skydivedon

Very true.... I appreciate the humor. The fact is that only YOU can increase or decrease your risk in ANY activity by how you perform that activity. Good instruction, common sense, cool headedness, good equipment and well practiced emergency measures are the key. It's fairly easy to do anything that you set your mind to do if you study it and practice it properly. The real test is when problems are encountered while doing a particular activity. Often times it's how you handle unexpected problems that can make the difference between life and death (or serious injuries and walking away). Training and repitition in a controlled environment prepare you for the unexpected. Remember: Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement! There are freak things that happen in any activity, but much of the time there are things that can be done to drastically reduce your risk. We should ALL walk away from this experience with a renewed effort to practice (and teach) our emergency procedures, recognize correctable problems and know when to get rid of something that you cannot fix in time to possibly have to fix something else.

speaking of driving.... safety....skydiving... relationship and comparison. I was recently involved in a roll-over vehicle accident (rolled several times). I have NEVER been that scared skydiving, so I think I;m right that skydiving is safer!...... LOL... just could not resist following up with THAT story (told tongue in cheek)

No question that there are no guarantees and I fully accept the risk of skydiving and take that risk freely and have great fun doing it. I read all the posts and understand that there was nothing "wrong" with the equipment. When I say I have a "problem" with it I am saying that something caused it and I'd like to know what it was. I don't like unanswered questions with anything in life, that does not mean that I should discontinue doing anything. I want to know what casued the problem so I, and everyone else, can learn from it. That's what this forum is all about - learning from the incidents that are discussed. Given that, can anyone who posted earlier, has inspected the equipment and has not posted or who has analyzed the video tell any of us what actually caused that reserve slider to hang-up? If we don't know, that's fine, but I'm very curious.

Hey Steve, Hope all is well with you and yours during this holiday season. No problem with the issue you raised. It was merely a way of saying that it's a lot safer sport these days than the media makes it out to be. It most certainly is a dangerous sport that needs good instruction and a person with a good head on their shoulders to participate in safely. Oh, and drive crazily, there are a lot of careful people out there... take care!

Hey Fletch, I'll be out in the spring back at it heavy again. Starting a new company is a lot of work and it takes a lot of time, but we're doing well. As everyone has said in response to my post this was purely an accident that a student handled in the best way that she knew how at the time it happened. The questions I raised are not opinions or in any way accusations as to what did or did not cause the problem. They are devil's advocate questions that should be raised, analyzed and answered. If all of that was done and the findings were that it was an unfortunate accident, then so be it. I still have a problem with why the reserve was screwed up when it opened. And, before anybody brings it up, I am NOT faulting the reserve packer, but only saying that the real problem with that reserve needs to be identified so that it can be communicated in a learning fashion to ALL reserve packers so they can be aware of it. As for the actions (media contacts and coverage) after the accident, it is sad that the news stations, talk shows and the like are latching on to and sensationalizing an accident and a sport that's generally safer than driving to the airport. But, we should not be surprised because the media is not interested in the 1,000's of safe landings that occur in this sport everyday. The Andy Warhol "15 min. of fame" seems to have grabbed an ordinary couple and launched them into the international spot light. None of us should be surprised by that, but we can still be sickened by it. The good thing that came of this attention (in the slydiving community anyway) is that we're all talking about it and trying to learn from it. After the "fame" goes away, this girl will still have to live with the injuries and disfugurement and we can only hope that she has no further complications. I don't think this will really hurt the sport in the long term and at least she is saying that she is not terrified of the sport and spreading THAT message. She still wants to do it, which is some consolation to the negative spin that could have been put on it.

My, my, my... this istuation has certainly gotten a lot of attention....... around the world. I know many of you who have been posting, I know the instructor and have jupmed many, many times with most of you at FFE. Is a matter of fact, my FIRST and ONLY cut-away was for the EXACT same reason (many of you were there when I did it). I would not cut -away for that same reason now because I am EXPERIENCED! SHE WAS NOT! I see absolutely CANNOT and WOULD NOT fault a student for cutting awayy if THEY thought they had a problem that THEY could not figure out. PERIOD! Whether it's a good idea or a bad idea in retrospect is what we talk about with our instructors after we land safely with a good reserve. She, obviously, thought she should cut-awayto save her damn life and she DID! THAT's what she, or any one of us, are taught to do. Don't hang there and try to figure it out until it's too late! We've all heard of jumpers with 1,000's of jumps who have done that and they don't make it. She at least did what SHE thought she should do ad THAT time. While there are lot's things that cloud the issue (boyfriend, girlfriend, wrong size bag, bad decisions, etc..) IMO the real issues that need to be looked at are: 1. Who packed her main and what happened to cause the problem? 2. Who packed her reserve and why did the slider not come down? 3. What was the quality of her instruction and did anyone else instruct her (or test her) besides her boyfriend? If so, did they feel she was capable of handling THAT Sabre II 190? Now, we can all find fault with teaching your girlfriend anything becasue you generally are either too critical or not critical enough. THAT's why it's not a good idea. Like I said. I know the instructor pretty well and IMO he should have steered clear of doing that because of bad decisions he's made skydiving in the past. That's not to say that someone else could have instructed their boy/girl friend better, but knowing him, he should not have that. I just could sit back and read all of the comments that are really not issues in the "accident". Thank GOD MY reserve opened properly when I did the same silly thing.

ABSOLUTELY correct! I was VERY lucky to have the opportunity to make it out of that one for sure. This could have been a very bad situation indeed. I thanked GOD every minute of that canopy ride once the initial shock of the reserve opening subsided. And, believe me I had a LOT of time to think of all the things that could have happened on the way down.

I had a similar problem at Z-hills with a premature deployment in Jan. 2001. I was the last out of a 9-way and was to dive to the formation. I was hunched over with my Reflex Rig's pop-top pushed up against the ceiling of the plan (Otter). There was a cable on the inside of the plan connected to the plexiglass door to assist in pening the door. Unfortunately, that cable slid under my reserve pop-top unknown to me. As I dove out of the plan the cable ripped the pop-top out and broke the reserve line and as I dove out, my reserve came out as well. A video guy in back of me got it all on video. You could see the reserve pilot chute just fly out the Otter's door and my reserve open immediately at 13,500' in a 60Kt wind blowing me away from the airport. THANK GOD I made it back to the airport with some thoughtful canopy handling. Of course, I siad a few expletives in the process of my 30 min. ride down.

Freefall Express has the most friendly and experienced skydivers that you'll find anywhere. There are some good freeflyers and bellie flyers as well and everyone welcomes new comers whether they are experienced or they just want to watch. I'd recommend Freefall Express to anyone who wants a good, positive experience and who also wants to portray that same kind of attitude! GREAT PLACE to jump as well!