August 24, 2025 • 17 mins
A free jump from a historic World War II bomber—what skydiver could resist? But when eighteen experienced skydivers plunged through thick cloud cover on August 27, 1967, they faced a horrifying realization. Instead of the expected Ohio airfield below, they broke through to find themselves over the frigid waters of Lake Erie, miles from shore with just minutes before impact.
The Lake Erie skydiving disaster highlights how quickly adventure can turn deadly when safety systems fail. What should have been a thrilling high-altitude jump from a B-25 Mitchell bomber became a nightmare due to a perfect storm of errors: an air traffic controller who mistook a small Cessna for the bomber, a pilot operating beyond his certification, and the fatal decision to jump without ground visibility. The jumpers, many with hundreds of jumps under their belts, frantically shed their heavy cold-weather gear as they descended toward the 40-degree water, trying to improvise flotation devices from helmets and reserve chutes.
Despite heroic rescue efforts launching within minutes—including over 30 boats, Coast Guard personnel, and military aircraft—sixteen of the eighteen skydivers perished in the lake. The aftermath brought significant changes to skydiving safety protocols, particularly regarding jumps near bodies of water. The investigation revealed multiple failures across the system, ultimately leading to successful wrongful death lawsuits against the government for the controller's negligence.
While skydiving in 1967 carried substantial risks, today's sport has evolved dramatically. Modern safety measures, equipment improvements, and rigorous training have transformed skydiving into a relatively safe activity with just nine fatalities across 3.8 million jumps in 2024. Yet the Lake Erie tragedy serves as a powerful reminder that even with experience and preparation, communication errors and overconfidence can still lead to disaster. Listen to discover the full story of this tragic event and how it forever changed the world of skydiving.
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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Skydiving is so much fun.
You gotta get up early, go tosome little rinky-dink airport,
watch some stupid ass safetyvideo before getting on some
rickety ass little plane thatyou're not even sure if it's
gonna make it off the ground andif it does, is it gonna stay in
the air.
Then you fly in some circlesgetting knocked about by the
(00:22):
winds until you're well abovethe air.
Then you fly in some circlesgetting knocked about by the
winds until you're well abovethe clouds and then you get
clicked to the experience guidebefore literally being thrown
out the door.
No warnings, just one secondyou're in the door and the next
you're being flung into the sky.
Then you free fall right into acloud, which are not as soft
(00:45):
and fluffy as they look.
Instead they're filled withwater vapor that acts like
little tiny needles digging intoany exposed skin as you fall
through it.
You also can't see a damn thinguntil you break through the
cloud, and then you get the mostamazing view as you look at the
ground almost a mile below.
(01:05):
At least, that's what'ssupposed to happen.
That was my personal experience, anyways, but for one group of
18 skydivers that's not quitewhat happened.
When they broke through theclouds.
They got a completely differentsight, a sight that would
ultimately lead to the deaths of16 of them.
(01:25):
So what happened I'm Andrew andthis is History is a Disaster.
Tonight we are taking a skydive into the 1967 Lake Erie
(01:46):
skydiving accident, andtonight's episode is brought to
you by Earhart Cloud Maps,inspired by that globetrotting
femme fatale, amelia Earhart.
You'll never get lost in theclouds again with Earhart.
With Earhart Now.
(02:10):
Nearly 30 skydivers showed up toOrtner Airport in Wakeman, ohio
, on the morning of August 27,1967.
They had come at the invitationof Bob Carnes After a
performance at an air show.
He wanted to show someappreciation to the skydiving
community, which was still verymuch in its infancy.
To do this, he was offering afree jump out of his privately
(02:31):
owned B-25 Mitchell bomber, amedium bomber that saw heavy use
in World War II.
A free jump out of a World WarII bomber what skydiver can
resist that?
And not just any jump.
He was offering a high altitude, low opening, halo jump from
20,000 feet.
So naturally, people came fromacross the state to take
(02:55):
advantage of this opportunity.
However, the plane had not beenmodified for skydiving, or
really modified at all.
