Robert Bonadies - Skydiver Who Saved Student Is Honored Posthumously - Press Clips

[quade 3]

http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-bobo0424.artapr24,0,6023537.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

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Skydiver Who Saved Student Is Honored Posthumously

April 24, 2003
By BILL WEIR, Courant Staff Writer

As much as Robert Bonadies loved skydiving, he loved sharing that thrill with his students.

Almost a year after he sacrificed his life to save one of his students, Bonadies was one of 23 people honored today by the Carnegie Hero Fund Foundation. Established in 1904, the foundation recognizes human courage under extreme conditions.

The 47-year-old Vernon resident fell to his death last May saving a student who had tumbled out of control during a skydive. Cynthia Hyland, his student, was unable to get into proper position and couldn't find her rip cord. Falling at a rate of 176 feet per second, Bonadies stuck with her well past the 2,000-foot mark where experienced skydivers are recommended to open their own chutes.

They were about 800 feet above the ground when Bonadies found her rip cord and pulled it. But it left no time or distance for Bonadies to save himself. He fell on a farm near Ellington Airport.

His wife, Lisa Miller Bonadies, said her family was "humbled and gratified" by the award.

"We're just all overwhelmed," she said. "It's been a very difficult year for our family. It's a wonderful honor. He deserved it."

Bonadies, known as "Bobo" by friends and family, was the father of two teenage children.

"I'm thankful that he's getting some positive attention," she said. "He was a very special guy."

He was president of Connecticut Parachutists Inc. and served as a volunteer instructor for the club. Don Semon, a spokesman for the club, said it wasn't enough for Bonadies to skydive; he loved bringing new people into the sport that he discovered in the 1970s.

As a volunteer instructor, Semon said, Bonadies instructed about 200 people in skydiving. He had a lifetime total of more than 2,700 jumps.

"I think it was pretty rewarding for him to see the students succeed," Semon said. "Not everyone in the world today likes to share their passions."

He was also an avid marathon runner and was one of the fastest in the state. He instructed many students in that sport, also.

Semon said Bonadies' wake was attended by an estimated 4,000 people and lasted more than five hours.

"We're like a big club," he said. "Not only for here in Connecticut, but around the world."

Last year, the organization honored Bonadies' memory with "Bobo's Big Dream," a two-day event where skydivers created a formation with 39 parachutists, the most ever in Connecticut to try the formation. Semon said a similar event will take place June 7 and 8.

"I think the award speaks for itself," Semon said. "I think his selfless courage definitely exemplifies the word hero."

Bonadies was one of five people honored with the Carnegie Medal posthumously.

Industrialist Andrew Carnegie started the hero fund after being inspired by rescue stories from a 1904 mine disaster that killed 181 people. The awards are given only to those the commission feels risked their lives to an extraordinary degree in attempting to save the life of another in the United States or Canada.

The awards, bronze medals that come with $3,500 for the honorees or their survivors, are issued five times a year. About $26.4 million has been issued in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits and continuing assistance over 99 years.



A report from the Associated Press is included in this story.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[pack40 0]

Unfortunately a similar case

http://www.skydiveua.info/


On February 21, 2003 in Maryinsky Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, an awarding ceremony was performed. Vasyliy Melnikov was awarded the title of The Hero of Ukraine posthumously by the president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. Melnikov's family - his young wife, mother and a brother - were present at the ceremony...
It was 11.19.2002 when he saved the life of his AFF student at the cost of his one. They broke at the proper altitude but the student suddenly lost his stability and didn’t take any actions to deploy. Vasyliy could reach him only at ~600 metres. At ~450-350 metres he opened the student’s main canopy. Then he started his break-off and without main opening pulled the reserve, but it didn’t inflate. Melnikov impacted the ground and was found passed away.

OVER

[tombuch 0]

Am I missing something here? Isn't it our job as AFF instructors to get a parachute over our own head no lower than 2,000 feet, even if that means leaving an unstable student. Doesn't an instructors open parachute signal EMERGENCY pull time to the student? Doesn't flying with the student below 2,000 feet add a significant threat of AAD deployment INTO the instructor? Doesn't dumping the student so low that there is no time for an instructor to track increase the threat of a canopy collision? Isn't it more heroic to STOP trying to save the student below the hard deck and let his/her training and AAD save the day?

