MakeItHappen

That's what I thought it was. Then they said they'd add a TC to a DZ that says they'd distribute these certificates. That didn't seem too bad. Then all this other stuff and the stuff I had no idea about because I don't get the GM renewal packages appeared. I agree with that. But there is more that is flawed in what has happened so far. Wait till you hear about the 'USPA Gold Seal Instructors' . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

To get sort of back on track to the original issue. The USPA BOD passed a motion that said DZs that wish to participate in the Solo Challenge would be designated as a training Center (TC). The Solo Challenge was billed as sending certificates/pin or patch to the DZ to give the persons that did their first solo jump. That comes straight from official USPA doctrine that was quoted in the OP. What happened after that was that there was a sentence added to the definition of TC that had no authority from the BOD and implied that DZs without the TC designation did not provide training beyond the first jump. Then there was a sentence in the Oct Professional that stated that TCs were REQUIRED to provide FJS (not the solo ppl, but FJS) name and email to HQ. Then the ED says, the info distribution is really optional and the person is fully informed about this. That is good news. He also said there is an opt-out mechanism in the emails sent to the person, even though it is not on the web site. That is more good news. However, the emails are generated by a third party and have substantial tracking on the end users activities. I think this will be discussed at length at the next BOD meeting. BTW, that was scheduled to happen, but without these additional things HQ did. Let me bring up one more point and DZOs should pay attention to this one. Let’s say DZ A gives (not sells) their FJS name/email, via a voluntary opt-in card that the customer fills out, to the USPA. USPA sends these customers an email every so often. Now DZ B, a nearby competitor of DZ A, buys advertising space in the USPA newsletter targeted to these NGs. (DZ B does not necessarily have to be a TC) What has happened here? DZ B gets in on the distribution list of DZ A. DZ A and USPA actually help DZ B, a competitor of DZ A, in recruiting the NGs to go to DZ B. Many of these programs start off as a very innocuous plan. It seems simple enough and appears to be fair. But later a slight modification changes the entire structure. The plan to give the new solo jumper a certificate is ok. But then the added sentence in the mag is not so ok. The added sentence in the Professional that says TCs are REQUIRED to send info in is not ok. The advertising aspect – I think that is going to be a TBD thing at this stage. I think people need to look at the bigger picture here and look at what has happened historically. This is a recurring theme. You get a toe in, then by the time people start realizing it wasn’t what we thought it was, it’s too late to undo it. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

How much of someone's donation makes it to the charity? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

What??? I don't even follow your logic. "It appears that you did not bring your concerns up to Ed (the ED) prior to bringing it to the public. " You know, I know we do not know each other, but let me tell you this. I have been in skydiving since 1981. Not once, did I ever have to run my question by someone for 'approval' for soliciting responses. IOW, I ask people the Q. I don't ask someone else if it is ok for me to ask a Q on such-n-such. I ask the Q. If there are people or organizations that do not like the question asked, that is pretty much their problem, not mine. What kind of logic are you following?? Are you a Borg? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

