Hooknswoop

I already listed several. Better pay. Benefits (health, discounted jumps, continued training, etc), and better treatment. Which is DZO's should treat their staff well enough that they don't come up short. Derek

USPA should serve it's members first and foremost. Whenever USPA must choose between it's members and DZ's, the members lose. Again, how does lowering the AFFI course standards serve the membership? Derek

Nah, they would jump there and support him, regardless. How many jumpers that agree skyride isn't good, but continue to jump at Skyride DZ's? Derek

USPA did not have to lower the standards. USPA could have done nothing and allowed DZ's to fix the issue themselves. Instead USPA bowed to DZO's, lowering the course standards to keep a large pool of AFFI's so that they wouldn't have to work on retention. How does that serve the members? In the end, nothing will change. Things are too well entrenched and jumpers too apathetic to ever create change. USPA does not serve it's members, it serves DZ's. It is a toothless tiger, which is how most people want it. Derek

Not because there wasn't enough passing, but because the turnover in AFFI's had outpaced the new AFFIs passing the course. If AFFI's are quitting faster than you replace them, the problem is retention, not the course. When a TI makes as much per jump as an AFFI, but can make twice as many or more jumps in a day, and a highly experienced AFFI makes the same as a brand new AFFI and they both can only afford to live in a trailer on the DZ, the job is not going to retain people. The difference is the rate of AFF student Cypres fires, the rate of pass/fail of levels by students, the injury rate, etc. Of course there isn't any tracking of these numbers, so it is impossible to look at statistics. I passed the course in 1999 with Don Yarling. It was not excessively difficult. You needed to be able to fly relative tot he student, quickly re-close any distance that opened up between you and the student, keep track of altitude, roll a student back onto their belly, and get the student under a parachute by the hard deck. I don't see anything in there where the standard can be lowered. Derek

Member USPA We are proud to be a United States Parachute Association (USPA) enhanced group member and have highly qualified, nationally licensed instructors. If that's not enough, we are also a United States Parachute Association Group Member Dropzone and have pledged to uphold the Basic Safety Requirements of that organization. What is a USPA Group Member Dropzone? The United States Parachute Association (USPA) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and safety of skydiving. USPA represents more than 34,000 people who enjoy the sport of skydiving. USPA also represents nearly 300 skydiving clubs and businesses nationwide that offer skydiving and skydiving instruction. USPA's sole business is the sport skydiving. Since its inception in 1946, USPA has worked to promote, grow, and develop the sport, with skydiving safety as one of its most critical missions. As a USPA group member dropzone we have taken a pledge to provide service and conduct business within accepted ethical guidelines. We have made a committment to comply with the USPA Basic Safety Requirements (BSRs) in connection with all skydiving activities and ensure that all of our employees and staff are appropriately qualified and trained in accordance with USPA Recommendations and (where applicable) hold USPA ratings and/or FAA licenses and certification commensurate with their duties. Why SkyDance SkyDiving ? We use the newest and safest tandem equipment in Northern California. Our jump plane, the PAC 750XL, is the only aircraft made specifically for skydiving. SkyDance is a USPA group member drop zone and all of our instructors are USPA rated instructors. We have been in operation since 1987. Bay Area Skydiving is a member of the United States Parachute Association. General Services We are a USPA Full Service Dropzone.We offer Tandem IAF and AFF (Accelerated Freefall) training, Freefall video and photography, gear sales and repair .We also have a full range of options and souvenirs (T-shirts, hats, etc.). Skydive Palatka is a United States Parachute Association™ Group Member drop zone so we do require that all experienced skydivers jumping with us be current USPA members (or members of their own national aeroclub). Skydive Tampa Bay, Inc. is proud to be a certified group member of the United States Parachute Association. Our membership in USPA is your assurance of our commitment to safety. We have been in operation longer than any skydiving center in North Florida and have been approved as a Group Member of the United States Parachute Association (USPA) for over 12 years! Sin City Skydiving is a United States Parachute Association Group Member OUR CERTIFICATION SLV is a Certified Group Member of The United States Parachute Association. USPA is your symbol of professionalism, and licensure. Pacific Skydiving is the only skydiving center on the island of Oahu that is recognized by the United States Parachute Association. This ensures the consumer that Pacific Skydiving conforms to the highest safety standards and regulations as set fourth by the USPA. Derek

