SKYDIVE ZION http://www.skydivezion.com/ reddy@infowest.com (435) 635-3742

Safety Record

Q: What is your safety record?

A: Since opening in 2000, we have maintained an excellent record with ZERO fatalities, two student injuries (ankle and hip), and 100% great times from over 3000 skydives!

Q: How can I confirm that your record is so good?

A: You could call the Hurricane City Airport Manager. Or if you are really hard to convince you could contact the local police department and the local hospitals, because they are two groups that would be involved in any accidents. But neither group has any reason to be aware of us unless they have come out to jump or to watch. Ultimately you must be comfortable with the people, place and training you are provided with to make your skydive. Once you have arrived at Skydive Zion, if you are uncomfortable with anything we will provide you with a full refund. However no one has wanted a refund - they are comfortable here and want to make more skydives!

Q: How dangerous is skydiving?

A: Danger, of course, is relative. People often try to compare the risks of skydiving to other activities, but this is difficult to do because of the different duration, frequency and/or number of participants. It is difficult, for example to compare the risks or SCUBA diving and skydiving. A skydive lasts about a minute, while a SCUBA dive last about 45 minutes, depending upon depth. SCUBA diving becomes more dangerous as the depth of the dive increases, whereas the altitude of a jump makes little difference since once the skydiver reaches his terminal velocity -- about 120 miles per hour -- longer falls create no more risk. And if a SCUBA diver needs air, he can get some from his buddy. In skydiving, once the jumper has completed his student training, his fate is in his own hands. So USPA usually explains risk in terms of the number of fatalities per jump. With more than 350,000 people making around 3.3 million jumps a year and an annual average over the past decade of 30 fatalities per year, that translates into one fatality per 110,000 jumps. It is noteworthy that while the number of fatalities has remained fairly constant the number of jumps made annually over the past decade has doubled.

Very few fatal accidents involve student skydivers even though students comprise the bulk of participants in the sport. This is due largely to the quality of instruction, most of which is conducted or supervised by USPA-rated instructors. Drop zones which affiliate with USPA are required to use only USPA-rated instructional personnel.

Q: How many skydiving fatalities have there been in the U.S. over the past ten years?

A: 1990-23; 1991-30; 1992-27; 1993-41; 1994-30; 1995-27; 1996-39; 1997-31; 1998-44; 1999-27; 2000-32; 2001-35; 2002-33; 2003-25; 2004-21; 2005-27; 2006-21

Q: How many people are injured each year skydiving?

A: It's hard to estimate injuries very accurately, because what one person might call an injury, another might brush off as a minor occurrence. Also, there is no requirement to report skydiving injuries to any government agency. Many accidents go unreported, so USPA has no accurate information.

Q: How often does a parachute malfunction?

A: A variety of causes can lead to a parachute malfunction, but the jumper can control most of them. They include design choice, inspection and maintenance, packing, how the jumper puts the parachute on, how careful the jumper is with his or her gear in the airplane, and stability on opening. There is no requirement to report parachute malfunctions, so how often they occur is difficult to estimate. One widely accepted estimate is that in 600 to 1,000 random parachute openings of the main parachute, one will result in a malfunction requiring the use of the reserve parachute. (The reserve parachute is inspected, packed, and used under more controlled conditions.) On its membership renewal application, USPA asks members to report the number of parachute malfunctions they had in the previous year. Of the participating USPA members who completed the survey, 3,105 reported having malfunctions in year 2000. Of them, 462 members reported having two malfunctions that year and 180 members reported having three or more malfunctions that year.