If you peruse my OP you will see that I asked members what they thought. Granted the ED is a member, but the questions were not specifically directed at the ED. The ED entered into the conversation on his own volition, which is a good thing IMHO, and probably in response to page 15 of Dec Parachutist mag. If you did not know, the ED is one of the people that speak for USPA. No Director can speak as the official voice of USPA, unless that person is the President. The way your question is posed, suggests that you prefer USPA go off into a super secret room to determine the destiny of USPA and then come out and tell the membership 'this is the way it's going to be'. Most of the members I talk to ask 'hey-why don't you ask us about this stuff ahead of time and get our input?' They don't want the super-secret meetings and decisions coming down from the mountain. Apparently, in this particular issue, there are things that HQ has implemented that BOD members were not aware of. In fact, I did not even know I was missing information until this thread. That should tell you something there too. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This is a task that DZOs need to do not USPA. This implies that USPA will not be promoting DZs that don't want new students as much. The sentence in the mag definitely implies that is exactly what USPA is currently doing. USPA is now promoting one group of members over another. It appears that USPA is deliberately and willfully restraining free competition among its group members. Maybe it was presented to the GM Comm that way, but it was certainly not explained like that to the FB. Email bugs, although widely used in advertising, are one of the many reasons I always read emails as plain text and not HTML. Does this newsletter have an option to be sent as plain text? I imagine that not many people know you have email bugs in these newsletters. But you admitted that you do know how many people opened the email. Most likely you know exactly who, when and their IP addy as they read the email. [sidebar] I used to develop an email campaign manager for a large corporation. This application could track a recipient's movement and click thrus on every link in the email. Coupled with demographic data you can perform data mining techniques to ascertain quite a bit about recipients buying preferences.[/sidebar] And if a DZ does not want to send first jumper info to USPA they do not promote student training? I don't think so. see above The requirement is that participating DZs make a card available to first jump students, then return those cards that do get filled out. This card asks for the student's name and e-mail address. We found this to be the only reliable way to get in touch with first-jump customers. We tried having DZs hand out cards with USPA web urls and contact info, but it didn’t work. The DZ is asked to have the customers complete the cards, then send the cards to USPA. E-mails from USPA are never sent unsolicited. First time jumpers are invited to fill out an information card which clearly states that they will receive an e-mail from us. There is no requirement for the first time student to fill out or return this card. The sample e-mail on USPA's website does not have an opt-out link because it is a sample. Every live e-mail newsletter that goes out from USPA HQ is sent via the ConstantContact service, has an unsubscribe link, and fully complies with all SPAM laws. Here's the problem with that. ConstantContact is yet another third party. Someone agrees that their name and email can be sent to USPA, but now they are getting emails from a company called ConstantContact. All optout urls and embedded links go to their web site. Embedded links get forwarded to urls on the USPA site, after tracking data is logged. Many people know that spammers spoof things like this to get people to optout as a way to verify their email addy and then sell to others. I'm willing to bet ConstantContact does aggregate data mining for the benefit of still other third parties. Plus ConstantContact bugs their emails. They track who opens the email as HTML and who clicks on what link at what time and from what IP addy. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Who are these BOD members and what exactly are they telling you? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I don't know the answer, but if you do pursue it, ask them to pay the entire bill so that it is not a claim on your insurance. Also there are lawyer sites where you can ask questions like that. Be sure to mention what state you are in. Sometimes you can call local lawyers and get an answer for free. Your insurance company might know the answer too. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I would expect the BOD to take this up at the next meeting. It will go through the GM committee. Now just to get the story straight: The BOD passed a motion that said: An explanation of this is also quoted in the OP. Specifically the Summer 08 minutes state "A decision was made to set the criteria at the next board meeting". That would mean the next BOD meeting in Feb 09. Then in the Oct Professional it says The sample email does not have an opt out link. The Oct-Dec mags have the statement explaining what the green TC means. So there are 4 issues about the Solo Challenge/TC program(s) that were not authorized by the BOD. 1. sentence in mag 2. requirement of DZs to send personally identifiable info to USPA of first time jumpers 3. unsolicited emails being sent to new jumpers as a result of #2. 4. no way for a new jumper to opt-out of emails from USPA I have no idea how and why these things were added. Is there anything else that needs to be added to this list? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Bill - where do you get this erroneous information? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Whoa. It is a bad business practice for one company to release personally identifiable information to third parties, unless you go through a big disclaimer about doing that. Usually, if a company wanted to release such info they would sell it and not give it away and they would get the customer's consent in writing. USPA is way out of line on this. What USPA sold the BOD was a program that was an 'atta-boy' or 'atta-girl' for someone doing their first solo freefall. You know the H&P on SL progression or solo on AFF etc. The jumper would get a certificate (and/or pin/patch) to recognize this milestone. I thought most jumpers would not be motivated by this certificate, but it would not hurt anything to recognize them either. But now there is a requirement for DZs to release customers' personally identifiable information to USPA? Where did that come from? The BOD never agreed to something like that. Can you imagine if PIA, a recognized trade organization, asked all their members to provide the name and email of their customers to PIA? That would never fly. USPA needs to get out of the trade organization role. It needs to be a membership organization: for the members and by the members. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I have no knowledge of a requirement that a DZ has to send USPA client information. Can you send me the materials or pieces of paper that ask the DZ to do this? This is news to me. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This is an FYI post about what USPA is doing that you might not have noticed. “Training Center” designation by USPA USPA established a program called the ‘Solo Challenge’ at the Winter 08 and Summer 08 BOD meetings. If you note in Parachutist Oct, Nov, Dec 08 issues – HQ has placed a green TC next to DZs that have signed up for the Solo Challenge in the DZ listing section. That is ok nothing wrong with that. But what the magazine says is emphasis added. This little sentence “These drop zones provide skydiving training beyond the first jump.” is an outright leverage technique to coerce DZs into buying into the ‘Solo Challenge’. This sentence strongly implies that the DZs without the TC designation do not provide training beyond the first jump. HQ has gone beyond what the BOD authorized. So what do you think about this? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The best bet would to ask people from Irvin Aerospace (now part of Airborne Systems) or Switlik. They probably have original pictures. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Well, pardon me for trying to help you out. I flunked the mind-reading class in college. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I have not purchased the car yet... There is a dealer in MD that can offer me the car for a ton less than the dealerships out here... Best case, we can get a dealer locally to work with us, worst case I will get the car moved from MD to CA. g CA has different requirements on emission controls than other states. The vehicles are actually different from one state to another, specifically CA. That may be where the price differential is coming from. CA dmv is also wise to people that purchase a car in some other state to avoid CA sales tax. Maybe a visit to the CA dmv web site is in order? I recall that there is an explanation about the sales tax issue on the CA dmv site. Something that you have to have the vehicle registered in the first state for some time period ( 6 months or greater?? ) to avoid sales tax in CA. Check this out because you might end up paying sales tax in two states. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Within the year Toyota FJ Brand spankin new - o mileage. g I think an option to explore is asking a local dealer to take on the delivery of the car. The MD dealer gets the profit from the sale and the local dealer makes a profit on the delivery. Ask the two dealers work something out about the delivery. How hard can it be to get them to ship to CA instead of MD? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Safety, aka 'personal risk tolerance', is subjective. Risk is 'how bad' times 'how often'. Risk is objective. FMI see About Risks Risk and Safety . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

