theforkguy

Full time. A couple of responses to some of the other comments: If I was so terrible at my job, why didn't I ever have to refund a customer? Not once. Some of the other 'vidiots' did, repeatedly. Okay, full disclosure. One time I dozed off watching Netflix while on a long cloud hold and I missed the announcement. While on the plane the AFF student I was supposed to be with asked "Well, who is going to shoot the video?" She got a refund. Also, I had an AFF student call and complain that I didn't open at the same time as them and fly around with them to get footage of their canopy ride. I am sure that you know why it was/is standard practice to not pull in the students face. No refund. Those who requested other pictures of the drogue throws: One of you stated that anyone can get a frame capture of what looks like a bad drogue throw. For you I will spend part of my day tomorrow putting together a highlight reel so you can watch the unstable drogue throws and resulting 'twang.'

Here is a word-for-word copy of my original complaint filed to the USPA: "Hi there, I'm a videographer and have witnessed one of 'our' tandem masters basically molesting his female students. The DZ manager has instructed the TM to stop it, but he thinks he's bulletproof due to the waiver. What is the correct course of action to take in this situation to protect my DZ and tandem skydiving in general?" And the original complaint sent to Strong: "Over the past two summer seasons I have done several videos of (Name of TM), Tandem master at Skydive Delmarva in Laurel, DE. In that time I have watched him be reckless and irresponsible. Everything from seat belting his students to the lowers (while the lowers are merely hooked to their keeper on the back of the student harness), freefly a tandem, leaving his students leg straps loose until just before boarding the plane, get onto the plane to do a tandem while intoxicated and I have watched him inappropriately fondle over 80% of his female students. The manager of the DZ, was aware of the fondling and had spoken with (Name of TM) towards the beginning of the season. However, there was no follow-up and (Name of TM) continued to grope his students. I notified the USPA about this TM and have been 'let go' from my position at Delmarva as a result. As far as I know (Name of TM) will be allowed to continue jeopardizing his students and the sport itself." As you can see, there is no indication that I tried to pass myself off as the female student, who sent a signed and certified letter to the DZO. And yes, her signature on that letter matches her signature on her initial waiver. It was assumed by the DZ management that I had filed that initial complaint as if I were the student. Since my e-mails were confidential, they had no way of knowing how the initial complaints were worded and their assumptions led them to contact the student, who was unaware of any complaints at that time. As I stated before in this thread, it was the DZ manager who contacted her initially, presumably to try and call my bluff. When the USPA and Strong asked me to please have my GF's sister come forward with a complaint, I refused. She had no idea that she had been handled in this way until the phone call she received from the DZ. I did not wish for her to have bad memories of her jump, even if it would strengthen my case against the TM. Once the DZ informed her that something had gone awry, she got involved.

And for some reason the link didn't appear. I tried to make it clickable, but this time I won't. http://www.wboc.com/story/22605819/two-injured-in-skydiving-accident-at-laurel-airport

I wasn't able to get on here yesterday and I've only scanned the posts that went up. I can answer some of them but surely have missed some. TY to the person who pointed out that some of the responses here will undoubtedly cause people to think twice about speaking up when they see something that should be reported. On the incident reporting: [url]http://www.wboc.com/story/22605819/two-injured-in-skydiving-accident-at-laurel-airport[url] Of course the media got it wrong, but it was a canopy collision (attempted CRW initiated at 1,500 feet). As far as the 'non-life threatening injury, I'm afraid that they got that part wrong as well. They kept the severely injured jumper in the ICU for over a week. If you can find the incident report in Parachutist, please point it out to me.

Either way, thanks for all of the feedback. That's why I posted here. The end result was that I got a lot of support and suggestions through PM from several different jumpers, so I know what to do next.

Not only is that not true, but the video I posted here is not my girlfriend's sister. Claudia jumped in 2012, my GF's sister in 2013. I do not know what you are saying about who authored what. I had long conversations with both Strong and the USPA under my own name before my Gf's sister got involved (after the DZ manager informed her of the grab, not me.) You say that my evidence is convoluted, where's yours?

Yeah, that's what they said about the guy who was involved in the accident last Father's day. I wasn't the only one who brought that guy up to the manager. I'm also not the only one who has brought this guy up to the manager. I'm just the only one who put his job, future in skydiving and reputation on the line over it. I don't think the bulk of you understand that I tried keeping this "in the family." I tried many times to do it "the right way." At some point I had to take it a step further. Nobody wanted litigation. Nobody wants another fatality or incident. A lot of people voiced their opinions in small groups but none were willing to take it up a notch, and it was not because they weren't concerned. It's because they didn't want to lose their jobs.

Yeah, I probably should have just not said anything and waited for the incident report. Sorry, the news report, since this DZ doesn't file incident reports.

Downsizing from a 170 to a 135 is bad, but not nearly as bad as going from a 200+ square canopy to a 119 elliptical. Both bad. Grabbing the student may be a bad habit. When the manager addressed it (but never followed up) his exact words were "Yeah, I'd like to see that lawsuit happen." When I addressed it 1 to 1 with him, he agreed. The issue isn't that he did it. The issue is that he did it, was told more than once to stop it and kept doing what he was doing. His mentality is that he can do no wrong, damn the procedures. What was it that we learned in the Strong rating course? Every tandem incident in tandem history has been the result of human error. Again, show of hands. Who would let him jump their daughter, sister, wife or mother?

Dude, that's funny. The reason I am aware of the outcome is because the student who filed the complaint is my girlfriend's sister. When I initially filed my complaint the USPA asked me to please involve her. I refused, as she had a good time on her skydive and the reputation of the sport is more important to me than my need to get this guy away from future students. The DZ contacted my girlfriend's sister (I assume because they thought she had filed the initial complaint). She had no idea that anything untoward had happened until that phone call. After she hung up, she contacted her sister, who told her the whole situation. At that point she reviewed her video, saw the inappropriate groping and was not happy. Neither were her father and husband. She filed her own complaint and yes, I've been in the loop since then.

What most of you don't realize is that there are lurkers out there who have been in contact with me via PM. The pressure to stand up in a world where everyone wants you to sit down is rarely bearable. The LCD is a big fan of speaking up. If only the rest were.

I don't have much of a DZ.com profile because I mainly lurked. I'm interested in what goes on in the skydiving community. I got along with the bulk of the other jumpers I have encountered since my first jump in 2006. The ones I didn't get along with were putting the others at risk. Terrible, right?

I asked for feedback. Contrary to popular opinion, I wanted it. Now, let me ask a different question. If you had the choice (which most of you do), would you let this guy take your daughter (if you have one), mother (if you have one) or sister (blah blah blah blah) on a tandem? My complaints aren't just that he grabs the boobmeat. Mainly they're safety related, which was implied by the heading on the OP. -------- Also, I started jumping video in 2012 with 400 jumps. I got better. Some of the people they replaced me with aren't even legal to jump with tandems in the first place. Or at least to do RW with them.

Why don't you just post your real number? Anonymity? Perfect. That explains why I haven't filled out my dz.com profile. It means nothing. The reason why I was facing the sun is because the TM in question can't be relied upon to face into it.

Look, I'm not the best video guy in the world and I use GoPros. I may need help, but not with up.

Why do I feel like you made up your D license number?

I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 150 pounds. I do up like (insert 'your mother' joke here) and didn't need the help. I did at least 600 tandem videos and never once needed to refund.

I have 1250 jumps, a coach and tandem rating. I sat on the DZ for two years and listened to other qualified Strong TMs talk about how the only thing that is going to make a difference to the TM in question is a hard impact with the ground. Outside of this forum I have spoken about it with several other TMs and DZOs who have agreed. I don't expect to get my job back. My sole motivation is that I know he is not only inappropriate but also unsafe and I want to prevent him from killing or severely injuring someone.

It seems that most people agree and one does not. Par for the course. Should I mention (who cares, I'm going to) that one of the funjumpers I had a problem with was someone I saved more than once. I stopped him from getting on the plane three separate times with his chest strap either misrouted or not routed at all. Once with his reserve handle obscured by his MLW. On that jump someone else told him at altitude that his flexvision goggles were on upside-down because he hadn't noticed himself. Huge, sweeping S-turns on final while other jumpers were behind him were his specialty. On another occasion he grabbed a staff members mamba 109 (or 119) off of the rack (he normally jumps a 200+sqft canopy) without permission and damn near killed himself with it. Yes, I was a huge PITA to that guy. I was not the only jumper at the DZ who reported him to the management. He was not spoken to about any of these occurrences. The incident that finally had him banned from the DZ sent the other jumper involved to the hospital in a helicopter. The other jumper was eventually able to walk again. Oh, and don't expect to see that one in Parachitist. It happened in June of last year and I never saw it in the incident reports, since I suppose they never filed one.

I agree with the sentiment on altitude. Normally they exit at 13,500 unless the ceiling forbids it or it is a slow day and there are only 2 tandems on the load. I'd like to add that freeflying speeds thing up a bit, so that may have been the cause of the 182 freefall times. He does grab the males in a similar fashion. But let me ask you this: If you went out in public and grabbed 50 male chests and then 50 female chests, is it a fair argument that grabbing the females was not inappropriate? In addition, what happens if he has to cut away and his hand is trapped underneath the students arm? It's feasible that you can get away with not pulling your reserve handle (because of the Cypres and RSL) but what happens if you can not reach your cutaway? Best case? Two out when the Cypres fires. In certain situations (like bringing his best friends sister for a tandem) he reached his arm under and grabbed her gut instead of her boob. There are a few photos of him not grabbing the student anywhere from the day after he was told not to ever grab boob again. The day after that he went right back to the boob.

The father of one of his female students found the twitter feed and didn't think it was a joke. In order to get a Strong tandem rating you have to agree to a drug test whenever they decide to give you one. That's better than a warrant, that's a stipulation of your contract with Strong.

Also, this is the kind of stuff he'd been posting to his twitter account. Both the USPA and Strong have seen it. What does a TM have to do to get drug tested? Do they have to break someone first? (See attached photo)

Who is better at it? The end result I am looking for is to prevent him from being able to hurt someone, which, sadly is going to happen in a big way. Nobody is looking to make a profit on it. Litigation seems more profit oriented than prevention oriented. Prevention is what we're going for. To the other person who said "one jump wonder," I am wondering what you mean by that. He did sitfly this tandem and, upon landing, bragged about how awesome he was until a few of the other staff told him never to do it again. He'd been told in April of 2012 that he would be let go if he ever grabbed another boob. The freeflying stopped but grabbage went on for the rest of that season and whole next one.

Here are some of the drogue shots, as well. They're not even the best examples, which are stashed on my other computer.

I'll try to answer everyone, though it may take a couple of tries. Yes, I was the video guy. The reason given for my termination was that I do not get along with some of the staff and funjumpers. The people I do not get along with are the ones who are huge accidents waiting to happen. After 'being cool' and trying to talk 1-on-1 with them a couple of times I usually develop an attitude out of sheer frustration. Also, talking to the management about my safety concerns goes nowhere and only adds to the 'troublemaker' image. The drogue release handle is not attached to the chest strap, he simply does not let go of it before he goes for the boob. The USPA addressed the touching but none of the other complaints before concluding their 'investigation.'