Superfletch

This incident happened months ago... I don't remember for sure what the reserve size was, what I do remember was that I didn't like the rig and told him I wouldn't jump her with it. You stated in your post that ..."dosen't surprise me when I found out she had a toggle fire on deployment,". That isn't what happened... Since the beginning I have been watching all these posts twist and change after someone completely disassociated with it comments which only makes the next guy up that less informed and all be damned if they don't have a twisted comment to make that makes the next guy even more misinformed. The "don't have a clue" comment I made wasn't even directed to you. It was directed to everyone that was discussing the size of her reserve which hasn't even been determined yet but hasn't disuaded anyone from making obsurd comments to the fact that she shouldn't be jumping a 126 when in reality it will probably be shown that she wasn't. I just lumped that into the same post encompassing the rest of the dz.com people that wanted to harp on that issue. I'm sorry if I confused you by doing that... my mistake. I've just been reading all these post... I believe there are 4 different forums discussing the matter right now. And I have been trying to make sure that everyone is at least discussing the facts rather than misinformation and you'd be surprised how fast they get scewed, twisted and completely changed. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

It was a Pink Reflex with a Sabre2 190 but I couldn't tell you the size of the reserve... Someone earlier said that a container sized for a 135 probably contained a 126 reserve... NOW everyone is assuming that it DID contain a 126 reserve and is commenting to that affect... Won't everyone feel a little foolish when they find out it didn't? Hmmm... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

AGAIN!!!! Let me fix this and clarify... PEOPLE!! Quit changing the FACTS! A toggle did not fire on deployment, do I have to repeat this? She fired a toggle while doing rear riser turns after her canopy deployed WITHOUT incident! That makes your guess VERY UNEDUCATED!!! Everyone keeps twisting the facts little by little it's a wonder that this is still a skydiving accident at all... I'm surprised it isn't a bungee jumping/skydiving/rock climbing/base jumping accident... Sheeesh... Everyone is so quick to judge about the words Shayna has chosen when describing her accident but don't give a second thought about the words they use to reiterate it. It comes down to this... to date the Main/Reserve size combinations have not yet been determined as fact on this website... in which case... quit fucking commenting on it because you don't have a clue what your talking about. rant over... for now... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I was personally consulted as to whether or not I would think that rig would be OK for Shayna to jump. My answer was "NO". I didn't like the fact that with the Sabre2 190 crammed in there it was bulging so much and the flaps wouldn't even come close to aligning. I know of several others that were consulted also and they said "no". I'm not even sure why we were asked because "they" decided to jump it anyhow. Just goes to show some of the poor judgement that was used. Turns out my concerns were a moot point because the container opened fine both times it was jumped. However, had "they" taken the advice of their peers this incident probably would not have happened. It just goes to show that if you value someones opinion enough to ask them for it, you might want to actually consider listening to it even if the answer is not what you want to hear. As for the size of the reserve... I'm not positive. I can tell you that my DZO has had one ride under it himself so it has worked in the past... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

The questions you pose you would have to ask her. I can't speak for her and wouldn't even want to. I whole heartedly agree with the rest of what your saying. I wish Rick would step up to the plate and do his skydiving duty as an AFFI and rectify some of this but he hasn't and that's that. As far as what you been telling people about the accident to help explain, it's just about the same thing I've been saying myself. What more can we do? Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Hmmm... lemme tackle these one at a time. There are different types of toggles. Not all of them have velcro. When you pack a parachute you set the brakes in the half brake position. In shayna's case when she was performing her rear riser turns (brakes stowed) she dislodged a toggle and unset the brake on one side. This allowed her steering line to release which put that side of her canopy in full flight so it was flying faster than the other side of her parachute inducing a turn. This can happen on opening as well for many different reasons. Perhaps the slider pops them off or hell in a hard enough opening gravity can do it. Regardless, if you find yourself in a steep turn and spiraling on opening, YES, by all means check both toggles. You can pull the released brake down to the half brake setting to stop the turn or you can release the other side and allow it to go to full flight... I would suggest doing both quickly. Had Shayna simply released her stowed brake or pulled down the unstowed brake line to a half break setting, her spin would have stopped and she would have realized that she was no longer in eminent danger and would have given herself plenty of time to decide on an appropriate course of action. As for the slider being stuck... no one really knows at this point. The FAA's findings were inconclusive. We're not sure why it didn't come down all the way... Many "theories" have been expressed but as I write this... no one really knows for sure. As you can planely see in the video, the slider being stuck more than halfway up the lines is hampering the parachute from FULLY opening. One side of the parachute seems to be more cupped than the other and this would explain the spin. Not being fully opened and in a spinning configuration increased the speed of decent. About the only course of action she had here was to pump the risers and toggles for all she was worth. In your FJC you should have been told to NEVER give up... We told you that for your health... NEVER give up. That last second could be the one that releases the slider and allows the parachute to open saving your life... You hear me? NEVER GIVE UP!!! Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

