elsinore sunday

[skybytch 273]

Woke up to the news on the radio that someone died at Elsinore yesterday - 39yr old man from Vegas, no names and typical "parachute failed to open" explanation. Anyone have details?
Dammit I hate this kind of Monday! My condolences to the family and friends...
pull and flare,
lisa

[freeflyer49 0]

Heres an article....Not much more than what you posted...Prayers are with family and friends. Blue Skies forever.
Sky diver killed when parachute fails to open
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
LAKE ELSINORE
A 39-year-old man from Las Vegas plunged to his death Sunday afternoon in Lake Elsinore after his parachute failed to open, Riverside County Sheriff's reports said.
The Riverside County coroner's office declined to release the man's name Sunday night pending notification of family.
The man's parachute failed to open shortly before 6 p.m. over an area known as the "The Green Landing Field," a Riverside County Fire Department official said.
The Las Vegas man is at least the fourth skydiving death at Lake Elsinore in the past four years. A U.S. Navy SEAL died in a July training jump after his main and reserve parachutes malfunctioned.

[mountainman 0]

Quote

after his parachute failed to open

I love how thorough they are with these. Hopefully we'll get some more information soon enough! Head Honcho??
My condolences and deepest regards to the family and friends...
MORE SKYDIVING PHOTOS ADDED!!!
http://home.woh.rr.com/brandonandlaura/

[gman 0]

Well...I was watching the 11pm news last night and the story I heard was that the "cutaway" was performed, but the reserve was not deployed. The story only lasted about 15 seconds so I don't have all the details, sorry. I wasn't feeling too well after watching the news.
-G.M.L.-

[riggergreg 0]

The investigation is still ongoing. What we have so far is just a low cutaway with no reserve deployment. The main was cutaway at appx. 500 ft. The reserve handle was not pulled. More when we get the official report.

[Zennie 0]

My condolences to the jumper's family & friends. Blue skies forever dude.

Quote

A 39-year-old man from Las Vegas plunged to his death Sunday afternoon in Lake Elsinore after his parachute failed to open, Riverside County Sheriff's reports said.

[rant]
"His parachute failed to open", while technically correct, is so vague as to be misleading. Which parachute? His main? No, not from initial reports. His reserve? Yes. But why? Cutaway with low/no reserve pull? Total reserve malfunction? Dunno yet.
This is precisely the reason why I don't believe anything reported by the newsmedia anymore. They either edit content to create a more sensational "news" item (i.e. news as entertainment) or they are simply too lazy to get (or print) the whole story. Either way, it's irresponsible.
It's bad enough that DZ staff have to deal with a fatality. Now it looks like we need to immediately assemble a media mis-information task force.
Arrgh!
[/rant]
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[Shark 0]

I was there....my load, but not my group. I'd rather not say and/or speculate, although I've been privy to some info. It was very disturbing. No RSL, No Cypres.

[Iflyme 0]

Quote

This is precisely the reason why I don't believe anything reported by the newsmedia anymore.

HA!!! A lawyer criticizing the media - now that's funny!
As for the person who died skydiving, my thoughts go out to his family and friends.

[Zennie 0]

Quote

HA!!! A lawyer criticizing the media - now that's funny!

Ex-lawyer. I was unwilling to sacrifice that little thing called a conscience.
You wanna really see me go on a rant? Get me going on my old "profession".
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Blue Skies!
Zennie
Edited by Zennie on 5/7/01 12:17 PM.

[Iflyme 0]

I'm not about to engage in a debate about journalism (or lawyerism), but I would expect the writer made every effort to be as accurate as possible. Of course, we have the advantage being skydivers, but the writer had to learn as much about our sport as she/he could in a very short time, then translate it for the public. That writer probably knows as much about skydiving as most of the people who visit this forum know about journalism - not much! I work with journalists all day every day, and I understand the challenges they face - deadlines, people who aren't forthcoming with information, and a wildly diverse range of subjects they must learn about - sometimes in just a few minutes...
Frank

[Zennie 0]

Just so we're straight on this. You'd call "His parachute failed to open" responsible or even remotely accurate reporting?
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[Iflyme 0]

Without having any information other than what I've read here, I would say that if his parachute HAD "opened", we wouldn't be having this discussion. So ya, based on what I've seen, I'd say that is a phrase the conveys the jist of what PROBABLY what happened.

[Shark 0]

See RiggerGreg's post.... Opened, mal, low cutaway, no reserve.

[GiaKrembs 0]

The official statement is:
On Sunday May 6, 2001 Michael Hoff at approximately 5:45 pm intentionally cutaway from his main parachute at a low altitude and failed to open his reserve parachute.
Initial inspection of the equipment shows no abnormalities. The main parachute was activated and fully open at normal deployment altitude.
There was no RSL or CYPRES on the equipment.
Final police report is pending upon coroner report.

[DivaSkyChick 0]

Gia, Where did you find the official report?
How's yer toes?
Mandy

[skybytch 273]

To me the words "the parachute failed to open" say that the equipment failed and that is what caused the fatality. As WE all know, the equipment fails so rarely that any fatality is usually a result of pilot error, NOT equipment failure or malfunction. The statement "the jumper did not appear to have activated his/her reserve parachute prior to impact" would, to me anyway, convey the gist of what probably happened in this case much better than "the parachute failed to open."
pull and flare,
lisa

[Albatross 0]

While I agree that the explanation that the chute "failed to open" sucks, the public is more to blame than the media. The paper is just giving the average person what they want, a simple explanation that they can accept and deal with in under 1 second. Except for us most people want to hear that someone died doing something stupid. They want to think that he deserved it because he was "jumping out of a perfectly good airplane". If you gave them the information that he cut his ain and didn't deploy his reserve they would have to think. They might even come to the conclution that life is fragile and that he didn't screw up and that SHIT JUST HAPPENS sometimes. If that happened then theybwould hav to look at their lives and might realize taht they were stuck and not living out their hopes and dreams.
I guess what I am saying is that the media is not so much reporting news as helping to reenforce normality in most people's mind. If we really want some better coverage we need to do it ourselves. The DZ needs to make itself available for comments and to give the real story.
Sorry for the rant.
Prayers and thoughts to the family and loved ones. Peace to Shark and anyone else who was there and had to see it or the aftermath.
Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together
Albatross
Edited by Albatross on 5/7/01 06:39 PM.

[GiaKrembs 0]

This was sent to me by Elsinore staff... it is the official statement that they are giving. ??? I can't comment really, as I wasn't there on Sunday. All I can say is that it is a very sad thing for all of us to have to go through! :( Toes are getting much better, thanks. No longer on pain meds, sucks I think I'm going thru withdrawl :}

[riggergreg 0]

As part of the investigation team on Sunday evening at Skydive Elsinore, I would like to say a thing or two about what should happen and why things are reported as they are. First, if you witness an accident,Let someone on staff know immediately. Don't just go running out to see what happened. You will probably just get in the way. If it is fatal,the police will consider it a crime zone and won't want anything touched. If you witnessed the accident,let someone know so they can get your statement for the investigation. Don't start rumors if you don't know exactly what happened. You know how rumors get out of hand. Just tell what you saw,not what you think might have happened. The Police are whuffos and don't understand most of what is told to them,so dont confuse them. Remember, The police are usually the ones who report to the press,so they don't know anymore than the reporters. Don't blame them for being ignorant.As soon as we can come up with a possible reason or cause of an accident we will post it. O.K.,I've gone on enough. lets just try to keep this kind of thing from happening again. Be safe out there

[Shark 0]

Quote

As part of the investigation team on Sunday evening at Skydive Elsinore, I would like to say a thing or two about what should happen and why things are reported as they are. First, if you witness an accident,Let someone on staff know immediately. Don't just go running out to see what happened. You will probably just get in the way. If it is fatal,the police will consider it a crime zone and won't want anything touched. If you witnessed the accident,let someone know so they can get your statement for the investigation. Don't start rumors if you don't know exactly what happened. You know how rumors get out of hand. Just tell what you saw,not what you think might have happened. The Police are whuffos and don't understand most of what is told to them,so dont confuse them. Remember, The police are usually the ones who report to the press,so they don't know anymore than the reporters. Don't blame them for being ignorant.As soon as we can come up with a possible reason or cause of an accident we will post it. O.K.,I've gone on enough. lets just try to keep this kind of thing from happening again. Be safe out there

Ditto. Great piece of advice for all of us...

[Zennie 0]

Thanks for the info greg & shark. My condolences to you Elsinore folks.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie