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Safety
& Training Newsletter
Safety
& Training Advisors
Safety
Day
Accident
statistics
Incident
reports
Waiver
requests
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Greetings,
The USPA Professional is your e-news source for safety and training related news from USPA. It is sent to each current USPA S&TA and instructional rating holder with a current e-mail address on file at USPA Headquarters.
Be sure to add e-news@uspa.org to your contact list so that you can continue to receive newsletters from us. Contributions to this newsletter are welcome and should be submitted to safety@uspa.org.
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Safety Day 2008
Safety Day is less than a month away, coming up March 8. Supporting materials are available for download at www.uspa.org/safety/safety_day.htm. Downloads include the following:
- Safety Day Planning and Procedures-a guide for those who are organizing the Safety Day event
- Safety Checklist-A colorful handout to provide to each participant
- Canopy Risk Quotient-A useful calculator to help each jumper figure out if the canopy he is jumping fits his current skill and experience level.
- The 2007 Fatality Summary-A Power Point presentation that sheds some light on what went wrong in 2007 and what we can do to avoid the same mistakes.
- Congratulations! You got a Judy!-The article that tells the story of Chesley Judy and why USPA provides an award certificate in his name.
In addition to covering the subject areas listed in the guideline, USPA asked to receive ideas for different types of presentations that can help make the day different and exciting for each participant. Here are a few ideas USPA received that might work well for your event:
- Station Poker-each participant receives a playing card for each different presentation or training segment of the day. The cards are then used for a hand of poker. Whoever has the winning hand wins a free jump or other prize.
- Simulated Emergency-Stage a plane crash with volunteers as "crash victims" that are assigned various injuries. The drop zone can coordinate with the local rescue squad and play out the scenario to see what would be involved in managing a potentially catastrophic event.
- What Would You Do?-Create a scenario which provides a series of decisions to be made, with several options available during the various stages of the skydive that can change the outcome. Each participant lists how they would respond, and each scenario is played out for the room to see. If the scenario ends with a bad outcome, it is easy for the group to see what went wrong and why, and how to make better decisions.
- Accuracy With a Twist-Hold an accuracy competition which also includes trivia questions in the scoring. Each participant must answer a trivia question as part of each round of the accuracy meet. The scoring system and is left up to the organizer. May the most accurate and most trivia savvy jumper win!
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Chesley H. Judy Award
The Chesley H. Judy awards will be mailed at the end of the month to those who
requested the award for a local jumper. USPA will try to handle last minute requests
for the award, but there is no guarantee it will arrive in time for your Safety
Day activities. You can send an email to safety@uspa.org for the nominated individual,
along with a name and address of where to send the certificate.
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Safety Day T-Shirts
Drop zones may order Safety Day t-shirts from Jumper Sportswear that will include the USPA Safety Day logo on the front, and additional artwork and the names of participating drop zones on the back. Call 1-888-872-5646 before February 22nd to get your order placed in time for delivery before March 8.
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Instructor or Instructional Rating Holder?
There has been some confusion about the use of the words "Instructor" and "Instructional Rating Holder," both of which are used throughout the USPA Skydiver's Information Manual and Instructional Rating Manual.
Instructional Rating Holder is a description meant to be all encompassing for a USPA Coach, Instructor and Instructor Examiner. In other words, the term describes all of the rating holders in the USPA hierarchy. As an example, one of the requirements to attend an instructor rating course is listed as follows:
"Holds or has held any USPA instructional rating." This means Coach, Instructor, or Instructor Examiner rating.
The term "Instructor" is specific to an Instructor rating only, and does not include the Coach or Instructor Examiner levels of the rating system.
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Instructor Rating Proficiency Cards
Now that we cleared up the difference in the terminology, the instructor rating proficiency cards should be clear as well! Any of the starred items listed on the instructor proficiency card are items not required to be completed if the applicant is an instructor in another discipline. This means a Coach does not meet those requirements and must complete all of the starred requirements listed on the card.
Rating System Wrap Up
The USPA Board of Directors came one step closer to wrapping up the rating system
overhaul that started more than eight years ago. The board passed a motion
to rename all current course directors to Instructor Examiners with the release
of the 2009 IRM, which is due to be released in September or October of this
year. The details of the change will be announced soon, but there will be no
additional requirements imposed on a current course director to be changed
to Instructor Examiner.
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Is there something you'd like to see in The USPA Professional? Please send comments, questions or suggestions directly to me.
Blue skies!
Jim Crouch
safety@uspa.org
Director of Safety & Training
U.S. Parachute Association
+1 (540) 604-9746
+1 (540) 604-9741 fax |
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