The official release from Skydive Chicago.
Saturday July 4:
It involved an experienced jumper with over 500 jumps, CRW
experience, who had just won an accuracy contest on the jump
prior. He had exited from full altitude (13,500') and had opened
at a higher altitude in order to make it back to the DZ. Once
over the airport he may have possibly inverted himself to hang
upside down from his risers. This caused a spiral that he was not
able to pull out of in time.
----------
> Pat wrote:
> > New Jumper to SC (Skydive Chicago). Got leg caught in
riser ( maybe trying a harness flip?) Spun into ground. Did CPR
for 30 mins. DOA. Chris? Nice guy.
> > Douglas Smith wrote in message
<35A0C202.148ED523@platinum.com>...
> His name was Dan Briggs. He had a D License with 500+
jumps. And he was a very nice guy.
> On his last jump, he was doing a six way with me and some
friends. The jump was normal, and we all tracked at 4k and
pulled around 3k without problems. I last saw Dan with a good
canopy heading back to the DZ. He had wide open blue skies and
acres of green fields below. And that's how I'll remember him.
I didn't see the accident itself because Dan was well behind me
and I was lining up for my approach.
> Dan has jumped at Skydive Chicago a few times, Rantoul
(Extreme Skydiving), as well as several other places. On
overcast days, he would manifest for hop-n-pops and a friendly
accuracy competition. His web page references Diamond Quest,
CRW, Freestyle, and RW. You'll find his > skydiving page at:
http://www.universe.digex.net/~crane/dan-skydive.html
> Rest in peace, Dan. I know you will be missed.
> Robert
----- Begin Included Message -----
>From dougr@ncsa.uiuc.edu Tue Jul 7 15:27:52 1998
-Miller,
-Below is the official notice of Dan Briggs' death that was
sent to the University of Illinois Astronomy Department. You can
distribute it to NRAO.
-Doug
--
--------------------------------------
I am sorry to be the bearer of the very sad news in this e-mail
to inform you that Dan Briggs died in a skydiving accident this
past weekend on Saturday, July 4th at a skydiving facility near
Chicago.
Dan is survived by a sister who is making travel plans to
arrive
in Illinois tomorrow afternoon. At that time we may know more
about funeral services or a memorial, and we will notify you of
those arrangements as soon as information is available.
Dan started working here approximately one year ago when he
joined Professor Crutcher's research group last summer. He was a
respected astronomer and research programmer. Dan was a man of
many exciting and passionate interests from being an experienced
skydiver to a pinball aficionado. We will miss you Dan.
With heartfelt sadness,
----------
> Lane Hogaboam wrote in message
<01bda969$14457b40$b3f7aecc@default>...
> >> If this is the same Dan Briggs I'm thinking of, then he's
been a regular on rec.skydiving since way back. He used to joke
that he had no sense of humor. Or am I getting the name wrong?
> >> Bob Church
> >Unfortunately it is the same one. He was also a regular on
skydiving on Dalnet.. I was talking with him just last week. All
those who knew him will miss him.. Lane
> Dan landed while spinning, and was out of sight of our group
at impact. Luckily, I was facing the other direction, but the
look on the faces of the people looking past me said it all.
> All activity shut down as Roger leaped into a 4x4 and careened
out to the field where he landed, and a Twotter made passes until
Dan was apparently located. We then loaded up the DC-3 and took
off.
> When we landed, some 40 minutes later, the ambulance was
still at the end of the runway -- not a good sign, since they
only hang out if there is no rush at all.
> Trying to fathom quite what had resulted in this incident
(foot caught in a riser???) I was told his name, and asked if I
knew him. Since he was an Illinois jumper, and didn't seem to
have frequented the same venues as I, I assumed it wasn't the
person who came to mind.
> I was wrong.
> I met Dan a number of times on the East Coast, and most
likely would have walked into him at some time over the weekend,
had he lived. We had corresponded on numerous occasions by E-
mail, and I only had to check my inbox to see that he was no
longer in Washington, but at UIUC.
> Dan was friendly, pleasant and very even tempered. I, on
the other hand, am given to being somewhat cranky, but he never
seemed to hold that against me.
> I do not pretend to place an equal value on all human life,
since I feel it denigrates the memory of worthwhile individuals
if they merit the same sentiment as would the passing of a more
ignoble soul. Having said that, I feel a great sense of loss in
the knowledge that it was Dan who was out in that field. He was
an unique individual, and I feel badly that I won't have his
feedback anymore.
> This sucks.
> My heartfelt condolences go out to those who knew and loved
Dan, and I am glad I got to know him to the extent I did.
> Blue skies,
> Winsor
Back to the Dan Briggs homepage.
> From: Robert Lawton
> Newsgroups: rec.skydiving
> Subject: Re: 2nd fatality at Skydive Chicago
> Date: Monday, July 06, 1998 3:40 PM
> > >Does anyone have any information on Roger's 2nd death in
five days?
Sender: droberts@ncsa.uiuc.edu
Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 16:27:42 -0500
From: Doug Roberts
Organization: National Center for Supercomputing Applications
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (X11; I; IRIX64 6.4 IP30)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Miller Goss
Subject: Official notification of Dan Briggs' death
Doug Roberts, NCSA Research Programmer
218 Astronomy Building 217.244.5468 (Work)
University of Illinois 217.355.1986 (Home)
1002 W. Green St. 217.244.7638 (Fax)
Urbana, IL 61801 USA dougr@ncsa.uiuc.edu
http://monet.astro.uiuc.edu/~droberts
Doug Roberts
> From: Winsor Naugler III
> Newsgroups: rec.skydiving
> Subject: Re: 2nd fatality at Skydive Chicago
> Date: Tuesday, July 07, 1998 7:26 AM
>
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