 Though no longer willing to subject his body to the risks of solo jumping, Smitty's career took a rebound with the 1982 development of the "tandem-jump" harness—a device which allows one skydiver to attach their harness to the back of another skydiver's harness, so that an able skydiver can assist the jump of a less-qualified or less able-bodied skydiver—under one very big parachute.In 1985 (age 87), near El Dorado, Kansas, Smitty attached master skydiver Mark McCafferty to his back, and the two jumped together successfully.In late summer 1985 (at age 87), at the world's largest airshow and fly-in, EAA AirVenture, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Smitty made his assisted 214th jump before a crowd estimated at 200,000.