Hundreds Of Jumps, Years Of Training Required For Tandem Skydiving

DAVIS (CBS13) — According to an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, the instructor who died in a skydiving accident in Lodi last week was not certified.

CBS13 looked at the current rules and regulations for how skydivers can become certified, and what skydiving centers are federally mandated to do in order to keep their equipment safe.

Greg Foster is the chief skydiving instructor at SkyDance in Davis who has made over 13,000 jumps in his 21-year career.

"I do between 25 to 40 jumps a week," said Foster.

But it took hundreds more jumps and years of training before Foster was able to latch onto students as an instructor in a tandem skydive.

"The requirement by the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Parachute Association is at least three years training, five-hundred jumps and the skydiver must be at least 18 years old."

Jim Crouch is the Director of Safety and Training for the U.S. Parachute Association. He says skydivers training to become certified instructors must also pass at least ten training jumps with an examiner and a tandem instructor acting as a student. If they pass, Crouch says they have to make a minimum of 15 jumps per year to stay current.

CBS13 asked how skydiving centers are regulated when it comes to keep equipment in safe working order, and according to Foster, "every 25 jumps the tandem rig goes to the loft to get inspected by the FAA certified rigger."

Foster says the safety advisers are looking for abnormalities in the parachute or general signs of wear-and-tear. Faulty parachutes are tossed out and replaced.

Foster says he knows there's a risk every time he flies but he says it's all about repetition and experience.

"Risk assessment and management is what we do, and we minimize the risks every time we go out and it relatively works out great."

The U.S. Parachute Association is currently the only FAA accepted organization that licenses skydivers across the country.