I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among tandem operations: TIs increasingly choosing to open at low altitudes. While under canopy (usually tandem) at 3500 feet, I routinely watch tandems fall past me with pins coming out below me. I’ve watched TIs and TIEs turn off AADs in order to pull at or below 3000 feet. I see more seasoned instructors pull low and spiral to land quickly, then proceed to complain to newer instructors about taking too long to turn hot loads. I then see those newer instructors also pull dangerously low in order to avoid getting bitched at or to be more like the “cool guys.” I see races between TIs to see who can pull lower and spiral faster to reach the ground first, and sometimes bragging about numbers on Protracks. I think it goes without saying, but students do not have the knowledge to appreciate that these instructors are knowingly reducing their survival chances below that which the FAA and manufacturers deem acceptable. These students do not consent to having their risks willfully increased by an irresponsible instructor, especially when that increase is a blatant violation of a very clear standard and when the possible consequence is death. When did it become acceptable to gamble with a student’s life in this way? Why would it ever be acceptable for an instructor to reduce their chance of successfully dealing with a malfunction, particularly a high speed malfunction, while carrying a student passenger? What kind of inflated ego, arrogance, or selfishness is at work here? More importantly, is this behavior isolated to a few select locations (from my own experience), or is this widespread behavior among TIs? Is my perspective off and my view too conservative about this so that I should just shut up and ignore it? If this is a systemic problem, it arguably poses a serious threat to the sport. In that case, perhaps those of us who do not condone this behavior and appreciate the rare opportunity we have to be able to share something we love with students so should do something to fix the problem. My efforts so far have failed, as TIEs, DZOs, and USPA BOD members that I’ve approached seem to either care too little to take any action, condone the behavior, or participate in the behavior. I’m at a loss for what to do. Any thoughts? (Mods, this account is a new, anonymous account because the goal of this thread is not to discuss names or locations, but rather to gauge the overall sense of the TI community on this issue. Delete if you wish but I hope this can generate some productive discussion.)
