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Skydiving 'makes you appreciate life' Morgantown skydiver vows to jump again despite harrowing adventure Monday, September 04, 2000 By Bill Heltzel, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Exhausted from dangling under an airplane for 40 minutes, skydiver Andy Judy accepted the possibility that he might die and then summoned his last reserves of strength for a hard landing.
The 20-year-old Morgantown, W.Va., resident was banged up badly but was not seriously injured in the accident Friday afternoon at Connellsville Airport in Dunbar.
"Man, I really feel lucky," he told his stepfather, Tim Sowar, of Franklin, W.Va., who had rushed to his side when the Cessna landed on a grass runway.
"And I said, man you are lucky," Sowar recounted yesterday.
Judy is a soft-spoken but strong-willed man. A couple of years ago, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Rangers. But he washed out, when shin splints caused him to fail a physical requirement.
Judy got physical therapy for the sore legs, and he worked out diligently to build up his body for the day when he can re-apply. He enrolled in West Virginia University, where he is a sophomore and studies speech pathology. And he jumped.
"Skydiving makes you feel alive," he said in explaining why he has jumped more than 100 times and why he will jump again. "It makes you appreciate life. It makes me happy."
On Friday, he jumped twice, including once with his stepfather, before his fateful flight. On his third jump, he was to be part of a three-man formation that would be videotaped by a fourth jumper.
They climbed onto a platform under the Cessna's wing.
He was the last one out and it was his job to give the count, using his right leg, to synchronize the jump.
"I swung my leg, one, two, go."
But when he hopped off, the left bootie on his jumpsuit snagged on the plane's step. He was dangling upside down, held only by the fabric, as the pant leg stretched and gravity pulled his body away.
On the ground, Sowar was walking to his truck. He heard the plane cut its engine so the skydivers could jump. He heard parachutes popping open and he looked up.
He saw one, two, three chutes open, recognized all the colors and knew that his stepson's chute was not open. At 10,000 feet, the plane was a speck, and he couldn't see Judy. But he knew something had gone wrong.
"I didn't know if he took it all the way to the ground."
When the first skydiver reached the landing zone, Sowar ran up and learned that his stepson was entangled under the plane. He grabbed a pair of binoculars and saw for himself.
"I can't even describe the feeling, to see him hanging. It was 40 minutes of helplessness," he said. "It's your kid hanging up there. It's gut-wrenching."
Judy's first instinct was to pull himself back into the plane. But without a foothold on the step, he had no leverage, and the movement of the propeller and a forward speed greater than 100 miles per hour buffeted him like a rag doll.
He tried to tear the fabric. He tried to get out of the jumpsuit, without losing the parachutes, but only managed to free his arms.
Pilot Bob Yaley tried shaking the plane to set him free. He tried to untangle him by hand but, when he left the controls, the plane went into a dive.
By now, Judy was experiencing excruciating pain in his right thigh. His eyeballs were bulging from being inverted. But he rallied himself for one more try.
"I knew I had to get up on that step, or die," he said. But his exhaustion was too much.
And time was running out. The Cessna had enough fuel for about a half-hour. A thunderstorm was moving in. And Judy was running out of room. His altimeter showed 4,000 feet. If he did come free, he would have to quickly overcome pain and fatigue to deploy his parachute.
And there was the matter of the Automatic Activation Device. It was set to deploy a reserve parachute if Judy reached an altitude of 750 feet while moving vertically at 70 miles per hour. If it discharged while he was still entangled in the plane, the parachute would bring down the Cessna and probably kill him and Yaley.
Judy began to resign himself to his situation.
"For the first time, I accepted death," he said. "I realized there was nothing I could do. I started praying to God."
But he said he also put his faith in the pilot and the ground crew. He believed in their professionalism.
And then, "I tried to enjoy the ride. It was a beautiful day and I was flying in the wind. I made the best of it and tried to block out the pain."
On the ground, Don Bick and Ed Ganley, co-owners of Pittsburgh Skydiving Center, were scrambling to find a way to get Judy down safely. They consulted their emergency operations manual and coordinated their ideas with Yaley.
They considered flying the plane low, near the ground or the Youghiogheny River, while a pickup truck or boat matched speed and someone tried to cut Judy free. The plane would have to fly at least 60 to 80 miles per hour to avoid stalling and crashing, and the chance of Judy striking the ground was too great.
So they brought the plane in for a landing.
Judy could not communicate with the pilot or ground crew, and he didn't realize the plan until he saw the runway. He pulled his head and chest up, tucked in his arms and braced for the landing, as he had been taught to do for problem landings.
His parachute pack absorbed most of the initial shock. Yaley got the plane stopped quickly, minimizing the distance over which Judy was dragged and rolled so that it was less than 100 feet. Emergency Medical Technicians immediately cut him loose.
He had skin burns and bruises over much of his body. His feet and ankles, stomach and upper arms took the brunt of the damage.
He turned over, opened his eyes and looked up at his stepfather. Sowar knew that at least his stepson was alive. Then he marveled that he wasn't hurt more seriously.
Judy was flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. By the time Sowar arrived by car, Judy was being released. They returned to the skydiving center and celebrated with their friends.
Judy was back at the skydiving center yesterday, fortified with pain pills, taking it easy and watching others jump.
"I'm just happy to be alive," he said. "I feel lucky to be jumping with such professionals. They probably saved my life."
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