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lkolkin

Anyone want to help defend the (relative) safety of our sport?

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I signed up because I wanted to respond to this myself. I'm the kid who wrote the piece (well, pieces now) on Maisonneuve. Someone commented on my column that they had buried 9 people in 12 years, and the number struck me as extreme, and gave me a bit of a fright. I'm going on my 4th jump on Saturday, my first Instructor Assisted after ground school.

The number just shook me a bit, and I asked Mama Lucia what the stats were, what other skydivers thought about this.

That said... my experiences just training so far have been brilliant. Everyone I have encountered has been enthusiastic, stoked, geeked out and brilliant. It's quite a community, and one I hope to be a part of some day.

Just wanted to say thanks.

[url]
---
"Once you jump. you'll never look up at the sky the same way again."
Peace

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Personally, I still think there is a greater chance I will be killed riding my motorcycle the 5 hours it takes to get to Eloy from southern New Mexico, where I live, than during one of my skydives (even as a student soloing).

On a bike, the only thing you get to "chop" is the throttle and the "reserve-ride" usually entails an ambulance. :S
NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

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Michigan has about 30 deaths a year from snowmobiles. Same as skydiving for the whole country.
I'll get my "air" in freefall skydiving, not on a skateboard, snowmobile,bike,diving board,
or a hit from a Mack truck.
When i say "jump like there's no tomorrow", i mean = jump like there's no tomorrow.
That's about all i have to say about that.


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That said... my experiences just training so far have been brilliant.


Excellent! Thats what it boils down to. Does the thrill and the fun of jumping justify, to you, the added risk to your life. As you can probably guess, pretty much everyone here thinks so for themselves. You have to come to your own decission.

Stats for skydiving are quite impossible to correlate to many other activities: what do you use for your exposure: jumps, years jumping, time in freefall, time from take off to landing???... In the end, lots of the added risk is something you can directly influence. Some isnt.
Remster

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It's not safe. Neither is driving. Neither is eating. But skydiving wouldn't be as much fun if it were as safe as eating, would it?

Wendy W.



I'm betting more people die each year as a result of obesity or unhealthy eating habits. Or as a result of being sat on by someone else with poor eating habits.

EATING IS NOT SAFE - take precautions

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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>There's worse things than dying. That's what I worry about.

Tell me about it. [:/] I've got one friend that snapped a femer the 4th of July and one that broke a pelvis about 1.5 years ago. I get to hear from them about injuries all the time. Just got word another friend broke their pelvis yesterday possibly.

And these are people in my phone address book that I talk to all the time not just some person from the DZ I call a friend.

Eric Denny from Perris is lucky as hell to be alive, he was close to death and I'm quite sure he wished he was at a few points in the hospital. Thats what I really fear... being in a hospital for months and losing limbs, being paralyzed, things like that.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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>There's worse things than dying. That's what I worry about..... Thats what I really fear... being in a hospital for months and losing limbs, being paralyzed, things like that.



...Which is why I am an oddity-a 27 year old man with a DNR on his medical record. I don't wanna live like Christopher Reeve...

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I'm the same and I'm only 24. The Organ bank just about drooled over that when they found out.

24 - nonsmoker, light drinker, no drugs... yeah, I'm their prize child. Lets just hope to keep them away for a while ;)

I know of more then 1 jumper that was brought back after going flat line, and some of them have even recovered a lot, but also some that are still in hospitals years later, and then a few that never got one bit better.

On this topic does anyone have any info on John Matthews? He was seriously injured in FL just as I was entering the sport and it was a tad eye opening at that time to see one of the best was in a hospital unable to talk or move since his canopy collapsed with no warning.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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got word another friend broke their pelvis yesterday possibly.


Bah, was just a crack! :D That reminds me, I should call and harass them... I mean uhhh... let them know we're all thinking of them B|
it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

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Never tell anyone this sport is safe, it will come back to haunt you.

I never push anyone into jumping, in fact, I push them away from it (I used to be the opposite). Then if they want to jump they are doing it with full knowledge of what happens and what could happen. Plus they are now doing it for themself, instead of for me.

Newbies evangalize the sport, veterans don't. There are reasons for that.

Like Phreezone said - there will most likely be at least one more dead skydiver next week at Rantoul. That is the hard facts about the sport.

Let your friends be concerned, tell them why you do it, and do it only if you want to.

Being scared in this sport will keep you alive. Never forget how dangerous it really is.

BTW - I have considered a DNR as well after seeing some terrible stuff.

Now, go have fun!
_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

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I'm betting on at least 1 if not up to 3 fatalities next week at WFFC.



You suck! I'm betting on ZERO.

No, skydiving is not 100% safe. People do die. Friends die. Lovers die.

But to throw comments like that out....

....well. It just sucks! Even I'm not that jaded.

And I have lost a memeber of my inner circle at the WFFC.

But I'm still betting on ZERO. Now everyone do you best to prove me point! ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

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I'm betting more people die each year as a result of obesity or unhealthy eating habits. Or as a result of being sat on by someone else with poor eating habits.

EATING IS NOT SAFE - take precautions



BWAHAHAHAH!!! Man, that's both sad reality and funny as Hell, too.
:D:D:D
The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

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Never tell anyone this sport is safe, it will come back to haunt you.

I never push anyone into jumping


People don't understand why I don't pay for my son's (he's 20 now) first tandem.

Until he's willing to pay for it himself, he's not committed to making the jump for himself. Would I help him after that? Of course.

But he has to want it badly enough to think about the consequences, and to convince me that he thought about them enough if he were to get hurt seriously. The thought devastates me.

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)

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I certainly didn't mean to get everyone so riled (sp?)up. Its interesting to hear everyone's opinion and it seems that I must be in the minority with mine.



Next to politics, religion, guns, high wingloading and AADs, there is likely no other hotter topic on DZ.COM when it comes to opinions.

With regards to this subject, we could make hundreds and hundreds of jumps safely and become complacent with our feelings towards the dangers. But all it takes is one moment of lapsed judgment, or worse being in the wrong place at the wrong time for our entire worlds to come crashing down on any one of us. But does that mean that we all must stop doing something we enjoy (and be like all the other whuffos)? Well I can't speak for any others but myself and my answer is "hell no". The rewards out weigh the risks.

I know we are talking skydiving and not BASE (BASE being an order of magnitude more dangerous than skydiving). But there is a saying in the BASE world which can be applied to skydiving and it goes like this. "BASE jumping will never be safe. But it sure can be as dangerous as you want it to be."


Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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If you don't talk about it, then it will happen.

New WFFC attendees don't realize how dangerous it can be. If we let them know they could be dead before the end of next week, then they could prove us wrong. But the truth is there has been, I think, one WFFC in the last 10 years that has had no one get killed.

Now, what is everyone going to do to make sure it isn't them this year?
_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

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You guys fucking rule. This is so much fun...... but no worries, Mama Lucia. You didn't push me into the sport. You just gave me a memory I will never forget on my first jump, and something I'll share with you for the rest of my (what I'm now thinking will be rather short) life.

Last weekend I was standing on the ground going over the elements my jump instructor wanted me to for my last jump before he okayed me for ground school. I was miming every motion I was going to be doing and this group of (really hot) girls who were there for their first tandem started giggling at me. I thought, "I'd rather look the fool to you than not be ready when my feet hit the sky."

Just signing the waver that I could potentially pass on drove home how serious the consequences of this sport are. Just jumping out of the plane the first time drove home how much I want to do this, why I'm paying money I don't have to train to be not just good, but great, at this. One day, maybe. For now, I hope to learn as much as I possibly can, because I want to jump, not crash.

[url]
---
"Once you jump. you'll never look up at the sky the same way again."
Peace

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I'm betting on at least 1 if not up to 3 fatalities next week at WFFC.



You suck! I'm betting on ZERO.

Now everyone do you best to prove me point! ;)


~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

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What's a "whuffo?"

I'm a Newbie....




wuffo you jump outa dem perfectly good airplanes
~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

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