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wmw999

For those against wingload BSRs

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How does this relate to jump numbers and wing loading, as opposed to personality type and testosterone poisoning?


Where did I say it does relate? I posed the question to get a better idea of where the person I was responding to is coming from.

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I've had 5 friends die due to canopy incidents in the last 2 years, and not one of them would have been prevented if this proposal had been in force, since 4 had >500 jumps and the other was flying at 1:1.


Ah, but had some form of required canopy control training been in effect when those people had 20 - 500 jumps perhaps those accidents could have been prevented.

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What % of canopy fatalities are male and how does it compare with the overall % of males in skydiving?

What % are Type A personalities?

What % are aged 25 or under?

What % were high school athletes, and what % couch potatoes?

How do you know that WL and jump numbers are the most relevant variables here?


Other than age, wingloading and jump numbers that information doesn't exist. You know that as well as we do.

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where are the real, solid numbers that can be used to support the position that more people under 500 jumps are dying at high WL than are flying them successfully?



It suddenly went rather quiet...
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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my humble opinion BSRs are a neat idea, but without a way to opt out, inherently flawed. I say combine the EDUCATION ONLY cry with the BSRs ARE NEEDED crowd. Let the person have a chance to take a class and prove to an instructor that they can fly that 1.5 WL canopy at 150 jumps. If they can great, they can fly up to that WL. If they can't, FOLLOW THE BSR. And if they dont want to pay the money or they dont care that much about a high WL, well, they can stick with the:

100 jumps: 1.0
200 jumps: 1.1
300 jumps: 1.2

etc etc whatever blah blah. I think the solution is simple, no?

---------------------------------------------
let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

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I think this idea would kill two birds with one stone, as many people would be forced to get canopy training (education) if they want to fly fast canopies, and they would still be being safely regulated.

---------------------------------------------
let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

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I beg to differ; watching video is important. I learned a great deal from the video debrief of my jumps and
watching others mistakes.



Read what I wrote Because you can't learn to fly a canopy by watching a video, or reading a book.


You can't...If you had not DONE the jumps to look at, or have a referance from having DONE that type of jump...
The video would be usless.

This is like saying I could video AFF 1-7 and sell it on the net as a "Skydiving program" And these people whould not need to go to the DZ and sit in a harness, practice pulls, practice exits...ect....They could just hop in a rig and jump on a plane.

This is why to get a pilots license you have book work AND 40 hrs of flight time.

Without the prior knowledge, or practical exercises...The video would be nothing.

And you would have to make the subject group watch it...They don't listen now...Is a cool video gonna help?

There are plenty of videos out there already. "Fly Like A Pro"....But they don't watch them...They watch "Pond Swooping Nationals"

And to be honest you can learn a lot for watching the Pond Swooping Natl's. But, people wacth them and they still hook it in.

Ron
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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define test.

demostrate ability to the ST&A? how? specific skills? (flat turns uphill, downhill, crosswind etc) PRO test? gates?
swoop pond? "I've seen you fly your ok"?



I have said make them qualify for the PRO...Not everyone like this one, but it is already written, demonstrates the ability to fly the canopy, is easy to judge, and is harder than most think. Add in a canopy class and I think its the route to go.

In my little world (where my CAPS GET STUCK;)) I think you should not downsize until you can qualify for the PRO under the canopy that you have now. I've done it all the way to an 88.


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will this test be seperate from any licenses? or incorprated into the skills checks? who can sign you off as passed?



Seperate...And the S&TA, or Instructors who are qualified to fly at a higher wingload than being tested for. (I don't want an Instructor that has always flown a 1.1 straight in to try and teach something they don't do.) The sign off could be a log book endorsement just like a pilot gets for tailwheel or a high performance airplane.

For what it worth...I would be fine if it was a recomendation. I would rather have it a BSR....with the ability to test out...It I think would be better, and with the test out part if you can put your money where your mouth is...You can still do what you want.

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no you can only learn to fly a canopy by flying it, but you can learn quite alot about the principles of canopy flight
from such sources, just as you do from talking to coaches, visualization and mental preparation are an important
component of any kind of training...isnt part of the point to make people (who apparently dont get it already)
understand that you can die if you make a mistake?? and encourage them to get further education? it certainly
wont solve the whole issue, but it would put the information out there for them to decide to ignore or not...



Notice I didn't say it was not a good idea...But you would have to make them watch it insted of the "Pond Swooping Natls"...And there are canopy videos out already. "Fly like a Pro." And the target audience is not wacthing these things..The BSR would MAKE them...not just be an option.
If everyine took education this would not be a problem, the problem is the ones most likely to get killed don't think they need this.

Ron
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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Ron, and how will this bsr stop someone from hooking into the ground??? I really want to know. All the rules
in the world will never stop bad judgement!!



It will make education the only way to fly a high WL before you have more experience.

