Safety day will be this Sunday (3-11-07), starting at 10:00am at Skydive Rick's. 

Skydive Rick's and the Alliance Sport Parachute Club encourage all jumpers of all experience levels to attend USPA Safety Day. USPA Safety & Training Advisors and other drop zone staff members will coordinate this special day of seminars, updates, and review training.

USPA Safety and Training Advisor; Paul Waschack will be heading up the day, discussing the following areas of saftey:

Gear Check and Review — We will have jumpers inspect their rigs with a rigger. Check closing loops and flaps, pilot chute snugness and condition, velcro, three-ring condition, RSL routing, AAD compliance with battery and factory check, etc.

Skydiving Emergency Review and Drills — We will be review all types of problems, reinforce altitude awareness, discuss disorientation, practice in a suspended harness.

Canopy Flight and Landing Patterns — We will go over aerial photos to show acceptable and unacceptable outs, review hazards, establish or review landing patterns, and discuss canopy handling toward preventing low-turn accidents.

Aircraft Procedures and Emergencies — Our pilots will review exit order and loading procedures, seat belt and weight and balance concerns, spotting procedures, visibility minimums and cloud clearances, air traffic control requirements, and aircraft emergency scenarios.

How Safety Day Began:
Safety Day was the idea of a soft-spoken but enthusiastic woman named Patti Chernis who approached the USPA Board of Directors with the concept in 1996. The board applauded and endorsed her plan.
Preparations for the first USPA Safety Day were well underway when, ironically, Chernis was found dead after landing apparently unconscious under her open main parachute on New Year's Eve 1996. She died before learning that she had just been elected USPA's Northwest Regional Director. Patti Chernis' idea survived, however. A majority of DZs now report Safety Day activities each March.