How my freind died.

[ForeverDive 0]

I lost a very close friend of mine just about one week ago, and it's been a very tiresome week for all his family and his friends. I'm writing because the way he went should be reported fully, so that we all may learn from his fatal mistakes. Other wise it makes his death less meaningful, and I don't want my friend to have died needlessly. My friend died for two reasons. The first reason he died is the same way we lose so many of our brethren. He downsized to quickly and without proper training or instruction.
WAKE UP PEOPLE. I keep hearing about how we should limit high performance landings and limit downsizing. Swooping is here to stay, and people are going to want to do it sooner in their career than people have done in the past. I'm not saying that it's a good thing, but whether we like it or not people are still going to do it. And it's killing people. The one thing I learned from TV when I was a kid is this:
You can build a fence around a pool to keep kids from swimming, but they'll still climb it and go swimming when you're not looking. So, what do you do? You teach them how to swim.
You can try to keep teenagers from having sex by preaching and calling it taboo, but they'll still do it. So what do you do? You teach them to do it safely.
SO, what we must do is teach people how to swoop and how to downsize. Then after they have all the knowledge they need to do it safely, then they can decide if and when they want to do it. We must have free will in our sport; it's the only way our sport will evolve. How do we do this? The information is out there about how to learn safely and efficiently. Brain Germain, John LeBlanc, and Bryan Burke all have seminars out there. The problem is that it's not getting to everyone who is downsizing. You have to have a lot of determination to go out and seek this information, and people's egos get in the way of doing this. "I've landed safely 300 times in the past, why would I need to learn how to do it more safely under a smaller canopy." This line of thinking is killing people.
Please, I urge those of you who have thousands of jumps, those of you who know how to control canopies, and those of you who know how to teach to develop canopies schools like the one in California. Places where people experienced or not can get real canopy training and eventually, incorporate this into student training. All I learned as a student was that you pull right to go right, pull left to go left, and pull both to flare. And this is the saddest part of all, that we don't train students in the art of canopy flight. To the few that do, I applaud you. Unfortunately, Evolution (the canopy school in California) is too far away and a little expensive for many of us to go there, so I have to seek information in paper form or pry it out of the experienced guys. Please, develop schools, those of you who have the resources, to train us to do this the right way instead of using the trial and error way. We are losing too many people under open canopies. Education is the key to stop this nonsense.
On any other day I'd be done here, and I'd leave you to ponder that. However, I did say that my friend died for two reasons. My friend had just sold his canopy and he needed a new one soon. He also had a very limited budget, so when he found a great deal for a smaller canopy he convinced himself that he could handle the smaller canopy. Seven jumps later the reaper came for a visit.
I think the moral of the story is clear. Don't let money make life-threatening decisions for you. This includes the price of training and the price of proper gear. I don't know how this sport got so expensive, but don't let this be the reason for your demise.
Justin
Carbondale, Illinois

[tigra 0]

Bravo Justin,
That was very brave of you to post. Please accept my condolences for your loss.
maura

[rhino 0]

I am sorry for your loss also.. We do seem to be losing allot of friends lately.. Doesn't seem right..
Blue Skies .....

[skybytch 259]

Great post Justin. I hope you're sending this to Parachutist and Skydiving magazines too - this is the kind of thing that every skydiver needs to read.

Quote

Don't let money make life-threatening decisions for you.

As I am a broke jumper currently searching for a replacement for my now trashed main, thanks for the reminder. pull & flare,
lisa
"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda sez

[Rachill 0]

I agree! Send that to Parachutist and Skydiving so you can get your word out there to everyone who isn't a dot commer. i think that was a great post...
And sorry for your loss.
BLUES SKIES
What happened to Turbo?
He was to slow so we......

[sunshine 2]

Wow, very nice post. I'm sorry that you lost a friend. It took a lot of courage to write that.
"You get on top for a minute, then i'll get on top for a minute!!"

[freeflir29 0]

I can think of AT LEAST one person I know that needs to read this. Thanks for putting it up! Fortunately, My DZO has big cajones and isn't afraid to tell people when they are screwing up. Just this last weekend he told someone that he would not let them jump a particular canopy. I certainly agreed with him. Sometimes.....if you want your friends to stick around, you must save them from themselves.
"Here I come to save the BOOBIES!"

[hooked 0]

I am so sorry you lost a good friend, my sympathy to you and his family and friends.
I so enjoyed reading this story, I agree with the others, submit it everywhere you can, so more people will read it and maybe learn something. If it saves just one person, it would be worth it.
J

[hottamaly 1]

The really sad part of this is, people have been talking and trying to teach, just to be called things like "canopy natzi(sp?)" and other statements, made from others, that won't back up what the SMART ones are trying to get across. Even if the education is at every dz, that won't make a stuborn newby listen, until their mentors start recomending the right size.
We are all in this together and need to show one voice when it comes to talking with someone wanting to down size, if just one person tells him whatever he wants to hear and he won't listen to anyone else, then we can expect to lose more....
Everyone needs to wake up and talk the right talk!
SKYDIVING GAVE ME A REASON TO LIVE....

[ForeverDive 0]

People can't talk the right talk without the proper knowledge. And in order to get that knowledge out there we need the right people to teach it. We need more canopy schools.

[Keith 0]

First: My condolences on your loss.
Second: I have to agree with Linda. People need to use some common sense. I don't need to take a canopy control class to know that a stiletto 120 is too small for me. People need to take responsibility for them selves and not expect others to educate them. There is plenty of information out there at the tip of our fingers if we truly want to learn.
Again my condolences.
Keith

[ForeverDive 0]

This is just the problem, people truly have to want to learn to grab the info, and too many people let their egos get in the way of this. Is this their fault? Yes. But we've got to look out for our brethern if we don't want to loose anymore.

[Ducky 0]

Justin,
I again convey my condolences to the family and friends alike.
I must say witnessing such an incident was a horrible way to drive a lesson home, but its there now. As I search for my new canopy certain images replay in my mind over and over. I know that in the end the knowledge gained will bring some meaning to all of this and reinforce that no one was lost in vein.
I hope that the details and info I provided you about the accident of discussion were helpful in your search for answers. There are many questions to confront whenever someone close to us is lost. It's most unfortunate that this tragedy was not avoided as we know it could have been.
I believe you are doing the right thing by spreading the word and trying to make something positive out of this. Your friend, by all accounts seemed to be someone who was destined to change the sport we love and with efforts such as yours that can be a reality.
Good Luck
kwak
Stupidity is a crime.