guest
October 25th, 1999, 03:04 PM
So many posts, so many questions, so much sorrow,
and so much anger.
It was a tragic accident.
A worse accident could not have been planned.
But all the conclusions drawn are premature.
There is a cooperative effort in action to determine why Jan FAILED TO DEPLOY A PARACHUTE.
For it to be a drawn conclusion that it was because of the equipment on her back would be to say that she did not have the sense to look out for her own safety, and that is false.
People before her have gone in with gear they had jumped countless times.
Skydivers have gone in without deploying either their main or reserve.
How many of us made our first jump with our own gear? I didn't.
How many jumpers make Bridge Day with borrowed gear? Many.
How many of you have showed up at my home, without gear, and have jumped with me on my local sites after borrowing gear from me? Quite a few.
To say that using borrowed gear means sure death is as bad as saying that jumping at all means sure death.
It's a dangerous sport, even with your own gear.
What about when you buy a new rig, and jump it for the first time? Since it is so far unproven, does that mean that it is more dangerous than jumping the old faithful, with all it's wear and tear?
And does that mean you'll never jump the old rig again?
I think not.
That we jumped old tried and true gear should be proof that it was good gear, and could trust our lives with it.
Once again, we all had functional, airworthy equipment.
On another note,
space exploration has always been a dangerous undertaking.
Many people have claimed it to be too dangerous, too expensive, and unimportant anyway.
And yet the government spends countless millions of millions of dollars on it.
Many astronauts have died for that cause.
Not too long ago, a school teacher boarded a space shuttle, and we all sat down to watch a "first".
BAM!!!!!
Cheap o-rings?
Whatever, life went on, and so did NASA.
Freedom is a terrible wonderful thing, but let's not stop having it.
and so much anger.
It was a tragic accident.
A worse accident could not have been planned.
But all the conclusions drawn are premature.
There is a cooperative effort in action to determine why Jan FAILED TO DEPLOY A PARACHUTE.
For it to be a drawn conclusion that it was because of the equipment on her back would be to say that she did not have the sense to look out for her own safety, and that is false.
People before her have gone in with gear they had jumped countless times.
Skydivers have gone in without deploying either their main or reserve.
How many of us made our first jump with our own gear? I didn't.
How many jumpers make Bridge Day with borrowed gear? Many.
How many of you have showed up at my home, without gear, and have jumped with me on my local sites after borrowing gear from me? Quite a few.
To say that using borrowed gear means sure death is as bad as saying that jumping at all means sure death.
It's a dangerous sport, even with your own gear.
What about when you buy a new rig, and jump it for the first time? Since it is so far unproven, does that mean that it is more dangerous than jumping the old faithful, with all it's wear and tear?
And does that mean you'll never jump the old rig again?
I think not.
That we jumped old tried and true gear should be proof that it was good gear, and could trust our lives with it.
Once again, we all had functional, airworthy equipment.
On another note,
space exploration has always been a dangerous undertaking.
Many people have claimed it to be too dangerous, too expensive, and unimportant anyway.
And yet the government spends countless millions of millions of dollars on it.
Many astronauts have died for that cause.
Not too long ago, a school teacher boarded a space shuttle, and we all sat down to watch a "first".
BAM!!!!!
Cheap o-rings?
Whatever, life went on, and so did NASA.
Freedom is a terrible wonderful thing, but let's not stop having it.