It was not pressurized orprepared in any way and there
was a fear the plane would beoverloaded with as many people
that showed up, bob and hisco-pilot Richard Wolff made the
(03:16):
decision to take only the 20most experienced jumpers up.
17 of them were members of theUnited States Parachute
Association with at least 75jumps apiece.
7 of them had over 200 jumps,so it was a pretty experienced
group and only 18 of them werejumping at 20,000 feet.
(03:37):
After they jumped out, the planwas to go up to 30,000 feet for
the last two jumpers, air ForceMajor Alan Homestead and Larry
Hartman to jump.
Larry would act as anunofficial jump master for the
group of 18.
Everyone on board was given aportable oxygen tank and mask.
Since the oxygen system in theplane did not work and since it
(04:01):
was unmodified, it had threesections.
Two of the jumpers would be inthe forward section, just behind
the flight crew, and would jumpfrom the plane through a hatch
in the floor.
Nine jumpers rode in the bombbay and would jump from the bomb
bay doors.
The rest were in the aftsection and would jump from
either the waist gunner's hatchon the left side of the plane or
(04:25):
a nearby floor hatch.
These areas had hastilyinstalled narrow benches for
seating and they would have verylimited views out of the
windows.
Once they were in the air, theywould not be able to see
exactly what they were jumpinginto when they went out into the
(04:47):
sky.
One of the jumpers who didn'tgo on the flight decided to
hitch a ride with Ted Murphy.
Ride with Ted Murphy.
Ted was going to fly up to12,000 feet in his Cessna 180
Skywagon to take pictures of theskydivers as they descended.
After some initial delays andconcerns over the thick cloud
cover, carnes took off fromOrtner Airfield around 3 pm,
(05:11):
murphy following shortly behindhim in his Cessna.
Carnes took a circular route ashe ascended to 20,000 feet.
This plane, not designed to flyat these altitudes, was slow in
the climb and it would takethem nearly an hour to reach the
right altitude.
And with the thick cloud cover,ground visibility was zero.
(05:31):
And since this was the 60s,they didn't have GPS or any
fancy shit like that.
So they had to rely on theCleveland Air Traffic Control
Center to tell him where exactlyhe was.
Unknown to anyone at the time.
During Carnes' ascent, there wasa shift change, so when he
called in to check his location,he got Engel Smith.
(05:54):
Smith had just come on duty andobviously had no idea what was
going on.
When asked for a locationupdate, he mistook the Cessna's
position for the B-25 and gaveCarnes his location as if he was
in the Cessna, which put himabout six miles from the jump
zone.
(06:14):
Okay so I don't know that muchabout radar technology,
especially way back in the 60s,but how the fuck do you mistake
a B-25 for a Cessna?
But anyways, so now Carnesthinks he is over Ortner.
He is not.
He is a bit of a ways off fromthere.
(06:35):
In preparation for the jump, heslows the plane from 145 miles
per hour to 105, and opens thebomb bay doors where the jumpers
are huddling.
With the bomb bay not beingpressurized and the lack of
insulation, they were freezingin the back.
Air temperatures at thataltitude were negative 20.
(06:57):
They had come prepared for this, wearing extra heavy clothing
and boots.
With the bomb bay doors nowopen, the plane was flooded with
sunlight and noise.
They could barely see, asHartman got them up and going,
jumping out of their differentexits, against FAA and USPA
rules about jumping into clouds,jumping out all these different
(07:19):
exits like this.
Let them fairly scatteredacross the sky, although two of
them would be able to link uptheir plan to practice some
freefall maneuvers beforehitting the clouds was shot to
shit.
At 20,000 feet they had a14,000 foot free fall before
(07:42):
they hit the thick cloud cover.
The plan was on breaking cloudcover at 4,000 feet and they
would wait until 3,000 feetabove the airfield before they
deployed their chutes.
As they dropped through theclouds and broke through, it was
not the sight of the airfieldthat greeted them.
It was water.
They had dropped through theclouds right over Lake Erie,
(08:05):
nearly four miles from shore and12 miles from their intended
drop zone.
They had roughly three minutesbefore they hit the water.
They had to act fast.
They had to start getting ridof all that heavy clothing they
had on, along with boots andhelmets and anything else that
wouldn't float or that couldpossibly help drag them under
(08:25):
when they hit the water.
At least one jumper deployed hischute early in the hopes of
being able to drift closer toshore.
Witnesses nearby on the beachsaw the parachutes open and
watched as the jumpers hit thewater one after another in a
straight line.
They thought it was a stunt anda boat was going to pick them
up as they plunged into the 40degree water.
(08:47):
They tried to use reservechutes and helmets as flotation
devices, but this didn't quitework out.
One of the jumpers had worn anactual flotation device but it
failed to deploy after hittingthe water.
Paul Potter, an off-duty CoastGuard Lieutenant at the beach
near Lorain, ohio, saw thechutes deploy and ran for a
(09:10):
telephone before the firstdivers hit the water.
Potter notified Coast GuardStation Lorraine and then worked
with civilian boaters tocoordinate a rescue.
Rescue efforts began withinminutes.
30 boats joined in the searchfor the jumpers, but efforts
were hampered by the cold andrough winds, and the waves were
reaching five foot high inplaces.
(09:32):
Up above, unaware of thetragedy unfolding below them,
carnes was putting a request tosend the 30,000 so the other two
jumpers could go.
His request was denied but hewent anyways.
Who was going to stop him?
During the flight, carnes wasable to see through a break in
the cloud cover and see waterbelow, which led him to making
(09:56):
the remark to Wolfe that hehoped he didn't drop them over
the lake.
Alan Homestead and LarryHartman would eventually jump
over their intended drop zoneand they would land successfully
.
Carnes would land the B-25 20minutes after the first jumpers
left the airplane Jumpers RybertCoy and Bernard Johnson managed
(10:17):
to cut away their chutes andequipment before hitting the
water and being rescued.
Dean Phillips and Richard Ralph,two brothers out fishing,
managed to pull them out of thewater and save them.
A search for the others wasconducted by over 100 Coast
(10:39):
Guardsmen and involved searcheson land and by boat and plane.
The Army got involved to helpout, adding in three more
helicopters and another airplaneto scan the water.
Initially, all they found wasthe gear that had been cut away
in the drop that had been cutaway in the drop.
As the days dragged on, hope offinding more survivors dipped
(10:59):
as they pulled body after bodyout of Lake Erie's chilly water.
It would take until September4th before the last body was
pulled out.
Initially, some governmentofficials made the comment that
jumpers had been blown 20 milesfrom their target by a strong
crosswind and that just soundsfucking ridiculous 20 miles,
(11:19):
really.
In the immediate aftermath, onesurvivor reported that the
plane was in the wrong place andthe pilots of both the B-25 and
the Cessna said that they hadbeen given the wrong information
by air traffic control.
On September 2nd the NTSB begantheir investigation.
Norman Heaton, the head of theUnited States Parachute
(11:42):
Association testified that thejumpers could not have drifted
more than 16,000 feet, whichmeant that the bomber was at
least a mile offshore at thetime of the jump.
Shithead Smith maintained thatthe bomber was six miles inland.
The NTSB went on to conductthree studies.
The first concluded that thejumpers could not have drifted
(12:04):
more than two miles, putting thebomber three to four miles
offshore and 11 miles fromOrtner.
The second reconstructed theflight path and reached a
similar conclusion as to theplane's location.
The third considered thelocations of both planes
relative to the locations theywere given by air traffic
control, concluding thatShithead I mean concluding that
(12:27):
Smith mistook the Cessna for theB-25.
The report went on to faultCarnes for executing a jump when
he could not see the ground andthe air traffic controller for
giving the wrong position forthe plane.
It also said that the skydiversthemselves, given all their
experience, were not withoutfault for jumping under
(12:49):
dangerous conditions.
The NTSB also found that, whileCarnes was certified as a pilot
, he was not rated to fly a B-25and the plane was not certified
to carry passengers.
After the accident, senator MikeMonroney from Oklahoma, the
chairman of the CommerceSubcommittee on Aviation,
(13:09):
proposed a new law regulatingskydiving by the FAA.
