Manifesto

JoeF · Post by **JoeF** » 2014/03/08 00:30:41 UTC

A manifesto has been stated by a young hang glider pilot. He wants EnergyKiteSystems not to host Tad's historical documents. Replies and essays are invited.
http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html

Lift,
JoeF

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/08 07:57:28 UTC

With Joe's OK:

Joe Faust - 2014/03/07 15:58:01 UTC

Couple of items

Hi Tad,
[[A blind carbon copy of this email note is being sent to the person's who's quote is below, so that you do not have her or his email address or identity, as permissions were not extended. A few others are included in the blind sending.]]

Hope this finds you well.
1. Have you had recent actions with FAA (12 months?).
2. Are you continuing to develop your HG essays?
3. Are your ideas being openly discussed carefully in any forum recently?

My response to the below new email to me:
1. Open sharing and examination of ideas without prejudice with respect to extraneous matters.
2. Non-burial of sincere HG thought.
3. Equal opportunity for people to examine and share their positions.
4. Keeping Tad's documents available for examination and the documents of others for study and critical analysis by anyone is a cornerstone to the free-flight movement. Such respect was exercised in Low & Slow magazine and in Hang Glider Magazine. Unfortunately, some contemporary forums have deep commercial interests and have installed such things as "ignore" buttons, severe "banning" practices, and a trend of using off-topic personal attacks to substitute for careful critical thinking; such practices kill the integrity of those that think they are playing in "free-flight" while actually flying into small caved corners without fresh airs.
5. Our kite site now has over 5000 pages and is ready to serve the ideas of even more people and deepen the text and discussion for the ideas already presented.
6. The "pulpit" is open for anyone to voice on topic. The pulpit is a continuation of the first USHGA, not the second or third.
7. Free-flight in kite hang gliding is served by open discussions regarding matters of safety and equipment. Keeping our free-flight alive will be served by ever improving our safety, respect for ideas, and a refusal to simply censor ideas.
8. The FAA is open to receive notes from anyone about anything. The FAA has a job to do to have airspace available and safe for the good of the people up to the mandates by congress.
9. Separation of ideas from personal attacks is fundamentally important in order to safeguard extension of safety ideas.
10. It is possible to remove ideas, but the effort is in the other direction; that is, we wish more ideas could be served for all to study; space for response is available.
11. From the earliest of days we have been discussing things with the FAA. FAA tried to stop our first play exhibited in the early Otto Meet. We gave FAA ideas. FAA worked with ideas and continue to work with ideas.
12. If an activity is dangerous, then that would be reason to give high focus on the activity.
13. Every human communication is open to improvement. We are to make progress despite our imperfections of letter or person. Efforts to improve intelligibility, readability, communication effectiveness are ever invited.
14. What in Tad's essays is with merit? What is to be countered? What is to be advanced and extended? What options are there?
15. Younger or newer entrants to kite hang gliding who intend to be towed to free-flight kite hang gliding are advised generally to sort through all the issues involved. We do not want even one more injury or death from kiting kite hang gliders.
16. We do intend to advance publishing factual and critical observations about kite hang gliding flight; however, we will do so with recognition that there are many perspectives in our community and that "fact" is ever a challenging matters up for discussion openly in the hang gliding community and beyond. When a statement of importance needs to be examined more carefully by the community, then hopefully there will be server space available for such process. Support of servers that stay open to varied perspectives is a choice. Thank you for any support you send to Hang Glider Magazine. http://www.energykitesystems.net/subscribe

Below I quote without giving name, as I do not have permission to identify the person yet:

START OF QUOTE:
Is it possible to remove Tad Eareckson's postulation from your server? He is a generally discounted crackpot whom doesn't advance much of anything.

He threatened to advise the FAA about our dangerous activities. After much discouragement from the USHPA, he still sent it in. His ill-lettered advice was unintelligible and disregarded by the FAA. His ASCII colored text is still found on your server. As a younger person trying to keep free flight alive, I request you stop publishing Eareckson's letters.

I hope you publish all factual and critical observations about our flight. I want to advance safer free flight. I don't want weirdos having an artificial pulpit.
END OF QUOTE.

