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mxaexm

how safe was the 2008 season?

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I'm still here. I made right around 300 jumps or so, this past 2008 season. Are those the #'s you were looking for / any good? ;)

An annual summary comes out, and is published by USPA, I think in either the Feb or March issues of Parachutist - so that it can be available as well for all, on or about Safety Day each year.

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

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30 US fatalities 1n 2008

18 in 2007 :(




hell yea! either skydiving is getting more dangerous or more jumps were made. Either way is fine with me. All those tandems that whacked in didnt help the number stay low. A tandem is often two fatalities for the price of one. Had quite a few no pulls and terminal impacts this year too. At least the extra fatalities were in dramatic fasion. Thats Style points for the 2008 fatalities. 2009 has started with a bang too. Already some one fell out of a rig. Style points!Thats going to be hard to beat. Oh well I guess thats why skydiving is cool. Lets be honest if it were safe it would be nothing more than a game of checkers, you wouldnt brag to your friends about it, your family wouldnt think you were the "wild"one, and guys wouldnt be able to use it to pick up girls. Now ask yourself. "Do I want to live in a world where skydiving is safe?" or do you want to say " thirty dudes whacked in skydiving this year and I wasnt one of them"? And hey if you are one of them, then you didnt die for nothing. You helped carry on the tradition of skydiving being dangerous and badass. Therefore making the rest of us look awesome. Rest in peace knowing that some guy is getting sweet loving because of your sacrifice.
I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll burn your fucking packing tent down.

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30 US fatalities 1n 2008

18 in 2007 :(




hell yea! either skydiving is getting more dangerous or more jumps were made. Either way is fine with me. All those tandems that whacked in didnt help the number stay low. A tandem is often two fatalities for the price of one. Had quite a few no pulls and terminal impacts this year too. At least the extra fatalities were in dramatic fasion. Thats Style points for the 2008 fatalities. 2009 has started with a bang too. Already some one fell out of a rig. Style points!Thats going to be hard to beat. Oh well I guess thats why skydiving is cool. Lets be honest if it were safe it would be nothing more than a game of checkers, you wouldnt brag to your friends about it, your family wouldnt think you were the "wild"one, and guys wouldnt be able to use it to pick up girls. Now ask yourself. "Do I want to live in a world where skydiving is safe?" or do you want to say " thirty dudes whacked in skydiving this year and I wasnt one of them"? And hey if you are one of them, then you didnt die for nothing. You helped carry on the tradition of skydiving being dangerous and badass. Therefore making the rest of us look awesome. Rest in peace knowing that some guy is getting sweet loving because of your sacrifice.


I hope you intended to convey sarcasm.
Jeanne
Blue Skies, better days, more beer - Oh the humanity - Peace be with you my friend

DON'T TASE ME BRO

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Is it me, or in a way, should we not be concerned with this? We should all be concerned with keeping the number at ZERO. To the OP, if you're trying to reassure yourself, or convince other people that skydiving is safe, you are wasting your time. I think skydivers have been arguing this with whuffos since skydiving was invented, and nothing has changed.

Let's all try to minimize the risks as much as possible, and keep skydiving fun :)
Blue ones.

PULL!! or DIE!!

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Sure, but the 2007 fatalities number set a record. We were back to the average that skydiving in the US has maintained for 30 years in 2008.



I remember when the 07 numbers came out, and the USPA latched right on to that and took credit for the record low, claiming that they had made such strides in safety that they had dropped by almost 50%.

I also remember thinking that was total bullshit. The fatalities themselves don't know one calendar year fom the next. 2008 was bound to be either average or above average, and if you include the incidents just after the first of the year, 08 was a monster.

It's the law of averages, or the bell curve, or one of those statistical mathmatical things I don't fully understand. With all other things being equal, we can expect the fatality numbers to remain about the same. Up some years, down in others, about the same when you run the averages.

This is the way it will remain until there are some major changes in peoples attitudes about what is and is not accaptable behavior at the DZ. This is of course is a challenge because you're dealing with the type of people who jump out of airplanes for fun. A good number of them are the 'type A', live life to the fullest, push the limit kind of people, and convincing these people to take things slowly, and be conservative in their choices is a huge mountain to climb.

