Jumping Through Clouds: Surviving a Son's First Jump Skydiving Death

Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading before jumping --
Review: "Aw, Mom, nuthin's gonna happen!"

How many mothers have heard that phrase? How many young persons have the attitude of "It won't/can't happen to me?" Nevertheless, human bodies are frail and subject to breakage, sometimes with only a minimum of force being exerted on them. And mothers continue to suffer because of this inherent frailty. The death of a child-a child at any age-is without question the highest hurdle ever presented to a parent.

One such parent is Jane Melbourne, whose son Jim was always a daredevil-type young man, until at the age of 29, he took up sky-diving. Unfortunately, his very first jump was Jim's last such adventure. His mother, in her grief, while searching for answers, found very few that made sense to her, and so she dug deeper, ever deeper. What she discovered is the basis for this book, which describes the flight and dive that took her son from her, as well as what came after.

Among her first discoveries was the fact that sky-diving was almost totally unregulated by any government agency. Jumpers were required to provide their own health insurance coverage, and to sign a tough, tight waiver that obligated the novice jumper to 100% of the risk, and the experienced trainer to no risk whatever. Jumpers were also required to swear that they were over the age of 18 years, but proof was not always required.

With the help of friends, both hers and her son's, Melbourne set out to change that oversight. To her surprise, she also discovered that there were other bereaved families out there; parents who had also lost a child on the first jump. First jumps are several times more likely to end in fatality than later jumps. But because of the lack of regulations, there was no way for these bereaved parents or siblings to find each other, except by coincidence.

The practice of 'jumping through clouds' is prohibited by common sense, because the jumper cannot see anything, anywhere, but yet that is the feeling that assailed Melbourne and the other families. Details of those fatal flights were not immediately forthcoming, and so closure was an even more difficult process than usual.

All Melbourne wanted was better and more comprehensive instruction for sky-diving students, plus some way to rate the safety of various jumping fields. The military has almost no fatalities for new jumpers, but their training is extremely extensive before ever taking to the air. Hard as it might have been for her and the other bereaved parents, at no time did she--or they--even begin to suggest banning jumping. In their generosity, all they wanted was better education for the jumper before that first jump.

Although Melbourne was successful in gathering legislative support in several states, eventually her campaign faltered and faded, faced as it was by the vast, intensive support and lobbying from the various support magazines (most notably 'Parachutist' and 'Skydiving') and various skydiving organizations.

Ten years later, she readily admits that she obsessed over the details, but she can hardly be blamed for doing so; she merely wanted to know what had happened to her son, and why. Her lament at losing a child readily explains her actions. "I didn't have a spare."

Melbourne is unflinchingly honest, displaying warts and all in her struggle to make this movement safer for everyone involved. One could wish she had been more successful in her quest. This is a book that should be required reading for anyone who even thinks of indulging in such a dangerous challenge. One can hardly call it a sport after reading this very fair, well-researched, heart-felt book.

Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading before jumping --
Review: "Aw, Mom, nuthin's gonna happen!"

How many mothers have heard that phrase? How many young persons have the attitude of "It won't/can't happen to me?" Nevertheless, human bodies are frail and subject to breakage, sometimes with only a minimum of force being exerted on them. And mothers continue to suffer because of this inherent frailty. The death of a child-a child at any age-is without question the highest hurdle ever presented to a parent.

One such parent is Jane Melbourne, whose son Jim was always a daredevil-type young man, until at the age of 29, he took up sky-diving. Unfortunately, his very first jump was Jim's last such adventure. His mother, in her grief, while searching for answers, found very few that made sense to her, and so she dug deeper, ever deeper. What she discovered is the basis for this book, which describes the flight and dive that took her son from her, as well as what came after.

Among her first discoveries was the fact that sky-diving was almost totally unregulated by any government agency. Jumpers were required to provide their own health insurance coverage, and to sign a tough, tight waiver that obligated the novice jumper to 100% of the risk, and the experienced trainer to no risk whatever. Jumpers were also required to swear that they were over the age of 18 years, but proof was not always required.

With the help of friends, both hers and her son's, Melbourne set out to change that oversight. To her surprise, she also discovered that there were other bereaved families out there; parents who had also lost a child on the first jump. First jumps are several times more likely to end in fatality than later jumps. But because of the lack of regulations, there was no way for these bereaved parents or siblings to find each other, except by coincidence.

The practice of 'jumping through clouds' is prohibited by common sense, because the jumper cannot see anything, anywhere, but yet that is the feeling that assailed Melbourne and the other families. Details of those fatal flights were not immediately forthcoming, and so closure was an even more difficult process than usual.

All Melbourne wanted was better and more comprehensive instruction for sky-diving students, plus some way to rate the safety of various jumping fields. The military has almost no fatalities for new jumpers, but their training is extremely extensive before ever taking to the air. Hard as it might have been for her and the other bereaved parents, at no time did she--or they--even begin to suggest banning jumping. In their generosity, all they wanted was better education for the jumper before that first jump.

Although Melbourne was successful in gathering legislative support in several states, eventually her campaign faltered and faded, faced as it was by the vast, intensive support and lobbying from the various support magazines (most notably 'Parachutist' and 'Skydiving') and various skydiving organizations.

Ten years later, she readily admits that she obsessed over the details, but she can hardly be blamed for doing so; she merely wanted to know what had happened to her son, and why. Her lament at losing a child readily explains her actions. "I didn't have a spare."

Melbourne is unflinchingly honest, displaying warts and all in her struggle to make this movement safer for everyone involved. One could wish she had been more successful in her quest. This is a book that should be required reading for anyone who even thinks of indulging in such a dangerous challenge. One can hardly call it a sport after reading this very fair, well-researched, heart-felt book.

Rating:
Summary: Tragic Event, But Not Thoroughly Researched
Review: I purchased this book because I care about the sport of skydiving and have great concerns over outsiders' negative feelings about it. What I found was an unrealistic bitterness based on not wanting to accept the fact that the author's son was responsible for himself.

I am not being callous. I have lost both friends and family members under tragic circumstances. But I did not fault the auto industry or a drivers ed instructor for a close friend's shortcomings when he died in a violent crash. After researching the circumstances of his death, I had to accept the fact of his fault. To this day I mourn that loss, but I blame no others.

Frankly, I was surprised that the author's son was a 29 year old man. I had expected him to be a teen, old enough to jump yet young enough to be doing it to exhibit his macho manhood.

But he was a MAN. A man who understood the risks, took the class, made the jump, but did not react properly to what he had been taught.

I'm a novice jumper. I did my two tandems (my choice), then took a seven hour ground class, and made an AFF jump with two very experienced jumpmasters. But somehow, once under solo canopy, I found myself having to make a landing in a cornfield (hence my nickname) out of view of the instructor on the radio. But I followed what I had been taught and made a safe, albeit bumpy, landing. Since then, I have slowly progressed, learning more with each jump.

Had the author talked to jumpers, both experienced and those new to the sport, she may have had a better understanding before she wrote the book. She had her opinions (based on her son's death) and her dealings with the monolithic industry that she imagines to be raking in all kinds of bucks. (She probably should also have asked to review a few drop zones' account books. That would have dispelled her profits theories.) But she never talked to the people in the sport.

Jane Melbourne suffered a horrible loss. (As my Mother once cried, "The kids aren't supposed to go first!") But her bitter anger is misdirected. This is why she's received such negative reviews thus far on this sight. In all of her researching, she made no effort to understand the sport.

Rating:
Summary: Jumping Though Clouds -
Review: Is one women's ordeal of trying to come to grips with the tragic loss of her son. The book is not a skydiver's story, it is not an adventure, but one women's odyssey through life, death and the political world while she attempts to change the way student skydivers are trained for their first jump. The story is not a technical treatise of the sport or making of a jump. But, is a story of her search for what went wrong the day her son made his first jump.

One must remember that this story is Ms Melbourne's view of skydiving. The book is a warning shot to the skydiving community that if she was someone better connected, more politically savy, these events may have changed the way things are done in the skydiving world. The book is a testament to the United States Parachute Association (USPA) and it's members ability to work with the government and to effectively lobby for change (or no change).

This is a book that should be read by anyone who is or is considering being a skydiving instructor, coach or operating a drop zone. It should be added to the curriculum for any one training to be an instructor or coach as a discussion piece so they may better understand how one event may be perceived. It is a story the illustrates politics and how lobbying can (or cannot) work.

Unfortunately the loss of life for any reason is a tragic one. It is not till the end of the book that we even get a glimpse of what happened that day - and maybe that is the point of Ms Melbourne's story.

Rating:
Summary: Completely off base.
Review: This book couldn't be further off base. The author of this book had the unfortunate accident of losing her son because he couldn't fly a canopy. He didn't listen to his instructor and did something completely different from what was suggested. The author of this book has only one experience with the sport of skydiving and it was unfortunately a bad one. I have had many experiences with the sport in the ten years I have been jumping and 99 percent of them were positive. I've met jumpers who have jumped for more than three decades without any major injury. People DO DIE skydiving, but people also die walking down the street and getting mugged or driving a car. While I do with the author the best of luck in dealing with her loss and my most sincere condolences, this book does not at all portray the sport of skydiving for what it really is.