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Skydiving employee fined by FAA

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Skydiving employee fined after elderly woman nearly falls out of harness

http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/lodi-skydiving-professional-fined-for-mishap-last/vff3Y/

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/skydiving-employee-fined-after-elderly-woman-nearl/nSTgz/

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LODI, Calif. —

More than a year and half since a video of the skydiving grandmother who nearly fell out of her harness went viral on YouTube, a Northern California skydiving professional is being fined.

In May, 2011, 80-year-old Laverne Everett went skydiving in Lodi for her birthday and though she was attached to a professional parachutist, the video shows her legs slipping out of the harness.

To this day, Everett maintains she was not injured and didn't blame anyone, but after a relative uploaded the video to the Internet a year later, it went viral.

Not only was the indcident not suppressed, it was recorded on video by another person and Everett was given her own copy of it. The video didn't even surface on the Internet until a year later.

After the incident, many people, including Everett, said it was being overblown.

"She didn't have any idea what was going on," said Bill Dause of the Parachute Center. "(She) had a very good time and still is interested in jumping again at some point in time."

"They thought I was very brave, but it's just something I've wanted to do for a long time," Everett said. "Once you get on that edge that's another story. My upper harness came off. You know, it just slipped down."

Dause said the incident made kind of a big splash. "Unfortunately some of the information was misleading or incorrect," he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration told KTVU that the skydiving professional, Dennis McGlynn, is being fined $2,200 for violating federal aviation regulations, namely improperly fitting the harness and exiting the aircraft improperly.

Everett even said she wasn't forced out of the airplane, Dause said, and there was no way she could have fallen out the harness or she would have.

Out of three million jumps last year, 21 people died -- an enviable safety record for what is deemed a high risk activity.


you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

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Bill really is awesome. We just get to DZ, bunch of Russian guys where only 2 or 3 speaks adequate English and in 10 minuts we were in the air :) It was shortest debrief in my life :)

On topic - as I understood, there is no lawsuit against TI/DZ? So this fine will be final punishment? (I hope license was taken out earlier :)

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Can anybody comment further on this?

The Federal Aviation Administration told KTVU that the skydiving professional, Dennis McGlynn, is being fined $2,200 for violating federal aviation regulations, namely improperly fitting the harness and exiting the aircraft improperly.


Is this essentially not fitting the harness "in accordance with manufacturer's instructions"? not sure about the exiting the plane, would that also be the manufacturer's instructions?
"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

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Its about time there was action on incidents of this nature. The fine is minor considering the huge potential for death. Our sport and industry constantly teters on the edge of scrutiny. The fact the FAA took action is extraordinary in its self. This kind of action may well lead to more intervention by the FAA, which would be unfortunate. The incredulous comments from Bill Dause and the obvious actions that took place in the video concerning the actions of the Tandem Master and student speak for themselves.

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Everett even said she wasn't forced out of the airplane, Dause said, and there was no way she could have fallen out the harness or she would have.



Bold emphasis mine...what a load of crock. History says otherwise:S
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

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Bill is awesome. My first time jumping there he gave me an hour long brief of the DZ. Everything. Really cool guy, I love skydive Lodi and they're rental gear is top notch.



B|

Why are you even posting here, STFU!!!

You don't have a rating, your not adding anything, and if we wanted to watch some one blow Bill we would have asked in the General forum as there are plenty of people there already that don't give a shit about aircraft mx or safety, and will happily wipe their mouth off and ask for more.
"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

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The fact the FAA took action is extraordinary in its self.



No kidding, the fine is light considering what could have happened, but it is also the start of a slippery slope.

"We saw that you didn't give the student a drogue release, here is your fine..."

We need to push out the likes of instructors that can't bother to properly fit a harness, and Tandem factories that don't give their instructors the time to do so.

I would rather us do it internally, but that isn't happening.

This is the first time I have heard of direct FAA action against the TI, has other instances occurred?
"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

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but it is also the start of a slippery slope



No.... this is only a stand of trees that is passing, on the way down the slippery slope. We headed down the slope sometime ago as an industry, when the greed took over and "mainstream" agenda was the call of the day.
you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

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I agree with you about the fine. Most full time TI can do that kind of money in less then 2 weeks on a busy DZ. When I went to the examiner meeting in Deland last April I saw a video exactly like this one, but the passenger felt on opening!
It was clear during that meeting that if we loose another passenger out of a harness tandem will probably banish in States. In my head this kind of negligence is criminal and I still don't understand why nobody else saw it. They were not the only one on a 182, it was a twin otter with 10 or 20 person aboard, with a cameraman on a busy DZ!
When you think you're good...this is when you become dangerous.

