happythoughts 0 #26 March 5, 2004 QuoteQuoteAbout 20 years ago at ZHills a dude apparently had a double mal and lived - a bit broken up but went on to skydive further on. Last year he broke his leg. Also at ZHills. Ask TK I've also heard this story from somebody who used to jump at z-hills. Apparently he went terminal into some trees, and the branches slowed him down enough to save his life. Ok, here is the scoop on the Z-hills story. It was around 25 years ago. The guys name is Arch Deal. Arch is around 75 years old, I did a birthday jump with him 2 years ago. He had stuff out, but it was tangled up. He was not terminal, as in 120mph, more like 40. Not fun, but not 120. He went through a citrus tree and broke mucho branches. The branches slowed his fall and he went 6 inches into the soft sand underneath. The EMTs had to almost dig him out. Broke an arm, a leg, several ribs. 2 back vertebrae are now fused, maybe 3. Neck fractures. He was told that he almost snapped his neck, a wrong movement could have killed him. He told me that "he was 5'9" when he left the plane and 5'8" when he left the hospital". About a year ago, Arch had a reserve landing that broke at least one leg. He can walk ok, but I haven't seen him jump lately. He used to do 90 demo jumps a year for Nascar, Miller beer, and Cayman Airways. He still has 4 or 5 rigs. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KrisFlyZ 0 #27 March 5, 2004 QuoteLooked chuteless to me. Just curious, that's all. That is what it is supposed to look like. And it has that effect. Just think though, could you hold on to a chute with your hand in free fall and withstand opening shock? And yeah I believed it at first too Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuteless 1 #28 March 5, 2004 The only case I have heard of that a guy survived contact with mother earth, was during the war when a crewman bailed out of a disabled bomber. It was at night, and he hit some large pine trees which broke his fall and he landed in deep snow. The Germans finnaly found him, and checked out his story as fact. Other than that, 150 MPH straight into the earth, a body will bounce 10 feet in the air, and land about a0-15 ft from point of impact> I have seen two, and you WILL NOT walk away from that. No chutes open....dead...game over completely. Bill Cole D-41 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
newbian 0 #29 March 5, 2004 QuoteEven if its fresh its going to be like concrete. I disagree. Concrete tastes better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyangel2 2 #30 March 5, 2004 Well I'm a little late getting to this party, but you are right about this one. It's Michael McGowan. He has the video. Someone else posted here asking were they could see the video. Michael post here, drop him a PM and ask him to join in to tell his story. The video is kind of scary to watch, as less it was for me, cause you can hear Michael's voice.May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jraf 0 #31 March 5, 2004 Hey Bill I thought it was Arch but was not quite sure. I saw him over the Xmas boogie at ZHill...runs around like someone wound him up...:)jraf Me Jungleman! Me have large Babalui. Muff #3275 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sdgregory 0 #32 March 5, 2004 John "Wink" Winkler, Ohio's oldest skydiver and AerOhio's main rigger/AFF-I/Video-god/Freefly-god survived a double malfunction and was on "That's Incredible" in the eighties. You'll have to ask him for the full details but that means you gotta come jump in Rittman. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kramer 0 #33 March 5, 2004 QuoteThat is what it is supposed to look like. And it has that effect. Just think though, could you hold on to a chute with your hand in free fall and withstand opening shock? And yeah I believed it at first too Ah...I see how he did it now. See, I was thinking that he put the rig on before he opened it. I didn't realize he opened while still holding onto it, which yes, would seem impossible...did he have like a harness on under his jumpsuit or something? Thanks Kris. The FAKE KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #34 March 5, 2004 QuoteNo chutes open....dead...game over completely. I agree. People are using the phrase "double mal" differently than I use it. If you have nothing out at all, that is different than having both out and they look like crap. Two balls of junk can create drag and give you some survivability. I have seen that happen. If a skydiver has nothing out at all, it is not survivable. I have seen that happen. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuteless 1 #35 March 5, 2004 Like you said, if there are two tangled chutes trailing along behind you, and there is a strong wind taking you somewhat horizontal, then you may survive after the 1/2 mile rollout. There are partial malfunctions, where in extreme circumstances, you may survive, but TOTAL Malfunctions...means NOTHING out but your arms, and they wont do any good no matter how hard you flap them. Straight in with NOTHING out, you are gone Bill Cole D-41 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrewwhyte 1 #36 March 5, 2004 There have been various double mal survival stories. Sandy McRob into the old Bent Prop parking lot and Da3ve Ruckert (his spelling not mine) into Lost Prairie come to mind. I do know one story about a guy who went in with all pins in place and lived. It happened in Abbotsford BC in the late seventies or early eighties. Dead Bob was preparing to dump when he went through another guys (round) main. Dead Bob was knocked out. The other guy cut away and deployed his reserve; Dead Bob went through that too. The two jumpers formed a horseshoe out of the mess of fabric and went in like that. Both jumpers were very fucked up but they both lived. They were slowed down somewhat by the fabric out and they benefited from the soft muddy ground 10 feet above sea level that is Abbotsford. Dead Bob eventually started skydiving again and, although I haven't seen him in some time, I believe he still does occasionally jump. Many people believe Dead Bob had his chance to die and blew it, that he's immortal now. Since the accident he has survived a plane crash, a bad industrial accident, and in 1992 he was one of nine jumpers and one pilot quickly exiting a Porter over Chilliwack BC after the first one out took the tail with him. Ask Jerry Bird about that one if you see him. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #37 March 5, 2004 Yeah that was the guy in my great-uncle's squadron. I have the details in a book of my great-uncle's. His name was Sgt. Nicholas Alkemade #1431537 RAF. He fell from 18,000ft without a parachute and hit at a reported 122mph. He fell through dense fir trees and landed in a deap snow bank. There are photos of letter signed contemporainiously by a group of witnesses, a photo of Alkemade and a shot of the landing area in the book which I can post if anyone's really interested (just say... even if it does mean me getting out my camera cos I can't be arsed to make the scanner work). He jumped without his rig because he was the tail gunner in a Lancaster. There was no room to wear it so it sat in a compartment just behind the gun turret. The bomber caught fire when it was hit by a JU88 night fighter (which he subsequently shot down) whilst over the Ruhr during an operation on Berlin on the night of 24-25th March 1944. When Aklemade swung the turret round to get his chute, it was already on fire. He was therefore faced with the simple choice of buring to death on the plane or a crash course in solo AFF... luckily he chose the latter. When he came too he lit a cigarette and started blowing on his rescue wistle. It was 3.20 - the bomber had been attacked at about midnight. He was quickly picked up by some german soldiers. He had lost his flight boots and his clothes were scorched. He sustained the following injuries: burnt legs, twisted right knee, a deep splinter wound in his right thigh, strained back, slight concussion and a deep scalp wound, fist - seccond - third degree burns on face and hands. He attributes most of these to before departing the aircraft. He spent the rest of the war in Dulag-Luft and was liberated in May 1945. He was only 21. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wallygator 0 #38 March 6, 2004 Quotenope she on the cover of some magazine any idea which one and where it happened cheers -------------------------------------------------- who Jah bless Let no man curse. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuteless 1 #39 March 6, 2004 You are wrong in part of your post. The tail gunner of the Lancaster that was downed on June 13th, by a Junkers 88, was Pat Brophy, and Andrew Mynarski tried to get Pat out, and finnaly Mynarski jumped, but his chute was on fire and he Died. He was postumously awarded the Victoria Cross. I met Pat Brophy several times. He lived in Thunder Bay, and I flew up to meet him, . I wrote a motion picture script on Mynarski. He and my brother (both crew members of a VC winner) attended the Allied Air Forces reunion in l988. I and my family were all there, because I had arranged for my brother to be presented with a color print of his aircraft going down over the North Sea in Flames. My brother's pilot was dave Hornell VC...Brophy made the presentaion. The Mynarski Memorial Lancaster is one of two still flying, and is based at hamilton Airport, (Canadian Warplane Heritage). Nickolas Alkemade was indeed the guy who fell through the trees, Pat Brophy did not jump, his Lancaster hit the ground in a landing glide angle. When the Lancaster plowed through an orchard, Brophy was flung clear. He took his helmet off and threw it into the fire, and all his hair came out with the helmet. He decided that he had better get away while he could and was eventually smuggled back to England by the Resstance. The part of your post is right, but the rear gunner you are referring to was Brophy. Hope you dont mind the correction. Bill Cole D-41 Check on the web MSN, or Google "Andrew Mynarski" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlindBrick 0 #40 March 6, 2004 Quote i was told of an instance where a female jumper double mal'd and landed in a huge pile of manure and walked away. Was told it happened in the states somewhere. Any truth to this? Anyone there when it happened or is this just another campfire urban legend? cheers I think I know where this one came from. At my DZ, we had a student pull very low to try to impress his girlfriend. He ended up with a two out and failed to chop it when it went into a downplane. He survived because he happened to luck out and come down at a water hole favored by the local cattle. The combination of mud and manure almost certainly saved him from being a fatality. Not really thinking anything about it, the S&TA wrote up an incident report for USPA, noting that the manure had likely saved the student's life. Much to everyone suprises, USPA printed it in the Parachutist, complete with the manure save part. -Blind"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #41 March 6, 2004 Why am I feeling a need to go looking in my garage for my hip waders about now Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adamT 0 #42 March 6, 2004 There is some good info on the subject here: http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffallers.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlindBrick 0 #43 March 6, 2004 QuoteWhy am I feeling a need to go looking in my garage for my hip waders about now Because some have trouble accepting the truth when it's that far fetched? Don't know, I won't claim to have saw it personally(was before my time) but my DZO and S&TA are two of the straighest shooters I know and they just don't strike me as the type to lie. They said it was in Parachutist so maybe a search of back issues before april 2001 will yield some prof. -Blind"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cvfd1399 0 #44 March 6, 2004 Look in the world records. There was a woman that fell something like 30k and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WrongWay 0 #45 March 6, 2004 Just how old is Wink??? Wrong Way D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451 The wiser wolf prevails. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #46 March 8, 2004 Sorry, I do mind the correction. I was reading it stright out of the book written about the incident. The story is correct and varified by the RAF at the time. Please look again - this incident happend on the night of the 24th-25th March 1944 - nothing to do with anything that happend on the 13th June. I'm sure there was far more than once instance of a tail gunner's chute catching fire.... millions of sorties were flown - many of which involving the tail gunner shooting down a JU88... or was Pat the only one? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chizazz 0 #47 March 8, 2004 Wink's not that old. I don't think he'd be Ohio's oldest. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WrongWay 0 #48 March 8, 2004 That's what I was thinking, don't think he's the oldest. I know a guy who I THINK, not sure, is a member of SOS, or at least damn close to it. Wink seems like a cool guy, I haven't talk to him a lot personally, but I was there for his Wonderful Life moment around xmas time, and that was the coolest. Wrong Way D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451 The wiser wolf prevails. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #49 March 8, 2004 QuoteLook in the world records. There was a woman that fell something like 30k and lived. There was an article a long while ago in Readers Digest about an airline attendant who was strapped into a 3-seat piece when the plane disintegrated at 30K. She fell into the Amazon rainforest, crashed through several trees and broke her arm. She spent a week following streams and eventually was found by a local tribe. I know of several instances where somone had 2 tangled canopies, hit, and survived (even if it wasn't pretty). Some crushed heels or broken parts. I know of no instance in the US where someone had nothing out and lived. I don't want anyone believing that they have more than 2 chances. People need to keep pulling stuff all the way down. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunnydee123 0 #50 March 8, 2004 Is it ok to say this was a GREAT little story BV ....I even laughed out loud. Someone was looking out for you my friend! Dreams become reality, one choice at a time... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
