0
skymama

Skydiving promo on GMA

Recommended Posts

Sounds like a "no shit there I was, I thought I was going to die" story coming up. They just did the teaser for it at the start of Good Morning America.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It was probably this:

Woman Discovers She’s Pregnant After Parachute Fails

Imagine jumping out of an airplane and having your parachute fail, but you somehow survive the impact. That's what happened to 21-year-old Shayna Richardson of Joplin, Mo., while she was skydiving in Siloam Springs, Ark. in October.

She was taking her first solo jump when her parachute didn't open and then her reserve parachute didn't fully open either. Richardson landed face first in a parking lot. Her instructor caught it all on tape.

Richardson explains what happened next, "In the hit, I eggshelled my entire face. Everything through here got eggshelled and I broke my pelvis in two places and broke my fibula in my right leg."

During the weeks of surgeries, doctors found out Richardson was also two weeks pregnant. Now, 10 weeks after the fall both Richardson and her baby are on the road to recovery. Her baby is due in June and Richardson says she hopes to be skydiving again by August.


And another article about the same event:

http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_346193211.html
If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
They just showed it...she was spiraling down, yet they said her main and reserve chute failed to open. It was her first student jump, I believe. A woman named Shayna Richardson. Anyone know her? She broke her pelvis and some other bones and was also 2 weeks pregnant at the time. Lucky baby to live through that!
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I turned on the tv this morning and was greeted by a student spinning in under her reserve. She did not know why she was spinning and did nothing to stop it. She said she just decided that this was how she was going to die and accepted it. Sheez. Then she went on to describe how they removed her face and replaced the shattered bones with metal plates.

It was on CBS and was not a good way to start the day.

Edit: I don't know why I didn't change the channel.


"Don't! Get! Eliminated!"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I know the people in the video. What a crock of shit. It was her second or third freefall. Her first six or so jumps were IAD. The instructor was her boyfriend. The canopy was a Sabre2 190. She opened a perfectly good main. Her boyfriend had her doing rear riser turns. She inadvertantly fired a toggle while doing so and she cutaway a perfectly good main. The reserve opened with slider up. Appearantly she did not pump the risers to clear it. As with the main all she had to do was unstow the other toggle. This story has been all over the news in this area. All blame was put on the equipment and NONE on the boyfriend who put her under a canopy she had no business being under or the jumper herself. I talked with Shayna a couple of weeks before this incident about canopies. She was talking about something much smaller and I told her she needs to stay under something that is big and floaty. Something more forgiving than something that is ground hungry. I see this as soley the fault of her boyfriend for giving bad advise on canopy choice. Instructors should never instruct girlfriends/boyfriends as they are less likely to see a problem. The word is that they have been selling this story. What a crock of shit. This does nothing but make our sport look bad. I hope like hell that these two are shunned at all dropzones. Our sport does not need this type of publicity.
I feel real bad that this had to happen as Shayna is a very sweet person. Yet, I also feel sad that our sport is very seldom shown in a positive light.
"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I did fire off an email to a local station yesterday that was running this story as they kept saying crap about how the gear was at fault. Other jumpers I have spoken to are just as pissed about the flat out lie in their story. I would had been alright with this had they told what really happened and not made it sound as if it was the gear. I guess this video will soon be on RealTV.
They were told that they could not train at the DZ here, as the DZO did not want an instructor romanticaly involved with a student, so they went out of state to another DZ. The DZO would had been fine with her had they had used another instructor. The name of the out of state DZ (a great place to jump) has been all over the news around here and I believe that this kinda of pubilcity will deter some first time jumpers from taking that first jump. Nothing good at all comes from this kind of stuff.
"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I am not sure who broke the story, I know it was on local news awhile ago. Anyway, I don't understand a whole about dz politics and whatnot, but is there any good that can come from such a newstory???

I mean, granted, the story was somewhat? sensationalized ( quoted in a newscast "the reserve is a GUARANTEE" :S), but would any good come from the story being publicized if it was actually factual?


Mother to the cutest little thing in the world...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Here's a link to a thread in Safety & Training; this particular post has her account of what she saw and did.

Folks, it does appear as though there are politics involved in this one, and multiple discussion locations. I can think of better ways for people not to get all the facts, but I'm not sure what they are...

Wendy W.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Who broke the stoy in the first place?



Shayna herself broke the story to local (springfield Mo) media and every local story has a line at the end asking for donations to off set her medical expense.
She does not work and her boyfriend claims to be dissabled and draws govt money.. however her boyfriend is the guy who shot the video.

It has also come to light that she is a medical write off and she is not paying any bills from the hospital. I have not confirmed this so i don't know if it is true but when you are uninsured and unemployeed then these things have a way of getting written off thru charity hospital's.

Shayna does not talk to the local skydivers now, nor does her boyfriend/instructor.. they had said they where to tired to talk about this any longer and just fields to many questions when they went to the DZ.
Weeks later we start to see her all over the media!

Joe
www.greenboxphotography.com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

I just e-mailed Shayna to get her side of what is going on. Instead of speculating I thought I would go to the source to see what is going on in her head to make her go to the media like this.



Money, probably.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

It's frustrating to me that some people have to use their mistakes to profit.



It's frustrating to me that, so far this morning, 14,322 co-workers of mine have e-mailed me this story, 9,181 of them have called me about it, and 6,875 have come into my office to talk about it. :S>:(

Blues,
Dave
"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

light that she is a medical write off and she is not paying any bills from the hospital. I have not confirmed this so i don't know if it is true but when you are uninsured and unemployeed then these things have a way of getting written off thru charity hospital's.



The way she explained it to us was that Medicaid was picking up the tab for medical but not the teeth which were supposed to be a very pricey item. However in the past week, she has not only got new teeth but also an engagement ring. Makes one wonder.

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

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

Quote

light that she is a medical write off and she is not paying any bills from the hospital. I have not confirmed this so i don't know if it is true but when you are uninsured and unemployeed then these things have a way of getting written off thru charity hospital's.



The way she explained it to us was that Medicaid was picking up the tab for medical but not the teeth which were supposed to be a very pricey item. However in the past week, she has not only got new teeth but also an engagement ring. Makes one wonder.

-Blind



OK, I'm gonna recap this thing for my own understanding. Tell me if I got this straight:

Girl dates Instructor. Girl does a few jumps with Instructor away from home DZ and against advice of others under conditions beyond her skill and training. Girl suffers consequences of jumping in less-than-safest-possible-way and gets away alive and still prego.

Unemployed, uninsured, knocked-up, AND injured, she is now looking to capitalize on her story and needs further help to cover bills.

BabyDaddy is in the picture now with a ring, but she's still hurting for cash.

Is that right?



'Cause it sounds like she's being judged for money-grubbing, when, in her position, I can hardly blame her. Am I missing something deliberate or harmful?

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote


sounds like she's being judged for money-grubbing, when, in her position, I can hardly blame her. Am I missing something deliberate or harmful?



I think what everyone is upset about is the fact that 1. She's sensationalised her story in order for it to generate more press and 2. She's willing to harm others. Not just the sport in general, but also a particular DZ in order to to generate income. She was not a student were the accident occured. Our DZO had reservations about allowing student jumps outside of our program but graciously sold them two lift tickets anyway. Now his business(and his livelihood) is getting dragged through the mud even though all he did was provide two slots on an airplane.

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

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0