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They were not the only one on a 182, it was a twin otter with 10 or 20 person aboard, with a cameraman on a busy DZ!



It wasn't an otter, it was a king air



Not defending anyone because this is indefensible but once the load is down to the tandems then (in almost all cases) the only people left are other tandems and those poeple have their own hands full.

You could argue that there may be some wingsuiters but the point still stands.

.
Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

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The FAA has taken control of regulating jumping.



Yes & no. In this case, no.... AC 105.2d Sport Parachuting, published in May 2010 or 11, made clear all parties were now held accountable in para op's. So this TI failed to follow FAR 105 and got busted and then fined. They could have gone after the pilot and operator too.

Where the FAA is now trying to take control of and regulate skydiving is in the changes they are proposing to make to AC 150/5300-13 and it's parachute landing areas.

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How will USPA justify its existence now?



Sit back and watch how all this PLA bullshit plays out, the comments are under review now and at some point it (new rules) will be published in some form, this could bring major changes to a lot of dz's or no it might not. Cards are dealt & all we can do now is play out the hand we got and let the chips fall where they may. Then we'll see the answer to your question play out.
you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

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The fact the FAA took action is extraordinary in its self.



No kidding, the fine is light considering what could have happened, but it is also the start of a slippery slope.

"We saw that you didn't give the student a drogue release, here is your fine..."

We need to push out the likes of instructors that can't bother to properly fit a harness, and Tandem factories that don't give their instructors the time to do so.

I would rather us do it internally, but that isn't happening.

This is the first time I have heard of direct FAA action against the TI, has other instances occurred?



I'm curious, anybody know if this is the first time such action was taken by the FAA?

I can't immediately recall them ever being involved like this before.










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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From the story: "She couldn't have fallen out of the harness, because if she could have, she would have."


Does anybody else think this sounds nuts? I think even to an inexperienced person watching the video, it looks like she could have fallen out! ::face palm::

I am not sure if this action the FAA has taken is unprecedented, but it's definitely not surprising since this particular DZ is fresh under their radar still from other fines/allegations. They would be hard pressed to just walk away from this incident without doing something; especially since it went so viral too.
Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

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From the story: "She couldn't have fallen out of the harness, because if she could have, she would have."


Does anybody else think this sounds nuts? I think even to an inexperienced person watching the video, it looks like she could have fallen out! ::face palm::

I am not sure if this action the FAA has taken is unprecedented, but it's definitely not surprising since this particular DZ is fresh under their radar still from other fines/allegations. They would be hard pressed to just walk away from this incident without doing something; especially since it went so viral too.




I was just getting ready to say the same thing. It is a miracle she did not fall out!
Life is all about ass....either you're kicking it, kissing it, working it off, or trying to get a piece of it.
Muff Brother #4382 Dudeist Skydiver #000
www.fundraiseadventure.com

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I was throwing drogues at a DZ other than my regular DZ a couple of years ago and was told by another TI on the laod that the DZ had been fined $10K for a TI busting clouds. So, I was the last TI out and of course the hole where everyone else got out was behind the airplane, so I ended up deploying the main at 8,000 so that I would not bust the clouds. I don't know whether the fine story was true, but it got my attention and a 20 plus minute canopy ride, which the passenger loved.
Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208
AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I
MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger
Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

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Bill is awesome. My first time jumping there he gave me an hour long brief of the DZ. Everything. Really cool guy, I love skydive Lodi and they're rental gear is top notch.



I have never jumped there and I never will. I don't know what 'checks and balances' Lodi has - if any.
I do know that a guy turned up there about 2 months ago, did a couple of sport jumps and then did a couple of tandems as the TI.
Nothing unusual you may say - except he had done no more than a total of 10 jumps in the preceding 2 years...:S
Not sure what the standards are in the US but I'm sure they are higher than that - and yet Lodi management let it slip through!
Not acceptable IMHO >:(
2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

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From the story: "She couldn't have fallen out of the harness, because if she could have, she would have."


Does anybody else think this sounds nuts? I think even to an inexperienced person watching the video, it looks like she could have fallen out! ::face palm::

I am not sure if this action the FAA has taken is unprecedented, but it's definitely not surprising since this particular DZ is fresh under their radar still from other fines/allegations. They would be hard pressed to just walk away from this incident without doing something; especially since it went so viral too.


It is luck and that the fact that the back strap got hooked at the neck line that kept her for falling out. I really do not understand how this video made it out of the DZ.
Kirk
He's dead Jim

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