Fatality in DeLand?

[Jermy9 0]

ny info about the fatality a few days ago in DeLand. What happened? Who was it?

[skymama 35]

Look a few pages back, there is a link on a thread from the Orlando Sentinel. In a nutshell, it was a Canadian jumper who had 4,700 jumps and he died because he miscalculated a hook turn. Carrie wrote in and said that he bounced three times. If I remember correctly,I think his right toggle was still pulled down in his hand.

[Hardcore 0]

Does anyone know who the jumper was and where he jumped in Canada?

[Deleted 0]

I live in Edmonton Alberta and it was in the Sat paper. I will try and dig it out of the trash. The jumper was from Quebec.
Peter W

[skymama 35]

I dug the paper out of the trash too. He was Stephane Drapeau, age 30. It said he came from a small town east of Montreal, but I don't know where he jumped.

[Donna 0]

According to Barry's incident report page and a post on rec.skydiving Bungy was not doing a hook turn and he did NOT have a toggle buried on impact. In fact, he didn't have the toggles in his hands at all. The following is copied from a statement by a friend of his at Deland:
Stephane "Bungy" Drapeau died at DeLand on Good Friday.
The newspaper article said, in part:
> Observers said the 30-year-old from Quebec was making
> a routine jump until he made a tricky high-speed turn
> at an extremely low altitude as he approached the
> landing area near the DeLand Municipal Airport.
However, this was not a hook turn accident as the above implies. The
bare bones information is this: Bungy was jumping a Velocity 85, and he
did not flare.
Related facts are that he was learning to perform/perfecting a rear
riser flare, his toggles were not in his hands, but he was reaching
upward at impact.
Everyone wants to talk about what they can learn from an incident, but
with rare exceptions, what we usually learn is that mistakes can kill
you.
We here at DeLand are devastated, because Bungy was a ray of sunshine on
a rainy day. What I loved about him (one of the many things) is that he
was almost always happy--even when things weren't going well for him,
he'd shrug his shoulders, say "oh well" and keep right on going. The
world is diminished by his absence.
I will miss him always.
Love to everyone,
rl
Hope this helps to clear some things up.

[skymama 35]

Goes to show you can't always trust what you read in the papers!

[PLFXpert 0]

I got my info from some friends who witnessed the incident that were jumping there that day so I'm not sure, I guess which is correct but I'll stand by what they told me:
Bungee hooked it in. He never flared, had his right toggle still in his hand and bounced 3 times before coming to rest inbetween the peas and the taxiway.
As I said, that is what my friends say who witnessed it. I'm not sure who Barry is or what his report entailed so I can't argue with that.
Much love and blue skies,
Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

[Donna 0]

Well I wasn't there so I don't know either. I just thought people might like to know what I had read. Barry maintains the Fatalities Page. http://www.skydivenet.com/fatalities/fatalities_us_01.html
Either way it's very sad. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
Donna

[FallnAngel 0]

Quote

and bounced 3 times before coming to rest

Ok, maybe I am off base here, but is it really necessary to keep posting this comment? I agree that it is a good thing to try and learn from these accidents, but the comment above adds nothing IMO.
My condolences to those who knew him
Karen

[PLFXpert 0]

Karen,
I am repeating what I was told. The comment, IMO adds to how hard he must have hit. I'm sorry if it offended you. It is also the news reporter (my major) in me who reports unusual details. No one hates hearing about these things more than I. I dread the day I witness one. It won't keep me from skydiving but I know I will be really shaken up.
Much love and blue skies,
Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

[ADRNALN 0]

I see what you are saying FallnAngel but I think the reason for the 3x's reference has been used by others to show the speed with which this skydiver was maintaining during his landing. It is often hard to understand the emotion of a writer. I don't think anyone here means any disrespect. In fact my eyes are watering now(and I am sitting in my cubical world at work) and almost always do when I hear about the loss of any skyflyer.
My thoughts and prayers go out his family and friends.
Blue Skies Black Death

[MarkM 0]

Quote

Ok, maybe I am off base here, but is it really necessary to keep posting this comment? I agree that it is a good thing to try and learn from these accidents, but the comment above adds nothing IMO.

1. I think she's just copying and pasting text, which explains why it was posted multiple times.
2. It does an excellent job detailing the speeds involved. ie/ don't fuck around under a 85 square foot canvas no matter how many jumps you have.
3. PLF has never struck me as the type of person who would sensationalize an incident, so I judged her postings accordingly.

[SkySlut 0]

Back to learning from this accident...My guess as to what MAY have happened is that IF he was going for a rear riser flare...he COULD have slipped on his grip. Especially if you are flying a high performance canopy. The margin of error on something like that is very slim. If you were to lose your grip on those rear risers...you are going to have some issues. I wonder if it would make sense to sew on a rear "flare" loop, similar to front riser diveloops, on the rear risers to make this safer. Just a thought.
-Slut
"I'll jump anything!"

[PLFXpert 0]

Thank you, MarkMAgain, Karen, I apologize if it offended you.
Much love and blue skies,
Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

[FallnAngel 0]

Quote

Again, Karen, I apologize if it offended you.

Hey, Carrie! No worries, and no need to apologize!
Blue Skies,
Karen