The NTSB's chair, josephO'Connell, presented the board's
finding on September 25th at ahearing of the subcommittee.
Regarding the proposed changes,david Thomas, the administrator
of the FAA, testified thatjumping through clouds was
(13:29):
already outright prohibited, butofficials spoke in opposition
to increased regulations, sayingthat the current system was
adequate.
The bill would end up failingand would not become law,
although other new rules fromthe Parachute Club of America
would come out of this, likeprohibiting any jumps within 50
miles of any body of waterunless they had the proper
(13:53):
survival gear.
Rival here, robert Carnes,would also lose his pilot's
license indefinitely.
Both survivors and the familiesof the victims would go on to
successfully sue the UnitedStates for wrongful death over
the air traffic controller'serror.
The United States was foundliable due to Smith's negligence
(14:16):
.
They also determined there wasno negligence on the jumpers
part, due to the regulations forskydiving were designed to
protect anyone they might hit,not the skydiver themselves.
Skydivers would later return toLake Erie in 1968 and 1969 in
honor of the victims.
During these memorial jumpsthey tossed the wreath from the
(14:40):
plane before parachuting intothe lake, this time with all the
proper gear.
The B-25 was eventually soldoff in 1970 to a flying club in
Massachusetts.
Roger Lopez, a ferry pilot, wassent out to Ohio to fly the
plane back to Massachusetts andits new owners.
However, when he reached theairport in Orange, massachusetts
(15:04):
, something went wrong and theplane crashed into the ground.
Lopez was killed and the planewas completely destroyed in the
crash.
The MTSB later determined thecause to be pilot error and that
the plane was beyond Lopez'sexperience or abilities.
Or maybe, just maybe, the damnthing was cursed.
(15:27):
While skydiving seems terrifyingfor most, today is relatively
safe.
According to the United StatesParachute Association, there was
nine deaths in 2024, with over3.8 million jumps made.
The death rates have been on asteady decline since the 1970s,
(15:47):
while there has been asignificant increase in the
number of jumps.
The most common injurysustained while skydiving is
ankle injuries from bad landings, and only 12% of USPA members
report a jump requiring the useof the reserve parachute.
So, with that said, the ride upis absolutely terrifying and
(16:10):
probably most likely less safethan the actual jump, but once
you're off the plane and in freefall, it's all worth it.
That view is absolutely amazingand I would definitely do it
again and probably still beterrified on the way up, but
whatever, and that was the 1967Lake Erie skydiving accident.
(16:35):
Thanks for listening and if youlike the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice, and you can
reach out to the show athistoryisadisaster at gmailcom
with questions, comments orsuggestions, as well as
following the show on socialmedia like Facebook or Instagram
and a few others TikTok, tiktok, tiktok and YouTube or whatever
(17:01):
Blue Sky, something like that.
Also share the episode.
Your friends are going to loveit and take care of yourself out
there.
Chase that dream.
Live for today, becausetomorrow is never guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.
Skydiving is so much fun.
You gotta get up early, go tosome little rinky-dink airport,
watch some stupid ass safetyvideo before getting on some
rickety ass little plane thatyou're not even sure if it's
gonna make it off the ground andif it does, is it gonna stay in
the air.
Then you fly in some circlesgetting knocked about by the
(00:22):
winds until you're well abovethe air.
Then you fly in some circlesgetting knocked about by the
winds until you're well abovethe clouds and then you get
clicked to the experience guidebefore literally being thrown
out the door.
No warnings, just one secondyou're in the door and the next
you're being flung into the sky.
Then you free fall right into acloud, which are not as soft
(00:45):
and fluffy as they look.
Instead they're filled withwater vapor that acts like
little tiny needles digging intoany exposed skin as you fall
through it.
You also can't see a damn thinguntil you break through the
cloud, and then you get the mostamazing view as you look at the
ground almost a mile below.
(01:05):
At least, that's what'ssupposed to happen.
That was my personal experience, anyways, but for one group of
18 skydivers that's not quitewhat happened.
When they broke through theclouds.
They got a completely differentsight, a sight that would
ultimately lead to the deaths of16 of them.
(01:25):
So what happened I'm Andrew andthis is History is a Disaster.
Tonight we are taking a skydive into the 1967 Lake Erie
(01:46):
skydiving accident, andtonight's episode is brought to
you by Earhart Cloud Maps,inspired by that globetrotting
femme fatale, amelia Earhart.
You'll never get lost in theclouds again with Earhart.
With Earhart Now.
(02:10):
Nearly 30 skydivers showed up toOrtner Airport in Wakeman, ohio
, on the morning of August 27,1967.
They had come at the invitationof Bob Carnes After a
performance at an air show.
He wanted to show someappreciation to the skydiving
community, which was still verymuch in its infancy.
To do this, he was offering afree jump out of his privately
(02:31):
owned B-25 Mitchell bomber, amedium bomber that saw heavy use
in World War II.
A free jump out of a World WarII bomber what skydiver can
resist that?
And not just any jump.
He was offering a high altitude, low opening, halo jump from
20,000 feet.
So naturally, people came fromacross the state to take
(02:55):
advantage of this opportunity.
However, the plane had not beenmodified for skydiving, or
really modified at all.
It was not pressurized orprepared in any way and there
was a fear the plane would beoverloaded with as many people
that showed up, bob and hisco-pilot Richard Wolff made the
(03:16):
decision to take only the 20most experienced jumpers up.
17 of them were members of theUnited States Parachute
Association with at least 75jumps apiece.
7 of them had over 200 jumps,so it was a pretty experienced
group and only 18 of them werejumping at 20,000 feet.
(03:37):
After they jumped out, the planwas to go up to 30,000 feet for
the last two jumpers, air ForceMajor Alan Homestead and Larry
Hartman to jump.
Larry would act as anunofficial jump master for the
group of 18.
Everyone on board was given aportable oxygen tank and mask.
Since the oxygen system in theplane did not work and since it
(04:01):
was unmodified, it had threesections.
Two of the jumpers would be inthe forward section, just behind
the flight crew, and would jumpfrom the plane through a hatch
in the floor.
Nine jumpers rode in the bombbay and would jump from the bomb
bay doors.
The rest were in the aftsection and would jump from
either the waist gunner's hatchon the left side of the plane or
(04:25):
a nearby floor hatch.
These areas had hastilyinstalled narrow benches for
seating and they would have verylimited views out of the
windows.
Once they were in the air, theywould not be able to see
exactly what they were jumpinginto when they went out into the
(04:47):
sky.
One of the jumpers who didn'tgo on the flight decided to
hitch a ride with Ted Murphy.
Ride with Ted Murphy.
Ted was going to fly up to12,000 feet in his Cessna 180
Skywagon to take pictures of theskydivers as they descended.
After some initial delays andconcerns over the thick cloud
cover, carnes took off fromOrtner Airfield around 3 pm,
(05:11):
murphy following shortly behindhim in his Cessna.
Carnes took a circular route ashe ascended to 20,000 feet.
This plane, not designed to flyat these altitudes, was slow in
the climb and it would takethem nearly an hour to reach the
right altitude.
And with the thick cloud cover,ground visibility was zero.
(05:31):
And since this was the 60s,they didn't have GPS or any
fancy shit like that.
So they had to rely on theCleveland Air Traffic Control
Center to tell him where exactlyhe was.
Unknown to anyone at the time.
During Carnes' ascent, there wasa shift change, so when he
called in to check his location,he got Engel Smith.
(05:54):
Smith had just come on duty andobviously had no idea what was
going on.
When asked for a locationupdate, he mistook the Cessna's
position for the B-25 and gaveCarnes his location as if he was
in the Cessna, which put himabout six miles from the jump
zone.
(06:14):
Okay so I don't know that muchabout radar technology,
especially way back in the 60s,but how the fuck do you mistake
a B-25 for a Cessna?
But anyways, so now Carnesthinks he is over Ortner.
He is not.
He is a bit of a ways off fromthere.
(06:35):
In preparation for the jump, heslows the plane from 145 miles
per hour to 105, and opens thebomb bay doors where the jumpers
are huddling.
With the bomb bay not beingpressurized and the lack of
insulation, they were freezingin the back.
Air temperatures at thataltitude were negative 20.
(06:57):
They had come prepared for this, wearing extra heavy clothing
and boots.
With the bomb bay doors nowopen, the plane was flooded with
sunlight and noise.
They could barely see, asHartman got them up and going,
jumping out of their differentexits, against FAA and USPA
rules about jumping into clouds,jumping out all these different
(07:19):
exits like this.
Let them fairly scatteredacross the sky, although two of
them would be able to link uptheir plan to practice some
freefall maneuvers beforehitting the clouds was shot to
shit.
At 20,000 feet they had a14,000 foot free fall before
(07:42):
they hit the thick cloud cover.
The plan was on breaking cloudcover at 4,000 feet and they
would wait until 3,000 feetabove the airfield before they
deployed their chutes.
As they dropped through theclouds and broke through, it was
not the sight of the airfieldthat greeted them.
It was water.
They had dropped through theclouds right over Lake Erie,
(08:05):
nearly four miles from shore and12 miles from their intended
drop zone.
They had roughly three minutesbefore they hit the water.
They had to act fast.
They had to start getting ridof all that heavy clothing they
had on, along with boots andhelmets and anything else that
wouldn't float or that couldpossibly help drag them under
(08:25):
when they hit the water.
At least one jumper deployed hischute early in the hopes of
being able to drift closer toshore.
Witnesses nearby on the beachsaw the parachutes open and
watched as the jumpers hit thewater one after another in a
straight line.
They thought it was a stunt anda boat was going to pick them
up as they plunged into the 40degree water.
(08:47):
They tried to use reservechutes and helmets as flotation
devices, but this didn't quitework out.
One of the jumpers had worn anactual flotation device but it
failed to deploy after hittingthe water.
Paul Potter, an off-duty CoastGuard Lieutenant at the beach
near Lorain, ohio, saw thechutes deploy and ran for a
(09:10):
telephone before the firstdivers hit the water.
Potter notified Coast GuardStation Lorraine and then worked
with civilian boaters tocoordinate a rescue.
Rescue efforts began withinminutes.
30 boats joined in the searchfor the jumpers, but efforts
were hampered by the cold andrough winds, and the waves were
reaching five foot high inplaces.
(09:32):
Up above, unaware of thetragedy unfolding below them,
carnes was putting a request tosend the 30,000 so the other two
jumpers could go.
His request was denied but hewent anyways.
Who was going to stop him?
During the flight, carnes wasable to see through a break in
the cloud cover and see waterbelow, which led him to making
(09:56):
the remark to Wolfe that hehoped he didn't drop them over
the lake.
Alan Homestead and LarryHartman would eventually jump
over their intended drop zoneand they would land successfully
.
Carnes would land the B-25 20minutes after the first jumpers
left the airplane Jumpers RybertCoy and Bernard Johnson managed
(10:17):
to cut away their chutes andequipment before hitting the
water and being rescued.
Dean Phillips and Richard Ralph,two brothers out fishing,
managed to pull them out of thewater and save them.
A search for the others wasconducted by over 100 Coast
(10:39):
Guardsmen and involved searcheson land and by boat and plane.
The Army got involved to helpout, adding in three more
helicopters and another airplaneto scan the water.
Initially, all they found wasthe gear that had been cut away
in the drop that had been cutaway in the drop.
As the days dragged on, hope offinding more survivors dipped
(10:59):
as they pulled body after bodyout of Lake Erie's chilly water.
It would take until September4th before the last body was
pulled out.
Initially, some governmentofficials made the comment that
jumpers had been blown 20 milesfrom their target by a strong
crosswind and that just soundsfucking ridiculous 20 miles,
(11:19):
really.
In the immediate aftermath, onesurvivor reported that the
plane was in the wrong place andthe pilots of both the B-25 and
the Cessna said that they hadbeen given the wrong information
by air traffic control.
On September 2nd the NTSB begantheir investigation.
Norman Heaton, the head of theUnited States Parachute
(11:42):
Association testified that thejumpers could not have drifted
more than 16,000 feet, whichmeant that the bomber was at
least a mile offshore at thetime of the jump.
Shithead Smith maintained thatthe bomber was six miles inland.
The NTSB went on to conductthree studies.
The first concluded that thejumpers could not have drifted
(12:04):
more than two miles, putting thebomber three to four miles
offshore and 11 miles fromOrtner.
The second reconstructed theflight path and reached a
similar conclusion as to theplane's location.
The third considered thelocations of both planes
relative to the locations theywere given by air traffic
control, concluding thatShithead I mean concluding that
(12:27):
Smith mistook the Cessna for theB-25.
The report went on to faultCarnes for executing a jump when
he could not see the ground andthe air traffic controller for
giving the wrong position forthe plane.
It also said that the skydiversthemselves, given all their
experience, were not withoutfault for jumping under
(12:49):
dangerous conditions.
The NTSB also found that, whileCarnes was certified as a pilot
, he was not rated to fly a B-25and the plane was not certified
to carry passengers.
After the accident, senator MikeMonroney from Oklahoma, the
chairman of the CommerceSubcommittee on Aviation,
(13:09):
proposed a new law regulatingskydiving by the FAA.
The NTSB's chair, josephO'Connell, presented the board's
finding on September 25th at ahearing of the subcommittee.
Regarding the proposed changes,david Thomas, the administrator
of the FAA, testified thatjumping through clouds was
(13:29):
already outright prohibited, butofficials spoke in opposition
to increased regulations, sayingthat the current system was
adequate.
The bill would end up failingand would not become law,
although other new rules fromthe Parachute Club of America
would come out of this, likeprohibiting any jumps within 50
miles of any body of waterunless they had the proper
(13:53):
survival gear.
Rival here, robert Carnes,would also lose his pilot's
license indefinitely.
Both survivors and the familiesof the victims would go on to
successfully sue the UnitedStates for wrongful death over
the air traffic controller'serror.
The United States was foundliable due to Smith's negligence
(14:16):
.
They also determined there wasno negligence on the jumpers
part, due to the regulations forskydiving were designed to
protect anyone they might hit,not the skydiver themselves.
Skydivers would later return toLake Erie in 1968 and 1969 in
honor of the victims.
During these memorial jumpsthey tossed the wreath from the
(14:40):
plane before parachuting intothe lake, this time with all the
proper gear.
The B-25 was eventually soldoff in 1970 to a flying club in
Massachusetts.
Roger Lopez, a ferry pilot, wassent out to Ohio to fly the
plane back to Massachusetts andits new owners.
However, when he reached theairport in Orange, massachusetts
(15:04):
, something went wrong and theplane crashed into the ground.
Lopez was killed and the planewas completely destroyed in the
crash.
The MTSB later determined thecause to be pilot error and that
the plane was beyond Lopez'sexperience or abilities.
Or maybe, just maybe, the damnthing was cursed.
(15:27):
While skydiving seems terrifyingfor most, today is relatively
safe.
According to the United StatesParachute Association, there was
nine deaths in 2024, with over3.8 million jumps made.
The death rates have been on asteady decline since the 1970s,
(15:47):
while there has been asignificant increase in the
number of jumps.
The most common injurysustained while skydiving is
ankle injuries from bad landings, and only 12% of USPA members
report a jump requiring the useof the reserve parachute.
So, with that said, the ride upis absolutely terrifying and
(16:10):
probably most likely less safethan the actual jump, but once
you're off the plane and in freefall, it's all worth it.
That view is absolutely amazingand I would definitely do it
again and probably still beterrified on the way up, but
whatever, and that was the 1967Lake Erie skydiving accident.
(16:35):
Thanks for listening and if youlike the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice, and you can
reach out to the show athistoryisadisaster at gmailcom
with questions, comments orsuggestions, as well as
following the show on socialmedia like Facebook or Instagram
and a few others TikTok, tiktok, tiktok and YouTube or whatever
(17:01):
Blue Sky, something like that.
Also share the episode.
Your friends are going to loveit and take care of yourself out
there.
Chase that dream.
Live for today, becausetomorrow is never guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.
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