Jumping smoke?

[curator 0]

Responding to your signature (What's the worst that could happen), this one's close --
Jump #75, 4th of July, 1969, homemade smoke bracket (metal standoff, hose clamp) on boot, smoke in freefall, nice flat stable pull (pre-hand deploy), pilot chute hesitation and pilot chute snags on smoke bracket, canopy (PC) deploys horseshoed, pilot chute breaks free, goes through lines and fuses, 1/2 the suspension lines slack and waving all over the place with a wad of nylon in the middle going ~100 mph. I got to tell you it didn't look like any malfunction that had been described to me in training. So, I spent about 5-8 seconds trying to figure it out (brain lock, wasn't prepared to scrap it). When I could see pinecones, cut away and got line stretch at ~200 feet.

Got very lucky. Moral -- Bad things CAN happen, and the really bad ones are those you've never heard of.

[adrenalinejunki 0]

OK I done the demo at the main landing area without the smoke. Everything went perfectly, including my landing.. The pilot did a fly by that was so low I saw my new nephew accually hit the dirt because he thought that the wing was going to hit him. I have never seen anything so fucking cool in my life. The news crew never showed though. Thank you to all the guys from Reaford for making my wedding a huge succses. Sorry if my typing is slurred, I am drunker than hell right now. Goodnight all! The winds screwed us out of doing the demo at the place where we wanted to so the main landing area was the only option.



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What's the worst that can happen?

[Ron 10]

Quote

The pilot did a fly by that was so low I saw my new nephew accually hit the dirt because he thought that the wing was going to hit him. I have never seen anything so fucking cool in my life.

Would it have been cool if:
1. He hit your nephew killing him? It has happend. Ironicly a low flyby at a wedding killed on of the wedding party a bunch of years ago.

2. The FAA took the pilots license for not maintaining seperation?

§ 91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General.
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:

(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.

(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.

(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.

While I like a good buzz job...Not over people.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[adrenalinejunki 0]

I know it was dangerous. I asked him to do a fly by but I was just taking into consideration that he would have been atleast a couple hundred feet over head. I am by no means bitching about what he did. It was fucking cool to see. I am glad he did it but would have never asked for something that low but I am glad he did it. It made my special day that much more special. And to the pilot if he reads this, AGAIN THANK YOU!



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What's the worst that can happen?

[billvon 3,118]

> The pilot did a fly by that was so low I saw my new nephew accually hit
>the dirt because he thought that the wing was going to hit him.

At the airport I started jumping at, a pilot did something similar, and a jumper mooned him. The left main landing gear of the C182 hit him. Result was broken pelvis, broken back and evisceration. He was very fortunate - he lived, although he will poop in a bag for the rest of his life.

Buzz jobs are fun, but I think it's generally better to buzz inanimate objects than people. That way the pilot is risking only his own life and some inanimate objects.

Glad the jump went well. Congrats on the wedding.