The Exhibition Skydivers

Skydiving Exhibition An exhibition or demonstration parachute jump is a skydive performed primarily for the enjoyment of spectators at a site other than an established drop zone. You have probably seen many at local air shows, football games, and other aviation events. But did you know that this sort of talent is right at your doorstep?

"The Skydive Adventures" demo team has jumped for football games, baseball games, water ski shows, air shows, car shows, rodeos, races, county fairs, amusement parks, picnics, parades, grand openings, reunions, festivals, centennials, celebrations, church services, magazine ads, and private parties.

A properly staged exhibition jump can be a dramatic form of promotion for any special event or product. These jumps are performed routinely every year from professional sporting events, corporate social occasions, political and charitable fund-raising events, and at many other public affairs.

Why have a Demo Jump?

To make your promotional event stand out and be remembered long after the excitement of the moment has faded, consider hiring one or more professional skydivers. Imagine a professional skydiver descending thousands of feet through the air with trails of multi-colored smoke, carrying the banner advertising your product. It's fun, it's exciting, and it's a cost-effective way to capture the attention of everyone in the audience. Your audience may have seen skydiving in a movie or as a half-time performance at the Super Bowl, but nothing compares with the excitement of being there. Skydiving is draws much attention and a crowds pleasure that makes money for your event and promotes your product. An added feature is that the publicity doesn't stop once the event is over, because skydiving is unusual, often it earns local newspaper and television coverage. Publicity is far more valuable than and ad could buy. Who should perform the jump?

The FAA recognizes the PRO rating, issued by the United States Parachute Association (USPA), as proof that the jumper is a qualified, professional skydiver, highly proficient and accurate in canopy control. PRO-rated skydivers are required to have at least 500 parachute jumps using a ram-air parachute, also called a square canopy, and have completed stand-up landings within five meters of a specified target on ten consecutive jumps. Since demonstration jumps require extensive official paperwork prior to the jump, professional exhibition jumpers register each event with the FAA weeks in advance.

               Skydiving fatality reports

A Very Useful Opinion from HERE

Advantages: very useful to ALL skydivers. all true incidents mentioned, so the unlikeness of incidents can't be used as an excuse not to train.
Disadvantages: some may be put off the sport. may attract the morbid and curious.
written on 10.05.01

by Pamsy
This site may sound a bit sick but it is designed for positive purposes.

Before I start, if you wish to visit this site it's under:

http://www.skydivenet.com/fatalities

The purpose of the site is to find out the causes of skydiving accidents, in an attempt to make the sport safer. Almost every incident report is followed by a lesson should you yourself ever be in this situation. Those that aren't are when there is insufficient information for the site owner to make a comment.

There are links to each year, analyzing incidents in America, and those outside America, and plane crash incidents involving skydivers. The reports date back to '95, though not every death is included, and the page is always a few weeks behind the most recent incidents to allow time for research and analysis.

Ihe reports are rarely gory, he mostly concentrates on the parachute malfunctions received by the deceased, what the deceased possibly did wrong, what actions they took and what they achieved. The most he will ever comment which may seem gruesome, is to mention the injuries sustained, or when he mentions that the deceased impacted the ground belly to earth or the like.

This site is designed primarily for skydivers, and those who know little or none of the skydiving terminology will be lost and confused. As a guide, if you've never heard of the Cypress, or you have no idea what 'risers', 'bridle', 'three ring release', 'cutaway handle' and the like mean, then there's no point in you being there.

His lessons are sometimes totally obvious, sometimes there are situations you would never have dreamed of happening to yourself, which have happened to others, and taken their life. Sometimes the lessons are a little cocky, such as "failure to deploy either parachute is a critical error".

The man who writes the reports and lessons is clearly very knowledgeable on the sport. Judging by the types of parachutes he says he's used, I'd guess he's done a good few thousand jumps.

He is very eager to teach the lesson of not doing hard turns too low, and he is very correct in this, past the point of hook turns, some, in fact many of these deaths, are caused by those with a perfect canopy in perfect weather. A badly driven parachute can have as much chance of killing you as a badly driven car. Here are some examples of this:


Description: This jumper made a low turn, possibly to avoid another jumper, and landed very hard, taking the whole impact on one side of his body. He was helicopter medical evacuated to a local hospital, and stayed there in the ICU for 6 weeks. He had pelvic fractures, a shattered leg, and many other injuries. He eventually (6 weeks later) succumbed to a systemic antibiotic-resistant infection.

Lessons: Don't land in a turn.... Sigh.


##Description: The victim executed 120- 180 degree hook turn 30 ft in air and impacted the ground at the same time as his canopy. The victim went to the hospital in critical condition. He suffered a broken back in 3 places and broken pelvis as well as torn brain stem. The victim had 18 years in sport and 1400 jumps. He was jumping a f-111 canopy and was not a known hook-turner. Size of canopy unknown. He passed away 10 days later in the hospital without ever regaining consciousness or showing signs of brain activity.

Lessons: Low turns can kill you even on non-ZP canopies. You really need to be flying straight when you land.


Description: This diver made a 180 degree hook turn, and hit the ground very hard. He was rushed in to the hospital where he died 35 days later from the injuries sustained. He entered surgery for several fractured bones.

He had four fractured vertebras near the neck. The doctors told the family it was very probable he would never gain any movement of his legs or arms. He was not a usual hook turner. The canopy was a Triathlon with unspecified wingloading.

Lessons: You just can't land a parachute while it's still turning.


Description: The deceased did a 180 degree turn into the low wind (5m/s) at approximately 40m. She was normally not doing low turns. The area where she tried to land was a few hundred meters away from the normal landing area and about 300 m behind some trees but still on the DZ. Maybe she tried to pass the trees and misjudged the altitude.

Lessons: Landing in a turn is rarely a good idea...

For ANY skydiver this site is definitely worth visiting, there are difficult situations you would never contemplate, and the deaths of other skydivers may be worth something if the information extracted saves your life.

He reported on a death at my drop zone last November, here it is:

Description: This skydiver was his 3rd jump after a long layoff; he received a full retraining. As the student exited on this static line skydive, his arm tangled in the lines of the deploying main. The main malfunction, and the student couldn't manage to cutaway, so deployed his reserve. The reserve was fouled during deployment, and subsequent cutaway of the main didn't help matters.

Lessons: A good body position on exit can prevent this type of malfunction from occurring. It is not clear why the student failed to cutaway first.

I definitely advise this site to any skydiver, however if you are already in two minds about continuing the sport, it may be best talk to some guys at your DZ first, it can be very easy to misinterpret the evidence and assume more danger than there is.

However, as the site owner says, cease not to learn till thou cease to live.