3fLiEr 0 #1 October 1, 2001 I would be interested to hear if anyone knows anyone / or has been either grounded long term / permanently. (Ideally UK jumpers but all info is welcome!) - If you are "permanently grounded" are there ways of appeal or time scales where you can re-apply for your licence - kinda like applying for parole from prison at set intervals. What are the reasons people have these long-term / permanent groundings for?Does it also mean you are unable to jump in other countries?Is it really a "non-fightable" cause - does it actually mean the real end of your skydiving?Just me being curious................... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mountainman 0 #2 October 1, 2001 sorry, i must have missed something here. are you talking about you got your skydiving license suspended or something? if so, what did you do??--------------Brandon Wren Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #3 October 1, 2001 Dude...I can't imagine someone actually getting their license suspended. I have seen several instances of S&TA's telling people they were done for the weekend. (Extremely low pulls usually) But actually suspending their license.....never seen it. "This conversation ends right here Captain! You can talk to the ALO when he gets back."-MeClay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 4 #4 October 1, 2001 I know of people "grounded" by the USPA for various infractions. Some have had their memberships and ratings suspended for a month, six months, a year; a couple have been permanently suspended. At least two that I can recall have petitioned the board for reinstatement and had the motion pass. Others are not so lucky.Here in the USA, the people normally at the highest risk of losing something are the people in the riskiest jobs; namely the Instructors. Nowadays, in the video age, it is very hard to get away with being a shitty instructor or tandem master. Let someone get hurt because of something you did (or failed to do) and you are just begging to get your ratings yanked. Get caught instructing or doing tandems with a yanked rating and it's your USPA membership gone for sure (as a minimum). Let's face it, some people just don't NEED to be instructing; they suck. Even though they eeked through a course, they clearly demonstrate their lack of airskills soon enough. Most people just give it up the rating on their own once they realize they are just not good at something. Others could give a shit what they look like so long as they get to the ground in one piece (this applies primarilly to TM's). I have a very good friend that used to throw the drogue regardless of what attitude he was in, just as soon as he was out the door. Well, one such fiasco landed him on Real TV after he had that rascal wrap around his leg. That did not make him popular with the rig manufacturer (Strong), but he kept his rating luckily.Others, not acting in the instructional mode, find all varieties of ways to get grounded by our governing body. Do a pirate jump off the empire state building or into the Superbowl and it's your ass. Constantly deploy your main at 1000 feet and its your ass. Fly your canopy with a blatant disregard for other traffic and endanger yourself and other jumpers and you are through.Normally, what will happen is that a person will first get grounded at his or her DZ. A repeat offense of something serious will get a person thrown off a DZ for good. If it happened to be a DZ that a conference director owned or jumped at regularly, then that might be the first time you get your USPA suspended. Intentionally do something that was truly stupid or life threatening, and you are likely to get suspended suspended by the USPA indefinitely. I have seen plenty of instances where the wrong person just happened to see a copy of an end of year DZ tape which had a pretty graphic bloopers section that incriminates someone. The video finds it's way to the USPA governing body, and BLAMMO; you're getting a phone call from the man! Yes, you can appeal anything to the USPA board, but it's generally a pretty hard sell to get a suspension overturned. You can read about some of these rulings as they happen in small print near the front of Parachutist magazine.All that being said, there are still plenty of non-USPA dropzones in the USA where "grounded" jumpers and instructors can skydive and work. Some of these places will still only allow USPA (and other national aeroclubs) members to jump; they just don't want to pay the USPA yearly GM dues or can't afford them. Other places are truly "outlaw" and could give a shit less who you are or why you lost your ratings, so long as you don't sue them if you hurt yourself. I have no idea whether or not the U.K. has any such DZ's. Hope that helps,Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mountainman 0 #5 October 1, 2001 QuoteWell, one such fiasco landed him on Real TV after he had that rascal wrap around his leg. That did not make him popular with the rig manufacturer (Strong), but he kept his rating luckily.Hell, I saw that one on TV. I wonder how he kept his rating after doing something like that. Especially when there are people like you who know that he does that on an ongoing basis. It's not like he threw early once and it happened to be on tape, right??Oh well. Hopefully now, when I refer people to tandems, I'll know how that person is as a TM. I know that my tandem master at SGC (Brian "Treeboy") was a GREAT guy and a GREAT tandem master. He was really helpful and told me a lot of stuff and let me do stuff like steer and help flair and all that good stuff. My wife's Frederick was excellent as well from what she told me. Either way, I hope that this sport continues to be and stay safe. --------------Brandon Wren Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