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html

Best of Lift to you and yours,
Thanks to the person sending the triggering note quoted,
~ JoeF

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/Manifesto01.html
Manifesto

Manifesto

March 7, 2014:
JoeF,
You have ultimate editorial power for your hosted content. Read anything he has written in the last five years and decide if you want to be associated with it.
http://www.kitestrings.org/topic7.html

The guy openly mocks the families of dead-and-injured pilots. Doesn't offer much toward safety or education. I have reason to believe he is not an engineer; as his designs are unsafe, untested, and his method is against our purpose of safe free flight.

Your site is interesting. Among many things you have assembled valuable history about hang gliding and those whom try to re-author it. Keep up your good work.

This isn't an ex parte time-critical issue. I think I can convince you from hosting his content.

Next week, when I have time, I will address all of your enumerated points. You have good questions and I feel I can address them all.
~Author-permission-not-yet-granted (APNYG), March 7, 2014

Some replies
APNYG,
The historical documents will remain available for researchers, thinkers, safety students, leaders, hang glider pilots, tow pilots, historians, etc. Various perspectives over statements in the documents are welcome to be presented for equitable study. Getting specific may become important.

Hosting competing content would be a laudable goal. Please take the time that the matter deserves. It is great that you are working for safety in our favored kite hang gliding activity. I trust you will stay on the ideas and not interweave personal attacks for non-sequitor arguing; thanks. We put a notice about this discussion in KiteStrings and HangGliding.org today.

We seek sincere clarity about what Tad and others think on related kite hang gliding issues.
~ JoeF March 7, 2014.

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/09 19:22:36 UTC

Joe Faust - 2014/03/07 15:58:01 UTC

Hi Tad,

Hi Joe.

[[A blind carbon copy of this email note is being sent to the person's who's quote is below...

This is not - and never will be - a PERSON. This is - and always will be - a cowardly scummy little parasite who deserves no quarter.

...so that you do not have her or his...

...or its...

...email address or identity, as permissions were not extended.

That's OK. IT'S very obviously Orion Price and I already have ITS email address. I choose not to use it because there is absolutely nothing I have or ever will have to say to it in a private conversation.

Hope this finds you well.

Not bad. I always get a little boost when one of Bobby Bailey's pieces of junk spits an enemy combatant out of the sky and undermines his credibility and that of the scum that backs him.

1. Have you had recent actions with FAA (12 months?).

Fuck the FAA. They're nothing more than enablers and co-conspirators of the serial killers running USHGA and US hang gliding.

2. Are you continuing to develop your HG essays?

Have you been giving Kite Strings occasional skims?

3. Are your ideas being openly discussed carefully in any forum recently?

"My" ideas are pretty much all Newtonian physics and that's about the last thing that any hang or para gliding forum wants openly discussed. But... Following the Zack Marzec fatality early last year it was virtually impossible not to discuss "my" ideas and things got pretty interesting over on The Davis Show until the Davis Sycophant Team was so blood soaked and reeling that its fearless leader was reduced to the choice of throwing in the towel or declaring victory, threatening opposition team members with banning, and locking all the relevant threads down.

My response to the below new email to me:
1. Open sharing and examination of ideas without prejudice with respect to extraneous matters.
2. Non-burial of sincere HG thought.
3. Equal opportunity for people to examine and share their positions.

And/Or the positions which have been spoon fed to them because they're incapable of thinking things through well enough to establish positions of their own.

4. Keeping Tad's documents available for examination and the documents of others for study and critical analysis by anyone is a cornerstone to the free-flight movement. Such respect was exercised in Low & Slow magazine and in Hang Glider Magazine. Unfortunately, some contemporary forums have deep commercial interests and have installed such things as "ignore" buttons, severe "banning" practices, and a trend of using off-topic personal attacks to substitute for careful critical thinking; such practices kill the integrity of those that think they are playing in "free-flight" while actually flying into small caved corners without fresh airs.

Hang Gliding magazine was mostly finished devolving into the pure Industry infomercial it is today a decade ago.

5. Our kite site now has over 5000 pages and is ready to serve the ideas of even more people and deepen the text and discussion for the ideas already presented.

And what percentage of those ideas are making it into the air?

6. The "pulpit" is open for anyone to voice on topic. The pulpit is a continuation of the first USHGA, not the second or third.

