MakeItHappen

Well - okay then. I forgot to post this url: Knockoffs of Adventure Skydiving - Tim Eason's DZ aka teason . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The FTC will not help with copyright or trademark violations. The FTC can help with companies that present false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims about their product or service. To get the FTC involved, you need the consumer to file a complaint. Many consumers will not take the time to do this. One - they do not care. Two - they often end up doing a jump that they thoroughly enjoy, so what is there to complain about?? They forget about the extra cost, long drive times and other misleading tactics that took them in. Three - whuffoes really do not understand the scam (portraying of virtual DZs as real DZs) The DZ they end up at does not have the same name as what they thought it would be. There are first time jumpers that have as part of their first jump story 'Oh I went to Acme DZ. They said they would not take the coupon. What a rip-off. Then the guy explained the scam to me.' These people have a 'How I was ripped off by skydivers story' as part of their first jump story. They tell their friends about this too. This is not exactly good PR for our sport. There are first time jumpers that go to a DZ that accepts the gift certificates. They have a wonderful time. The DZ cuts back on advertising and one day SkyRide opens up a nearby DZ and sends referrals to their DZ. It boggles my mind that DZOs can be so naïve, especially since it has happened three times so far. I suppose it is more naivete about the internet than running a business. The DZO says they do not mind competition, but when that day comes and they have already cut back on their advertising they will be in a disadvantaged position. The DZOs may think they would not have gotten these customers without SkyRide. If they used Google Ads and Overture Ads, they would have these customers. I hope you are not suggesting I use my money to help other businesses stay in business. Here is what I have done so far: - Summary of the original scam (pre-SkyRide days) [2001-2002] - Summary of SkyRide [2003] - Agenda item on GM Comm and Full Board [2004 USPA Winter Mtg] - Agenda item on GM Comm [2004 USPA Summer Mtg] - On-going - email or phone calls with DZOs across the US [2002-2004] - On-going - public postings of SkyRide practices - search rec.skydiving, other glider and balloon newsgroups and here. I have suggested to several DZOs that they should contact their local (state level) District Attorney. About 6 months ago I contacted the Los Angeles DA. Four months after that I got an email saying it was forwarded to some other division. Nothing concrete has come from that inquiry. It is possible to get a 'cease and desist' order in place against a booking agency that has no contracts with DZs for booking in the state. Keep in mind that many of the DZOs that have dealt with SkyRide are embarrassed that they did and made such foolish business decisions. They do not want to come forward publicly and they do not want to ask their customers to file a complaint with the FTC. In the meantime, I suggest the following: 1. If a customer shows up at your DZ with a SkyRide gift certificate and you do not accept them, tell the customer they can call the credit card company and ask that SkyRide produce a signed receipt. If they cannot supply that (in 7 days I think) then the charge will be dropped. If the booking was done online or over the phone then there is no signed receipt. 2. Sell the customer a tandem jump directly. 3. Explain to the customer that there is an unscrupulous booking agency, pretending to have DZs across America and that they should file a complaint with the FTC. Many people do not realize that there is also about a 25% windfall of un-redeemed gift certificates. This happens when Joe Schmoe buys a tandem jump for his Mom and she never redeems it. The money for the jump has already been paid and then never jumped. The issuer of the gift certificate keeps the money. Many DZs offer gift certificates directly and cash in on this. A skydiving gift certificate is not like a Macy's gift certificate. You have to jump out of a perfectly good airplane to redeem a skydiving gift certificate. Many people do not want to do that, no matter who buys the certificate. You do not have to put your life on the line to redeem a Macy's certificate. For future help, all I can offer is to coordinate the people that have copyright or intellectual property violations. I can set up some email contacts and maybe an informal meeting at the PIA Symposium next year. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

If you really think it does not effect you, consider this. It is only a matter of time before it does directly effect you. I say this to you and any other skydiver in the US, Canada, England or Australia. Look at Canada (only works in IE) #1 - TorontoSkydiving.com is a bogus DZ. Then look at Cali-Nev (only works in IE) On this page there are links to LASkydiving and Skydive Sacramento. Both are bogus, virtual DZs. Missing from the picture are Skydance Skydiving, Lodi, Perris, Elsinore, both Cal City DZs and Taft. The legitimate DZs disappeared after they had the bogus web sites up. The same thing will happen with the Canadian DZ map. England and Australia are in the queue too. I should get 'model' compensation from the Brent Finley photo used on staff. Amazingly this same photo is used on Skydive Tennessee. I had no idea I got around so much and was on staff. The way to stop these jerks is NOT to accept their gift certificates. In the past year, scores of DZOs have contacted me about SkyRide and their operation. The story is the same, no matter what part of the country they are in. The non-US DZOs have the complaint of their web site being ripped off. Canadian and Australian DZs have been ripped off. SkyRide promises exclusive referrals for a geographical area. A month or so later, SkyRide says their competitor will do tandems at a lower rate, so they will get referrals unless you lower your fee. The DZO sometimes lowers their rate, then realizes they loose money. Once the DZO sees that they cannot win, they drop SkyRide. The last remaining DZO continues to accept SkyRide referrals, saying that they would not get this business otherwise. The last DZ cuts back on their advertising. SkyRide then opens their real DZ in the area and sends all the referrals to themselves. So in the end, the DZ funds the start up costs for a SkyRide DZ in their neighborhood. Once SkyRide has a real DZ in an area, all of their bogus, virtual web sites are legitimate. USPA has sent TWO letters of disapproval of the SkyRide practices to Cary Q and Ben Butler. Nothing ever came of those. The way to stop their deception is to not accept their gift certificates. There is a growing quorum of people that have been ripped off or negatively effected (photos, intellectual property, people sent to DZs that do not accept the gc, etc). When this group gets together and files a class-action lawsuit is when big brother will come down and shut SkyRide down or make them operate as a legitimate booking agency. Today, SkyRide is not a legitimate booking agency. They claim to have facilities across the US and Canada. The real DZs that they do have are at Atlanta SC, Alabama SC, Skydive PennRidge and another one between Chicago and Milwaukee. If your local DZ accepts SkyRide gift certificates then ask them to stop it. SkyRide deceives people and steals from other jumpers. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

My newly relined canopy (Safire with Vectran lines) has stains everywhere the lines come in contact with the canopy during packing. The stains look oily, similar to sewing oil. The stains collect dust. I had to land in dirt (plowed student area) on a load people decided to land in all 360 directions. The shape of the stains are straight lines - obvious that the lines are producing them. The stains are only where the lines are in direct contact with the canopy material. The stains were not present with the old lines. I asked several riggers about this. They all saw and inspected the canopy and lines. Three said they had never seen anything like that. Another rigger thinks the residue is from the manufacturing process of the lines. Anyone know what the residue is? Will this stuff evaporate? The residue might collect dirt faster and wear out the lines faster. This does not seem normal. I have emailed the place I got the lines from (twice) and have not received a reply. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

In this instance, what could an experienced jumper possibly have done if they had collided on opening? The experienced jumper would also have tracked away and would be of no use at all. An experienced jumper can remind the new jumpers to keep tracking all the way to assigned pull altitude. This would reduce the risk of the jumpers backsliding into each other. Three people tracking off are at about 120 degrees from either jumper on the left and right. This makes it easier to see the other two jumpers with a side look. I always recommend that 2-ways break off in directions so that the angle between them is about 120 to 160 degrees, not 180 degrees. This way it is easier to see each other. Experienced jumpers know how to find someone by looking past their feet during a break off, but new jumpers have not usually mastered this. That is the norm. Start by asking your instructors which experienced jumpers know how to work with new jumpers and use good judgement that considers the new jumper's experience (or lack thereof). These jumpers come in several flavors. Some are relatively new jumpers that like working with the recent graduates. They have ambitions to become coaches or instructors themselves. Some are retired instructors. Some are long time jumpers (former world champions and the like) that jump occasionally and like to pass on their knowledge. Whoever you get should build in ground-altimeter checks as part of the dive flow for jumpers less than 100 jumps or un-current. This develops the 'what does the ground look like at such-n-such altitude and your internal clock. They should ask about your previous jumps and what you want to work on. They can also suggest 'ok let's try such-n-such'. They should explain climb-outs or exits with specific hand and foot placements and how to carry yourself in the door. That is, do you stand completely upright, have a small bend in your knee or hang your hips lower than the floater in front of you. For diving exits they should explain your presentation to the air and direction of dive out (down, towards the wingtip etc) They should also have the new jumper explain their canopy ride (where they are going to land, wind direction, pattern etc.) One exit I like to do with new jumpers is a double backloop off the plane. The new jumper is front floater. The experienced jumper is rear floater and takes a high shoulder grip on the new jumper. The new jumper gives the exit count of down-up-down and just lets go of the plane and sits down. The two BL a few times, let go and go to a two-way. This relieves the 'pressure' of having to do a perfect exit. Essentially, you plan a funneled exit (that happens to be a really fun exit too) and then go on to turn drills or whatever. This teaches the new jumper that when you funnel exits later (and you will - no matter how many jumps you have) you just forget it and get back onto the planned dive. No need to beat yourself up because you think you were late, early or had bad presentation. Just get on with it. Subsequent exits can be the proper presentation and timing type. During a post dive, the experienced jumper should sound like a broken record of 'And then what happened?' If they tell you 'You did this and then you did that at this altitude etc' they are cheating you out of developing your awareness and recall of what happened on a dive. At the same time, it is okay not to remember everything that happened or when it happened. They should also make sure you describe a dive in order that things happen. Sometimes new jumpers talk about one part of the dive and then skip to another part of the dive and then back to someplace in-between. The experienced jumper can get you back on track by saying 'wait, wait, wait, what happened after xyz maneuver and before abc maneuver?' They should not say 'oh you forgot pdq maneuver.' They should be bringing out your observations, not making you feel bad because your skip around a bit (that is normal). A debrief includes canopy control too. You explain the pattern you did, traffic, winds, projected landing point, flare (Goldilocks - not too high, not too low, but just right). Yes, this is the way it works. Well, if you click on the link in my profile or sig block, you can determine that I am not an 'unnamed Belgian'. And no I won't fill the profile in. I have a hard enough time maintaining my sites. I want people to reply to my posts based upon content. If you must 'consider the source', that is easy enough to determine. This is part of my intent to teach people to critically evaluate what they hear or learn from people at the DZ or in a magazine or on some message board. Just because someone with gobs and gobs of experience says something, does not necessarily make it correct. There are plenty of 'accomplished' jumpers that are just plain full of it. Edit: Also keep in mind that a profile here can be completely bogus. The only way to determine if it is legitimate is to either know the person or have others back up the poster. If a poster sends you to another web site(s) that has consistent data (whois registration, person known by others, lots of other info about skydiving, name or photo in the magazines every once in awhile etc), then that person is more likely to be a valid source of information than someone with only 'a filled out profile'. By all means, 'consider the source', but do not depend upon a filled out profile as the only means of determining a poster's expertise. Then again there is the Skyride phenomena that puts another angle on this. I can definitely say that low break-offs or low pulls or collisions are more likely to happen when two or more low experienced jumpers jump together than when an experienced jumper is on the load. There are many incidents that support this. I agree that solos will not help as much as jumping with others. Yes, I know most new jumpers are under canopy at 3500, and I said that many years ago the typical break-off altitude was 3500 feet. Thank-you Newbie Blues was "Originally published in Sport Parachutist's Safety Journal, V2, #1 Sept./Oct. 1989." Skydance Skydiving in Davis, CA used to give graduating students a copy of the article to help new jumpers understand the culture shock. I understand what new jumpers are going through. Take it as part of the learning curve of skydiving, not personally. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

See Newbie Blues I remember watching a 2-way from the ground many years ago. They appeared to break off at 3,500 or so (the regular breakoff altitude of the time). Then it looked like they were trying 'for one more point'. It looked like they actually docked again. Turns out that they tracked a bit, stopped tracking and then backslide towards each other. They opened almost at the same altitude, facing away from each other. Neither one of them had any idea of how close they were. They both had 50-ish jumps or so. Two NGs can jump together, but they ought to have at least one experienced person with them. I think you might want to consider the 'other' side of this. Most experienced jumpers show up for a pre-planned day of jumping. They email back-n-forth and ask their friends 'Hey do you want to do 8-way (or whatever) this Saturday?' On days they 'just show up', they don't know you anymore than you know them. You have to socialize with them, perhaps over the course of several weekends or months. One time after a day of jumping, I chatted at the BombShelter with 3 people that had just done the their first AFF jump. I learned their names. I saw them out there over the next few months as they progressed. Then this one day, I was chatting with them in the packing area and was not on any load or doing anything special. I asked them what they were doing. They (two of the 3) were on the next Skyvan. They each had about 30 jumps apiece. I asked if I could jump with them. There was room on the plane, so we did their very first launched exit from the skyvan and a couple of other points. It is unusual for someone with +5500 jumps to ask on a load with 30 jump folks, especially at a big DZ like Perris. The normal thing is for the NG to ask on the experienced jumper's load or ask them to do a jump with them sometime. When I had less than 100 jumps, I asked Lizard and Dave Holmes every weekend for 3 months to do a jump with them. I finally got to jump with them on an Early Bird load (something like $7.00) Keep in mind that jumps are just as expensive for experienced jumpers as it is for NGs. I try and do about $200 worth of jumps with NGs each year. That's only 10 jumps, but that is all I can afford. By the end of May this year, I had already spent my yearly allocation of jump money. I knew this one guy that used to sit in his lawn chair 'waiting to be asked on a load'. I went around asking on loads. I got a lot of 'No's, but I also got on loads I would have never been on if I did not ask. This was back when I had 100-200 jumps. NGs have to do their part in meeting and becoming friends with the experienced jumpers and 'bugging' them to jump with them. It is a two-way street. Just because an experienced jumper helps you pack or untangle a cutaway or tells you jump stories at the bar the night before or explains something, does not mean they can always jump with a NG at a moment's notice. Keep asking on loads. All experienced jumpers have gone through this. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

