DrDom

I'm an ER doc... I can show you the human waste that overutilizes medical resources with their drug problems; with their obesity, sloth, and laziness; with their smoking. Adventure sports probably represent less than 0.000000000000001 cents on the dollar of healthcare. One fatty with diabetes because they sit and watch TV from their house all day soaks up enough health dollars for ALL our misadventures and occasional rescues. What are wasted resources? Diseases of society. If people put the needle or pipe down, got some exercise, put down the Cheetos (mmmm... i love those though...) and maybe got a thrill from LIVING... only THEN would we not have as much waste. I could go on and on... that statement would piss me off. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I used to be careless... nay... reckless! Then I got a job, house, married. Now i'm 35 and about to start doing this. It doesnt have to be risky. Know your limits, be patient, dont start swooping and freeflying or putting on wingsuits unless youre ready for it. As for door anxiety... I have it. I'm hoping to overcome it. I have been in the tunnel a lot and it gives me confidence to know I can at least hopefully be stable. Canopy doesnt worry me... you get 2 chances at it ;) One of the folks gave me good advice when i told them I was worried about injury: "There are bold parachutists, there are old parachutists, but there are NO old bold parachutists". If you want to be one of the FOGs then you should take it slow and live within your envelope let me know how you get over door anxiety ;) You are not the contents of your wallet.

As long as you stick to your hard deck, its your call to decide if its worth trying to clear. Nobody can decide but you :) You are not the contents of your wallet.

Advice (take with a grain of salt): 1) Go over the head of the person and ask more questions 2) If they still say no, you can still form a "group" and call it "The unofficial [university] aerial arts association" or something absurd. get friends together, jump, and realize you'll be out of college before you ever get an academic institution to make changes.... You are not the contents of your wallet.

OK, I may only have 2 tandems under my belt but I want to say 2 things. 1) I knew the answer to all these questions and I'm barely even a student (my AFF isnt even for 2 weeks). i read the SIM. Seriously. When I race cars I don't take a winter off jump back in and try to lap the place... I have to do some slow laps, warm the car, etc. We all want to be able to "show and go" but this is a dangerous sport and if you kill yourself its one more time someone can say "see... people are dying doing this!" and my wife gives me that look of "you're not jumping out of a plane" 2) why is this thread even still open. It is pointless. I may be new, but still this post was fairly absurd. Maybe you're NOT a troll, but if you want to partake in a sport (this IS a sport) you should follow the rules of the DZ. If you dont like them, go charter a cessna from your local airport and jump from it. Nobody will ask you any questions. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Dont look at it as much as a shitty situation as a successful learning opportunity and one that led to some deep questions and introspection. I'm VERY new to the sport (newer than you, trust me) and am more afraid of fear than anything. Just remember that EVERY day we are forced to make life and death decisions (do I make a left turn when that truck looks awfully fast coming at me? Do i cross the street here? Do I buy that questionable burrito from the food truck?). You experienced some form of internal error in which you either stopped taking in more stimulus ("not sure what is wrong but I'm going to ride it out") or grounded ("I'm NOT cutting away"), when you should have been in the "5 seconds and if no better will clear, now... what is happening?". Its unfortunately a normal response for the human psyche and that fight-or-flight response can cause us to make some BAD decisions. Remember that a cutaway is never anything to be ashamed of. Rather feel silly than feel the ground at high speed. But also remember that often you can sort out the problem by taking a breath and turning off primitive brain in favour of thinking brain. You are not the contents of your wallet.

While on some levels I would agree with you, but. How you support your community does in fact matter. Stereotypes kill, and your perpetuating a stereotype with your comments. If everyone was in fact giving each other gear checks the community in itself may in fact promote safety as compared with blaming individuals for their own predicaments. The Hawaii tail strike illustrates this quite well! If the other jumpers on board had given the individual a little coaching and support about the differences and configuration of differing aircraft, had taken a moment so to speak, that individual would still be here! The next generation in safety is changing the system so that everyone can understand how our environment has an effect upon us all. Telling someone to shut the fuck up isn't going to help. In fact I could continue this negativity and perpetuate the stereotype by saying something like "you are free to read or not read whatever you like." But that isn't going to help anyone. I can understand you frustration. Do you understand theirs? It's not about you, it's about them, and understanding them takes a lot of work and an open and accepting mind. C

