PARACHUTIST BASE ad rejection
Tim Reynolds
to Aircraft Parachutist.
I bet McGowan or Kent wouldn't have been rejected. They probably would
have run a Paragram and saved them the cost of an ad..
Tim
base...@vnet.ibm.com
Maybe we should tell USPA to go to hell. Remember when they ran
an article by B.J. Worth detailing his jump from the Eiffel Tower?
The people at USPA are pretty myopic. They don't seem to realize
that skydiving *will* be regulated out of the air in this country.
BASE is the future of skydiving. When those morons are sitting
around crying about "no longer being able to jump," I'll be jumping.
So will Will Forshay. So will a lot of people.
A hell of a lot of USPA members have jumped from the New River Gorge
Bridge on Bridge Day, including some *very* prominent members. It's
pretty clear to me when I see those ads in Parachutist that say
"USPA is us," that "us" refers to the soooooooooooooooooo very
important people that "serve" as USPA officers and employees. USPA
is definitely not *me*.
I don't know how other followers of this newsgroup feel, but I
consider Parachutist pretty lame--Skydiving is a *far* better
publication. USPA should face up to their incompetence and
at least run any ad that offers their readers something interesting.
Walt Appel, BASE 335 (and damn proud of it!!!)
Eric S. Johnson
>that skydiving *will* be regulated out of the air in this country.
>BASE is the future of skydiving.
While I agree that USPA can and is myopic about a number of things, and
I also agree that they can be quite hypocritical about base jumping, and I
certainly agree that it appears McGowen could sell parachutist a photocopy
of his butt, and they would print it.... I think your above statement
is way off.
Skydiving wont be regulated out of the air, and BASE is the future of BASE
and nothing more or less.
Ej
And those who are the faint of heart, can take a short delay...
base...@vnet.ibm.com
>>The people at USPA are pretty myopic. They don't seem to realize
>>that skydiving *will* be regulated out of the air in this country.
>>BASE is the future of skydiving.
>
>I certainly agree that it appears McGowen could sell parachutist a photocopy
>of his butt, and they would print it.... I think your above statement
>is way off.
>
>Skydiving wont be regulated out of the air, and BASE is the future of BASE
>and nothing more or less.
By "regulated out of the air", I mean that IMO, federal and state
laws, regulations, and court decisions will render it too expensive
for most people and it will die a slow, lingering death. For
example at Skydive Spaceland, my regular DZ, I just saw an
announcement that lift ticket prices will increase to $18 per jump
(for 12,500' AGL). Tax is in addition to the $18 price so that the
total price will be well over $19 for a jump. It's obvious to me
that this trend will continue. Skydiving may exist for a long time,
but I think it will soon be prohibitively expensive for many (if not
most) of the people currently doing it.
By saying "BASE is the future of skydiving," I did not mean to
equate the two. They are not the same and, as any BASE jumper is
well aware, approaching a BASE jump like it is a skydive is
extremely dangerous. Perhaps it would more accurately express my
thoughts to say that I think that BASE jumping is the future of
*parachuting* in this country. IMO skydiving doesn't have much
of a future.
BTW, I do not relish the thought of skydiving's demise. It is a
beautiful sport.
John M Lieberman
it'd be fun...someday...), I think we should remember that a lot of BASE jumpers must routinel
y commit a few misdemeanours to participate (trespassing, break/enter, malicious mischief),
and this doesn't sit too well with "The Authorities." I imagine that the reason that USPA
has taken that particular stance is to distance themselves from the minor infractions committe
d for the love of the sport. As much as we all wish otherwise, there are still too many peop-
le out there in positions of power (over us) who think that we're a bunch of crazy yahoos.
While this may be true, they also think that we're careless lawbreakers, and so we may
get treated accordingly. I think that USPA is alienating a lot of us with the political crap
but at least some of the BOD may honestly feel that if USPA covers a lot of BASE jumping, they
will be percieved as promoting an activity that does tend to involve breaking the law (just a
tiny bit), and that will not get any of us very far in dealing with the dear old government.
Thus, USPA's position on BASE jumping. This is all speculation of course. I'm not
saying that I agree with the policy (and personally I would rather read Skydiving any day), I
do think that it may have been dreamed up with good intentions (something about the surface
coating on the road to hell comes to mind) originally.
Of course, this policy would be far more defensible if it were the United States
SKYDIVING Association. Since we all use PARACHUTES to get down from whatever we jumped offa,
I think it only fair that the US PARACHUTE Association at least acknowledge the existence of
those 'extreme' skydivers out there... Just like Road and Track covers drivers who do 155
on the city streets somewhere.
Incidentally, check out the "USPAP" version of the Over The Edge ad-all of the refs
to BASE have been cut out and replaced with blank white space. How attractive.
Is it my imagination, or are the ads for those "Chicken-Pussy" T-shirts bleeped
so that all you can see is the cat calling the fowl chicken? Hmm...
And no, that isn't really USPAP. It's a friggin' typo.
John
Jim Beutel
>By "regulated out of the air", I mean that IMO, federal and state
>laws, regulations, and court decisions will render it too expensive
>for most people and it will die a slow, lingering death. For
>example at Skydive Spaceland, my regular DZ, I just saw an
>announcement that lift ticket prices will increase to $18 per jump
>(for 12,500' AGL). Tax is in addition to the $18 price so that the
>total price will be well over $19 for a jump. It's obvious to me
>that this trend will continue. Skydiving may exist for a long time,
>but I think it will soon be prohibitively expensive for many (if not
>most) of the people currently doing it.
>
>By saying "BASE is the future of skydiving," I did not mean to
>equate the two. They are not the same and, as any BASE jumper is
>well aware, approaching a BASE jump like it is a skydive is
>extremely dangerous. Perhaps it would more accurately express my
>thoughts to say that I think that BASE jumping is the future of
>*parachuting* in this country. IMO skydiving doesn't have much
>of a future.
>
Life is getting expensive. A piece of crap Ford Escort will cost
you practially $12-14k. Renting a Cessna 152 will cost you $50-70
an hour. Prices will continue to go up. So what! I can spend more
going dancing and drinking in four hours at night than skydiving the
better part of that same day...!
If the magazine "Parachutist" was redesigned with more of a traditional
news stand appeal, then it should be circulated at ALL stands and done
soon, it is mostly sales adds anyway. Most people dont know about the sport. Hell for the most part, the average person still thinks we use Rounds.....
If the magazine were freely sold and the sport more publicized (in the
positive light) We as skydivers would have far more leverage to direct
our future... Go stand infront of a magazine rack some day. You can find
all kinds for subjects. But unfortunately, today, no skydiving..... Yea,
I find it kind of hard to believe they need four or five Golf or Tennis
or even Jogging magazines. And the list goses on.....
Safety in numbers. Skydiving is not going away.
---
-------------------------------------------------------
Jim Beutel
Motorola SPS ASIC beu...@chdasic.sps.mot.com
1300 N. Alma School Rd Computer Operations
M/S CH290 AZ50 office: (602) 821-4967
Chandler, Arizona 85224 telefax: (602) 821-4963
-------------------------------------------------------
The Surgeon General has determined that Skydiving is Extremely addicting.
Kent Walker
>
> If the magazine were freely sold and the sport more publicized (in the
> positive light) We as skydivers would have far more leverage to direct
> our future... Go stand infront of a magazine rack some day. You can find
> all kinds for subjects. But unfortunately, today, no skydiving...
Well, not exactly, Jim. The magazine stand I go to now carries Parachutist.
Apparently the newsstand distribution started this year. I have no idea
whether or not anyone is purchasing the magazine off the stands.
Kent Walker | wal...@ssvax1.ssd.loral.com | Statements are mine, not Loral's
John W Kuthe
: >The people at USPA are pretty myopic. They don't seem to realize
: >that skydiving *will* be regulated out of the air in this country.
: >BASE is the future of skydiving.
: Skydiving wont be regulated out of the air, and BASE is the future of BASE
: and nothing more or less.
Yeah, you'd be pretty hard pressed to base jump and get 60 sec of FF!
And 100 ways are right out!
--
John Kuthe, aka sys...@nicsn1.monsanto.com, St. Louis, MO.
First Job of Government: Protect people from govermment.
Second Job of Government: Protect people each other
It must *never* be the job of government to protect people from themselves.
#insert <stddisclaimer.h> (stolen without permission from someone)
Mike Meyer
BM>that skydiving *will* be regulated out of the air in this country.
<Falling out of chair>
<thump>
---
. DeLuxe. 1.26b #134s . SURRENDER DOROTHY
----
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Data Warp Premium BBS (713) 355-6107 HST/V.32bis |
| Spring / Houston, Texas Multi-line, multi-gig PCBoard BBS |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Will Forshay
writes:
>A hell of a lot of USPA members have jumped from the New River Gorge
>Bridge on Bridge Day, including some *very* prominent members.
Yup.
I called headquarters on Monday, and asked for the signer of the letter,
Andy, who told me when I asked that it was "the executive director's
decision", so I immediately asked for Jerry's office and spoke to his
secretary. I guess he's working on the tandem FAR stuff and was busy.
To someone's credit my phone call was returned (to my work) on Tuesday
morning but I was out and the message was "they'll call back". Nothing
today, so I'll call tomorrow (Thursday).
Like it's going to get anywhere. sigh.
I'm submitting basically the original post to my conference director and
to headquarters to seek a written response. I think it's pretty
indefensable for them.
I like USPA. I like the positive things it really can do for our sport.
Like all organizations, however, the game of politics can truly be a
disservice to the members who create and (supposedly) own the
organization in the first place. I believe the members are truly screwed
when things like this happen. Not just my ad, but what else has happened
(or NOT happened) that we don't even know about?
Will Forshay there!s no sensation
D-12167, S/L-I compared to this,
CFI, A-SEL; Com: MEL suspended animation
a state of bliss....
Will Forshay
Dear Mr. Forshay:
I regret to inform you that PARACHUTIST must respectfully decline to run
your classified ad for BASE jumping videos. (<- just Bridge Day, by the
way).
It has been a long-standing policy of PARACHUTIST not to print material
that contains content that conflicts with any policy established by the
USPA Board of Directors. This policy is outlined in USPA Standard
Operating Procedure 4 (enclosed). At this time, BASE jumping is still
considered "taboo" by the board, therefore we cannot print any
advertisements which reference this activity.
A refund check for the $29.85 you paid for the ad will be issued and sent
to you shortly. Meanwhile, if you have any questions regarding our
editorial policies, please do not hesitate to call this office.
Sincerely,
Andy Mayes
PARACHUTIST staff
---------------------------------------------
The following is the text of the ad:
BRIDGE DAY !93 VIDEOTAPE: 90 minutes of fast edited jumps off 876! New
River Gorge Bridge. See what works and what doesn!t. $31 includes
shipping. For PAL or SECAM add $20. Checks to: Will Forshay, 1906
Birch Lake Avenue, White Bear Lake, MN 55110-3307.
-----------------------------------------------
so, dear readers, whadda ya think? the association, working for you? I
reference the latest PARACHUTIST, December 1993 issue, page 56. There
you will find an ad for Tom Sanders' OVER THE EDGE, a very interesting
video that if you haven't yet seen, you must. On the first paragraph of
his promo, however, it says "Go OVER THE EDGE In The Ultimate Skydiving,
Hang-Gliding, SCUBA Diving & BASE Jumping Sports Adventure Video!"
Certainly this qualifies as "advertisements which reference this
activity". Of course I'm sure Tom paid more than $29.85 for the full
page color ad. It's not that I don't want Tom to be able to say that,
but just what balance of other sports, besides the LEGAL New River Gorge
bridge jumps that are the sole content of rejected video, must be in
one's video before PARACHUTIST accepts the ad?
I do not now, nor will I ever, desire that USPA get involved again with
BASE issues. But who are they serving by not letting run a classified ad
for the video chronicle of an annual legal event?
I'm not on any sort of crusade, however, I will seek further answers from
USPA to see why it is in the best interest of the members of the
association to not be able to see this ad, and why their policy is
applied in an obviously discriminatory manner.
If you have any thoughts, preferably post them here, or mail them, and I
would like to forward this post and yours to USPA (favorable or not). If
you don't desire your post to be forwarded please indicate.
Steven Wright once said, "Why do we park in a driveway, and drive in a
parkway?"
I say, "Funny how PARACHUTIST about skydiving, and SKYDIVING is about
parachuting."
Michael Masterov
[Long Article about Parachutist rejecting ad for Bridge Day video deleted]
Actually, the tape that has the full color page ad features not only bridge
day and a legal cliff jump in South America, but also an antenna and building
jump which ARE illegal. But it is a whole page in full color.
Editorial content is one thing, advertising is another.
Parachutist prints classified ads for paragliding, which is also out of USPA
'jurisdiction' but quite legal and of interest to some skydivers. Why they
don't treat legal BASE jumping the same way is beyond me.
Michael Masterov A-17157