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fcolver wrote:Since certain death or serious injury will occur if turbulence collapses the canopy at 150 feet or so from the ground, with no ability of any pilot to prevent the crash, (safety is just chance if in anything but continuous calm conditions) couldn't anybody taking a child, who is below the legal age of consent, on a paraglider flight, be charged with child endangerment?
Many countries have laws protecting such children.
In most/all US States there are child endangerment laws.
Plus, in the US, no tandem passenger is allowed to fly if they are not a (at least) 30 day U$hPa "student" member. If that tandem student is a minor then their parent/guardian must sign the U$hPa waiver on the flip side of the membership form. Look up and read that waiver. It emphasizes how dangerous (even life threatening) that HG/PG/Speed Wing flying is.
Any parent signing such a document, then letting there minor child fly IS (in most States) committing an act of child endangerment. In California the section of the law that fits best makes such an act a misdemeanor crime. Other sections of California Child Endangerment law could also be considered to fit. Those sections describe such an act as a Felony.
Since many parents/guardians are not familiar with the details of the law and are probably told (by the HG/PG school and/or instructor) that the waiver is just a bunch of "lawyer talk" and nobody's gonna get hurt . . . Well, a tandem flight with a child "student" ends up seeming harmless. That is, until some child gets hurt or killed (i.e., Jean Lake, NV).
Simply put, the waiver can not be legally ignored. Any party that minimizes it is acting (at least) in a deceptive/dishonest manner. Any parent/guardian who reads and understands the waiver (and the waiver requires that it has been read and understood - before it is signed) is, under most US State laws, endangering the life/health of their child.
And the U$hPa collects money (profits) from these (criminal) acts. I've been saying for a while now, the U$hPa has been (pardon the pun) flying under the radar with this long running activity. And however innocent they (the leadership at the U$hPa) may claim to be, they are both endorsing, and profiting by, criminal (in most US States) behavior.
I've heard somewhere that the above fits within the definition of Organized Crime (see - the RICO Act).
So, let's see, . . . Felony Anti-Trust violations, just shy of a year ago, . . . Horizontal Boycotting, for years, in collusion with their (soon to be) old insurance provider (a violation of Fair Trade practices) and profiting while promoting the endangerment of children, . . .
I'm very glad I'm no longer a member of the "free flight" La Cosa Nostra.
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