The first USHGA represented an era of innovation created by regular participants in the sport. It was pretty much over by the time I first clipped into a glider on the dunes on 1980/04/02.

OP identifies himself as "a younger person". I doubt he was even born by that time. He didn't get his current Three rating - from Joe Greblo - until 2011/04/03, less than fourteen months before breaking his arm in a brain dead easy landing situation, which suggests that he didn't start in the sport until after the point at which I was blacklisted out of it.

I got my Four, by the way, on 1991/12/17, after a couple of appointments as a USHGA instructor, and finished my flying career on 2008/10/12 about nine three-hour flights shy of massively overkilling the requirements for my Five. And I never had the flying and airtime opportunities that damn near all California participants are spoiled rotten by.

7. Free-flight in kite hang gliding is served by open discussions regarding matters of safety and equipment. Keeping our free-flight alive will be served by ever improving our safety, respect for ideas, and a refusal to simply censor ideas.

It's also served by identifying, ostracizing, punishing, eliminating the liars, saboteurs, murderers, serial killers who've conspired to do as much damage to hang gliding as possible.

8. The FAA is open to receive notes from anyone about anything.

And even more open to ignoring notes from everyone about everything.

The FAA has a job to do to have airspace available and safe for the good of the people up to the mandates by congress.

Which it has effected with a level of gross incompetence and criminal negligence which makes what Jon Orders did on the afternoon of 2012/04/28 a microscopic speck by comparison.

These motherfuckers are referring to weak links as "safety" links and telling sailplane pilots that it's "safe" to fly with "safety" links 38 percent south of manufacturer specifications and right around the rating that killed Zack Marzec on 2013/02/02.

They're also dignifying scum like Tracy Tillman with designations as Aviation Safety Counselors.

9. Separation of ideas from personal attacks is fundamentally important in order to safeguard extension of safety ideas.

However - since hang gliding culture has been working overtime for virtually all of its existence to eliminate responsibility, accountability, checks and balances, efforts at reform and promote personal attacks on reformers and whistleblowers - personal attack has replaced physics as the name of the game.

10. It is possible to remove ideas, but the effort is in the other direction; that is, we wish more ideas could be served for all to study; space for response is available.

Hang gliding, for all intents and purposes, has zero need of more/new ideas. Performance has hit a design plateau it will NEVER significantly exceed, the people with the functional brains have known how to do things right - just like in conventional aviation - for most of its history, and all that holds us back is commercial power and corruption. Damn near every single fix that's needed has been up and flying in some form on a limited scale for decades. Anything that hasn't been can be done for a relatively small investment in time, effort, and money using simple existing technology.

Enforce the existing hook-in check regulation, end or discourage standup landings, outlaw all of the cheap dangerous junk in nearly universal use as tow equipment and replace it with stuff of quality comparable to what hang gliding was using universally in the Seventies, outlaw using the equivalent of a dangerously frayed towline as the focal point of a safe towing system, put scum like Dennis Pagen, Dr. Trisa Tilletti, Matt Taber, Steve Kroop, Davis Straub, Jim Rooney in prison where it belongs, permanently exile Bob Kuczewski to Florida where the only way he can get airborne is to aerotow and limit him to existing Wallaby equipment and all of our problems go away.

11. From the earliest of days we have been discussing things with the FAA. FAA tried to stop our first play exhibited in the early Otto Meet. We gave FAA ideas. FAA worked with ideas and continue to work with ideas.

No they don't. Not once in the history of Dragonfly towing has a tandem gone up without flagrantly violating existing aerotowing regulations and even when those violations result in the deaths of both people on the glider THEY DO *NOTHING*.

12. If an activity is dangerous, then that would be reason to give high focus on the activity.

None of our dangerous activities need high focus to fix. There's not a goddam thing being done that can't be adequately addressed by a moderate dose of ten year old kid common sense.

13. Every human communication is open to improvement.

- Never more so than those originating from mainstream hang gliding.

- There are plenty of human communications with no need or capable of being improved upon. I cite these:

Manned Kiting
The Basic Handbook of Tow Launched Hang Gliding
Daniel F. Poynter
1974

"A bad flyer won't hurt a pin man but a bad pin man can kill a flyer." - Bill Bennett
"Never take your hands off the bar." - Tom Peghiny
"The greatest dangers are a rope break or a premature release." - Richard Johnson

We are to make progress despite our imperfections of letter or person. Efforts to improve intelligibility, readability, communication effectiveness are ever invited.

