Parachute malfunction

[JTVal]

So these arent really PICTURES . They are frame grabs from 24 feb 07 , my second reserve parachute ride. But , I figured some of you would like to see this.
Here's the story:
On 24 Feb 07, I was filming some bodys first skydive as I often do.
On busy days, like this one, I hire someone to pack my parachute for me.(This is commonplace among skydivers and dropzones) I own two complete parachute systems (AKA a Rig) so I set one down when I get done filming the student and while I edit the video/pictures the packer gets around to packing my parachute.
Once I am done editing, I get my 2nd rig on and do it all again. (Yea, I love it:D) while I am in the air my rig is getting packed.

Now, When you hire a packer you are hiring someone who is under the supervision of an FAA certified Rigger but they are not actually riggers. They are often other skydivers who are working in order to make some money to jump. We all know how to pack our "main" parachutes. and when you pack 200-500 parachute per month you may occasionally pack one that isn't the softest opening, maybe you get one that has half a line twist but his one was special. see picture below. THIS IS A PACKING ERROR


http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df11b3127cceb4cf0f40e9c700000026100BZt2rdu1bse
Basically what happened is the packer did not do one of the very basic steps called "running the lines" I am not sure how the hell this one wasn't fixed but the good thing is that My reserve parachute is packed by someone who is a certified FAA RIGGER :lol:
My reserve worked as advertised and as tradition has it I bought him a bottle of his favorite drink. Another good thing is that my rigger does not drink alcohol so I gave him a $20 tip in lieu. I told him to buy some "o douls":D


BAsically what happened is during the packing process someone grabbed the rig through the lines. In the attached picture you'll see a red triangle-ish thing.
If I were to do a back loop through that red box the parachute would fly straight.
** NOTE: I am not saying I would ever try that, which is why I cut away that parachute:D, but that is what it would take to fix that malfunction. Hopefully I din't confue you too much.



If you care to see the video of the malfunction you can see it.

[NVcameraman]

Got to love reserve rides!!!!! What method do your packers use? I am a PRO packer and I have worked a few times at boogies as a packer to make some extra cash also. When you PRO pack you do lines checks as you pack it. I have had 8 reserve rides so far. I would not considered any of them packing errors. Yours you can see right away it was a blatant step thru. My first was a 26' LOPO (those round things) at terminal as a student when I had a floating ripcord that I could not find. Now that is a kicker of an opening. I had 2 CRW wraps also so those are a give me. One broken steering line on an short lined accuracy set up that caused a unrecoverable turn. 2 were tangled steering lines on 120Saber(1.6 wingloading) that I couldn't get to release. One was a demo practice with a flag packed in attached to line that fouled and cause slider to only come down halfway and spin.

[JTVal]

Sounds like fun. Yes, PRO packing is the method we use. My 1st ride was a horsehoe due to my shorts. (confused?:lol: here's the picture)

the loop worked its way around my hackey and when I pulled it was trapped. Pretty fun experience. I learned ALOT that day and have been able to use that info to teach others.

[BiikeMike]

I probably would have pooped myself if that happened to me

[JTVal]

I may have also if it was my 1st jump but at that point I had 959 jumps.


Before each jump I practice my emergency procedures and I constantly talk about different scenarios with other skydivers. It keeps you prepared for almost anything.

I just like that I was abet to get a shot of the actual malfunction and not just one like this: thats my reserve from my first malfunction.

Still, out of 1106 jumps I only had two malfunctions= not bad:lol:

[souporman]

I have to admit I was a bit nervous about opening this thread :) Still, cool story!

Still, out of 1106 jumps I only had two malfunctions= not bad:lol:

See, to me, even one malfunction while jumping out of a plane is far too many! Probably why I keep my feet planted firmly on the ground ;)

[royv]

I would never ever jump out of a plane, not even with 3 working prarachutes with me...

[StMarc]

I would never ever jump out of a plane, not even with 3 working prarachutes with me...

I would, but only if the plane were not working. :)

M

[BiikeMike]

OH MY GOD! THIS PARACHUTE IS JUST A KNAPSACK!

[tkoutdoor]

OH MY GOD! THIS PARACHUTE IS JUST A KNAPSACK!Yeah... careful not to grab your buddy's daypack on the way out the door!

[PhotosGuy]

Good recovery & story! but they are not actually riggers. A buddy of mine had a roman candle when we jumped, & when I learned that the 18 year-old kids who packed weren't really certified, & they didn't have jump with a randomly selected chute like in the army, I decided to stick to road racing. :D

[JTVal]

LOL.. I like the comments. I didnt expect that this would make people WANT to jump but I figured I would show you a bit of the other side of the fun.
Sure you (may) have the pictures posted but sometimes thing go a bit differently.

BTW- when I film students, they open at 5500ft agl(above the ground) I open approx 3500ft.
this allows me to :
1- film their parachute opening
2- get to the landing area and set up to film their landing.

well, even after I cutaway my parachute I had the option of follwing the $2000 peice of fabric to so I could recover it or go set up for the $20 video I was shooting.

I did the job and had quite a decent story for the guy. Maybe tonight I'll post the whole video

[khall]

I probably would have pooped myself if that happened to me

Perhaps he did.

[JTVal]

Perhaps he did.


Nah, no pop this time:lol:

My First malfunction was hairy one but I was pleasantly surprised that no poop was present on either of them:lol: ( I checked)

[MaxxuM]

356 jumps in the 82nd Abn and every one was flawless. I think the stat was 1/1,000,000 bad packs. Reminds me of a Rigger that went nutty at Ft. Bragg and signed all his packs with "Micky Mouse". Two people got cigarette rolls before he was found. Only two really bad jumps in my time there - both were avoidable. One was a bad roller on a C130 as it was doing a LALO with a tank and the vehicle got caught in the bay but the three G11's opened up behind the plane. People said it tried to gain altitude but the parachutes were too much and it just came back down crashing. For the laymen, one G11 can cover a house.

The second and worst incident was when the lead C141 was too high. Usually the first plane is the lowest with each subsequent plan being a little higher. Well, it was really foggy, raining and of course dark (pretty typical for combat drops) and the other planes did not notice that the lead was at 1700 feet instead of 1000ft... well, people started jumping (again, for the laymen, the Army gets more than 120 people out of a plane in less than a minute!) and started hitting the planes behind the first!!!! Six people died and many other were wounded. It was a sad day for the 82nd that day.

[JTVal]

Wow, that's some crazy stuff, MaxxuM. but thanks for sharing.
Sad day for the 82nd indeed. Thanks for serving.

[NVcameraman]

356 jumps in the 82nd Abn and every one was flawless. I think the stat was 1/1,000,000 bad packs. Reminds me of a Rigger that went nutty at Ft. Bragg and signed all his packs with "Micky Mouse". Two people got cigarette rolls before he was found. Only two really bad jumps in my time there - both were avoidable. One was a bad roller on a C130 as it was doing a LALO with a tank and the vehicle got caught in the bay but the three G11's opened up behind the plane. People said it tried to gain altitude but the parachutes were too much and it just came back down crashing. For the laymen, one G11 can cover a house.

The second and worst incident was when the lead C141 was too high. Usually the first plane is the lowest with each subsequent plan being a little higher. Well, it was really foggy, raining and of course dark (pretty typical for combat drops) and the other planes did not notice that the lead was at 1700 feet instead of 1000ft... well, people started jumping (again, for the laymen, the Army gets more than 120 people out of a plane in less than a minute!) and started hitting the planes behind the first!!!! Six people died and many other were wounded. It was a sad day for the 82nd that day.
Worst day was when my unit, the 504th PIR, was on green ramp preparing to jump. An Airforce F-16 on a simulated flame out landing ran into a C-130 on final. After the pilot ejected the remaining parts of the F-16 crashed into a fully fueled parked C-141 the unit was preparing to board. The ensuing fire ball of jet A engulfed the soldiers. There were hundreds wounded and 24 soldiers were killed. 5 of them were in my company and 3 of those were from my platoon. Being in a Anti Armor company the platoons were only 15 men.

[JTVal]

Ben,
Didn't you say someone bought you a few jump tickets for skydive mesquite?
Do you plan on coming out anytime soon?
I was curious since I will be moving to colorado in a few weeks.

[WillMass]

MaxxuM and NV,

Thank you both for your service!

It's guys like you that give us the freedom to do what we do.:cool:

[MaxxuM]

Worst day was when my unit, the 504th PIR, was on green ramp preparing to jump. An Airforce F-16 on a simulated flame out landing ran into a C-130 on final. After the pilot ejected the remaining parts of the F-16 crashed into a fully fueled parked C-141 the unit was preparing to board. The ensuing fire ball of jet A engulfed the soldiers. There were hundreds wounded and 24 soldiers were killed. 5 of them were in my company and 3 of those were from my platoon. Being in a Anti Armor company the platoons were only 15 men.

Holy cr@p! I didn't hear about that one. I was a Red Devil myself (1/504 C company) & HHC 504th S3 Operations Sgt after that before I went to SF. If Pope AFB is still arranged like it was when I was in all the planes used for jumps are situated in long rows in front and to the left of the bay used for prejump operations - which would mean it was darn close to that building too as well as other planes.

That reminds me about a friend telling me that it was really bad that more than 2k soldiers have died in Iraq... I told him it was no picnic in peace time either. Far more soldiers died in training than any war we have been in in the past 20 years. Heck, while I was in we only got one safety day off for 82 consecutive death-free days and that was while we were in Iraq! Pretty sad...

[djthemac]

I probably would have pooped myself if that happened to me

Me to! :oops:

I would never ever jump out of a plane, not even with 3 working prarachutes with me...

I would, but only if the plane were not working. :)

M

good point! :lol:

[namasste]

MaxxuM and NV,

Thank you both for your service!

It's guys like you that give us the freedom to do what we do.:cool:

amen to that! thanks guys.

btw, I almost pooped myself just reading these stories and I'm not one to let fear get int the way of much. jumping bikes may end in some bad crashes but there's still a big difference in falling from 10-12' than if you add some zeroes to the end of that. you guys are nuts that do it voluntarily!:lol:

[milehighpres]

well JTVal here is a pic from skydive arizona taken today. first day of a week long skydive trip started in rain but this pic shows that it is not just about totally sunny and the planes wi be running tomorrow. cant wait...

[JTVal]

bad crashes but there's still a big difference in falling from 10-12' than if you add some zeroes to the end of that. you guys are nuts that do it voluntarily!:lol:

See, we think you're crazy because if you fall off your bike you get hurt, broken and possibly even dead.

If we fall off of our plane...well, we're SUPPOSED to.:lol:

well JTVal here is a pic from skydive arizona taken today. first day of a week long skydive trip started in rain but this pic shows that it is not just about totally sunny and the planes wi be running tomorrow. cant wait...
I miss Eloy. I go every year for the holiday boogie Last year was kind of weak, though.

[namasste]

If we fall off of our plane...well, we're SUPPOSED to.:lol:




that's classic!!!:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[NVcameraman]

When people ask why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane my reply is

"There is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane, you just hope the mechanics are doing there job right!"

Years ago I was jumping from a Twin Beech(twin engine low wing). We had almost the whole group floating (hanging on outside of plane). We had 3 people on the wing and I was in the middle of that. With all that added drag on outside the pilot usually had to fly really hard rudder to counter it. As were were about to start our exit count the the engine on our side (left) blew a piston out the engine and right thru the cowling. This caused the whole plane to yaw at least 45 degrees to left due to lose of power and added drag of us on outside. As that was happening we all were falling off in messed up order so the skydive didn't go as planned but we were all laugh our butts off.

[NVcameraman]

When I was in the Army we use to jump from helicopters all the time. We use to joke with the helicopter pilots, there were nervous about flying so high, about the differences of flying a normal nap of earth mission and flying for us.

When flying a normal nap of earth tree top mission if they had a engine failure they would be able to go AHH crash!

When flying jumpers at 10,000 feet and they had an engine failure they would be able to go AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH pant pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH pant pant pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAHHHHH!

:):):):):):)

[davecole650]

When I was in the Army we use to jump from helicopters all the time. We use to joke with the helicopter pilots, there were nervous about flying so high, about the differences of flying a normal nap of earth mission and flying for us.

When flying a normal nap of earth tree top mission if they had a engine failure they would be able to go AHH crash!

When flying jumpers at 10,000 feet and they had an engine failure they would be able to go AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH pant pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH pant pant pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAHHHHH!

:):):):):):)
Now that was funny! Helicopters and parachutes - no thanks, I get enough adrenaline moments from motorcycle riding.

[JTVal]

When I was in the Army we use to jump from helicopters all the time. We use to joke with the helicopter pilots, there were nervous about flying so high, about the differences of flying a normal nap of earth mission and flying for us.

When flying a normal nap of earth tree top mission if they had a engine failure they would be able to go AHH crash!

When flying jumpers at 10,000 feet and they had an engine failure they would be able to go AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH pant pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH pant pant pant AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAHHHHH!

:):):):):):)


All those things (props) are for is to keep the pilot cool. In Las Vegas in July you can tell just how much air conditioning they provide very easy.

as soon as you shut the engine the pilot starts sweating like crazy.:lol:

[MaxxuM]

Now that was funny! Helicopters and parachutes - no thanks, I get enough adrenaline moments from motorcycle riding.

LoL... I thought the same thing the first time I jumped from a helo, but you're a good distance away before you open your parachute. There are also Chinook blasts (twin prop helos) using static lines and those were REALLY fun.

For those thinking about jumping, don't worry, the first jump is really not that bad. Its a real blast! The second however can be really scary. The reasoning is that on the first you are so wrapped up with procedures that you don't think much about the actual jump. Whereas, the second, you pretty much know what you are doing and all you think about is actually experience :)

[JTVal]

LoL... I thought the same thing the first time I jumped from a helo, but you're a good distance away before you open your parachute. There are also Chinook blasts (twin prop helos) using static lines and those were REALLY fun.

For those thinking about jumping, don't worry, the first jump is really not that bad. Its a real blast! The second however can be really scary. The reasoning is that on the first you are so wrapped up with procedures that you don't think much about the actual jump. Whereas, the second, you pretty much know what you are doing and all you think about is actually experience :)

I've been jumping for 8 years and still haven't seen what all the fuss is about.
I figured as soon as I get that RUSH I can finally quit.:)

[coralnutz]

That reminds me about a friend telling me that it was really bad that more than 2k soldiers have died in Iraq... I told him it was no picnic in peace time either. Far more soldiers died in training than any war we have been in in the past 20 years. Heck, while I was in we only got one safety day off for 82 consecutive death-free days and that was while we were in Iraq! Pretty sad...


Not to try to get off topic, but are you saying that in 5 years of peace time more than 2000 soldiers died during training excercises? I'm not saying I don't believe that, just I've never heard of that.

As for the skydiving, WOW, you guys are NUTZ. And for those that do it in the service, thanks for being brave so I can sit at home and be somewhat safe. :)

[MaxxuM]

I've been jumping for 8 years and still haven't seen what all the fuss is about.
I figured as soon as I get that RUSH I can finally quit.:)

Maybe there is a difference when you're doing it for fun vs work :)

I was only ever scared three times while jumping. First was the last jump during Jump School at Fort Benning, second was jumping in Panama during Just Cause (being shot at + it was at around 500ft which means no chance of reserve helping) and the third was my very last jump before I left the military (or loose jump pay). I don't regret it though and loved the 'thrill' I got from it. Problem is that I rarely ever jumped on a good day. 90% were in the dark, rain, fog or low altitude (jump, chute jerk, thump on grown...) :(

[JTVal]

Nah, I was being silly.
I love it. I do work and fun jumps and every one of them has been interesting.
I will be doing military jumps soon. Im sure that'll be interesting too

[MaxxuM]

Not to try to get off topic, but are you saying that in 5 years of peace time more than 2000 soldiers died during training excercises? I'm not saying I don't believe that, just I've never heard of that.


No one does... it's something the military rarely ever mentions. Think of it this way. On Ft. Bragg there are 76,000 troops, most of which are combat related (Delta Force, 82nd Abn, 7th Special Forces, 18th Abn Corps.... and so on) and there is year round live fire training, 10x thousands of people jumping from planes, Army Apache training all in a highly stressful environment with NO tolerance for mistakes. In a city of 76,000 you will have at least 500+ deaths due to accidents and murder. Think about it. There is a reason the NCO club at Ft. Bragg is called the "Stab and Jab"... there is somone getting hurt there every weekend :o

[MaxxuM]

Nah, I was being silly.
I love it. I do work and fun jumps and every one of them has been interesting.
I will be doing military jumps soon. Im sure that'll be interesting too

Military... yea, interesting is putting it mildly. Once you're on a plan doing nap of earth flying for 5 hours you'll push people out of the way to get out of the puke smelling plane lol

[verty]

thats terrible! so whats gonna happen to the guy who packed your main?
see i wouldnt feel comfortable with someone ever packing my main at all.. if i **** it up thats fine but if someone else got me into the **** i would wanna kill them

[JeffreyG]

No one does... it's something the military rarely ever mentions. Think of it this way. On Ft. Bragg there are 76,000 troops, most of which are combat related (Delta Force, 82nd Abn, 7th Special Forces, 18th Abn Corps.... and so on) and there is year round live fire training, 10x thousands of people jumping from planes, Army Apache training all in a highly stressful environment with NO tolerance for mistakes. In a city of 76,000 you will have at least 500+ deaths due to accidents and murder. Think about it. There is a reason the NCO club at Ft. Bragg is called the "Stab and Jab"... there is somone getting hurt there every weekend :o

Picking a pre-Iraq year (2000) I find the following death rates (per 100000) for the US army as a whole:

Accident: 26
Homicide: 2.2
Ill: 9.0
Suicide: 9.9

So an average 76,000 troop US base should see about 36 deaths per year total. If that base had 500 deaths it would use up more than the entire army's quota for the year.

Sorry.....Ft. Brag does not see 500 deaths in a year from accidents and murder. Maybe 50.

Edit - I see you are talking 5 year figures. In that case Ft. Bragg should see about 180 deaths from all causes every 5 years.

[inthedeck]

interesting stories...from all. I appreciate them all.

I've jumped once, with a instructor tied to me. Scary at first, while the plane was going up 14K feet. All in all...a great experience...though, I am not sure I'd do it again. Once I did it, I didn't have to prove anything else. :)

[MaxxuM]

Picking a pre-Iraq year (2000) I find the following death rates (per 100000) for the US army as a whole:

Accident: 26
Homicide: 2.2
Ill: 9.0
Suicide: 9.9

So an average 76,000 troop US base should see about 36 deaths per year total. If that base had 500 deaths it would use up more than the entire army's quota for the year.

Sorry.....Ft. Brag does not see 500 deaths in a year from accidents and murder. Maybe 50.

Edit - I see you are talking 5 year figures. In that case Ft. Bragg should see about 180 deaths from all causes every 5 years.

I really don't want to get into all the numbers - has nothing to do with photography. I'll admit though that I did exaggerate. It was probably closer to 250-300 (taking into affect, 1988-1993 (my time), non-combat bases would have far fewer deaths and high-combat bases would have far higher #'s and so on...). I was also including all branches of the military, just used Ft. Bragg as an example.

[Stormin_24]

You got guts but it's a matter of time before one becomes a statistic, God forbid...

[JeffreyG]

You got guts but it's a matter of time before one becomes a statistic, God forbid...

Most of us get to join the statistical big two:

Heart disease
Cancer.


But a lucky few get "chute not packed right".

[inthedeck]

Thus, the reserve. Don't knock it, till you try it.

[JTVal]

You got guts but it's a matter of time before one becomes a statistic, God forbid...


Tell that to my friends who have 10's of thousands of skydives. Tell that to my friends who have been skydiving since the 60's; my oldest skydiving friend is 74 years old and has 650+ skydives.

While I won't pretend that death is not a possibility when someone skydives I will wave the bull**it flag when ever someone suggests that it is an inevitability.

I assume that you know nothing of the sport except what you see in tv but if you honestly think that is the norm for the skydiving lifestyle then you should understand that the news and sensationalistic tv shows are not reality.

Imagine knowing the truth about something and than seeing it reported incomplete and incorrectly on the news. It'll make you wonder what else they "guess" at in order to get the story out first.


I'll say it again Skydiving CAN result in death but it isn't inevitable.
If you look hard enough death can happen at anytime without notice or reason. We aren't death defiers, we aren't insane, we aren't suicidal; at least none that I have met.
We are people who enjoy the achievements of doing what most people think is impossible.http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df35b3127cceb38d2f4b2a6000000036100BZt2rdu1bse
The ages of that group range from 35-74. At least 3 of them are senior citizens (over 65) More than half have been jumping for over 20 years.
While we understand that the "you're only as good as your most recent skydive" we also understand that a large percent of our own safety lie in our own hands.

I also understand that I DID start this thread with a picture of my parachute malfunction which opens me and many others up to such comments as I mentioned above I did post this to have a conversation about 2 things.
1-Photography-- (even though it's a video grab) The original picture isn't something you see from this perspective, often.

2- I figured I would get a few comments like the one you posted and I am fine if you feel that way, BUT I would rather have a discussion about statistics, in hopes to educate those who are misinformed, than have someone who is misinformed comment about this specific set of them.
Did you know that 67.2 percent of statistics are made up on the spot?:lol:

So, if you desire, I will have a discussion about the amounts of skydives accomplished per year (in the US) and the number of deaths one could expect.
I can discuss how many of those tragedies could have been prevented.

I will answer any question about the sport of skydiving and the risks to the best of my knowledge. I do have multiple sources to receive this info but I am not willing to post links to some of them as they are "incident" threads. This is where skydivers discuss the things that I just spoke about.

Btw- Last year was had the lowest amount of fatalities since 1991.
18 deaths and close to 2.5 million skydives made in 2007. Though I can confirm that 18 deaths have occurred in 2007 I can not ,yet, give specific number of actual skydives until the official release.
This is 2006's report. http://www.uspa.org/about/images/memsurvey06.pdf
History of skydiving--http://www.uspa.org/about/sport.htm

[NVcameraman]

The most dangerous part about skydiving is driving to the drop zone

[dharmon]

The most dangerous part about skydiving is driving to the drop zone
and that's a fact

[Richtherookie]

Great shots, this just makes me understand more why I'd rather be in a house fire. This sport isn't for me. Glad to hear you came out fine and with a smile on your face (maybe a of beers later)

[JTVal]

Great shots, this just makes me understand more why I'd rather be in a house fire. This sport isn't for me. Glad to hear you came out fine and with a smile on your face (maybe a of beers later)

LOL @ Rather be in a house fire:D

EDIT: I had to look. I see youre into fire fighting.

[Richtherookie]

The way i look at it, there is not a plane big enough to hall all of the people it would take to push me out the door. I'll admit it looks like one hell of a blast, but not for me. Keep posting the pictures and i keep looking! Leave the fires to me, I enjoy them.

[JTVal]

NO problem. If Im near a fire it's either contained or I am taking pictures of the bad asses who are fighting them.
(or the idiots who started them.)

Here's a picture
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cc03b3127cceb23b72c283a500000025100BZt2rdu1bse

[Richtherookie]

Awesome shot. I know he is hanging onto the "sterring wheel" but man i still see me hanging on for life and screaming like a bus load of 12 year old cheer leaders. But this shot is SWEET!!! I have to believe it is one of the greatest thing you could do, floating above free like a bird, wish i had the balls to do it.

[Over Actor]

I've had 1 static line injury here at Bragg, and a cigar roll. Which was no fun at all.

Worst day was when my unit, the 504th PIR, was on green ramp preparing to jump. An Airforce F-16 on a simulated flame out landing ran into a C-130 on final. After the pilot ejected the remaining parts of the F-16 crashed into a fully fueled parked C-141 the unit was preparing to board. The ensuing fire ball of jet A engulfed the soldiers. There were hundreds wounded and 24 soldiers were killed. 5 of them were in my company and 3 of those were from my platoon. Being in a Anti Armor company the platoons were only 15 men.

I remember hearing about that. Sad day for sure

Holy cr@p! I didn't hear about that one. I was a Red Devil myself (1/504 C company) & HHC 504th S3 Operations Sgt after that before I went to SF. If Pope AFB is still arranged like it was when I was in all the planes used for jumps are situated in long rows in front and to the left of the bay used for prejump operations - which would mean it was darn close to that building too as well as other planes.

That reminds me about a friend telling me that it was really bad that more than 2k soldiers have died in Iraq... I told him it was no picnic in peace time either. Far more soldiers died in training than any war we have been in in the past 20 years. Heck, while I was in we only got one safety day off for 82 consecutive death-free days and that was while we were in Iraq! Pretty sad...

I was in 1-504 aswell Alpha Co. You should see the new division accident sign haha All digital. i dont think they have added any numbers over 20 ive never seen it go over 20 since before I went to afghanistan 2001ish

If you ever want any pics of anyhting here let me know I'll snap some for you...Ive been here 9 years now. and still havent gotten out yet haha,( out of fayetteville that is)

[JTVal]

Don't you mean Fayettenam?

[Over Actor]

Don't you mean Fayettenam?

Yeah Very Much so haha. But it has cleaned up alot in the past few years. I still dont want to stay here though, I looking at either wilmington suburbs or asheville now, or go back home to KCmo

JTval, Great pics, You ever jump a still camera? I'll egt some shots sometime or another in here.

[MaxxuM]

I was in 1-504 aswell Alpha Co. You should see the new division accident sign haha All digital. i dont think they have added any numbers over 20 ive never seen it go over 20 since before I went to afghanistan 2001ish

If you ever want any pics of anyhting here let me know I'll snap some for you...Ive been here 9 years now. and still havent gotten out yet haha,( out of fayetteville that is)

That would be SO cool if you could snap a couple of pix for me... I lost most of my photos of that time due to moving around so much. I only spent one Christmas in the US while I was there!

So much has changed I'm sure, but there are a couple of things I wouldn't mind pictures of. Any pictures of the scenery would be great... especially the 504 area. I also don't know the regs on photographing the training area's. OK, besides just random photos I would really like two photos most of all. This may sound a little strange, but where Gruber meets McKellers ... I think, it's been so long, but there is a parade field there, right? Or perhaps McKellers is the street where the “Bright Lights” guard post is, I forget. Anyway, there was a single blinking yellow light there and thats where I crashed my Ninja at about 100mph trying to break a stupid record. Anyway, right at that corner where the street curves to the left as you go north is where I dumped it. The other picture, when you have the time and you're really board, is in Southern Pines. There is this little club called Docksides. It's a private bar of, well, exotic tastes :) If you could get a shot of it that would be great. If its still there, its right off of the main street behind some buildings. A lot of the PGA and NASCAR people went there and I was dating one of the employees :) Sentimental value you see...

Any other pictures would be great though and thanks a million :)

[JTVal]

JTval, Great pics, You ever jump a still camera? I'll egt some shots sometime or another in here.
All the time. click on my shutterlfy link below.
I also attached a few digi photos in this thread.

EDIT:
if you receive the parachutist I have a small article published this month.
I also got a photo in this months photo layout.

[NVcameraman]

I was in 1-504 aswell Alpha Co. You should see the new division accident sign haha All digital. i dont think they have added any numbers over 20 ive never seen it go over 20 since before I went to afghanistan 2001ish

I was in Delta 2-504 for like 7 years. Once a Devil always a devil. I never got a day off in the whole time I was there for 82 death free days. I do remember once we got to 81 days and some guy get and wrecked on a motorcycle going to fast down Yadkin. Everyone was saying "keep him on life support till midnight" On the flip side when I was a Screaming Eagle for 4 years I remember get to the magic 101 days a few times. Once we even got past 202 and was half way to 303 when finally some one got stupid. I use to get a kick out of seeing while on a PT run up Ardennes that some one had "vandalized" the panther. Everything from paint a white strip down back to make it look like a skunk to the best one of painting the whole panther pink :) LOL

[Over Actor]

Maxxum I'll go take some pics for you on satuday. Are you talking about Pike Field? Its right down from mekellars lodge. I go onbase every once and a while to take pics, mainly the planes behind the 82nd musuem on ardeenes(sp). If you can Pm me youremail address and I'll snap a few for you.

Jt I'll check out your artical in the magazine. and your Gallery when I get out of class.

NV lots of devils in this place haha. I had a blast but I'm glad Im out..the deployments are getting longer and its starting to suck.

What i need to do is find some more photogs from potn in the area and go do some photos on the DZ's ect.

[MaxxuM]

I was in Delta 2-504 for like 7 years. Once a Devil always a devil. I never got a day off in the whole time I was there for 82 death free days. I do remember once we got to 81 days and some guy get and wrecked on a motorcycle going to fast down Yadkin. Everyone was saying "keep him on life support till midnight" On the flip side when I was a Screaming Eagle for 4 years I remember get to the magic 101 days a few times. Once we even got past 202 and was half way to 303 when finally some one got stupid. I use to get a kick out of seeing while on a PT run up Ardennes that some one had "vandalized" the panther. Everything from paint a white strip down back to make it look like a skunk to the best one of painting the whole panther pink :) LOL

Maybe it was different when I was in, but the death free days only counted training related deaths not accidents/murder.

Nothing personal, but 101st guys irritated me with their salute motto - "... And then some..." what kinda response is that lol? When someone says "All the Way..." the only proper response should be "Airborne!" ;):D

[MaxxuM]

Maxxum I'll go take some pics for you on satuday. Are you talking about Pike Field? Its right down from mekellars lodge. I go onbase every once and a while to take pics, mainly the planes behind the 82nd musuem on ardeenes(sp). If you can Pm me youremail address and I'll snap a few for you.

Jt I'll check out your artical in the magazine. and your Gallery when I get out of class.

NV lots of devils in this place haha. I had a blast but I'm glad Im out..the deployments are getting longer and its starting to suck.

What i need to do is find some more photogs from potn in the area and go do some photos on the DZ's ect.

Yep, Pike field... now I remember it. It was the field we used on 82nd Abn Day when all the vets would come and most of the Division was on parade. I really appreciate it! Don't go too far out of your way though - I've been out for around 14 or so years so their isn't any hurry :) PM sent too btw.

[Over Actor]

Max, All American week is coming up. Maybe you should fly down for a visit haha. Pics coming soon.



Jt I was able to check out your pics, Nice Gallery you have there! I think the proposal set was pretty killer

[NVcameraman]

Well I know this is a thread about JTL's malfunction but I thought you might like this shot also. Four people ended up needing to use there reserves. I didnt take this picture by the way because I am actually in the middle of it the cropped in shot shows me about to get all messed up. With luck and some I was about to get out free on this occasion

[NVcameraman]

Oh ya by the way max if you look close enough in the middle of the photo you can see Sicily DZ as it looks from a few thousand feet up. We were doing this jump out a Raeford skydive center.

[MaxxuM]

Max, All American week is coming up. Maybe you should fly down for a visit haha. Pics coming soon.


I've been wanting to for years but something always gets in the way... Maybe this summer, planning to take the family to Washington DC :)

[MaxxuM]

Oh ya by the way max if you look close enough in the middle of the photo you can see Sicily DZ as it looks from a few thousand feet up. We were doing this jump out a Raeford skydive center.

From the pic it looks like people are stealing some air then get tangled in each others risers. Reminds me of a pay-jump (I was going to loss jump pay if I didn't jump) when a fellow jumper was slipping the wrong way and stole my air for a few seconds... it wasn't long enough to collapse my chute but it did ripple it. All the way down I was calling him names I was so pissed. When we landed and were walking back I noticed he was a captain :o He didn't say a word though.

[JTVal]

Jt I was able to check out your pics, Nice Gallery you have there! I think the proposal set was pretty killer

THat guy told me he was gonna propose etc and after she landed it took him about 5 minutes to actually work up the courage to ask. LOL
5 mintues is a long time when youre standing there filming. (he asked me to film)


Well I know this is a thread about JTL's malfunction but I thought you might like this shot also. Four people ended up needing to use there reserves. I didnt take this picture by the way because I am actually in the middle of it the cropped in shot shows me about to get all messed up. With luck and some I was about to get out free on this occasion

NICE! how many people were in that CrW formation? I mean how many was it supposed to be?

Oh ya by the way max if you look close enough in the middle of the photo you can see Sicily DZ as it looks from a few thousand feet up. We were doing this jump out a Raeford skydive center.
Still never been to Raeford. I keep trying to get there for the military thanksgiving boogie.

[Over Actor]

"nam would make one hell of a POTN Meet haha.

With all of this thread Jacking maybe we need to have a Jump Photo thread.

I feel kinda bad Jacking your thread JT but its kinda cool to meet a few people that have alittle more in common that taking pics haha.

Paraclete opened a Vertical Wind tunnel On raeford road not long ago. Kinda pricey But would be fun none the less.

Max we were on a day profeciency jump, and I had 1 jump with someone stealing my air I thought for sure I was going down that day..but it stayed open,
then we hotloaded and jumped again. and I stalled in a thermal about aprox 60-80 ft up. I had to Diag. slip..that was the hardest i have ever hit the ground adn it sucked bad. BTW i weighed right around 200 at the time and im 6'2" tall

[NVcameraman]

From the pic it looks like people are stealing some air then get tangled in each others risers. Reminds me of a pay-jump (I was going to loss jump pay if I didn't jump) when a fellow jumper was slipping the wrong way and stole my air for a few seconds... it wasn't long enough to collapse my chute but it did ripple it. All the way down I was calling him names I was so pissed. When we landed and were walking back I noticed he was a captain :o He didn't say a word though.
Well officers are not the smartest ones I ever dealt with in my 20yrs of service. As you well know you can spell LOST with out and LT and you cant spell WIMP with out the MP. The only difference between a LT and a PFC is the PFC has been promoted already!!! :)
We were doing what is now called canopy formation flying, those that do it still call it CReW for Canopy Relative Work. We were attempting what would have been a world record at that time of 49 canopies in a diamond formation. The world record is now twice that, yes people i do mean 100 parachutes flying together all linked up. Check out this if your interested

http://www.floridaskydiving.com/Default.aspx?tabid=111

[NVcameraman]

NICE! how many people were in that CrW formation? I mean how many was it supposed to be?

Still never been to Raeford. I keep trying to get there for the military thanksgiving boogie.

It was suppose to be a 49 way diamond but in the multiple attempts we only built to 47. No record but was the largest canopy formation built in North Carolina.

Raeford is a great place to jump and I miss it a bunch. Heck I miss everything about jumping. The certificate my wife got me last year for jumps I cant find :( but the hardest is with a new baby girl, shes 13 weeks old now is, getting time to do anything for yourself.

[MaxxuM]

JTVal, Over Actor, NVcameraman… It is indeed nice to meet other people with parachuting in their background. I never really got interested in doing it outside my job despite meeting several Golden and Black Knights. It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten much of the terminology… What I do remember most though were not the HALO’s or LALO’s, but just the ordinary calm night jumps between 2000-4000 feet. C130’s, C141’s and C5’s (ouch) are extremely noisy and with the doors open even worse so when I jumped out it went from 100dB’s to almost silent floating down toward the DZ and being able to see for miles around. Those were some of the most peaceful times I can remember. Standing in the door in bad weather and doing racetracks however was exactly the opposite experience…

[::John::]

I did a tandem dive a few years ago and it was one of the biggest buzzes I have ever had - just totally awesome. My workmate is a skydiver and hadn't jumped for 6 months so he was going through a safety jump the day we did it - his main split and he came in on the reserve.

I just loved it (can you tell :) )

Those of you who do it for work - good on you - those that do it for fun? I can see why.

Pure bloody magic.

[JTVal]

:lol:

I feel kinda bad Jacking your thread JT but its kinda cool to meet a few people that have alittle more in common that taking pics haha.

No problem at all. Im USAF, skydiver and photard among other things. It's cool to see others with similar backgrounds.

Next, we'll talk about playing guitars.:D

JTVal, Over Actor, NVcameraman… It is indeed nice to meet other people with parachuting in their background. I never really got interested in doing it outside my job despite meeting several Golden and Black Knights. It’s been so long that I’ve forgotten much of the terminology… What I do remember most though were not the HALO’s or LALO’s, but just the ordinary calm night jumps between 2000-4000 feet. C130’s, C141’s and C5’s (ouch) are extremely noisy and with the doors open even worse so when I jumped out it went from 100dB’s to almost silent floating down toward the DZ and being able to see for miles around. Those were some of the most peaceful times I can remember. Standing in the door in bad weather and doing racetracks however was exactly the opposite experience…
I'll be jumping this weekend and each day we're going to do a swoop and chug on the last load. THOSE are fun.
That's when you swoop your canopy and drink a beer. The time starts when your feet touch the ground. It stops when you are done with your beer.
Fastest time wins.:lol:

I did a tandem dive a few years ago and it was one of the biggest buzzes I have ever had - just totally awesome. My workmate is a skydiver and hadn't jumped for 6 months so he was going through a safety jump the day we did it - his main split and he came in on the reserve.

I just loved it (can you tell :) )

Those of you who do it for work - good on you - those that do it for fun? I can see why.

Pure bloody magic.
I will be doing it for both soon.
even though I "WORK" at the DZ now its not my real job. I am in the USAF. On weekends I go out and skydive. If there is work to be done I'll do it. If not, I use the money I made the previous week to skydive. Not a bad gig, really.

I will be moving though and I will be skydiving in the USAF very shortly.

[August 15 Photography]

Something I wish I had the courage to do, the view has to be just unbelievable, but I would be such a wreck I would not be able to enjoy it. I do my viewing from the ground :)

[JTVal]

Something I wish I had the courage to do, the view has to be just unbelievable, but I would be such a wreck I would not be able to enjoy it. I do my viewing from the ground :)


You'd be surprised at how many people skydive that have a fear of heights.

Edit: It's not the heights that scare me. Its the lows:lol:

I've never hurt myself skydiving. I did ,however, break my collarbone whilst trying to catch a frisbee.

[August 15 Photography]

Its not the falling that bothers me, its the sudden stop at the bottom :) :)

[Over Actor]

Its not the falling that bothers me, its the sudden stop at the bottom :) :)


If both chutes fail...you probably wouldnt feel the sudden stop haha
BTW I used to play guitar before the military..havent touched one since.

[DocFrankenstein]

Never again. Only if it's war and I have to.

[JTVal]

BTW I used to play guitar before the military..havent touched one since.
Been playing for 18ish years.
Its a really long song.
Never again. Only if it's war and I have to.
What's a guitar gonna do for you in war?:lol: