BarryWilliams

The S&TA writes the report after facts are gathered and sends it into the USPA. Nothing says that the original findings written by the S&TA along with local FAA admin will be published in its original form by the USPA. I can verify that the USPA can and has changed reports in the past. How do I know? I wrote the reports. I was quite surprised to read the report published by the USPA that removed pertinent details that most certainly save a number of lives of USPA members. I can only imagine that the details omitted in the report were to protect the interests of a particular manufacturer for a known issue when the details that were submitted didn't line up with the narrative they wanted to put out.

I took a month long WEMT course and became I licensed EMT for the state of NH. While I think a FR/EMT course is great general knowledge for life, skydiving and particularly BASE jumping in remote locations where licensed medical assistance may not be readily available, I would highly advise looking into your local Good Samaritan Laws. Those laws may not always hold up in court and you may become liable if you do harm even with the best intentions and implied consent (unconcious patient) if you are not licensed in your particular state to practice medicine. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in these days and something to be aware of. I think the best information you will gather from one of these courses in most skydiving accidents is what not to do. Most natural responses from people without medical training and the injured skydivers will likely make the situation worse.