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Off To a Bad Start
2008 is off to a rough start, with six fatalities and several serious injuries, most of which occurred in just the past month. 2007 started the same way, with a half dozen skydiving fatalities right at the beginning of the skydiving season. But even with the bad start in 2007, jumpers settled down, and the year ended with 18 fatalities, the fewest number since 1961. So it is possible to salvage this year and keep skydivers as safe as possible, but it requires a group effort:
- Safety & Training Advisors need to ensure that the drop zone is staying as safe as possible by following the USPA Basic Safety Requirements and Federal Aviation Regulations.
- Drop zones must separate the high-performance canopy pilots from those flying a standard pattern.
- Instructors should make sure that students are properly harnessed and geared up, practiced in emergency procedures, and can perform them correctly without hesitation.
- Parachute riggers should make sure jumpers and packers are packing correctly and understand the equipment they are jumping from top to bottom.
- All jumpers should be willing to stay on the ground in strong or gusty winds or other marginal conditions and wait for better weather.
- All jumpers should perform gear checks before boarding and before exit of the aircraft, to ensure that all handles are in place, leg and chest straps are routed correctly and secure, main and reserve closing loops are in good condition and ripcord pins are fully seated.
- All jumpers should seek additional training from an instructor or jumper experienced in coaching for a specific discipline such as canopy piloting or any new freefall maneuver when trying something new.
- Pilots and airplane owners should make sure the aircraft they are flying is properly maintained, airworthy, and within its weight and balance on every load.
- Pilots must be trained thoroughly and specifically for flying aircraft in a skydiving capacity.
This is really about sticking to the basics to help keep you safe on every skydive. The busiest jumping days of the summer are just ahead. Let’s all make sure the summer season is both fun and uneventful, and maybe we can end the year with no additional fatalities.
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Course Administration
USPA Headquarters has received an unusually high percentage of Coach and Instructor rating proficiency cards that must be rejected, causing delays in issuing ratings to the members who just attended the course, and worked so hard to earn a rating. In most cases, the errors are caused by administrative mistakes on the part of the course director, or the candidate is missing requirements necessary for the rating, which should have been caught by the course director before allowing the candidate to attend the course or submit the proficiency card to USPA for processing.
Many courses were never registered with USPA Headquarters, which is a requirement for any USPA rating course. Some of those courses took place at a location that was not a USPA Group Member drop zone, even though Group Membership is a requirement for any drop zone to host a USPA rating course. Course registration allows USPA to verify that certain requirements are met, and helps prevent later paperwork problems.
To register a rating course, e-mail us or call (540) 604-9740 ext. 315. Section one in the front of the Instructional Rating Manual includes guidance for course directors, to help ensure that the course is properly administered and course directors have access to the information necessary to run a USPA rating course. The first section of each rating course syllabus in the IRM lists the requirements for candidates to attend the course and requirements for who may conduct the course. Each course director, course evaluator and candidate must review this information to ensure the course is run within the guidelines necessary for course staff and candidates. |
