Hey Screamer, I see your frustration, but for me, I guess I've just gotten used to the common misconceptions whuffos have about skydiving. From the time I made my very first tandem 5 years ago, every whuffo friend, relative, co-worker or casual aquaintence has felt the need to inform me of every skydiving related horror story they have ever heard, and also express their unsolicited opinions as to my sanity. And it seems like all of them know someone who knows someone whose cousin's neighbors brother made a skydive and died because "his chute didn't open". Anytime a skydiving fatality makes it in to the mainstream media, people call me and ask me questions, and as patiently as I can, I explain that the majority of skydiving fatalities do not occur because the parachute fails. I'll explain about reserves, emergency procedures, aad's, high performance canopies, all of it, if they are willing to take the time to listen. But we really can't control or educate the media, as much as we would like to, and skydiving gets way more bad press than good. Expecting a "whuffo" reporter to differentiate between "his chute failed to open" and "he failed to open either parachute" is unfortunately asking too much. And as far as what non-skydivers would think when they read this particular article, well, if they have already discovered this site, they are interested in skydiving and learning all they can about it, so chances are they will look into this in more detail and gather a little more information. I really don't see the harm. In spite of all the bad press and misconceptions, this sport continues to grow. Fatalities and injuries are a very sad reality in this sport, and its only fair that any "wannabe" or "soon to be" AFF student knows and understands this. Hopefully, the knowledge will make him or her a safer skydiver. Blue ones! t
