ts1962

OK, this whole debate is useless. One, Dause was fined by the FAA Two, FAA states the repairs were made and AD's complied with. If he was not in error Bil would have certainly fought it and not made the repairs and inspections. The whole point is this became a national story, high fines for just plain neglagence. Our sport does not need this, we do not need this. Now if you want more FAA involvement then please applaude Bill and his buddies who believe they don't have to go by the rules. If you want to enjoy skydiving the way it is, then go by the rules, plain simple and easy.

You are joking right? You need to go to this link, the official FAA press release: http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=11980 Ok you have alot of years in skydiving but don't you realise FAA Airworthiness Directives are only issued for items that concern the safety and to prevent failures. The cable listed that is talked about just breaks. In the past 10 years it has happened several time to Otters, that is why the FAA made it manditory. LaHood plainly states that these actions put the lives of parachutists at risk. Yes there was corrosion found on the spars, yes the cable were bad. If you doubt it call Rocky Mountain Aircraft in Canada. They were the guys who removed the corrosion, made the repairs, replaced the cable that were bad. There is no doubt what happened, the FAA would not make such a high fine and the two highest profile people in the US Government Department of Transportation would take the time to comment on this one little incident out of the thousands of incidents that occur daily. Oh, if you would like to keep it in perspective and you suggested in your comment.....How many other DZ's flying Otters have done, been caught for this same thing???? Hmm Perris, Eloy, Chicago just to name a few fly Otters and bet you they replace their cables on time and comply with FAA Airworthiness Directives on time... They also get inspected by the FAA and manage to pass...........hmmm where is your perspective now? You go right ahead and defend Bill some more, get your $10 jumps in. I will stick with the guys who have not been repeatedly fined by the FAA for the past 10 years and had his licenses suspended by the FAA 3 times in the past 6 years.....both mechanical IA and Pilot suspended.

OH, if you go to this link http://cbs13.com/local/FAA.Investigates.Acampo.2.1323579.html You will see when Bill went under the investigation that uncovered alot of things and Bill's planes got grounded for the unaccomplished inspection and the out dated parts, our USPA president jumped on the band wagon to defend Bill with the following quote "Bill Dause opened the Parachute Center in 1964. Supporters, like the President of the United States Parachute Association, who skydived here, say the center in Acampo is reputable. "He does run a very safe operation here, he does have a good track record here," says Jay Stokes, President, United States Parachute Association." So the board lets this type of support go uncorrected. Our President it supporting and trying to impress on people what a great guy and what a great dropzone this place is by this statement. No matter how you look at it, in the office of the President of the USPA he showed his support and the support of our board of directors and our organization with this statement for a dropzone that is not even a member dropzone. The public at large who saw this story will think the same thing, that the USPA supports him and he is a member. Oh and lets not forget the safety award given to him by the USPA, that is also more support from the board of directors. Escpecailly since it was given to him and made public during the FAA investigation to try and make the public think the USPA believes he is safe. Evidently the UPSA board of directors were wrong, gonna take back your award?

It really does not matter how much evidence the FAA has, it does not matter what is said, what proof is shown, how many people get hurt. It is Bill Dause's DZ, he gets full support of the USPA Board of Directors, full support of all the regional directors, then of course the following of the "$15/$10" jump tickets. These people do not care about safety, or what is right, or even what is reqired by law. In their eyes Bill is a god because of cheap jumps and 30,000 skydives. In their eyes some must have set Bill up, an old employee must have torn the pages out of the aircraft records and then called the FAA. Every thing that happens to Bill is because of a old employee. Lord forbid we expect Bill to take responsibility for not changing out a life limited part because he was required to. Lord forbid we expect Bill to spend the same amount of money that all other DZO's spend to maintain the aircraft in the required manner. Lord forbid Bill should have to do the required maintence and inspections required by the FAA as all other aircraft owners have to do. You guys are right, we need to get a petiton started to demand the FAA drop all charges and fines, that the USPA give Bill another safety award to prove what a great guy he is, and finally our USPA President Jay Stokes step up to the press again and defend Bill to the Secretary of Transportation LaHood and the head of the FAA and tell every one again how Bill has ran a reputable and safe dropzone since 1962

Yep it is the Tandem Masters fault, but lets not leave out the trusted rigger and the others who covered it up. Yes I was on the plane, and no nothing was said the day before or when the jump occurred. Yes I will be at the hearing also. Yes the case has been filed you can search on this page http://www.stocktoncourt.org/courts/caseinfo.htm under the case name which is parachute or it is case # CV034817

You know it is quite funny how people defend Bill. Did you know the jumper in question had less than 80 jumps? not the 200 or so that was reported. That he really did not jump up? I know what the NTSB report says, I also know that Bill dictated the statements to everyone who wrote them. The jumper was just following Bill's exit command. You guys know what it was like when you were new, you exited when told.....at Bill's everyone exits when told you dont' have a choice. Yes the instructors should, well everyone should have said something, it is very unsafe to exit from a climbing plane, so it is a shared blame. You know people long term with Bill protect him because of their financial interest in Bill doing well. Pete S. is one of them, little known except for the people who were there the day rigger James S. packed a tandem reserve and left a pin in the closing loop. Well the tandem master, a S&TA there, had a malfunction, luckily something he could land for if he had cut away he and the passenger would have died because of the pin left in the reserve......I could not believe it when I saw them pulling that pin out, it had been packed and jumped for a month that way......but did anyone hear of this well of course not. It is true and there are several other people there the day that happened too. No one is perfect but when mistakes that jepordise peoples lives so blindly occur, things need to be done.

Well, if anyone is keeping up with this a couple of years ago Bill hit a skydiver with the tail of the Beech 99....I was there that day. I myself have about 5000 jumps from the 99 and about 100 or so close calls with the tail. The reason Bill hit him was because Bill was still climbing, the flaps were up and the plane was still pitched nose high for climbing which puts the tail below the door. Bill is actually getting sued for this, Christian just filed. The bad thing is Bill is dragging Flannagan Enterprises, Stunts Adventure Equipment (Greg Nardy) into this whole mess. Bill should have atleast lowered the nose and did not, now with the other 6 very experienced instructors on the plane testifying against Bill, well lets just say it won't be cheap.