What do you check before allowing a visiting jumper to jump at your DZ?

[LukeOliver 0]

Curious, and would like to build some sort of profile.

Please feel free to elaborate - ie, does someone with 400 jumps but the past fifty unsigned warrant special attention?

[Andrewwhyte 1]

We check affiliation/insurance, and licences. If you have a licence you are competent to look after your own gear. As Cathy Dause said to me about fifteen years ago, "We want you to be responsible for your own safety while you're here. Bring me your ticket.

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[freeflygirlz 0]

Our MUST HAVEs are Licence (including a minimum currency of 10 jumps the last 12 month and 20 in the last 24 month, signed logbook), insurance and repack.
As we are a small DZ we are constantly checking our jumpers (equipment, being fit, being safe, attitude)
Check Jumps only on students.
AADs are not needed, but we hardly ever have someone without. And if, I always ask them about (why, rental gear wanted etc.)
blue skies

[BIGUN 1,475]

1. Licenses and endorsements
2. Logbook (currency)
3. Parachute Harness (Pins, loops, three ring, webbing, velcro, condition etc)
4. Parachute Harness (Against all manufacturer's service bulletins).
6. Reserve - in date and seal # matches reserve data card.

In the case of a visiting student who is passing thru and wishes to make a (or a couple) of training jumps with us... I'll actually call their instructor and talk with them. i.e., had a young lady stop thru in the S/L progression. Called her instructor and spoke with him to find out strengths and weaknesses and his recommendation for next jump...

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[bch7773 0]

licenses, currency, and reserve in date.
if something smells fishy, or if they have only a few jumps, we will check logbook and/or make calls.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[78RATS 0]

account balance

Rat for Life - Fly till I die
When them stupid ass bitches ask why

[Hummusx 0]

My friend and I were down in Florida and visited one of the large dropzones. We were *very* surprised to find that they only checked our USPA cards (we both have A licenses) and our reserve card. No one asked us how many jumps we had, when our last jump was, looked at our log book, or even glanced at our gear to see if the card matched the seal, etc. We're from the frozen north, so typically we'd have been 6 months since our last jump.

I guess it was nice not be 'hassled', but on the other hand it seems like there should have been some kind of additional validation that we should be getting on the plane. Maybe I'm just used to our normal dropzones around home.

____________________________________
It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

[towerrat 0]

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Post: My friend and I were down in Florida and visited one of the large dropzones. We were *very* surprised to find that they only checked our USPA cards (we both have A licenses) and our reserve card. No one asked us how many jumps we had, when our last jump was, looked at our log book, or even glanced at our gear to see if the card matched the seal, etc. We're from the frozen north, so typically we'd have been 6 months since our last jump.

I guess it was nice not be 'hassled', but on the other hand it seems like there should have been some kind of additional validation that we should be getting on the plane. Maybe I'm just used to our normal dropzones around home.

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Some dropzones don't feel the need to babysit skydivers. I personally don't like to be hasseled when I go elswhere. I don't mind if they check my reserve card and license, but I REALLY don't like strange hands on my gear. My gear is a very expensive piece of lifesaving equipment, I keep it in top order, and I don't need someone else pawing at it.

That being said, the reality is that alot of people need babysitting

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

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[DanG 1]

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Please feel free to elaborate - ie, does someone with 400 jumps but the past fifty unsigned warrant special attention?

Gosh, I have 1400 jumps with the last 1000 or so unsigned. Would I warrant special attention? I only get signatures on special jumps. The normal day-to-day jumps get no more than one line in my logbook.

When we sign in new jumpers we check license, ID, and reserve card and seal. A rigger usually does a quick once over of the jumper's gear. Only students or uncurrent jumpers need to make a jump with a coach or instructor. We do not require signatures in the logbook.

- Dan G

[stratostar 5]

I just test them the easy way,
push out the door, if they fall stable and pull on time,they pass.
If they go in, they fail and we know they lied.

~

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[LukeOliver 0]

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Gosh, I have 1400 jumps with the last 1000 or so unsigned. Would I warrant special attention? Unsure I only get signatures on special jumps. The normal day-to-day jumps get no more than one line in my logbook.

Maybe. Depends on what you want to do.

It's 200 jumps for a "D" license in the USA? In Australia at least, there's an "E" and "F" license, which come with additional privileges. For example, an Australian "D" license is not enough to get started on earning your Tandem ticket - must be an "E", which can be earnt at 500 jumps.

So, the statements below reflect an Australian culture, maybe not yours. Not sure of the USPA regulations, but /everything/ here needs to be signed off by at least a "B" license holder.

So... if you wanted to Freefly, had the funky suit and the camera etc, you'd be fine. You're just lazy and/or disorganised, but with 400 jumps logged and verified by a third party, away you go. Even if you're fabricating the entire logbook and have 21 jumps and a VX84 you bought on Ebay, I've had a look at your log and it shows your peers have apparently assessed you to some extent. Enough babysitting.

You'll be wearing an AAD or at least an RSL tho. Not my rule, but I'd police it. With 1000 signed jumps, that particular concern evaporates - meantime, at least my paperwork looks nice if you screw up. Let's not forget I don't know you from a bar of soap.

Can you see the distinction?

If you wanted to do professional Camera, the absence of signed jumps would certainly grab my attention. You're supposedly a professional skydiver, but disorganised to the point where you're travelling the world with a log book that is incomplete and can't be verified.

If you wanted to do Tandems, you wouldn't at my DZ. You don't have enough logged jumps to legally do so here, and your inattention to detail now bothers me.

And if you wanted to do AFF, you can !@#$ off. AFF Instructors need to set a pretty good example across the board I reckon.

The example here - 400 jumps with fifty unsigned - is not even a grey area IMHO. Away you go, fun jump your heart out. My advice to be more regular about collecting autographs when you're travelling will be ringing in your ears and now endorsed in you log as well.

I've got one line per jump in my logbook these days too, and unsigned jumps as well. But all my accreditations can be easily validated, and I'm not so cavalier about the remainder.

It's great to see the responses from so many levels on this thread. Appreciate it.

L.

[DanG 1]

That's cool. I can see where you are coming from.

Maybe it's a US thing, but I don't know any professional skydivers (and I only consider myself semi-pro at best) who get people to sign their logbooks for working jumps. If I really need to verify that I made X number of jumps, I can have the DZ manifest print me a copy of my account, which will show not only jumps, but which ones were working jumps and which fun jumps. When I travel, which is rare, I tend to get signatures more often, because the jumps are probably special in some way. I don't see my attitude as cavalier or lazy, but I could see how someone else could take it that way.

If someone showed up at the DZ and wanted to work, I don't think logbook signatures would figure in as much as ratings, references, or a skills evaluation.

- Dan G