Convincing the Family

[PhillyKev 0]

I agree with Dutchboy....and even more relevant I would think is number of skydives compared to number of trips in a car. After all, the majority of car accidents occur during short trips within 5 miles of home (smaller roads, people pay less attention). Someone could drive 3X as many miles per year as you, but if the majority of that is 1 trip a week on the highway, statistically they're safer then you making a bunch of pizza deliveries around your neighborhood.
Bottom line...getting up in the morning is dangerous (hell, so is staying in bed). As long as you're not doing something completely outlandish, experimental, and without precaution, do what you enjoy about life, because NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE.

[BFK 0]

Every time statistics come up in any discussion I think of this quote (by Mark Twain I believe):
"There are 3 kinds of lies - Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics."
I think statistics in the case of skydiving can lull people into a false sense of security. Statistics might appease the family to a certain degree. But positive and smart choices along with a healthy dose of self-discipline is what will save your life.
I feel that driving is inherintly safer than skydiving. When I skydive, no matter how basic the skydive is, there is still a very real risk which is mitigated by preperation and education. But if I drive my 8 year old cousin to his baseball game at the park down the street, the risk is different than if I drive home drunk at 90mph on the freeway. The realm of risk varies greatly with driving. With skydiving the risks are more constant and less yielding.
Statistically the odds may be 1 death in 100,000 jumps. But I think the guy who goes freeflying on a Wonderhog which was packed by his bitter X-girlfriend has a higher chance of dying than the diligent rookie who learns all he can about everything and makes smart choices on every skydive.
Just my opinion though.
This much is true--
Life has a 100% fatality rate. Skydiving does not. Skydiving is safer than life.
Brad

[PalmettoTiger 1]

Back-of-the-envelope comparison, using skydiving stats from '98 (earliest conveniently available) and driving stats from '97 (latest available): 1 skydive carries the same fatality risk as 440 miles on US Highways (not just interstates).
There are of course lots of little exemptions you could claim: do you jump a lightly-loaded canopy? AAD? RSL? Drive a big car? Drive in your neighborhood or on the open road? My point isn't to say that driving is more/less dangerous than skydiving, but to give people an equivalent risk factor for something most of us don't think twice about doing. In my "presentations" on skydiving, I use this number so people can get a better idea of how often "almost never" happens.
So. How many miles are on your car?
Blues, Squares,
PTiger
*insert sub-100 character sig here*

[skymedic 0]

I like to think of skydiving as a sport with manageable risk. This is the same for driving. it all comes down to how much unmanagable risk are you willing to take. And speaking from experience of being a street medic for 7 1/2 years there is ALOT of unmanagable risk in driving whether it be cars, motorcycles, and bicycles....
blue ones,
marc

[Rhonda66 0]

Hiya -
Unless your parent's are DZO's or jumpers themselves, I think that every skydiver goes through this with their family.
My sister and I told my parents we were going to make a jump and my parents knew so little about the sport that they weren't surprised that we wanted to do something like that and there were no objections. So we made our first tandems along with my boyfriend and I absolutely hated it - then I started to pick up on everything related to skydiving because my boyfriend loved the tandem so much that he started AFF - so I caught all the RealTV clips, the fatalities in the newspaper, etc. - pretty much all of the bad (and usually wrongfully depicted) aspects of the sport.
So he dragged me to the DZ while he was doing AFF and I kept watching him and the other jumpers from the ground and it got me thinking that there must be something about this sport if he and all of the other people at the DZ want to jump so often and seem to enjoy it so much as well.
So......I made another tandem jump and got hooked and I haven't looked back since...
but my parents started picking up on all the crap on TV like I did and now they worry. They refuse to go to the DZ - my mom thinks I'll get "nervous and mess up" if I know they're there - yeah right, ma. They don't have to watch me jump if they don't want to , but we bring them back videos and I think that has made them feel somewhat better. They see them after I have jumped and they know I'm still alive so they can enjoy them. They know that we love the sport so they support us even though I couldn't convince them to try it in a million years. But we have convinced my other sister, my cousin, some friends and my fiance's sister to give it a try and they're all glad they did.
I think that your parents will get used to the idea. Either bring them to the DZ or show them videos. They will always worry, but they will accept it if you really want to do it.
Rhonda