How unsafe do your safety devices make you? Let that sink in for a second. You may be asking yourself, “But wait…how can a safety device make me unsafe?” Recently I overheard a few fun jumpers that were dirt diving when someone brought up the concern that the group size had grown to a larger number then they had initially planned. A larger number meant that the experience level of group had changed and some of the less experienced jumpers had never done that type of jump, or had only done a few. With the five minute call still echoing over the hanger intercom, one of the organizers of that jump said, “Everyone just make sure your AAD is turned on, now gear up.” Wait…WHAT?! Somehow having your AADs turned on meant that you were now all magically safe? When did we, as a skydiving community, end up with this type of mindset? How did we get this type of safety culture? You’re probably saying, “Yeah, well, that’s an isolated incident and that type of attitude is rare.” Is it? I think if we took a hard look at ourselves we would find that our safety culture isnt where we want it to be. Ive heard skydivers say that they wanted to downsize their canopies based solely on the fact that they wanted a smaller container cuz it “looks cooler”. How about the conversation I had with a new jumper that was excited to get a skyhook because now he can “pull lower”. Or the comment I overheard from a student when they stated that they were excited to get out of the student program because then they don’t have to do pin checks on the plane. That last one was using the poor example set by the licensed jumpers as a rationale to not do pin checks. The “If the cool kids don’t do it then I don’t want to either” mentality. These conversations have not just occurred at Spaceland. Traveling a lot, I am able to meet tons of skydivers and these types of conversations arent as rare as you would think. Take a second and read these thoughts by Bill Booth. You are responsible for your safety and the safety of the people around you. My bad decisions can affect the people around me. Being safe is everyone’s job. dropzone/safety/Gear_and_Equipment/Do_Skydivers_Care_About_Safety_19.html
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 13:14:06 +0000