Suicide and Dangerous Sports: Parachuting

Abstract

To the Editor.— Suicide can often be carried out in a manner that facilitates disguise of the suicidal intent. The possibility of suicidal intent in some motor vehicle accidents has been noted, 1 and some interesting data have recently been published by Poynter concerning fatalities in parachute jumpers. 2 In 1969, 37 parachute jumpers were killed during or as a result of their jumps. Of these fatalities, many are due to malfunctioning equipment, errors in judgment, and inexperience. In other cases the possibility of suicidal motivation is clearer. Poynter thought that one death was clearly suicidal. Two other deaths occurred in men who had a history of drinking and who may have been intoxicated at the time of the jump. Of the 37 deaths, ten (including the three mentioned above) involved failure of the parachutist to pull either ripcord in order to activate the chutes. Given an estimate of 16,000