Scary stories from the old days?

POST JUMP “trauma”.  Stormvile NY 1972, my 1st year of jumping, it’s Sept & I’m off student status maybe 20 jumps or so & finally jumping out of the Big Plane, (Bobby Sweets, Lockheed Lodestar). I’m doing a solo w/ some other novices, we’re out 1st so the experienced jumpers can get their Big Star done. An older JM / pilot is spotting,(Woody).I’m at that stage where I still have questions about this sport & the new breed of people who jump out of planes. The jump is great,10,000’, high speed exits, wind blast etc. A beautiful Blue Sky, light winds and I’m lovin it! Everything going smooth, nice opening, my 28’ 7-TU is handling like a sports car. I realize making the DZ isn’t happening but I’m only about a mile or so away and landing off is part of the game. I can see the airport & the end of the runway, so I maintain my heading, facing the direction of the airport and PLF into brush & weeds. Still smiling and diggn’ the rush as I field pack my rig for the hike back. Things are going slow as I work my way through the brush & weeds but nothing is wrong. As I get closer to the airport the terrain changes to just high weeds & some mud, my sneakers are getting heavy & my pace has slowed. I have to pick my feet up a bit to clear the mud but I trip on something and fall. As I gather myself and look down I see a skydiver in full gear, jumpsuit & all, face down, motionless & half buried in the mud. (I just kicked him while walking and fell over him). I’m scared as I reach down to see if he’s alive, I yell at him and shake his shoulder, no response. I’m sure he’s dead and I’m too scared to pull him out of the mud. There’s no sign of breathing or life and there’s no one else around. I’m really shook up and can’t help but think, “these F’n jumpers aren’t looking for this guy, they just left him here”  I’m feeling sick to my stomach and give one more try to check this guy out, nothing but a heavy, cold, wet body. It takes me another 10 minutes to get to the airport, I marked my path so we could find him again. When I get on the airport, I dump my gear at the edge of the marsh, I find the DZO, he sees my face and asks what’s wrong. I tell him the story and he just starts laughing, (now I know these people are crazy). He looks me in the eye and says “settle down, it’s a dummy, we lost it about a year ago”. WHY?:    The DZ was having some issue w/ a neighbor who was calling local troopers when jumpers & wind streamers landed off. The neighbor was telling the police that jumpers were injured and needed help / ambulances.  The troopers were getting annoyed responding to these calls and the DZO was getting tired of the troopers complaining to him. So the DZO’s response was to dress this dummy in a complete rig, helmet, boots & an old B-12 and drop it near the neighbors house BUT they missed. The neighbor didn’t see this “accident”,  the troopers weren’t called and as far I know the dummy was left there…..   Go figure? 

On 8/27/2024 at 9:26 PM, faller said:

POST JUMP “trauma”.  Stormvile NY 1972, my 1st year of jumping, it’s Sept & I’m off student status maybe 20 jumps or so & finally jumping out of the Big Plane, (Bobby Sweets, Lockheed Lodestar). I’m doing a solo w/ some other novices, we’re out 1st so the experienced jumpers can get their Big Star done. An older JM / pilot is spotting,(Woody).I’m at that stage where I still have questions about this sport & the new breed of people who jump out of planes. The jump is great,10,000’, high speed exits, wind blast etc. A beautiful Blue Sky, light winds and I’m lovin it! Everything going smooth, nice opening, my 28’ 7-TU is handling like a sports car. I realize making the DZ isn’t happening but I’m only about a mile or so away and landing off is part of the game. I can see the airport & the end of the runway, so I maintain my heading, facing the direction of the airport and PLF into brush & weeds. Still smiling and diggn’ the rush as I field pack my rig for the hike back. Things are going slow as I work my way through the brush & weeds but nothing is wrong. As I get closer to the airport the terrain changes to just high weeds & some mud, my sneakers are getting heavy & my pace has slowed. I have to pick my feet up a bit to clear the mud but I trip on something and fall. As I gather myself and look down I see a skydiver in full gear, jumpsuit & all, face down, motionless & half buried in the mud. (I just kicked him while walking and fell over him). I’m scared as I reach down to see if he’s alive, I yell at him and shake his shoulder, no response. I’m sure he’s dead and I’m too scared to pull him out of the mud. There’s no sign of breathing or life and there’s no one else around. I’m really shook up and can’t help but think, “these F’n jumpers aren’t looking for this guy, they just left him here”  I’m feeling sick to my stomach and give one more try to check this guy out, nothing but a heavy, cold, wet body. It takes me another 10 minutes to get to the airport, I marked my path so we could find him again. When I get on the airport, I dump my gear at the edge of the marsh, I find the DZO, he sees my face and asks what’s wrong. I tell him the story and he just starts laughing, (now I know these people are crazy). He looks me in the eye and says “settle down, it’s a dummy, we lost it about a year ago”. WHY?:    The DZ was having some issue w/ a neighbor who was calling local troopers when jumpers & wind streamers landed off. The neighbor was telling the police that jumpers were injured and needed help / ambulances.  The troopers were getting annoyed responding to these calls and the DZO was getting tired of the troopers complaining to him. So the DZO’s response was to dress this dummy in a complete rig, helmet, boots & an old B-12 and drop it near the neighbors house BUT they missed. The neighbor didn’t see this “accident”,  the troopers weren’t called and as far I know the dummy was left there…..   Go figure? 

That reminds me of a recent jump at Campbell River, Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada. My main canopy opened in a spin and I was not enjoying the spin, so I cutaway and deployed by reserve. I landed my in the grass beside the pea gravel bowl.

My main landed in the forest. As I was walking out to search for my main, I encountered a half-dozen RCMP who were overly excited!

Construction workers had phoned in the "accident" when they saw my main land in the forest.

I had to coach the RCMP corporal to take a few slow, deep breathes to calm down to a level where he could function.

Hah!

Hah!

I may have posted this story before but I am reminded of it again. Many years ago when I was jumping at Taft, somebody had a cutaway and their canopy came down next to a road. Some local guy driving by saw it, stopped, looked around and tentatively lifted the canopy up to see if there was a body underneath it. When he saw that there wasn't, he gathered it up and brought it back to the airport. His curiosity got the better of him, and he went up on a tandem that day. He liked it, and came back a few days later for AFF. Long story short, he became a regular jumper, and even a TI!