The GM program isn’t going away. The GM program is a direct conflict of interest with the membership. You can see the GM application here: http://www.uspa.org/publications/form.pdf/GM_Initial%20App_01_07.pdf Applicants agree to meet certain standards. If they fail to meet these standards, their GM membership ‘may’ be revoked. As the recent skyride fiasco demonstrates, this is a toothless claim. In reality, DZ’s fail to meet these standards all the time without USPA taking any action. When the DZO is the RD or S & TA, or even when they are not, they hold all the power at their DZ. If you stand up for change or even question when the GM standards are not being met, you may be invited to leave the DZ, forever. Think your peers will support you? Think again. Your peers will no more support your voice than a meth addict will call the police on their dealer if their dealer is beating up an old lady and taking her purse. Your peers will, in fact, treat you like a leper. USPA doesn’t make the rules or enforce them, DZO’s do that. The number of skydivers that realize how the system operates are outnumber, by far, by the number that don’t realize it, realize it and don’t care, or are living in denial. This will continue since jumpers for change will leave the sport or quit the cause after a short time as they realize their efforts are doomed to failure. The status quo will continue. First jump students view the GM membership as a seal of approval. They have no way to know any better. DZ web pages tout their membership as a seal of approval. I can send in $100 and be a GM. DZ’s have used the GM membership as a way of selling their DZ over their competition, “We are a USPA GM DZ. This means we have to follow minimum safety standards. DZ XYZ is not a GM and therefore do not have to meet these safety requirements.” To a student, that carries weight and sounds like a good reason to pick the GM DZ over the non GM DZ. The reality of the situation is that GM;s DZ’s are not any safer and in some cases, less safe than non-GM DZ’s. USPA is fully aware of this and counts on it to sell GM to DZ’s. What does USPA get out of the deal? DZ’s require their jumpers to be USPA members. DZ’s pay less than $40/month and members pick up the rest of the tab. The skyride debacle demonstrates that the GM is a liability in addition to the program being a sham on the first place. Ironic. One scam claiming to be ethical suing another scam that claims to only allow ethical DZ’s to be members. USPA does not serve the members that pay the dues. USPA serves DZO’s. “What is good for DZ’s is good for jumpers.” USPA exists because of the membership dues they collect, which are required to be paid by the DZO’s which control USPA. I suppose a quick fix would be to drop individual memberships and replace it with an increase in jump ticket prices with that increase going to the USPA. Then USPA would be an obvious trade organization, not a trade organization in a member organization’s clothing. Even if members were to realize all this and decide that change is needed, there are several major obstacles. Jumpers are pathetic about this sort of thing. They will pay their $50/year without worrying about it too much and go jump. As long as they can jump, they don’t really care if all the above is true. They don’t care if USPA doesn’t serve their needs, but the needs of the DZO’s. They will tolerate almost anything, anything except being told they can’t jump. I recently had a discussion with a well-known jumper about getting rid of the GM and replacing it with a DZ inspection program, something useful to first time through highly experienced jumpers. His thoughts are that the DZ he does most of his jumps at is OK, so why change anything? Why make a change that won’t affect him, even if it forces less than ethical DZO’s to improve their lot and rewards those that already take care of safety issues? Another example of USPA serving DZ’s and not its members was the lowering of the AFFI standards during the Instructor shortage in 2001. The pass rate went from 50% to 85% overnight. Of all the possible solutions for solving the Instructor shortage problem, lowering the course standards was probably the worst solution. The reasons for the shortage was not the course, it was Instructor recruiting and retention. The same problem the military faces and when they tried to lower the minimum new recruit standards, they took a lot of heat for it. Bonus’s and benefits for new recruits and better pay and treatment for current military members was a much better and better-receipted methods. The problem is two-fold. USPA is controlled by DZO’s. DZO’s make their money per AFF jump, not for the quality of the instruction received on that jump. They make more money with poor AFFI’s since the student is more likely to have to repeat levels with poor instruction. USPA could have recommended better pay and benefits for Instructors. But why would DZO’s cut their profits margins? They want to keep Instructors as cheap labor, easy to replace, without DZ liability if they are hurt and cannot work, and prevent them from organizing to get the pay and benefits they deserve. USPA is ideally positioned to serve the Instructors it certifies needs, but again, since USPA isn’t “you”, it is DZO’s, that will not happen. There are simply too many things that would have to change before USPA stopped serving DZO’s and started serving its members and apathetic jumpers will never force those changes by voting with their money. Jumpers will continue to jump and USPA will continue to be a DZO organization. Either accept it for how it is and jump out of airplanes, or quit. If you do quit, as I did, realize that it won’t make a difference either. Things are not going to change for the better. Personally, I have given up hope of ever skydiving again. Working at a wind tunnel, BASE, and an odd bandit jump every now and then will have to suffice. I refuse to work for or give my money to DZ’s and help perpetuate the status quo. When people ask why I don’t jump anymore, I just tell them I don’t like DZ’s. I won’t go any further than that since skydivers tend to get mad at me if I do get into specifics. Derek

