> Years ago I flew sailplanes (gliders) on a regular basis. The strip we
flew
> from and (mostly) to also hosted a skydiving club. One day, while waiting
> for some thermal activity to develop, I wandered over to the school where
an
> outdoor briefing was being held for skydivers about to make their first
> jump.
>
> The instructor went over some material and asked for questions. There
were
> a few and then a long silence. Finally, someone in the back raised their
> hand and asked, "What if my parachute doesn't open?" The instuructor
> indicated that they had gone over this, release the primary chute, deploy
> the secondary - when the student interrupted, "No, I mean if neither one
> opens." There was a moment of silence and the instructor adopted a
wisened
> far away expression.
>
> "Well," he said, "the thing is, when people hit the ground at high rates
of
> speed, they don't just stick. They bounce a couple of times. Now, when
you
> hit the ground the first time, it splinters all your bones. You bounce
back
> up into the air a bit, but you are really ok at that point. You just have
a
> lot of broken bones. The problem is when you hit the second time. All
> those bone splinters penetrate all your internal organs, you bleed to
death
> internally, there are so many punctures that there is nothing we can do
for
> you. The trick would be to not bounce. So, when you hit the ground the
> first time..."
>
> "Grab on!"
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