Fatalities

[Skystorm 0]

There was a fatality on one of the dz in my country on the 22nd of July this year. (Not my home dz, I might add... And there's only 3 dz in my country... ) The second fatality in 7 months at the same dz.
The first one happend in March, when a 15 year old boy spiralled to his death. A first time S/L with his father as his JM. Apparently the boy's arms got entangled in his steering lines, which resulted in a right turn spin. He hit the ground fairly hard and was in ICU for about 2 weeks before he died. We all felt bad for the father who's a pretty big name in Skydiving in my country. But how did this happen? And on a S/L? I was a S/L myself, and just can't think what could've gone wrong.
The second accident was a S/L on her 3rd jump. Her FEET became entangled in her steering lines (?). She managed to free herself and did a cut away, but according to the newspapers she opened her reserve to fast and the main and reserve became entangled. She fell to her death. I was wondering: HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE ON S/L???? [question]
At least her family doesn't blame the sport. Her sister is also a skydiver and wrote a long letter to the newspaper. Saying that no-one can force you to jump, you yourself makes the decision and you are responible for your own life and safety up there.

[MarkM 0]

It's actually easy to get entangled during a SL jump. My 5th or 6th one I did an impressive backloop on exit and threaded my SL through my legs.
Ended up upside down under a perfectly good canopy with my legs up in the lines. Pissed me off more than anything else(I knew I had blown my arch) and gave me a nasty bruise/scraps on the inside of my leg where the opening shock of the chute slammed the lines against me.

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Quote

Her FEET became entangled in her steering lines (?).

One of my friends almost got their feet caught in the lines on an S/L jump and that was from a step exit 182. There's a picture of it on the web site I helped to build at http://www.skydiveupsc.f2s.com/pages/images/photoes/exit03carl.jpg - it scared quite a few people.
Don't pull low, unless you are

[freeflir29 0]

That pic is worth a thousand words! Some "Arch" she has going on there. S/L exits can be very dangerous if they arent done corectly. It's sort of a trade off. You(JM) and the student dont have to worry about pulling but the exit needs to be stable less you could have a lot of problems. Remember Pull stable and on a S/L pull time is exit time. Although I was a S/L student I tend to like AFF more as I think the direct supervision of two highly qualified JM's all the way to deployment has a lot of safety advantages.
"I used to know a girl...She had two pirced nipples and a black tattoo"-Everclear
Clay

[Jimbo 0]

There's nothing special about the canopy on a static line jump that would somehow prevent a situation that might occur on an AFF or other training jump. The static line system may actually be prone to a higher level of 'accidents' like this since the system deploys regardless of the stability/body position of the student.
Skydiving is a dangerous sport, we all know and accept the risks, we all choose to do this.