I have to admit this is WONDERFUL research. But remember that science is really more of an artform when we talk about biology. Physics is the least unpredictable, followed by chemistry, and biology is the most random and complex with most variables. In a sentient being its barely a science at all. With that in mind, this is a great article that shows a few things: First, it shows that physiologically we can't undo our stress response. At least in the studied population. Second, it shows that we may be able to separate psychology from physiology. Cortisol goes up still, but our experience may show less "felt" stress. As a scientist myself (well, a doctor, but close enough) this study could serve as a pilot study for a much bigger research opportunity. Aside from cortisol there are many other markers of stress. You could get a larger sample and stratify them by number of jumps (student, 5000 etc). Even better would be to measure true physiology not just stress hormone. You could find ways to measure heart rate, BP, respiratory rate. it would be complex and likely need a grant, but maybe when you get your degree you'll be able to translate this into some substantial future opportunities (and free jumps "to study" hahaha). Lets not downplay the importance of this study. If nothing else it shows we can OVERCOME but not REDUCE the stress response. We are able to dictate our actions despite evolution saying "DANGER" and instead we make danger into sport and into fun. No other animal does this that we are aware of. So, we can critique the research (not enough "n", too little power, not a large enough separation from beginner to experienced, was there a control group of non jumpers?) or we can look at this as a really novel, innovative, and forward-thinking study that not only draws attention to the sport but also studies the psychology and biology of those who take part. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I was starting to feel burned out as an ER doc and hospital administrator. Getting inefficient, bitter, and often just feeling hopeless. Took a tandem jump and it changed my world. I see things differently. Now I'm signed up for my AFF because I realized in "life" I have no ability to escape work... but once I hit the DZ, the phone goes to "off", the mind clears, and its just me and my fear of heights. More people should really do this...

Some of you find getting out the door "boring". Whereas I find it intensely full of fear and dread. It's all about what you like and are comfortable with. You are not the contents of your wallet.

The ears equalize pressure through a duct to your nose, not out the eardrum. Ear plugs should not have any effect on pressure equalization. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Not to people who like riding motorcycles. :) You are not the contents of your wallet.

I was speaking in a more general manner not so much to your case :) You are not the contents of your wallet.

Yeah, this is where "near misses" are useful. That's where the real data comes from. Fatalities often teach us little unless the cause is obvious. most of the time its just speculation. Tragic speculation. You are not the contents of your wallet.

You're not making me feel better about being guided in by radio ;) You are not the contents of your wallet.

There is a strange feeling on this post of people not understanding the poster. First, as a blogger, she did the single most important thing: got people to read and think. You may disagree with the title but experience of "near death" is relative. One does not need to be imminently in danger to save their life. Pulling a chute and saying you saved your life is certainly an odd way but only because it is EXPECTED as the sport. Its like saying you stopped at the bottom of a mountain skiing and saved your life. Sure, it would not be untruth, but not reality. In this case, would you have preferred that the noticed it after pull and had to catch herself, is that close enough? How about if she slipped 75% out of her harness? Or noticed it on the ground? Its so easy to berate the poster/blogger but I think it takes a lot of courage to post anything in front of an audience that seems to chomp at the bit like this. If she felt she nearly died because of a gear error and never again makes the mistake... is that not worth it? If someone NEW like ME reads this and now understands the complexity of a chest strap and how much of a misadventure one can have because of it... is the title not fine? Once upon a time I remember a similar discussion while I was at work. A police officer came in and had been shot but the round hit dead center of his body armour in a thing called a "trauma plate" (its a small area mid chest where there is an extra panel for chest shots to absorb more of the force). The officer had a ton of pain but was fine. One officer (he was probably in his late 50's) said "You are lucky, you nearly died". His younger companion (a fresh-out rookie) remarked "You didn't almost die, you were wearing body armour for Christ's sake". How close to death is enough to feel like you almost died? How much do you want to scare people from making these points? Are we better people for berating others' choice of words? You're a community. One I hoped to be part of. Lets work together and try to embrace each other instead of just focusing on making a point to the OP You are not the contents of your wallet.

I would like to weigh in on a few bits here. First "Just relax" doesn't work. I'll come back to this. But it doesn't. Your reality is that you have some mental blocks to deal with. The first is your comparison to sex. This is not sex. Sex is ingrained into our psyche as a survival mechanism. Even just fantasizing about sex increases dopamine and noradrenaline in our brain (and serotonin). On the other hand, as a flightless animal we have a NATURAL fear of heights. If anyone says they weren't nervous on their first skydive they are full of crap. It is COMPLETELY unnatural and from a survival perspective it is contradictory to what we are. Our primitive "frog brain" certainly was not ready for 14,000 feet of altitude with two pieces of fabric on our back. We weren't designed to fly, so our brains reject it. We go into fight-flight mode. The fear is natural. Embrace it. Anxiety is "fear of fear". It is what you experience at your keyboard. Its what I get when I think of ladders and water (afraid of heights and drowning... and spiders). Anxiety is what you get BEFORE you get to the door. In the door it is fear. So how do we deal with this? Xanax (and other benzodiazepines) are a bad mix. You do not want your judgment clouded when you need to make split second decisions. Xanax and its related drugs work on the same GABA receptor as alcohol. You wouldn't drink and skydive, you shouldn't medicate and skydive. Beta Blockers are hard to chew on as well. They can blunt the effect of catecholamines (adrenaline and the like) but they also decrease your boy's response to change. If you start spinning and generating positive G forces your body will compensate by "shunting" blood to the brain by squeezing arteries in the extremities to "push" blood to the brain. Beta Blockers can undo this. Where DO we go then? That's hard to say. First, identify your fear. WHAT specifically are you afraid of? Is it the fall, is it death, is it equipment failure, is it letting the team own? What do you fear. I fear a few things: death (boo), being injured (breadwinner for the family), and I fear that sensation of "drop" when I go out the door because it reminds me I'm no longer safely cocooned in the aircraft. Warm, fuzzy, airplanes. So what do I do? First I start with "knowledge is power", I learn EVERYTHING. Read. Watch. Go to youtube and watch videos (not people's stupid "look at my hard landing", but go to skydive websites and their pages and watch AFF students. Watch tandems (so many online). Watch FUN jumps and people enjoying themselves. Realize they ALL had (and some have) the same fear YOU do! Next, as a frog-brain mammal we all are more willing to follow others. In my tandem I was first out. It is MUCH more scary to be first out. You also have fear of the unknown and fear you're the "only one". Get someone to go first. Maybe even an experienced jumper. Watch them cool as a cucumber go out the door. Remember you have 2 instructors going with you and they want to live as much as they want YOU to live. Everyone has a good time when you're packing canopy at the end of the day :) Remember to breathe. Remember to visualize. Ask questions. Give yourself tasks. Talk to your instructors. Ask them to check your gear again. Tell them about your fears. Tell them what you're thinking. getting it out is the foundation of therapy. It works. If the door is scaring you, ask about spotting and if you can help. Get close to the door and focus on a task. Learn about what they are doing. Be in control and REMIND yourself you are in control. Occupy your brain. Breathe. As for "why" you skydive. Only you can answer that. I've heard plenty of people say its not "fun". Fair. My wife feels the same way. Doesn't get it. I did my first jump tandem about a month ago. Before that I had been working my ass off at a great paying job, burning myself out, buying exotic sports cars, expensive houses, trying to find what made me happy. On a whim I went to the DZ and saw people who lived to skydive, had not care about exotic cars, pricey clothes... and they were HAPPY. Life there was SIMPLE. I jumped, and I understood. Instead of waiting on a list to buy a new Ferrari, I cancelled my order, cut back my hours (still gotta live), simplified my life, and now am going to do the AFF course. Why? Because I transcended my fear on that jump. I learned self reliance. Simplicity. The joy of something unusual, scary, and the caress of soft ground on my landing. My dinner never tasted that good (ate at some crappy taco hut.... the food was awful... but awesome), the first sip of water after my jump was amazing, and you notice things others don't just because you realize you just DID something You weren't a passenger, a bystander, you ruled your own destiny. You and a piece of nylon just conquered gravity, evolution, fear, anxiety. And the single best thing you can do is to turn around and get right back up there again. But honestly, if you can not find a reason to jump... maybe its just not what drives you. There are other ways to get a high being outside the box. SCUBA, mountain climbing, skiing, motorcycles... make sure this is the one you want to do, because life IS awfully short. You are not the contents of your wallet.

I worked medical at BM for about 6 years, and enjoyed the festival. Its changed a lot since then but I wont go there since its more controversial than religion or politics. As for the jump itself, a few of my friends do it yearly and the video they sent is pretty slick. BurningMan from the sky is a REALLY pretty sight to see. Amazing what people can create in the desert. I've heard the weather and landing conditions can be a bit dicey but generally favourable (it can get windy during the evening especially, watch for dust-devils). You are not the contents of your wallet.

I'm VERY noob, and have only tandem jumps, but will say that this same kind of mentality happens in medicine all the time. It is why resident procedures go awry and why great docs can kill people: pride. call it ego, or whatever, but NOBODY wants to "ask for help" (here: pull reserve). I'll tell you what, if I'm at a DZ and someone gives me a ration of shit for pulling a reserve... I'll either change DZ's or stop jumping. The life to save is yours and yours alone. Nobody is in the harness with you (except tandems but you know what I mean). Playing "Monday morning quarterback" is what can get your friends killed. I think instead of this mentality where pulling a reserve is questioned, we should be looking at the events, doing a root-cause of what went wrong, helping people find the canopy, and round of drinks at the end of the day while we kiss Terra Firma. The case or beer for your reserve packer is non-negotiable... and don't be cheap ;) safety, fun, winning. in that order. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Hello all... OK, so I'm the new guy :) I've been lurking a bit because 2 of my best friends from Nevada have been coach rated freeflyers and camera jumpers for a couple years now after I recommended jumping to them but never went. Combination of fear (I've actually jumped before though!), lack of money (college student at the time) and lack of time (college, med school, marriage). Anyhow, a few weeks ago I decided "F-it" and did a tandem. Damn you all for getting me hooked on the rush. Anyhow, I still have SUBSTANTIAL door anxiety and am working my way through this while setting up my AFF for end of Sept. It will give me a short season but I'm hoping if I just "go for it" i'll get back up there and jump. I feel like the more time I put between my tandem the more likely I am to KEEP putting it off. My wife just shakes her head and doesn't get it but fortunately supports my particular brand of crazy. About me: I'm basically a 35 year old ER doc; married going on 5 years no. No kids, few cats, and a wife who doesn't understand my adrenaline/dopamine addiction. I live in NH and will be jumping at SkyDive New England (recommend to anyone, really fun place with good people!). I'm also enjoying some wind tunnel training prior to my AFF which is pretty brutal. I hope to be useful here and hope to see some of you in the skies. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Warning: long post. OK, so I have a grand total of 2 jumps and this EXACT question comes up to me all the time. People say "Why are you trying to kill yourself". I hear it every day, so I try to provide them numbers. The reality is that there is no way to PROPERLY assign risk between sports that can not be similarly measured. just like you cant add minutes, inches, and barometric pressure to get weight. You CAN compare things like various skydive facilities, maybe skydiving against base jumping; even could probably rate things like RW or CR vs standard jumps vs tandems etc. The issue is the units of measure can not be correlated. you have something like a 1:1000 chance of death per 10,000 automotive miles driven yearly. That's a national average comparing average commuting miles, number of drivers, number of deaths. How then can we compare skydiving? what is 10,000 mile equivalents in freefall time or jumps? How do we interrelate hop-n-pop canopy time to freefall exposure? The only way to properly gauge skydiving would be: 1) deaths per members (number of yearly deaths/active members) 2) Number of deaths per jump yearly by all members (deaths/jumps measured yearly) 3) Deaths per average jumps (deaths/[jumps/members]) I can go on and on but there simply is not a good way to quantify the risk for these activities. The other issue is your "N". The numbers. If you compare our sport to others.... there are relatively small numbers of members. This means a few things: first there is probably not enough power in the numbers to make an accurate estimate since even a single additional fatality makes a non-trivial change in rate. Second, comparison requires similar "power" of the numbers. LOTS of drivers (the numbers are staggering), LOTS of accidents (even more staggering), a few million skydives, a tiny number of deaths. Its not apples and oranges, its more like apples and particle physics. Not even close. Let me provide a few numbers I've found that are equally interesting, but not proper statistics: 17 people per year die in result to drawstrings on "hoodie" sweatshirts 20 people die of dog bites (why I'm a cat person?) 47 of hurricanes 128 from tornadoes 188 in lightning related deaths 300-400 people die of CJD (human mad-cow disease) 300 women die in childbirth another 300 in heat related deaths 211 people die from car hitting a deer 1200 from carbon monoxide 700-800 from recreational boating 800 or so on bicycles and another 800 relating to rail trains 2500 motorcyclists perish 2500 people die while driving a car and talking on a phone 4500 in fires 17,000 die due to drunk drivers (not including the person drinking) 31,000 suicides 50,000 (approximate) motor vehicle deaths 106,000 from medication adverse reactions 150,000 from medical malpractice 170,000 from diabetes 200,000 from influenza (epidemic years) 300,000 from complications of obesity 500,000 from cancer 750,000 and growing from heart disease and those numbers are just the US yearly Skydiving in modern times... are 40-60 worldwide I believe So is it dangerous? Sure. So is living. I think "fight club" said it best with "On a long enough timeline everyone's survivability approaches zero". The question of risk is one which can only be answered by the individual. It is a question of "how much risk is too much". It is also a question of risk:reward. Do you get more out of it than the risk. You can not use numbers to determine safety anyhow. Statistics do not apply to the individual. Anyone who was killed skydiving has a "100%" chance of death. Every jump you safely land you have a "0%" chance of dying. Statistics only apply to populations. Respect the sport, understand the risks, and make the decision based on your particular lifestyle. Don't let the numbers sway you, but recognize even going out of your house carries risk (50 people a year die from bee stings!) You are not the contents of your wallet.

As to the SECOND question... about breathing... My tandem I felt the same, then I did a quick check of my respiratory rate: 30. It should be 10-14. You breathe that fast for a while, you blow off your CO2 but have PLENTY of oxygen. The alkalosis (blood becoming slightly basic) can shift your calcium... blah blah blah.... you get lightheaded and may feel a tingling sensation in your fingers/toes and around your mouth. You actually have PLENTY of oxygen, the trick is to ensure you are breathing. Breathing IS required. If you start feeling "heady" just take a quick time out and take 5 VERY SLOW FULL BREATHS. Calm yourself, and you'll be right back to normal. You are not the contents of your wallet.

Im another tinnitus sufferer (was a DJ and sound engineer before becoming a doc... the beating on my ears was just awful) and after my tandem jump the ringing was horrible for about a week. Back to baseline (mild) now. I will be wearing earplugs and figure I can either turn the radio up, or once under canopy I can always pull them out if I can fit a hand under the helmet. 120mph wind rushing by the ears will make anyone sensitive; and unlike most things... hearing never comes back. Ever. And Tinnitus never goes away. Ever. You are not the contents of your wallet.

If you look at the research (I'm an MD, not quite yet able to identify myself as a skydiver but getting there) the reality is the ONLY thing that EVER has been shown in the literature to improve back pain and various back issues is physical therapy. Inversion tables are mixed at best and there is some risk (Stretching and then compressing the discs is not really great for them). The trick would be physical therapy specific to the spine followed by core strengthening, followed by general conditioning. The "jump test" someone explained is decent (jump a few steps or feet to the ground and land with your feet planted). But no test is perfect. As an MD I'd have a very hard time clearing someone with known issues back to jumping with known disc disease without seeing a successful completion of physical therapy and strengthening. With that in mind, I also live in the US where you can and will be sued for everything as a doctor so clearing anyone for extreme sports is pretty dicey ;) You are not the contents of your wallet.