Capital Commentary
by Chris Needels, USPA Exectuive Director

By this time of year, most of us have shaken off the early-season cobwebs. We’re flying relaxed and well, making bigger and faster formations, whether right side up or upside down, and our swoops are getting better timed and a little longer with each jump. In other words, we’re getting comfortable while expanding our skydiving horizons.

But herein lay the hazards: complacency and overconfidence. At the outset of the year, we werecautious and apprehensive—even a little scared because we were rusty. But that was a good thing, becauseit made us think. And if we were smart, we went to Safety Day to review our emergency procedures, check our gear and review the DZ and aircraft operating policies and procedures that would help keep us out of trouble. Now, though, it’s all second nature. Or is it?

Many of us have seen the following scenario: A jumper is late for a load, so he races to the plane trying to put on his rig. Helpful jumpers pull him in as he continues to hook up his harness. On the way to altitude, he runs through the jump he is going to make. Then the door comes up, and he goes out when there seems to be the right gap between groups and students. For 60 seconds, he does his thing, opens and races to the ground for a quick swoop. Then he runs into the hangar and asks whether someone will pack his parachute. If the DZ operator or the S&TA doesn’t pay him a visit at this point, he should.

This all-too-common scenario usually has a happy ending; sometimes, it doesn’t. Here’s what might have just as easily happened along the way:
• He’s in such a hurry to get to the plane that he barely misses the prop while trying to get on board.
• He doesn’t do an equipment check at any time, so he exits with his chest strap undone.
• Since he wasn’t part of the organized loading process, he leaves as a freeflysolo between twoformation skydiving 4-way teams.
• At what seems to be about opening time, he discovers that he didn’t turn on his altimeter as he goes whizzing past the 4-way in front of him.
• Since he didn’t check his pins at any time, he also didn’t know that his pilot chute was never cocked, so he has a pilot chute in tow. He also has this uneasy feeling that something is wrong with hisharness, because the webbingand three-rings are falling off his shoulders (the undone chest strap).
• And because he was already too low, he goes for his reserve—which was fortunate, because he never turned on his automaticactivation device.
• Also because he was low, he’s the first canopy to approach the ground—but he never checked the wind or the spot. So he lands downwind in a backyard—actually several backyards—taking fences along with him. He comes to rest in a kiddie pool unharmed. It’shis lucky day.

Perhaps this is a bit of an exaggeration, but its components are all too common. Things went wrong because common sense safety procedures weren’t followed. With the fatality rate higher this year than the same time last year, it’s time for each of us to pause and think about what we ought to be doing before, during and after every jump. It doesn’t matter whether we make 30 jumps a year or 1,000, we simply can’t neglect to check equipment, practice emergency procedures, plan our skydives and coordinate our jumps with fellowskydivers throughout the season.

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