It doesn't matter if you have 1 or 1000....

[livenletfly 0]

i dont recall any "harsh reactions" to a stand down written by anyone on here. just people disagreeing. there were stories of jumpers saying some fucked up shit, but nobody here has done that.
you yourself decided to make a jump after a fatality. you could have not got on the dc-3 if you felt so inclined to not jump, but you didnt. it didnt mean you dont care. nor do people that dont have a problem jumping in the aftermath of a fatality.
leave the choice to the individual. thats all some of us are saying.
"standing down" wont bring the dead back, it really doesnt accomplish anything. it wont make the un-compassionate compassionate, it just stops the jumping for no real ryme or reason. funerals and memorial ceromonies honor the dead.

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[gravitysucks 0]

Scottjaco and NWFlyer both reference the tragic events from last year's Holiday Boogie. I think that is a good example of what was, by and large, an appropriately handled situation. After the second fatality, there was a brief stand down, and then the DZ very clearly announced changes to the landing areas and approach patterns. The aftermath of those incidents resulted in permanent changes to the landing pattern policy at Eloy, if I'm not mistaken (probably also in no small part also due to the canopy collision accident that occured there a few months after the Holiday Boogie as well.)

Jumping resumed in a reasonable amount of time, and although there were many present who were clearly indifferent to the apparent tragedy, I witnessed no disrespect. In fact, I don't think SDAZ could have done a better job of handling the incidents.

That having been said, I did witness a myriad of different reactions. My whuffo girlfriend, on the the dropzone for the first time in her life, was shocked, astonished, and scared. My jumping friends all took it to heart, some of us took a little break, and for some I think the memory of that incident and the emotions that come with it still follow us to the dropzone. And though we leave those emotions on the ground, the lessons that we can learn from the deceased are applied in the air. Having done CPR on 2 people in as many days, and for being "that guy" who has to respond to any injury any time I'm at the dropzone, has shaped my career as a jumper.

If I had chosen not to go to Eloy last year, I'd probably have a hundred or so more jumps under my belt. Who knows, maybe I would have been drawn into complacency and made a foolish choice such as an early downsize. As it was, I took an 8 month hiatus from jumping, and thought seriously about if I wanted to stay in the sport. I made a list of things that I would never do again and things that I would avoid doing with the intent of minimizing my "risk profile."

To MilliniaS: I sympathize with your loss. You are right in your sentiment and your heart is in the right place. You will find that every jumper has their own individual rationale for why they jump, and this in turn affects their perspective on another jumper's death because it forces them to contemplate their own.

A friend of one of the men who died in Eloy told me that he had once said something to the effect of "If I die skydiving, don't tell people I died doing what I loved. That's a bullshit line."

I know I don't have his words right, but if I'm not mistaken the point is this: If you die on a skydive, it's a tragedy for the sport, and, yes, this 'family' you speak of collectively feels the effect of that loss. But there is no personal tragedy, and you can't explain it to a whuffo. When you die doing what you love, only those who share that love can share in the understanding of it, and though we mourn we do not grieve.

That is why the planes keep turning.