From: cjackson@adobe.com (Curtis Jackson)
Subject: Re: Saturday night COPS on FOX
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 20:12:08 GMT

WARNING: NO MOTO CONTENT. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

In article <1992Nov17.000231.8407@microsoft.com> patlo@microsoft.com (Pat Loughery) writes:

At the end of the article, Pat sez:
}You have to face the risks and make your own mature decision.  There's no 
}reason at all why you have to keep riding if it scares you, or why you should
}give up riding if you love it.  
}
}Think with your brain.

He previously gives two examples of someone NOT doing exactly that. To wit:

}- Took his new girlfriend up into the plane with him so she could watch him
}jump.  Forgot to buckle the horizontal strap that holds the shoulder straps 
}on your shoulders.  Fortunately, a buddy saw the mistake as they were in 
}freefall and placed one shoulder strap back on his shoulder and buckled him 
}up.  Think with your brain.

NO skydiver should EVER get into an airplane without having the rig
fully on and HAVING A PIN CHECK (which is really an overall gear check)
done by another skydiver. Your cousin obviously ignored this basic safety
rule. Furthermore, and even more important, NO skydiver should ever
attempt to exit the aircraft without having a pin check done by another
skydiver. Had your cousin followed basic safety rules, he would not have
faced the above dilema, as the problem would have been caught before he
exited. I should know; I once had a pin check discover the exact same
oversight on my part, and I once had a pin check discover that I had
accidentally threaded the chest strap through my reserve handle.

}- A few weeks ago he tried a buddy's chute.  This was one of the rectangular
}sport chutes that give greater maneuverability than the round ones he normally
}used when he jumped.  He apparently flared at the wrong time and spiraled into
}the ground, crushing his femur.  He's in a cast now, learning how to walk
}again.  Think with your brain.

a) He used an unfamiliar type of chute without formal training. This is
bad, but not horrible. However,

b) You imply that he normally sport-jumps with a round chute. It has
been illegal to even train anyone on round chutes since 1/1/92, although
technically it is not illegal to jump them that I know of. Despite his
experience, ram-air chutes are much safer and no one in their right
mind should be learning on/jumping round chutes at 20 years of age.
Older experienced skydivers sometimes do so for nostalgia reasons alone.

Please talk to your cousin; it sounds as though he has fallen (pun
intended) in with a negligent and dangerous squidly crowd. I sprained
an ankle badly once skydiving, during training, and it was my fault.
I learned from it and continued. I am not in any way recomending that
your cousin leave the sport, just that he be safe and live to enjoy it.
-- 
Curtis Jackson	  '91 Black Lab "Studley Doright"   '92 Collie/Golden "George"
cjackson@mv.us.adobe.com	USPA #A-10080 (lapsed)	DoD #721 '81 Maxim 650
  "They that can give up an essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
   safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin (1759)
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