licensed under 18 jumping at USPA member dropzone?

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

To preface I'm old enough to jump and am licensed. However,after reading 2 posts recently, one about someone who is 16 wanting to learn here in the states, and a 15 year old over in the U.K that got licensed, a question came to mind. Can someone who is under the age of 18 who holds a license jump at a USPA member dropzone?

[labrys 0]

BSR age requirements:

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1. Skydivers are to be at least either:

a. 18 years of age [FB]

b. 16 years of age with notarized parental or guardian consent [FB]

So, it would take a waiver from the full board and more importantly, the willingness of the DZ to seek a waiver for the underaged jumper and accept a release a liability from them.

Owned by Remi #?

[pilotdave 0]

Well, the waiver isn't needed for a 16 year old with parental consent. Our DZ has trained a bunch at the age of 16 (skydivers' kids and grandkids only).

Dave

[labrys 0]

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Well, the waiver isn't needed for a 16 year old with parental consent.

True enough, but the DZ's consent is still required.

Owned by Remi #?

[howardwhite 5]

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BSR age requirements:

Quote

1. Skydivers are to be at least either:

a. 18 years of age [FB]

b. 16 years of age with notarized parental or guardian consent [FB]

So, it would take a waiver from the full board and more importantly, the willingness of the DZ to seek a waiver for the underaged jumper and accept a release a liability from them.

The BSR you quote does not require that the full board approve every decision by a DZ to let a 16-year-old jump (if that's what you meant.) It simply says only the full board can issue a waiver to these items.
I know one jumper who started at 16 at a GM DZ; both his parents are active jumpers. He's now 18 and was in at least one 30-way this week.

HW

[labrys 0]

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The BSR you quote does not require that the full board approve every decision by a DZ to let a 16-year-old jump (if that's what you meant.)

No that's not what I meant. I meant that someone under 18 could jump at a USPA member DZ if the DZ sought a waiver and the FB approved it.

Owned by Remi #?

[howardwhite 5]

Again:
A DZ does not need to seek a waiver or require any action from the full board to allow a 16-year-old to jump with notarized consent.
It would need such action if it sought to allow a 16-year-old to jump without such consent.
The FB notations mean that full board action is required to obtain a waiver from the published BSR.

HW

[allseeingeye 0]

***

In which case you would still be wrong. A 16 year old may jump at a USPA DZ without any board action.

Whether the DZ allows them to jump is a different matter decided by the risk management policy of the individual DZ.

Jumps taking persons younger than 16 require a waiver from the BOD unless you are a sitting regional director ordered by your wealthy boss to take his underage son on a tandem. In this situation, you are exempt from these rules providing that you falsify a waiver from the tandem manufacturer, and make up a sob story about how sick the child is and post it on dizzie.com so everyone feels sorry for you.

[labrys 0]

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Again:
A DZ does not need to seek a waiver or require any action from the full board to allow a 16-year-old to jump with notarized consent.

Take a look at post 4... I already agreed that this is true.

The OP asked about someone under 18 jumping at a USPA dropzone. The rules are that someone must be either 18 or have a waiver from the full board, or be 16 with parental consent or have a waiver from the full board.

I listed that in post #2. How are you getting that I think someone who's 16 needs a waiver from the full board as long as 1. They have parental consent and 2. The DZ allows it?

Owned by Remi #?

[labrys 0]

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Jumps taking persons younger than 16 require a waiver from the BOD unless you are a sitting regional director ordered by your wealthy boss to take his underage son on a tandem. In this situation, you are exempt from these rules providing that you falsify a waiver from the tandem manufacturer, and make up a sob story about how sick the child is and post it on dizzie.com so everyone feels sorry for you.

I just had one of those "wish I had taken the lime out of the gin and tonic before I read this" moments.

The lime is now firmly wedged in my right sinus cavity.

Owned by Remi #?

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I have never, ever seen any licensed 16-18 year old skydiver turned away from a group member dropzone. Hell, there are plenty of group member DZ's that train 16 year olds. Raeford Parachute Center has been doing it for over 35 years.

Chuck

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

I was under the impression that if you are a member dropzone you aren't allowed to let people jump unless they are at least 18. Guess I was wrong.

[demo 0]

There are no LAWS that state how old you have to be in the U.S. or any other country that I am aware of and I have been jumping since I was 16 , 27 years ago and I have also looked into it for my daughter and there is nothing more than personal DZ choices

[fincher 0]

Hell yea.......America, land of the free. Lets keep it that way! BSR's arent laws just good suggestions.

i'll huff and I'll puff and I'll burn your packing tent down

[labrys 0]

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There are no LAWS that state how old you have to be in the U.S. or any other country that I am aware of and I have been jumping since I was 16 , 27 years ago and I have also looked into it for my daughter and there is nothing more than personal DZ choices

The question wasn't about the law. It was about USPA member dropzones. They are supposed to adhere to the USPA BSRs.

Owned by Remi #?

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

Thank you labrys. I never thought it was a legal issue. Since the USPA BSR's have 18 as their minimum age without having waivers, I figured that member dropzones would be required to ensure the jumpers are 18. I know the dropzone staff couldn't get in trouble with the law but I was thinking the USPA might revoke their membership or something for not following the BSR's. The R stands for requirements by the way.

[fincher 0]

The R stands for revoking your freedom of personal choice. Requirements are for communist... are you a communist?

i'll huff and I'll puff and I'll burn your packing tent down

[marks2065 0]

how many DZ'S has the uspa cast out of the GM program? whatever the DZO wants to do he does. uspa has shown they have no enforcement ability. they are nothing but a big dog with no bite. they brake when things get tough then they slap the hands of the board members when they speak up for what is right. any dz can let anyone jump that they want. the only thing that stops some DZO's is the threat of a lawsuite.

[labrys 0]

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The R stands for revoking your freedom of personal choice. Requirements are for communist... are you a communist?

You are free to go jump at a non USPA member dropzone.

Owned by Remi #?

[skydived19006 4]

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The R stands for revoking your freedom of personal choice. Requirements are for communist... are you a communist?

I think how it's supposed to work is that I as a DZO chose to join a member organization. By doing so, I agree to abide by the organization's rules aka "requirements". If I don't like those requirements, I can drop my membership. If I don't abide by the rules/requirements the organization can cancel my membership.

In reality I can quit at any time. The organization can not cancel my membership because I can sue the organization and the organization will fold like a house of cards.

Also, any one of you can do whatever you like. If you don't break any laws (that would be Federal, State, local) you shouldn't have much fear at all. Local DZ says no? Buy an airplane, buy some land away from a congested area, hire a pilot, file a NOTAM (not required by law), and do your own thing, including taking 5 year olds on tandem jumps. I would suggest though not using Vector, Strong, or Racer tandem gear. Although, if you didn't sign a contract with the manufacturer, you'll probably prevail in any civil suit. That said, you should plan to spend a fair bid defending yourself.

See, it is a free country! The USPA had no power! The government has the power to show up at your front door with guns in order to force your compliance. If a USPA official shows up at your door with guns, I'd suggest you aim for the head.

Have a nice day!
Martin

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[livendive 8]

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Since the USPA BSR's have 18 as their minimum age without having waivers, I figured that member dropzones would be required to ensure the jumpers are 18.

No, the BSRs do not have 18 as their minimum age without having a waiver. The minimum age in the BSRs is 16 with parental consent or 18 without parental consent. Any skydiver who meets either of those requirements may jump at a group member dropzone without a waiver to the BSRs.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[skittles_of_SDC 0]

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Since the USPA BSR's have 18 as their minimum age without having waivers, I figured that member dropzones would be required to ensure the jumpers are 18.

No, the BSRs do not have 18 as their minimum age without having a waiver. The minimum age in the BSRs is 16 with parental consent or 18 without parental consent. Any skydiver who meets either of those requirements may jump at a group member dropzone without a waiver to the BSRs.

Blues,
Dave

Thats right. For some reason I was thinking the USPA had to waiver a dropzone for 16 year olds to jump.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

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I was under the impression that if you are a member dropzone you aren't allowed to let people jump unless they are at least 18. Guess I was wrong.

You are entirely wrong. The USPA group member dropzones at Raeford, NC and Opelika, AL have been training 16 year old's for over 30 years each. USPA only requires a person to be 16 years old to skydive. It was, however, forbidden by the FAA and USPA for dropzones to take tandem passengers under the age of 18 on jumps prior to the 20th anniversary of tandem jumping (around 2002) legally. Once the USPA took over "ownership" of the tandem program after the "20-year-trial-period", any dropzone had the right to make the decision to allow 16-year-olds to do tandems. As a guy who WAS a dropzone school manager at that time, I can tell you that I was VERY happy that I was given the opportunity to take some of these sixteen year old bald-headed-banjo-players on tandems instead of forcing them to sit through seven hours of ground training for a fucking SL jump.

Chuck

[packing_jarrett 0]

I also think it a different ruling from state to state. As a D licensed underage (17 yrs old) skydiver I've been turned away from group member dropzones because I can't sign away my rights and neither can my parants.

Na' Cho' Cheese

[MarkM 0]

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I also think it a different ruling from state to state. As a D licensed underage (17 yrs old) skydiver I've been turned away from group member dropzones because I can't sign away my rights and neither can my parants.

Yeah, some states don't allow minors to sign away their rights so any waiver you signed wouldn't hold up in court. So if you died on a jump, even if the parents were cool with it, a grandparent could sue the DZ and the waiver wouldn't hold up.