Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Jumped out of a perfectly good plane yesterday

Only if you were breathing oxygen

Don't know if I'll ever do it again but it was worth every penny ($255)

107 times while in the Army. Most military, some sport jumps, but none since leaving active duty. That and running in combat gear is the reason my knees are shot today.

Oh .... a few hundred times maybe. Sicily, Salerno, Nijmegen, Suchon up at Cambell, Gatun in Panama on a couple of occasions. Gold in the Mohave, ... we had seven killed and 156 critically injured on that jump ... including my S3 Air Bob Brietmeyer in Gallant Eagle 82. Drag killed him. Horrible way to die. Then Granada, then Pamama City. Then Beruit out of Vicenza to save the jar heads. Later Kuwait. I had made csm by then. Then, long dark jumps until Iraq with many a jump on Bragg and a few others here and there amd aroundp. Various places in Europe and North Africa.

German, French, Israeli and Italian wings.

I still remember every jump, every DZ, every time of day and bird. Was primary on most of them. Lead bird. I was honestly a helluva Jumpmaster. Took great pride in it. All other paratroops were in awe of our fearlessness and combat rediness. My log book is a thing of beauty.


I recollect those days with great pride. 123s, 130s, 141s, C5As ... we were all broken but bulletproof. We could not be beaten. We feared no man. None.

Oh well. The broken bones are a constant reminder. It's hard to explain the Brotherhood.

I made 18 jumps here in Arizona when going to ASU many years ago. The the Coolidge Parachute Center gave a discount to the ASU Skydiving Club, but I still ran out of disposable income to spend on it. All solo, progressing from static line to free fall.

28 jumps courtesy Uncle Sam. C-123, C-130, C-141, C-7A, UH-1H, CH-47. Italian wings. I ask one bud a couple of years ago if he wanted to do another jump and he said that it had been so many years since we had jumped, that we would probably piss all over ourselves. I asked another and he said to him the idea of jumping tandem would be like somebody having their hands pumping your ass up and down during sex.

Yep.

My mom has a bigger set than I do

It is tricky jumping from the Cessna. You are sitting down on the floor, and they open that little door. You have to reach out and grab the wing strut. You swing out, and you are hanging by your hands from the wing strut, a half mile above the hard red clay of Georgia. Scary.

58 Army static line jumps. I was Jumpmaster Qualified and had Senior Wings. C-130, C-141, C5A, C-7, CH-47D, and some kind of Fokker (one time). I would not do it now as I would probably shatter my legs on impact. You hit hard with those T-10's!! My standard night landing was feet, ass, head LOL!! Worst jump was on Njimegan; was twisted bad, real bad, ripped my helmet off of my head. I didn't think I would have my ears on when I hit the ground. I was the last jumper, the Jumpmaster and was first on the ground while everyone else was still 250 ft up. I remember I was moving from right to left at a good clip during the descent and going in without a helmet, I told myself if I don't get hurt this time, I will never get hurt. I slammed sideways into a creek bank with no PLF. That probably saved my noggin.

45 jumps in the Army, Senior rated. All the normal birds, plus Casa 212, Uh-60, DC-3. Cracked ribs on one jump, but no other injuries. Not sure that I would sport jump now. Had enough thrills already.

A time or two.

Closest I've come is parasailing. I'm good with that.

I did a tandem jump about 5 years ago and I'd do it again. I'm glad I did it. My wife bought a package for my son and I. We had a blast.

To clarify: The only "perfectly good airplane" has a jump door.

Not jumping would be like having a hot beautiful young lady, you go to her place and she invites you in. And you say, naw, think I will just stay in the truck???????


Taken hundreds on tandem jumps, Accelerated Freefall and static line. Instructor rating on all from USPA. D# 9363 Also a private pilot and have flown many more in Cessna 182 and 206. Both without doors and with a jump door installed. Rather jump than fly any day.



And for the guy that said you had to have oxygen to jump from 14,500. You can easily fly a turbo aircraft at 12,500 and "jump up" to 14,500 in a few seconds and be legal. Done every day at drop zones around the country.

Never at the controls. I was the GIB.

kwg

I have jumped from a plane 6 times, all with commercial skydiving outfits. Probably twice that many BASE jumps and wing suited a couple of times.

None of it appealed that much to me so I haven't done it in several years, I prefer hanging on to rock.

You are correct. It was 13,500, my mistake.