The historical background of the sport

[linnths 0]

Hi dear friends,

I am a masters student (in social anthropology) writing my thesis on skydiving safety and the impacts the technology has had (and still have) in the sport.

I am a skydiver myself, and wish to present the sport and its changes as accurate as possible, and I need your help. If anyone either wish to write me a PM about how the sport started, developed and so on, or refer me to a website where the information is accurate, I would be very grateful.

I have found several websites already, but are in no way pleased. They seem to have a lack of facts and thorough, but specific and concrete information. I am looking forward to any help that may provide me with the information I am seeking.

With regards,

Linn Solbakken :)

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting: Holy shit..what a ride!

[Tink1717 2]

Several of the pioneers in the sport are still alive. Lew Sanborn, for example is still vertical. I also suggest you contact the USPA directly. They have a wealth of knowledge and they are also the prime movers behind the National Skydiving Museum.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[mjosparky 3]

Try this web site. Some good stories.

Sparky

http://starcrestawards.com/

Here is another.

http://projectpi.skydiveworld.com/index.htm

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[Niki1 1]

SKYDIVING safty got better as jump altitudes went higher. From "my uncles J-3 Cub" to Cesnas to Beech 18s to DC-3s to turbine aircraft. People now get much more freefall time per jump than they did "back in the day." So aircraft technology may be seen as responsible for more time in the environment (freefall) and thus a higher experience level per capita. Smaller gear helped a little and wind tunnels helped a lot.

PARACHUTING safty is a different thing. In the late '60s through the mid '70s we were getting more skydiving experience with essentially the same technology as the post WWII guys who just wnated to jump out of an airplane.
Shot and a Half Capewells were a slightly better canop releas, Piggyback containers (called tandem containers) and ParaCommander canopies were the "upgrades" in 20 years and we used them for 10 more.
Ram air or "square" canopies were a techological improvment but to say it incressd the safty factor at the time might be debated.
The "throw-out" (and "pull-out") pilot chutes were a big step. The openning sequence was more staged and controlled. The 3 Ring Release was a major imjprovement and just in time for the second and third generations of ram-air canopies. The new ram-airs were a lot better when they worked and much more radical when they malfunctioned.
Helmets went in a cycle. First the motorcycle helmet (the Bell 500 was the coolest thing to have) and them hockey helmets and frap hats and no helmets. In the mid '80s people started making helmets just for skydiving and now they are standard equipment again.

This would be an oral history. Probably not attributable in a thesis but it might be some background to put "official" things in context.

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[JerryBaumchen 1,066]

Hi linnths,

I would highly recommend that you contact this guy:

http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/

Dan Poynter started back in the early '60's and wrote many, many articlesand books on all types of rigging/products/etc.

JerryBaumchen

[mjosparky 3]

Quote

Hi linnths,

I would highly recommend that you contact this guy:

http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/

Dan Poynter started back in the early '60's and wrote many, many articlesand books on all types of rigging/products/etc.

JerryBaumchen

What could he possibly know about skydiving?

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[wmw999 2,149]

Quote

What could he possibly know about skydiving?

I don't think he swoops

Wendy P.

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)

[JerryBaumchen 1,066]

Hi Wendy,

Quote

I don't think he swoops

Right after one of the first high-speed canopy fatalities, he commented something about Darwin's Theory still works.



JerryBaumchen

[mjosparky 3]

Quote

Hi Wendy,

Quote

I don't think he swoops

Right after one of the first high-speed canopy fatalities, he commented something about Darwin's Theory still works.



JerryBaumchen

This is a quote from Dan Poynter from 1971. And it holds true today.

Sparky

"It is tragic to become a statistic because of some new set of circumstances, but it is unforgivable if it has occurred before."

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[piisfish 135]

Hi Lynn, found a cool link to some "historical background", well before the "sport" www.apf.asn.au/APF-Zone/APF-Information/History-of-the-APF/Early-History-of-Parachuting/default.aspx

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[aliencico 0]

Dear Linn,

If You are writing your thesis about Skydiving safety, I would recommend You think global.
Please, remember that the first AAD´s were designed, and manufactured in 1936, in the former USSR.
If You do not know who were Leonid Savichev, nor Doronin´s Brothers, You have a lot of investigation work to do.

If You send a PM, I will send You a recently published book on AAD (75th Anniversary). It is written in Spanish, but, if You find useful, I can translate to English.

Hoping to helping on Your thesis,

Juan Fraile-Nuez
Military Parachute Rigger (ret.)
Spain, Europe