Foreword & Chapter 1

Normalization of Deviance at NASA

“Normalization of Deviance” is a phrase coined by a sociologist in her analysis of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. I was at Port Canaveral that day and I was on the Cape the day after helping to investigate another failure. Ours took place on the Air Force Station hours after the tragedy and it was related to it. After that magnificent machine and the souls aboard it fell from a brilliant Florida sky all of us who lived on the Space Coast were in shock.

In the Shuttle Program waivers and deviations became normal. That day and the lessons from it still affect me.

At Skydive West Point in 1995

A compelling article in the September 2020 issue of Parachutist cites Normalization of Deviance as a contributing factor in a crash in 1995 that took the lives of ten skydivers and two others. The scene pictured here was in late February, 2021 during jump run on my last jump of the day at Skydive Chesapeake in Ridgely, Maryland. The same number of skydivers are aboard the aircraft in this image as were on the Queen Air in 1995. Another element from this scene that both events have in common is that both include skydiving operations that deviated from normal. One similarity that the recent event doesn’t share with the one in 1995 is that the deviation from safe operation that occurred at Skydive Chesapeake in 2021 was completely intentional.

At Skydive Chesapeake in 2021

Here, Chris Derbak, one of Skydive Chesapeake’s co-owners is engaged in behavior that clearly deviates from normal. The aircraft is a Piper PA31-310 Navajo (N6719L) and Chris, who is about to jump out behind the others, is in the co-pilot’s seat. He’s not there to help fly the plane. He’s there because if he were in the back with the other jumpers the plane would have tipped, striking the tail on the taxiway as the last jumper boarded.

There are only eight seat belts on the floor behind Chris and the pilot but there were ten jumpers on the load. If Chris was in the back, he and one other skydiver would not have had a seat belt of their own. In that respect he is safer where he is.

On the other hand, Chris is a fairly large fellow who is about to get out of a tight space surrounded by critical controls and important switches. That circumstance is at least slightly dangerous as well. Furthermore, if a heavily loaded twin engine aircraft with anyone other than an expert pilot lost an engine, seat belts might have only made a frantic exit more difficult. Just like NASA and Challenger, deviations from normal (safe) skydiving operations lead to unsafe practices. In this case, several.

My Interest in Establishing the Business

I was really looking forward to a drop zone just 25 minutes from my house in my retirement.

My efforts to establish the drop zone included facilitating the introduction of the Ridgely Airpark owner to Ben Harris, one of three owners and managers of the business. In December of 2019 I made a presentation to the Ridgley, Maryland Town Council about the benefits to the town. Between January and March of 2020 I helped refurbish the building working mostly with Harris and another old-timer, Ben Wong, but often I was alone. The work included planning, demolition, framing, concrete work, window restoration and rebuilding, wiring, installing fixtures, installing and finishing drywall and painting. In the Fall I helped install HVAC system components. It was over 105 man hours. Opening day was a dream come true for me and Harris. Harris invited Ben Wong and me to make the first jump with him. It’s on Youtube at https://studio.youtube.com/video/e18iWp36Zns/editOpening day

Harris asked for invoices so he could submit them with his loan application for proof of his investment. As it turned out, the only commitment or investment those invoices established was mine.

Our Advocacy and Support

My wife and I were advocates and ambassadors and I was a very regular customer. My efforts to make it better continued after the opening by posting numerous Youtube videos of jumpers in freefall, retrieving items of value from Skydive Delmarva prior to it’s demolition, compiling a shot list for the tandem videos, creating a 3D model for a Piper Navajo mock up, and arranging for the procurement of thousands of dollars in lockers.

My wife and I were frequent participants in search parties needed to retrieve jumpers who landed off the field, including one after dark. Off field landings were so frequent, I prepared an aerial image which included all public and private roads, driveways and field access routes that could be used to search for our friends and other customers. (The double white lines on my map are public roads and the single white lines indicate every private driveway and access road within a mile-and-a-half of the airport. We’ve been on every one of them!)

Betrayal

Our advocacy waned a little as some bad habits and practices became normal but I continued to hope, that in time, it would get better.

So on the last Saturday in March, 2021 when I was told that I was “suspended” for arguing with staff members, offending customers, inappropriate conduct with students and sexual harassment or assault I was completely surprised and for a few hours, utterly devastated.

Harris and Derbak weren’t forthcoming with any details but they did say that the sex offense was based on the harassment or assault of a US Naval Academy Team member.

That would make her, or him, young enough to be my grandchild.

Except for the one about confronting staff members, which was due to yet another bad spot and a bizarre and dangerous incident in the packing loft the week before, all of these so-called offenses are patently false. The sexual charge, if not due to some mistake, yet to be acknowledged, is defamatory, slanderous and utterly despicable. This is the accusation that was intended to do the most damage to my reputation.

None of these misdeeds had been mentioned previously by Harris, Derbak, any customer, any student or any Midshipman. No lawyer, the police, the Naval Academy nor any aggrieved victim, parent, spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend has contacted me about any sexual offense. Of course not. It never happened.

If they happened, all these infringements happened within a ten day period between March 10th and March 20th. I know this because on the tenth Harris posted a notice, asking for anyone interested in attending an AFF course at Skydive Chesapeake. He did so at my request and in my presence because I was working on the rating for use at his drop zone. I was also practicing to be one of his videographers and nearly through with those qualifications.

It’s possible the allegation of sex crimes is a case of mistaken identity so I contacted the team’s coach. He said no such complaint had been lodged. I also spoke with the team Captain when she and I were at another drop zone a few weeks after the meeting with Harris and Derbak. She too had no knowledge of it. If it were true the Coach and the Captain would have known and neither would have said otherwise. They wouldn’t have given me any details but they wouldn’t have said they knew nothing of it. Their honor and oaths would not have allowed it.

On April 1 Harris offered a formal letter of suspension that cited only one specific reason which was the one about confronting staff members. He wrote, “that I had overstepped a divide between operational matters and community involvement”, but that, “the time and efforts expended on our behalf is deeply appreciated“.

If deep appreciation comes with attempts to ruin a person’s reputation I shudder to think what Derbak and Harris would stoop to if they were ungrateful!

Safety Day 2021 at Skydive Chesapeake was the second Saturday of my suspension. Derbak surprised everyone by abruptly announcing that Skydive Chesapeake’s policy from then on would be zero tolerance for sexual crimes and offenses. I've been "me tooed" by a pair of middle-aged men.