diablopilot

I know two people who have landed round reserves on the median at Lodi. 'Course back then we knew how to do accuracy dammit! That and ya'll were far better at spotting because it mattered! ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I have never worked at Lodi. I have jumped there on no more than 3 occasions. As for a hijack, re-read the thread, and you'll see that others changed the subject to ask about the status of operations and aircraft at the Parachute Center, to which I responded factually. It was a former employee of the Parachute Center that brought up the current issues. You seem to take issue with my comment about a safety culture. Knowing the record of incidents, can you suggest otherwise? As an instructor I have encountered many former Parachute Center students that have little to no knowledge of BSR's, FAR's or simply life saving skills. This is not there fault entirely, but rather that of a culture that embraces the "lawless cowboy" attitude. There are a handful of people that seem to care there. By name I'll recommend Mr. Ed Pawlowski and his private instruction program. You and others seem to be trying to put words in my mouth. How do you feel about being charged to fly in aircraft that don't meet the legal definition of airworthy? BTW, do you and your world champion teammates follow all the FAR's including the one that requires the use of seat belts for taxi, takeoff, and landing? (91.107) I know of another world champion that pretty religiously uses his. He'd have a few more friends still walking around if everybody on the aircraft had been wearing their seat belt when it crashed. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Totally inappropriate. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Are we still talking motorcycles? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I will forever be amazed at people intent to villify someone for standing up for what's right. Because of my beliefs I think Mr. Dause should be allowed to operate his DZ anyway he sees fit a) within the letter of the law, and b) within the guidelines of the organization he is a member of. IMO Mr. Dause is a liability to the USPA. Using your scenario of Mr. Kallend operating an aircraft outside the provisions of the FAR's is not a comparable situation. He's not carrying persons for hire. In addition he is not an instructional rating holder as certified and approved by the USPA. Mr. Dause is. In 10 years it's not very hard to discover the largish number of MAJOR aircraft accidents at the Parachute Center more than one with Mr. Dause himself at the controls. Since the USPA is showing approval of individuals through the issuance of an instructional rating, and we now have precedence of the USPA being legally actionable for one of it's rated instructor's actions (i.e. the many tens of thousand dollar settlement in the Ohio tandem case for one) then it's simply a ticking time bomb before Lodi ends up getting USPA involved in a suit. Since you're so keen on defending his actions, perhaps you'd like to explain why Mr. Dause has had multiple aircraft grounded twice in two years? Why has he had multiple FAA certificates revoked or suspended? Here's the local FSDO's contact info if you'd like to find out for yourself. http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/field_offices/fsdo/sac/contact/ It obvious to even the most casual observer that Mr. Dause is responsible for the maintenance and operation of those aircraft. Your advice to "jump elsewhere" is appreciated, but unnecessary, as I do and have for many years. However my reasons for speaking out are not simply the obligations of any member of the USPA, nor just the requirements of being a USPA S&TA, or Instructor, but also the moral and ethical obligations I feel to protect, or just educate friends, and fellow skydivers. Very few will stand up and defend what is right when the opposition is so fervent in their convictions, no matter how misguided those convictions have been shown to be. Very few of those that jump Lodi know how wrong things are and most that have been taught there have no ability to asses the risk since the safety culture is so flawed. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I like it.

You meant he corporation that is a holding company for the aircraft and is wholey owned and operated by Bill Dause? Are you really trying to find excuses for someone who has failed to properly maintain aircraft used to carry people for hire? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

What corporation? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Being quite during sex can be fun too.... ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

How about we start with repeated failure to comply with FAR's including but not limited to aircraft maintenance and operations. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Would you be suggesting the USPA members, and instructional rating holders are not bound by the organization's rules one of which is to comply with all FAR's?

Precisely. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Nobody around here I know wants to stop Bill from operating, several of us think that if he's not going to play by the rules he's agreed to, he should give up his USPA membership. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

AFAIK, the FAA has grounded all aircraft operating at the Parachute Center (Lodi) owned by Bill Dause or his holding companies for maintenance and/or documentation issues. The Parachute Center reportedly is currently leasing a Caravan from a DZ in Utah, and seems to have a Twin Otter available sometimes from a DZ in Chicago. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Society will not survive. It can't by it's current nature. Humanity on the other hand, well..... Never underestimate the ability of the human ANIMAL to adapt and survive. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I'd like to, but I'm not sure there is reason for me to. It's not a policy setting meeting and I'm not pursuing an AFF IE rating, we have one on the DZ and I'm looking at a Tandem IE rating first. Might save my pennies for the BOD, unless I can find some compelling reason to attend. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Don't know yet. I've got to budget for the BOD meeting as well, and just came out of a winter shutdown. Oh and I'm the only full time TI at the DZ I'm working for. Edit: I don't see it listed on USPA.org. Any info? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

The thing that got eliminated " the good ol' boy" club mentality of cutting the mustard and being deemed to have good judgment through the subjective of the handful of IE's, has been replaced by an objective evaluation using check boxed performance based criteria, not one of which is judgment. So we got rid of something bad, and replaced it with something worse. Now we are using the same plan to create the trainer's trainer, or the Instructor Examiner. Gone are the days requiring a mentorship, and the idea that the signature of other instructors on your rating application card are an endorsement, and approval of your fitness to be an instructor was left at the starting line. You can be a reckless idiot with the sole goal of sleeping with the hottest AFF student on the DZ, and as long as you prove only the ability to recite information, and catch them in freefall, you'll get a ticket that allows you to create the next batch of star eyed idiots. Shoot, I'm starting to sound bitter about this. There are still good and great instructors being created out there, but we are doing a much poorer job than ever weeding out the ones that don't have the stuff..... just like skydiving, instructing isn't for everyone, and there's another problem. We allowed the rating process to become an individually independently run business. 20 IE's all doing it their way. No wonder we're seeing inconsistencies. When there is competition, the corners will cut, and standards will slide. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

We're in agreement on this Bill.... ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

The unfortunate thing is that while the numbers of instructors are back up, the "qualifications" went in the toilet. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

John just show everyone how big your dick is and be done with it already. +1 Thanks for that! Sometimes I'm childish. I should work on that.......

I'm all for requiring instructor candidates to give consent for a background investigation.

Part of the problem are several IE's who are willing to "reach" when stretching the definitions of the requirements. For example, I've witnessed several "drive by" coach/AFF courses. There is a minimum number of coach jumps required before the AFF rating after receiving a coach rating, and while not imposible to get them done in a week while also doing the prep for an AFF course, it's highly unlikely. Now it's usually assumed, or implied that they are "Coach" jumps, done by a person with a Coach rating, however some imaginative IE's have allowed "coach jumps" that were done as a qualified and approved D license holder PRIOR to the courses. It's not a violation of the rules, but it sure isn't within the spirit of the rules. Maybe it's a function of making the IE position a career. Perhaps we should have made IE's employees of the USPA. Probably too late to fix that mushroom cloud.... Another problem I've seen in close to 3 years of attending USPA board meetings are the number of waivers that are put forward for consideration to waive requirements for specific individuals to obtain instructional ratings. We have standards and requirements for a reason, and waivers should exist for extraordinary circumstances. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Now I know you're wrong. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I don't think you'll ever get the point that the reason they don't want to learn is because you and people like you portray Tandem Skydiving as some sort of ride, something the inventors of Tandem Skydiving NEVER intended. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.