In 2019, the USPA Board’s Compliance Group received reports of 63 possible infractions of USPA policies that could merit disciplinary action. In each case, an investigator (usually the Regional Director) made an informal inquiry and then presented their findings to the Compliance Group. In most cases, the situations were satisfactorily resolved at the local or regional level, but in 19 instances, the Compliance Group felt it necessary to formally investigate. Out of those, 12 cases resulted in disciplinary actions of varying severity depending on the details of the violation. Those actions were:
♦ Revocation of USPA membership due to unethical business practices that were related to the USPA membership and were financially detrimental to other USPA members.
♦ Suspension of a tandem instructor’s rating due to an unstable exit and an incorrect response to the resulting malfunction. The suspended rating holder must receive retraining from a USPA Instructor Examiner prior to reinstatement of the rating.
♦ Revocation of USPA membership due to multiple Basic Safety Requirement violations, as well as aiding and abetting non-IAD-rated USPA members in dispatching IAD students from aircraft.
♦ 45-day suspension of USPA membership for dispatching IAD students without the required rating.
♦ 60-day suspension of USPA membership for falsifying a license application and a 180-day prohibition on applying for a new license, which a USPA Board member must verify.
♦ Six-month suspension of a tandem instructor examiner rating for allowing a candidate without a medical certificate to take a Tandem Instructor Rating Course. Following the suspension period, the examiner must receive retraining by attending a rating course with another examiner.
♦ One-year suspension of membership and revocation of ratings due to attending a rating course without the proper credentials and performing student jumps without the proper rating. The USPA Director of Safety and Training must pre-authorize the suspended member’s attendance of any rating course in the future.
♦ 90-day suspensions of two tandem ratings. In both cases, the instructors used hand-mounted video camera during tandem skydives prior to making 200 tandem jumps without a camera as required.
♦ 60-day suspension of membership for consuming alcoholic beverages both before and during a jump.
♦ Six-month suspension of a PRO rating for performing a stadium jump without the proper credentials.
♦ Six-month suspension of a tandem instructor examiner rating for allowing an inadequately rated member to perform the duties of a tandem instructor. Following the suspension period, the examiner must receive retraining from another examiner.
♦ Revocation of a tandem instructor examiner’s USPA membership for repeatedly falsifying their medical certificate.
Ron Bell | D-26863
USPA Director of Safety and Training