I don't mean any disrespect to either of the instructors involved, but perhaps we need to rethink how we define a hero. As I recall these issues were discussed in the original thread, but it's worth revisiting given the redevelopment of the hero status.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor (AFF, SL, IAD, Tandem)
S&TA, Rigger, Pilot, etc.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[quade 3]

I choose to believe that any instructor that decides to chase a student below the hard deck pretty much knows what he's doing and why. While it may have been against the rules to do so, I find it very difficult to not see the heroism of the effort.

Clearly Robert's heart was in the right place.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[dgskydive 0]

I agree and disagree with you. I think what they did was very heroic. At the same time, not to disrespect these brave men, it was also very stupid. But sometimes being heroic means being stupid! If you look at most of the people who won the MEDAL OF HONOR, the things they did where heroic and brave yet a lot of the time very stupid. The thing that makes them special is they don't think of there own life in these situations. All they care about is the life and well being of a person, most of the time strangers or people they just met. These guys could have took the safe and SMART way out and pulled at 2K. They didn't because they took on a responsibility the moment they took that student out the door. And they lived up to it even it the cost of there own lives. If my mother or sister did an AFF jump I would want them to be with that HERO! Wouldn't you? True it is your own life and you are responsible for it. But you also put a lot of faith into that jumpmaster as a student. As far as letting there training take over or letting a Cypres fire. If there training was working they wouldn't be in the situation, and since when are we supposed rely on a Cypres?

Dom

[jlmiracle 7]

I couldn't agree with you more here quade. After this happened, I talked to alot of other instructors and its easy for us to say that our responsiblity is over at 2000 ft and I tell my students that, but how many of us would really just let the student go. I've never been in that situation (yet) and hope to never be in that situation.

Judy

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

[Zoltan 0]

I say, bullshit, major bullshit. What this particular instructor made was a suicide. Clean, 100% sure, suicide.
What he made was against many regulations and what is the worst... what he made was ABSOLUTELY UNNECESSARY.
He did not save the life of the student but put her life in a bigger danger and killing himself the same time. If anyone happens to be on the side of a student on two grands, he just does not mess with the MAIN chute because he risks the double_canopy_out problem what can kill the student and in general nobody messes with students when she has a great AAD on her back and at the same time you do not have one.

I am very sorry for the instructor and specially all my sympathy with his family... but just because I'm sorry i can not call him a hero. He made mistake, big mistake and for big mistakes in this sport you pay the highest price.

z

[Iflyme 0]

The instructor did NOT commit suicide. Suicide is intentionally taking your own life. These instructors clearly had no intention of dying as they exited the plane, but circumstances pushed them to make a difficult decisio in a split second. I have an enormus amout of respect for anyone who makes an effort to save someone else's life.

[Zoltan 0]

"Suicide is intentionally taking your own life."

yes.. and that is what he did... Sometimes not acting is acting. Not pulling on the altitude where you must pull in order to land safe is called suicide.
It is OK to walk on the rail-road but if you see the train coming and you do not act (leave that bloody railroad) then you are just comitting suicide by not acting.

The instructor was an experienced skydiver... he knew very well that on 1800 feet altitude he must be under a fully opened canopy in order to land safe. When he fall thru this altitude he accepted the fact that he is just breaking the first rule of freefall: Pull on proper altitude!

"circumstances pushed them to make a difficult decisio in a split second"

Yes and he made the worst decision putting not only himself to danger but his student as well...On 800 feet you do not try to open main chute. That is rule #2. On that altitude you open reserve... or if you have AAD than it will open your reserve. Pulling pilot chute on 800 feet when the student has Cypress for example can very easily since Cypress fires at 750 feet and a half opened main and a just opening reserve can entangle resulting serious injuries or death.
It is not a joke, it is fact.

I also have great respect for anyone who makes an effort to save someone else's life, but in this situation there was no need for heroism. There was no life in danger except the instructor's life.
Heroism sucks when the student has AAD. Unnecessary! The student's life was not in, she had AAD and that is what many people very easily forget about.

[beemertec 0]

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I have an enormus amout of respect for anyone who makes an effort to save someone else's life.

Amen to that.

Granted he broke the rules to save the student, but if that makes him less of a hero, then I guess firemen that run into burning buildings to rescue people aren't heroes either. Maybe, they just have a death wish. And, yes you do detect a hint of sarcasm in my statement.

Blue Skies
Steve
Ok, so it's pink, but I'm secure in my manhood, and I still look cool coming in under it!

[sducoach 0]

Why not let him be a hero to the families involved? Was a mistake made? Yes, however until we are in that position we will truly never know how we will react ourselves.

Blues,

J.E.

James 4:8

[billvon 2,400]

>I say, bullshit, major bullshit. What this particular instructor made was a suicide.

I'd suggest you become an AFF-JM and then have to make the decision whether to abandon someone you have come to care about at 2000 feet, putting their lives in the hands of a device you don't trust 100%. Once you can do that I would consider your opinion on this being a suicide somewhat valid.

I have an AAD for several reasons, one of them being that there are some people I could not give up on. It will save my life if I make such a poor decision. But then again I will also run in front of a car to try to keep a kid from getting hit even if I'm not sure I can make it in time, because in cases like that I just don't think. I've accepted that about myself. It may kill me someday, but I can live with that risk - even if I get called a suicidal idiot for doing so.

[tombuch 0]

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Why not let him be a hero to the families involved? Was a mistake made? Yes, however until we are in that position we will truly never know how we will react ourselves.

Because we shouldn't encourage that kind of decision making. The rule is very clear...do not chase a student below 2,000 feet. Doing so puts both the student and instructor at greater risk.

Every instructor should know and understand that chasing a student below opening altitude is NOT heroic, and it should not be honored as such. It should not be encouraged, and should not be approved after the fact.

I know and understand that the instructor in this case was doing his best to save the student, but he was wrong.

I wish I could say that I will NEVER chase a student below 2,000 feet, but I know that in the heat of the moment I might...if it happens it will be foolish, not heroic.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor (AFF, SL, IAD, Tandem)

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[tbrown 26]

I knew Bobo back in New England in the seventies and jumped with him several times, the last being when he visited San Diego around Xmas '78. He was as kind and generous and goodhearted a person as any of us could ever hope to meet in this sport. He was not arrogant or self absorbed, as too many of us unfortunately can be.

No, Bobo should not have followed his student down. It's ironic that he didn't have an AAD and she did. He should've pulled at 2 grand, worried himself sick about her for a few seconds and then seen her reserve opening below and in time to save her. That would have been the best and the happiest outcome. Unfortunately he made the wrong decision, or perhaps even a few of them. Bottom line is that mistaken or not, Bobo was the kind of person who would put the well being of his students above his own safety, or even his life. Greater love than this, no man hath...I'm pretty sure I met his wife, back before they married, before their kids came along, and I feel empty and sad inside, because I've got my own wife and kids. At least they will always know what a beautiful man they had in their lives while they had him.

Let's all learn something from Bobo's mistake and honor him. Nobody needs to go around yelling the BS word about this, we've lost a very special brother.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[AndyMan 7]

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I have an AAD for several reasons, one of them being that there are some people I could not give up on. It will save my life if I make such a poor decision. But then again I will also run in front of a car to try to keep a kid from getting hit even if I'm not sure I can make it in time, because in cases like that I just don't think.

When I was going through AFF, one of my instructors did NOT have an AAD, when I asked why his answer was that he wanted to be able to chase a student low, and a Cypres wouldn't allow that.

At the time, I thought that was pretty cool.

Now I think that's pretty stupid. I can understand someone going below 2000 feet, but someone who chooses to go below 1000 needs his head examined, if you ask me.

He was jumping a postage sized VX, I think.

This is an interesting debate, but I'll hold judgement for a few more years, I think...

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[relyon 0]

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I say, bullshit, major bullshit. What this particular instructor made was a suicide. Clean, 100% sure, suicide.

Troll.

Bob

[wmw999 2,122]

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When I was going through AFF, one of my instructors did NOT have an AAD

I went through AFF I training when only students used AADs (but all AFF students did). We had a discussion of significant length about the hard deck, and that if you chase your simulated student below the hard deck you failed that jump, and probably the course.

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)

[Luv2Fall 0]

I will not judge the man. He seemed to be a selfless person.

[tbrown 26]

Let's not lose sight of the fact that these people from the Carnegie Foundation are all whuffos. They think we're all crazy anyhow and they don't understand the nuances of our gear, AAD's, or safety doctrines. All of this is lost on them, they just see heroism. And even for all the technical mistakes Bobo made, we should still see it that way, even if it didn't have to turn out that way. It did - a year ago. So learn, live, and let it be. I will always miss him.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[Zoltan 0]

It was short Bob...may I ask you, what do you say to a student who asks you about this tragedy?

z

[Zoltan 0]

It seems that many of us forget that in this tragedy there was no life to save. the student had a properly functioning well maintained, tested Automatic Activation device.

