michalm21 2 #1 August 31, 2008 http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2008/08/30/men_parachute_football_game.html Men parachute into wrong football stadium McClatchy Newspapers Saturday, August 30, 2008 Duke officials were a bit surprised when, at 6 p.m. EDT on Saturday, about an hour before the scheduled kickoff of their game against James Madison, two men parachuted into Wallace Wade Stadium and landed at the 35-yard line with a game ball. Problem was, the Blue Devils — who were warming up on the field along with their guests from Virginia — weren’t expecting it. “All we know is, they must have missed their jump site,” a team official said. And they did — because the jump site was meant to be about eight miles away. North Carolina was scheduled to receive the game ball for its contest against McNeese State via an aerial team at about that time in Chapel Hill. According to UNC assistant athletic director for promotions Michael Beale, the plane was in the air, but the jumpers from Virginia-based Aerial Adventures opted to cancel the leap into Kenan Stadium because of a severe weather front — which would later delay both games. Evidently, when the clouds eventually opened, the pilot thought they were over the correct stadium, and the skydivers jumped — realizing only when they landed in Wallace Wade that they were in the wrong place. The two men immediately scrambled off the field with the game ball, and when UNC associate athletic director Rick Steinbacher was informed by a reporter of what had happened, he immediately called Duke officials to confirm the miscue, and offer his apologies. “In about five years, maybe this will be funny,” Steinbacher said. “Right now, I’m just glad no one was hurt.” ——— (c) 2008, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.). Visit The News & Observer online at http://www.newsobserver.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
birdlike 0 #2 August 31, 2008 Wow! Funny and embarrassing and scary all in one shot! I am no demo jumper, but I have to imagine that if you head into the wrong stadium, you could find that it's the kind that has wires and shit crisscrossing overhead (which would be "across your final approach"). Yikes! I'm sure glad they're OK. What happened to GPS? Who did the spot? Quote “In about five years, maybe this will be funny,” Steinbacher said. “Right now, I’m just glad no one was hurt.” Damn skippy! Spirits fly on dangerous missions Imaginations on fire Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Squeak 17 #3 August 31, 2008 Quote Wow! Funny and embarrassing and scary all in one shot! I am no demo jumper, but I have to imagine that if you head into the wrong stadium, you could find that it's the kind that has wires and shit crisscrossing overhead (which would be "across your final approach"). Yikes! I'm sure glad they're OK. What happened to GPS? Who did the spot? Quote “In about five years, maybe this will be funny,” Steinbacher said. “Right now, I’m just glad no one was hurt.” Damn skippy! Dont know about the REGS there but here you are supposed to ReCY the site before the jump, including from aboveYou are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky) My Life ROCKS! How's yours doing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cocheese 0 #4 August 31, 2008 Do you think stadiums might look the same at night from 5000 feet after waiting for industrial haze to clear? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billeisele 130 #5 August 31, 2008 Quote Do you think stadiums might look the same at night from 5000 feet after waiting for industrial haze to clear? only if the school logo and name in the middle of the field and in the end zone are the same Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diablopilot 2 #6 August 31, 2008 Wonder where the ground crew was.---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWFlyer 2 #7 August 31, 2008 This sounds suspiciously like another link in the ongoing Duke/UNC rivalry. [laugh Except that's all about basketball. I'm surprised there were actually any people in Wally Wade to see the skydivers screw up. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #8 August 31, 2008 Quote Wonder where the ground crew was. In the other stadium (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guru312 0 #9 August 31, 2008 Quote...they were in the wrong place. Many years ago, very early '70s, I flew a demo jump for a guy who jumped into the old Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia for the opening day of the Phillies season. We flew a practice run a week or so before and things went great. He landed on second base. For the real thing, with 50,000 people in the stadium, he couldn't deal with swirling winds around the top and chose to land in the parking lot. Worst of all, a 'big wig' from the FAA was in the stadium and I almost lost my license over the issue.Guru312 I am not DB Cooper Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
javelin1 0 #10 August 31, 2008 These guys DEFINITELY deserve the Helen Keller Award!!!!LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkycndo 0 #11 August 31, 2008 Is it a coincidence Twardo hasn't posted in this thread?50 donations so far. Give it a try. You know you want to spank it Jump an Infinity Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,121 #12 August 31, 2008 >These guys DEFINITELY deserve the Helen Keller Award! I think it's sorta the opposite. A Luddite award? Personally I'll always trust my eyes over a GPS, and if I was asked to spot for "that stadium" I'd ignore the GPS reading and put us over the stadium in a place where we could make the field. (Naturally it would also be best to have the same person spotting the demo as spotted the last demo, or the practice jump.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,590 #13 August 31, 2008 Quote Is it a coincidence Twardo hasn't posted in this thread? He knows he will have a lot of 'splaining to do, and he just isn't ready to admit he forgot his glasses."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickDG 23 #14 August 31, 2008 Another green light tragedy . . . NickD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #15 September 1, 2008 Quote Dont know about the REGS there but here you are supposed to ReCY the site before the jump, including from above Golden Knights did - dropped a bunch of WDIs an hour before halftime over Berkeley Memorial. You'd really have to screw up to mistake this stadium for another, due to geography/landmarks. Like court martial level incompetence. (and thanks to google maps, we can all look up Duke versus NC) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
javelin1 0 #16 September 1, 2008 you talkin bout Pat Mulhern?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
