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flyinblind

13 year old skydiver?

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{A MINOR has no capacity (under the law or otherwise) to fully cognizantly, and rationally make those decisions. Nor should ANY reasonably responsible adult (parent or not) have the audacity, nor do they truely have the capacity to simply waiver that away either. Trading that off for the sole benefit of potentially head-start "grooming the next workd champion"?? ...TOTALLY NEGLIGENT, and not reasonable by any stretch, IMHO. }


These same MINORS took flying lessons from 8 years old, solo'd on their 16 th birthdays and got their licenses on their 17 th birthdays allowing them to load friends and family in an aircraft and fly to any public airport in the country.

Maybe MINORS are more capable and allowed to do more things legally than you would like or think reasonable. Happily you are not making their decisions for them. The FAA and the gov have decided that they have the capacity if they can pass their tests and check rides, just like they did in their freefall training.

Andy

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These same MINORS took flying lessons from 8 years old, solo'd on their 16 th birthdays and got their licenses on their 17 th birthdays allowing them to load friends and family in an aircraft and fly to any public airport in the country.

Maybe MINORS are more capable and allowed to do more things legally than you would like or think reasonable. Happily you are not making their decisions for them. The FAA and the gov have decided that they have the capacity if they can pass their tests and check rides, just like they did in their freefall training.



I think a 13 year old skydiver still poses a liability issue. Look what happened to this kid in South America! Sure this accident can happen to anybody regardless of age. Sure, you can teach a kid to do almost anything that adults do but at such a young age, you don't have the life experience to deal with such an extreame sport. Why does a 13 year old need to skydive? It's too dangerous.

The fact is, if I fuck up, I'm ready to die. I don't think it is fair to put a 13 year old in the same spot.
Skydiving is a lot more dangerous than motorcycles
and skateboards.

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>If memory serves me right, I was on a load with Charlie at a boogie when he was 12.

Me too (a year later.) I kept staring at him, wondering how old he was, because he looked 13, and therefore I must be imagining things. Finally I asked him how old he was. "13" he said.

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If memory serves me right, I was on a load with Charlie at a boogie when he was 12. He was a good skydiver but he sure looked funny in the dirt dives!



I guess the situations with those two is different because they are growing up on the dropzone. It is a lifestyle not just a weekend sport.

I remember having a discussion with Mike Mullins a while back. He told me about an incident where his son almost got killed on a camping expedition. Aparently they were messing around on an old bridge and it colapsed. One kid died, and Mike Mullins kid fell into the river beneath the bridge.

At that point Mike said that there is danger in any activity. Why not let him skydive.

I can understand this logic but still, why put your kid in more danger?

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FWIW, a friend of mine was all excited about jumping (was just saving up the $$) when she saw this. It seriously freaked her out. Luckily she's still going to jump in 2 weeks.

I hate to think how many people were turned off of skydiving because of that clip.

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>I hate to think how many people were turned off of skydiving
>because of that clip.

Not me! If that clip makes people think about how dangerous skydiving is, and how the risk is too high for a 13 year old - then they will make better decisions about whether they want to jump or not.

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Mullins' and Nelson's kids both started that early IIRC.



How? My copy of the BSRs lists 16-years-old as a non-waiverable minimum. Did they just go to non-USPA dropzones?

Spencer



its not a USPA dropzone in Columbia;). see first post.
...
AND YES, I saw it. Watched the kid fall all the way to the ground. If you can't DRIVE A CAR you probably aren't good at altitude awareness. Static line maybe a different issue; tandems ok, but here is one more reason you should actually need a license to have a child in this world.

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>I hate to think how many people were turned off of skydiving
>because of that clip.

Not me! If that clip makes people think about how dangerous skydiving is, and how the risk is too high for a 13 year old - then they will make better decisions about whether they want to jump or not.



I'm all for educating about the dangers, but that clip is a far cry from the reality of modern skydiving in the USA and I think most of the developed world. The kid jumped out from 2000 feet, no static line, no instructors with him, no AAD, with what looked like an ancient rig with a belly reserve.
__________________________________________________
I started skydiving for the money and the chicks. Oh, wait.

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