Airplane to Airplane Skydive
Three jumpers break a world record by exiting one airplane and then flying to and entering another airplane in free fall
Jumpers: Omar Alhegelan, Steve Curtis, Greg Gasson
Drogue deployer: Carl Nespoli
Cameras: Brent Finley, Blake Milford, Me
Rigging: Scott Christensen, Chuck Ross
On Monday night, April 17th 2001, I scrambled my cameras and rigs together and hopped a flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix with my assistant, Carl Nespoli. We were headed to Skydive Arizona to coordinate and film three skydivers exiting an Otter to chase down a diving Pilatus Porter…. The schedule – fly drogue test on Tuesday, fly practice on Wednesday to familiarize the jumpers with the Porter, and Thursday to perform the stunt. I was contracted by a show called “That’s Incredible” to put the job together.
Early Tuesday morning, Carl and I met our pilot at at an airport hangar. He had already set up the interior of the Porter for the jumpers. Between the cockpit and the passenger area, he bolted in a thick layer of Lexan. We’d thought of building some kind of net to keep the jumpers from falling into the cockpit when they entered, but the Lexan was so much better. It was perfectly clear and allowed us to set up terrific P.O.V.s throughout the cockpit. He also installed a tow package to handle the tension of the drogue – around three thousand pounds of tension, I believe.
But there was a hiccup with the Production Company. The insurance requested to protect the Porter hadn’t been arranged. The producers scrambled throughout Tuesday to solve the problem and during that time we flew a drogue test to give the pilot some practice and to check his speed.
When the pilot deployed the drogue and nosed the Porter down, Omar Alhegelan and I exited the trailing Otter. The fall rate was reasonable, but the Porter tracked forward relatively fast. Omar and I had to track hard to stay with it. That jump gave us good information. The prop, feathered and under no power, still spun at around 100 rpms and the Porter looked Ominous, Unapproachable, too big. The only way the jumpers could safely approach the Porter was with the pilot holding a perfectly stable target. Otherwise, the plane was just too big and hard and would easily knock out or kill a jumper. We landed feeling positive about the test, and apprehensive about the stunt.
Then things got complicated. The producer, director, and show host arrived. Nothing was accomplished to fix the insurance issue and we were told to stand by. All day Tuesday, we sat waiting for word on the insurance. Nothing came through. On Wednesday, things only got worse – we waited all day. That evening, they called wondering if we could throw together another stunt. Apparently, their lawyer advised them that our plane to plane transfer was riskier than other stunts. They wondered if we could torch a parachute, or toss a car or something.
Someone at their office figured we could safely throw together another stunt on short notice. I advised them that a well-planned stunt is far safer than anything last minute and that we had no intention of changing gears. After some thought, they called me to cancel the project.
So, that evening, I hired the entire crew including the Porter, Otter, helicopter camera ship, and all of the jumpers. The project, and its associated costs and risks, were now all mine. If we failed, or if someone was hurt, it was entirely on me. If we succeeded, I knew the producers would want the story. And I felt confident that we could pull off the stunt, so I was willing to bet it all.
Thursday morning, we got started with practice jump #1. The helicopter’s camera crapped out, so we flew without it. At 13,000 AGL, Carl exited the Porter to deploy the drogue and the pilot nosed it straight over. Omar, Steve, Brent, Greg, Blake, and I jumped from the Otter and flew after it. As we converged on the Porter, the drogue bridal snapped and it accelerated away from us.
We landed and walked to the hangar. Scott Christensen and Chuck Ross, our drogue riggers, stood there scratching their heads trying to figure out how a four thousand-pound test bridal would snap. We thought, perhaps a tension knot, but POV video playback showed that it had just snapped from the tension. Perhaps it had picked up a nick from a rock or something. So Scott and Chuck got busy re-rigging while the rest of us rehearsed and choreographed the stunt.
A dust storm kicked up when the producers called to see how things were going with “my” project and all I could tell them was that we had no helicopter camera, no drogue, and were sitting in a dust storm. The winds continued to howl until sunset and there I was, holding the bag, with expenses in the tens of thousands per day. Omar, Steve and Greg pulled me aside to say they’d forfeit their pay if the project failed, that they were with me in spirit, and wanted to succeed as much as I did. Just having their support gave me the courage to keep pushing.
Everything had to come together on Friday because the Porter was leaving for another event, and I was out of money. The morning was breezy with higher winds predicted in the afternoon. So we quickly boarded for our first attempt.
The pilot flew a perfect line and we all flew close to the Porter. Omar climbed in by close to 10,000 above ground level and stood inside the door waving to the rest of us. On flight #2 we decided to go for all three. The pilot flew another perfect line and Omar climbed in first, then Steve, then Greg – and we were done. They’d all chased down and climbed into the Porter airplane in about 5,000 feet of free fall from 13,000′ to 8,000′. We could have put two more skydivers in, no problem, but three was our goal, and a world record.
For me, the very moment Greg climbed in, I felt a huge sense of relief and accomplishment. After everything, it all came together in two quick attempts on a Friday morning. When I landed, everyone was applauding and hugging each other, it felt wonderful.
Although the project was officially canceled, the show producer, director, and their crew hadn’t really left town. They were nearby in a hotel, and when we called to report our success, they raced back to the airport to finish filming with us.