Windy Math . . .

[JJ]

35 a year for 46 years??? Is that worldwide? Or only in the United States?

JJ;(

[Nick_D]

Unfortunately, that's just the USA. Don’t get started on the former Soviet Union and China and every other place around the world where some guy with a Cessna, or a helicopter, opened a DZ . . .

Yikes!

Nick

[Nick_D]

No message

[Nick_D]

A few nights ago, here on my boat, I'm having a few beers with a visiting jumper and talking about the BASE Fatality List. (It was windy). I'm pleased to hear he re-reads the list now and again and considers it part of his review on emergency procedures. I asked if he found it a bit depressing to look at more than once, and he laughed and said, "It’s more frightening than depressing, and maybe because I don’t know anyone that’s on there. I actually tried,” he said, “to memorize them all figuring each was a little lesson on how not to kill yourself. But then one time I’m climbing a tower and got scared when I couldn’t remember what happened to number 37!

“No, I’m kidding,” he finally says, “but every time I look at it, it makes me think and that’s alright.”

We drank a few more green bottles and he asked me if there is a list like that for skydivers.

“Now THAT would be depressing.” I said, “I can’t imagine what that number is.”

So out comes the calculator (it was very windy) and I figure when I made my first skydive it’s the beginning of a big fatality spike with forty one in 1975. The next six years are horrible with 55, 50, 48, 55, 47 and 56 respectively. Before that it averaged around 30 and after it’s been averaging about 40 fatalities a year. The next Q is how far back does skydiving go. I know Hemet, California is a commercial DZ in 1958 but we didn’t get into doing millions of sport jumps a year until the early sixties. So I figured 35 fatalities per year for 46 years.

Sixteen hundred and ten . . .

That’s enough frigging math for tonight.

Nick DG
BASE 194
http://juliabell.home.att.net/

[dexter]

Are you going to be able to update the list soon? Unfortunately it needs a couple more entries.

Stay safe out there! ---Dex
dexterbase@hotmail.com

[imported_Mac]

World wide since 1995 = 492 (to date) - i think that bloody lucky from some people I have seen!!!

Do you think that 35 a year is a fair average to stick to each and every year?? Surely there were far less jumpers in the early days and no where near 35 deaths per year............

Any one have further information on the "early" death numbers???

Just my thoughts