Shayna Richardson's One and Only Post...Read It and Get Over It!!!!

[gravitysucks 0]

Well, I read through the whole damn thread up to this point, and I'm going to throw in my two lucky pennies.

First off, this thread is bouncing around like a four year old on speed in a video arcade with a pocket full of quarters.

2. Smoking is a risk factor for breast cancer. It is a proven cause for lung cancer. There is a difference. Smoking has never added a day to anybody's life or caused happiness to anybody to anybody other than the person inhaling the drug and the tobacco companies who profit from the smokers. Why smokers a. defend their addiction at every turn and b. don't see why they are an annoyance to non-smokers is way beyond me. But they are more than an annoyance, they are a burden to our health care system, as determined by the courts. Which leads me to...

3. The uninsured. They are a burden on a society whose success has been a result of the capitalist philosophy. Which is great and has its place, but it doesn't belong in health care. Unfortunately, that is the way we run things in the US. Administrators and HMOs place limitations on physicians, set quotas, and are always after the bottom line. So the rich do get richer, etc... But those who can pay DO foot the bill for those who can't; albeit indirectly. Somebody has to cover the costs of Medicaid, the uninsured who are constantly showing up in ERs for routine care, and the people who rack up huge medical bills and never pay them. (As an aside, debt owed on medical expenses is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the US.) All of this so a few people can make a few more bucks. And the poor get poorer. When will we realize that health care is a right, not a privelege? Speaking of rights and priveleges (as skydiving is indeed a privelege and let us never forget that), that leads me to.....

4. The actual incident in question, hence the appropriate topic for the forum. I'm glad somebody pointed out the things which Shanna said which may point to some of the underlying problems which she herself may not be aware of. I have no doubt that she had the greatest confidence in her instruction, as all students have. But her attitude is puzzling to say the least. Why would you not expect to use your reserve, and why when you do are you surprised that it doesn't work? Regardless, lets not be so quick to flame Shayna for her actions. She had the presence of mind to cutaway, which was her decision and hers alone, correct or not. I hope this incident does not influence somebody to try to ride one in sometime because they would rather land a partial mal than "pull a Shayna." Nobody should be afraid to pull that red handle if they think they need to. She did that much right, at least. And who among us knows how we would really react ourselves under that spinning reserve on our 10th jump. I'd like to say that I would have reacted, and I rememeber going through the training for such a mal, but c'mon... it could have happened to any of us. As for her canopy choice, aggressive yes but not totally unreasonable at less than 1:1. As for her mention of her freefall skills, big deal. I get real sick off AFF students who think that how well they perform in freefall defines the success of the dive. Aside from stability at pull time, the most important thing you can learn as a student (and at any time, to be sure) is canopy skills. Which were possibly and by her own admission, a problem for this student (she did admit to panicking and not knowing what to do). But the REAL problem we're discussing is how she conducted herself following the jump. I admire her courage. I wish her a speedy recovery, and luck with her baby. I disagree with her statement about getting money for teeth. I disagree with her decision to take this story to the media. Which leads to topic...

#5. The media. Ok, maybe she had good intentions at first, but lets be honest. Nobody is jealous of the attention she is getting. If thats what it takes to get it, I'll remain obscure, thank you kindly. Who is honestly surprised that the whuffo media has shown the story in this light? In my opinion they have actually been fairly good, inasmuch as they are all a bunch of whuffos with bad hair. Thats right, I said you have bad hair.

Whew, I think I hit everything. Its a little long (thats what she said )

[diablopilot 2]

Quote

JP...you know I love ya to death...but give this girl a break.

DZ's, gear manufacturers, and other skydiving businesses have folded because of less than this. I won't.

Wuffos think we're crazy for jumping from perfectly good aircraft.

Those that do it without BELIEVING in the consiquences ARE.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[skinnyshrek 0]

Quote

Quote

Tammi...I think there is a big difference between people getting together to help a friend, and asking strangers to help you.

No not really at all......I could only stomach reading through about 50 posts into the thread. I do not know the entire story of the PR that surrounded this accident. I am commenting on the outright coldness coming from people in this thread regarding the comments about the topic in general....ITS FUCKING SICK! People die and get hurt at all the time in ALL TYPES of sports. Some of you people put yourselves on pedestals because you are a MIGHT SKYDIVER.
Lets start hounding the news and family members who publicize when a little league football player gets hit so hard he can never walk again….and lets not forget the kid shouldn’t have been out there to begin with because his parents didn’t have medical benefits. As far as publicity goes…..its part of the fucking sport so why hide it! GET REAL! Imagine how many people would stop watching race car driving if TV blocked out all the accidents “sick but true”!

