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intimnasc

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I'm the dad that does anything with his kids. My son chose SCUBA diving so we both got certified and go 2-3 times a year. My daughter is not interested so I told her to pick something we could do just the two of us. Well she picked skydiving. Now for my question.

Is there any legal way to take my 14 year old daughter skydiving in the United States?

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Come to Lithuania (Eastern Europe), you'll have no problem of her going through AFF. The legal minimum age is 14 with one of the parents consent.
"Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

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I'm the dad that does anything with his kids. My son chose SCUBA diving so we both got certified and go 2-3 times a year. My daughter is not interested so I told her to pick something we could do just the two of us. Well she picked skydiving. Now for my question.

Is there any legal way to take my 14 year old daughter skydiving in the United States?



Sure. The government doesn't care how old skydivers are.

Your two big problems are that most states don't allow parents to waive minors' right to sue (so waivers are unenforceable if something goes wrong and your health insurance company decides to sue on your daughter's behalf) and the United States Parachute association requires skydivers to be 16.

In practice, people have gotten around the problem by buying an airplane, opening a drop zone, and using instructors willing to risk the liability and having their ratings cancelled for violating the United States Parachute Association Basic Safety Requirements.

Going to another country will be much less expensive and time consuming.

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Do you have a wind tunnel near you? That could be a good alternative until she gets old enough to jump on her own.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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Well looks like shes gonna have to pick something else. I appreciate the responses and confirming what I was discovering by calling around. Seems kinda sad theres no real introductory level for younger people though. Oh well I'll work on the SCUBA diving and try to put the hard sell on her.

Thank You all again for the posts.

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There is a guy near Milwaukee that takes kids of any age. Send me a PM if its not too far.

Wish my Dad let me at 14, I had to wait til 16 so I could forge his signature on my permission letter. I did get caught, but I was a seasoned jumper with 10 jumps by then.
You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

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Well looks like shes gonna have to pick something else. I appreciate the responses and confirming what I was discovering by calling around. Seems kinda sad theres no real introductory level for younger people though. Oh well I'll work on the SCUBA diving and try to put the hard sell on her.

Thank You all again for the posts.



There is some thought behind it....

Can a 14 year old truly appreciate the risk they are assuming by making a skydive? I suspect most adults don't really consider it, but at least the law says they are capable and responsible for making that decision for themselves.

There is a saying that goes "The moment you leave the airplane you've committed suicide until YOU do something about it."

That applies to Tandem Skydiving as well.

I have found more joy and love for this sport, and my life is richer because of it. If she REALLY wants to do this, the sport will wait for her.

The risk to this sport if we were to hurt or kill a minor is too big. It would begin to end skydiving as we know it today.

For now, try a wind tunnel. It's great training, and while it too has risks, they are more socially acceptable.
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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As several have said, head to the nearest wind tunnel. You will both enjoy the experience and you could do that a few times per year, just like the scuba diving, getting good quality time with your daughter. Later if she still wants to skydive the tunnel time will pay off as she will be quite able maintain stability in freefall.
The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

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There is a guy near Milwaukee that takes kids of any age. Send me a PM if its not too far.

Wish my Dad let me at 14, I had to wait til 16 so I could forge his signature on my permission letter. I did get caught, but I was a seasoned jumper with 10 jumps by then.



When you were 14 they had hadn’t invented the parachute yet. :P

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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Can a 14 year old truly appreciate the risk they are assuming by making a skydive? I suspect most adults don't really consider it, but at least the law says they are capable and responsible for making that decision for themselves.



Don't underestimate the understanding of young humans.

My wife did her first jump at 13 years old. She decided she wanted to at 12 years old, saved her pocket money for a year, did the jump and by the time she was 16, she had already done 6 tandems. She paid for each and every one of them herself, had 3 jobs while in school to do so and on her 16th birthday at 7:30 am she was up in a plane doing her aff stage 2.

She is now has well over 7000 jumps, multipule world and national records, has competed at the world championships 3 times as well as other international events, has taken over 1300 tandems and earns almost 100k a year from skydiving.

I suppose she was too young and too small to know what she wanted when she was 12 though huh?

She left school early to concentrate on skydiving and her teacher said she would never make anything out of skydiving. How wrong could her teacher have been.

She is now still only 26 years old, has 2 skydiving companies and is more successful than most.

You can live your life half empty or half full. Leigh is a half full kind of girl.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

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There is a guy near Milwaukee that takes kids of any age. Send me a PM if its not too far.

Wish my Dad let me at 14, I had to wait til 16 so I could forge his signature on my permission letter. I did get caught, but I was a seasoned jumper with 10 jumps by then.



PM sent

And to the nay sayers children can get their Junior Open water at 10 and upgrade to full open water certification at 15. Both sports have theie inherant dangers but one adapts to suit minors. I am not knocking the system just disagreeing with the mentality.

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The dive shop I worked with some years ago wouldn't take students younger than 15, even with parental consent. Reason: there seemed to be a pretty good statistical correlation between compressed-air diving at younger ages and juvenile bone necrosis.

Maybe there's newer data and research now. But, at the time, we thought it a serious enough risk to say "no."

Bravo-Niner

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Yeah currently you can get it at 12 but it's a junior open water only good to 50 feet.
I wish she'd have chosen diving but the place referenced above will take her and I skydiving but there is a considerable extra cost. Looks like we'll be taking a father daughter trip in July probably.

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Well we took the trip this weekend and it was awesome. She loves it and is addicted. Problem is still the distance so now she probably has to wait till she is 18 to get the rest but her first two jumps are done. This place was incredable. They caterred to her in every way and made the trip worth every penny. None of them could believe we were there for the diving until I told them about the age requirements all over the country. Anyways below are the videos for anyone who is interested and if anyone has a minor they'd like to take this place goes as young as 13 I believe as long as the teenager acts mature enough to do it.

This is her first jump and I am the guy in the TCU shirt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQZ9QVVuiQ

This is her second jump I chose to have a beer and watch her from the ground on this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTpeVBn893Y

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I know there is a member of the USPA board that had all his sons skydiving way earlier that 16.

Though he owned the DZ and I guess he couldn't sue himself.
Take chances, just do it with all the information to make good decisions!!

Muff Brother# 2706 Dudeist Skydiver# 121.5

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I know there is a member of the USPA board that had all his sons skydiving way earlier that 16.

Though he owned the DZ and I guess he couldn't sue himself.



Mike Mullins. kids Charlie (8,000 jumps), Joel (3,000+), Jeff (4,500), and Zachary (3,000+) all started at 11 or 12.

I had the pleasure of jumping with Charlie when he was 14 and 15, and with Jeff when he was 11.

Totally dialed in, more methodical, conscientious and procedurally safety-conscious than almost all adults.

Plus I learned that we all look like 11-year-old kids in freefall... then we put our adult faces back on after we land, whereas Jeff... well, he was 11 in the air and on the ground too.

B|
SCR-6933 / SCS-3463 / D-5533 / BASE 44 / CCS-37 / 82d Airborne (Ret.)

"The beginning of wisdom is to first call things by their right names."

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I jumped with Jeffery a bunch back around 2000, but he was into freeflying and I wasn't really good enough at flying to hang.

Haven't seen any of them in 10 years, but they are all excellent.
Take chances, just do it with all the information to make good decisions!!

Muff Brother# 2706 Dudeist Skydiver# 121.5

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I know there is a member of the USPA board that had all his sons skydiving way earlier that 16.

Though he owned the DZ and I guess he couldn't sue himself.



Mike Mullins. kids Charlie (8,000 jumps), Joel (3,000+), Jeff (4,500), and Zachary (3,000+) all started at 11 or 12.

I had the pleasure of jumping with Charlie when he was 14 and 15, and with Jeff when he was 11.

Totally dialed in, more methodical, conscientious and procedurally safety-conscious than almost all adults.

Plus I learned that we all look like 11-year-old kids in freefall... then we put our adult faces back on after we land, whereas Jeff... well, he was 11 in the air and on the ground too.

B|


Jeff no longer looks 11. He is now 24 and 6' of solid Marine muscle 1st LT F-18 Hornet Fighter Pilot.

Charlie is 32, Captain on Falcon Jets for International paper in Memphis.

Joel is 27 and a 1st LT Army Guard Helicopter pilot who just completed a tour of Iraq flying a Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter. He also flys EMS Helicopters for Hospital Wing in Memphis.

Zack is 19 and will soon follow Jeff into the Marines.

Matthew will turn 12 on August 4. He has 220 jumps and still looks like a little kid.

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I know there is a member of the USPA board that had all his sons skydiving way earlier that 16.

Though he owned the DZ and I guess he couldn't sue himself.



Mike Mullins. kids Charlie (8,000 jumps), Joel (3,000+), Jeff (4,500), and Zachary (3,000+) all started at 11 or 12.

I had the pleasure of jumping with Charlie when he was 14 and 15, and with Jeff when he was 11.

Totally dialed in, more methodical, conscientious and procedurally safety-conscious than almost all adults.

Plus I learned that we all look like 11-year-old kids in freefall... then we put our adult faces back on after we land, whereas Jeff... well, he was 11 in the air and on the ground too.

B|


Jeff no longer looks 11. He is now 24 and 6' of solid Marine muscle 1st LT F-18 Hornet Fighter Pilot.

Charlie is 32, Captain on Falcon Jets for International paper in Memphis.

Joel is 27 and a 1st LT Army Guard Helicopter pilot who just completed a tour of Iraq flying a Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter. He also flys EMS Helicopters for Hospital Wing in Memphis.

Zack is 19 and will soon follow Jeff into the Marines.

Matthew will turn 12 on August 4. He has 220 jumps and still looks like a little kid.


If you're not just busting with pride, you sure as hell ought to be. :)

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She is now still only 26 years old, has 2 skydiving companies and is more successful than most.

You can live your life half empty or half full. Leigh is a half full kind of girl.



Is she single?


Since he started out with "My wife did..." - Let's assume not ;)
Safety third!

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Well folks I just thought I'd update the status of our jumps. Apparently someone from this thread went out of their way to go after the sky diver that took my daughter. A couple of months after I posted in here he was approached about my daughters jump and his license was suspended indefinitely. I felt horrible for being the cause and got in touch with him and apologized that I had been the cause.

Now on to my daughter. She turns 18 at the end of October and still wants to jump. I see her doing this for many years as she is quite adventurous. To the nay sayers I have to say her passion has not gone away and we are planning a new jump, though I'd love to call the fellow in Wisconsin I figure Ive brought enough grief his way.

So do any of you have a good recommendation for a jump master in the Fort Worth area I'm in the market. She is chomping at the bit for her third jump.

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