Really Shaken Up

[FliegendeWolf 0]

Reading through the Wingloading thread at Safety and Training, Jimbo writes:

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I agree. Maybe if someone could capture the screams, and the crying, and the horrified looks of the witnesses of the accident, maybe that might help to pump up the realism level.

Just reading that shakes me up. I never want to have to hear or see (or take part in) these things. But that's a part of this gig, isn't it? There's really no getting around that, is there?

A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

[jlmiracle 7]

There is no way around it if you want to keep skydiving. You can always wear ear plugs to stop hearing the screams, or turn your back on the body bag, but unfortunately, I haven't found a way around it.

The first few times it can be really upsetting, after that, you just get numb.

Judy

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

[skybytch 273]

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There's really no getting around that, is there?

Nope. It sucks, but it's part of jumping.

What really sucks is when the incident was avoidable.

[Michele 1]

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I never want to have to hear or see (or take part in) these things

Have you taken a canopy control class yet?

One of the most impactful things for me was being in an otter taking off while the ambulance drove way out to someone. Watching the spinning flashing lights as we took off was very, very difficult...

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[FliegendeWolf 0]

Michele,

Rest assured it is on my agenda. First things first, though: five jumps until I get my A.

Edited to say: It seems to me that mastering canopy control should be an immediate part of my plans. Like, needing to pass canopy skills above and beyond the tripe on the proficiency card to even get the A. It looks noticably odd that I wrote that I am putting off taking a canopy control course because I'm working on my A... Nevertheless, you have all made your point crystal clear to me. I do, however, happen to be a person who errs on the side of caution anyway.

Still, taking a canopy control class myself will not guarantee that I will not have to hear the screams over someone else.

A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

[Michele 1]

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taking a canopy control class myself will not guarantee that I will not have to hear the screams over someone else

Nope, it won't. It will hopefully prevent you from doing something dumb and having those screams come from you...or worse, silence.

What it can also do is show other new licensees it's alright to take the class...it's o.k. to learn from an expert. Set an example. Be different.

(Hey, maybe I can be canopy control class nazi #1?)

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[bkdice 0]

I watched someone die at our DZ. It was horrible. I had been off AFF for 3 months and had very few jumps. It made me question if I wanted to be in this sport. I decided to jump again before making that decision. Needless to say - I decided to keep jumping. I think people need to remember that they are not invincible. I consider myself very safe and very aware and ALWAYS learning. There are risks in everything we do in life. We just need to weigh them out and decide which ones to take.

[billvon 3,031]

>But that's a part of this gig, isn't it?

Yep. I've tried to keep two friends of mine alive long enough to get them to a trauma bay. They were alive when they got there, but neither one made it. Sometimes you can't just walk away.

[MrHixxx 0]

I have seen someone unsuccessfully giving chest compressions to stabilizing a friends head while his leg was being straightened and splinted from a broken femur. It is pretty haunting stuff. You need feel what you need to feel about it and move on. Sometimes moving on includes skydiving sometimes it does not. While I don't think you should let your emotions cripple I also don't think reason should deprive you of what you need to feel.

-Hixxx

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

[CDRINF 1]

I watched a first jump student frap in under a partial malfunction while her husband watched from the the ground. It was pretty unnerving to watch him freak out when he realized it was her while she was on the way down. Fortunately she lived, although got busted up quite a bit.

Afterwards, the S&TA rounded up everyone on the DZ, esp the students (this DZ had large student classes each weekend), sat everyone down in the bleachers we had and said "Guys, if you are in this sport long enough, you are going to see something like this happen. The thing to take away is to learn from this and not leave thinking that this is sport death." He then went over some of the factors that contributed to the malfunction. As we analyzed the accident, what we all learned was that there is really no such thing as a freak accident. Most accidents happen through a series of little mistakes that combine to overwhelm the jumper. He then said, "Now lets get back in the air."

That may seem a little abrupt and clinical, but it was a good approach. Everyone went back up and jumped.

CDR

[skymama 37]

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Watching the spinning flashing lights as we took off was very, very difficult...

Being the person inside the ambulance is very, very difficult too. Living through something that you know has killed other people makes you take a whole new look at things and how you do them for sure.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[quade 4]

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Watching the spinning flashing lights as we took off was very, very difficult...

Yeah, it can be pretty bad.

I recently was in an airplane and on takeoff we saw a canopy ball of crap go by and impact in a field nearby. Main mal, incomplete cutaway, reserve fired into main. Then we recognized the canopies, then we realized that the daughter of the skydiver, her mom, was in the plane with us. I can't even imagine what was going through the daughter's mind.

Fortunately, mom is alive and doing fairly well. Very, very lucky and only ended up with a relatively minor bone break and will recover fully.

This is a very weird sport when it comes to injuries. Sometimes people that you're certain are finished come walking back to the drop zone the same day and another time a person has a perfectly good landing, trips over a gopher hole and winds up dead.

Y'all be careful out there.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[freeflir29 0]

Yep....I have seen my share of nasty ones. My expreiences with seeing serious injuries certainly isn't confined to this sport. I raced BMX for quite a few years and saw some pretty bad stuff. A good friend almost die due to a compound fracture of his right arm. (Popped an artery) Saw someone life flighted with a punctured lung......watched my friend's Dad plow into a stationary car doing about 165MPH during an ARCA race. He killed the guy he hit......my friends Dad spent two weeks in the hospital. That friend died a few years later racing street bikes. Most sports have a certain element of danger. It's all about the amount of risk you are willing to take for the "fun" pay off. Take BASE....the reward would be pretty small for me while the risk is fairly high. So....I don't do it. Same thing with SCUBA...it just doesn't turn me on.

[racer42 0]

That is so very true. I did that last year and I was the screamer. I was lucky and survived to jump another day.
But I scared the shit out of a lot of people,especially my family.
One of the hardest lessons I have ever learned. Now there is not a jump day that goes by that I am out there asking questions and observing. It's all about learning and judgement. Setting some personal limits. I love this sport. And the people in it. Thanks

L.A.S.T. #24
Co-Founder Biscuit Brothers Freefly Team
Electric Toaster #3
Co-Founder Team Non Sequitor
Co-Founder Team Happy Sock