Education is THE answer...the problem is that the group that needs it...Does not think they do.

This would make them take the education...or have to wait, and learn slower.

Ron
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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And the S&TA, or Instructors who are qualified to fly at a higher wingload than being tested for. (I don't want an Instructor that has always flown a 1.1 straight in to try and teach something they don't do.)


I think this is a very important point. Someone who has always flown a light wingloading may be able to teach basic canopy skills, but the more advanced material needs to be taught by someone who routinely - and safely - flies an aggressive wingloading/canopy.

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[Education is THE answer...the problem is that the group that needs it...Does not think they do.

Ron


I agree, so lets GROUND the 1000 + jump skydivers that are lightly loaded but:

1) Don't know what crossports are despite being intercontenental bigway experienced.

2) Aren't aware of other people in the pattern 50% of the time. But can't be spoken to because "IF" they didn't see me "I" was flying too fast.

3) Face plant 50%, ass plant30%, narrowly miss others in the landing area umpteen % of the time. Never really hurt themselves more than a sprain , bruize or a very minor broken bone. They don't swoop so they won't hook in. Don't understand why someone would want to fly a high performance canopy because they shine during the skydive not the last part of their journey to terra firma. But they are lightly loaded so they are safe, right?

Its been said that this is not our target danger demographic because their injuries are minor, rarely fatal, but I disagree. There is a very real danger here if one of these guys slams into you, you are dead. And there is rarely any thirst for more education on their part, They have arrived, they have nothing to benefit from a swooper class.

Granted most of the deaths under canopy are LOW experienced jumpers but how many fit every other part of the description?
The incident reports don't differentiate between my example above and the highly loaded low timer.
ANY fatality under a canopy is too much, any canopy.

It seems there is a lot of "sabre rattling" about half of our problem and utter blindness or even worse in the form of acceptance to the other 50%. If you feel you may represent the above in whole or in part...... Get help please! Glen

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[

Granted most of the deaths under canopy are LOW experienced jumpers but how many fit every other part of the description?



I don't think that is an accurate inference from Michele' s data if you account for the demographics of the skydiver population (>50% of skydivers have < 300 jumps according to USPA. So even if fatality risk were completely unrelated to jump numbers, you would still expect a greater % of deaths to jumpers with <300 jumps than Michele reported, simply because there are more of them in the population.
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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Education is our best bet. Quite frnakly that's the best we can hope for. There are far too may people who enter this sport for the freedom of it and th more we regulate the more the face of our populaion at the DZ will change. Ultimately not a good thing.

Not saying people will leave because of rules meant to save lives, but highly regulated things tend to defer some types of people, many of whom i call friends at the DZ.


kwak
Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail. Question is Hun, Do you wanna get hammered or do you wanna get nailed?????

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> Education is our best bet.

I agree 100%, and that's the primary reasoning behind my proposal. Put a WL regulation into effect, and all you have to do to get around it is take a canopy control class. Then you can jump whatever tiny canopy you want.

>There are far too may people who enter this sport for the freedom of it
> and th more we regulate the more the face of our populaion at the DZ
> will change. Ultimately not a good thing.

Not doing anything will also change the face of the DZ as the people jumping canopies over their head are injured or killed. Also not a good thing. I think we should try to find a balance between those two things.

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Well the thing is out of the people that died last year under a good canopy...over 80% had less than 500 jumps.

Of the people that died last year that were trying to swoop...Only one had more than 500 jumps. Of this group it was a 1.5 WL and around 300umps AVG.

I agree there are people out there with 1000's of jumps that still don't do it right.

But they are not killing themselves.

I think that education is the answer, but with out some regulation most will not get the knowledge.

And then there is the issue that the same level of knowledge is not available everywhere.

Ron
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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Well the thing is out of the people that died last year under a good canopy...over 80% had less than 500 jumps.


According to Michele's numbers, it is exactly 75%. The year before it was 33%. The cumulated value for 2001 and 2002 is 53%. Considering that ~55% of the skydivers have less than 250 jumps (USPA source), there are probably at least 65% of skydivers with less than 500 jumps.
Of course, if you select the appropriate sample, you can prove whatever you want. Can i select 2001 to prove that jumpers with less than 500 jumps are extremely safe?

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I agree there are people out there with 1000's of jumps that still don't do it right.
But they are not killing themselves.


What are the basis for this claim?
My first guesstimate is that skydivers with more than 2000 jumps represent less than 10% of the community but significantly more than 10% of the fatalities. I don't remember the exact value, but i think around 14% over the last 5 years, for the fatalities where the jump number is available. According to Michele's numbers it's more than 12% of the landing fatalities.

Apparently this would be an evidence that more experienced skydivers are less safe than less experienced skydivers.
--
Come
Skydive Asia

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According to Michele's numbers, it is exactly 75%. The year before it was 33%. The cumulated value for
2001 and 2002 is 53%. Considering that ~55% of the skydivers have less than 250 jumps (USPA source),
there are probably at least 65% of skydivers with less than 500 jumps.
Of course, if you select the appropriate sample, you can prove whatever you want. Can i select 2001 to
prove that jumpers with less than 500 jumps are extremely safe?



