many reserve rides I have, I say "three and a half". I saw the German student on his second jump have the reserve go through the risers. I was one of the first two guys to get to him. We had just unloaded jerry cans from my car (we used fuel from the base gas station, so not military fuel, but not German/economy prices either). I got in my car with this guy Merlin and we blasted out to the landing area between the runway and the parallel taxiway, almost hitting one of the taxiway lights. I was amazed this guy was alive and seemed likely to survive. We radioed for an ambulance did some basic first aid. We stood on the canopies while the ADAC helicopter came in and life flighted him. There was a guy with a camera helmet on the strut when the student jumped. We almost never had video. Pete and some other guys (probably law enforcement, base flight safety officer) reviewed the video and determined that he spun as he exited and that somehow trapped the right rear riser. Weird that I thought that happened after my incident with the FXC. They took the wings off C-GBBL the Crazy Banana (was also the name of some German bar or band or something), put it in a sea container and shipped it to Petawawa. Last I heard it was flying out of Arnprior (https://www.airhistory.net/photo/310025/C-GBBL). Flightaware shows it flying from Victoria to South Cariboo on 20 Feb.