Have you ever noticed, when someone wants your opinion, they say, "A penny for your thoughts?"  But if you volunteer your opinion, you put your "Two cents in."  What does that mean for instructors?

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"Aren't you afraid your 'chute won't open?!"

I get this comment from non-skydivers often, and it illustrates the common misconception of the dangers of skydiving.  We all know that really, on a logistical level, malfunctions are fairly simple to deal with: cutaway and pull your reserve.  We train students for this possibility and rightly put a great deal of attention on it, especially practice so that muscle memory takes over.   However, we can't say they will have a malfunction on every jump, but they WILL have a LANDING on every jump...  Shouldn't we devote at least as much attention to this important contact with the ground as we do Emergency Procedures?

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"Rules were meant to be broken!"
I hear this at times, as an argument to convince me somehow to ignore some rule or policy that some jumper wants to break.  Is this true?  We're skydivers!  We are FREE!  The nature of our sport is to be unfettered and explore!  So why have rules at all

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It’s a small world… but it’s an even smaller skydiving world.  Right now there are approximately 30,000 skydivers in the U.S.  And how many of those are licensed?   How many of those licensed are active and current?  How many of those current licensed are coaches or instructors?  We are definitely an elite group of individuals responsible for the safety and learning of those coming after us.  It is our vital and immeasurable mandate to continually improve our sport, keep the good traditions, and ensure this sport for future generations.  How can we best  meet our goals and serve this sport well?

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