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Greetings,
USPA is committed to providing important and timely
information to its Group Member DZs through this
e-newsletter, the DZO
Streamline. E-mail us at GroupMbrs@uspa.org with comments.
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USPA Board Decisions
The just-concluded meeting of the USPA
Board of Directors resulted in the following actions of
interest to DZOs:
- The Group Member pledge will be amended at the
next renewal to require DZs "to establish and
disseminate landing procedures that will include
separation of high speed landings and normal
landings." Most DZs should easily be able to comply
with the new pledge item; many DZs already do. USPA
will develop guidance and aids for all DZs to use to
either develop or rethink their landing procedures
based on their unique DZ layout and
conditions.
- In agreement with the tandem manufacturers,
beginning in October 2008 with the release of the 2009
SIM and IRM, any USPA member conducting a tandem jump
will be required to possess both a current USPA Tandem
Instructor rating and hold a manufacturer's type
rating card.
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Temporary Membership Evolves to
Introductory Membership
Starting
September 1, USPA's Temporary Membership becomes an
Introductory Membership, with some important
differences. Unchanged is the application process; the
Introductory Membership can only be sold by a Group
Member DZ and the USPA third-party insurance begins the
moment the application is received by fax or phone at
USPA. Differences are that the Introductory Membership
period will be 90 days, the cost will be $20 (vs. $15)
and an individual can only purchase the Introductory
Membership one time. All Group Members will soon receive
packets with the new applications and detailed
information.
| Type |
Good
for |
Cost |
Purchased How
Often? |
| Temporary |
30
days |
$15
|
Unlimited |
| Introductory |
90
days |
$20 |
One-time | |
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New DZ Insurance?
DZs have been solicited to purchase
general liability insurance from Evolution Insurance
Brokers. USPA's attorney has reviewed the policy and
raised serious questions about the extent of coverage.
Evolution quickly responded that they will revise the
skydiving/DZ endorsement to the policy to address those
concerns. Once we have reviewed the revised endorsement,
we will advise Group Member DZs of our attorney's
review.
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Flight Service Station Problems?
Some DZs have reported problems filing
a Notam (Notice to Airmen) of parachute operations with
the new Flight Service, now contracted to
Lockheed-Martin. (While filing a Notam is not required,
it is strongly recommended, so that area and transient
pilots can be notified of current jump activity.)
Any DZs that encounter Notam filing problems,
including Notams failing to be posted after
notification, please let USPA know by contacting Ed
Scott at (540) 604-9743 or escott@uspa.org.
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Don't Be Scammed
A
DZ was contacted by an individual claiming to be in
another country, and desiring to prepay for a complete
skydiving course for "family members." Once a price was
established, the customer mailed an authentic-looking
cashier's check for an amount in excess of the agreed
price. The DZO was asked to send a check back for the
difference. The cashier's check turned out to be bogus,
which may have only been discovered by the bank several
days after deposited. If so, the DZO would have received
no payment.
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Let USPA's Nationals Bring You
Media Attention
As you know, the 2007
USPA National Skydiving Championships are set to soar on
September 8-21, 2007, at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa,
Illinois.
 It's expected to be our largest
competition to date, and we think this is a great
opportunity for you to garner some local skydiving
publicity. To assist you, we've created a Nationals
"fill-in-the-blanks" press release for you to send to
your local media.
There are two
angles that the media might consider (and you can
suggest these ideas to them):
- An open invitation for the media to come out,
interview and film their own local skydiving
competitors in action; they can meet their city's
finest skydivers as they take to the skies in training
for the 2007 USPA National Skydiving
Championships.
- To let people know that skydiving is easy,
accessible and relatively safe; also let locals know
how they can get started at your DZ. (You can even
invite a reporter to make a complimentary jump and
report on their experience).
Fill in your
localized info in the press release (doc) - the brackets designate where it should go.
(That link is a Microsoft Word document - open or save
it to your computer for later use.)
Fax or e-mail
your news release to the media and follow up with a
telephone call to answer any questions they may have and
to see if they are interested in doing a story. Tell
them about opportunities to take photographs or
videotape coverage of skydives and skydivers.
Visuals, whether still photos or taped/live
video, are very important to the media. Explain to them
that you can provide amazing footage of live jumps
through your own on-site photographers or videographers.
Good luck and let us know if you have any
questions!
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If you have comments about any information in this
issue of DZO
Streamline, or any comments in general about USPA
or the Group Member Program, email them directly to me
instead of replying to this e-newsletter.
Sincerely,
Ed
Scott
GroupMbrs@uspa.org
U.S.
Parachute Association
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