Letter from the tandem manufactors over underage tandems

All moral issues aside, what the legal issues we are arguing about are as follows:

In the U.S. a waiver signed by a minor is completely invalid. There is no circumstances whatsoever where a minor or his/her representatives can sign away his/her rights (unless they are legally emancipated in which case they are no longer technically a minor). This was not always the case but cases came before the courts which caused the Courts to change their opinions in this regard.

I have no idea about NZ law in regards to waivers and minors, perhaps as you suggest, a minor my legally sign his/her rights away (I strenuously suggest you make sure, if you have not done so already). However even if the law currently allows a minor to sign a waiver, that still does not mean that will always be the case. While the general public may be accepting of an injury to a 10-year-old injured or killed in day care or some other similarly innocuous activity, the general public (and by extension the Courts) would be FAR less receptive to a fatality involving skydiving. In such a situation you may very well find that your waiver is meaningless, despite any previous laws to the contrary. Laws evolve. Without getting into a moral debate, look at how many skydivers seem to be reacting negatively to even the idea of a 10-year-old skydiving. How do you think the general public and the Courts would react to a real incident? Not favorably. Even were laws in NZ in existence acknowledging the power of minors to sign waivers, a fatality involving a 10-year-old tandem may very well cause a seed change for any such waiver regulations.

Additionally, though it is unlikely, even if a NZ court found your waiver to be legally valid, a U.S. court would not recognize the waiver as valid. This is the main point we have been trying to make and why the U.S. based manufacturers are so deathly afraid of underage tandems anywhere. Yes you may be able to evade financial responsibility in NZ via your waiver, but that doesn't mean that the manufacturers can. If that 10-year-old died, that waiver would be useless in a U.S. court of law, and the manufacturer could be held responsible for your choice to allow a minor to skydive. There would not need to be negligent conduct for the victims to sue the U.S. based manufacturers. Which is why I posed the question earlier...do you want to be the TI that killed tandem skydiving? True, the comment was a bit bombastic, but I believe the point to nonetheless be valid. A single bad lawsuit as a result of a DZ that permits underage tandems ANYWHERE could kill a manufacturer. This is what the manufacturers are deathly afraid of. This is why they went to the trouble and expense to try to get the word out about this issue. There have been many discussions of the ills of the DZ which cater solely to tandems, ie tandem "factories", but regardless the tandem jump has been very beneficial to our sport. Given that there are relatively few manufacturers and they are so afraid of this issue, we would do wise to take their concerns seriously. Personally I consider this more important than a normal safety bulletin from the tandem manufacturers, as normally the safety issues discussed are minor and probably don't threaten but an extremely small percentage of the tandem jumping public (though they too should be heeded). This could potentially end tandem jumping alogether.

Finally, the last thing I wanted to add which has not been discussed, is the negative publicity involved if an accident involving a young minor were to occur. I hope you realize that while taking a 10-year-old makes for a great and heartfelt story when all goes well, quite the opposite would occur should he/she be injured/killed. In addition to the tremendous amount of negative publicity it would generate towards the sport in general, your center would likely be blitzed by many media ppl asking many questions. Whereas a normal tandem fatality, while sad may go unnoticed by the general public, such will likely not be the case if a 10-year-old were to go in.

Though I personally do not believe that most 10-year-olds cannot adequately gauge the consequences of their actions, you certainly can. I hope you realize all of these additional responsibilities you are choosing to incur by allowing pre-pubescent children to skydive.

BTW, despite your rude personal email, I too wish you luck in your fledgling DZ. I know how hard it can be to start a new business and the work, stress, and love which goes into it. Truly...best of luck in that regards. Other than this one issue it sounds like you are trying do everything the best you possibly can...and even in this issue you are willing to have a dialogue...blue skies.

-Sammy