The following letter has been sent to the British parachute association for hopeful inclusion in the any other business section at the next council meeting as it was sent too late to be included as a separate item on the agenda.
Open letter to the B.P.A. council.
To who it may concern.
I am writing to you concerning section One paragraph four of the B.P.A. Operations Manual 1998 Rewrite:-
Other activities involving parachutes: Activities such as Paragliding, Fixed object jumping etc do not come within the provisions of the BPA operations manual. The BPA does not associate them with Sport Parachuting.
I would appreciate clarification on the official BPA position with regard to any action, which could be taken against any of its members who take part in these activities. Specifically B.A.S.E. (Fixed object) jumping because Paragliding has its own national and international bodies to regulate and police its own members and is regarded by the general public as a separate sport/Activity. Where as B.A.S.E. has no national and very little international organisation and is still perceived by the general public as "parachuting". I agree that B.A.S.E. is not sports parachuting as covered or defined by the B.P.A. operations manual and yet I believe that in the past action has been taken by the B.P.A. against some of its members who have taken part in this sport/activity. I believe that officially this action was taken on the grounds of bringing "the sport" in to disrepute. Although by your own definition they are two distinct and separate sports/activities.
Recently I have noticed an increasing interest among skydivers about B.A.S.E. but unfortunately they are often asking the wrong people or are being giving little or no information to help them reach an informed decision due to the perceived negative view from the B.P.A. This either leads them to give up (sometimes best), but more often than not they take one of two routes:- 1) go it alone and see how its done from what info they can obtain. This can be dangerous and people keep making the same mistakes others have already learnt from. 2) Go on a course on the basics held by manufacturers or other organisations. The best method but not cheap.
I know of many B.P.A. members who do or have base jumped covering the complete cross section of "sports parachutists" from people with 200 jumps (minimum recommended by base gear manufacturers), normal recreational members, members who have represented Great Britain in different disciplines both at national and international level but keep their base activities relatively quiet due to perceived unwritten regulation and the feared consequences. I have also been informed that there are or have been people on the B.P.A Council or other B.P.A. committees who have taken part or been associated with B.A.S.E. at some time or other, either to just see what it was about or as an active participant.
The clarification I would like goes along the lines of a statement to the effect of :-
The B.P.A. has no remit or regulations to cover the activities associated with B.A.S.E. Jumping, and therefore has no jurisdiction or power to sanction its members who participate in such activities wherever, whenever and however they take place as long as BASE jumps do not take place at B.P.A. affiliated centres. (This is a safe bet as no centre I know of has a suitable object on its premises). This step would hopefully promote dialogue and help bring B.A.S.E out from being a covert activity in this country and this would hopefully aid the future establishment of bodies to help improve safety, advance the sport and improve public perception and recognition as a separate sport. I hope this is acceptable to the council or at least will result in discussion on the matter for resolution in your own way.
daedalus
purple_phantom@iname.com
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