class III medical question in relation to DUI

[normiss 800]

With a few exceptions...

USPA forgot who I was and I have two membership numbers.
One I was issued on the first tandem, then when I started jumping a number of years later, they missed the old one and issued me a new one.
This oversight forced me to wait a bit longer for my ratings.


If I ever take a length of time off, I really hope they find the good membership.

[chemist 0]

wstcstcmtr

Looking at another FAA situation: I will always hold an ATPL regardless of my currency or medical status. Of course for me to be PIC I would need to have a valid medical, but only because it says that in the FAR. As far as I have seen, there is nothing in the FAR that says a medical is required to be a TI.

But it does say you have to do the manufacturer's course/meet their requirements and SIGMA states you need a 3rd class medical.

The question is why would they omit the medical requirement and list the other requirements like 500 jumps, properly rigged reserve etc... which are also requirements as per the manufacturer?

Hopefully this will no longer matter once the 3rd class medical exemption law passes in early 2015

[peek 21]

chemist

But it does say you have to do the manufacturer's course/meet their requirements and SIGMA states you need a 3rd class medical. The question is why would they omit the medical requirement and list the other requirements like 500 jumps, properly rigged reserve etc... which are also requirements as per the manufacturer? Hopefully this will no longer matter once the 3rd class medical exemption law passes in early 2015

Can you ask those questions again, specifying who "it" and "they" are? I don't think anyone can answer the questions properly without that. Remember, we are dealing with at least 3 different entities (in the US): FAA, USPA, tandem manufacturers.

By the way, changes to the FAA medical for flying aircraft may not change anything with USPA's requirement for a medical (of some kind) for tandem.

[fencebuster 7]

The IRM requires a current FAA Class III medical Certificate or the equivalent. Page 111. The BSRs on the other hand state that "any skydiver acting as a Parachutist in Command must possess a current FAA Third-Class Medical certificate or equivalent medical certificate acceptable to USPA . . . ." In a long chain of e-mails a BOD explained to me that the reason that USPA does not recognize a DOT medical as an "equivalent medical certificate acceptable to USPA "is that because it does not "track DUIs." For the life of me, I cannot understand what business it is of USPA to "track DUIs". If a DZO wants to hire a recovering alcoholic, or just a guy unlucky enough to have a 1 time DUI, who is otherwise healthy and capable as a TI, what business is it of the USPA? The idea of a medical certificate is to determine whether the health of the TI is such that he is medically qualified to perform the duties as a tandem parachutist in command, not to track DUIs for the USPA or even DZOs. It is exceedingly difficult and expensive, to obtain an FAA 3d Class medical after a DUI -- it requires multiple different evaluations over several months --, and a TI does not need an FAA airman's certificate to perform TI duties. The FAA increased the requirements after a DUI to keep pilots with alcohol problems from exercising the privileges of their airman certificate unless certified by the FAA medical establishment as non-alcohol dependent. The fact that a TI received a DUI is a matter between his DZO and the TI, not USPA, since the FAA requires neither a medical nor an airman certificate to be a Tandem PIC. I turned in my USPA Group membership because I firmly believe that the USPA Board is full of shit in not accepting a DOT medical as an "equivalent medical certificate" because it does certify the medical condition of the person who holds it, and it is up to the individual DZO to decide who should work for the DZO. In conjunction with a number of other massively hypocritical decisions the Board has made (or not made) recently, I simply cannot accept the BOD involving itself in employment decisions ("tracking DUIs") on otherwise medically and professionally qualified TIs.

Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208
AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I
MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger
Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

[stayhigh 2]

USPA is bullshit indeed.

How are you going to reason with the same guys that keeps their SnTA advisor who commits bodily injury to himself and others, and the same committee didn't even suspend the TI who hook himself into a student at Hawaii ?

Fuck USPA, I'm jumping at LODI.

I can NOT wait to sell my main, so I can close the final chapter on this bullshit skydiving story.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[chemist 0]

peek

***But it does say you have to do the manufacturer's course/meet their requirements and SIGMA states you need a 3rd class medical. The question is why would they omit the medical requirement and list the other requirements like 500 jumps, properly rigged reserve etc... which are also requirements as per the manufacturer? Hopefully this will no longer matter once the 3rd class medical exemption law passes in early 2015

Can you ask those questions again, specifying who "it" and "they" are? I don't think anyone can answer the questions properly without that. Remember, we are dealing with at least 3 different entities (in the US): FAA, USPA, tandem manufacturers.

By the way, changes to the FAA medical for flying aircraft may not change anything with USPA's requirement for a medical (of some kind) for tandem.

what I meant to say is the USPA/tandem manufacturer's require 500 jumps, 3rd class medical and reserve requirements etc... yet the FARs only states the requirement is 500 jumps, reserve, etc... but omits the 3rd class medical requirement.

I think we can all agree it is not a crime to jump a tandem w/o a medical (and I don't even know if violating an FAR is even a crime or only results in a fine or suspension?) The only question is if anything were to go wrong could a lawyer sue the DZ for a company/TI violating BSRs or tandem manufacturer suggestions.

People with DUIs have paid their debt to society as per the criminal law, this is America where we don't have double jeopardy. You are punished once for your crime. Not over and over again by some bullies, USPA should know better

[peek 21]

chemist

what I meant to say is the USPA/tandem manufacturer's require 500 jumps, 3rd class medical and reserve requirements etc... yet the FARs only states the requirement is 500 jumps, reserve, etc... but omits the 3rd class medical requirement.

The manufacturers require a medical only for the initial rating. After that, the rating is "handed off" so to speak, to USPA. (The manufacturers still control requirements for their Examiners.)

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I think we can all agree it is not a crime to jump a tandem w/o a medical...

That is the interpretation of many people.

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The only question is if anything were to go wrong could a lawyer sue the DZ for a company/TI violating BSRs or tandem manufacturer suggestions.

You can sue anyone for nearly anything.

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People with DUIs have paid their debt to society as per the criminal law, this is America where we don't have double jeopardy. You are punished once for your crime. Not over and over again by some bullies, USPA should know better

The only way that USPA is going to change this is to hear from a lot of members. Many BOD members completely disregard anything in these forums, so it is going to take a lot of letters or emails to the BOD.