I wonder if Larry Hill's grandkids, tunnel flyers as well, will ever skydive. It might be difficult to justify the expense of skydiving for less free fall time, packing, plane rides, and weather holds after flying in the tunnel so much. It will be interesting to see how many under 18 tunnel flyers go on to skydive. I know a lot of over-18 tunnel flyers have. Derek

Why? What is the big deal? How would you describe their abilities? Just sounds to me that your ego can't handle the fact that an 8 and 11 year old can out-fly you in the tunnel. What's the big deal? Before too long, they both will be able to out fly me, if not already. I think that is awesome. Derek

Yep, and that is all their mom was saying. I don't think she was saying that her kids can out-swoop PD's factory team. I am surprised by some people's reactions to these kids. Their skills demonstrate the value of the tunnel and good coaching can have. IF, they decide to start jumping. That is a long way off. Derek

I guess you have to meet them to understand. Sure, and all those kids whose parents pay for gymnastics,their kids become world class athletes and they didn't have to do anything at all. Their parents pay the gym and the kids magically get better with no effort on the kid's part. How difficult it is doesn't change if you or someone else is paying for the training. This sounds like jealousy to me. They have worked hard as well. How is it not the same? How should their skills be expressed? Derek

I think you are being to sensitive. How else should it be said? "They fly at least as well as though they have 7K+ jumps, minus the exit skills, the altitude awareness, emergency procedures, and canopy skills."? She, nor I are trying to say they are skydivers. I just don't know any other way of expressing their abilities. It is in no way a slam on skydivers or skydiving Instructors. It in no way is meant to imply that if they want to jump out of an airplane someday, they won't have to learn exits, altitude awareness, emergency procedures, and canopy control. Derek

They have been more than 10 feet apart and fly better than you do. No one is saying they are skydivers. Just saying their body flight skills are equal to someone with 7K+ skydives. Why are people being haters? Derek

They do fly as well as or better than skydiver with 7k+ skydives and they don't act like a lot of skydivers. Obviously, they have never flown a canopy. Derek

The kids on Team Future listen better (and fly) than 99% of the skydivers that come into the tunnel. They are polite and are not arrogant. Derek

Do you own a DZ? Derek

USPA inspection program anyone. Since jumpers have no way to determine if the aircraft is being maintained correctly by the appropriate people, USPA could serve it's members by providing that information or DZ's that refuse inspections. Either way, members would have something to base their choices on. "During an interview with a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the pilot stated that he did not possess any of the airplane's maintenance logbooks, and the airplane had not received an annual or 100-hour inspection since he purchased it in 2003. The pilot further stated that he did not hold an airframe or powerplant certificate; however, he performed all of the maintenance on his airplane. ' Derek

http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/042206/hom_20060422008.shtml http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/021206/hom_20060212001.shtml http://www.whig.com/285319611223702.php Derek

Let'em cry. If they refuse to be inspected that will be on the website. That is better than the current system where the public believes they are being inspected and USPA GM are the 'good' DZ's. By eliminating the GM, that will save USPA money that can be put into the inspection program. You only need one inspector for each inspection. I don't think members would complain about hearing DZ xyz hasn't been doing the 100-hour inspection on the otter and the students get round reserves, the pilot doesn't have a commercial rating, etc. A bit of work by USPA to make their webiste easier to find. It is better than the current system. Fair enough, but USPA isn't doing any of that now. Derek

USPA needs to decide if they serve it's members or DZO's. It cannot serve both. They have proven that over and over again. USPA will give any DZ that sends them a check, what the public perceives as a seal of approval, Group Membership. This is as bad as what Skyride does. Misleading the public. Eliminate the GM program. Establish a small, well trained, group of DZ inspectors. Every DZ gets an annual inspection. The results of this inspection are posted on USPA's website. DZO's may contact USPA and pay for an inspection after making improvements in order to get the better inspection results posted on the web page. How many DZ's list: * Gear Rentals * Gear Sales * Rigging Services * Covered Packing Area * Creeping Area * Team Rooms * Video Rooms * Coaches * Load Organizers * Accuracy Tuffet * Restaurant * Bunkhouse * RV Hookups * Camping * Showers * Pool And do not actually have all that? How many list aircraft they don't actually have? How can a first jump student decide if the gear at one DZ is better than another? How can they decide if one program is better than another? Isn't that what USPA should be for? Shouldn't USPA be looking out for their members' interests? USPA should be looking after the Instructors it certifies interests (insurance, fair pay, fair treatment, etc) as well as ensuring those same Instructors meet minimum performance standards. USPA should be educating their members about which DZ's maintain their aircraft, the qualifications of their pilots, what jumpers should look for and ask about at the DZ, etc. As it stands, the USPA is being funded by member's dues and serving DZO's. Derek

Another reason why the GM program should have never existed and should have been eliminated a long time ago. It never did anything for USPA members and now it takes more money away from member programs. Replace it with the DZ inspection program, THAT will serve USPA members by putting inspection data on USPA's web page. Derek

Generally the excess steering line is stowed under velcro where you cannot see it easily. That would have nothing to do with packing. It could have something to do with Precision Aerodynamics, no wait, a whole new company Precision Aero, lack of quality control. Derek

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3007835;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread It is difficult to convince people how valuable the tunnel is and that you will save money and learn faster in the long run. Derek

http://www.sealingwire.us/sealpress.htm I ordered one and got it yesterday. My para gear seal press still worked, but never did work very well. As hard as I would try to get all 3 letters on the seal, I never could. This one is much higher quality and is much easier to use. All 3 letters are easy to get on the seal and are very 'crisp'. Derek

Expect to be humbled in the tunnel. Skydivers have a tendency to over estimate their abilities and the tunnel will highlight that. Without a solid reference in the sky, it is easy to think that you are moving very little when, in fact, you are moving a lot more than you think. Sit fly speeds in the tunnel can get ‘exciting’. If you lose control, the recovery position is to go to your back. Going to your belly at those speeds is not acceptable. SO you need to know how to back fly. You will also need to know how to walk in order to enter end exit the tunnel at those speeds. Walking also translates into sit flying since you are flying your body in the vertical plane. Once you demonstrate you can sit fly at head down speeds, you will receive the HD briefing. It is even more important to follow procedures when learning HD. It is labor-intensive for the Instructor(s) and the tunnel operator and bumps and bruises are the norm for all involved. You should check www.tunnelflight.com and look at the instructor rating for the tunnel you are planning on going to. The Instructor must be signed off to spot head down and there are several levels of head down as well. Depending on the tunnel, you may need to bring a coach. The coach must be proficient in walking at high speeds and flying head down on order to communicate with you what you need to do. Make sure when you call the tunnel you let them know your experience and goals. Time spent on your head on the net is not wasted. Even being on the net, you are learning balance and skills that directly translate to free fall. In the end, it costs less money and time to learn to fly in the tunnel and you will be a much stronger flyer. Derek