Dumb, Needless Deaths
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8944653/

Wyoming woman killed in first skydive
Family members witness accident; instructor also seriously injured

OGDEN, Utah - A woman died making her first skydive — a tandem jump with her instructor, who was seriously injured in the fall, authorities said.

Julia Bond of Evanston, Wyo., died in a hospital after the jump Saturday and Jon Vancleave, of Roy, was in stable but serious condition, police said. Some members of Bond’s family witnessed the accident, making it “particularly tragic,” said Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Splinter.

There were conflicting accounts from witnesses of what happened. Some said a gust of wind caught the pair as they came down and pushed them into a building at the north end of Ogden Airport, Splinter said. Others said the pair missed the building, but the wind caused the parachute to collapse and the two dropped about 20 feet.

Bond was flown by medical helicopter to McKay-Dee Hospital Center in Ogden with severe head trauma and chest injuries and was pronounced dead. Vancleave was in stable but serious condition at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. Splinter said he suffered head trauma and multiple fractures. The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate.
© 2005 The Associated Press
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Whenever I read stories like these, I can work up only so much empathy. Skydiving, inter alia, is neither a suitable nor a wise activity for human beings to engage in. Throwing yourself out of a plane with nothing but a pack parachute on your back represents a certain type of dangerous vanity, as far as I'm concerned. Those who attempt to challenge Mother Nature (in this case, gravity & weather) on their own terms are fools. It's a cautionary tale as old as time itself: When Nature engages you in battle, you will probably lose.

Well it is sad that this woman died - it's even more sad that members of her family witnessed the death.

And yes, there is a certain risk when you do these things - but people, I think, have a false sense of security - since not many people die doing this - and she was with a professional - it's not something expected.

So I agree with you to a certain degree...:p

It's funny some friends and I were talking about "Survival of the fittest" the other day - and how our society is making it obsolete- because nowadays even the dumbest of the dumb survive because of all the warnings and things on stuff..

My theory? If someone is dumb enough to eat a bag of glass - then they probably deserve to die - why does there need to be a warning on the bag of glass? The people who have enough common sense not to eat it - they'd survive whereas those who don't get weeded out :p We were using the bag of glass simply as an example.

I feel the same way. In the beginning of July, I went to the Omni Theater at the science museum to see Everest and, while it's awful that people die such horrible deaths when attempting to climb that thing, they know the risks of what they're doing and it's just their stupidity taking over. In the film, they were asking these people why they were making the trek up the mountain and they came back with the predictable retort "I like the rush" (and other things along those lines). Then, Liam Neeson, in all his baritone glory, narrates about some of the climbers being caught up in the weather and freezing to death. Yeah...no ****.

Of course the fact that she died is terribly sad. But I agree. If you partake in, what we call "death defying" actitivies, there is a definite element of risk that I personally can't wrap my head around.

My cousin-in-law (or whatever I'd call him) died a few weeks ago in a motorcycling accident. Yes, a terrible tragedy for his wife and five-year-old son and his grieving parents and friends and relatives, but you have to think of other people when you get on a bike. I don't care how safe a driver you are, if you hit something, you'll be thrown from your bike and may very well die.

I kinda feel the same way about smoking. We all know how bad it is for us, yet so many of us light up with the knowledge we could die a horrible death (PETER JENNINGS!!!). I have never smoked and pretty much want to scratch all my friends' eyes out for smoking around me!