I hate to bring something as silly as logic and math into this emotional dialogue, but I find it difficult not to do so in the face of such an inane debate. Here are the facts: 1) Cypress false positive (firing when they should not) or false negative (not firing when they should) are essentially non-existent. And yes, there is a chance that a Cypress will fire if you're pulling your main at 1,000 feet - but if you're pulling your main at 1000 feet perhaps your risk profile is not appropriate or beneficial for the sport (try cliff-diving). 2) On a cost-per-jump basis, a Cypress is extrodinarily cheap. Do the math, I promise it won't hurt. 3) Your life is of infinite value to you. I hate to be dogmatic, but if you jump without a Cypress you are a) bad at math; b) suffer from cognitive dissonance; or c) just plain dumb. Ask yourself these easy quesitons: Would you keep jumping if the cost per jump increased by $1? Of course you would. Well that, my friends is a conservative cost per jump of a Cypress. What is the value of your life? To me my life is worth an infinite amount. Therefore even the most minute chance that a Cypress would save my life is worth the cost. If you agree to that premise, then the only way in which you could reasonably argue against having a Cypress would be if the odds of a misfire causing death are higher than the odds of death when a cypress could have saved you. Even if you don't run the numbers (I have) this is obviously not the case! A Cypress is much, MUCH more likely to save you than kill you - the difference is so great the comparison is not even reasonable. But please, don't take my word on this. Look at the May/June issue of Contingencies, a publication of the American Academy of Actuaries. They published a statistical analysis of AADs and have illuminated some interesting facts. And my closing thought for the anti-AAD crowd - It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong if you're dead. No one will think less of you if you change your mind.