Not by sleazy saboteurs like Davis Straub, Jack Axaopoulos, Bob K, and OP.

14. What in Tad's essays is with merit? What is to be countered?

Best focus on the second question first. If nothing legitimate can be documented there will be no need to go on to the other. And as people who are GENUINELY concerned with reforming and advancing hang gliding - like most of the participants on Kite Strings - have already done that, found mistakes, and brought them to my attention for revision, it's probably gonna be a REAL BITCH to come up with anything.

What is to be advanced and extended? What options are there?

Virtually nothing. Get the existing easy fixes in place and then try to tweak things however you can.

15. Younger or newer entrants to kite hang gliding who intend to be towed to free-flight kite hang gliding are advised generally to sort through all the issues involved. We do not want even one more injury or death from kiting kite hang gliders.

Given the hopelessly corrupt system we have, we, unfortunately, NEED *MANY* more injuries and deaths to get the problems fixed and reduce the numbers of injuries and deaths in the long run. If, on successive weekends following the Zack Marzec fatality, Davis Straub, Adam Elchin, Jim Rooney, Steve Kroop, Mitch Shipley, Dennis Pagen, Dr. Trisa Tilletti, Paulen Tjaden, Martin Henry, Steve Wendt, Cragin Shelton, Dan Tomlinson had been killed by their standard aerotow weak links in similar circumstances just imagine what a wonderful sport we would have. Unfortunately, things so very rarely line up just right for Mother Nature to be able to mete out appropriate punishment - especially to the individuals most deserving of it.

16. We do intend to advance publishing factual and critical observations about kite hang gliding flight; however, we will do so with recognition that there are many perspectives in our community...

The more total fucking idiots we have in "our community" the more perspectives there are gonna be.

...and that "fact" is ever a challenging matters up for discussion openly in the hang gliding community and beyond.

As you keep removing the crap off the left side of the IQ bell curve you're gonna start reducing the number of perspectives. When you get to the top one percent there's only gonna be ONE perspective - the RIGHT ONE.

When a statement of importance needs to be examined more carefully by the community, then hopefully there will be server space available for such process.

Totally fuck the "community". The "community" has been genetically engineered for incompetence over the course of decades. The "community" has had its shot and failed miserably and the only thing we see changing is a fast slide to total insanity.

Support of servers that stay open to varied perspectives is a choice.

Nope. The varied perspectives based upon two plus two equals whatever Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney's saying it does today need to be either eliminated from discussions on responsible servers or clearly identified as and condemned for being the rot that it is. "Grand Canyon: A Different View" has zero place in the National Park Service's visitor center bookstore. We don't need to and can't afford to be tolerating, enabling, encouraging, rewarding naked stupidity.

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/10 00:48:04 UTC

Joe Faust - 2014/03/07 15:58:01 UTC

Below I quote without giving name, as I do not have permission to identify the person yet:

That's OK, Joe. Like I said, I have him covered.

Hey OP... It's been a over a couple days now. Whatsamatta? Not comfortable with having your name publicly associated with this correspondence?

START OF QUOTE:

Is it possible to remove Tad Eareckson's postulation from your server?

No OP. It's physically impossible. The fabric of the universe would be irreparably torn and everything in it would immediately perish.

He is a generally discounted crackpot...

So...

- Who are the assholes too stupid to discount him as a crackpot? Give me some names and tell me why the responsible people in the sport have failed so miserably in their collective duty to make sure everyone discounts me as a crackpot? Do you realize that on 2009/02/12 the Chairman of the USHGA Towing Committee asked for my assistance in revision of the SOPs on aerotowing? Do you have any idea what a disaster that could've have been if the commercial interests hadn't stepped in to neutralize those efforts?

- Why aren't you just saying Tad Eareckson is a crackpot instead of saying that he's generally discounted crackpot? If I identify someone as a dangerous crackpot I'll call him a dangerous crackpot. For example...

Donnell Hewett - 1980/12

Now I've heard the argument that "Weak links always break at the worst possible time, when the glider is climbing hard in a near stall situation."

Donnell Hewett is a dangerous crackpot and THE most successful serial killer in the history of aviation.

- Is the problem that you have some doubts because you really don't know what the fuck you're talking about? If you really don't know what the fuck you're talking about - and you very obviously don't - just how good an idea is it for you to work on suppressing circulation of other people's writings?

...whom...

Who.

...doesn't advance much of anything.

OH! Someone who's a generally discounted crackpot who doesn't advance much of anything. Meaning someone who's a generally discounted crackpot who DOES *ADVANCE* SOMETHING - and, by implication, doesn't degrade/reverse existing/established advancements.

So shouldn't you be identifying more individuals who are generally discounted crackpots who are making small advances and having no negative effects on the sport? If we got enough individuals who are generally discounted crackpots working all together wouldn't we expect them to make large advances?

Didn't most people - especially in Europe - generally discount Wilbur and Orville as crackpots before they went to Paris and blew everybody away with their demonstration flights?

Didn't USHGA totally discount Donnell Hewett...

Gil Dodgen - 1983/05

Editorial
A NOTE ON TOWING

The early days of hang gliding were marred by numerous towing accidents. During this period this aspect of our sport established a hopelessly bad reputation. And, indeed, last year, as you may have noted in Doug Hildreth's recent accident review, there was a towing fatality by a totally inexperienced Texas pilot.

Some time ago I received a series of four articles on a new towing system from Texas experimenter and inventor Donnell Hewitt. I ran the first in the series of four articles. Editors learn from experience and if I could roll back the calendar I would run all four at once in condensed form. In fact, what happened was that the first article - which made seemingly outrageous claims without outlining the actual technique or hardware - inflamed the then towing establishment. It seems that today's innovators become tomorrow's conservatives so I was bombarded with calls, some from the USHGA Board, telling me that this Mr. Hewitt was totally inexperienced, that he didn't know what he was talking about, and that I was contributing to the possible injury and death of unknown multitudes of innocent hang glider pilots.

I am not a tow pilot, and although Donnell's system made sense to me I was forced to discontinue the series. The essence of his system was a double bridle that connected to the glider and to the pilot. This system would thus pull the pilot back on line in the event that the glider was inadvertently turned off course from behind the vehicle. This would produce a self-correcting system avoiding the infamous "lockout" the factor which seemed to make towing so dangerous.

Well, it appears that Mr. Hewitt's system not only works but, as I've been told by pilots who have made literally thousands of land tows with it, it works beyond all the most optimistic expectations. One pilot told me, "It is virtually impossible to lock out even if one tries."

The possibilities are obviously incredible if a safe, standardized towing technique can be established. The sport of hang gliding at this point is essentially limited by the availability of flying sites. With land tow the entire country is opened up, and as we have seen by Willi Muller and Bruce Case's world class cross country flights over flat land, the potential is unlimited. In fact, there are certain safety advantages to flying over flat land. The turbulence created by jagged terrain is avoided and the dreaded downwind turn into the hill is eliminated.

In upcoming issues we will try to supply as much information as possible on this new aspect of the sport. Those with experience are invited to contact us about possible articles.

However, any new technique or equipment always produces unforeseen problems. Towing must be approached with the most thoughtful and conservative attitude. As Garry Whitman pointed out to me recently, the only problem he has had has been with experienced pilots who won't listen to his instructions. And please remember, the equipment and methods described in this publication are based on the experience of the authors only and are not endorsed or recommended by the USHGA or Hang Gliding magazine.

With the kind permission of Donnell Hewitt we will publish the remaining three installments of his []Skyting[/i] series in upcoming issues.

...as a crackpot back in the day when everyone was running the bottom of the tow bridle to the bottom of the control frame (the way I was configured for my first tow) instead of to the pilot? Donnell was - and is - in fact a dangerous crackpot. But does that mean he couldn't have been right - or at least partially right - about ANYTHING and that his work should've been removed from public view and not analyzed and discussed?

Even if he'd been wrong about EVERYTHING wouldn't it have been a great benefit to the sport to highlight the work he'd done and explain what was wrong with it so that others could avoid making the same mistakes and paying the some potentially lethal prices?

That's how science works. People have ideas and experiment with them. Sometimes the ideas that fail are magnitudes more valuable than some of the ones that succeed because they get us better pointed in the right direction.

Antoine discovered, by accident, that my Four-String Emergency Release, which I thought I'd tested enough to declare bulletproof, would hold after being triggered under normal solo towline tension.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiqhAQ1dn2M

It could've easily killed somebody who'd been counting on it just as dead as Bobby Fucking-Genius's cheap bent pin piece of crap killed Steve Elliot. That "failure" translated to about the most valuable event we had in the development of that device. It was immediately stepped down to a Three-String and we'll never have that problem again. Compare/Contrast with The Industry's pathetic attempts to cover up the Rooney Link and pro toad bridle as the two elements whch killed Zack Marzec.

Weren't people who thought that Earth was a spherical planet that orbited around the sun generally discounted crackpots and frequently burned at the stake by useless scummy little mainstream shits like you?

He threatened to advise the FAA about our dangerous activities.

HOLY SHIT!!!

So which of our dangerous activities did you most want the FAA kept in the dark about?

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3107
I have a tandem rating!!!

Lauren Tjaden - 2008/03/23 22:20:15 UTC

When Jim got me locked out to the right, I couldn't keep the pitch of the glider with one hand for more than a second (the pressure was a zillion pounds, more or less), but the F'ing release slid around when I tried to hit it. The barrel release wouldn't work because we had too much pressure on it.

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3391
More on Zapata and weak link

Paul Tjaden - 2008/07/22 04:32:22 UTC

I have never had a lockout situation happen so quickly and dramatically and had no chance to release as I have always thought I could do.

- Flying releases:
-- that can't be blown in an emergency:
--- without losing what little control of the glider you have remaining?
--- because they:
---- are "secured" to a downtube with velcro?
---- have too much pressure on them?
--- at all?
- Certifying a vegetable like Lauren Tjaden as a tandem instructor?

http://ozreport.com/10.135
Hang Glide Chicago suspends operations

Davis Straub - 2006/07/01 21:42:08 UTC

The USHPA brings the hammer down on a flight park that wasn't playing by the rules and was jeopardizing our FAA tandem and towing exemptions.

Under its previous owner, Arlan Birkett, Hang Glide Chicago had three fatal accidents over the last two years, including Arlan and his student's death while being towed up tandem behind an inexperienced and unrated tug pilot. The previous death occurred on tow on June 26th, 2004 . The experienced pilot was flying a glider new to him, a Moyes Litesport, in the middle of the day, without a fin. The pilot "locked out," and dove into the ground.

Hang Glide Chicago's instructors as of last week were not USHPA certified for tandem (one is a T-1 and the other has no tandem rating) or instruction (as a review of the USHPA database can quickly tell you), contrary to the above statements from Hang Glide Chicago's web site and in violation of the USHPA's exemption from the FAA. In addition, their tug pilot was not USHPA ATP-rated as required by our FAA exemption. This situation obviously jeopardized the USHPA's relationship with the FAA. In addition, it raises concerns about the level of safety practiced at Hang Glide Chicago, given its history. You've also got to wonder how its students get USHPA rated.

- Killing students, recreational pilots, instructors on illegal junk equipment behind incompetent and unrated tug drivers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u51qpPLz5U0

Refusing to teach, require, look for hook-in checks under any circumstances?

0:50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR_4jKLqrus

Forcing everyone to tow up on fishing line which is one hundred percent guaranteed to always break at the worst possible time, when the glider is climbing hard in a near stall situation?

I'm not totally intractable, dude. You suck my dick a couple times I might consider dropping the issue about the velcroed-on release lever.

After much discouragement from the USHPA, he still sent it in.

- Whoa! Much discouragement from the USHPA! Who'da thunk. Lemme tell ya sumpin', pigfucker...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30829
When did HG mag stop publishing letters in every issue?

Comet - 2014/02/27 05:56:27 UTC

Gil was fired by USHPA after about a quarter century of loyal service. It was a despicable and cowardly act by the association. I had a long conversation with him after his termination and he was quite bitter. The association wanted to get rid of the old-line HG emphasis and get with the new jazzy PG stuff and Gil, as a staunch HG guy, stood in the way of progress. They shafted Gil, and in the process they shafted hang gliding.

