Skydiving Naked Over UIUC’s Main Quad
Daily Illini, 8 March 1974 -
“Four streakers dropped out of the sky onto the middle of the Quad early Thursday evening amid 2,500 cheering onlookers.
The crowd converged on the sky streakers , who embraced each other after parachuting 3600 feet- and landing about 15 yards apart — at about 6:45 p.m.
It was beautiful, just beautiful exclaimed Terry Montieth, senior in aviation , as He hit the ground. The other three were: Steve Gras. junior in aviation ; Richard Greenwood , junior in aviation; and Angus Rupert, graduate student in veterinary medicine.
The pilot of the Cessna 182 plane used for the skydive. Mike Pohlman. junior in aviation, was also in the nude.”
Some of these students have died but some of them are still alive and living it up. For one of them, this experience helped him create “a vest that turns what a pilot can’t see into tactile signals a pilot can feel. Later, even NASA would help develop the technology.”
To combat the dangers, Dr. Angus Rupert, then a flight surgeon at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory and later the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, created the Tactile Situational Awareness System (TSAS), a vest that turns what a pilot can’t see into tactile signals a pilot can feel. Later, even NASA would help develop the technology.
It was an idea that required a lot of unorthodox thinking and experimentation.
In 1974, the future Dr. Rupert was skydiving naked while he was a student at the University of Illinois. He noticed that the rush of air on so much bare skin kept him oriented, even as he spun and twirled in midair.
He considered how increased tactile sensations might be useful for pilots in mid-flight. Years later, with a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and a medical degree, Rupert signed on at the aerospace medical lab and has focused on disorientation ever since.
Rupert’s first prototype used a 69-cent toy to provide the necessary tactile stimulation to reorient a pilot. More than 30 years later, vibrations are the main indicators.
Source: Military.com
What is Angus Rupert up to now? Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University!
University streakers take to the skies
( Staff photo by Kevin Horan ) — ( Staff photo bv Torn Harm )
By THE DAILY 1 LLINI Four streakers dropped out of the sky onto the middle of the Quad early Thursday evening amid 2 , 500 cheering onlookers . The crowd converged on the sky streakers , who embraced each other after parachuting 3 , (> 00 feet- and landing about 15 yards apart — at about 0 : 45 p . m . It was beautiful , just beautiful . excalimed . Terry Montieth , senior in aviation , as He hit the ground ., y The other , three were : Steve Gras . junior in aviation ; Richard Greenwood , junior in aviation ; and Angus Rupert , graduate student in veterinary medicine . The pilot of the Cessna 182 plane used for the skydive . Mike Pohlman . junior in aviation , was also in the nude . An in-depth look at the phenomenon of streaking will appear in this Saturday s edition of Spectrum , The Daily mini s weekend magazine . The four nude skydrivers then pulled off their parachutes , which were gathered in by friends , and raced to two nearby vans where they put on street clothes . The four , all experienced parachutists , had little trouble landing in the center of the Quad despite about a lOmile-an-hour wind . Wearing a parachute without clothes was a little tight , but not as bad as I thoughtit would be . said Gras .
He said the surging crowd made landing difficult . . But members of the Illini Sport Parachute Club , which the sky streakers belong to . were able to restrain the crowd and keep a small circle open , until all four had landed . If the feds ( the Federal Aviation Administration ) had been here and seen everyone . coming in before we landed , they might have been upset , Gras said . The four began thinking about a nude jump Monday , when the nationwide streaking fad reached Champaign-Urbana . Gras said . We wanted to do something different , to top everyone else . he added . Almost everyone in the Institute of Aviation knew about the nude skydive . Gras said , and many showed up at Willard Airport to send them off . They ve all been giving us advice on the jump . he said . The four received permission for the jump Thursday afternoon from the General Aviation District Office in Springfield . — ¦ — . _ They laughed when we told them we were going to jump without ( Continued on page 11 )
( Continued from page 1 / clothes , Gras said . A spokesman for University police said he does not know if the sky streakers will be arrested , although police took their names when they returned to Willard Airport after the jump . University students will try to better the nude parachutists in numbers , if not ingenuity , at a Greek streak from the Quad to Fraternity Park 1 a . m . Saturday morning . Organizers of the mass streak say they expect more than 500 participants . They claim they have been assured that no streakers will be arrested unless they leave campus . Coca-Cola has donated soft drinks to sell for the benefit of the multiple sclerosis fund , organizers , said . • Also Thursday , the head of the University discipline system said students apprehended by police for streaking will not be punished by the University . • No clause in our basis for discipline covers this kind of incident ( streaking ) , said W . Thomas Morgan , executive director of the UrbanaChampaign Senate Committee on Student Discipline . Morgan added that he anticipates no disciplinary action against students arrested Wednesday for streaking . However , he said disruptive conduct which could occur as a result of streaking incidents would violate University regulations .. And students caught streaking through a class in session would be subject to discipline , he added .
Source: Daily Illini, 8 March 1974