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Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge Collision Anniversary

Trippy Trekker

Trippy Trekker

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37 years ago today, May 9, 1980, a giant tanker lost course in a dense fog as the Captain attempted to navigate from open water into Tampa Bay. Disaster struck! The ensuing collision left a gaping hole atop the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. A southbound Greyhound full of passengers plummeted into the water. None lived. A man in his pickup truck plummeted. Somehow, he lived! He has since passed away, but for years, he would return, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he'd throw roses into the water in memory of the lives lost.
We now have a new Bridge. I cross it several times a week. From Center Span to water, you can use a 192' as an estimate. I contemplate jumping... but not to end my life. I would shoot for a Cruise Ship pool on a top deck floor.

Memory Lane -

Skyway Collision.jpgSkyway Driver.jpg
 
I have been on that bridge. Has the ship driver paid it off yet? LOL. What a story to tell the grand kids, eh?
 
Trippy Trekker said:
37 years ago today, May 9, 1980, a giant tanker lost course in a dense fog as the Captain attempted to navigate from open water into Tampa Bay. Disaster struck! The ensuing collision left a gaping hole atop the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. A southbound Greyhound full of passengers plummeted into the water. None lived. A man in his pickup truck plummeted. Somehow, he lived! He has since passed away, but for years, he would return, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he'd throw roses into the water in memory of the lives lost.
We now have a new Bridge. I cross it several times a week. From Center Span to water, you can use a 192' as an estimate. I contemplate jumping... but not to end my life. I would shoot for a Cruise Ship pool on a top deck floor.

Memory Lane -

View attachment 67217290View attachment 67217291
Click to expand...


I remember it well. A few years later, I drove over the other span and it amazed me how high it was and how awful it must have been to crash into the bay from that altitude.
 
chuckiechan said:
I have been on that bridge. Has the ship driver paid it off yet? LOL. What a story to tell the grand kids, eh?
Click to expand...

Years later, he actually had his Captain's License reinstated. He has since died.
 
Trippy Trekker said:
37 years ago today, May 9, 1980, a giant tanker lost course in a dense fog as the Captain attempted to navigate from open water into Tampa Bay. Disaster struck! The ensuing collision left a gaping hole atop the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. A southbound Greyhound full of passengers plummeted into the water. None lived. A man in his pickup truck plummeted. Somehow, he lived! He has since passed away, but for years, he would return, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he'd throw roses into the water in memory of the lives lost.
We now have a new Bridge. I cross it several times a week. From Center Span to water, you can use a 192' as an estimate. I contemplate jumping... but not to end my life. I would shoot for a Cruise Ship pool on a top deck floor.

Memory Lane -

View attachment 67217290View attachment 67217291
Click to expand...


I would reconsider that, a handful of people a year commit suicide there. Hell, I thought I was crazy jumping 25 ft into 12 ft on the peace river. Its a blackwater river, never know if a tree limb is floating downstream under a few feet of water, now if it was clear, I would do it over and over, until the cops got there.:2razz: Don't do it, if you do, get a big insurance policy, so your family is well off.
 
Slingshot Bob said:
I would reconsider that, a handful of people a year commit suicide there. Hell, I thought I was crazy jumping 25 ft into 12 ft on the peace river. Its a blackwater river, never know if a tree limb is floating downstream under a few feet of water, now if it was clear, I would do it over and over, until the cops got there.:2razz: Don't do it, if you do, get a big insurance policy, so your family is well off.
Click to expand...

With prudence, aware I turn 61 at the end of Summer, I have already missed my Window of Opportunity. In late September 2003, age 47, I earned the dubious distinction as the first Official Jackass to leap off the Center Span of the newly constructed Ringling Bridge in Sarasota. I made Top News on SNN that day! Contrary to the news report, I DID NOT GET ARRESTED. Um, I did dislocate both arms on impact. My bench press dropped from 250 to 135. I had excellent insurance. It took about 8 weeks to heal.
 
Trippy Trekker said:
With prudence, aware I turn 61 at the end of Summer, I have already missed my Window of Opportunity. In late September 2003, age 47, I earned the dubious distinction as the first Official Jackass to leap off the Center Span of the newly constructed Ringling Bridge in Sarasota. I made Top News on SNN that day! Contrary to the news report, I DID NOT GET ARRESTED. Um, I did dislocate both arms on impact. My bench press dropped from 250 to 135. I had excellent insurance. It took about 8 weeks to heal.
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You were the "Florida Man' of that week, huh?
 
RAMOSS said:
You were the "Florida Man' of that week, huh?
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Nah. Daggum sore arms that week! Get this... the chief paramedic orders the Admissions Clerk at the Emergency Room to write down "No Drugs. No Alcohol. Not Psychotic. Not Suicidal." It took me ten years to realize he made one BIG mistake and that I had and have a huge dose of psychosis.

Picture that AH HA moment near the end of the 6th Sense movie when Bruce Willis finally figures out he already died.
 
Trippy Trekker said:
Nah. Daggum sore arms that week! Get this... the chief paramedic orders the Admissions Clerk at the Emergency Room to write down "No Drugs. No Alcohol. Not Psychotic. Not Suicidal." It took me ten years to realize he made one BIG mistake and that I had and have a huge dose of psychosis.

Picture that AH HA moment near the end of the 6th Sense movie when Bruce Willis finally figures out he already died.
Click to expand...
Like shrooms? I knew some good fields in Tampa, probably parking lots by now.
 
Slingshot Bob said:
Like shrooms? I knew some good fields in Tampa, probably parking lots by now.
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Yep. Back in the early and mid 1980s, You could find shroom fields over near the Fair Grounds and Mid-Florida amphitheater. Not any more!
 
Trippy Trekker said:
Yep. Back in the early and mid 1980s, You could find shroom fields over near the Fair Grounds and Mid-Florida amphitheater. Not any more!
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Tobacco road near van dyke, Van dyke and dale mabry, Gunn highway north of van dyke, it has been about 8 years, now Arcadia! A different story, Desoto county has more cows than people!
 
Trippy Trekker said:
37 years ago today, May 9, 1980, a giant tanker lost course in a dense fog as the Captain attempted to navigate from open water into Tampa Bay. Disaster struck! The ensuing collision left a gaping hole atop the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. A southbound Greyhound full of passengers plummeted into the water. None lived. A man in his pickup truck plummeted. Somehow, he lived! He has since passed away, but for years, he would return, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he'd throw roses into the water in memory of the lives lost.
We now have a new Bridge. I cross it several times a week. From Center Span to water, you can use a 192' as an estimate. I contemplate jumping... but not to end my life. I would shoot for a Cruise Ship pool on a top deck floor.

Memory Lane -

View attachment 67217290View attachment 67217291
Click to expand...


I've listened to the Coast Guard radio conversation right after the bridge went down. Very chilling, and I do not recommend it to anyone whose mind is prone to going to dark places.

On a brighter note, the cable-stayed span that replaced it is beautiful. It's a common sight in tourist photos of Tampa Bay, or even Florida in general.
 
=Trippy Trekker;1067179313]37 years ago today, May 9, 1980, a giant tanker lost course in a dense fog as the Captain attempted to navigate from open water into Tampa Bay.....

We now have a new Bridge. I cross it several times a week. From Center Span to water, you can use a 192' as an estimate. I contemplate jumping... but not to end my life. I would shoot for a Cruise Ship pool on a top deck floor...
Click to expand...



Memory Lane - Last week, the day after my 61st Birthday, I headed south over the Sunshine Skyway just as a Cruise Ship passed underneath the Bridge. I have long ago passed my Torch of Insanity to a younger generation! I still wait for those days, like when the crazy Frenchman, Philippe, walked between the former World Trade Center Towers or a New Yorker, George, scaled to the top of one of them.

Splash! Hear my cheers with success! Feel my tears with failure..... Make sure to target the deep end of an upper deck pool!
CruiseShip.jpg
 
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