skypuppy

Where were Robin Heid and Mike Truffer when this was going down? Shouldn't we have read about it in Skydiving Magazine? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Maybe they should take a page from the truck-top landing routine some stunt pilots do, and drive a truck up the runway for him to land on. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Is that phil smith? Base 1? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I remember I once weighed 135 lbs, too. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

again, from bill The following is the list of people that jumped from the B-25 on August 27th 1967. This newspaper article was dated August 29th, so many had not been found at that time: I have added some comments about a few of them, only to show that these guys were a most interesting bunch. KNOWN DEAD: ................................................................. Dorsie Kitchen age 33, Akron Ohio Mrs Pat Lownsbury ( only woman on the plane) age 26, Akron Ohio Rescued: ...................................................................... Bob Coy age 29, Springfield Ohio Bernard ( BUD )Johnson, age 30, West Richfield, Ohio. While Bud was in the water, a large boat came close to him, went all the way around him, watching him in the lake, and then took off and left him to drown. It was suspected the boat owner was either smuggling or out with someone elses wife. Landed safely at the airport: .............................................. Al Olmstead, Oberlin Ohio Larry Hartman, Fairview Park, Ohio Larry was the guy who jumped with me when I wore a blindfold for the jump. He was supposed to hook up with me, and after 5 seconds, I would open, and they would talk me in with a large bull horn. Larry overshot me, and the bull horn broke as we left the aircraft. I kept the blindfold on, and just missed a whole gang of high voltage wires. Larry came driving down the road to get me, and apologized all the way back to the field.I really liked Larry, a guy who tried to everything in his short life. He later was drunk on board a boat with some "friends" (in Lake Erie) and either fell overboard, or was thrown overboard. There are people who claim to both theories., His body was found weeks later. Missing (as of Aug 29th 1967: ....................................... Bill Onysko Cleveland Ohio Don Akers, Medina Ohio Rich Patfield Cleveland ohio Dave Sheehan Medina Ohio Norm Allard Astabula, Ohio Jerry Freeman, Akron Ohio Lyle Boyer Rocky River, Ohio Jim Dreyer, Cleveland Ohio Ralph Hazelton Fairview Park, Ohio Mike Thiem, Springfield Ohio Joe Malarik, Newbury Ohio ( the last body to be found 8 days after the jump) Jim Simmons Warren Ohio Stan Beck Strongsville, Ohio All in all, a great bunch of people. Jow Malarik and I liked playing with Dynamite, and put 16 sticks under a large tree at the end of the runway. Then we stuck 1/2 pieces into certain areas and shot at the from five feet away with Bill Onysko's handgun. There is no sign of the tree today. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Some of the names are in here. lake Erie Incident [In reply to] Quote | Reply -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On August 27th 1967, Bob Karns, who was a pilot working for Ortner Aviation at Wakeman Ohio, was giving a free jump from 20,000 ft + in a B-25 WW II bomber, to some jumpers who had jumped from that aircraft at an air show, for which Karns had been paid. There was so many jumpers showed up at Ortner Field, the plane was overloaded to the extent that the nose wheel came up off the ground. As a result, three or four jumpers were taken from the aircraft, and the rest were to make the jump. The plane took off and began its long climb, disappearing into 100% cloud cover . Cloud base was about 4000 ft and the tops about 6000 feet. A local jumper who should have known better, took off a bit later in a Cessna 180, and was planning to take 35mm still photos of the jumpers as they fell towards Ortner field. Common sense should have made him realize that the jumpers would be passing his Cessna 180 like bullets, and he would not get any usable photos, and if they were far enough away from the Cessna, they would be nothing but tiny specks in his viewfinder. The plane reached altitude, and the pilot (Bob Karns) received confirmation that the aircraft was directly over Ortner field. The radar screen was showing a blip at that spot ( actually it was the Cessna 180) and Karns turned and waved the jumpers out the bomb bay doors. Jimmy Simmons was first to go, and the others followed like they were tied on a long string. There was a total of 18 jumpers, and Bob Coy (one of the survivors) told me later they had a real blast getting together and just flying....until they approached the dark clouds at 6K. As the jumpers came through the clouds, they were faced with a rainstorm and the fact that they were 5 miles out over Lake Erie. They opened the chutes immediately, hoping to make it closer to shore. I believe everyone had Para-Commanders, and although its a great canopy, it doesnt fly like a square...not even close. Few made any headway, and prepared to ditch in the lake, which was 72 degrees F. Norm Allard had two jumpsuits on because of the cold at altitude, but he managed to get them off, except for the altimeter pinning them both to his wrist. Thats how they found him. Bill Onyska had the only piece of flotation gear, which he inflated, but the CO2 went out a small hole that had gone unnoticed in the device...and it was useless. BoB Coy, tried using his packed reserve as floatation, but it soon became waterlogged, and he discarded it, and then he tried to lay on his helmet which had styrofoam inside. That probably saved his life. A search was quickly started, and over the next 5 days, they collected all the bodies from the lake. A boat had been brought alongside a jumper named Johnson, and the boat then drove off leaving him in the lake. It is possible the guy was a smuggler or out for a cruise with someone elses wife and didnt want to get involved. A second boat rescued Johnson. Para Commanders were floating on the lake...with no one in the harness, or near them. Several were cut to pieces by boat propellers and founds later. My best friend, Joe Malarik was the last to be found. Oddly enough, Joe had been in a bar the night before with his girldfriend Barb and another guy, and he said that when he died, he would prefer to drown. He did so the very next day. When Joe was a young boy, he drowned in a swimming pool, but was revived. He thought it would be the best way to go. The B-25 aircraft, made another circuit, and again was told by Oberlin Tower that it was directly over Ortner Field, and Larry Hartman and Al Olmstead jumped, wearinmg oxygen masks and bottles. The Cessna hand landed by this time, and the B-25 was in fact, over the target area. Hartman noticed through a small hole in the clouds, one of the airport runways, and he pointed to it for Olmstead. They tracked over, and landed on the airport. By this time, the accident was known, and everyone got involved in the search. Dale Gates of the Parkman DZ, flew his Cessna a few feet above the choppy waves of the lake, trying to spot survivors, but none were seen. In all 16 jumpers died that day. The following Sunday while at the DZ in Parkman, I was asked to take photos of a young lad in freefall after he would make one more good jump alone. I agreed, and when the young lad jumped ( Paul Camelford) he went right into the ground. He had concentrated on holding his heading so much, he never attempted to get his main out. That made 17 dead over the two weekends. Even now when I think about it, I get quite upset inside. Two weekends before the B-25 flight, I had been filming many of these guys at Parkman, and I later gave copies of the 16mm film to their families. They told me it was like having their son back again.....even if only on film. One thing that came out of this, was I conducted tests that showed a canopy (especially one of 0 porosity) can have a portion of it inflated by scooping air inside it, and it will act like a large beach ball in an emergency, and keep a person afloat for quite awhile. It may be necessary to inflate a portion of the canopy several times before one is rescued...but when you have nothing else, that may be your only hope. Keep that in mind. Bill Cole D-41 Canada If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

from bill cole Rob: Howard White has it pretty much accurate. The pilot of the Lake Erie drop was a good friend of mine, Bob Karns. He flew me on my 1st chuteless jump, from Ortner Field, across lake Erie to an industrial airport that had been used to train airmen for W W II. Bob lost his licence to fly for 1 year only, but he never stoppped flying. He would put some junior pilot in the front seat beside him, and tell the guy, you don't touch anything. I'm flying this bird...you are a passenger...unless we have trouble, then its all yours. The control tower they were talking to wasn't Cleveland, it was west of Ortner Field about ten miles. Lou Pemberton was the guy in the Cessna 180, hoping to take still photos of the jumpers as they passed his aircraft. If they had been close enough, they would have gone past him in a split second before he even knew they were there.. If they were further away, he wouldn't even have seen them. What a dumb ass thing to do, but I guess thats life. Bob was one of the finest men Ive even known. He died in a plane crash while working for a company out of Detroit airport. Its hard to beleive that it was so long ago. I did have 4 color photos of the B-25 just before takeoff. It was so overloaded, they had to kick three guys off, so the nose wheel would be on the ground. Those three guys were lucky, because they didnt drown that day. Bill Cole If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

When this was first posted , I laughed my ass off. Then at last year's agm Bob Wright had run some copies off and was handing them out, I laughed my ass off again. This year, cleaning up the desk, I came across my hard copy and laughed my ass off. In between I sometimes brought it up on long drives or around the fire, and tried to explain it to other people along the way, laughing our asses off. I just had to find the thread and bring it back again for the people that hadn't read it yet. ps. any word on a second installment, Jim? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I started on static=lined Sierras, but when I moved to Coldwater we were using pc and similar type of parachutes. Normally there, if I jumped a round I would use a freefall rig, but a couple of years ago I borrowed one of the rigs and put it together just to check it out again. The s/l was attached to the pilot chute with velcro (pilot chute assist). I've put a bit of weight on in the intervening years, and rolled the landing out, but it wasn't too bad. This is a Niagara Parachutes Cobra in a pioneer sport pack with a 23' tri-con in a front=mounted reserve borrowed from Bill chuteless Cole. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

That's a Jerry Bird suit, isn't it? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

These pics are from a couple of years ago. Peter Chapman took them to accompany an article, Return to Rounds, that he wrote for Canpara last year. Basically we realized that most jumpers at the dz had never seen a round parachute, and were really almost scared of them. I borrowed this rig from Frank Arko of Coldwater Parachute School. It's a Niagara Parachutes Cobra main in a Pioneer sport pack with a 23' tri-con in the belly-wart (borrowed from Bill Chuteless Cole). If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I wish I had been able to record peoples' stories (well, at least some of them.) Particularly memorable were the early jump stories from Brian Williams, a (definitely) pioneering southern California jumper. That's why I thought it would be cool if everyone had at least one story written up already -- jump number, date, location (if the statute of limitations has passed) -- could be digital or hard copy. I know some people have way more stories than that that should be written down, but it's a start, do it again at the next reunion and you're making some headway... And just put them all into a pdf somewhere for people to browse.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Hi Howard Wouldn't it be cool if everyone who came to the reunion brought 1 or 2 pictures and at least one story written up. The stories could all be combined into a sort of souvenir booklet, posted online, etc.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I cant wait to hear. It's not Biggles, is it? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I don't remember the source, but I think there was even another thread on here that showed some graffiti in Moscow of parachutists descending under dual parachutes. The idea was simply that having the two parachutes out slowed down the rate of descent. Maybe because of the equipment they carried.... Ok, found the source, John Weekes, Assault from the sky, 1978. Actually has another shot of a jump from TB-3 showing a second group climbing out from a hatch in the top of the rear fuselage and going over the port side while the other group slides down the starboard wing. The pilot is in an open cockpit and there is a man standing the extreme nose with a small flag thought to be controlling the two sticks. It says it is from between 1934 and 1940. Also says using the two chutes was a common Russian habit until 1941, and shows the distinct square shape of the Russian chutes, designed to make it simpler to build. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Were there moving pictures of this jump and are they available on the web somewhere??? Hi Skratch! If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Ok, i've got Bill Cole's chuteless jump, Andy Dachtler's, and also Travis Pastrana's. Anyone know if Rod Pack's jump is on the net, or the two that Jimmy Tyler did for That's Incredible in the 80's. Would like to put them all on a dvd together. Rob If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Just cought a bit of skydiving on an episode of The incredible Hulk! With bill bixby? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

You do not sound harsh at all, but When you receive your A license in the mail and you sign that card (SOLO in Canada), that is a contract. That contract states that the governing body feels that you have completed the minimum requirements for self-supervised skydiving. The other end of that contract is your signature that certifies that you understand your responsibility to yourself and the sport as a self-supervised skydiver. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I would change that to read when a senior jumper accepts money from a junior jumper to teach him how to do something, that is a contract. The contract states that the senior jumper (who should be pretty much an expert at the aspect of the sport he is concerned with) will take all measures to ensure the junior jumper gets a safe introduction to that aspect of the sport, which includes teaching about the possibility of putting a wingsuit and rig on without having the legstraps routed properly before even getting onto the plane. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ also I understand if we're talking about students, but we're not. People don't take their licenses seriously enough. You have to be accountable to yourself. The guy didn't die from a wingsuit, he died because his legstraps were not on . . . First Jump Course training - How to don your gear. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ On your first jump course, your gear is not already mounted onto your suit. If presumably the senior jumper was a manufacturer-approved instructor, he is aware of the possibilities of not routing the legstraps properly when donning the wingsuit. And if he accepted money to coach the person through their first several jumps, then he is at fault, in my mind, ethically. I do not want to hijack the thread, so if this is not what the original thread was about, I will shut up. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I am guessing it is a Billy Graham revival meeting in Houston, say 1982. Is it a Golden Knight canopy. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I think maybe we are all missing the mark here. Seems to me that in this case the instructor was getting paid to teach the low-time jumper how to do wingsuit jumps. In my mind, if you are getting paid for something, there is no excuse NOT to check equipment etc. Indeed, if you are getting paid for it, it is your responsibility... This is not a case of a solo jumper walking up to the plane by himself to do a jump by himself -- his instructor was being paid to look after, before the jump, during the jumps (as much as possible) and after the jump. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

************************** Bill was the first to do it more than once. Later Jimmy Tyler did it twice, the second time the reserve was strapped on top of a baker's bowl with a drogue attached to it to keep it upright. Jimmy later died jumping Half Dome in Yosemite. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I was mainly looking for examples of problems with no helmets which, aside from one above, there doesn't seem to be an abundance of. Obviously this is not that big of an issue. ************************** It only takes once to ruin your day, AND your student's.... There actually has been, as Wendy said, at least one fatality in recent years involving a freefall collision between tandem and videographer. Other than that, the most common complaint I hear is getting your ears taken off by the risers on deployment. But as far as I can figure out, it IS a rule in Canada that instructors wear headgear on ALL instructional jumps, despite the fact that I see pictures of tandem instructors and examiner's doing jumps without.... Wouldn't jumping without be breaking a bsr and negate the instructor defense fund or school insurance? Of course in reality, the insurance company would probably settle anyway rather than risk the instructor/school loosing the lawsuit and setting a precedent the insurers would have to fight later in future court actions.... That seems to be the trend. The other thing is, I don't think cspa issues tandem ratings -- most people I know who get them go through a manufacturer's instructor examiner. So what would cspa do, they can't pull a tandem rating they didn't issue. Of course, they could pull cspa coach or instructor ratings, since you need a valid one to get an tandem instructor rating, but that would upset dzo's who wouldn't have people to do tandems or other instructional services, wouldn't it? So they might pull out of cspa, too, and join caps.... Either way, cspa loses. Maybe the helmet bsr should be revisited. Flagrant violations of a bsr can't look good to anyone -- they changed the rule for fun jumps, probably should change it for all jumps, to eliminate the way people follow SOME rules, but not ALL rules. Just my opinion. Rob If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Travis Pastrana was on Leno last night. He joked that since they showed the film of his chuteless jump, he'd probably lose his skydiving licence again! Good interview. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I'm happy to say that Steve Collins at www.spco.ca has posted the Skydiving Magazine article I wrote a few years ago about Bill Cole. I had it on a webpage myself until aol shut down all their member sites, and it has not been available for a few months, but is now up again. Go to www.spco.ca If you enjoy the article and illustrations, send an email to Steve to let him know you appreciate him posting it, despite the negative attitude the Canadian Sport Parashite Association may have toward Bill. There are a few more pictures on my facebook site, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27858&id=525051649&saved If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone