As lisa so aptly points out, any consciensious and ethical gear salesman can be duped into selling an inappropriately sized canopy to a customer. I always went to every effort to qualify my customers for the canopies they were interested in but one kind of got away from me.
When I refused to sell this person a Stiletto at 100 jumps he simply walked across the street to another dealer, lied about his experience and walked back to the DZ with his new Stiletto. An hour later I was holding his head for the EMTs as they worked to save his life. He lived and a year later thanked me for trying to talk some sense into him.
If an over-anxious jumper wants an inappropriate canopy badly enough they will get it. Education, not regulation is the key to curtailing this. The dealer who sold the Stiletto in the case I'm referring to could have spent a few minutes or hours verifying this jumper's experience level while he was juggling 6 other orders and a store full of people. He wishes he had. Unfortunately some slip through the cracks. The jumper blames no one but himself.
Hi Lisa!
Dave
