MakeItHappen

Actually, that isn't quite accurate. Tangible evidence to support such claims was sent to USPA HQ 26 June 2006. I should have added 'to me' at the end of that sentence. Butler and Quattrocchi were expelled in the summer of 2005, evidence submitted a year later would not be a factor at the summer 2005 meeting or investigations done during 2005. Does the claim that you cite mention when the night tandem jumps were done? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I think you ought to re-read what I wrote and pay extra attention to the first paragraph. You are shooting the messenger. Maybe this link will help. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The discussion in here is meaningless. The entertainment value of DZ.com is always amazing. This has got to be the funniest post I've read in a long time. In context, it is hysterical. In an absolute context of DZ.com, it is hysterical. Please, please someone put "The discussion in here is meaningless. - Labrys" as their sig block. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

N/A

I don't quite follow you on that. What does that mean? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I read some court documents that said: "AerOhio Skydiving Center, Inc., is not financially viable to continue to generate and/or participate in ongoing discovery and is currently in the process of closing its business effective December 31, 2008." 12-30-08 "AerOhio has ceased doing business and has substantially exhausted its assets, such that it has no ability to pay for the continued services of counsel or any judgment that may be entered in this matter against it." 1-21-09 . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Many people do not know how Butler, Quattrocchi and their 3 DZs were thrown out of USPA. Before any investigation was made by USPA, the President, Glenn Bangs, held an AFFCC at ASC Feb 14-20, 2005. Mike Gruwell told me that Bangs stayed at the home of Butler during this course. Bangs told me at the winter 2005 meeting that he and Butler were ‘long time friends’. On April 8, 2005 there were 3 posts on dropzone.com that solicited money for Glenn Bangs. I am not sure there is a conspiracy between Bangs and Butler, but it is certainly within the realm of possibilities. Several people from the Atlanta area have alluded to a conspiracy theory. At the time it always looked strange to me, but in hindsight it actually does make sense, but I do not know if it is true or not. Let’s move on the facts that I absolutely, positively know about. On April 5, 2005 Bangs with the help of Ed Scott tasked the southeast regional director, Richard Schachner, to investigate Butler, Quattrocchi and their DZ at Cedartown, GA. On April 29, 2005 Schachner reported that there was not sufficient evidence to revoke their memberships. Bangs did not like this finding. The executive committee voted 4 to 1 to continue the formal disciplinary action. Bangs unilaterally assigned national director Max Cohn to investigate the situation. Cohn was brand new to the BOD and it seemed strange to many of us that a very new board member would be assigned to this controversial task. Bangs was the sole person that made this assignment. There was no interim motion by the executive committee and no discussion with the full board. Cohn was directed to NOT give an opinion one way or another removing their memberships. The way formal disciplinary actions work is that the RD or someone appointed conducts an investigation and sends a letter to the alleged wrong-doers telling them what the charges and specifications are and inviting them to the next BOD meeting. Unknown to the rest of the BOD at the summer 2005 meeting, this was not done for Quattrocchi and Butler. This was highly irregular. By the time formal disciplinary actions come before the board, the procedures that include informing the accused, are performed by the RD or designee. This was NOT done and Cohn was directed not to do it. This was a major mistake by USPA. The mistake rests squarely on the shoulders of the President. Most of the rest of the board, including myself, only found out about this when the lawsuit was filed in October 2005. Actually, some board members never read the complaint and still do not know the details of the complaint. In addition to the requisite letters not being sent to Quattrocchi and Butler, Cohn was never directed to investigate their 3 DZs. This was also not known to the rest of the board at the summer 2005 meeting. At the time these DZs were in Cedartown, GA, Pell City, AL and Pennridge, PA. At a meeting of the executive committee, the President made a motion to expel the three DZs from the Group Member program. I asked the Director of Group Membership, Ed Scott, about this. He told me that there is a clause that allowed either side (USPA or the DZ) to terminate the GM contract. What he failed to tell me was that it required a 30-day notice. I learned that on the Monday after the meeting and then wrote the President and Secretary about my concerns about this issue. I asked that an interim motion be conducted to change the date on the motion passed at the meeting. The date was changed but there was never any interim motion. I even inquired about it again shortly before the winter 2006 meeting. The Secretary told me that there was no interim motion. In a nutshell, Butler, Quattrocchi and their DZs were improperly thrown out of USPA. This had nothing to do with the actual vote count, but was related to the procedures, detailed in Sec. 1-6 of the USPA Governance Manual, that were NOT followed by the persons involved in the investigation of alleged wrong-doings. A week or so after the summer 2005 meeting Bangs went to the DZ at Pennridge and solicited their staff to work at Crosskeys. Bangs was subsequently dismissed by Crosskeys for this action. Leading up to the expulsion of Quattrocchi, Butler and their DZs, several people told me about night tandem jumps being conducted at ASC, but no one brought forth any tangible evidence. Richard did not know about this either. This evidence did come forward, to me, on March 19, 2008 in the form of two photographs of Mike Gruwell doing a night tandem jump at ASC. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This is the lifetime member that proposed "Move to waive instructional rating renewal fees for lifetime USPA members.” at the winter 2006 meeting. "Lifetime Memberships No Instructor Dues - Chris Quaintance sought the opinion of the Regional Directors about the possibility exempting annual rating fees for Life Members that have Instructional Ratings. The issues discussed were funds possibly gained or lost and the membership’s perspective if any BOD members were also Life Members." Re "online balloting for the next election is a pet project of mine" yeah right. Q you did not review any online voting system. The chair of N&E and I did that. I reviewed 12 different systems. We both asked members and the BOD to 'check this out'. You know nothing about the pitfalls of online voting. Online voting is not necessarily the elixir to increasing voter turnout that you may think it is. You trade one set of problems for another set of problems. The PR costs are more than $60k. Pay attention to the budget and the motions in the meetings. $70k for an ecommerce module is outrageous. The membership software was purchased for $250,000 in 2003. Remember this is the software that cannot put an R to designate restricted after someone's license and cannot put type ratings next to the TI listing. I voted against this software package because it did not appear to do what we needed to do and I said so at the time. Come on Q, you and I both know that it does not cost $70k for an ecommerce package. The yahoos snowing corporate HQs, who in turn snow an ill-advised BOD are the ones making the money. Oh yeah and USPA has someone that does not even have an email address on their BOD now. I dunno about you, but I'd take a RB kid over that guy. Why did RB toss you under the bus? Melissa could have won if she campaigned earlier. Why did RB dump you? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

SOS jumpers set a new RW formation record at Skydive DeLand. Roster attached 1 60-way attempt done today with only minor problems. 2 tries for Sunday. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Proper procedures for non-signature (phone/internet) transactions require getting the code from the back of the CC and address to process the transaction. If the retailer does not do this, then the 'game is off' for fraud claims. If they have the signature, that can be used to get the fraudulent claim resolved. Since you say the CC company did not credit the retailer, then it looks like the retailer did not fulfill his contractual obligations with the merchant account to avoid fraud. If this is indeed the situation, the retailer gave away the gear. It was not stolen. Wow! Just think - anyone can list their gear or someone else's gear in the 'stolen files' of USPA or SSK and get it sent to them years later. Police reports anyone? Eric needs to get a lawyer. Enough time has passed, that one can assume this was written off as bad debts on taxes. I even think SSK might be in trouble for sending property back to someone else based only on a 'stolen property report' and not a police or fraud report. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

What??? This guy already paid $4100 for the gear that he did not know was stolen. And you think he ought to pay more money to keep it? And it is not exactly clear what the culpability of the retailer is or whether the retailer has written this off on previous year's taxes already. I don't follow the logic??? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Could also be a relay switch that is sticking. Besides testing the battery you can also remove the starter and have that tested at the local auto parts store (usually for free) Removing/replacing a starter is pretty simple. Your scenario does not seem to be a battery problem. I had a truck that had a relay that was stuck. I called the local auto mall for the brand truck and the mechanic said to tap the relay during crank with the handle of a screwdriver. It had to be a rather sharp tap, but not so hard to crack the plastic casing of the relay. Turned out to be the relay not the starter. But I did have the starter tested before I asked a mechanic about 'what else could be causing this problem.' Removing/replacing a relay is about as easy as changing a fuse - at least in my truck. YMMV. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Yup. Now tell me about the rate increase the USPA is having to pay. I do not know anything about a rate increase. That would be news to me. Usually the budget is forwarded to the BOD in early December. I asked about it a week or so ago. "It's much more complicated this year and they are still working on it." I think the individual member insurance was supposed to go down, but with the stock market tanking - that may not be true anymore. Let's hope our insurance carrier did not invest with Madoff. Well, there's the Solo Challenge and the TC thingy. (yeah right!) Don't expect me to defend much of anything that USPA has done since Nov. 28, 2007. I agree, this was pretty much PIA work, not so much USPA. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Dave, the only thing USPA paid out of pocket was the deductable. They paid that again this year in 2008 for the other lawsuit USPA is named in, too. I forgot to mention that the carriers changed sometime c2006. (I don't know why.) So the claim relating to SR was carrier1 and the claim in 2008 is carrier2. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Not yet, but I got complaints about the column already. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The requirement originated with the tandem mfgs (RWS & SE) in the 80s sometime. I do not think it was there from the very beginning (81). It was added as a 'maturity metric' (for lack of a better description). It is important to note: "(USPA) Headquarters reported that the current tenure program is broken. Our current system calculates tenure by simply taking the current date and subtracting the “start date”. The system does not take into account lapses in the membership." from http://uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Min_BOD_2008_09.pdf This is the software package mentioned here: "Authorize the Executive Director to spend up to $250,000 to purchase association software package." from http://uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Min_BOD_2003_01.pdf How is 3 years tenure calculated in real life? Probably from logbooks. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

See FAI web site for CoP for each license level. eg the minimums. Any country may require more for each license. In general, you may find these requirements on each country's NAC web site. Google is your friend. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Here's another article from SPSJ, High wind Landing Approaches, that is especially useful when your ground speed is backwards. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Wow - that must be a new rule. I wonder how that will effect me since I ship via email. Although I don't sell through ebay. Also the purchases I make through ebay, I do not use their auto check out, but send them $ directly from my account without stating on paypal that it is an ebay purchase. I use the note field to list the ebay # and shipping addy, usually my PO box. I rarely leave feedback. All that said, I can see that this may protect people from fraud. I wonder what the trigger(s) are for them to place a hold. If they are holding $ for 21 days they can earn interest on that. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

It could be an echeck. Funds get drawn from a bank account instead of a cc or their account. They usually clear in a couple of days, although I had one that took more than a week. I tell the customer that once the echeck clears, I'll send you the product. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Well, if the guy you were talking to was deaf and really could not articulate most words, then texting would make a whole lot of sense. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Hey Mark - I just realized this was set for today. So I guess you are SOL. But here's the plan. Go find someone to lend you a helmet cam and get a third person vidiot. Set a couple of beepers for you for pull altitude - oh wait that won't work. Get some buddies to tap you and give you the pull signal. Then go do it and submit the vids to Guiness. I have no doubt that you can blast out the 'professional skydivers' that they used. Show the world what fast texting while skydiving is all about. Make sure you get paid for it. If you need an agent - call me or that should be email or text me. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

HW What?, they don't have to send the message? The way 'to cheat' is to go find that text message expert or Mark Rejhon and have them as a PAX on a tandem. I'll put $$ on Mark - even if he did it as a solo jumper. That guy is FAST. How do you get Mark Rejhon signed up for this? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Er.....what? Sarcasm, hypothetical foreshadowing, under the radar rumors, or fact? That is supposed to be some program modeled from GOLD SEAL FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

of course Re "if your setting is such that you only allow text e-mails, you will receive a text-only version" Are the links directly to USPA's web site or the tracker urls? Tracker urls usually get broken up with line breaks because they are so long, filled with encrypted user-identifiable info. FMI see Email tracking Email Bugs I think the phrase "link tracking is an industry accepted practice" is accepted by the people and companies doing the tracking, ie the industry. The sad news is that most people, the recipients of these emails, have no clue that so much information can be gathered from them. If they knew what was going on behind the scenes they may not particularly like it. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker