The Adventures Of Bette Porter And Sissee Gardner Schmidt After Howie (Part 3, Chapter 7)
PART THREE: SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA

Chapter 7

We were all out on the grass at the airport, looking toward the plane that had just landed as well as at the tandem jumpers still in the air. We watched the latter until we saw that Carlos would be the next to land. He really raised his knees high when they came closer to the ground. We could see he was being very cautious. They had a good landing and when his jumpmaster unclamped him, Carlos dropped to his knees, bent over and kissed the ground. We all cheered for him, feeling his relief.

The next tandem couple got hit by a wind sheer while still several hundred feet above us. That caused them to drift away from the drop zone. We had been warned about that. We could see that the instructor kept tugging on the steering lines trying to bring them back. It was like they were being sucked in a vacuum out toward the ocean throwing them way off course.

We watched with trepidation at their plight, until we could no longer see them descending. Carlos joined us and said that it was Duane who had jumped after he did and was obviously in trouble now.

While there was concern for Duane, there was also a buzz of curiosity about why Terry and Randy did not jump and like a swarm of bees we all made our way toward the Twin Otter that had returned to its original place near the hanger. The portable steps had already been placed by the big side door.

We stopped at a discreet distance and waited. And we waited. There were no faces in the windows, only of people obviously standing in the aisle. Speculation circulated through us in whispers. We could clearly hear certain words like, “fear”, “changed his mind”, “panic”, even the possibility that someone may have had an anxiety attack or heart attack. Were they waiting for an ambulance? We heard their names dropped. “Randy”. “Terry”. Clearly, we were all at a loss as to what may have happened.

Finally the door opened and within a few moments we saw the pilot step out onto the top portable step. He said he had waited to find out about Duane and his instructor before coming out. He said he just heard from the tower that they were okay. They had landed in a field of flowers, several miles away and a car was being sent to pick them up.