25th anniversary of the Learstar accident

[Airman1270 0]

I remember the date because I was a student at the time at Duanesburg, NY. Sat around all day long waiting for the wind to cease, then made my 6th static-line jump that evening. Best wishes to the friends of the victims.

Cheers, Jon S.

[birdlike 0]

Quote

...Everything changed on August 21, 1983, when Lockheed L-18 Learstar crashed. Nine skydivers and two crew members on the Learstar were killed when the aircraft stalled on jump run and plunged 12,000 feet to the ground at Silvana, Washington. Fifteen survivors included 11 who jumped before the plane stalled and four who struggled out as it spiraled into the ground. Horror stories came from survivors who described finally clawing their way to the open door as their struggling friends were pinned to the walls by centrifugal force unable to make it to a door only a few feet away. I and every other skydiver imagined the nightmarish horror: fully equipped with two chutes, plenty of altitude at 12,000 ft, only a few feet from an open door and suddenly escape becomes impossible as the spin develops and you are centrifuged and immobilized, pinned hard against the interior walls.

After that crash jumpers lost their taste for Lodestars. Whether the Learstar had worse spin characteristics than a stock L 18 meant nothing to skydivers as they were all Lodestars and many thought of them now as deathships. Some said the FAA banned all Lodestars from skydiving after the Washington crash but I doubt if that was the case. They never had great economics and with most jumpers now wary of them they faded fast from jumping. The last one I saw at a DZ was derelict at Antioch CA in the early 70s, in bad shape...

Jumping the Lodestar

I had never been aware of this tragedy, and it strikes my heart.

It's that much worse to have to perish never having been able to exit.


BSBD...

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire