Is forgotten parachute story a UL?
Weaver
In the summer of 1988 I was busy studying at Trinity in Dublin and
thought that I caught the following story from the States. It seems
that a parachuting videographer was in the plane with the group of
chutists and he leaped out -- following the group. After filming the
group's descent (after their chutes were "popped") he reached for his
and made the discovery that he had not donned his parachute (much
like, I suppose, when you first realize that you locked your keys in
the car immediately after closing the door). The group was well
above him, the ground raced up to meet him, and . . . "kerplash".
When I returned to the States I did not find any info on this; is the
story a UL?
roto...@fox.nstn.ca
dre...@sirius.com (Weaver) wrote:
It happened just as you say here in Halifax Nova Scotia on 1 Jul
(Canada Day) in the middle of the festivities. Thousands of us
witnessed this. He survived the drop too, and then jumped the next
year. I guess he had to keep trying 'til he got it fight. I
personnally met the individual in question in a motorcycle shop on
Gottigen Street.
\|/
(. .)
+----------------------.o0O--(_)--O0o.------------------------+
|Mark E. Chapman | http://ccn.cs.dal.ca/~ad392 |
|aka "RotorHead" | "To Fly is Heavenly, To Hover is DIVINE!" |
| "Flying of Course - what the hell other hobby is there?" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Tara Rabumdier
dre...@sirius.com (Weaver) wrote:
>In the summer of 1988 .... a parachuting videographer ..... reached for his chute
>and made the discovery that he had not donned his parachute ..... the ground raced
up to meet him, and . . . "kerplash".
>When I returned to the States I did not find any info on this; is the
>story a UL?
Absolutely true story. I will post the original newspaper article
tomorrow: I have it in my extensive "weird news" file at work (of
course). I saw the videotape on the local news, but they edited it
before the impact.
-Tara Rabumdier
Tim Hunter
roto...@fox.nstn.ca wrote:
>dre...@sirius.com (Weaver) wrote:
>
>>In the summer of 1988 I was busy studying at Trinity in Dublin and
>>thought that I caught the following story from the States. It seems
>>that a parachuting videographer was in the plane with the group of
>>chutists and he leaped out -- following the group. After filming the
>>group's descent (after their chutes were "popped") he reached for his
>>and made the discovery that he had not donned his parachute (much
>>like, I suppose, when you first realize that you locked your keys in
>>the car immediately after closing the door). The group was well
>>above him, the ground raced up to meet him, and . . . "kerplash".
>>When I returned to the States I did not find any info on this; is the
>>story a UL?
>
>It happened just as you say here in Halifax Nova Scotia on 1 Jul
>(Canada Day) in the middle of the festivities. Thousands of us
>witnessed this. He survived the drop too, and then jumped the next
>year. I guess he had to keep trying 'til he got it fight. I
>personnally met the individual in question in a motorcycle shop on
>Gottigen Street.
>
Interesting. Actually this happened several years ago here in North
Carolina, pretty much exactly the way Weaver described it. The video
tape he was shooting survived the fall. I saw it on TV several times.
You can see his hand waving in front of the camera. The TV did not
play it all the way to the end, tho'. Probably a good idea.
--
Tim "it's the sudden stop" Hunter
Barry Yarbrough
Weaver wrote:
>
> In the summer of 1988 I was busy studying at Trinity in Dublin and
> thought that I caught the following story from the States. It seems
> that a parachuting videographer was in the plane with the group of
> chutists and he leaped out -- following the group. After filming the
> group's descent (after their chutes were "popped") he reached for his
> and made the discovery that he had not donned his parachute (much
> like, I suppose, when you first realize that you locked your keys in
> the car immediately after closing the door). The group was well
> above him, the ground raced up to meet him, and . . . "kerplash".
> When I returned to the States I did not find any info on this; is the
> story a UL?
It could be an UL, but it actually happened. I will try to get details
for you.
My mom's best friend was at a lesson to learn skydiving, and this
happened to the instructor.
-Barry "I'll Never Do That" Yarbrough
--
.ooO_ _Ooo. "Visualize whirrled Peas"
( (/ ) ( \) )
\_)' `(_/ --Barry Yarbrough yarb...@earthlink.net
Tara Rabumdier
dre...@sirius.com (Weaver) wrote:
>In the summer of 1988 . . . . a parachuting videographer was in the plane
> . . . . and he leaped out. . .and made the discovery that he had not
> donned his parachute . . . and . . . "kerplash".
>[I]s the story a UL?
Let's see...wallet, glasses, watch,...aw, hell!
A story from the Associated Press which appeared in several North
Carolina (and other) newspapers.. Quoted here from the Greensboro
[NC] News and Record, April 6, 1988; p. C3:
PARACHUTIST'S DEATH RULED ACCIDENTAL
LOUISBURG (AP) - The death of an experienced parachutist who fell
10,500 feet without a parachute while he was filming another jump was
accidental, Franklin County investigators said Tuesday.
"We have gathered enough information to declare it an
accident," Sheriff Arthur Johnson said.
Ivan Lester McGuire, 35, of Durham died Saturday after jumping from an
airplane without a parachute, said Captain Ralph Brown of the
Sheriff's Department. McGuire had made more than 800 jumps.
McGuire, who was carrying a video camera mounted on his
helmet, was filming a student and an instructor at Franklin County
Sports Parachute Center when he jumped from the plane piloted by Mark
Luman of Louisburg. Luman couldn't be found for comment and had no
telephone listing, but Brown said the pilot "wasn't in any position to
see what happened in the back of the plane."
There was no answer at the parachute center. But Nancy Fayard was
quoted Tuesday in the News and Observer of Raleigh [NC] as saying: "No
one was aware that he got on the plane without a parachute. Of course
no one knew or they would have stopped him."
Brown said that there was no foul play and no indication that suicide
was involved. But, he added, "A man who has jumped 800 times ought to
remember his parachute."
McGuire's body was found in woods about 1 1/2 miles from the airfield.
The videotape showed McGuire jumping from the airplane and that the
jump was going smoothly until the parachutes worn by the instructor
and the student opened and McGuire hurtled below them.
" It kind of appears he reached for his parachute and he didn't have
one." Brown said. "You could see the instructor and the student
falling on the video. But the release for his parachute is on the
right hip, and when the right hand goes down, the left hand comes
forward and it comes into camera view.
"Then the pictures get to moving real fast because he's approaching
the ground at 150 mph. The only thing the camera shows is the ground
coming."
Brown said blood samples will show whether McGuire had alcohol or
drugs in his system and test results should be ready in about a week.
Although an expert jumper, McGuire could have forgotten to put on his
parachute because of fatigue or preoccupation with his video
equipment, said Fayard, wife of club owner Paul Fayard-the instructor
on McGuire's last jump.
Nancy Fayard said McGuire worked third shift at Northern Telecom Inc.,
a manufacturer of telephone switching equipment, and usually left the
club at noon to get to work. On Saturday, she said, he stayed until
2:30 to shoot the video.
"He's a real perfectionist when it comes to his video photography, and
he'd been working a lot on it," she said. "The best we can figure is
he became so preoccupied with the video, and then being fatigued, that
his mind was on the video."
A Federal Aviation Administration investigator said he was checking to
see if Luman knew whether McGuire was wearing a parachute when he
entered the airplane before the jump.
Walter L. Rigsbee of the district office in Raleigh said FAA rules
require that the pilot check to see that parachutists have on
parachutes.
Johnson said Tuesday the investigation showed the pilot thought
McGuire was wearing a parachute. But Rigsbee said the video equipment
may have been mistaken for a parachute.
"These parachute clubs have safety programs," Rigsbee said. "They
check these jumpers out depending on their experience."
-end of article-
Tara Rabumdier
Ralph Jones
dre...@sirius.com (Weaver) wrote:
>chutists and he leaped out -- following the group. After filming the
>group's descent (after their chutes were "popped") he reached for his
>and made the discovery that he had not donned his parachute (much
>like, I suppose, when you first realize that you locked your keys in
>the car immediately after closing the door). The group was well
And where was the jumpmaster during all this? rj
MarcusJohn
This story is true. I saw the video on TV, on one of the tabloid shows.
Scott A. Oakman
marcu...@aol.com (MarcusJohn) wrote:
>This story is true. I saw the video on TV, on one of the tabloid shows.
Is it just me, or is that last sentence just too scary to even
contemplate?
Ken Comer
In article <4uvoko$s...@epx.cis.umn.edu>,
with "gaol", it is not too confusing. "aol" is a hybrid of its two
homophones, "ale" and "ail," representing the fact that many of the
inmates are there for "PWI" (Posting While Intoxicated). This is
distinctly different from "PWT" (Posting While Tiddly) like Barbara
Hamel-Snopes and "PTT", the Swiss Postal Service.
2) "aol," as scary as it is, is a mere insignificant speck beside
the spectre looming just two weeks away (for those of you reading
from bayou.com, this was posted in August, 199*6*) Yes, dearly
beloveds, it's college enrollment time again. I understand that
current scientific investigation appears to have shown that life *does*
exist on other planets, so some of the posters could actually be as
alien as they appear.
3) When you inform a clueless newbie that they have transgressed, please
remember that it is not necessary to leave a bloody, mangled corpse.
At least-- not the first time.
4) Some people who initially are offensive, belligerent, and rude
(not you, Harry-- I meant the ones who do so in a clueless manner)
eventually become reasonably acceptable AFUsians. For example,
Floyd Davidson-- despite his initial appearance as an unmitigated
ass-- appears to be a reasonably well-informed unmitigated ass.
(The crowd between the Channel and the Atlantic can substitute "arse"
or "bum" for "ass")
5) Some events that are shown on/in tabloids are true. A law professor
told me so, so it must be good enough to stand up in a court of
law.
ObUL: She (the law professor) collects the Weekly World News, and
maintains scrapbooks and files of the stories. When she holds a
cocktail party, the magazines are prominently displayed on the coffee
table. When the cocktail party is for her associates, she uses the
coffee table to force migration of the inhabitants around the room, as
none of her fellow professors will stand anywhere near that table.
the "fearless" spiegel
--
*=*=*=*=*=*=*+*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*+*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Ken Comer | http://www.metronet.com/~kcomer | aka spiegel
Lee Rudolph
>This story is true. I saw the video on TV, on one of the tabloid shows.
The next motto contest doesn't start for two weeks.
Lee "DCU,WCY" Rudolph
Napoleon Nesmith
> This story is true. I saw the video on TV, on one of the tabloid shows.
Chris Schram
down the hall. Stupid git!
--
chri...@me.com is a filtered spam magnet. Email replies may be lost.
You're better off replying to this newsgroup.