The kid you would save by crashing your car has no equipment to save him, the children the firemen are saving from burning houses has no equipment to save them. The student in this situation had an AAD.
That makes the difference... and that should be understood.

It is not about who has AFF-JM licence and it is not about how Troll I am.. It is about disciplines.


And once again... all my sympathy goes to the family of Robert and all my respect to him. He surely was a great person and a great skydiver and no question that it is always a sorrow to lose anyone from our community

And one more, i never called anyone idiot. I would be one if i were call anyone idiot.

[billvon 2,400]

> It seems that many of us forget that in this tragedy there was no life
> to save. the student had a properly functioning well maintained,
>tested Automatic Activation device.

I understand your point of view, but

1) I do not rely on AAD's to save my life or the lives of my students, although I realize there's a very good chance that it may do that under some conditions.

2) There's a difference between understanding something intellectually and understanding it in your gut. I once watched a video of a close friend of mine spiraling through 1500 feet on her back, unconscious. I am very glad I was not on the dive with her, because I could not have abandoned her - even if I somehow knew her AAD had been turned on, passed self test etc. (She got the reserve out, still on her back, just before her cypres fired.)

Like I said, it's a failing of mine - and this was a failure of his. I'm not glad that he decided to pursue this student, but I understand all too well why he did it.

[Zoltan 0]

You are perfectly right!

Understanding and accepting are not the same things. I also understand why Robert made what he made, but i just can not accept it as a heroism.

> I do not rely on AAD's to save my life or the lives of my students.

According to my trainings and the experiences I do rely on AAD. And what is more important... it does not metret if you rely on it or not.. you still can not switch it off during the freefall. So when teh JM is just beinga hero pulling the students's main, the same time he puts the student's life in a real danger.

>There's a difference between understanding something intellectually and understanding it in your gut.

Yes there is... and I beleive that the secret of the long life is somwhere weher the disciplines and understunding things with brain overwhelms the heroism.

I know there are difficult decisions up there... to make a decision like following a student under 2000 feet should not be one of the difficult ones. It is a simple question.. and the answer is NO.
Noone should chase anyone who has an installed Cypress on back under 2000 feet, not in any circumstances, never. If anyone still does so... he/she should accept the consequences.

That is my opinion which might differs form someone else's opinion.

z

[mikkey 0]

I think the whole issue boils down to what is “heroism”. You say that the instructor was not a hero because he made a “mistake” (following the student below 2000 ft when an AAD was installed) and it was a mistake which he payed with his live for.
However, if you exclude people from being branded “heroes” just because they made a mistake – there would be a lot of people we call “heroes” that should not – both in the military and in civilian incidents.
Example: There are a lot of stories about people who died in NY on 9/11 who died because they stayed back with people who could not get out (e.g. disabled). That did not safe these people lives nor their own. But we call them heroes because they acted UNSELFISH and they were more concerned about others then themselves.
Most people see acts of heroism more from the angle of unselfish acts with no regard to own safety, and they do not care if there was a “mistake” or not.
The reason you did upset people was that you took a very “technical” approach to the incident (and you are correct on the facts) and use this to question the “heroism”. You need to differentiate between these 2 things. Yes, this Robert made a big mistake, but he acted so unselfish and only with the safety of his student in his mind that people will see him as a hero.
I for my part understand this fully. If you had just focussed on what we can learn from the incident (do not follow students below 2000 ft. – especially if they have an AAD) and not questioned the “heroism” in his sacrifice – you would not have received any flames.

---------------------------------------------------------
When people look like ants - pull. When ants look like people - pray.

[Zoltan 0]

Yes, now I am totaly convinced that the whole argument is started because of different interpretation of concepts like heroism and suicide and I am really sorry for it. I just wanted to point on few technical points and i dod not want to hurt anyone. That is all.

The problem is that I beleive that Robert was not saving the student, but puting her in even bigger danger. Yes from the whuffo point it was a heroic act, from the point of skydiving disciplines it was not a heroic act and in my opinion it is not enough to describe it as a mistake, it was a bit more then mistake. Sad, we lost one sport fellow and there was a student in danger and luck that the student is alive.
Would you call the instructor still a hero if the student's reserve entangels with her main and impacts? Because i would not, and it was God (you can call it Destiny's order if yoy want so) who saved her not the instructor.

You ar right, heroism is when you put other's life in front of yours. Heroism is when you are unselfish. Yes that is true.

And my opinion is that in skydiving we do not need heroes but cool minded well traind people with great respect towards to the disciplines and safety.

z