B4 you go the reformatting route.. Tell us what file system you actually have on the drive. Is it NTFS? That I think would be unusual, unless you reformatted it that way. Then what type of files are you trying to access on these various systems? Sometimes MS Access *.mdb files need another setting changed to open them - depends on how you access them. Another thing to try is networking your systems together and sharing the drive. That should bring up a login screen if it is an access permissions problem. Another, somewhat easier, route is to set up an identical UN/PW login on the second machine, login as that user and see if that fixes the problem. That would definitely point to an NTFS access permissions problem. What OS do you have on these systems? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

You could extract the information from the reports in the mag from the past 20 years. The individual reports list 'time in sport' and 'number of jumps' when known. Data in the individual reports has changed over the years. Student v. experienced jumper is usually provided too. There are articles that state membership composition too. Data from Wings & Things and license listings can also be used to determine when someone got a license. Names, dates and location can be cross-referenced with SNM articles. If you need someone to go look up this info, you can ask me at Aerosoftware _AT_MakeItHappen.com replace _AT with @. This is absolutely NOT true. We are not doing a coin toss here. The risks depend upon a number of variables, including experience level and time in sport. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I was told on Nov 28 that they were going to get together again (probably by phone) to clear up this and some other Qs. So I *think* there is another meeting planned soon. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Charges for checked bags (even the first two) have changed and are different among the airlines. Under the old rates: The cutoff weights were 50, 75 and 100. Expect about $50 per increment. ie $50 for over 50# and $50 for 3rd piece, total $100. In the US, sometimes it is cheaper to ship ground via FedEx or UPS than to pay the excess baggage charges, especially if you are over the 50 lb limit. You have to plan ahead on that though. Remember you can always get a cheap cooler at just about any grocery store for a couple of bucks. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Actually, PIA and USPA will be meeting with the FAA shortly (don't know when) to get a clarification on this. Standby to standby. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The current conversation is the old conversation. Nothing much has changed. The few things that have changed were precipitated by the SDA v. SR lawsuit. A few other things have been changed because of the settlement agreement between SR and USPA, but those changes are predominately related to web sites that purport to represent DZs in Arizona. Most of their other web sites are not abiding by the super secret SR v. USPA agreement. A complaint filed by a RD is still unresolved. He has told me that he has 'given up' on asking USPA to remedy the situation. I was able to get SR to remove my copyrighted material from one of their web sites this summer. It took numerous emails to USPA and was done after deadlines were extended (by USPA). What should have only taken 30 days actually took almost 60 days. I cannot tell you how I did that because - see avatar. There are many other instances of use of copyrighted material still on the SR sites. I cannot tell the owners of the material how to remedy the situation because see avatar - btw that is a USPA imposed gag not SR. A recent ruling by the State of Georgia is not effecting changes. The order was dated Aug 18, 2008. You can look at paragraph 22 of that order and then go look at this web page and follow the links for driving directions. The driving directions do not include the 'approximate driving distance'. I cannot even call up the State of Georgia and tell them about that because - see avatar. I think that if USPA members knew what was in the SR v. USPA settlement agreement, you'd have the heads of every person on the Executive Committee (EC). The EC and no one else from the BOD were the people that decided to enter into the agreement. On top of that the EC lied to the rest of the BOD on Nov. 28, 2007 and told the rest of the BOD that it was a 'done deal'. The fact is that the agreement was not signed until Nov. 29, 2007 and there was a 30-day clause to change the terms. The rest of the BOD was not informed about that part of the agreement. I have read the agreement (first time Feb 08, second time Jul 08), but still do not have a copy of it, even though I am specifically named in it. Oh yeah, my name was tossed into the cutout by another director, not SR, as told to me by two other directors. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

OMFG!! This would be funny, if it were not so SERIOUSLY EGREGIOUS!! From the "Skydive NASHVILLE" (is there even really such a place??) Website: --------------------- Skydiving Nashville Take I-24 east to I-75 Take I-75 south to hwy 113 (exit 288 Cartersville) Turn right on Hwy. 113 Turn right on Hwy. 278 west Follow Hwy. 278 for 6 miles Turn right at the Airport sign (Airport Rd.) Airport Rd. forks immediately, stay left Skydive Nashville is 1/4 mile on the left --------------------- Grant, you are a little bit late to the party by 6 years or so. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker