Is Experience Alaways A Good Thing?

[tombuch 0]

I am often amazed when I talk with an experienced jumper after an accident, and he tells me he that had done exactly the same thing, or jumped under identical circumstances hundreds of times and was never hurt. Often, the jumper can’t understand what went wrong ‘this time,’ and attributes the accident to bad luck. Consider this quote from a recent thread in the Incidents Forum:

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“…In the year and 9 months before the accident I had done just over 1500 tandems and 80 AFF jumps. Jumping almost every day in every weather condition. I had experience several times the some what unpredictable behavior of a large canopy in strong gusty winds as a result I have had a couple of off landings, landings while backing up, and the dreaded sudden 10 to 20 foot gain in alt. will traveling in an undesirable direction followed by a straight down plunge to the ground. I am proud to say all landings prior to the incident although not all perfect were totally injury free. Some people might even say I am a pretty good TM.” (From the thread at http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1558072;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Often an experienced jumper gets very comfortable pushing limits and is generally successful, although at least a few of the jumps create some unusual anxiety. Once on the ground there are two ways to interpret the stressful event.

First, the jumper can learn that he is perfectly capable of handing the given situation or condition. He learns that pushing limits and taking extraordinary risk is alright, and believes he survived because he is “good,” and will always experience the same outcome.

Alternatively, the jumper could learn that the conditions pushed him beyond a comfortable level, but that he managed to survive with a bit of skill, and a lot of luck. He learns that pushing limits is very risky, and understands that if he continues to push himself at that level he may eventually run out of luck, and face injury.

Every experienced jumper I know has pushed limits and landed shaking from a near disastrous event. The difference between a jumper who I consider “safe” and one I consider “risky” is the way they interpret the event, and what they learn from the near accident. A safe jumper will try to avoid or mitigate the dangerous situation in the future. A more common reaction is to smugly walk away, comfortable that the same situation can be handled again and again, with the same positive outcome.

The actual risk of a specific skydive is a matter of the many decisions we make, and the way those various decisions stack up to create a chain of risk specific to an individual jump. Each of us can choose to minimize risk, or we can choose to push ourselves and accept increased risk. Either approach is probably appropriate in an individual sport like skydiving, but it is imperative that we know what specific risk level we are incurring. That knowledge is gained through appropriate interpretation of all past experiences, and reasonable management of the many risk factors on each jump. A “safe” skydiver will not attribute his success to skill when luck played a significant role. The key to safety isn't the experience, but rather the way the experience is interpreted.

I’ll also add that in student training, the risk level should be appropriate to the experience, expectations, and risk tolerance of the student, and not based on the level of risk the instructor has successfully negotiated in the past, or is willing to accept at that moment.

For a more complete discussion of risk, including the concepts of ‘chains and pyramids,’ see Article 17 on The Ranch web site called “A Safety Culture” available at http://ranchskydive.com/safety/index.htm. It’s pretty wordy, but it does a decent job of tackling cultural issues that lead to accidents.
.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[wmw999 2,595]

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cultural issues that lead to accidents

This same cultural issue is considered to be at the root of the Columbia accident. Foam strikes, which were originally thought to be worth worrying about, kept happening without too much problem. So they became "normal" and were evaluated against the last foam strike, rather than against the originally-developed standards.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[beowulf 1]

Interesting, I like to look back on a close call and evaluate just how much of my surviving was my skill or just dumb luck. Also I like to evaluate my decisions leading up to it. Those are most often what caused me to be in a bad position. I feel that evaluating close calls like that will help prevent me from being in those same situations again or at least keep me aware of it.

[Ron 10]

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For a more complete discussion of risk, including the concepts of ‘chains and pyramids,’ see Article 17 on The Ranch web site called “A Safety Culture”

Good point.

I was doing Tandems one day. The winds were marginal. I caught a down draft and landed much harder than I wanted to. I quit jumping for the day. Several others bitched about me quitting early...One of them broke a students ankle later that weekend.

One guy with about 1,000 jumps was trying to tell a girl with 200 that she should just get a smaller canopy to be safe in those winds. I told him that 747's can go down in turbulance...He basicly told me that I didn't know what I was talking about. i almost brought up that I had more jumps at that DZ than he had total jumps....Instead I just said I guess he was right I clearly knew nothing and walked away....

Sometimes its not worth the fight when the jackass knows he is "right"

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[mfrese 0]

To expand on the "culture" aspect, one of my biggest issues with this sport is with an overall instructional culture, facilitated by DZOs and senior instructors, that tends to push less experienced instructors into jumping in situations they would normally avoid.

Particularly during the winter months, as a TI I'm faced with conditions that my "experience" indicates are marginal at best. Cloud, weather and wind conditions can be extreme enough that I'll avoid jumping with my own gear, but I'm expected to take tandems out in the exact same conditions. Why? Because more experienced people are willing to do it; the DZO needs to get the loads up to keep the plane running; if I don't do it, there's someone else on tap who will.

Eventually, I see this as the one factor that will drive me out of instructing, because, hell, I'm not in high school anymore, and I don't feel the need to prove I'm one of the cool kids. It's just a shame that many DZs help perpetuate this kind of approach from people who should know better.

I've spoken to many instructional peers trying to convince them that they owe it to their students to lead by example where safety is concerned ALL the time, not just when they're instructing. Do they listen? Sometimes yes, sometimes no...but overall, our ability to believe our own myth-making about ourselves will probably continue to lead us into trouble. My only hope is that we do enough with students and low-timers to convince them that they should really do what we say, not what we do.

Doctor I ain't gonna die,
Just write me an alibi! ---- Lemmy/Slash

[AggieDave 6]

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the DZO needs to get the loads up to keep the plane running; if I don't do it, there's someone else on tap who will.

I guess I'm very lucky when it comes to my DZO.

Basically, if I tell him "I'm not comfortable" he listens to my opinion and respects my decision not to do the jump. He doesn't try to pressure me into jumping either.

Same with our AFF-I's, if they don't like a situations (winds for example), they don't go. Of course we're all trying to get students in the air, so if we see a change in conditions will give that change atleast 30 minutes to evaluate if it was truely a change or simply just a variance.

That culture has "trickled down" to the majority of our fun jumper base. Especially since the large chunk of fun jumpers at my DZ were "grown" at my DZ.

It's not always perfect, but at the very least the instructional staff tries to lead by example even when not instructing and we strive to keep out of the grey areas.

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

[iowa 0]

Well said Dave.

I too am lucky enough to work at several dzs that listen to and respect my opinion.

We always want to jump, but sometimes it's wiser/safer to wait.

Keith

''Always do sober what you said you would do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.'' - Ernest Hemingway

[bob.dino 1]

Sounds exactly like Richard Feynman's report on the reasons behind the Challenger disaster.

[GravityGirl 0]

One of my favorite quotes from my husband, "Shit, he got away with it. Now he's gonna think it's okay."

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Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!