What does the state do with the estate? What if you have a will that says something to the effect of 'Please ask this list of people, in order on the list, to assume xyz entity. The one that accepts responsibility will get abc from the estate.' Is that recognized? But the catch is that you cannot tell the potential sponsor that they will get abc if they accept the responsibility. An example would be if Aunt Mae raises a deceased's 2 yo then she can have the retirement accounts and liquid assets, but she cannot know that until she accepts responsibility. If no one from the list steps up, then the assets go to pdq charities. What happens if an insurance company can only find some of a deceased person's children for a life insurance policy? Do the 'found' children get to divi-up the portion that was supposed to go to the 'lost' children after so many years? The 'lost' children are no where to be found, no death certificates, no military records, no DL, no employment records, nada. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I am going to put forth yet another view on this, possibly suitable for flaming. An adult with two kids ought to have health insurance or at the very least life insurance to bridge the gap from their injury or death to when the children can be taken care of properly. I wonder where 'Dad' is in this situation. Wouldn't child support help with mortgage and daily living expenses? I wonder why an employee of 11 years does not have health or life insurance, unless they were part-time for all of those years. But if they were part time, how could someone afford a mortgage, while raising two kids? I wonder why USPA has no record of Joan Meadow as a member or license holder. I wonder why two 'less than 100 jumps jumpers' are jumping together and run into big-time trouble. I wonder if the age-old gender bias of a 'more experienced male jumper' convincing a 'new female jumper' into jumps over her head is at work. I am really at a loss to explain why MrAardvark or Becca or anyone else has not provided experience levels for the jumpers involved. MrAardvark's A license is listed in June Parachutist, pg 77 'Charles Pharr A-44869 GA'. This would suggest that Charles had at least 25 jumps by the end of May or mid-April. I am sorry to hear about these injuries, have compassion for those involved and the devastation it has upon those involved. But I do still ask the questions about 'this could have been avoided if…' I am not out to bust anyone's chops on a BSR violation or a GM Pledge violation, I just want to know if this accident was a scenario where a 'new' jumper went out on a jump with a 'student' jumper because they were the only folks around and there was a great deal of personal friendship involved. [My red flag indicators suggest that Joan had passed her AFF levels1-7 or 8, but had not yet attained an A-license. This is speculation.] I do not see the whole picture here. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

That's kind of a cop out, John. Lesson plans, aka xyz subject must be taught, are proscribed, but the way they are taught is generally not mentioned. I also used to work for the Davis Science Center. DSC had these outreach programs, to mostly grade schools, on science subjects. Most elementary teachers do not have extensive science background. This one week I was filling in for someone. We had this appointment at the Stockton 'I hate Mondays' school. Across the street was the HS (that might have been the real 'I hate Mondays' school). Upon arriving we checked in at the main office to find out where our classroom was. We were also informed of a rule that said if you hear a whistle blown for a long time, then hit the deck. This meant hit the deck because someone was shooting at you. This was slightly different than the tornado drills I did as a kid in the mid-west, yet almost the same. Yet we went on with our hands-on presentations that involved kids. Some lesson plans tell you what to teach, but they do not tell you how to teach it. If some teachers use the proscribed lesson plans as an excuse to teach only one way, they should not be the ones ferried over to another school. Use the teachers that see that difference. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Have you ever heard of Jamie Escalante? The movie, "Stand and Deliver", made about his LA inner-city ghetto experience is excellent. Also the biography, "Jamie Escalante : The Best Teacher in America" - about him is excellent too. Another good teacher book is 'I Touch the Future', a biography about Christa McAuliffe. Teachers need to relate to their students on the students' level and experiences, not the teacher's experiences. Not every 'good' teacher in from a 'good' environment can relate to kids with troubled backgrounds or 'bad' attitudes. I taught 'Physics for Jocks', aka non-mathematical physics, at Woodland College several years ago. It was a required course and everyone had a 'bad' attitude. The first year I taught it, there were 15 people at the beginning of the semester. The second year, enrollment was actually closed before the semester began, but only for the class I taught, not the seasoned, full-time teacher that taught the other class. This was not because I gave easier exams, in fact, I gave harder exams and long take home exams for the final. Rumor got out to the students that physics was actually fun. For projectile motion lessons I brought in my bike, a dog dish and a small teddy bear. I had each student ride the bike and try to drop the teddy bear into the dish. One time they had to 'just let go of Teddy'. The second time they had to throw Teddy forward. The third time they had to throw Teddy backwards. We did this out on the campus mall in the waning sunlight, so it attracted a lot of attention. Then I gave them a bunch of questions where they had to explain the difference in when (in relation to the dog dish) they had to throw or drop Teddy off and explain why. For Bernoulli's law, I asked questions about their vacuum cleaner. What attachment picked up dirt better and why? Press the attachment to their hand. Which one feels stronger? Why? For static electricity, I brought in a big comb and combed my hair at the front of the class. Then I raised my hair with the comb and said 'Does my hair look ok?' I also had each student give an oral mini-report on some physicist of their choosing. This one guy came into class for his presentation dressed in a white lab coat and white, frazzled wig. He did a presentation on Albert Einstein that was very good. All of these eccentric displays gave me a rather sorted reputation, even with the admin-type staff. One night I asked for some hand cream at the front desk. The woman that passed me a bottle of hand cream, asked me what type of physics demonstration I was going to do with it. I said 'None, my hands are dry.' Teachers are part of the equation of a good education as well as the kids and parents. Lecture is one of the least effective ways of teaching, yet it is the most widely used methodology. Getting students involved and having them seek out answers with guidance from steering questions is much more effective. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Sentinel The Sentinel is some +30 year old technology. It was good in its day and saved many lives. But there are much better and more reliable AADs available. I also know a Master rigger, former DPRE and long time jumper that would go so far as to testify in court that any DZ using Sentinels today should be considered negligent. You can ask Roger Allen directly about what he thinks about using Sentinels today. He used to work for SSE. Today, he works for Alti-2. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I've been thinking about making one of my property buildings into a skydiver hostel. This would be a place 'more than' a tent city and 'less than' a motel to stay at. Full private bath - sink, comode and shower . Full kitchen privileges and DSL available. Is there anyone that would be interested? I'm 20 min from Perris, 45 from Elsinore. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I go to the library every week. Of all the skills people may have, reading is the one that is the most valuable. Active reading, questioning and understanding what an author writes, is a tremendous way to enhance your views and understanding about the world, its history and its future. Tim Berners-Lee wrote a book about how he invented the internet (He really did do that). It was very enlightening to learn how such a technology, fully embraced today, met with so much resistance in its formative stages. His vision on the potential capabilities of the internet are becoming reality today with RSS and XML meta data files. The scenes from Star Trek were someone asks the computer to dig up info on such-n-such event or person are very real today. Biographies are also good reading. Ben Franklin invented the library. He shared his books with several friends that also shared their personal libraries. The concept eventually lead to a 'public' library, were anyone could read a book without having to purchase the book. Thomas Edison invented many, many things, most famous was the light bulb. Did you know he took cat-naps when he got stuck on a problem? Buckminster Fuller's biography is interesting reading. Frank Lloyd Wright's biography is amazing. I recently re-read Animal Farm. It is a great book that is full of social commentary. I recently read a novel called 'The Aviator'. It's a sort of hokey short novel about a barnstormer type pilot that crashes in the Rocky Mountains with a young passenger that is severely injured in the crash. Everything was good except the ending. Those novels you had to read in high school take on new meanings when you re-read them as an adult with a different perspective based on real life experiences. Social commentary in great literary works will expand your thinking. Book reviews - also something you had to do in high school - is another way to expand your personal library and thinking. Whenever I read a book I make a list of the words I do not know. Then I look up the definition and put all that on a sheet(s) and total them up for the year. Each year I augment my vocabulary by a hundred words or so. One of Andy Rooney's books relates a story of a high school English teacher who asked if she could change a few of the twenty-dollar college words to simpler HS level words for distribution to her class. Rooney said no because it is much better for the reader to learn the new words than to water down his essay. I re-read many of the books in my personal library each year. My personal library is in a 12 ft by 12 ft building of its own. It is full up with 72 inch bookcases over flowing with books. Reading takes your mind into realms that you would never think of and allows you to travel the world and travel in time. (Oh yeah- HG Wells is a great sci-fi author, as is Arthur Clarke and Ray Bradbury) Sometimes I'll pull a book off the shelf on a topic that I have no interest in. I'll read it for 20-30 minutes at the library. I always come away with some new tidbit of information. Librarians are also a great source of information. One time I asked the Davis, CA librarian where I could find out how tennis balls were made. They have above ambient pressure inside, so I was wondering about what type of chamber pressed the ball pieces together. She found a reference that explained the manufacturing process. You might wonder where I find the time to read. Well, what started out as a one-month experiment of not hooking up cable or satellite TV when I moved to Hemet has turned into a 4 year no-TV situation. Kill the TV and get to the library. You can still check out DVDs or videos. It usually takes me two nights to watch a DVD because I fall asleep part-way through the movie. Compare that to staying up till 3am reading a good book. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Is this the relavent article??? If the field was wide open, then it might be okay and at the same level of risk. If that was true, then it would not be that hard to find the original tandem pair either. (IIRC, corn fields - this time of year - are not exactly 'wide open') . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I do think BB knew of the tandem-age BSR. I do think he pulled a fast one. I also know that the quorum of the Executive Comm. by-passed the S&T Comm. The usual procedure to any BSR waiver request is to run it by the S&T Comm first. This was not done. It was an embarrassing situation all around. What you don’t get is that the 'bent out of shape' reason was used to change the BSRs. In my book, that is not a sufficient reason to open USPA up to additional liabilities. All of the reasons TK Donle and RW's attorney stated for the language of 'age of legal majority' are still valid today as they were in 2002. Just because USPA opens a door, does not mean you have to walk through it. The 16 yo age limit for single-harness, dual parachute system has been in effect for years. Very few DZs walked through that door. The waiverability of the tandem age BSR was available for jumps by Make-A-Wish and kids of jumpers. Opening the door to whuffo kids for tandems is potentially a huge liability for USPA. In the interest of USPA, I voted against the changes. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Then Bill Booth decides it's OK to take his underage daughter, on a Tandem Demo at that. So what happened to underage Tandems being so terrible Bill??? The BSR 2-1.D.2 is waiverable by the Full Board. What happened at the demo was a paperwork brainlock, not only by Bill but by the BOD members present and reached by phone. All 4 BOD members were at the Summer 2002 mtg and knew the rule. It was an oversight not to ask about or provide the age of the passenger. A waiver was also needed to 2-1.J.5. The USPA President obtained that waiver on site the day of the demo. What about USPA's hypocrisy? USPA granted a retro-active waiver to 2-1.D.2 (tandem age BSR) on 4-9-04 for a tandem jump done with a 16 yo. It was a Make-a-Wish jump. I floated the idea of a retro-active waiver for Bill's jump with his 17 yo daughter after the Winter 04 meeting. No one liked that idea. Suppose it was Joe Jumper that did the under-age demo jump last fall? People are bent because it was Bill Booth, but he broke a rule that was waiverable. He probably would have obtained the waiver if someone asked about age. A few months later USPA gave a retro-active waiver for the same rule and circumstance. A paperwork brainlock has lead to a change in the BSRs that opens up USPA to a much larger liability. USPA is almost always named in lawsuits. This is probably all a moot discussion anyway. Most DZs will still require jumpers to be 18 anyway. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I think it is a step in the wrong direction. I voted against both motions, by name, on the 16 y.o. age limit. One motion changed the BSRs and the other motion changed the Bylaws. The 16 yo BSR and the statement 'No person under the age of sixteen(16) shall be eligible for actual skydiving although membership is encouraged.' (from the bylaws) are in place for historical or legacy reasons. Back when the BSRs and Bylaws were first written the legal climate in the US was significantly different than it is today. There was not a proliferation of lawsuits in the 1960s and 1970s. People took responsibility for their actions. I believe that if PCA or USPA were formed today the language would be 'age of legal majority'. This would be because of the many lawsuits we see today and how the whuffo community perceives skydiving. "If George Bush Sr. can jump out of a plane and nothing happens to him, I don't know how my good friend, who is perfectly healthy, can jump out of a plane and something happens to him." said by Jay Sleyter a friend of Joel D. Morgan who was the recent fatality at SDC. [source Chicago Tribune 7/9/04] IOW, the whuffo community used to believe that all skydivers were crazy and had a death wish. Today, many whuffos believe that skydiving is 'perfectly safe'. This is incorrect because skydiving is a hazardous activity. It is safer today than yesterday, but it is still dangerous. At the July 2002 USPA BOD meeting, Relative Workshop sent Mr. TK Donle to petition the BOD to add an age requirement for tandems that used the verbiage 'the age of legal majority'. Motion 50 from this meeting added that to the BSRs for tandem jumps. The vote was 18 to 1. People immediately saw the inconsistency between the tandem age BSR and the AFF/SL/IAD (single harness, dual parachute system) age BSR. People did not recognize that the AFF/SL/IAD age BSR was a legacy that just kept propagating because "that's the way we've always done it" and that the tandem age BSR was a new age limitation driven by the FAA adopting tandem within it's doctrine and the current legal climate in the US. At the July 2004 USPA BOD meeting there were two motions concerning age. One motion struck the sentence 'No person under the age of sixteen(16) shall be eligible for actual skydiving although membership is encouraged.' from the bylaws. The vote was not unanimous (I do not have the exact vote count). The second motion changed the wording in the BSRs as mentioned by Buzz. The vote was not unanimous (I do not have the exact vote count). You might want to ask BOD members that were on the BOD in 2002 and in 2004 why they changed their mind on this issue. IIRC, the tandem mfgs have age limits in their contracts and you must get a waiver from them in order to do under-age tandems. Any instructor or coach that is asked by their DZO to jump with under-age children should realize that your personal assets could be in jeopardy if some bad happened. More so when a minor is hurt or killed than an adult. Instructional staff has the right to refuse to jump with minors. You might start asking all students how old they are if your DZ accepts under-age jumpers and you do not want to do them. Hopefully, most DZOs and instructional staff will not accept minors. I strongly recommend re-reading this post. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I asked John LeBlanc about 'inducing a downplane' from either a biplane or side-by-side configuration when he gave a talk about dual squares at a PIA Symposium some years ago. Many jumpers *think* it's easy to induce a downplane and have this as a 'plan'- after all CRW-dawgs do it all the time. There are several differences between a personal downplane and what CRW-dawgs do. 1. You are mostly likely to be REALLY low - somewhere around 700 ft or lower when you realize you have two canopies out. 2. To induce a downplane you need to steer canopies in opposite directions. That takes two hands [*]. John told me that they tried this (My understanding was that both canopies had both brakes unstowed. The jumper had to pull down on the outside toggles or risers.) - up high of course. The canopies tended to come back together- so you needed to keep steering to keep them apart. Then with your third hand you'd cutaway the main when the canopies were far enough apart. Most of the jumpers I know only have two hands, some only have one. Like, Skratch, I have never been under a personal two out situation. I've seen a number of them. The only scenario where it *might* be feasible to induce a downplane, is one where the main and reserve are significantly different sizes. eg reserve ~150 sq. ft. and a main around 90 sq. ft. I know many jumpers that have this 'plan', but no one who has actually done it. [*] Your comment of 'by releasing a main toggle' suggests another method of inducing a downplane. If you had a SBS, it may be possible to release only the inboard toggle of each canopy and get them to turn into a downplane. That would keep the canopies steering away from each other without the use of your hands. I do not know anyone that has tried this. I do not know if this would work. As far as I know PD has never tried this either. It may take several seconds for the canopies to separate far enough so that a snag after cutaway is minimal. If you are at 700 feet to begin with, then you have very little time to pull something like this off. Plus, as Skratch mentions, you have to figure out which risers go to which canopy. Color coded risers would help. Different colored toggles are what most people might have, but that's not universal. On top of all that, once you cutaway, your reserve will be in a turn. BTW, your reserve should be a different color than your main. Oh yeah - at your next repack, after you do a simulated malfunction with cutaway, pull reserve, you should check to see which canopy is taller. This will come in handy if you do find yourself in a two-out situation. If the front canopy is taller so that the leading edge of the back canopy is below the trailing edge of the front canopy, you'll probably get a biplane. If the front canopy is shorter so that the leading edge of the back canopy is above or directly behind the trailing edge of the front canopy, you'll probably get a SBS. Most often the main is in front and the reserve is in back ( from common pull main as AAD fires scenario). Biplanes are stable most of the time. I would do as little steering as possible. I would steer by lifting a leg (aka grab your opposite ankle with your hand). I would not do toggle or riser steering. I *might* release the toggles on the front canopy. If they were flying together fine I'd leave it alone. Any control inputs have to be small. I do know one person that had a stable biplane. Then they got the get-home-i-tis bug and toggle steered the front canopy back to the DZ. The canopies downplaned ~150 ft - not pretty. My cutaway would be with confidence. But there are no guarantees about entanglements. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I asked that same question when I had to choose between the bidders for Nationals. The answer I got was that each DZ may calculate entry fees differently. The a priori knowledge that you need to know is that each discipline has a different number of competitors and that judges are also rated by discipline. Many judges only have one or two discipline ratings. The influence upon entry fees is whether a host DZ passes expenses on to competitors in a per discipline method or across all disciplines way and how many multi-disciplined judges they can get and the overall time that they propose for Nationals. There are some costs that relate to the overall (calendar days) length of Nationals. Those costs increase with the number of days it takes to complete Nationals. Example: Discipline A has x many competitors. Discipline B has y many competitors. The cost for the judges includes travel, accommodations and a per-diem. So when a host DZ computes costs they look at how far away the appropriate judges are and how many competitors are projected to attend each discipline. Some host DZs will split off costs and calculate entry fees, specific to a discipline. Some host DZS add up everything and calculate entry fees as an 'average'. That is why you see a difference from one host to another and among disciplines. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Well I was looking for different things and did not find them on this thread. The hot tip I give is to pivot about your left toggle. That means dropping the right toggle as soon as you feel weight on your feet, do a gymnastic type turn and run around the canopy and try to stand on the bridle line as you pick up the canopy. The reason I think a left pivot is better than a right pivot is because your right hand is available to pull the cutaway handle in case it is REALLY windy and you cannot run around the canopy or step on the bridle line. I was wondering if that came into anyone else's game plan? But there have been times, because of the terrain or wind and the change in balance of landing that gave me, that I ended up doing a right pivot. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Wow - these replies certainly provided some unintended insights. The comment of ' When wind speed is less than 30 mph you should have some forward ground speed when flying into the wind.' was a definite insight into the fact that some may have forgot what it was like flying larger parachutes. This may lead to no instruction on what to do when backing up or additional pressure to downsize. Today's instructors may assume a student's canopy experience is much like theirs. It may be significantly different. Jumpers (whether on student status or not) can backup under canopy when the winds are +20. Very lightweight jumpers may backup under lower wind conditions. These comments ' What do I teach students about landing in high winds? Simple, students are not allowed to jump in high winds.' and ' I will second the motion that our students do not jump if the winds are over 14 mph.' are also indicative of a training problem. As Tom said, what is taught on student status carries on to a jumper's future jumps. Jumping in higher winds than while on student status is one of the very first new experiences new jumpers have. It makes sense to train them while on student status about high wind landings. For the record, I agree that students should not be jumping in winds over 14 mph. We all know winds can come up after you jump. As to what I was asking, I was looking for the technique of the actual landing itself eg touchdown and collapsing the parachute, although I left the question as is in case someone felt like explaining the pattern too. I was wondering if you taught people to pivot about their right or left leg or does it matter??? Why or why not? Do you teach the technique of 'standing on the bridle line' or 'standing on the downwind side of the canopy', once you have the canopy grounded and are trying to gather it into your arms? I do not want to give my answer right now because that would bias what other people might say. Chris - my ratings have expired so I do not teach students anymore, but I do teach experienced jumpers. A lot of them have not learned or have forgotten 'basics'. As far as explaining the pattern when you backup, does anyone draw a picture as in this draft article? Thanks . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I was wondering what instructors currently teach students about landing in high winds when the ground speed is < 10mph (forward or backward) and the wind is > 15mph. . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Bad form to start off with those words. They could be taken out of context. Shit Happens is what people that do not know what happened say about what happened to them or others. The incident mentioned by RIP was definitely a deterministic event. Today, most, if not 100% of jumpers, use steerable parachutes. The incident reminds me of two other incidents. 1. Guy packing in the packing area. Some other guy crashes into him on landing. The first guy had to get a heart valve put in because of the collision. 2. Guy has a cutaway-pull reserve type jump. His wife, also on the load, watchs her hubby cutaway and pull reserve. Ok fine. Next thing that happens is that she runs into his cutaway canopy. Whoaaa! She cuts away and pulls reserve. Such excitment in one family on one day. Pay attention. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

He ain't kidding.... See Adventure Skydiving Knockoffs to see the clone sites side by side. For those that haven't read up on this, see SkyRide and the long list of urls . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I think your proposition implicitly indicates an incorrect interpretation of the priority list. The list of 1) pull 2) pull at the correct altitude 3) pull at the correct altitude with stability is not a list of what you do in order on a jump from the start of a jump to its conclusion. It is a list of the bare minimum actions to do before you land, crash or hit the ground at a high rate of speed. It is not a priority task list of things to do in such-n-such order from exit to landing. It is a priority list of what you must do before landing. Think of it this way: Regular RW type jump: 1. exit ac 2. go to 2nd point (or grip switch to first point) 3. go to next point 4. go to next point 5. repeat from top of page 6. break-off 7. track to assigned pull altitude 8. wave-off 9. pull 10. check for good canopy 11. determine landing point 12. set up for landing pattern with traffic clearance 13. fly in for final and flare 14. land safely, PLF if necessary OTOH the priority list of: 1) pull 2) pull at the correct altitude 3) pull at the correct altitude with stability kicks in when 1. you find yourself doing 4-way below 2K and immediately pull 2. you are a student tumbling thru the sky at 2900 ft and immediately pull 3. you are any jumper caught up with a distraction with the main deployment, realize it's 1500 ft and pull your reserve, no matter what body position you are in or fall rate you have 4. you are doing a solo FF jump and your dirt alert flat lines, you pull immediately 5. etc IOW, the priority list of 1) pull 2) pull at the correct altitude 3) pull at the correct altitude with stability is an emergency procedure, not a dive flow of a normal jump. All of us non-CRW jumpers, jump out and freefall for awhile. We don't immediately pull. Jumps that go according to plan have jumpers seeking adequate separation distance from others, slowing down, waving off etc. It is only when jumpers screw up that we need this priority list to shoot thru our brains to get us to act and save ourselves. Jumps are 'You are dead until you save yourself. For the first 45-70 seconds, we have fun turning points. Then we decide to save ourselves.' The other comment is to get gear that operates properly if you do the higher speed type jumps. aka - do not overload mains, reserves or harnesses. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker