Is skydiving too safe

[Jerry253 0]

You gotta admit you asked for it! Yes, only mad people do it and you are one of us!!

[Casurf1978 0]

This is coming from someone with 100 odd jumps and a little over a year in the sport, but IMO I don't think this sport is safe. Like one of my instructors once said, "Once you leave the plane if you do nothing you're going to die." The view I have I make this sport as safe and unsafe as I want. I have good modern gear, but what's the use of it if I treat it like crap, not take care of it and dont really know how it works. I got awesome training and stll get coaching at my DZ but what's the use of it if I depend more on my gadgets (protrack and visual) than my training or if I decide to start doing stupid shit thats above my exp level.

[UntamedDOG 0]

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Have we sanatised our sport to the extent where it should no longer be considered as "extreme"?

Wait a while. Thats all I'm going to say.

[Belgian_Skygirl 0]

Kevin, I don't care and what you think. Getting into a sport because it is dangerous... is silly and stupid. Getting into a sport because you like it, because you are good at it... or because you dreamt about skydiving eversince you were young... that's called passion.

And yes, I consider it as a dangerous sport... but every sport is if you don't take the rigt measures to protect yourself.

Skydiing means freedom to me..; I feel liberated and free as e bird. On the other hand it is a mental sport for me as well: to stay focussed untill you have landed... I have to go deep mentally... the first time I did it I had a brain lock during the FF, and everytime I went to the DZ and actually jumped, it felt like victory on myself... and that is what skydiving should be: something you like to do and want to do. Even if it were the safest sport in the world, I would still enjoy it.

Skydiving is a statement for me: I like to live, I like to fly like a bird, I like to focus my mind, I... there are no words for it. And when I read something as "I read a lot about jumpers on high wing loadings getting hurt or worse and I think, are they not the true skydivers who still take "the risk"... well... if you want to take th risk.. just take you car... drive about 200 km an hour on small streets with curves... please make sure there are other cars and people in the straats to increase the level of danger... Or just... be drunk and drive hard... (this is ment ironnically).

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No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

[popsjumper 2]

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...From what I've read skydiver with 80-120 jumps usually over-self-confident. That's one of the most dangerous periods when one thinks he is perfectly safe while he is actually not...

Ooooooo...that hit close to home!. Thanks for the wake-up call. I owe you.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[darrenspooner 0]

The way I always explain it to people is that for 50 seconds the earth becomes irrelevant. You are there. Its spirituality. Completely free of everything on earth. Especially if there's cloud cover. Its like everything in the world dissappears for a few seconds. Its got nothing to do with adrenalin at that point.

As for safety, well, I want to live. It could never be safe enough. I just want the spirituality. I had a mal recently and the rsl pulled my reserve. It did it for me, and I am grateful.

If you want thrills then base jump, or just go nuts somewhere. SKydiving needs to be safe for most of us.

[JayCam 0]

Too safe? How does that make sense? Ok there are less craters now but how about these guys that bury themselves in the dirt doing hook landings. My friend pulled while on his back today and has hurt himself pretty badly. I'm taking a couple of months off coz of a bad landing... it sucks. Why would you WANT it to be more dangerous? Thats what i think is great its as safe as you like under a big manta or as dangerous as you like flying head down and opening a 70sqaure foot canopy at 60 feet lol. I wont be bitchy coz u DID say you were drunk when you posted...

J

[billvon 3,000]

>Why would you WANT it to be more dangerous?

Some people do. People seem to gravitate to a given level of risk. Make the gear safer, and people will take more risks landing. Make the gear more dangerous, and people get all safety conscious, do lots of gear checks, get anal about maintenance etc.

[nerd137 0]

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I am a complete newbie, with AFF infront of me. I was assured by skydiving school with that typical "You are safer here then in the car" and actually believed it.

Maybe they meant it's safer versus driving a 1966 VW bug at freeway speeds. I'm only halfway kidding; driving newer cars with crumple zones, airbags, and so forth drastically reduces the risks of serious injury following a high speed accident. Risks are just part of everyday life. Mitigating those risks is human nature. I think it's common to use driving as basis for comparison to skydiving because nearly everyone gets in a car on a daily basis and accepts the associated risks involved with driving. I mean, everyone knows that traffic accidents are a leading cause of death in the US, but we keep driving. The logic that follows is "if I can and do accept the risks of driving, then other activities in that same range of risk must also be acceptable." Sadly, compared to driving accidents, impact after a skydiving mishap has a pretty high risk of death or serious injury versus something you could walk away from. The risk of actually having an incident may be lower, but the consequences of having an incident are much worse.

I don't think it's necessarily bad to use driving as a comparison, as long as it's not grossly oversimplified.

That being said, I suppose everyone has to make their peace with the risks involved with any activity in order for them to feel fulfilled by it. I've made mine with this sport.

Edited to add disclaimer: This is my humble, newbie, low-timer perspective. Take it or leave it.

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