Age Restrictions

[FlyMolo 0]

Hello,
I'm currently 18 and am interested in doing some skydiving. A lot of the places I've seen list 18 as the minimum age, but I know someone who's 17 who would really like to come along. We live in Northern Virginia, and something nearby would be ideal (Virginia, Maryland, maybe Penslyvania). Is it possible to have her come along with a parent's signature?

Thank you!

[poohbeer 0]

Not realy any help to you but in Belgium he could be up and jumping as early as the year one turns 16 in. With permission of the parents ofcourse.

------- SIGNATURE BELOW -------
Complete newbie at skydiving, so be critical about what I say!!
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

[Blahr 0]

Most places allow 16 and up if they have their parents permission and signiture

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

There are a lot of dropzones that train 16 year olds to skydive; this is one of them. It's silly in my opinion that we are not allowed to do tandems till 18.

Chuck Blue
Raeford Parachute Center, NC

[AggieDave 6]

The problem, Chuck, is legality issues for those under 18. For instance, in Texas a minor can not enter into a contract, it is also illegal for anyone to sign any document for a minor that would waive rights. Thus the waiver. Even if the parents signed, any relatative of the minor could sue the DZ, and the waiver would not hold up in court to this. Not only could any relative sue, the state its self could sue, so even if you have every single living relative sign, the DZ could still be sued and the DZ would loose.

Its now our choice to have to take 18 and up, we would love to be able to take 16 and up, we just can't open ourselves up that much to the possibility of getting our ass sued off.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

In that case, it sucks to be you. I have trained at least 10 sub-18 year old AFF students this year. Nine are students at a military academy.

Chuck

[CloudOnMyTongue 0]

At our DZ there is no minimum age to do a tandem. (That's what Mic told me) He said he took up a 13 year old once and that another tandem master took a ten year old. He said that they do it as long as their parents were on the property, and that they video taped their consent to let their children go.
He said as long as they were big enough to fit in the harness that they could jump. (But this is only for tandem jumps)

[Jib 0]

In Florida recently, a waiver was enforced only as to the parent that signed it. It was not enforced against the other parent (divorced) or the child's estate. (One parent and the child went on African safari and the child was killed by animals.)

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the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[pilotdave 0]

I don't know what the deal is now, but I did my first jump at Ocean City, MD in 1998. They'd allow a 17 year old to jump with a notorized parent signature. May have changed since then though.

Dave

[PilotMike 0]

I started jumping at 16 in Missouri. It was a non-USPA dropzone and my parents had to sign the waivers. My understanding is that there are only a few states that allow a parent to sign away a minor's rights. I lucked out and Missouri happened to be one of them.

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Benefitting from the 'free capture of verticality.'

[jmpnkramer 0]

Hey Chuck; Here at the Hill we take 16 Y.O. Tandems.

Another one of TK's amazing feats. He sure has a way of finding ways to make things happen.

One Outstanding DZM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Laters,

KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!

The REAL KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!

"HESITATION CAUSES DEATH!!!"
"Be Slow to Fall into Friendship; but when Thou Art in, Continue Firm & Constant." - SOCRATES

[riggerrob 562]

A long time ago, at a DZ far-far-away, I did tandem jumps with two 13 girls.
The first girl was great!
The second girl had a death grip on my left thumb at pull time.
Hint, this was before Cypri were invented.
I survived that mistake and have no desire to repeat it.

[CantJumpYetSNG 0]

I'm 16 and my father has been jumping for about 3 years now, I live in IL. I'm having a hard time finding a DZ that will let me do a tadem. I have this great ambition to get into the sky like you guys do. But I find it really hard to wait till I'm 18. I also have a goal of jumping at Burning Man in BRC someday, the sights must be so breathtaking, I have seen some pictures and read an article on it in one of last years issues of Parachutist.

Oh yeah!?! So. What if I did eat all of the Oreos?

[nightjumps 1]

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The problem, Chuck, is legality issues for those under 18. For instance, in Texas a minor can not enter into a contract, it is also illegal for anyone to sign any document for a minor that would waive rights. Thus the waiver. Even if the parents signed, any relatative of the minor could sue the DZ, and the waiver would not hold up in court to this. Not only could any relative sue, the state its self could sue, so even if you have every single living relative sign, the DZ could still be sued and the DZ would loose.

Its now our choice to have to take 18 and up, we would love to be able to take 16 and up, we just can't open ourselves up that much to the possibility of getting our ass sued off.

Same issue here in Oklahoma.

[GroundZero 0]

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Its now our choice to have to take 18 and up, we would love to be able to take 16 and up, we just can't open ourselves up that much to the possibility of getting our ass sued off.

Welcome to Belize IBC's...

damned lawyers

Chris