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30 US fatalities 1n 2008

18 in 2007 :(




hell yea! either skydiving is getting more dangerous or more jumps were made. Either way is fine with me. All those tandems that whacked in didnt help the number stay low. A tandem is often two fatalities for the price of one. Had quite a few no pulls and terminal impacts this year too. At least the extra fatalities were in dramatic fasion. Thats Style points for the 2008 fatalities. 2009 has started with a bang too. Already some one fell out of a rig. Style points!Thats going to be hard to beat. Oh well I guess thats why skydiving is cool. Lets be honest if it were safe it would be nothing more than a game of checkers, you wouldnt brag to your friends about it, your family wouldnt think you were the "wild"one, and guys wouldnt be able to use it to pick up girls. Now ask yourself. "Do I want to live in a world where skydiving is safe?" or do you want to say " thirty dudes whacked in skydiving this year and I wasnt one of them"? And hey if you are one of them, then you didnt die for nothing. You helped carry on the tradition of skydiving being dangerous and badass. Therefore making the rest of us look awesome. Rest in peace knowing that some guy is getting sweet loving because of your sacrifice.


Spoken like a true...................fucking idiot.

You're welcome. Style points to you.

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We should all be concerned with keeping the number at ZERO.


That would be great. It would be awesome. But its completely unrealistic.

This is not workplace safety. Zero accident in the workplace is already a hard target to acheive when you are dealing with hazardous work. Its doable, but hard.

But with skydiving, a significant portion of the deaths are attributable to people being stupid. Until you legislate and make its very hard for people toi hurt themselves while being stupid (like its being done in workplaces with removal or risk at the source) then you will still have some fatalities.
Remster

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Zero accident in the workplace is already a hard target to acheive when you are dealing with hazardous work. Its doable, but hard.


That's a noble target, but 100% safety, zero accidents is only "doable" across small samples. People are people and while you can reduce the risk of an incident, you can't eliminate it. Equipment will fail, people will make mistakes. I'm very safety conscious and freely admit to making many mistakes myself and having the odd accident.

Sometimes the existence of a zero accident target and the myth that it is achievable works exactly the opposite way e.g. I am aware of companies that tie performance bonuses into "no lost time" accidents - so if you can still move you don't report the accident and continue working. Net Result: less reporting of accidents, less discussion of what caused them, how to prevent them, and nice company statistics.

stay safe
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein

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Sometimes the existence of a zero accident target and the myth that it is achievable works exactly the opposite way e.g. I am aware of companies that tie performance bonuses into "no lost time" accidents - so if you can still move you don't report the accident and continue working. Net Result: less reporting of accidents, less discussion of what caused them, how to prevent them, and nice company statistics.

stay safe



Yep. My first full time job was in a coal mine where one shift had a 5 year 'no time lost accident' record. While I was there I knew of three accidents that saw the casualty continue to come to work while he healed and get full pay just to keep the record going.

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30 US fatalities 1n 2008

18 in 2007



yes, but... 61 fatalities worldwide in 2007. 58 in 2008. '07 wasn't even a "good year for skydiving", just a good year for skydiving in the US.
"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

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your lack of ability to see my point in that and be so quick to make such a assessment of my post proves you are only capable of thinking in one dimension. What are your thoughts on fatalities in skydiving? And what is a acceptable number or should I say the correct number of fatalities each year? who is the fucking idiot that thinks they can or should dictate that?
I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll burn your fucking packing tent down.

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I certainly hope you arent crying for us to be regulated more. Thats exactly whats wrong with people now days. People want to skydive but dont want to accept the reality that it is dangerous. Maybe if dumb skydivers would stop telling newbies and whuffos how safe it is then the overal attitude would change for the better. People dont respect this activity enough. I hear ignorant skydivers all the time telling people how safe it is. Maybe you want to believe that but its not true. Then when someone starts skydiving they dont have a respect for it like they should. The more they jump the more comfortable they become with that idea. Then when someone dies they freak out and ask "what happened?" Well skydiving happened! SURPRISE! its dangerous! No matter what you have fooled yourself into believing. How many people have you seen quit the sport when they see someone die? Why do you think that is? Because they had a false sense of security. Because everyone telling them that they will be fine and skydiving isnt that dangerous. The simple fact that someone started this thread and asked the question is proof enough. Why would someone ask "how safe was the 2008 season?" Mine wasnt safe at all. I was skydiving. I didnt die. I tried to use common sense. But I also made some mistakes. What do you really want to know? Should the title of this have been "how dangerous was the 2008 season?". I would say about 30 mistakes dangerous. Just think about it. I ask again what is an acceptable number of fatalities?
Skydiving is not safe! bottom line! It just seems ridiculous to me for someone to have the attitude that skydiving should be safe. You are jumping out of a airplane! Educating is fine but regulating is what communist do. If you cant accept the risk then dont whine to someone else to make it safe for you. You should quit.

Also just to add. Considering the sports size, 30 fatalities is pretty remarkable and is as someone pointed out right on average.
I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll burn your fucking packing tent down.

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30 US fatalities 1n 2008

18 in 2007 :(




hell yea! either skydiving is getting more dangerous or more jumps were made. Either way is fine with me. All those tandems that whacked in didnt help the number stay low. A tandem is often two fatalities for the price of one. Had quite a few no pulls and terminal impacts this year too. At least the extra fatalities were in dramatic fasion. Thats Style points for the 2008 fatalities. 2009 has started with a bang too. Already some one fell out of a rig. Style points!Thats going to be hard to beat. Oh well I guess thats why skydiving is cool. Lets be honest if it were safe it would be nothing more than a game of checkers, you wouldnt brag to your friends about it, your family wouldnt think you were the "wild"one, and guys wouldnt be able to use it to pick up girls. Now ask yourself. "Do I want to live in a world where skydiving is safe?" or do you want to say " thirty dudes whacked in skydiving this year and I wasnt one of them"? And hey if you are one of them, then you didnt die for nothing. You helped carry on the tradition of skydiving being dangerous and badass. Therefore making the rest of us look awesome. Rest in peace knowing that some guy is getting sweet loving because of your sacrifice.


Man, after reading a few recent posts from you, this tops it off. You make a real ass out of yourself on here.

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I would say about 30 mistakes dangerous.



Not everyone who died in 2008 died because they made a mistake. Sometimes accidents just happen, even to highly intelligent, well-trained, safety-conscious people.
Jeanne
Blue Skies, better days, more beer - Oh the humanity - Peace be with you my friend

DON'T TASE ME BRO

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I certainly hope you arent crying for us to be regulated more. Thats exactly whats wrong with people now days. People want to skydive but dont want to accept the reality that it is dangerous. Maybe if dumb skydivers would stop telling newbies and whuffos how safe it is then the overal attitude would change for the better. People dont respect this activity enough. I hear ignorant skydivers all the time telling people how safe it is. Maybe you want to believe that but its not true. Then when someone starts skydiving they dont have a respect for it like they should. The more they jump the more comfortable they become with that idea. Then when someone dies they freak out and ask "what happened?" Well skydiving happened! SURPRISE! its dangerous! No matter what you have fooled yourself into believing. How many people have you seen quit the sport when they see someone die? Why do you think that is? Because they had a false sense of security. Because everyone telling them that they will be fine and skydiving isnt that dangerous. The simple fact that someone started this thread and asked the question is proof enough. Why would someone ask "how safe was the 2008 season?" Mine wasnt safe at all. I was skydiving. I didnt die. I tried to use common sense. But I also made some mistakes. What do you really want to know? Should the title of this have been "how dangerous was the 2008 season?". I would say about 30 mistakes dangerous. Just think about it. I ask again what is an acceptable number of fatalities?
Skydiving is not safe! bottom line! It just seems ridiculous to me for someone to have the attitude that skydiving should be safe. You are jumping out of a airplane! Educating is fine but regulating is what communist do. If you cant accept the risk then dont whine to someone else to make it safe for you. You should quit.

Also just to add. Considering the sports size, 30 fatalities is pretty remarkable and is as someone pointed out right on average.




yarak! what is wrong with you. you heartless bastard! show some sensitivity. skydiving is full of "things beyond our control" that's the danger, not the fact that we jumped out of a plane. geez.....
well im not a skyride fan by any means, but this sport is and always has been rich in moraly questionable behavior. -parabuteo

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