Capital Commentary
by Chris Needels, USPA Executive Director

Here’s a hypothetical scenario: A 180-pound skydiver with 300 jumps decides on his own to downsize from a 210 to a 150-square-foot canopy. There are plenty of used 150s around. So far, he has never tried anything but a basic downwind-crosswind-upwind approach landing with his old canopy but is really getting good at well-timed flares, a few yards of swoop and tiptoe landings. He feels ready to advance.

He’s seen some of the best jumpers on the DZ do 270s that looked to be initiated about 100 feet above the ground. He isn’t sure how they did it, but how hard can it be to yank down on a steering line or a front riser, swing out until the turn is completed and then flare for a 200-foot swoop? With his new smaller and zippier canopy, he knows he is ready. Just to be safe, though, he’ll try it at 200 feet and only do a 180. At about 100 degrees into it, he’s looking straight down at the ground, knowing then that there isn’t enough altitude left to finish the turn. Well, we all know the rest of the story.

It is all too easy to say that this skydiver just wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed or that he couldn’t help himself because he was a 20-something-year-old male with raging hormones or, worse yet, both. But that’s a cop out. When things like this happen, we need to look inward. Why did we let him downsize so quickly and so much? Why did we not keep him in a training program to learn more advanced skills? Why weren’t we there with some generally acceptable guidelines on how to advance in canopy piloting?

The Skydiver’s Information Manual includes Section 6-10 on advanced canopy flight; many canopy manufacturers and distributors have limitations on selling small canopies to inexperienced jumpers; and new canopy piloting schools are popping up around the country. But we simply have to have a better way of getting the message out until all the pieces come together. The message needs to be at every drop zone, preached by every mentor, coach and instructor and reinforced by the canopy piloting leadership—those whom we all look up to as the best there is.

And here’s the message put in simple, straightforward terms:

• Get professional canopy training.
• Learn canopy skills with a parachute suitable for your skill level.
• Downsize gradually.
• Learn new canopy skills above 1,000 feet before trying them near the ground.
• Respect other jumpers under canopy and in the landing area.
• Plan the jump, jump the plan, and always have an out.

While it is tempting for USPA to add another page of Basic Safety Requirements to mandate sensible canopy flying, historically this approach has not worked. What has worked is education, training and mentoring. Those who lead the canopy piloting field aren’t out front because they are lucky; they’re there because they are good. They not only hear the message; they wrote it.

Last year, we had 21 fatalities, 38 percent of which were attributed to canopy piloting errors. By three months into this year, we already had eight, six of which are attributable to canopy piloting errors. That’s startling. If there is any sign of hope, it is that more DZs than ever reported that canopy control was at the top of their annual Safety Day topics lists this past March.

Learning the hard way might work for golf but certainly not for skydiving. A lost ball is three bucks. A femur repair is $30,000 plus, and that’s the good news.

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