It is my understanding that she went through a Tandem/IAD/AFF progression... for whatever that's worth. She had several tandems for which she received some instruction on at least one. She did several IAD jumps which included Practice Pilot Chute Throws. Her AFF instructor then took her up for a Single Instructor AFF jump where she was only asked to do practice touches and circle of awareness as per a Lvl 1 dive. I'm not an AFF jumpmaster yet, so I'm not aware of all the intricasies of that discipline yet. This is just how I understand her progression to have went. Whether it's an acceptable method or not I'll let an AFF Instructor decide. Hope that information helps. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I just used your post to start a bit of a rant... I know you hadn't asked it again but there are 3-4 posts on DZ.Com talking about this right now and that question has been asked and aswered several times. As far as how to handle the media, etc... that part of the post I was directing to the general population of DZ.Com, not you in particular. These people are my friends. I'm upset too that they haven't stepped up and clarified more. Basically, Shayna is doing all the talking and she really doesn't know what she's talking about. Rick is sitting beside her allowing her to say it thinking the whole time that if he stays out of it, no ill will, will come his way. My guess is that will haunt him down the road. Rick is not the brightest bulb on the tree. Rick made mistakes, Shayna made mistakes and now the WHOLE world knows about them. It just comes down to that. She starts every interview explaining to the interviewer she doesn't want to spin the story torwards the negative thinking that is covering her bases. She ends every interview saying she wants to jump again thinking that will not give us a "black eye". She's just naive and is catching all hell through here... I just don't think it's right. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

