tkhayes

while some of your arguments might be valid, that is plain silly - you assume there would be buyers out there for every business. what 'greater harm' are they doing by trying to protect themselves? The sport is in jeopardy because we would not take 16 year olds? I think not. monumental task not within our realm. skiing - billions and billions of dollars (and lobbyists) horses - billions and billions of dollars (and lobbyists) skydiving, millions perhaps. Example - we cannot even get NFPA to change the rules about rapid refueling even though we know it is safe. I can list all the lawsuits that were PREVENTED at Skydive City by having a valid, legal, binding waiver.contract signed by the ADULT participant. The waiver works. We are proof of it. Not letting 16 year olds jump will not harm your business. We are proof of that as well. and 'psychotic' is probably way stronger language that is based in reality.

fly the pattern, fly defensively. make yourself visible. respect others, have a plan B every step of the way. faster parachutes, more of them in the air. This is not new, it is simply human mistakes we make. There will always be there, but until we figure out a way to teach it and standards to follow for any given jump on any given dropzone - we will see this from time to time. But we can greatly reduce it.

Well if you use USPA's mission statement in literal form, then no, they should not be involved. But USPA, dropzones, instructors, aircraft operators, airports, government, manufacturers, packers, and everyone else in skydiving has some level of responsibility to protect the industry from harm. The harm comes when lawsuits gets filed. We have no insurance so we bear the brunt of the litigation ourselves. I am not saying it is 'justice' or even that it is 'right'. Lawsuits are not justice, they are a business transaction under legal guise that goes after the deepest pockets. The instructors have no worries, even they kill someone since they have no money. The dropzone seldom do as well, since almost all of them are 'shell' companies. So all too often they go after the manufacturers, who generally have no shell corporation and have large assets in buildings, revenues and infrastructure in order to be that 'big manufacturer' Our responsibility is to also try and protect them. No parachutes. No skydiving. If you want to bury your head in the sand and deny that this is a problem, then fine. But a mandatory age limit to ensure that people follow the age limits would be a responsible step to REDUCE the risk. And USPA is recognized as the 'teeth' in skydiving rules, not individual dropzones. If you leave it up to the dropzones, the manufacturers WILL impose their own rules, and especially in tandem, will begin to yank ratings for life. THAT is reality. Wing suit people lobbied USPA for some wingsuit rules and we owe it to them to set precedence and be a leader. And we did. Manufacturers are now asking us for the same, and for no other reason that supporting our industry as a whole - we need to do this.

I was stating that the waiver has to be signed by adults - as in, our waiver, versus a waiver for 'canoeing' is also a binding legal contract with a contract of defenses, as well as surrendering rights to sue. If you sign such a 'waiver' for your kids, it is invalid and cannot hold up in court. That is the whole point. A parent cannot sign a contract on behalf of the minor and a parent cannot sign away the minors legal rights, regardless of what the document says. At the very least, when the minor turns 18, they can sue you as they are now an adult.

that's not evolution or any part of it that is simpyl evidence of 'God's Will....'

most of these sports enjoy something that we do not have - liability insurance. And it is reasonably cheap, even with all the litigation. If dropzones could get a liability policy for $10K/year, then it would not matter - claims are handed over to, and handled by that entity. But we do not. therefore ALL the costs of a lawsuit are born by our industry, dropzones, individuals and/or manufacturers and USPA< whomever. We owe it to the aircraft operators and the manufacturers, as well as our instructors and skydivers in general to attempt to protect ourselves from ourselves. Waivers hold up in court. no waiver means hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. THe majority of those lawsuits these days are being borne by the manufacturers. If we lose them, we have no gear. No gear - no skydiving eventually. I cannot even conceive how anyone in this sport does not want to be protected by a waiver. ANd waivers have to be signed by adults. 18 is the obvious choice, whether 3 states have problems with that or not - they would at least become the exceptions. (they already are anyway) BSR, 18 years of age, period. IF USPA does not act, the manufacturers already have stated that they will. TI's will begin to lose their ratings from them if they take minors on skydives. And I expect that the manufacturers of student gear may begin to enter into agreements with the 'users-of-their-equipment' with similar conditions.

and your posts make you totally credible right?

it's a fucking mess. Stopped or not, the damage will not actually be realized in our lifetimes. yes, good they stopped it - I am, for one, am not going to offer them thanks for doing that. Fuck them all And fuck our govt if they are not regulating this shit from here on in. I for one will actually be willing to pay $5/gal for 'clean' gas exploration.

170+ posts so far for the userid 'hallux'. 92% of them personal attacks against other people, while hiding under anonymous names..... yep, I am pretty worried/concerned/give-a-shit about what you have to say

I have owned and flown PD 210 Sabre 190 Sabre 170 Sabre 150 Spectre 170 Spectre 150 Vengeance 135 not quite in that order, but all good canopies...

I get someone like that pretty much once a year in Z-Hills. some of my typical responses depending on the actual conversation... "Well, I want to be an astronaut sir, but I cannot just go over to NASA and climb in a rocket." "How about this. Just as a quickie test - show me the way to activate the main parachute, where the steering toggles are and how you would activate the reserve parachute if needed" and some of the actual conversations I have had over the years..... Skydiver with 300 jumps, but no license, no logbook, no proof of when he last jumped, but does not understand why I would like him to finish his license..... "Sir, a license means that you have demonstrated some level of proficiency to someone of some level of authority in skydiving. And if you do not have a license, then you will have to demonstrate said proficiency to one of my instructors." "What's stopping me from just taking this rig and getting in my buddy's plane and jumping out?" "Absolutely nothing sir, good luck with that, but you are not doing it here" "So you just set all the rules then?" "This is my business and yes, I do..." "I don't know why you guys charge so much money....I thought you did this for fun!?" "Well you see the large airplane out there with the big spinny things on it? When those spinny things are going around and around it costs about $15 a minute...." or "What do you do for living sir? Get paid for having fun?" TK

we just did two loads Thursday early a.m. I will probably shoot for more on the Labor Day weekend. Whatever the Saturday night is. www.skydivecity.com Z-Hills

And the most important reason to 'teach' is: FAR 105.45 ... (2) The person acting as parachutist in command: (i) Has briefed the passenger parachutist before boarding the aircraft. The briefing must include the pro- cedures to be used in case of an emergency with the aircraft or after exiting the aircraft, while preparing to exit and exiting the aircraft, freefall, operating the parachute after freefall, landing approach, and landing. (ii) Uses the harness position prescribed by the manufacturer of the tandem parachute equipment. ... It is federal law. Your briefing MUST include certain elements. It MUST be completed before boarding the airplane. It MUST be completed by the tandem instructor who is taking the passenger. Since you have to do all that anyway, how much more effort does it take to give them a wrist mount alti and let them pull a ripcord at 5000', or at least try. Then teach them "Canopy 101" when under the parachute. I do it almost every load and can manage it all on a 15 minute call. I then sign off their Cat A license card and let them know how well they did.

whoppidy-doo I started shooting .22cal at 6-7 years old. pulled the trigger on a .30-06 at 10 years old - wow. Trap shooting at 13. Hunting all through with my cousins and my uncle Shot every weekend for years at the local rod and gun club in town and then for 20 years after that. If you do not introduce and train kids on how to use guns and shoot properly when they are young.....Well, they will learn how to do it on the fucking streets from a bunch of gang wannabees that do not know dick. just like sex, drugs, religion, and growing up in general - if parents actually intervene and teach them things, they will learn. I am all for gun training as mandatory for everyone given that pretty much everyone has a gun.

You might find that you end up doing more S/L once AFF starts. We did in Canada 20 years ago, and while offering AFF sounds like a good idea, it may kill the profitability of the DZ. i.e 2 instructors, one student per Cessna load as opposed to 3 S/L students on a load. We ended up going back to mostly IAD, and still offering AFF first jump, but at an outrageous price to make it worthwhile for the DZ. I kind of wonder why you would still do S/L instead of IAD, especially if you plan an AFF program. IAD would save having to switch rigs back and forth from S/L to freefall setups.

Our former bookkeeper took a ton of money from us and was convicted of felony grand theft and still got 2 weeks to report to jail.

Tandem instructors can untwist the steering lines while they fly the canopy - just look up and spin the toggle on your hand a few times to undo it. then it does not become a packing issue.

you kick your legs because it is a natural reaction for your feet to go looking for something to put themselves on. All your life you spend with your feet on the ground. When you exit, your feet try to find something solid. Most students build that awareness of their feet in a few jumps and it stops. If it is a problem, try taking your socks off on the next skydive. You will feel the wind around your ankles and you can better feel where your feet are and what they are doing. It worked for me when I had 15 or so jumps.

I have worn one for years, and now I do not anymore. The only time I needed one was a main/reserve entanglement on a tandem. I did not have one with me, but to be honest, I needed a chainsaw, not a knife. I think for 99% of the people out there and given the canopies were are jumping today, that a knife is nothing short of unnecessary. CReW dogs I am sure would disagree and probably have a need for one.

define "are not letting them".... I tried but could not find much in the way of federal law enforcement numbers, local law enforcement numbers and what the history is over the years. I know that at a local level here in Florida, everything is being cut to the bone because of budget restraints. I expect the same is happening at a federal level. I do not doubt that law enforcement 'wants' to take care of the problems, but I expect (as I said) that their budgets are such that they do not have the resources to do it. Again, do you want to pay taxes for more cops, federal or local to do the job? As I said earlier - everyone wants it, no one wants to pay for it. We have 100,000+ soldiers overseas that we are already paying to protect the country who could be on the border, protecting the country. what a novel idea....! federal programs, funded by taxes, to serve the greater good of the people - WOW! We could even extend that to education, health care - oops there I go again - being a Communist!

There are few products out there that I want to run out and buy the second they are released. There are always a few bugs and I kind of like the 2nd or even 3rd generation. Including cars, computers, OS's, phones, pretty much anythig that involves new technology. One of the few that i would clal near-perfect when it came off the shelf was the Cypres AAD.

there will always be illegals - in every country, in every part of the world. It's all about how you manage it. Just another thing in the USA that has been completely gutted by lowering taxes to a point where law enforcement cannot do their job. Everyone wants it done - no one is willing to pay for it.

who gives a shit....?

I have seen it a couple times during my career. We teach students to step to the side and away, but the ones that hit their face 'went limp' you might say on the step and simply fell off. Both times, lots of blood and nearly knocked stupid. Not a good situation. Pay attention to every step of the skydive as it happens. When on the step, focus on the exit, when in freefall, focus on the body position tasks and altitude. When under canopy focus on patterns and flying, when on final, focus on the landing. Ouch!

you wish.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FANMMPWkJfM