Skydive related article

[GARYC24 3]

I was just google searching, came across this and thought it would be a good thing to share. No other purpose than to inspire saftety. (don't know how old the news is)

Families of dead skydivers want sport regulated
By JUDY MONCHUK

CALGARY (CP) - As a young girl, Nadia Kanji dreamed of flying like a bird and floating to the ground in a parachute.
But the dream became a nightmare when the bubbly McGill University student plunged to her death during her first jump July 31, 1998, at the Skydive Ranch near Beiseker in southern Alberta.
Almost six years later, her parents are trying to get the federal government to take charge of the self-regulated industry, which operates mostly on the personal honour of whoever is running the drop zone.
In a Calgary courtroom this month, a fatality inquiry into Kanji's death has heard shocking evidence: novice jumpers packing parachutes, identifying marks stripped off chutes; and evidence Kanji's gear was tampered with before it was turned over to RCMP.
"When it happened I felt her go," whispered her mother, Nury Kanji, whose calls to the skydiving facility that tragic afternoon were put off by staff. "I felt that something was wrong."
For years, there have been calls for Ottawa to regulate the sport.
Fatality inquiries across the country, with no power to assess blame, have repeatedly concluded that the industry cannot police itself and have urged the federal government to step in.
The most recent call came earlier this month, when an Ontario coroner's jury called for all beginner skydiving programs to be grounded until Ottawa adopts strict safety rules.
But even the jury appeared to recognize that earlier appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
"There is a complete lack of urgency exhibited by the federal government to implement formal recommendations from many previous inquests," according to the findings released April 8 into the death of Gareth Rodgers, a 38-year-old Ontario man.
Kanji's parents are hoping her case will sway Transport Canada.
"We are truly hoping that they will do something this way around," said Nury Kanji.
"We're willing fly to Ottawa, sit down with them if they'll give us the time of day, and plead with them."
The Kanji fatality inquiry has been adjourned until it can hear from Jim Mercier, the former owner of Skydive Ranch, and other officials. It is not expected to resume until the fall or even early 2005.
There are no national standards for the industry.
About 55 of the drop zones in Canada are part of the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association, which has developed rules that are considered among the best in the world.
The Beiseker facility wasn't a member of the association and there is no way to reprimand operators who don't follow the rules.
There are an estimated 16,000 skydivers in Canada, who complete about 230,000 jumps a year - the vast majority landing safely.
But since 1994, there have been 22 fatal dives: seven of those students on their first jump. At the Skydive Ranch, five have died since 1989.
Nadia Kanji died about a month before a fatality inquiry into a 1993 death by a first-time jumper at the Skydive Ranch. Following a lengthy inquiry, a judge recommended that national standards be set for skydiving.
Since then, two other skydivers have died at Beiseker - another first-time jumper and a British soldier.
"We're just frustrated more than anything," said Pat Schaffner, whose son Darren died in 2001 on his first jump at the Skydive Ranch, three years after Kanji's death.
"All we can say is, 'Let's change this, let's regulate this,' " said Schaffner, who attended part of the Kanji hearing to show support.
"How else are they going to have any control? Sometimes I think there's more protection, more guidelines, at a carnival than there is jumping out of crazy airplanes."
Transport Canada spokeswoman M.J. Dubois said regulations for the skydiving industry are in the works, but did not know when a draft proposal would be released to the industry for input.
Parachute expert Allan MacDonald says it may be time for industry to accept that it needs to be regulated.
"There's always been a feeling in our association that the less we do with Transport Canada the better," said MacDonald, president of Flying High Manufacturing, near Claresholm, Alta.
"However, we are not able to police ourselves because we are a volunteer organization.
"Whatever is necessary to prevent student fatalities has to happen."
Industry officials believe that most operators are following the rules.
The Skydive Ranch has trained 63,000 jumpers since opening in 1980. The lawyer who represents the ranch, Robert Burgener, says the facility's training procedures are superior to others in Canada.
One ranch official has told the inquiry that all parachute packing was done under the rigorous supervision of instructors.
"There's a statistic out of the U.S that one out of every 15,000 first-jump students manages to kill themselves," said Burgener. "The Skydive Ranch was at 25,000 before they had their first fatality."