I agree. Also, why should we have fund raisers for family members( chris martin) After all he should not of been jumping that small canopy should he?
Gus wing. Now why should we give money to his family. He knew the risks right? To say it's taking money from us fucking sickens me. I tell you, just as you thought skydivers were good people in comes the fucking negativity

http://www.skydivethefarm.com

do you realize that when you critisize people you dont know over the internet, you become part of a growing society of twats? ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?

• Quote

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

Quote

Quote

JP...you know I love ya to death...but give this girl a break.

DZ's, gear manufacturers, and other skydiving businesses have folded because of less than this. I won't.

Wuffos think we're crazy for jumping from perfectly good aircraft.

Those that do it without BELIEVING in the consiquences ARE.

JP...you know as I do that to crucify Shayna for media's negative attention isn't fair...common give the girl a break...she's been hurt and still wants to come back to the sport..just remember my friend.....there's a thing called "karma" out there. I believe in it, do you?

_________________________________________

[pilotdave 0]

Quote

No, the reason she's being attacked is because she chose to sensationlize disaster on national telivision, thus making this sport look bad.

Skydiving has always looked bad. Accidents are expected by the public. Everybody knows somebody that lost an uncle in a skydiving accident in the 70s. She didn't make it look bad. She had an accident. It really happened. She's not making anything up or exaggerating.

On the other hand, she has said on national TV multiple times that even after her horrible accident (which was due to a real live reserve malfunction) that she can't wait to skydive again. She makes it sound like its SO great that she'd do it again in a heartbeat even after all she's been through. How many people will see that and say "damn, I've GOT to try it!" Then they do a little research, discover tandem skydiving, and you've got a new student that's gonna buy a t-shirt and video.

You'll lose a few, you'll gain a few. But I don't believe any of this will have any major effect. Skydiving will be pretty much shut down in much of the US by winter only to reopen long after this story is forgotten.

Dave

[Eiley 0]

Quote

No, the reason she's being attacked is because she chose to sensationlize disaster on national telivision, thus making this sport look bad. Doesn't matter how many times she says "it's my fault" or not. This sport still looks bad, and that will chase customers away.

Surely the only potential customers it will chase away are those who were previously deluded that the sport is safe. A lot of skydivers might argue that the sport is better off without the people who think its no more dangerous than a carnival ride.

nothing to see here

[diablopilot 2]

Quote

JP...you know as I do that to crucify Shayna for media's negative attention isn't fair...

I do believe it to be fair. It's not as if the Media STOLE the footage. She PROVIDED it to them.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[ladyskydiver 0]

Just for argument's sake (I'm tired and with a headache), let's, also, look at this aspect of it (and no I'm not commenting on my personal thoughts of what Shayna chose to do):

The media portrays skydiving as worse than they already do. Government (I'm speaking US since that's where I'm from) starts thinking that they need to "Save people from themselves." and pass regulations that restrict and/or prevent skydiving from continuing.

hmmm....well, I guess BASE would get a lot more attention and so would the windtunnels.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[gravitysucks 0]

Quote

Then they do a little research, discover tandem skydiving, and you've got a new student that's gonna buy a t-shirt and video.

I agree. The public already has their preconceived notions. Any press is good press, just ask Howard Stern, Kanye West, Paris Hilton, etc...

[skybytch 259]

Quote

making the wild assumption that she feels others MUST pay for her seems a bit uneducated.

Quote

I have nearly $200,000 in medical bills plus nearly $25,000 to get my teeth back. I simply wanted to ask America for help. Why should I have to run around with no teeth in my mouth for the rest of my life because of a accident?!?!? I need help, and this country is full of people who can do just that...and I will find them!

Emphasis mine.

I'm not assuming anything, she says it right there. It doesn't take a college degree to comprehend that.

Quote

I don't know the full details so I am bound to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I don't know the full details of the incident either. From what little I saw of the media reports, she did as good a job of explaining the accident as could be expected from someone at her level of experience. I'm not second guessing how she reacted in the air. I'm sure she did the best job she could under the circumstances and I'm not at all sure I could have handled it "better."

All I'm doing is giving my opinion about the above quote. You know the old saying about opinions, right?

Quote

I think I do now: some skydivers don't give a shit about other skydivers and if something bad happens to me, and I'm in a bad financial situation, I'm pretty much on my own. DEAL WITH IT!

If something bad happens to you and you're in a bad financial situation, yes, you should expect to be pretty much on your own, dealing with it. You may be pleasantly suprised when some of the people you say don't give a shit about others ask for your address so they can send you a few bucks to help you out.

I speak from experience on this one.

Quote

Also, why should we have fund raisers for family members( chris martin) After all he should not of been jumping that small canopy should he?
Gus wing. Now why should we give money to his family. He knew the risks right? To say it's taking money from us fucking sickens me. I tell you, just as you thought skydivers were good people in comes the fucking negativity

This incident occured a couple of months ago, correct? If people feel so strongly that she deserves their help, why hasn't some form of fund raiser already happened?

[Johnsisland 0]

"I heard a snap and I started spinning and I didn't know why. I didn't know what to do to fix it. I didn't know how to make it stop," Richardson told Fort Smith, Ark., television station KFSM.

My biggest issue with the Shayna situation lies in the quote above. Shayna didn't know what the problem was, or how to cure it. It would seem that Rick didn't teach Shayna what she needed to know, in order to jump safely. And I haven't seen Rick standing up and taking responsibility for his actions, or lack thereof.

Second issue, Shayna's message to the media. I don't appreciate the incorrect information Shayna is spreading like cow dung on a pasture. While Shayna is not responsible for my relatives being nervous nelly's, I would rather not have the cow dung being spread, causing worried phone calls requiring long explanations from me. Even if I didn't have nervous nellies, I still would be offended by the misinformation being spread by Shayna.

Lack of insurance...gee, and a lack of a job as well. Wonder who is going to pay for the babies delivery, and future care? If you are going to have sex (or skydive), then you should be prepared for the consequences.

Take responsibilty for your actions.

Just my NERHO,

Jeff

Arch? I can arch just fine with my back to the ground.

[skykittykat 0]

Quote

There were many women from JFTC that smoke, including Mallory Tarcher and Lesley Gale. Someone lighting up and then asking for money for cancer research, jump money and hotels etc is saying 'Hey I want to find a cure for cancer and jump with your money so that I can continue on with my risky behavior'. The difference between the two is that one solicits money before a tragedy and one solicits money after a tragedy.

Sorry, MakeitHappen, but I find it a little offensive that you have named specific people for being, in your opinion, "hyprocritical". Lesley worked her ass off for JFTC and is a very well respected member of the skydiving community and has achieved many records raising money for charity.

Quote

smoking has not been linked to breast cancer, which is what JFTC covers. So while you may not approve of their smoking, I don't see the hypocrisy you suggest.

Thank you. Everyone one involved was there to raise money for charity, set a world record and promote skydiving, which was achieved.

Unfortunately, the world of media favours the more dramatic out there.

Regardless of Shayna's post here, the skydiving community and the sport itself would benefit from more positive stories than the "horror" ones and it is our responsibility to make that happen.

Many people have been seriously hurt skydiving, but very few court the media.

As per a previous post about insurance/
World Champs, etc - you can't jump at Eloy without medical insurance and seeing as Eloy hosted the World Cup earlier this year...

My 2 cents worth and off to read the rest of the posts!

Liz

[skybytch 259]

Quote

you can't jump at Eloy without medical insurance

Really? Wonder how I managed to jump there last December then?

[eeneR 1]

This is not directed at the person I responded to, as this is actually a reply to a few people.

How the hell do you know what I have been thru in my life? there you go assuming shit. I dont feel the need to tell anyone my personal life as I dont see the need to get "media attention" I will tell you people this. I was raised to be responsible for the shit I do. If I fuck up I deal with it. I was also taught not to put myself in situations where things could get real hairy with out having some sort of protection, be it finacial or otherwise.

Yes she fucked up skydiving, but that isnt the problem I have. My problem is she made a choice to jump uninsured, and had an accident. She was not prepaired to deal with the aftermath. She made bad choices.

I would do everything in my power (and this was in her power to have not be the way it is) to make sure my ass is covered, and if something were to happen, I wouldnt go crying to the world to bail me out. period.

So those of you who are on your high horses assuming what I have been thru or what you thing, especially those who do not live in this country. Stop.

I am done here, my opinion is spoken, and I will restate...those of you who shoose to jump with out insurance, do not look to me afor a hand out if you bash in. You do not have to jump out of that plane, that is your choice to make, and if you choose to jump with out insurance, then those bills are yours to pay. Period. Yes the US insurance system sucks, but that is the way things are...

Good god people...it is real easy...BE RESONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS...

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[GravityGirl 0]

Quote

Quote

Now she is looking for a solution to get her out of her current jam.

And she is fucking you, me, and every other person that makes a living from skydiving in the process. If her appearance on every news station in the country reduces the overall student turn out, she's done us all a dis-service. I'll do one less tnadem, you'll sell one less t-shirt, the DZO will fly one less load. Everyone hurts because she can't deal with her own problems.

I didn't see her appealing to jumpers to help her out first. That's because she didn't think and doesn't care.

How the hell do you know that she didn't think and doesn't care?

And do you honestly think that this will "hurt" the sport? Tandem inquiries actually go up after they see carnage on TV. Sick but true.

Besides. Skydiving IS a dangerous sport. It has severe consequences. Period. Do you want to keep that a secret from the public? Do you think that will "help" the sport. "It's as safe as driving a car. Yadda, yadda, yadda."

Shayna didn't fuck me. In fact. I think I'll send her a T-shirt. And maybe offer her some kindly advise. See how she is feeling. Find out where she is coming from.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[NelKel 0]

Hay Shawna, I know you said you would not post again. This thread has grown to 8 pages already and I just found it so I won't read the whole thing it would be pointless, every one has an opinon.

I also understand why you came here defending yourself. However it would have been more constructive to explain why you chopped the main.
Also it would have been more constructive why you havn't explaned that it wasn't a double malfunction. I'm taking it for granted it was pilot error. That is the sinsational part. Skydivers are a close knit community, if you want to be part of us you will have to learn how to defend us. You medical bill might as well be 2 million, you only have to pay what you can afford each month. I hope maybe you can get a credit card to buy teeth.

Oh and wing loading is out the window when a student is on ZP or other high performance canopies. A 170 is too small for student jumps. Regardless of what you weigh.

I saw the video of your jump. The part in the beginning where you were answering to Rick about your dive flow, he never asked you about you canopy dive flow. Isn't that where you got in trouble? I don't think any skydiver will blame you, other than if you just plan gave up! I think everyone is blaming Rick! Stop defending him you do not know what you are doing.

_________________________________________

Someone dies, someone says how stupid, someone says it was avoidable, someone says how to avoid it, someone calls them an idiot, someone proposes rule chan

[skykittykat 0]

Quote

Really? Wonder how I managed to jump there last December then?

Ok, I just assumed you couldn't as the last time I updated my waiver, etc, earlier this year, they were chasing me up for my medical insurance details and I didn't have them on me, although I was insured.

Also, a friend of mine just returned here and he had to get medical insurance before he could jump.

Apologies for getting the regs wrong, but either way, jumping without adequate medical insurance is just plain stupid as shit can happen. That is a personal choice though and is not an attack on anyone - just my opinion

Liz

[Squeak 17]

Quote

So those of you who are on your high horses assuming what I have been thru or what you thing, especially those who do not live in this country. Stop.

I'll take this point particularly because I'm from another country

I never at any stage made any assumptions as to what you have been through.

What I did say was that you are NOT in this girls situation and as such can not definitively say what you would do. You can posturise all you like but the fact remains that you are not in her position. and that has NOTHING to do with me living in a different country, so why you even bother to hightlight that is beyond me.

BTW hope you have a great Christmas Renee

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[skykittykat 0]

Quote

I was jumping a canopy that I personally asked a professional from PD about jumping...and was told there was nothing wrong with that canopy. I weigh 120 lbs...the canopy was a 190!!! My reserve was not a 120...I would like to know the dumbass who just thought they knew something...but like the rest of you know nothing...my reserve was a 170...

There are a few unanswered questions here....

Why did you feel the need to speak to someone at PD about the canopy you were jumping/going to jump rather than to your instructors?

Did you not trust your instructors? If not, why did you continue to jump with them?
If you were jumping a Sabre2 190 then the recommended guidelines stated that this canopy at your wingloading has been successfully been used for students, but by this footnote, is not endorsed per se by PD, so they are not saying that they recommend it, but that they know it has been jumped within a student programme succesfully....

The Spectre 190 is NOT recommended for students. If you were jumping another PD canopy, then it would not have been recommended for students at all.

You say you were wearing a PD 170 reserve - there is no PD Reserve of 170 - a 176 is the closest. If you were jumping a PD reserve 176, then that was totally viable for student use with your wingloading.

The question I have is, what canopy were you flying before the jump of your incident... Was it the same canopy that you had been jumping for your previous AFF jumps? Same type of canopy? Same wingloading? If you were jumping a different canopy, then any opening characteristics are different/strange.

If there are a few discrepancies in the technical stuff, I apologise - please correct.

Liz

[scottmyers 0]

Shayna, I won't be one to criticize what happened to you or the aftermath. I am not one to judge your personal or skydiving life. I am one who was shocked by what happened to you and, as I told freethefly, I just wished the NATIONAL MEDIA hadn't screwed this story up a lot more than they did. May you heal soon, God bless you always, and Blue Skies and SAFE LANDINGS next time!

Scott

Gig em, Garland Owls!

[linny 0]

Quote

I sure didn't see her making an appeal to jumper on this site for suport. It's been done before and people have helped in the past, but she chose to put her selfishness ahead of the sport. She chose to ignore that which she agreed to in the waiver.

Her word means nothing.

Looking out for yourself should ALWAYS come first. Others come second. Period. A sport?!?!?!?!?!?!? That shit comes a distant LAST when it comes to my health, life and future on this planet.

Everyone's negative comments are by far more selfish than her legitimate cries for help.

Get off your egotistical, fucking holier-than-thou pedestal of finger-pointing ideals, and "I would never do that" judgments calls.

Take a walk in someone else's shoes for a change.

Shayna, I hope everything works out for you. Keep fighting!

[artistcalledian 0]

Quote

Quote

I sure didn't see her making an appeal to jumper on this site for suport. It's been done before and people have helped in the past, but she chose to put her selfishness ahead of the sport. She chose to ignore that which she agreed to in the waiver.

Her word means nothing.

Looking out for yourself should ALWAYS come first. Others come second. Period. A sport?!?!?!?!?!?!? That shit comes a distant LAST when it comes to my health, life and future on this planet.

Everyone's negative comments are by far more selfish than her legitimate cries for help.

Get off your egotistical, fucking holier-than-thou pedestal of finger-pointing ideals, and "I would never do that" judgments calls.

Take a walk in someone else's shoes for a change.

Shayna, I hope everything works out for you. Keep fighting!

I AGREE 100% WITH YOU

who do the self richeous wankers think they are who are criticising her for what happened? get off your high horses and shut the fuck up.

Do you think she wanted this to happen to her? Do you think moaning on like bithes about insurance makes any fucking difference?

She hasn't DEMANDED that people giver her money, if you don't want to help, then don't help.. but sitting there glowing with pride that you've got your own insurance is pointless for her. YES well done, you can have a pat on your back if that makes you feel better?

Reading some of the comments on here is enough to put new jumpers like me off the "sport", who wants to do something full of self richeous wankers like some on here? not me

ps, people jumping for cancer awareness are smoking themselves?????? i couldn't give a fuck if breast cancer is not connected to smoking, it still is very hypocritical of them, i'd have zero respect for a smoking JFTC person

________________________________________
drive it like you stole it and f*ck the police

[UntamedDOG 0]

Shayna,

Don’t worry about the crap these folks are trying to dish out on you. I would have done exactly the same thing if I were in your shoes. The only problem is, I wouldn’t get the same kind of media coverage for my accident because I’m not a pretty blonde like you!

There is nothing wrong with asking for help. Why else would welfare, unemployment and charity exist? I don’t understand why other skydivers are so angry with you. It doesn’t seem like people want to understand what it was like to almost die. They are in denial.

If people are worried about having less students to teach because of this accident, I say to folks like JP to get a real job and stop being a skydiving bum. What do these clowns do all week? Skydiving instructors are a charity case in their own right. I’ve gotten to the point where I tear down those signs
that say “tip your Tandem instructor”.

Getting this stupid country to feel sorry for you is straight gangsta! I wish I could exploit this sport in the same manor.

UntamedDOG

[Tenshi 0]

Quote

luckly so do the people who matter...which guess what...aren't ANY of you!

Quote

search your heart...and talk to God. To me it seems like you are all questioning his amazing works?!?!?!

I bet it was God who saved you that day...

For what it's worth (nothing since I don't matter...and I do agree that I don't) I agree with you this discussion has gotten out of control. Specially the whole instructor-student dating bullshit was an embarrassment to read. It's great that you survived. And if I could get some money out of it without hurting anyone...I would too.

Take care! (and next time you might not want to rely on God)

[tso-d_chris 0]

Quote

Am I the only one that doesn't understand why people are making such a huge ordeal over this topic?

She was put out on inappropriate gear, without adequate instruction to operate the gear in a manner that allowed for a safe landing under an open parachute.

The interviews give the impression that the gear failed (the main did not malfunction), or that she was the only person at fault. She was set up for failure by her instructor before she exited the aircraft. Her interviews skew the facts in hopes of obtaining handouts.