Chute didn't open... whuffo remark

[rehmwa 2]

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and told the DZ to ring them every time someone had a mal!

That's not an unfair request, although it would be easier for all if the 911 would just confirm with the DZ when they receive calls of this nature, instead.

Sounds like the cops made the demand based on annoyance rather than just a desire for being able to respond to real emergencies.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[tbrown 26]

There's a saying that arguing with these kind of people is like wrestling with a pig in the mud. You can't win and the pig just enjoys it.

Of course it doesn't help much when the military does a dumbass thing like drop a headless dummy into power lines like they did near a well known So Cal DZ recently. The rumors of a dead headless skydiver are still circulating and it's hard to convince people that what they saw wasn't a real person.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[phoenixlpr 0]

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Of course it doesn't help much when the military does a dumbass thing like drop a headless dummy into power lines like they did near a well known So Cal DZ recently.

LOL. Nice start for an urban legend.

[Andy9o8 0]

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The rumors of a dead headless skydiver are still circulating and it's hard to convince people that what they saw wasn't a real person.

I heard it was an illegal immigrant who stowed away in the wheel well of a Mexican airliner.

[HydroGuy 0]

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Then I remind myself that we are all ambassadors of the sport and we all have a responsibility to, whenever possible, educate whuffos and help them understand our sport, but that's just me.

Forget that...I try to steer all conversations with whuffos away from skydiving.

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

[kefran 0]

lol !

have you ever heard of that skydiver who was taken so high by its chute while caught in a thunderstorm that he died of asphixia. he was recovered 100 kms away from the exit point !!! wow THAT is scary !!!!

i finally understood that there's no way to make them understand what our sport is all about and how safe it actually is !

--------------------------------------------------
I never used 2 rocks to start a fire ... this is called evolution !

[freelyflyn71 0]

I used to wear skydiving t-shirts everywhere I went trying to promote the sport...after all the stupid comments I've gotten I'll still wear skydiving shirts...they'll just be Aerodyne, PD, Mirage, and the like. That way I won't be as likely to attract those wonderful, clever, "perfectly good airplane" comments like I used to. Isn't that amazing how that one asshole pipes up with that line when skydiving is mentioned...then looks around the room like he/she is the first to ever come up with that lame ass retort.

The Braver the Bird...The Fatter the Cat.

[AFFI 0]

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have you ever heard of that skydiver who was taken so high by its chute while caught in a thunderstorm that he died of asphixia. he was recovered 100 kms away from the exit point !

Actually, I dont think this one is totally untrue, just exaggerated.

[anewempire 0]

when i started skydiving this guy i worked with told me that his dad used to be a pilot at a dropzone and the first time his dad took him out to the dz he saw a guy go in. no chute was deployed but he never found out why. he's 24 now and i think he was like 10 at the time or something. but sure enough he told me one of the things he really wants to get into was skydiving. thats coming from the mouth of a guy who had never jumped and saw a guy go in at the age of like 10. thats how much our sport rocks

[jurgencamps 0]

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have you ever heard of that skydiver who was taken so high by its chute while caught in a thunderstorm that he died of asphixia. he was recovered 100 kms away from the exit point !!! wow THAT is scary !!!!

Not completely untrue (was it Australia?) like somebody else already said.
It also happened with a gliderpilot and in this case the pilot died.

BTW I don't like the word "whuffo" and a lot of replies here are really arrogant towards non-skydivers.
Hey, a few reasons why lot's of people believe that skydiving is so dangerous: it is more dangerous than reading a book and some skydivers exaggerate the danger because they want to impress.

Keep it safe, but understand the dangers.
How many people died this year when they played golf, soccer, american football, ... >< skydiving, scubadiving, climbing, traffic, ...

Jurgen

[peckerhead 0]

But what if it is true?


My cousin told me a story about his instructor going in on his first jump in 1979 and I just thought it was a bullshit story. (His instructor bounced after he jumpmastered a cessna load of static line students.)

I thought it was just a story but after I had made some jumps I found out later that it really did happen. That is not the kind of thing you tell someone about to make the first jump. I made my first jump in 1981.

The stories from the 70's and 80's may seem unreal today but some of those sories really are true.

Of course the stories from the 60's are all bullshit! Nobody skydived back then.......


20 years from now they will say....skydivers used to die after the parachute opened!

[LawnDart21 0]

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Forget that...I try to steer all conversations with whuffos away from skydiving.

Interesting philisophy. It certainly insures one thing, you'll never bring any whuffos into the sport that way.

I'm not saying my "ambassador" philisophy is the right way for everyone, but let me give you my perspective. Like others on here, I have heard alot of outlandish skydiving stories in the last 6 years from "whuffos". These whuffos, have been friends, some coworkers, some total strangers in line at the grocery store if I happen to have a skydive t-shirt on.

Point is, whether friend, co-worker or stranger, I have taken the time to explain to them the inaccuracies of the ir stories, what parts may be or are true, and then suggest/offer that they come out the DZ and check it out in person. I have brought friends on tandems, coworkers on tandems, and even the register guy at the local liquor store, among other strangers I have met over the years. They all had fun, they all understand a little better about the truths and falacies of those types of stories, and a bunch of them have gone on through AFF, got thier licenses, and are now no longer whuffos.

People that either "don't have time" for whuffo stories or now consider themselves "above" listening to these outlandish stories with hopes of educating the storyteller, need to check their egos at the door, and remind themselves that at some point they too were probably whuffos.

--
My other ride is a RESERVE.

[Andy9o8 0]

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I used to wear skydiving t-shirts everywhere I went trying to promote the sport...after all the stupid comments I've gotten I'll still wear skydiving shirts...they'll just be Aerodyne, PD, Mirage, and the like. That way I won't be as likely to attract those wonderful, clever, "perfectly good airplane" comments like I used to.

I do the same thing. I'll wear manufacturers' or gear stores' t-shirts that have name brands and logos on them, but no obvious "skydiver" references or pictures. It's a sort of "code": I keep whuffos out of the loop, but by doing that I've met a number of skydivers I didn't know before (some of whom are great friends now) who recognized the brand names. Kind of like dogs circling and sniffing each other's butts.

[apoil 0]

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That would be the ned of the friendship.

I never liked Ned that much anyway.

Seriously, if my friends had a problem being told they were full of shit they would have stopped being my friend a long time ago. And yes, I still have a few.

[Jeff.Donohue 0]

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Kind of like dogs circling and sniffing each other's butts.

That's an image [skydivers sniffing each other] that I'm not going to be able to wash out of my head no matter how much bleach I use.

Then again, I have seen some tightly packed 4-ways exiting the Otter...

[popsjumper 2]

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...Of course the stories from the 60's are all bullshit! Nobody skydived back then.......

Just falling with style.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239