It cracks me up... you all dump on her for getting her facts wrong and think she should be some kind of media consultant in the handling of her story or at the very least expect her to know how to handle every situation thrown at her... She made mistakes, it's a shame... Let sleeping dogs lie. To answer your question AGAIN... That was her 10th skydive. Up until then she had, had several tandems and a couple of IAD's. It was being treated as an AFF LVL 1. She was not cleared to be by herself and she was not by herself. Had you been paying attention to any of these posts you would know that. Sure is easy to pass on miss information isn't it? You can kind of see how things snowballed to the point they have can't you? If you can't, I don't know what to say about you. It's real easy to point fingers and place blame when you are sitting back in your easy chair watching the news... Maybe you should just shake your head, hope it dies out and show a little compassion rather than log on, get swept up in the frenzy of hate and further twist the story more than it has been already. Had I not read your post and responded it wouldn't surprise me that in a few hours she hadn't left the plane by herself without a parachute, flew over to her instructor, mr. Billed him and rode his main in after he chopped it. Each one of you people that starts off spouting about shit you have no idea about seems to add your own little account of what happened and that gets passed on to the next guy... To all of you I say... If you weren't there and didn't see the accident or don't personally know these people and have first hand knowledge of what happened AND can be able to repeat it without adding your own damn twist on the chain of events, keep your damn comments to yourself. No one cares how you would have handled the situation, because simply put, the majority of you out there probably don't know what you'd do unless you were faced with it yourself. Like I said, I don't condone what they did or how this hit the airways... turns out that her high school science teacher started the deal in the first place thinking he was helping out. However you can't expect an AFF LVL 1 student to keep all her facts straight, know exactly what to do in any situation, know all the terminology involved and especially read the minds of half of you assholes and know what to say that wouldn't upset you. Period! And if you do... You've got bigger problems than Shayna ever did have. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Many of the details of this incident are in the Safety and Training section under the title of "student accident". Shayna has never changed her story... she's just recalling it as a person with only 10 jumps would. Her biggest mistake with all the sensationalism is that she didn't rectify the media's bungles as soon as they made them. I talked to Rick yesterday and tried to impress to them the uproar the skydiving community was having and that's why she's went on to clarify a bit about the main opening fine, etc... She's just trying to get her story out there and trying to keep it positive... she's just young and a bit naive in thinking that the media will do her justice. It's a shame really... she should have had a manager or something... I don't agree with the way they have gone about getting the story out there, but I can understand it. Personally I have to laugh at a lot of the statements from those that know her and the details of the story and how they are "twisting them" to skew them that much more... It amazes me of the bullshit I've read in these forums and how even after weeks of talking about it at home they still can't get their facts exactly right or how they keep harping on one thing in particular as if by bitching about it constantly will get it to change on it's own. I can only imagine some of the lies that are being sent to tv stations across the country that are being promoted as truth. Oh well... I guess if you've ever made a skydive before you are an expert and have a valuable point of reference into this case. What amazes me is that most of his peers on here from his home dropzone haven't even tried to contact Rick and help him at least coach Shayna to tell her story in a more detailed manner as to not leave so many holes in her story... They'd rather just log on to here and bitch. Well, Rick and Shayna don't get on here or at least not often at all so they won't see it for some time. It's just a waste of good typing really. They aren't bad people... they weren't even aware people were getting upset until I talked to Rick yesterday... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. I have been saying this from day one... It was a horrible accident, one that probably could have been avoided. But it was an accident none the less. Poor choices were made by the student and instructor alike. But I don't think any of the poor decisions were enough to totally write off either one. Both of these people are my friends. I have expressed my opinions to both of them, without sugar coating. I have informed them of what I thought they did wrong. The instructor probably should have not put her on a Sabre2 canopy. However, it has been done with students in the past and things have turned out ok. He is aware of this now. Ultimately the student should not have cut away a good canopy. She is aware of this now. Both of these individuals have learned from their mistakes. She did not go to the press to place a black eye on the sport of skydiving and was shocked to think that many of us feel that she has done just that. Naive, yes but criminal no. She is faced with some large medical bills at the moment and was given the opportunity to cash in a bit to help with those bills. No one will be getting rich from the end result, you can bet on that. She thought that by telling the press she wanted to put a positive spin on the story would be enough. Again, naive but not malicious. Anyhow, it just upsets me to see everyone so down on both of them when they don't know all the facts. I know most of the facts and have been watching this whole thing unfold since day one. DAY ONE! As I stated, I believe this situation could have been avoided but it happened and the best we can do is to not duplicate it. All the negative posts don't help any of it. It boils down to the fact that Shayna found herself in a less than desirable predicament. She made a wrong decision of chopping a good canopy without first trying to fix it. A case of panic nothing more. Then when her reserve didn't open properly... honestly who could have ever expected that, she did the right things and they didn't work. A case of a little too late. It's my opinion that she had the proper training and just brain farted it. When her training finally kicked in, it just simply didn't work. It was an unfortunate accident. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

The link in Safety and Training entitled student accident is where most of the info is being talked about. Continue the thread there... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I'm almost positive that the reserve was something like a Tempo 170, not 100% mind you but if I find out differently I'll post it. Anyhow, they were just getting on a plane at 6p headed for New York. You'll evidentaly be able to see them in the morning on "Good Morning America" and possibly the "Today" show. There is also an Oprah interview being set up at some point. I've expressed to them the uproar that has been seen in the skydiving community and they were unaware that they were doing harm to the sport. Shayna has insisted that all the interviews try and spin the situation in a positive light and has finished each one by saying that she intends to skydive again after the baby is born. I expressed that no matter how you spin it, it still makes people scared of skydiving and that is a black eye on us and that the interviews were probably not a good idea. They are upset now that they have created a snowball effect blacking the eyes of skydivers everywhere and will try and help rectify what has already been said. I personally don't agree with all the decisions that have been made thus far, I'm just passing on what I know... anyway thought that the skydiving community would like an update... I'll be tuning in, in the morning to see if the interviews change at all. Peace. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Shayna had several uneventful jumps on our Triathalon 190. It was a better canopy choice for her. I believe the Sabre-2 was probably too much for her. She should have just stayed at FFE and continued her student trainging. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Freefall Express, Mt. Vernon, MO We use Motorolla 1-Way Radios. They work great. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I've had both of these... Video is pretty much the same. The 9 is a bit heavier but not enough to worry about... The 9 uses the same stereo plug that most Sony's use for the video hookups where the 105 has the new D shaped connector. Hasn't been a problem for me I just switch the hookups when I need to. The 105 has a 1MP stills capability but that doesn't effect your skydiving much... All and all they are pretty much the same and either one would work well. There almost identical in size too but just a bit different. They work in the same D-box's. Anyhow, you could probably pick up a decent 105 on eBay for about $425 give or take depending on how patient you are. I believe the 9's go for $350 or more also but I haven't paid too much attention there lately. At the moment I have (2) 105's and love them. Hope this helps. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Just to clarify a bit more... The instructor was NOT on probation at his home dropzone, I don't know how this rumor got started. The only reason he took the student to the other dropzone was that they were going to let him jump her for slots. Basically he was trying to save her some money. Good intentions, poor implementation. She cut away a good main. It was spinning due to a dislodged toggle that was created from doing rear riser turns without first releasing the toggles. Part of her yellowcard. A matter of panic, nothing more. She experience a hung slider on her reserve for who knows what reason. She claims to have pumped the breaks several times all the way until the point at which she was going in and thought she was going to die. The canopy was spinning as if she had one toggle fully pulled down. The centrifigul force she was experiencing probably prohibited her from doing any kind of a PLF. Her face impacted the asphault at the same time as the canopy. This is apparently visible on the original video. It is hard to tell on the quicktime clip mentioned earlier. She was a small girl weighing in at about 110 pounds. She was put out on a Sabre2 190. The reserve was a 170. Many of these facts were left out of the original post, I'm not sure why. Like Joe stated earlier, we have been discussing this locally for some time so he was aware of these facts as well, or should have been. Many of us have opinions on the whole affair but the fact of the matter is, she is alive. She's had four surgery's on her face and is expected to make a full recovery. She is even talking about continuing her skydiving training once she is fully healed. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

The XT is a 8 MP camera. The D20 is a 8.2 MP camera. You can't hardly tell the difference in the two's photos. The D20 is quite a bit heavier. The XT is 3 fps and the D20 is 4 fps. 3 fps is more than enough. I typically get between 75-100 photos per tandem video out of a cessna. The XT is about $500 cheaper. For a skydiving application I would go with the XT. My 2¢. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

Get a small alluminum knitting needle and cut the tip of it off (say about 3-4 inches). Make sure it's a hollow alluminum kniting needle. Put the end of the micro line up into the needle and then run it up through the inside of the micro line that you want to finger trap... you don't have to be a rigger, it's easy but a rigger will already have the tools you need. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

PC105 and 106 will fit also... Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

I have had this problem on opening on my PC105 also... I think it has something to do with the movement of the slider affecting some kind of auto setting on the camera or something. Anyway, it usually doesn't affect the video at all so I just deal with it. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

The PC105 is newer, smaller and lighter. It also boasts a high resolution I believe. Unfortunately it uses a different A/V plug than most Sony cameras so you can't interchange the cables with other people. I have 3 PC105s and love them. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

The store is the Olathe Trading Post... My guess to you all is that it is a pawn shop in Olathe Kansas that is selling on eBay. That to me indicates stolen gear but unless it's listed somewhere there is no real way to tell. I find it funny that the guy doesn't know what he has so he doesn't know how to sell it. He has no idea what canopies are inside. It is top of the line stuff looks like. I'm sure someone is sick to death for losing it, even if it was them that pawned it in the first place. Damn shame. Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

did you eject the tape at all in the middle of recording sessions, perhaps between loads or during the week when you weren't skydiving? Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I Videographer/Photographer

My Micron is the absolute most comfortable rig I have ever put on. I feel as safe as anyone can wearing this rig while flying in any body position. When designing this rig you are able to choose from many different colors in many different configurations. Excellent product.