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I had a sneaking suspicion that was it! Arrive Safely John

By now it is just a way of life for me. It is a wide open sport with many variations (disciplines) . . . lots to choose from. And, when things start getting a little mundane, a new discipline, rating, or equipment design comes along to make it exciting in a new and different way. Arrive Safely John

Congrats on this awesome opportunity! Have fun with it! I can't wait to see the result! Woohoo!

To add to what Chuck said, hire a Coach and have a training plan for the dive. This will give you focus, and you'll plan, dirtdive, then skydive your actual plan. You will also, almost by default, be focused on safety as well, which replaces anxiety (at least for me). The big attaboy I send your way is not treating it like any other skydive and being complacent or overconfident. Those are both killers. Have a safe one . . . Arrive Safely John

This is just me . . . I am not trying to influence anyone, just sharing my opinion - I certainly respect yours if you don't like being on the front of a tandem. I have made numerous tandem jumps in the student position. I still do from time to time to get friends current. My first jump on a Sigma Tandem Rig was on the front, and I got a great appreciation for how great the new Sigma Student harness is. I last rode on the front this Spring . . . for me it makes me a better Tandem Master. Now, the caveat . . . I will only ride on the front for someone I have trust and confidence in. I don't need to know them necessarily, but they get to demostrate to me a level of responsibility and proficiency in what they are about to do before I will commit. Great topic! Arrive Safely John

So . . . when you're holding your diploma and pulling down the big bucks, take your parents out and treat them to a tandem jump! Congrats on the momentum you have created for yourself! Arrive Safely John

Reserve and CYPRES are now keeping the main company until the rig arrives in a couple of weeks! Arrive Safely John

Safe travels, mate. We'll keep your seat warm! Arrive Safely John

02 August 1984 Fryar DZ Ft. Benning, GA US Army Basic Airborne School Arrive Safely John

My new Sabre2 arrived this weekend . . . waiting on the other three components which should arrive shortly. I haven't owned a new rig in a long time; I am looking forward to getting it put together. Arrive Safely John

I found this posted by Mike Turoff at rec.skydiving. It's a long read, but may give the reader some insight into how huge the liability is in our industry. #17 answers my question about the difference between underage AFF students and tandem students. SP ##################################### Directly below this introduction are letters from T. K. Donle of the Relative Workshop and Robert L. Feldman, their lawyer. For those of you who will take the time to read the entire posting, you will find out that the Relative Workshop has already spent over one million dollars in getting past lawsuits dismissed dealing with folks that could legally contract for Tandem services. The warning is clear: Underage tandems will expose the manufacturers and the association to much greater liability and financial damages. Mike Turoff (This was a note from TK to a person asking why such a thing was necessary.) Note from T. K. Donle: I received your email through Mike Turoff. He felt I should answer your questions, because it was I that petitioned the USPA Board of Directors on behalf of Relative Workshop to create a more respectable age limit for tandem skydivers. I've attached two letters, one from Bill Booth our company president, and the other is from our tandem attorney, Robert Feldman. If you take the time to read those letters, you'll have a real good idea why USPA made the responsible decision to change the age limit. Here is a short list of why the age limit was put at "age of majority." There is no particular order in this list of reasons, I'm just slamming them down as I think of them. Your questions are similar to ones we heard at the Board Meeting. Once you're educated on the subject, I think you'll agree that we made the right decision. 1) Without a legal waiver, no one is protected from a lawsuit getting out of control. Remember, anyone can sue anyone in the USA, anytime they wish for whatever reason. How expensive the lawsuit is to defend depends on whether there is a valid waiver, and if the plaintiff has a good reason to sue in the first place. The discovery portion of a lawsuit, when all defendants and the plaintiff are subjected to depositions by defense and plaintiff's attorneys is what really costs money. Keep in mind that attorneys charge from $225-$350 per hour. If RWS is sued outside of Florida, we have to pay for two attorneys. 2) Who needs to be protected? The Dz, the instructor, the owner of the equipment, the pilot, the owner of the aircraft, the owner of the airport, the manufacturers of all the equipment used, and USPA. These are the typical defendants in every tandem lawsuit. 3) RWS has spent $1.1 million on tandem defense since 1986. We have never been to court, and we've never settled out of court with a plaintiff. This money was purely for covering the cost of our legal defense. Essentially defending every Dz and instructor's right to make tandem jumps. 4) Waivers are not legal when signed by anyone who is not of the "age of majority." 5) Parents and legal guardians cannot waive the rights of a minor. So parental consent for a minor to make a tandem parachute jump makes the waiver "invalid." 6) If you don't have a valid waiver, any lawsuit is prolonged, thus costing the defendants a ton of money. Ask any decent lawyer and he/she will tell you that you stand very little chance of winning a suit when a minor is involved. Judges and juries are very sympathetic to kids when they injured or killed. When a kid is injured, he/she can defer the lawsuit, meaning normal statute of limitations does not apply. The kid can sue you when they reach the "age of majority." 7) USPA has had an age limit for parachuting since the beginning of time. We just upped it to make more sense in the litigious society in which we live. 8) As a manufacturer, I have my neck in a noose every time my gear is used on a tandem jump anywhere in the USA. Not only my neck, but the necks of our 50 employees. 9) If we have one tandem lawsuit involving a minor, we will be forced to close our doors. 10) Liability insurance to cover these types of lawsuits can cost us $150K-200K per year. We choose to remain "self-insured" knowing that one lawsuit will make purchasing insurance the following year impossible. 11) USPA paid $336K for insurance this year. 12) USPA had a $200K insurance hike from what it was 5 years ago. 13) USPA can handle one "lawsuit from a minor" because insurance would pay it. But when the 2nd suit comes its way, you can kiss their $3.5 million in net worth away in a heart beat. 14) Without USPA backing us, government regulation, both federal and local, will eat us up. DZs would close by the dozens, and soon it would be hard to find a nice place to jump. Because we'd all be outlaws. 15) I don't trust DZs to make the right legal decision for themselves, never mind my interests. 16) BSRs are about SAFETY, both for the jumper and the SPORT as a whole. 17) Other types of learning disciplines don't attract nearly the number of lawsuits that tandem does. Why? Purely because in tandem, we don't give the student the training, knowledge or responsibility to save his/her own life. We do that in other disciplines and it's the student's responsibility to save their own butt, and that's the major difference that many jumpers don't realize. 18) PIA doesn't protect manufacturers, they are purely a trade association. It's not in their agenda to create age limits. 19) USPA convinced the FAA not to put an age limit on tandem. I feel that was a big mistake. USPA's reason for that? They didn't want to create more federal rules regarding any type of parachuting. So I'm glad USPA made the right decision to put this age limit in place. 20) Many on the USPA Board gave the same arguments you put forth. But after they were educated to the risks involved, they voted 18-1 to pass the "age of majority." Believe me, they did the right thing. 21) Kids should not be jumping from aircraft. They don't possess the maturity to really understand the risks. Let them go to wind tunnels if they wish to feel the sensation of a skydive. 22) Any parent that allows their kid to jump from an airplane is doing it for the "ego boost." And they're just plain irresponsible! Well, hopefully you're starting to get the picture. If you have more questions, please send them my way. Our company has been working for almost 30 years to make skydiving safer and more enjoyable "for adults." Kids have enough neat stuff to play with these days, let them play. When they get old enough, if they still want to jump, hopefully we'll still be here to assist them in that effort. Best regards, T.K. DONLE Vice President Tandem Program Director The Uninsured Relative Workshop, Inc. Note from Robert L. Feldman: Law Offices ROBERT L. FELDMAN 8900 SW 107th Avenue Suite 203 Miami, Florida 33176 Telephone: 305 - 598-4841 Telecopier: 305 - 598-4842 ____________ Board Certified Aviation Lawyer 9 July, 2002 Board of Directors United States Parachute Association 1440 Duke Street Alexandria, VA 22314 Re: Risks of Permitting Minors to Make Tandem Parachute Jumps Dear Members of the Board: I am an attorney, certified by the Florida Bar in Aviation Law. I am also a life member of USPA and hold a D license. I practice a significant amount of parachuting injury defense on behalf of drop zones, instructors and parachuting equipment and component manufacturers. One of my clients, The Uninsured Relative Workshop, has called to my attention that there will be a discussion at your meeting in July about the position of USPA towards tandem parachute jumping for tandem passengers under the age of eighteen. Because critical consideration of this matter has arisen only since the revision of FAR Part 105, I feel that, in our litigious society, it is important that you understand the ramifications of any decision you might reach that approves, or further that does not explicitly ban, such parachuting activities for minors. As all of you are aware, before a tandem passenger is permitted to jump, he or she is required to sign one or more waiver and assumption of risk agreements. These agreements, sometimes signed after the prospective jumper views a video explaining the dangers of tandem parachute jumping, state that parachuting is a dangerous activity which might result in injury or death to the participant, and that in exchange for being permitted to make a parachute jump, they expressly assume the risks inherent in such activities and further agree not to sue any of the named released individuals (e.g. the drop zone owner, the supplier of airlift, the aircraft owner, the land owner, the tandem instructor, and the equipment manufacturers.) Many of these documents also include a covenant not to sue that provides that the participant will not sue any of the named released individuals. When a student is injured or dies during a tandem jump, it is not unusual for a lawsuit to result. These lawsuits, in most cases, are for negligence, negligent supervision, and if a death results, for wrongful death. In the injury cases, the plaintiff typically seems to develop amnesia as to any facts indicating that it ever crossed his or her mind, prior to the parachute jump, that he or she might be injured in participating in the parachuting activity. In defending these lawsuits, the goal of the defense attorney (and their clients) is to make the lawsuit go away as quickly as possible, with the least amount of financial damage to the defendant. Lawsuits that must be defended through trial and appeal stages can often cost well over $100,000.00 in attorneys' fees and litigation costs, exclusive of the amount of damages that a sympathetic jury might assess. The waiver and assumption of risk documents provide good defenses to offset the allegations of the plaintiffs' complaint. Those documents and the covenant not to sue serve to discourage the plaintiff's attorney, who is usually working under a contingency fee agreement where the attorney receives a percentage of the amount of money they recover, from continuing to fight a case where they might lose more than they recover. The contract not to sue, if upheld in the trial, might enable the defendant to recover not only the amount of any judgment assessed against it in the principal case, but also the defense costs and attorney's fees it paid out or owes. In many instances, when a plaintiff realizes that continuing to prosecute their case may cost them in the end, they drop or settle their case at an early stage. The risk of permitting persons who have not yet reached the age of majority to make tandem jumps is that such persons are below the age where they are able to enter into binding contracts, except for necessities. And parachuting activities will never be construed as necessities. This enables the waiver, assumption of risk and covenant not to sue contract to be voided and the protection that the contract affords to be negated. A signature of a parent or legal guardian is of no help because courts have held that such persons cannot contract away the legal rights of the minor. I will leave it to the attendees at your meeting to describe their experiences in defending lawsuits with valid waivers and to your imagination as to the potential liability exposure that might result without them, enough to put tandem equipment manufacturers out of business. But it is not just the actual jump participants and manufacturers who are at risk, should minors be permitted to jump. As you are aware, USPA is often a named party in these lawsuits. Thus, the entire future of sport parachuting and skydiving may be jeopardized by the thoughtless greed of those who would seek to permit minors to jump to increase their profits. There are other factors to be considered as well, such as the level of maturity and responsibility of younger persons, their ability to appreciate the dangers involved in making a parachute jump and their appreciation of the requirement of complying with the instructions of their instructors to further their safety. These factors may increase the risk of an accident occurring in the first place. I urge you to vote to not permit minors to participate in any kind of parachute jump activities, tandem or otherwise and to affirmatively take a position that minors may not participate in parachute jumping of any kind whatsoever. This regulation should become part of the BSR's. The future of the sport is at stake. In your consideration of this matter, I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. If I did not have other commitments, I would have attended your meeting in person, but I may be reached on my cell phone, when I am not traveling or in meetings. Mr. T.K. Donle, of The Uninsured Relative Workshop has that number. Thank you. Sincerely, Robert L. Feldman D-2673

Funny stuff! I run into people like that on occasion that make an effort to dazzle me with their impressive military career, especially combat stories. I usually don't engage the suspicious ones in conversation, choosing instead to "break contact." Arrive Safely John

Huuuuuuuuge congrats, my friend . . . fatherhood is a blessing. Enjoy it! Arrive Safely John

Underneath: -Warm weather: t-shirt and shorts, vans -Cold weather: lightweight capilene long johns, turtleneck, polypro glove liners On the outside: one of my multitude of jumpsuits (necessary because of my size and fall-rate), and Neuman gloves. I have different suits for different applications. Arrive Safely John

1 (AFF student who chickened out on me):3:0 My weekend started Thursday night Arrive Safely John

30 miles to work (between 35 and 40 minutes, mostly on country roads). 28 miles to Raeford Parachute Center (30 to 35 minutes, more country roads). Arrive Safely John

When the Tandem concept became reality in the early '80's, it immediately violated the FARs, which stated that each person making an intentional parachute jump from an aircraft in flight had to have TWO parachutes. So, the manufactureres of the gear (Relative Workshop and Strong Enterprises) asked for an exemption, allowing Tandem jumping to exist as "experimental." This exemption listed prerequisites for both the Tandem Master and the Tandem Student, which included the student being 18 years old. Last year when the new FAR Part 105 was released, there was no longer a minimum age reference. Most manufacturers (all except the maker of the Eclipse I believe), and most drop zones for that matter, continued to require their students to be at least 18. USPA recently followed suit and listed their prerequisite as 18 as well. Bill Booth, owner of Relative workshop and DZ.com member, posted a document on the company website about this issue which may answer your question. http://www.relativeworkshop.com/index2.htm (click on the "Tandem" link at the top of the page, then "Jumping with Underage Tandem Students." The point that this article does not address is how the 16 year old girl I took up on her AFF CAT A jump yesterday, well within USPA guidelines, is any less liability. I don't understand that one myself . . . maybe Bill, or the lawyers in this forum can chime in and make it clearer for us. Arrive Safely John

I'm John Hawke, and I am a Master Sergeant in the US Army at Ft. Bragg, NC. I have been an Army Parachute Rigger my entire career (18 years, 3 months). I am also on Staff part-time at Raeford Parachute Center as a Tandem and AFF Instructor. www.jumpraeford.com Arrive Safely John

The Flex-Z Mini's that Viking recommended are the ticket for you! They last a long time as well! Arrive Safely John

Alas, I too have a huuuuge noggin. It took a couple of tries to get my Factory Diver to fit me. It is an XXL custom, actually an XXL/L, or extra extra large long. Tony Thacker at SkyKat patiently helped me find one that fits. He's the greatest - give him a call! www.skykat.com Arrive Safely John

For Tandems: A black Frap Hat with Gold mirrored Lane goggles & a Pro-Dytter For everything else: A black (soon to be custom painted) Factory Diver & a Pro-Dytter Arrive Safely John

Nope! Arrive Safely John

For one thing, I consider it a privilege to be in an area where you have a choice. Of course, I realize that ultimately, we all have the choice to live wherever we want, according to our own priorities. Here, I have the choice of 35 minutes to Raeford, an hour to The Skydiving Place in St. Pauls, or an hour and a half to CSS in Louisburg. Others in this forum have more choices and less drive time. Chuck describes it well in the word "vibe." It's more about the overall experience I come away with than the facilities and aircraft. For example, I spennt a couple of days while on a trip to New Mexico skydiving with the folks at Skydive NM when they were just North of Albuquerque. The people made that place, we felt at home, and had a GREAT time. My current home is Raeford Parachute Center. GREAT DZO & Staff (oops, I just plugged myself), GREAT aircraft, gear store, loft, school, restaurant/bar. No attitudes, great southern hospitality. I feel at home there no matter what I am involved in. Other DZs I have visited recently that have had a great "vibe" for me: Skydive Arizona, Skydive Crosskeys, Skydive DeLand, Skydive Space Center, The Skydiving Place. Great Question! Arrive Safely John

-Today I will be doing tandems and AFF in the immediate vacinity of SkyMonkeyONE's aura! -I have a brand new rig on order, due in a couple of weeks! (I haven't owned a new rig since 1991). -My wife was victorious in court yesterday; a case she has been involved in for over a year was dismissed by the judge! -At work we have quilted toilet paper in the latrines and a cappucino machine in the mess hall. LIFE IS GOOD! BTW, Chuck . . . I was glad to hear that Kristine is better. I have a hug for her when I see her next . . . please pass that on! Arrive Safely John

Raeford was a fun place to be this weekend. The weather was kinda bad on Thursday off and on, so I went home early. I think Chuck Blue hit a milestone that day; I'll let him share the specifics though! I had a blast doing tandems (backloops from the CASA!) and AFF, and topped off a great weekend by taking my wife Monica up on her first tandem skydive. She is an A License holder, but hasn't made a jump in 10 years. I really had fun relaxing and letting loose with her. She controlled the exit, waved off and pulled, then assisted me with the flare. "Just like riding a bike" she said. OK, well almost! And yes, I got two handfuls of boobies on deployment, preserved forever on the video! Arrive Safely John