MicDon

Again with this Great Instructor ,Great Person thing. You don't want me to bring up "Nice Guys" who now are infamous. Anyway. Since you are from CSC. Can you tell my why he stopped doing it ??Since it is "blessed by Strong and whoever you guys quoted earlier". This might answer Ron's question on what his attitude is towards this mandatory stop or voluntary stop to this behaviour.

What progression? You have a wide open forum here to explain to me what the goal is, we are trying to progress towards. I am not one that wants to be left behind. Someone here claimed that Bill Morrissey has no problem with this?? Put it in black and white with his signature on the bottom and I will try and find myself a student to have a go at this way of flying. I have 4500 tandems plus and have been doing them since the T500 and 425 days and worked at many DZ's.I would surely have seen this being done if thousands has been done this way .Haven't seen it yet. Good video?? I agree with the previous post. Most of the videos suck and wasn't in the interest of the student That “cool” videos you are referring too....The ones from the previous fatalities now go by a different name...... Exhibit number 1 in civil court

I know of 26 peolpe who were speeding and were never caught, I know of 11 people who were evading taxes and were never caught ,I know 9 guys who cheated on their wifes and were never caught. This guy got busted. He and his DZO bragged about it all over the web and other media and got busted . What is your point ?? It's hypocritical for not pointing the others out

OK. One more time : You guys that are standing up for this guy WHY ???????? . Why is he doing this . Please explain explain to me why this is necissary ? It is a simple question. Please don't tell me he has to explain it ,because you know he won't. Telling me he is a nice guy doesn't cut it

This is just grand. We have an elected director doing an investigation in Skydiving's equivalent of the Jerry Springer show. Says a lot about her credibility to me. Now for our ace witnesses on the Jerry Springer show....err....i mean trial. Hello witness #1, do you have an axe to grind with the DZ? Good. Let me ask you this question: How many times did you drink a beer or smoke a joint before taking up a tandem. Wow...there goes your credibility as someone only concerned about safety. Hello witness #2. You are only concerned about safety as well, right? Good. How many thousands of jumps have you made with the sole intention of jumping through thick clouds? Rumor has it you would not even jump unless the clouds were a certain thickness....say 5,000 feet or more. Blue skies = stay on the ground for you. That doesn't sound safe. As a matter of fact it sounds like an FAA violation. Welcome to the Jerry Springer show where our only concern is safety. Sure. What tree did you fall out of ??? I have one questions and then I will go and grovel in my Corona WHY ?? Why does this instructor have to do this ?????? For the life of me I do not see the necessity. Why does he have to do this ?? Does it give the student something?? Does it bring more Tandem Students to the DZ? Because he can ??? .Does it make for a better video for whuffos (I personally detest the word whuffos ) Why I ask you ?? What is the benefits of this. Please someone explain this to me. Why ???Is it showboating or plain boredom ??? I don't get it. Does he only do this on video or what ??? All you guys that are confessing to what a great guy he is . Please explain to me why this is necissary

ScottyReedman . The problem is that the "authorities" aren't doing their job. As usual they are as inconsistent as always. Down here in Fl the rumor mill is already working overtime as to why this particular instructor is so untouchable. Something to do with being buddies with whoever is on top of the CK staff list (Just rumor though)Beware if it was some instructor in Kansas with 200 tandem jumps who did this. I doubt seriously if he would this kind of protection.(Nothing against Kansas) Scotty :Your opinions in my eyes, are a bit bias. You are on the CSC staff, your livelihood as a TI is not affected as you are not a USAP TI anymore and both of you are Aussies (I though the TI in question was British. Somehow I got that wrong) Let’s give you this scenario. I drive my car down A1A with an unsuspecting passenger and gets pulled over for DUI. My explanation to Mr. Policeman. Please let me off with slap on the wrist. I did wrong and I know it now. I have driven drunk 7500 times and never caused an accident. I’m very experienced and know how to drive. Just think for a minute what that officer answer will be. Every action has a consequence Secondly you say that thinking "this will affect my livelyhood"is absurd. May a ask you to think again. One more tandem fatality this year. Media gets hold of this, USPA get questioned, FAA gets involved and overrules the USPA, Senators get involved and a mandatory hold gets put on Tandems until an investigation is completed .I can't sell my Tandem Rig on Ebay for $10 bucks. I'm still making payments on it. So, to get back to you. You are not doing tandem for living anymore, thus this disqualifies you to tell me it not a concern. Every action has a consequence, whether good or bad As I said previously. I don't think the USPA will do anything. We are supposed to police our self and they are supposed to protect my interest too. Obviously thy are very selective who's interest to protect. I’ll retract this statement if they surprise me and actually do somthing Think man,Think

6500 jumps in One year. (9000 03/05 - 15500 09/06)Wow......I remember this guy from Sebastian. Spoke to a few guys down here. Those numbers are way out of wack

This is precisely why I wanted to start the thread in the General Skydiving forum . Face it . Not alot of people come to this side of the forum (although we like to think that the general jumper give a s...t what we as instructors think) and to put pressure on Strong and the USPA we need more people to be informed about this kind of behaviour of TIs and DZO's.Maybe one of the more regular posters can talk to the moderators. Maybe move the whole thread over to that side,so it doesn't get split. One more question. How do they operate now without any S&TA's ? If they have more than two S&TAs,then all of them should have their designations removed. My opinion of course

Geezz!! My first post and I get locked out of the playgroup.Do you mind if I repost the post here?This clicky thing from one forum to the other gives me a headache. I feel very strongly about this and for the life of me I can't understand why the TI only gets a slap on the wrist.This will only allow other TI to think that this behaviour is not being frowned upon by the USPA and Strong Enterprises and it is OK to do this kind of thing.Our livelyhoods are at stake here.I'm surprised some lawyer for the girl he took on the tandem hasn't gotten invloved and go after the Dz for "endangerment" or something stupid they can think of. Also can't understand why this DZ will keep this guy on staff and try and stand behind him against the Regional Director.Thats just digging the hole they are in ,deeper.My opinion of course.Hope this turns out OK There has been a very interesting thread going on in the “Instructors’ forum (Good idea, Bad idea). I personally think this belongs in the General Discussions where more people can form an opinion. Maybe someone can make it sticky or link. There should also be a Poll on whether this so called “instructor” should get his ratings yanked. As an Instructor with over 2400 Tandems and also a person in the Legal field I want to put in my two cents. This could potentially hurt a lot of us and Dropzones .I think we dodged a bullet with the last two tandem passenger fatalities. This guy could potentially have shut the door on tandems and therefore take away my and many other instructors income. Not to mention the millions generated by tandems for Dropzones. We have been closely watched over the last year when it comes to tandems and the risk the customer takes. We have lost two customers in hundreds of thousands of jumps. In my opinion it was the instructors fault in both cases. Taking this in consideration and all the attention and talk it has drawn, I can not imagine that this instructor was not aware of the added scrutiny. What did he think was going to happen if someone saw the photo and video? What did the DZO think will be the reaction of fellow jumpers and the general public after seeing the photos he e-mailed out to everyone on his mailing list and posting it on his website? If you go to the DZ’s website it calls itself the safest DZ in the Midwest and has a promo video trailer. Why not put this video as your promo trailer? My safety input: This was in my opinion a reckless and irresponsible jump.(Apparently he has done a lot of them this way) I think that the instructor was playing with fire and was putting the customer’s life in unnecessary danger. I have seen the opinions in the other thread whether tightening the side straps are necessary or not. If they are there then they are important. The warning from the manufacturers after the last two fatalities was that they were important. Sh…t happens. What would the instructor have done should any of the following scenarios happen while standing next to the customer? Drogue bridal breaks, Customer pulled her legs up, bag comes out of the container and worst of all, premature reserve deployment. All videos from the manufacturer show you that the reserve will clear the bridal in a normal position .With this instructors standing up; he has just put that reserve straight into the bridle. Again, the unforeseen happens. Professional input: This customer bought a video to view her jump. We as instructors all do the necessary to make their jump fun and give them your full attention. We all make jokes and fool around. We all make faces for the camera etc. Besides the fact that this video sucked (Cameraman is all over the place with his hand in the way).This guy totally wanted the show to be on him. This customer will show the video to her family and friends and all they will want to know is who the clown was and why he is doing what he was doing. It is her day and her achievement. I’m not even sure if he gave her the opportunity to pull, which in my opinion is what most customers are the proudest of after a jump. No wonder the retention rate of tandem customers is so low and the country in a whole is experiencing a decline in the growth of experienced jumpers. I think he should join the circus if he wanted the show to be on him. I don’t think he should be called a “Instructor’ He taught her nothing. Legal input: This guy is a walking liability for this DZ and DZO. The DZO got his S&TA designation pulled. In any way you look at this, this is a disciplinary action taken by the USPA for allowing this conduct and will be seen that way by any lawyer or, if it should ever come to that, a jury. If this guy as so much as stump a customer’s toe on landing and a good ambulance chaser gets hold of it, it will be the easiest case ever handed to him. They got sanctioned by the governing body which is a guilty verdict by itself. From what I understand, they got their designation pulled because they did not want to take action against the instructor per the request of the RD (USPA Designee).I could be wrong. Even though Ted Strong does not want to take action against this, he will have a hard time defending his stance for this guy in a deposition, after the USPA took a different opinion regarding his conduct. The DZO should seriously think about getting some legal advice on this. Dude…… Has your mother never taken you by the ear and say “THINK BOY,THINK” That’s my two cents. Flame away MD

