Saturday Fatality at Skydive Chicago

[diverdriver 7]

It is with great sadness that I must post about a fatality at Skydive Chicago on Saturday. I do not know if the family has been notified so I will not post a name yet. I would also like to thank the DZ.com family for not jumping on this before details were known. I know some of you have sent me PMs asking if it were true. I wish it was not true. But here's reality:
On Saturday at around 5pm an experienced jumper (~700-800 jumps and is on the instructional staff at SDC) went on a 2-way freefly with a low time (~35 jumps in 3 seasons) jumper. They went out launching a two way head down. After questioning about the incident what has been surmised is that the deceased dove hard on the other jumper after their two way launch was released. The low time jumper did not stay stable in the head down position and transitioned to a sit. At that time, the deceased struck the foot of the low time jumper and was knocked unconcious. He fell unstable until impact. No handles were pulled. The Cypres installed did not fire. The low time jumper was not able to reach the deceased in air before he had to save his own life and deploy his main.
This information came from a staff meeting at SDC last evening (Sunday). Roger has said that the FAA has called for him to come pick up the rig for inspection. Roger then reminded them of proper chain of evidence procedures and told them that they had to bring it to the master rigger at the DZ and stay while the rig was inspected to observe what was being done. The Cypres will be sent away for analysis to determine if it was on at all for this jump.
This is very disheartening for me as a jumper at SDC. I know you all know what the stats are for the past 12 months. At no time does this staff take safety lightly. We care about one another who jump there regularly and who visit from out of town.
Lessens to be taken from this incident: Always check your gear before putting on your rig. Make sure your Cypres is turned on before EVERY jump. Do not assume that because it was on last time it will still be on for this jump. Cypres will turn itself off after 14 hours of being on. If you power it up the night before and start jumping it again the next morning it will turn itself off at some point during that day. (This is not the theory for this incident but it bares repeating because it is possible. It's believed that the rig was just picked up and the Cypres was not turned on.) 2. Just because you have a lot of total jump numbers does not mean you have enough to go on every jump. (an analogy: A jumper could have 1,000 jumps but only 100 Free Fly jumps. Are they qualified to do a 2-way head down coach jump? I am not suggesting that this is the case here. The deceased, from all accounts, had many more Free Fly jumps than just 100 to his credit.) Think about it for yourself in every situation. Am I putting myself in jeapordy or the other person in jeapordy by designing the dive in this manner? Or going with them at all with the conditions that are present?
I hope this knowledge I have posted here will highten the conciousness of another jumper somewhere so as to not make the same mistake. There seems to be no fault between either jumper. The surviving jumper is having a hard time with this because he feels responsible. Roger has told him that he is not responsible. Yes, he was involved. But it was an accident. And that's all.
Blues skies JV. We will learn from you. We have to.
Chris Schindler
ATP
D-19012

[Pammi 0]

That's very sad to hear. I hope the low-time jumper can come through this..it will be difficult I'm sure. Condolenses to friends, and family of course.
This is a little scary and makes a good point for me also. A friend tried doing a headdown with me just last fall to show me how...frightening to think how it could've turned out.
'Nuthin

[Zennie 0]

My condolences to everyone, especially the "newbie" jumper. I'm glad Roger took the time to let him know he shouldn't blame himself.
BSBD
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

BSBD
My webpage HERE

[jfields 0]

I hope the "newbie" jumper gets past this and continues skydiving. I'm sure the instructor would have wanted him to. Best wishes to all around.
Thanks for posting without jumping to any conclusions. As sad as these posts are, the rest of us should still read them to learn any applicable lessons.
BSBD
Justin

[wildblue 7]

Very sad news, blue skies.
Thoughts with all SDC jumpers... they've had a bad year or so.
Not to detract from the thread, but Chris, you said:

Quote

If you power it up the night before and start jumping it again the next morning it will turn itself off at some point during that day. (This is not the theory for this incident...

.. and I just felt this needed repeating. Many people don't know how their cypres works. It's not 14 hours of inactivity, it's 14 hours. From SSK:

Quote

If at the start of the day CYPRES is still on from the previous day, it is a good idea to turn it off, then on again to reset the 14 hour turn-off timer.

http://www.pia.com/SSK/cyp16.htm
You don't scare me! I got chunks of guys like you in my stool!!

[Donna 0]

I'm so sorry to hear about this. My heartfelt sympathy to all friends and family.
Blue Skies,
D

[sunshine 2]

Blue skies forever JV. We will jump together again someday.....until then....much love.....fly on, fly free.....

"And to those who have seen it, it's a true work of art"

[diverdriver 7]

Well, hard as I might try....looks like I may have not been clear on one point. This was NOT an instructional dive. I said he was on the instructional staff but did not give more specifics because I didn't want to clue in to who it is before the family is certainly notified. My fault for being a little vague there.
This was just two licensed jumpers going out for a fun jump. It was not a Free Fly paid coaching jump. Just two friends going up with one trying to impart some knowledge to the other.
Chris Schindler

[diverdriver 7]

Thanks for that clarification Wildblue. Yah....14 hours total....not 14 hours after the last jump. I knew that. Just didn't say it right.
Chris

[jfields 0]

Quote

looks like I may have not been clear on one point

I didn't read as carefully as I should have either. Thanks for the correction. I didn't mean to start inaccurate information.
Justin

[Slowfaller 0]

I found out about this yesterday and my condolences to the family and friends....This is the 1st person that I kinda knew to hear go in. It definatly makes me stop and think about the risks of this sport (even more than before) Blues forever man...
Its only in drugs or death we'll see anything new, and death is just too controlling - Chuck Palahniuk

[leeann 0]

Blue ones, You are missed!
Booty Surf
Leemo TF #60

[hobbes4star 0]

Blue Skies.
why jump when you can fly

[skymedic 0]

JV, blue skies brother....and much love...
by the way...save another breakfast for us bunch later on eh???....
Cheers
marc
Eat my altimeter Bitch!!!!

[AndyMan 7]

JV - thanks for the jumps - you will be missed.
BSBD.
_Am
ICQ: 5578907
MSN Messenger: andrewdmetcalfe at hotmail dot com
AIM: andrewdmetcalfe
Yahoo IM: ametcalf_1999

[Geoff 0]

This is very sad. My condolences to all who knew the deceased.
In the spirit of learning as many lessons from this as possible, I have to ask: what head-gear (if any) was he wearing?
Geoff

[diverdriver 7]

I have now been told that he was wearing a hardshell helmet. What brand I do not know. Not sure if the would have made a difference. Maybe the difference would have been full face or open face. That's complete speculation on my part.
Chris

[Michele 1]

My deepest sympathies to him, his family, and to the jumper with him.
Godspeed, blue skies, and big white puffies...
Ciels and Pinks-
Michele
If you really want to, you can seize the day; if you really want to, you can fly away...
~enya~

[GrumpySmurf 0]

Raw speculation would be a Bonehead M/W, since I think that is what the deceased commonly wore.
Just a little note, guys I don't know if SDC has said next of kin have been notified, but mentioning initials combined with the DZ name - wouldn't take much for someone to do a 2+2, such as a friend of the family. It wouldn't hurt to wait till SDC announces the name before posting initials. Just a suggestion of respect for the family?

[Zennie 0]

Personally, I think helmets are probably most useful for biffed landings and the light head-bonking that goes on during exits & funnelled formations.
Skydiving helmets aren't DOT/Snell-rated, so they really don't provide much protection from major impacts. If this is what it sounds like, I don't think the helmet/lack of helmet would be a factor.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[sitflyr 0]

Condolences to everyone at Skydive Chicago. You guys have had such a bad time over the past year or so---I'm very sorry that you've lost another member of the dz family.
Julie

[diverdriver 7]

Those aren't the initials of his real name. I would expect the info to be released shortly.
Chris

[diverdriver 7]

The name of the deceased has been released. John T. Faulkner, 28, (aka Johnny Velocity or Johnny Wood).
Chris

[Skyrose7 0]

My condolences and prayers for the friends and family. Blue skies.
The mind is like a parachute--it works better when it is open. JUMP.