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BlindBrick

A step in the right direction-Shayna Richardson

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"I have tried to explain to these people but lets face it, we might as well be speaking a different language to them."

I'm of a mind that this stuff is our responsibility as jumpers to explain in the clearlest possible language what happens at drop zones and in situations when errors occur.

As all of us have, I've had exhaustive conversations with family/friends/co-workers about our sport, almost always when something like that comes up. But I've always felt that this is my habit, my hobby, my love, and it falls on my shoulders to educate those around me when questions arise. I even went so far as to bring a friend down to Cross Keys after a friend there died this past year so more experienced jumpers could explain what had happened and why, how pilot error plays a role in the majority of accidents.

I'm sure years down the road I will become massively frustrated by the constant hounding, but this is our sport and our responsibility. If it's portrayed wrongly, we have to correct those assumptions.
---
"Once you jump. you'll never look up at the sky the same way again."
Peace

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GogglesnTeeth, working at a magazine, this really pisses me off.

After a year in which we saw our industry have it's legs pulled out from underneath it due to reputable institutions (CBS News, Newsweek, NY Times) run with stories that were irresponsibly inaccurate, you would think all of us in this industry would work even harder to make sure what we put out there is defensibly accurate.

Your executive producer is exactly why people think of the media the way they do. That sucks.
---
"Once you jump. you'll never look up at the sky the same way again."
Peace

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How come no one has brought up the reserve repack? Am I missing something here?



The FAA examined the gear, changed the classification from accident to incident(according to our S&TA) but offically listed the cause as undetermined and assigned no fault(this I got directly from the lead investigator). The person in charge of the investigation was a master rigger.

I am going to post my opinion here. I want to make it very clear that this is my opinion and nothing more.

When we visited Shayna in the hospital, she talked at legnth about the incident. She mentioned that at Couch Freaks she had gotten scared because she was hanging with the tandem crew and they had several cases a broken lines on opening. They described the sound to her a loud snap. Shayna said that during the jump, she reched up to do stowed-brake, rear risers turns. She said she heard a "heart-stopping snap" and then her canopy began to turn. She believed she had broken a line. Having been part of the team that did the on-site investigation for the S&TA, I found the the line was fine and believe what she likely heard was the sound of the toggle smaking the guide ring after she dislodged it while reaching for the risers.

She cutaway, had an RSL-activated deployment(her reserve-ripcord was found to be stowed during the on-site investigation and the canopy deployed well above cypress firing height) that led into an immediate canopy spin.

Onsite investigation of the harness and reserve showed no signs of damage or incorrect assembly. The slider was down at the links. Initally the S&TA had some concern about a pair of left side C&D lines that were together, but a continuity check showed they were good. The only abnormality was what appeared to be a kink set into one of the left upper control lines. I am fairly sure this was a kink instead of a fold mark as none of the other lines had a similar fold.


My current theory is that since Shayna had a slow speed deployment that her slider was stopped when the the grommet hit that kink. Because the slider didn't come down fully, the canopy never got full inflation(look at the right side in the video). I believe that this led to closed endcells which initiated the spin.

I beleive that this was just a variation on a simple hung slider situation which would have been entirely recoverable if Shayna had released and pumped her brakes. Unfortunately, the video shows that Shayna never did this despite Rick screaming at her to pump the brakes. I can also tell you that the radio guy on the ground began telling her to release her brakes as soon as he saw the spin. This quickly elevated to him yelling into the radio when the spin continued. A short while later the S&TA took the radio and tried telling her the same thing in a calm voice.

I doubt that anyone, including Shayna, can accurately say what was going on in her head at that point. However, by Shayna's own admission, "a few seconds before impact" she quit trying to live and instead began to focus on making peace with her maker. I think that what likely happened is that Shayna was in such a state of panic that happened a lot sooner than she thought. Given that a person's sense of time distorts in high stress situations, it's likey that her "few seconds" was just after she realized her reserve was not working correctly.