There has been a very interesting thread going on in the “Instructors’ forum (Good idea, Bad idea). I personally think this belongs in the General Discussions where more people can form an opinion. Maybe someone can make it sticky or link. There should also be a Poll on whether this so called “instructor” should get his ratings yanked. As an Instructor with over 2400 Tandems and also a person in the Legal field I want to put in my two cents. This could potentially hurt a lot of us and Dropzones .I think we dodged a bullet with the last two tandem passenger fatalities. This guy could potentially have shut the door on tandems and therefore take away my and many other instructors income. Not to mention the millions generated by tandems for Dropzones. We have been closely watched over the last year when it comes to tandems and the risk the customer takes. We have lost two customers in hundreds of thousands of jumps. In my opinion it was the instructors fault in both cases. Taking this in consideration and all the attention and talk it has drawn, I can not imagine that this instructor was not aware of the added scrutiny. What did he think was going to happen if someone saw the photo and video? What did the DZO think will be the reaction of fellow jumpers and the general public after seeing the photos he e-mailed out to everyone on his mailing list and posting it on his website? If you go to the DZ’s website it calls itself the safest DZ in the Midwest and has a promo video trailer. Why not put this video as your promo trailer? My safety input: This was in my opinion a reckless and irresponsible jump.(Apparently he has done a lot of them this way) I think that the instructor was playing with fire and was putting the customer’s life in unnecessary danger. I have seen the opinions in the other thread whether tightening the side straps are necessary or not. If they are there then they are important. The warning from the manufacturers after the last two fatalities was that they were important. Sh…t happens. What would the instructor have done should any of the following scenarios happen while standing next to the customer? Drogue bridal breaks, Customer pulled her legs up, bag comes out of the container and worst of all, premature reserve deployment. All videos from the manufacturer show you that the reserve will clear the bridal in a normal position .With this instructors standing up; he has just put that reserve straight into the bridle. Again, the unforeseen happens. Professional input: This customer bought a video to view her jump. We as instructors all do the necessary to make their jump fun and give them your full attention. We all make jokes and fool around. We all make faces for the camera etc. Besides the fact that this video sucked (Cameraman is all over the place with his hand in the way).This guy totally wanted the show to be on him. This customer will show the video to her family and friends and all they will want to know is who the clown was and why he is doing what he was doing. It is her day and her achievement. I’m not even sure if he gave her the opportunity to pull, which in my opinion is what most customers are the proudest of after a jump. No wonder the retention rate of tandem customers is so low and the country in a whole is experiencing a decline in the growth of experienced jumpers. I think he should join the circus if he wanted the show to be on him. I don’t think he should be called a “Instructor’ He taught her nothing. Legal input: This guy is a walking liability for this DZ and DZO. The DZO got his S&TA designation pulled. In any way you look at this, this is a disciplinary action taken by the USPA for allowing this conduct and will be seen that way by any lawyer or, if it should ever come to that, a jury. If this guy as so much as stump a customer’s toe on landing and a good ambulance chaser gets hold of it, it will be the easiest case ever handed to him. They got sanctioned by the governing body which is a guilty verdict by itself. From what I understand, they got their designation pulled because they did not want to take action against the instructor per the request of the RD (USPA Designee).I could be wrong. Even though Ted Strong does not want to take action against this, he will have a hard time defending his stance for this guy in a deposition, after the USPA took a different opinion regarding his conduct. The DZO should seriously think about getting some legal advice on this. Dude…… Has your mother never taken you by the ear and say “THINK BOY,THINK” That’s my two cents. Flame away MD