Southern_Man 0 #1 July 28, 2014 Posting this here a new article in SI, about a tandem accident from 2009 in Houston with Dave Hartstock. http://www.si.com/edge/2014/07/28/skydiving-accident-unifies-pair-forever Well, done article and well worth a read in my opinion."What if there were no hypothetical questions?" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWFlyer 2 #2 July 28, 2014 Thanks for sharing. I agree, it's a really terrific piece of writing."There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ronhend 0 #3 July 28, 2014 Wow! What a great article. I hope it inspires giving to help pay the bills. God bless you guys! RonATP B-727 B767-757 CFI-II Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rover 11 #4 July 29, 2014 What a load of melodramatic crap. Quote It would be the first time in five years of skydiving that he’d needed to cut away, but hey, there was a first time for everything. Besides, part of him was excited to see what it was like. He closed his eyes to better focus and shoved his hand up from his hip to grasp the cutaway handle Looking might work! Quote The canopy malfunction had been so violent that it had yanked the cutaway handle upward. It was stuck between him and Shirley, and he couldn’t reach it. Worse, the other cutaway handle was blocked by her body. Excuse my ignorance - but what system has 2 cutaway handles - or is this an indication to the research done by the journalist! Full of 'my life flashed before my eyes' bullshit. My 11 year old son could write an article better than this.2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mcstain 0 #5 July 29, 2014 Rover What a load of melodramatic crap. Quote It would be the first time in five years of skydiving that he’d needed to cut away, but hey, there was a first time for everything. Besides, part of him was excited to see what it was like. He closed his eyes to better focus and shoved his hand up from his hip to grasp the cutaway handle Looking might work! ***The canopy malfunction had been so violent that it had yanked the cutaway handle upward. It was stuck between him and Shirley, and he couldn’t reach it. Worse, the other cutaway handle was blocked by her body. Excuse my ignorance - but what system has 2 cutaway handles - or is this an indication to the research done by the journalist! Full of 'my life flashed before my eyes' bullshit. My 11 year old son could write an article better than this. Journalistic flair aside, this is a remarkable story and I think it's worth recognising the efforts that Dave made to save his student's life at the cost of his own wellbeing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rohicks 2 #6 July 29, 2014 Rover What a load of melodramatic crap. Quote It would be the first time in five years of skydiving that he’d needed to cut away, but hey, there was a first time for everything. Besides, part of him was excited to see what it was like. He closed his eyes to better focus and shoved his hand up from his hip to grasp the cutaway handle Looking might work! ***The canopy malfunction had been so violent that it had yanked the cutaway handle upward. It was stuck between him and Shirley, and he couldn’t reach it. Worse, the other cutaway handle was blocked by her body. Excuse my ignorance - but what system has 2 cutaway handles - or is this an indication to the research done by the journalist! Full of 'my life flashed before my eyes' bullshit. My 11 year old son could write an article better than this. Sorry it wasn't worth your time. Make it worth Dave's time and donate to help him out. https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/0635/david-hartsock-s-fundraise It was worth my time, and I'll send a few bucks his way. This was probably my favorite part of the article. Quote As for the fateful jump, bring it up and Dave is matter-of-fact. “I did what I felt was necessary for taking care of my student,” he says. “To me, that was the most important thing, making sure Shirley got down safely. My thoughts about whether I was going to survive took five seconds. I thought, if we do it this way, I’ll either get killed or paralyzed from the waist down.” He pauses. “And I’m like, O.K., I can live with that.” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hcsvader 1 #7 July 29, 2014 Yup good read, I skimmed thru a lot of the background story stuff but still a great write up. After reading it, if you feel like you would buy this guy a beer, why not send him a couple bucks Have you seen my pants? it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream >:) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baronn 111 #8 July 29, 2014 Agreed. Another "Oh, I tried so hard!" BS piece of journalism that just paints skydiving as being so dangerous and unpredictable. Had this Hero simply practiced his EP's a bit more, this would have had a very different outcome. Easy to be the knight in shining armor after the fact. Pretty sure it was more of an "Oh Shit!" Moment than a carefully planned Ill save my passenger moment. I fail to see an benefit here to anything. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arvoitus 1 #9 July 29, 2014 QuoteThe big ones could be trouble too. Anyone who outweighed you could take control of the jump, jackknifing his legs or sending you into a spiral. In worst-case scenarios you were supposed to hit the students on the back of the head, knocking them out cold. Well there is a maneuver my examiner forgot to teach me.Your rights end where my feelings begin. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpoxon 0 #10 July 29, 2014 Arvoitus Quote The big ones could be trouble too. Anyone who outweighed you could take control of the jump, jackknifing his legs or sending you into a spiral. In worst-case scenarios you were supposed to hit the students on the back of the head, knocking them out cold. Well there is a maneuver my examiner forgot to teach me. Ah, so that guy in Hawaii was doing it right? Or at least, trying to.. Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #11 July 29, 2014 ArvoitusQuoteThe big ones could be trouble too. Anyone who outweighed you could take control of the jump, jackknifing his legs or sending you into a spiral. In worst-case scenarios you were supposed to hit the students on the back of the head, knocking them out cold. Well there is a maneuver my examiner forgot to teach me. Good thing too... Never punch them in the head - We would just choke em out or bite them on the neck if they grabbed your thumbs - If you ram your fist into the back of a skull you could screw up your knuckles and not be able to make the next turn. ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TriGirl 319 #12 August 3, 2014 I'd rather a wuffo read this than the majority of the incident reports that get printed. If you're going to talk about the dangerous side of our sport, in Sports Illustrated no less, this is a well-balanced way to do it. The background/human interest stuff pulls the wuffo right in, and really lets the average person put him/herself in the place of the student. Now, let's see if we can get SI to cover Nationals! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