-Blind.
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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I just wanted to repeat, no matter what she did wrong in the air or what others perceive as her mistakes since this incident... it's rather a gift that she survived this.

With all the surrounding drama, this girl is very lucky, and we should all be grateful she's still here.

Good luck, Shayna. 5 fingers, 5 toes, 2 eyes, 2 ears and a mouth. Here's to the health of your child.
---
"Once you jump. you'll never look up at the sky the same way again."
Peace

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I agree, she states alot about how she wishes shed not cutaway ... and I cant begrudge her that... Ive cut away a perfectly good canopy to , granted like her I didnt realize it was a perfect one... either way I think from her perspective and what she knows about skydiving she is being as honest as she can, she has no memory, and her BF seems like the prick telling her things... I think the smell comes from him and just the simple fact of what he did and how he behaved has me livid...

I hope she realizes her BF almost killed her and her baby...
Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

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A short while later the S&TA took the radio and tried telling her the same thing in a calm voice. <<<<

Props to the S&TA for remainig calm, and trying to take control of the situation. Why did he let the jump proceed? Did he know she was under a PDR126? and Did he know the situation about the other DZ and the fact they were dating? Just wondering, not condeming the S&TA.
_________________________________________

Someone dies, someone says how stupid, someone says it was avoidable, someone says how to avoid it, someone calls them an idiot, someone proposes rule chan

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Why did he let the jump proceed?



Keep in mind that he/she is nothing more than an "advisor"... Safety & Training Advisor... He can't really do anything except give advice unless the DZO gives him/her some sort of special authority... Kudos to that person for taking control of the situation no matter how it turned out.

Again I think the BF/Instructor should have his rating pulled forever and both should stay away from dropzones... Time to take up bowling...
Green Light
"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."
"Your statement answered your question."

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A short while later the S&TA took the radio and tried telling her the same thing in a calm voice. <<<<

Props to the S&TA for remainig calm, and trying to take control of the situation. Why did he let the jump proceed? Did he know she was under a PDR126? and Did he know the situation about the other DZ and the fact they were dating? Just wondering, not condeming the S&TA.



This one was done totally outside of our student program. Her instructor was someone we knew from another DZ who had verified credentials. The S&TA wasn't invovled with the jump.

Ironically, I believe on that day that Shayna was the only non-tandem student to jump. We were turning our regular return students away because the instructional staff was busy doing Coaches and S/L I courses. We had just finished class and had stepped outside to watch the last load of the weekend. Both the S&TA and I were curious about the actual workings of AFF, so we stood by the radioman and watched the jump.


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Did he know she was under a PDR126?

------------------------------------------------------------

Where did this come from? I don't think they make containers to hold a Sabre2 190 and a PDR126?




I can't say for sure right now whether it was a 126 or a 150. I do know the container wasn't sized for the 190 as the packer mentioned to me about how much of a pain the closing was. Which reminds me, on one of these threads, someone asked if the rig begin to small could have led to the brake fire. I have to say no. I watched the canopy deploy and unlike a canopy that opens with a brake fire, Shayna's canopy flew straight and level for a few seconds before beginning to spin.

-Blind
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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Blind Brick said....

I am going to post my opinion here. I want to make it very clear that this is my opinion and nothing more.

It's a good thing you were there and that you are speaking up now. It has been enlightening for everyone, which helps us enlighten the thousands of people we come in contact with.

This is skydiving and people get hurt. No one else understands or wants to understand. They want sensation, not explanation. We provide voyeuristic entertainment for everyone else. Everyone is getting plenty of what they came for.

As a newbie, one thing I'm taking away from this and all of the incidents I read about is that a student needs to take responsibility for his/her own safety. THere's way too much to learn to expect to be taught all of it. Absorb as much as you can as fast as you can because when you are new is when you will be most likely to need it.

Read, read, read, and ask, ask, ask.

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