accel

TonyJ Thanks for taking the time to find and post this reference from Florida Supreme Court. It seems to clearly summarize the situation in Florida. There is a lot to think about in this document and it's very instructive regarding the issues. Although the document does cite Michigan and New Jersey law, my open question is "to what extent does each State derive its own view and therefore what consideration is attached to decisions from other States Supreme Courts". I'm still interested in getting to the base of whether every state has an 18 year old/Adult jumping policy forced by law/precedent, or whether some States don't.

Thanks to Pops and Andy for putting me straight on that point. It's surely appreciated.

Hi popsjumper Are you certain that age for jumping is governed by state laws? Especially when USPA says its minimum age for skydiving is 16 (with parental consent). Would it be able to do that in the face of multiple state laws? There's a lot of heresay around and I'm just trying to research the facts.

So far it looks like; USA - min age 16, preferred 18. Shop around, you may or may not find places (so far, in Oregon we know of one) who will let you jump at 16. Canada - Quebec min age for tandem 14, other provinces 16, but preferred 18. Shop around and ask individual DZs. All of the above are only with explicit parental consent. Age limits seem to be driven by national laws, and not usually by state or provincial laws (except Quebec), but more by legal precedent and whether waivers are likely to be held up in respect of whether parents or minors are able to sue after an injury while taking part in the sport. Just summarising the current situation from all inputs. Please feel free to propose an edit to this. It would also be useful and interesting to hear any province or state updates here in this thread.

I'd like to thank everyone for some great comments and input. councilman24 made some excellent points and I just want to clarify one thing you said... As I understand it, parents and legal guardians can sign waivers for the minors they are responsible for and these are legally admissable (I'm not a lawyer but I am a parent) otherwise schools and other organsations who take kids away canoeing or climbing or on other 'hazardous' activities couldn't operate (I know, don't beat me up on the definition of hazardous, its not mine). Not meaning to be picky, but you didn't really mean to say that did you? There isn't some dark legal concept somewhere that we don't generally know about is there? having said that, riggerrob in his post said something similar about a parental consent signature 'not holding up in court'. Does anyone have any links to anything which gives details about this? If there are really any precedents, most grateful to receive them. JerryBaumchen makes a good point about 'shop around and if you work at it, you may find it'. Thats interesting that Oregon dropzones are 33% for 16yrs and above and 66% for 18yrs and above. I wonder how the other states break down and whether Oregon is representative? (I know, too small a group to apply that to all 50 states but its a start...) CanadianFella highlights the individuality of Quebec province, and its worth noting that the 14 year old jumping perspective also fits with Australia (14 minimum, and right now trialling a waiver system to reduce the age to, well, no lower limit but just based on parental consent and a written application by the child to the Director of Safety). The rest of the Canadian rules in respect of lower age limit seem to be similar to USA. This is just trying to summarise the situation so far and clarify a couple of points. Once again, sincere thanks to everyone for input and more data will be appreciated.

I'm doing some research and would appreciate some advice. Is there a single place/document that shows the earliest ages people are allowed to start skydiving in every US state. I know USPA says 16 with parental consent, subject to state and school policy. Some then say 18. Is it already broken down by state? (by school would probably be too much to ask I guess) The next one I'll be looking for is each Canadian province. Any help appreciated.