Definition of "freak accident"

[peek 20]

Another thread prompted me to start this topic. We often use the term "freak accident" (related to many incidents and accidents in life, not just skydiving.)

So what is the best definition? To me, it is something that could not normally be anticipated and that caused or made worse an incident or accident.

1. One example might be something that collapsed a canopy when none of the conditions that cause turbulence are present.

2. Another might be someone that falls on landing and hits their (unhelmeted head) on an undetected rock in an otherwise grassy landing area.

3. Unknown medical conditions might be included.

But in general, perhaps we should not be using the term "freak accident" very often, because most of the dangers in skydiving should be well known, as well as the things we do to mitigate their risks.

[NWFlyer 2]

I like your definition, and agree with it. One similar way of thinking is what I used to teach when I taught defensive driving classes back in college (I drove buses for the campus transit service) - all accidents were classified into preventable and non-preventable. You could have an accident that was not your fault, but if you could have reasonably done something to prevent it (moved out of the way, honked your horn, etc.) it could still be ruled preventable. The result was that not too many accidents were ruled non-preventable, even if fault wasn't assigned to one of our drivers.

It's a way of thinking I still use in my own driving, and that I've used in skydiving, too. Could/should I have anticipated the conditions that led to an incident? Could I have done something to help prevent it?

The result of that kind of thinking and analysis is what you described... there really aren't a lot of "freak" accidents at all.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[riggerrob 558]

This one long-haired, dope-smoking hippy-type freak bumps into another long-haired, dope-smoking hippy-type freak ....

[wmw999 2,121]

Quote

This one long-haired, dope-smoking hippy-type freak bumps into another long-haired, dope-smoking hippy-type freak ....

That's just a happy coincidence
Wendy P.

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)

[chuckakers 370]

I consider a freak accident something that couldn't be predicted like a tree falling over just as a car goes by rather than a moment before or a moment after.

I'm a news anchor and we typically only use the term when a situation is truly "freakish" - something that comes out of left field that no one could have predicted.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[ianyapxw 0]

So where does "bad judgement" come in, as no one has 100% judgement. How about low turns to avoid crosswind or an AFF-I who chases the student too low?

Does it fall under something we should have anticipated, because all the flyers know they're taking a risk, or does it fall under they could not have anticipated it because they wouldn't know things would turn out so badly.

[peek 20]

ianyapxw

So where does "bad judgement" come in, as no one has 100% judgement. How about low turns to avoid crosswind or an AFF-I who chases the student too low?

Does it fall under something we should have anticipated, because all the flyers know they're taking a risk, or does it fall under they could not have anticipated it because they wouldn't know things would turn out so badly.

My definition was "something that could not normally be anticipated", so my definition would probably not include any of those.

My definition is not the only one. I started the topic because I wondered how people use the term, including outside of skydiving.

[skybytch 259]

Quote

How about low turns to avoid crosswind

Landing crosswind is much less likely to kill you. Don't do low turns. If you can't or are scared to land crosswind, downsize.

[SoCalJumper 0]

skybytch

If you can't or are scared to land crosswind, downsize.

huh? really?

[Quagmirian 40]

skybytch

Quote

How about low turns to avoid crosswind

Landing crosswind is much less likely to kill you. Don't do low turns. If you can't or are scared to land crosswind, downsize.

Did you mean something else there?

[Rougarou 0]

SoCalJumper

***If you can't or are scared to land crosswind, downsize.

huh? really?

She must have meant "UPsize"...

[champu 1]

I think the term should specifically not include being the unlucky first to experience a latent mode of failure in a particular design. That is to say, it's not simply enough that no one did anticipate the accident for it to be considered a "freak" accident, it has to be unreasonable for anyone to have predicted the accident even in hindsight.

[GalFisk 0]

champu

I think the term should specifically not include being the unlucky first to experience a latent mode of failure in a particular design. That is to say, it's not simply enough that no one did anticipate the accident for it to be considered a "freak" accident, it has to be unreasonable for anyone to have predicted the accident even in hindsight.

I agree completely.

The dangers we face in the sport are of two kinds: the dangers we can predict and mitigate against, and the ones that we just know are there but can't do anything to avoid. We make the effort to minimize the former, and the decision to accept the latter. The freak accident is when the latter comes back to bite you in the ass.

The guy who got a bird through his visor in freefall suffered a pure freak accident. We know that birds share our airspace, we also know they usually keep to canopy altitudes, but this one time an unlucky bird converged with a skydiver in freefall. Nobody could've said to him "Dude, you'll get a bird in the face one day if you keep jumping like that".

Many accidents can have elements of both. If the bird guy had hit a bird because he went low, I'd be less inclined to call it a freak accident - though hitting a bird is still pretty unlikely at lower altitudes.

The guy who got his RSL lanyard caught in a C182 door handle, and thereby blew up his reserve, was a victim of an unlikely event and something many probably didn't think about - but it was not something that could not have been predicted, and therefore not a freak accident.