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A.APPLEYARD@fs*.mt*.um*.ac*.uk* wrote:
> In scuba diving, who is to do the controlling and authorizing? We don't want
>a hard tight control over scuba diving. And all those people in charge will
>need paying, at the scuba divers' expense.
> [...]
> A big negatory on letting underwater become a police state.
Actually, the skydiving folks have, by effective SELF regulation, prevented
their sport from becoming a "police state," and they play up in the sky,
which is already pretty tightly controlled by the government. The FAA
takes input from the skydiving community (represented by the US Parachute
Ass'n..), and seems to use that input in creating and updating flight
regulations involving skydiving. Other than regulating the pilots' actions,
though, the government stays mostly out of the way. If you've ever seen a
drop zone (especially after dark :-), you'd know the sport is a LONG way
from being a "police state."
I think the idea is that the community has some trust in the folks who are
making the rules (since they _aren't_ getting paid much, if anything), and
there is almost universal voluntary cooperation, so there doesn't have to
be tight control from above. One just learns, right from the start, that
you follow the rules -- not because the skydiving cops will come after you
if you don't, but because it makes the sport safer and more fun for everyone.
The community as a whole enforces the rules through peer pressure more
than anything else.
USPA dues are, what, something under $50 a year (it's been a while... someone
current help me out here)? And that includes a nice monthly magazine. The
initial training is substantially more expensive than SCUBA lessons, but I
don't know what the real costs are, so I don't know if this would happen
to SCUBA as well under a similar system.
--tab
--
Tracey Baker tab@pa*.co*
*** NJ SCUBA Diving Info at http://www.panix.com/~tab/scuba.html ***
"I don't think safety is the main issue here...
You'd be stupid not to be safe." - J.Comly
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