USPA changes tandem BSR

[airtwardo 7]

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I'm going with the Charlie Sheen approach.
Hookers and blow.

...be rude not to!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[normiss 798]

The details I just received from USPA might cover this the way people are suggesting.

"A new Basic Safety Requirement was approved regarding tandem skydiving age limits. The new BSR requires all student tandem skydives to be conducted in accordance with the specific manufacturer’s age requirements for the tandem system used for that jump. All of the U.S. tandem manufacturers require that all tandem students be the age of legal majority. "

So you non-18 legal majority states should be good now too.

[Scrumpot 1]

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All the other sports you talk about, like motocross, skiing – and just look at riding hunter/jumper horses; people get seriously hurt – but they’ve been around for decades or even hundreds of years and they are accepted. But the word skydiving throws up red flags to the public and to the courts, which are generally ignorant about it. So I can certainly understand why some DZs don’t take kids and don’t encourage them, and I’m not encouraging anyone to take on liability exposure they feel uncomfortable with.

That is a key observation, and I have bolded the most further key component winthin that quote/observation.

This has been said before, in fact - over & over; yet continually, from no-matter-who's perspective or side of this argument - it seems to almost always get conveniently forgotten:

THE key difference between ALL these other "extreme sports" and/or high-risk activities, and minor(s) participation in them, actively/"routinely" taking place as compared to skydiving: is the AVAILABILITY OF REASONABLY AFFORDABLE LIABILITY COVERAGE (INSURANCE PROTECTION) being made available for them, ...to the respective activity providers/business owners. So long as that DOES NOT EXIST for the "industry" of skydiving - then "underage" participant activity by and large (valid risk comparisons or not, notwithstanding), just will not occur.

Mike Mullins hits the nail precisely on the head with his last sentence (bolded/emphasis added by me) in the above quote.

Argue for & against for it amongst ourselves all you (we) want - but until someone can convince a bonifide liability coverage underwriting industry (the business liability insurance industry) any differently - which I'm not saying can't be done - just does not seem like anyone is even paying any attention to this avenue EVER, is all - and completely just misses/glosses over it... It just aint (as a "mainstream" common-place/accepted basis) gonna happen.

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[riggerrob 643]

: .... 2. Maybe the Tandem manufacturers are using the age of majority in the State the company exists?

[riggerrob 643]

Tandems became legal under TSO C23D, which became law circa 1993.

[riggerrob 643]

Another factor is that teenage girls "have sex on the brain," that any "unusual touching" might be perceived as sexual touching and could result in a massive lawsuit.
It does not matter that the TI was adjusting the student harness - in accordance with the manual - and doing everything he knew how to avoid "sexual touching," he could still get dragged into a very expensive lawsuit ... after the girl's enraged father breaks his nose!

Laws do not matter when it comes to breaking noses! For example, I almost got punched out by a cuckholded husband, because some OTHER skydiving instructor was shagging his wife! The sad thing is that I did not learn about their affair until many months later!

[dudeman17 339]

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...I think we need to get more kids involved at much younger ages (because by the time they hit 18 they've already mostly established their "career path" in extreme sports)...

[SStewart 13]

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Tandems became legal under TSO C23D, which became law circa 1993.

I said the late 90's instead of the early 90's

The early 90's was the correct answer.

I stand corrected. Well done sir!

Onward and Upward!

[matthewcline 0]

The Systems became Legal, but Jumping with them was still experimental, correct? (Based on the FAR's in the U.S.)

Matt

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[riggerrob 643]

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The Systems became Legal, but Jumping with them was still experimental, correct? (Based on the FAR's in the U.S.)

Matt

.....................................................................

Correct.
Tandem started under a WAIVER from the Federal Air Regulations.

They needed a waiver to get around a clause that said "... dual parachute, single harness system ...".

Truth is - before 1983 - no-one had figured out how to build a parachute big enough for two people that packed smaller than a freight train.

Tandem operated under a waiver for about twenty years, until it became the "normal" way to make a first jump, then the FAA had to update FARs to reflect the new "normal." As he was signing TSO C23D, one FAA official mumbled: "If I had known that tandem was going to get this big, I never would have waivered it in the first place."

[diablopilot 2]

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As he was signing TSO C23D, one FAA official mumbled: "If I had known that tandem was going to get this big, I never would have waivered it in the first place."

Someone at HQ who really gets it.

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

[icarus93 0]

Just curious as to how many under 18 tandem students are seen each season/year? for those following on this post.