This is my point exactly....since the creation of HP canopies they are getting easier for low timers to get...That is why there were less 300 jump wonders hooking in than now..

Now they can get the canopies...then it was much harder.

Thanks for pointing out the trend.

Ron
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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I see much talk of incident statistical analysis, which is good, people are looking at trends. I use statistical analysis to run quantified risk assessments for petrochemical installations. However for the stats to be meaningful, we need a whole lot more, and a lot more detail on injuries. This sort of accurate data takes years to accumulate, that is time we obviously don't have.
Meanwhile people continue to get hurt 'needlessly'.
Why don't we get off this stats thing and go with what we all feel to be true. That is to accept that HP landings are hurting a higher proportion of our friends than any other cause (eg lo/no pulls, mid air collisions, and equipment failures). If we just accept this, then we can focus on doing something about it.
--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

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Replying to:
Re: [Ron] For those against wingload BSRs by nacmacfeegle
Post:
I see much talk of incident statistical analysis, which is good, people are looking at trends. I use statistical
analysis to run quantified risk assessments for petrochemical installations. However for the stats to be
meaningful, we need a whole lot more, and a lot more detail on injuries. This sort of accurate data takes
years to accumulate, that is time we obviously don't have.
Meanwhile people continue to get hurt 'needlessly'.
Why don't we get off this stats thing and go with what we all feel to be true. That is to accept that HP
landings are hurting a higher proportion of our friends than any other cause (eg lo/no pulls, mid air collisions,
and equipment failures). If we just accept this, then we can focus on doing something about it.
--------------------



I track trends for FedEx since I do this for a living trends just start to jump out at me when I look at data.

I only point out the trends because a lot of people claim that "flying by the seat of your pants" is wrong to do.

The fact is, as you pointed out, that there is not enough raw data to be 100% about any trends....However if you wait till all the info is in, you have wasted a lot of time, sometimes forever.

Sometimes you have to take what data you have and run with it.

Ron
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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"Sometimes you have to take what data you have and run with it."

Yep this is what I'm saying Ron, take the data we have, and the gut feeling, and the strength of conviction to do something about it. Don't get all hung up on stats in isolation, or anomalies in reporting of the incidents.
--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

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I am running with it..I started this whole BSR WL thing.

But there are people out there that think that without EVERY piece of info, the data pool is screwed.

I know they are wrong, but some people just look for excuses to do what they want...

I just responded to this:
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Which is exactly why a restriction based on wingloading wouldn't work. The key is education, not arbitrary
(yes, without every piece of data included it's arbitrary) statistics and numbers to determine someone's
ability.



Which show that some people don't listen. This guy has less than 200 jumps, and will not listen to people with 1,000's that have been in the sport for several years...In some cases here decades.

But if people DID listen to what the more experienced jumpers told them...This whole issue would not exist. They would not try to get the 97 with 100 jumps.

Ron
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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Which show that some people don't listen. This guy has less than 200 jumps, and will not listen to people with 1,000's that have been in the sport for several years...In some cases here decades.



Ron, I am listening to you. I'm also listening to others with just as many jumps who don't agree with you. And no offense meant, you are obviously intelligent, but I haven't necessarily seen a direct correlation between jump numbers and intelligence. I take in as much info and knowledge from everyone that I can. But guess what, it's often contradictory. It's up to me to decide which advice and knowledge I'm going to follow. I'm sure there are a million things that you could tell me that I would take to heart, but I just happen to agree with others, with as much experience as you on this issue.

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Three pages of posts and I haven't read any but the first. So if I may reply to that (and this may have been stated time and time again).

I have not been in the sport as long as some, but in that time I have seen first hand (disregarding what I've read) more people paralyzed, seriously injured and killed under canopies they were 1:1 on or in that neighborhood than under the more "extreme" canopies. Due to poor judgement, bad last minute decisions and no flares.

I don't think taking the choice out of the individuals hand and into a regulatory body's would improve the safety of our sport. It's inherently dangerous and those who manage to go through a life in the sport uninjured have taken the precautions on their own and have been handed a little bit of luck too.

I would refuse to jump at a DZ that had restrictions on wing loading even if I passed their standards because I feel my purest draw to skydiving is its freedom. The sensation and the intangible knowlege of it. It's what brings me back when I get frustrated and cheers me up when I'm down. I'm willing to celebrate that with all my breatheren but don't stifle that with more rules.

Maybe I'm a Darwinist. Maybe I'm a realist. Maybe I don't know my ass from my elbow. But I'm always in favor of less restrictions.

I hope this gets read all the way down here.:|


"Five days? But I'm angry now!"

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