mspurgeo@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU (Mike Spurgeon) (05/21/91)
Found the following Associated Press article in my local paper. Could anyone who jumps at Bob Gates' place improve on the details? PARKMAN (AP) -- A suburban Cleveland woman who survived a fall from 9,500 feet with a broken parachute remained hospitalized in critical condition today with a compressed fracture of the spine. Jill Shields, 31, of Euclid, was flown Sunday evening by helicopter to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. The accident occured in Geauga County at the Cleveland Parachute Center, where instructor Ed Velcro said Shields had jumped from a plane at 9,500 feet. Troy Township fire Lt. Fred Ogrinc said Shields was found in 15 inches of mucky ground. She was conscious but complained of chest pains. "She didn't remember jumping out of a plane. She didn't remember hitting the ground," said Mark Mosley, an emergency medical technician from Parkman Township. Mosley said two other skydivers who saw her falling with a faulty parachute streaming behind her "tried to fly over to her, but she was flying at a much faster rate." He said they could pursue her only so far, then had to open their own parachutes. Rescuers said branches broke her fall and the mud on the ground absorbed some of the shock. "She put a good 1-foot hole into the ground," said Ken Russell, an assistant fire chief from Troy Twp. Shields told her rescuers she had jumped more than 30 times. Mike Spurgeon Internet: mspurgeo@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu
bb1v+@andrew.cmu.edu (Barry Lowell Brumitt) (05/23/91)
Well, here's the scoop: Dan Rossi called Karen Gates this morning to find out... Jill held onto the pilot chute too long, and the bridle wrapped around her arm. She was only able to pull the cutaway far enough so that one riser released as the force from the pilot chute on her arm was too great. At this point she must have lost track of altitude, and never got around to pulling her reserve. She went through trees and landed in a swampy area. Her only injuries were a couple of compressed vertebre, and she should be up and walking in a few days. She landed with a horseshoed main and no reserve, and will be up and about shortly. To say "She's one lucky girl" doesn't even begin to tell the story. This is all I know, and there may be mistakes, but this should be reliable. Barry ps. Apparently the media has been all over this, and her calls are being screened.
bb1v+@andrew.cmu.edu (Barry Lowell Brumitt) (05/28/91)
-- Dan Rossi got some further information on the incident last week at -- -- Cleveland. Here's an article he wrote up. I'm posting it since he's -- -- having some trouble with his account. Barry A-12269 -- I just got back from a day of sitting on the ground at Cleveland Sport, and I have some more information about Jill Shields and her miracle landing. First of all, I am happy to report that Jill is doing very well. When I spoke with her, she was in amazingly good spirits and expects to be leaving the hospital soon. I went with another jumper to pick up Jill's gear at the local police station. When we stretched it out, some new facts appeared. It was originally thought that Jill never pulled her reserve ripcord, and that it had just come open on impact, however, this may not be the case. From what my friend said it looked like, and from what I could feel, the reserve pilot chute and bridle were wrapped around the left riser about twenty or thirty times. The left riser is the one which did not release when Jill attempted to cut away. This would indicate that the reserve pilot chute had been out in the slip stream for some time. Also, her reserve ripcord was not found at the police station or the drop zone, and no one seems to remember seeing it near the point of impact. These two facts, although not conclusive, appear to indicate that Jill did, at some point, pull her reserve, but the pilot chute was unable to deploy the reserve canopy, because it immediately tangled with her left riser. The only piece that seems unusual, according to a friend of mine who was the first to get to Jill, and the one who inspected the canopy today, is that her reserve canopy was completely in the container when he found her. It is surprising that with the container open, and Jill almost vertical in freefall that the reserve canopy wouldn't have fallen out. When I spoke to Jill, she said that "in her mind" she pulled the reserve, but assumed that she hadn't pulled in actuality. I tend to think that Jill did have her head together enough to pull the reserve, she had done everything by the book up to that point. Dan Rossi B-#14030 Thank God for Miracles.