There was a skydiving accident in Wisconsin in 2013. Amazingly, everyone survived.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/04/wisconsin-skydivers-two-planes-collide

Wasn’t it famous for something else too?

And it's where Robert Heinlein was born. Not sure what else it might be famous for.

Thanks.

There is something in the human psyche that dictates that if you do something for fun, it can't possibly be dangerous.

It's a thrill seeking behavior.

The thrill of possibly dying appeals to some.

"I faced danger and survived!"

Except those many climbing Mt Everest, or do anything dangerous who don't 'make it'.

They are very quiet.

People who were prepared to jump out of a plane got killed in a plane crash?
What a bizarre circumstance.

Still odd that people who were recreationally engaging in what was developed as an emergency procedure is just bizarre.
I guess I assumed something went horribly wrong with the plane.

You are safe on the ground and relatively safe when the plane reaches a suitable altitude for jumping.

Anywhere in between though . . .

That's why jumping off a building with a chute is likely to go well.
Not enough time to deploy.

Rest in peace.

...met an "older" guy who lived in the same apartment building as me in a Chicago suburb.

In the 60s, he had been an Alabama State Trooper, but got drafted or enlisted (not sure which) in the army and sent to Viet Nam, where he started smoking weed.

He was still an army reservist, but in his spare time, he was in a skydiving team called "The Roachpile."

As they were in the plane approaching the jump site, they would sit in a line and take bong hits before jumping, passing the bong down the line and back.

As they plummeted toward earth, they would form an "8-man star," joining hands in a big circle before breaking up and deploying their parachutes.

He told me one time they dropped acid before the plane took off!

Again, this guy had been an Alabama State Trooper in a previous phase of his life, but Viet Nam took care of that.

I moved to Hollywood CA in early '76, and never heard from him again.

Always wondered what happened to him...

RIP to the skydivers, too sad.

I'm here in Hollywood as well.

...was quite a character!

If he's still around, I figure he'd be 85-90ish.

One day he asked me to come into his apartment, and he showed me where he kept his handgun, "in case you ever need it." He advised that if I ever did need it, to shoot to kill. Fortunately, I never needed it.

Also, I've been in the Pasadena/Sierra Madre area since late 1979.

When I was in Hollywood, I was in the apartment building on Whitley Ave at the corner of Hollywood Blvd, across from Frederick's of Hollywood.

I was in Apt 1, so I had lots of people randomly knocking on my door, looking for the manager or whoever.

One time, I answered the door and 2 black robed/hooded, what looked like druids were standing there.

Another time, I answered the door and met what would later become my wife. That only lasted maybe 2 years.

It was an "interesting" time!

Ha. When I moved here, the first place I lived was Pasadena, but that was for only two weeks.
I also used to live on Whitley as well. I was at the top of the hill in a basement loft in one of the buildings. That’s where I watched LA burn from the rooftop of our building during the riots.