The Failure of the System

[Duckwater 0]

Having been skydiving only sporatically for the past two years have given me time to evaluate my perspective of the sport.

I am dumbfounded at how many people get hurt or killed by intentionally turning close to the ground. It seems to be getting worse and there is no organized effort to stop the problem.

I deal with safety intensively for my job. I am always looking for new ways to approach it.

I happened upon this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQa4PpIkOZU

It is an infamous crash with so much to the story.

The Air Force wanted to stamp it as a stall in the pattern accident. A Major at the time, now a Dr. researched the crash, and came out with a famous report on it and the pilot everyone knew was a rogue.

http://www.crm-devel.org/resources/paper/darkblue/darkblue.htm

I have talked to Dr. Kern about this accident. I asked him how the Air Forrce failed to stop him.

He said the Air Force didn't fail to stop him, it created him.

We are not failing to stop low turn accidents, we are creating them. We have created a culture that allows this dangerous behavior and, other than some quiet grumbles and a few screams from the safety nazis, we collectively turn our backs to the problem.

I wish there was some measure at how much damage avoidable low turn accidents have done to the sport. I can think of many more people that do not skydive because they, or someone close to them turned low than I can think of people still in the sport since I starrted in 2001.

Hook turns are so incrediably dangerous to learn, and leave no margin for error. They are exactly the same as a split S or a half cuban in aerobatics at ground level,which experienced pilots never do and countless others have bought the farm doing.

here are some pilots almost or actually buying the farm because they did the equivelant of a hook turn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2PvcG4Vmyw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4C5DvMIUdA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4C5DvMIUdA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNvm_1chN3A

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/319177/aviation_military_f16_f_16_falcon_f18_crash/

The physics of a hook turn dictate that you must make an error free judgement, at an altitude that is easy to mis-judge and that decision dictates the outcome at the bottom of the parabola, which is inevitable once the turn is commited. The hook turn 'oh shit i fucked this up' reactions look the same as the airplane buffets, stalls and pancaking when the pilot mis-judges the entry altitude. Add in the fact that most hook turns are performed in the equivalent of O'Hares Airspace at 8 am.....

There is no maneuver more dangerous in aviation.

Notice the experience of the pilots in the videos range from Doctors with warbirds to USAF Thunderbirds.

Low pull contests used to be the 'cool thing' to do, but somehow, the skydiving community has made that taboo and you would get kicked off most DZ's for doing it.

I believe that hook turns are more dangerous than a low pull. You dont have any options if something goes wrong with either, but you can stare at your altimiter and pull at a known altitude in a low pull, a hook turn is anything from a familiar sight picture to a wild ass guess.

Skydiving has failed to realize that hook turns are complicated, risky stunts and treat some yahoo teaching himself to hook just like they would treat someone humming it down to 600 ft.

This is a complete failure of leadership at all levels.

Mike

p.s.

Im not saying that hook turns should be banned, there are people that can do them relatively safely because they skydive and train daily.

However, for every Joe Swooper, there are equal if not more Joes that are not with us because they missed the learning curve or ran out of luck.

Im saying that swooping should be controlled. If you do decide to attempt the learning curve, it MUST be with an approved training course with oversight by professionals. It must not be self taught or a weekend warrior activity. Sean Tucker is alive because he flies daily, just like the professional canopy teams. If weekend acro pilot attempted Seans routine, he would be a smoking hole in short order.

Sean is also alive because there is an organized training and progression program for aerobatic pilots. It is not run by the FAA, it is a self policing program run by the sport, and it works.

Those professionals should present the realities of the risk of the learning curve, and attempt to discourage anyone that cannot give it the time necessary.

[AggieDave 6]

Most hard-core and dedicated swoopers don't perform "hook turns" they perform a high performance carving turn onto final.

A "hook turn" is frowned upon and has been frowned upon for quite some time.

A carving turn is easier to recover from and doesn't have the obvious swinging motion that a hook turn has.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Duckwater 0]

Agreed, I always do at least front risers if not current, a gentle carve if current.

I learned from training with Team Extreme that energy is a GOOD thing on landing. Its how you get that energy is key and you must be not turning and planing out in a trajectory that is well within the curve.

The problem with carves is, they can be aggressive enough to leave no margins and morph into hooks.

Im think anyone turning below 100 ft should be trained to do so.

Flat turns are a lifesaver, why in the world dont we see people practicing them all the time?