A few words about accidents

[Bergen 0]

I am a relatively new skydiver but have been flying professionally for 25 years and am currently an accident investigator and trauma team member for one of the major airline pilots’ unions. As you might imagine, plane crashes and skydiving accidents have a-lot in common. And I’m not talking about things falling out of the sky, I’m talking about people.

What happened to Gus Wing would be classified as a line of duty death. It was sudden, violent, and involved participating in a specific activity that is shared by a close knit community. The psychologists will tell you that those characteristics aggravate the impact of the event on the survivors because we can so easily relate to it. If it can happen to Gus, it can happen to any of us. It is therefore easy to understand why we grasp so desperately to find the cause of this particular accident. If we can figure out a way to blame the pilot or Gus and conclude that one or the other screwed up big time, we can convince ourselves that this was a freak event and won’t happen to any of us. This isn’t something we do with malice or even something we do consciously. It is purely an attempt to explain the world so we can go on jumping with some piece of mind. My experience tells me that many of you are getting a little annoyed with this theory right about now. I have seen that before also.

The goal of any accident investigation is to determine the cause. However, the reason we need to determine the cause is not to make ourselves feel better, or to blame someone-- it is to determine whether we need to make changes to equipment, procedures, or training so that the incident won’t be repeated. That is a lofty goal, and anyone familiar with the NTSB or USPA accident database will know that we aren’t there yet. However, people involved in accident investigation, safety, and training, understand that you never know how many accidents you prevent. This may be of little consolation during times of tragic loss, but it’s all you get.

I understand the desperate need most of us share to find out what happened. But this is a time for quiet reflection and for an objective investigation. Busying ourselves with mindless postulating might serve as an effective distraction, but it takes us far away from the two primary tasks—finding the cause with the singular goal of prevention, and finding spiritual peace with the singular goal of getting through the day the best we can.

I'm not being critical of the content of the threads, it is a perfectly normal and sometimes even helpful activity. But let's also take a moment to focus on what's really important.

My thoughts go out to the victims of this tragedy. Gus, the pilot, their families and friends, the jumpers at Deland, and all of us who take to the sky. My thoughts also go out to the investigators. My prayer is that we can find out what happened and all of us become wiser.

It is important to remember that mistakes aren’t always what they seem to be. We are all part of a complex system where things don’t happen as they should. As Einstein reminded us, “’Things should be made as simple as possible, but never simpler than they really are.”

I love skydivers. I love you for who you are, what you do, and what you have all given me. I can't begin to explain what skydiving means to me. So I ask that you all embrace your wisdom. Wisdom will give you patience. Patience will give you time. And time will bring you peace.

[f1shlips 2]

Wow, that's the most rational thing I've ever read on the internet.

*looks around nervously*

--
drop zone (drop'zone) n. An incestuous sesspool of broken people. -- Attributed to a whuffo girlfriend.

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

That was a good post.

[Mixxit 0]

Well said.

[billvon 2,991]

>If we can figure out a way to blame the pilot or Gus and conclude that
>one or the other screwed up big time, we can convince ourselves that
>this was a freak event and won’t happen to any of us.

This is very true, and I see this happen at DZ's after an accident quite often. "He was an idiot." "You would think he'd know better." "He must have been showing off, or geeking the camera." Even if someone was pretty safe overall, he becomes a safety hazard _after_ the incident. The alternative is to admit something scary, which is that if it happened to this guy, who has more jumps and is more careful than I am, then it can happen to me - and that's an uncomfortable thought to a lot of people.

I think a lot of skydivers go through a phase of invulnerability, a phase where they see all the safety devices we have nowadays, the two-inch-thick SIM, the FAA-qualified riggers, and the army of S+TA's, instructors etc out there trying to keep people safe, and they conclude that skydiving is really pretty safe. Often they will justify that belief by redefining accidents as foolish decisions by the jumpers involved, decisions they would never make.

Often this works until they see an incident close-up, or it happens to a friend of theirs, and they realize that it _could_ happen to them. I know a few people who got to this stage and dropped out of the sport; they re-evaluated their risks and realized that they didn't like how they added up. Most skydivers, though, make it through this phase, and are better off because of it. Afterwards they have a more realistic picture of the risks in this sport, and the potential consequences when things go wrong.

[cbain 0]

Quote

I know a few people who got to this stage and dropped out of the sport; they re-evaluated their risks and realized that they didn't like how they added up. Most skydivers, though, make it through this phase, and are better off because of it. Afterwards they have a more realistic picture of the risks in this sport, and the potential consequences when things go wrong.

I feel like I'm so in this "stage" right now. I'm having that debate with myself about whether or not to keep jumping. I know I will, but it sure is hard to admit.

When people used to tell me, just wait until you have more time in the sport, then you'll understand, I thought, "I know the risks, I have the jumps, what difference does time in the sport make." But it's starting to make some sense now.

I've realized that I've actually grown more cautious and more conservative the longer I've been in the sport because now I'm beginning to realize what can really happen.

How long does this "stage" typically last? And what do people do to understand, accept and get over it?

Christina

[AggieDave 6]

That was a hell of a post!

Is there anyway that you could "sterilize" your thoughts away from a single incident and have more of an "incident FAQ" that we could possibly have sticked in the incidents forum? Of course that would take HH or the greenie agreeing as well, but I think it would be a good thing.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

Thanks. Good insight.

_________________________________________

[obelixtim 150]

Roger that!!......Right on the button.....well said.

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[airdvr 210]

Well said! You know the old saying "Knowledge replaces fear". I've always thought that eventually, if you spend enough time in this sport knowledge of the possibilities makes the fear re-appear. And its always the freak accidents or unexplained that shake me the most.

I can remember as a sky-toad I would devour the Incident Reports (used to be called Accident Reports) to learn as much as I could about how to stay alive. Then I realized that it probably wasn't going to be an incident typically described there that might bite me. It'll probably be a freak thing, like Gus. That knowledge ought to put a little healthy respect in all of us for the potential for things to go wrong even when you think you're doing everything right.

Let's be safe up there.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[billvon 2,991]

>How long does this "stage" typically last?

For me it lasted about a month, after John O'Hara's death. It was pretty traumatic for me. I wrote something about it, about how I dealt with it, if you want to read it:

http://people.qualcomm.com/billvon/essays/joh.html

>And what do people do to understand, accept and get over it?

Talk to other skydivers about it who have gone through it, mainly. There's no easy answer, no solution that works for everyone. You have to make your own peace with what happened and what can happen.

[The111 1]

That was a well written (and very sad) story. I'm still a little confused... did another person go in on that same jump too? And what exactly happened to John? I'm guessing he got knocked out by a collision of some sort (you mentioned him chasing somebody's deployment and hitting someone else's canopy) and landed his AAD-deployed reserve with no flare... was that hard landing enough to mess him up or was it from the collision, or both?

I think physically seeing something like that is what it might take to start the "stage" for me, if it does happen with me.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[airborne82nd 0]

Very Nice post but psychoanalyzing everyone and determining everyone’s need is a bit collective. When people say right now we need is quiet reflection what are they really saying and to whom are they speaking to. I hate to tell others how they should think ect or what they should be doing or how they should be grieving. Not everyone grieves the loss personally. Many if not all of us know the man but many of us don’t know him personally and do feel bad about the loss.; But we are not in the grieving category. However with absence of the accident facts, quiet reflection does not serve much of purpose for the rest of us.

One thing also is the grievers shouldn’t be offended by those of us who didn’t know Gus and really cant grieve. Our interest is solely about the details and conditions and the what happened part. We are not trying to lay blame, or say someone should have done this or that, nor are we being insensitive. Those of you who are deeply effected and hurt by the loss of Gus shouldn’t jump on the rest of us and say things like, “ right now everyone needs to grieve out of respect.” and/or “ no one should be discussing this right now because we are all grieving.”

This is such a freak occurrence and a tragic accident it’s very important to know what happened. How many times say in medicine something goes wrong and immediately once we find out we change how we do things or protocols ect.. This is not medicine but much has been learned from accidents, whether its from equipment failures, protocols, conditions, skydive error, poor visibility, and all those other unforeseen things that we would never have the benefit of knowing until they happen, and we say, “ I never thought of that happening. “ I am in medicine, I am a tech-reational scubadiver (16 years) military jumper and a skydiver, so I am always reading publications of fatalities and accidents and analysis. I would say that the knowledge gained from that has made me better in all those categories.

So those of you grieving understand that we can not feel what you feel nor are we effected as you are from the loss, but we all gain to know what happened and to learn from it.

The paper also said that Gus might have had the video going at the time. I myself would like to watch that video if it ever came available on the net (how many of us saw that famous strong video with the tandem side spin, wow ill never forget that.) and remember watching those malfunctions and fatality on video is not some morbid faces of death curiosity. It is seeing for yourself and learning. Those of you that knew Gus and were his friends don’t be offended of our interest and please don’t try to dictate the terms of how we should be interested, we would never try to dictate the terms of your grieving.

Trying not to offend anyone in my effort but then offense seems to be a relative specific effect.

[Bergen 0]

You make an execellent point. Usually, when I am doing trauma work, I work with small groups that experienced the event in a similar way, whether it is the surviving crew, or the investigators.

People respond very differently and you are exactly correct that my post does not apply to everybody.

[billvon 2,991]

> did another person go in on that same jump too?

John O'Hara, who was flying camera, collided with Lupe Gonzales. Lupe lost his leg in the collision, but survived by holding the artery in his leg closed until he landed. John did not have an AAD, but his main opened; we surmise he deployed as soon as he saw Lupe below him, but did not get open in time to avoid the collision. Once his canopy was open it landed him with no flare.

I suspect what killed him (massive brain trauma) came from his face hitting Lupe's leg, but we'll never know for sure.