8
8'Duece
Guest
Worst jump (Airborne) experiences. Share your worst jump experience.
Worst: 1987 CAPEX at night during the month of December at Ft. Bragg, N.C. over Sicily DZ. Four C-130's loaded to the max with jumpers. We started the JMPI process at Popes tarmac about 2200 hrs. As with any jump we got kitted up, JMPI'd, then told sit and enjoy em if ya got em. We lied on the tarmac for an hour and half listening the birds rail up their engines. For you non jumpers there's a reason that sitting this long behind big birds is something you don't want to do as you'll breath enough bird fuel to make you nausiated and sick to your stomach.
We finally load up and now our equipment feels like it's about twice it's orginal weight due to the slight rain we sat in for an hour and a half. Take off is smooth but we're now flying nap of the earth and this where the stomach can sometimes turn on you a bit. About five guy's decide to show their last meal all over their ruck sack and it's now smelling like dog vomit all through out the flight, which I'll again remind you was a nap of the earth flight. :bleh:
Prior to the jump First Sergeant say's "Remmber to stay away from those shiny spots when your preparing to do your PLF, it's freezing out there and those shiny spots are water and ice"...............yeah, been there done that and for the newbies and their "Cherry Jump" it's great advice since you don't want to spend the next week out in the field with a wet start to your stay in the boonies of Ft. Bragg.
We get the warning, inboard personal rise, then outboard, hook up, check static lines, check equipment, you know the drill. Doors open, deafening sound of the engines of the aircraft and that black hole of a door your about to be running out of. We get the two minute warning then "Stand in the Door"...................finally the stick starts moving, we're going and we're moving quick, suddenly the stick stops cold and I'm knocked over by the jumper in back of me. Someone had tripped himself up in the front of the stick now several of us are lying top of each other trying get to our feet and our statics are now unraveling from their stows. :doh:
Jumpmaster is frantic, wind is howling in the doors, chaos ensues. We finally get to our feet get to the door and I exit only to feel the cold wind and it feels like I'm being blasted by sub zero ultra fans. I count out my 4's and feel the sudden pull on the riser and my harness...............good, I've got full canopy and it's getting quite and now it's just me and my job. I look around and realize it's foggy as hell and I can't see any of the other jumpers in the air so I stick to my decent and do touch the risers. Suddenly , Oh shit, I'm walking on someones silk !!!! pulling the riser to the left to try get off this clowns silk and kick at it the same time and I lose my air.:eek: I fall kike what feels 200 feet before my canopy get's it full dose of air again and suddenly BANG !!!!!! I'm already on the ground and I'm in that damn "Shiny Spot" that First Sergeant told us about....................Shit, I'm soaked to the bone, I did not lower my ruck, and at that very moment as I reach up to release the canopy from the harness another BAMMMM !!!! A jumper has landed smack on top of me with both feet !!!!!
Now we are both wet, my ribs are killing me and his ruck was still in his rig and he suffered a broken tibia. Shit, we're both here, I've got broken ribs, we're wet up to chin and he's yelling liking a stuck pig due the broken tibia.
We got lucky as we had landed fairly close to the rally point at Sicily DZ and there was a medic truck there ready for injuries. We both got taken to Womack and I never saw him again for several day's. I had two broken ribs and he had a compound fracture of the tibia.
Other than having one Maywest, that was the worst jump I ever had doing the silk dance at night in the rain with heavy equipment.
VIDEO: https://www.benning.army.mil/videos/video05/index.htm
Worst: 1987 CAPEX at night during the month of December at Ft. Bragg, N.C. over Sicily DZ. Four C-130's loaded to the max with jumpers. We started the JMPI process at Popes tarmac about 2200 hrs. As with any jump we got kitted up, JMPI'd, then told sit and enjoy em if ya got em. We lied on the tarmac for an hour and half listening the birds rail up their engines. For you non jumpers there's a reason that sitting this long behind big birds is something you don't want to do as you'll breath enough bird fuel to make you nausiated and sick to your stomach.
We finally load up and now our equipment feels like it's about twice it's orginal weight due to the slight rain we sat in for an hour and a half. Take off is smooth but we're now flying nap of the earth and this where the stomach can sometimes turn on you a bit. About five guy's decide to show their last meal all over their ruck sack and it's now smelling like dog vomit all through out the flight, which I'll again remind you was a nap of the earth flight. :bleh:
Prior to the jump First Sergeant say's "Remmber to stay away from those shiny spots when your preparing to do your PLF, it's freezing out there and those shiny spots are water and ice"...............yeah, been there done that and for the newbies and their "Cherry Jump" it's great advice since you don't want to spend the next week out in the field with a wet start to your stay in the boonies of Ft. Bragg.
We get the warning, inboard personal rise, then outboard, hook up, check static lines, check equipment, you know the drill. Doors open, deafening sound of the engines of the aircraft and that black hole of a door your about to be running out of. We get the two minute warning then "Stand in the Door"...................finally the stick starts moving, we're going and we're moving quick, suddenly the stick stops cold and I'm knocked over by the jumper in back of me. Someone had tripped himself up in the front of the stick now several of us are lying top of each other trying get to our feet and our statics are now unraveling from their stows. :doh:
Jumpmaster is frantic, wind is howling in the doors, chaos ensues. We finally get to our feet get to the door and I exit only to feel the cold wind and it feels like I'm being blasted by sub zero ultra fans. I count out my 4's and feel the sudden pull on the riser and my harness...............good, I've got full canopy and it's getting quite and now it's just me and my job. I look around and realize it's foggy as hell and I can't see any of the other jumpers in the air so I stick to my decent and do touch the risers. Suddenly , Oh shit, I'm walking on someones silk !!!! pulling the riser to the left to try get off this clowns silk and kick at it the same time and I lose my air.:eek: I fall kike what feels 200 feet before my canopy get's it full dose of air again and suddenly BANG !!!!!! I'm already on the ground and I'm in that damn "Shiny Spot" that First Sergeant told us about....................Shit, I'm soaked to the bone, I did not lower my ruck, and at that very moment as I reach up to release the canopy from the harness another BAMMMM !!!! A jumper has landed smack on top of me with both feet !!!!!
Now we are both wet, my ribs are killing me and his ruck was still in his rig and he suffered a broken tibia. Shit, we're both here, I've got broken ribs, we're wet up to chin and he's yelling liking a stuck pig due the broken tibia.
We got lucky as we had landed fairly close to the rally point at Sicily DZ and there was a medic truck there ready for injuries. We both got taken to Womack and I never saw him again for several day's. I had two broken ribs and he had a compound fracture of the tibia.
Other than having one Maywest, that was the worst jump I ever had doing the silk dance at night in the rain with heavy equipment.
VIDEO: https://www.benning.army.mil/videos/video05/index.htm