Oct 19, 2011, 5:55 PM
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One tandem fatality wasn't instructor error
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In the letters section of this month's Parachutist, Bill Morrissey says:
"[S]ize and strength were not a factor in any of the over 100 deaths in a strange variety of tandem fatalities. Unfortunately, those deaths have all, except one, been attributed to instructor error."
Can someone tell me the details or point me to the incident thread for this fatality, and is this a widely-accepted statistic, that only one tandem fatality in history has not been caused by instructor error?
(This post was edited by artard on Oct 19, 2011, 5:55 PM)
Oct 21, 2011, 12:53 PM
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Re: [artard] One tandem fatality wasn't instructor error
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If I recall correctly, a tandem pair fatality occurred in 1996 when during a normal main canopy deployment, a riser failure on the RSL side caused a main/reserve entanglement.
Quote:
Former Forest City resident Ronald E. Green, 54, of Toltec, Ariz., died Tuesday (June 18, 1996) at the Cedar Valley Skydiving Center near Salt Lake City, Utah.
Green was well known in the area for his exhibition sky dives. He originated Forest City Skydivers Club and went on to become a nationally renowned sky diver, making more than 13,400 sky dives in his career.
He was an alternate on the USA team for style and accuracy. Green was a tandemmaster and instructor, a senior rigger and a commercial pilot. He was featured several times in skydiving magazines and was the subject of the cover photo of the ParaGear catalog for 199596.
Oct 21, 2011, 8:03 PM
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Re: [AHoyThere] One tandem fatality wasn't instructor error
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Ron went in with Melanie Colby. She was getting her rating. ron was the passenger. The drougue half hitched. They were on the high speed jump. They handles were pulled out of sequence. They impacted with a partially inflated main, reserve mess.
Ron was a friend of mine. Melanie was one of my dearest friends. I gave the eulogy at her funeral.
Oct 21, 2011, 8:17 PM
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Re: [grimmie] One tandem fatality wasn't instructor error
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Melanie Colby taught my first jump course at Cedar Valley, UT. (Where this incident occurred.) My recollection of the events matches yours. This was the "first" skydiving accident I was exposed to in my career.
I also have heard of the riser failure incident. But it was not this one.
Nov 8, 2011, 10:34 AM
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Re: [artard] One tandem fatality wasn't instructor error
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Many incidents have multiple causes. Somewhere along the way a TI may not have acted perfectly but in many incidents you can eliminate any of several factors and it would have prevented a fatality.
Consider the tandem reserve entanglement- skyhook incident. http://www.dropzone.com/...ost=3510835;#3510835 Was it caused by a faulty altimeter, TI altitude awareness, or skyhook system design?
Is it reasonable to single out the TI when you consider his altimeter was probably faulty and the Colin's lanyard chopped just one main riser when the reserve started to deploy?
I think attributing 99% of fatalities to TI error risks giving a misleading impression of the safety of this equipment and the true causes of incidents.
(This post was edited by dorbie on Nov 8, 2011, 10:49 AM)
Nov 13, 2011, 2:19 PM
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Re: [dorbie] One tandem fatality wasn't instructor error
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innreply to "Is it reasonable to single out the TI when you consider his altimeter was probably faulty and the Colin's lanyard chopped just one main riser when the reserve started to deploy?
I think attributing 99% of fatalities to TI error risks giving a misleading impression of the safety of this equipment and the true causes of incidents. " ..............................................
Do modern TM's have to prove they can handle complicated malfunctions ? Is it reasonable to regularly test TM's perhaps by passing a simulator test ?
Its one thing to ensure TM's are up to the job. Its another to ensure that Tandem Operators create the environment where TM's can do their job properly. Been hearing a lot of talk about TM's being mistreated by their non-skydiving employers.
Whuffo's owning/running tandem factories. Got a bad feeling that's not good for our sport.
