Started jumping in 1975 and still current. I've looked after a lot of jumpships over the years and have had to look after up to 400 jumpers at some boogies. Not all jumpers act as complete nutters. A lot are quite talented athletes in their fields. One thing i have noticed is that the majority are not aviation or aircraft savy. To most an aircraft is just a means to altitude. And they do not like aircraft. They are the number one killer in the sport. On take off apart from the odd yahoo ect, they are crapping bricks pretty well until 3 grand. When they do have to move it is done with care and consideration, last thing you need is a popped canopy going out the door. may be hard for a non jumper to understand that jumpers 'play safe'. If one good thing has come from the new APF and CASA regs concerning aircraft operations/ maintenance is things aren't so loose anymore. When you first arrive on a DZ you are weighed geared up and that is recorded for manifesting. Even pilots seem to have come up a grade now operators now pay them.
Interesting to see this thread still going. jumpers have a very good idea what happened, we can learn from that and apply it. just have to wait for the report to find out what initiated the accident. Until then we have moved on.
FH