Thoughts on skydiving being safe or not

[canopycandy 0]

I think that's the liberating thing about skydiving -- you are conscious of the fact it could be your time to go, but you stand in the door anyway and say, "C'mon. Let's do it."

On a slight tangent, I've been wondering if the act of skydiving is inherently selfish. For example, I know my family doesn't support my participation in the sport. I know they need me around to take care of other family members. I know there are a lot of people who care about me and don't want me to do anything to endanger my health. And I skydive anyway.

I'm realistic about the odds that skydiving could potentially hurt or kill me, but I do it anyway. Am I selfish for doing that? Am I thinking only of myself each time I jump?

And do you think it's because I'm the baby of the family, and that makes me a little selfish and spoiled anyway?

[billvon 3,107]

Given the topic I thought I'd post some of my favorite quotes on aviation safety:

These newfound wings may bring thy freedom but may also come thy death. - Daedalus to Icarus

In flying I have learned that carelessness and overconfidence are usually far more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks. - Wilbur Wright

If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds; but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial. - Wilbur Wright

There are two critical points in every aerial flight -- its beginning and its end. - Alexander Graham Bell

There are no new types of crashes -- only people with short memories. Every accident has its own forerunners, and every one happens either because somebody did not know where to draw the vital dividing line between the unforeseen and the unforeseeable or because well-meaning people deemed the risk acceptable.

What is the cause of most aviation accidents? Usually it is because someone does too much too soon, followed very quickly by too little too late. - Steve Wilson, NTSB investigator

Trouble in the air is very rare. It is hitting the ground that causes it. - Amelia Earhart

There is no problem so complex that it cannot simply be blamed on the pilot.- Dr Earl Weiner

Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world. - Mary Shafer, NASA

If the pilot survives the accident, you'll never find out what really happened.- Doug Jeanes

Flying is inherently dangerous. We like to gloss that over with clever rhetoric and comforting statistics, but these facts remain: gravity is constant and powerful, and speed kills. In combination, they are particularly destructive. - Dan Manningham

Mix ignorance with arrogance at low altitude and the results are almost guaranteed to be spectacular.- Bruce Landsberg

Flying is so many parts skill, so many parts planning, so many parts maintenance, and so many parts luck. The trick is to reduce the luck by increasing the others.- David L. Baker

The explosion of the 'Challenger,' after twenty-four consecutive successful shuttle flights, grounded all manned space missions by the U.S. for more than two years. The delay barely evoked comment ... But contrast the early history of aviation, when 31 of the first 40 pilots hired by the Post Office died in crashes within six years, with no suspension of service. - C. Owen Paepke

If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.- Virgil I. Grissom (he died in a launch-test fire shortly afterwards.)

When you don't let a guy train because it's dangerous, you're saying, "Go fight those lions with your bare hands in that arena, because we can't teach you to learn how to use a spear. If we do, you might cut your finger while you're learning." And that's just about the same as murder. - Colonel 'Boots' Boothby, USAF.

Whenever we talk about a pilot who has been killed in a flying accident, we should all keep one thing in mind. He called upon the sum of all his knowledge and made a judgment. He believed in it so strongly that he knowingly bet his life on it. That his judgment was faulty is a tragedy, not stupidity. Every instructor, supervisor, and contemporary who ever spoke to him had an opportunity to influence his judgment, so a little bit of all of us goes with every pilot we lose. (unknown)

When you have two engines, you have two engines that can fall to bits. When you have four, you have four that can fall to bits. The less engines you have, the safer you are. - Frank Fickeisen, chief engineer for Boeing.

The hard, inescapable reality is that anyone who flies may die. - Stephen Coonts

For they had learned that true safety was to be found in long previous training, and not in eloquent exhortations uttered when they were going into action.- Thucydides, circa 404 BC

Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect. - Captain A. G. Lamplugh

[Tonto 1]

Quote

There is also another saying:
"You can do everything right and still die".

There is no shortage of sayings.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[Tonto 1]

Aviation Casualty.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[jsaxton 0]

Quote

Quote

There is also another saying:
"You can do everything right and still die".

There is no shortage of sayings.

t

Not in skydiving!

[Ron 10]

I thought I would repost these....I like them and they fit our canopy issues well.

Quote

There are no new types of crashes -- only people with short memories. Every accident has its own forerunners, and every one happens either because somebody did not know where to draw the vital dividing line between the unforeseen and the unforeseeable or because well-meaning people deemed the risk acceptable.

What is the cause of most aviation accidents? Usually it is because someone does too much too soon, followed very quickly by too little too late. - Steve Wilson, NTSB investigator

There is no problem so complex that it cannot simply be blamed on the pilot.- Dr Earl Weiner

Mix ignorance with arrogance at low altitude and the results are almost guaranteed to be spectacular.- Bruce Landsberg

Flying is so many parts skill, so many parts planning, so many parts maintenance, and so many parts luck. The trick is to reduce the luck by increasing the others.- David L. Baker

For they had learned that true safety was to be found in long previous training, and not in eloquent exhortations uttered when they were going into action.- Thucydides, circa 404 BC

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