Cypres saves another skydiver

[dreamsville 0]

As much as I hate to say it, I always notice someone at every dropzone I visit (a few a year) who does not appear to be watching. Since I often wear a full-face helmet, yelling does no good, and they might not hear anyway (if they can you are probably much too close). Just dodge them to make sure your patterns diverge. If it is possible for you to notice someone about to overtake you AS WELL AS those below, so much the better. Right-of-way is small consolation in the event of an accident.

Harry

I don't drink during the day, so I don't know what it is about this airline. I keep falling out the door of the plane.

Harry, FB #4143

[freeflydeeva 0]

I agree that safety is a serious issue in our sport today. We have more knowledge about our gear, canopy design and flight, and how our bodies fly. The fatality numbers have decreased even in a sport where the population jumping has increased. However, I agree that there tends to be a decent number of people who tend to get the blinders on under canopy. I have seen the most safety conscious skydivers in freefall, cut people off repeatedly under canopy and not even realize that they do it. I am not saying everyone does, but there are people who do.

One thing that disturbs me is the number of canopy collisions/and or canopy related injuries in the sport today. That number is increasing. Just take a look at the last year. We have had what? five canopy collisions? maybe more, with at least two fatalities. It saddens me that we are losing our fellow brothers and sisters to the sport when they are under fully functional canopies. It seems like such a waste. If a single post in any of these forums or threads makes one person think and become a little more alert, then that is one less likely brother or sister that we will lose to this sport.

[freakydiver 0]

Thank you. Amen to that.

-- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

[faulknerwn 38]

Quote

One thing that disturbs me is the number of canopy collisions/and or canopy related injuries in the sport today. That number is increasing. Just take a look at the last year. We have had what? five canopy collisions? maybe more, with at least two fatalities.

And it doesn't take a lot to have a near collision. I was on an 8-way on Saturday. I was jumping my Cobalt 75. I tend to ride in brakes a lot and let all the people spiral down. On this particular jump, I thought everyone had landed but me. I was probably at 3-4 hundred feet up and I was heading towards the high performance landing area.

I have a friend who jumps a green and black Spectre 170. I always have trouble spotting this canopy when I'm checking for open canopies after I deploy. Anyway, he's on his way to the pea pit. He was looking down because he thought everyone was down and he was watching the people below him. I was probably 2-3 hundred feet away from him when I saw him. At our approach paths I probably would have nailed his end cell with my body going head-on. Instead, I just popped my brakes and flew about 10 feet over top of him, resisting the temptation to do a quick turn and do a CRW dock on him :-) But if I hadn't spotted him when I did, we probably would have had a collision because he never saw me.

Our mistake was we both were certain that we were the last one in the air. His canopy colors which blend in well with the ground definitely contributed to the problem also. It doesn't take much to get into trouble - but it only takes one person to avoid a collision. Be careful up there.