You might wanna be REAL careful about highlighting friction between USHGA and T** at K*** S******. Ya just never know how many people you're gonna nudge over a bit towards T**'s corner.

- Can you actually document any discouragement, official communications I received from USHGA?

- So why do you think USHGA expended so much effort to discourage me from advising the FAA about your dangerous activities? Which dangerous activities do you think they were most dedicated to preserving? Other than forcing everyone up on Rooney Links, of course. That goes without saying.

- I'm a generally discounted crackpot. Only a crackpot would be interested in advising the FAA about your dangerous activities. Surely the FAA would also generally discount me as a crackpot and ignore my advisements about your dangerous activities. So why would USHGA give the slightest bit of a rat's ass whether or not I advised the FAA of your dangerous activities?

His ill-lettered advice was unintelligible and disregarded by the FAA.

- See? All that worry about a guy who is a generally discounted crackpot advising the FAA on your dangerous activities for nothing. You were able to go on maiming and killing people with your dangerous activities at an unabated rate and with even less fear of the FAA limiting or interfering them. Five days after Zack Marzec was splattered by his Rooney Link you were able to eliminate all of the aerotow equipment regulations under which USHGA was able to gain its aerotowing exemption without the slightest murmur from the FAA.

So lemme ask you this... If USHGA's judgment was so abysmally poor with regard to the threat posed by T** at K*** S****** to your precious dangerous activities then what is it that convinces you that its judgment doesn't suck at least equally on all other issues?

Also... If my threat to your precious dangerous activities was so easily discounted by the FAA then why are you peeing in your pants with fear of having my ill-lettered, unintelligible advice posted on Joe's site?

- OH! So the problem wasn't that my concerns weren't totally legitimate. The problem was that I was just too illiterate and inarticulate to convey them to the FAA. Maybe if we were to spend some time together talking you'd be able to understand what it was I was trying to convey and could write a well-lettered intelligible document to send to the FAA advising them of your dangerous activities.

- So is the injury and fatality rate resulting from your preservation of your dangerous activities still up at a satisfactory level? Which injuries and fatalities are you enjoying most? (I have my favorites but I don't wanna influence your answer.)

His ASCII colored text is still found on your server. As a younger person trying to keep free flight alive, I request you stop publishing Eareckson's letters.

You're trying to keep free flight alive by removing the threat to your dangerous activities. OK... So given the numbers of new people coming into the sport what percentage of participants permanently leaving the sport because of the injuries and deaths resulting from your dangerous activities do you think you can sustain without effectively killing the sport?

I hope you publish all factual and critical observations about our flight.

- ALL factual and critical observations about "our" flight? I've got a few flight park professionals flying equipment I've developed, dude. So how's he gonna publish factual and CRITICAL observations about "our" flight if he deletes all references to the dangerous junk I've developed which is more in need of factual and CRITICAL observations than anything else out there?

- Why? Is something stopping you from publishing all factual and critical observations about our flight? What's the problem? Joe's qualified to do it and you're not? If you're not qualified then how do you know Joe is - and, of course, Tad ISN'T?

I want to advance safer free flight.

- By fighting to the death to protect your dangerous activities from people who are generally discounted crackpots? Sure dude, whatever you say.

- I thought you HAD safer free flight - with some of the best dangerous activities USHGA's fought so hard to develop and preserve on the planet. What is it you think we're doing wrong or not as well as we could and why do you think USHGA and the tens of thousands of people we have not generally discounted as crackpots have been totally unable to address these issues in the course of the past forty years?

- You obviously think the Zack Marzec pro toad configuration:

06-03114
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3728/9655895292_f4f808fb0e_o.png

is the best we can do because you've chosen the exact same thing - right down to the Rooney Link - for yourself:

1-11012c
http://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3736/9632673944_d61e600757_o.png

and haven't made or called for any improvements and you know my stuff is total crap so what's being done wrong, who's getting crashed and killed, what's going on in the way of advancement, and why isn't it being openly discussed in the magazine, on the forums, and by the instructors, schools, flight parks, manufacturers, and national organizations?

I don't want weirdos having an artificial pulpit.

- How did I get to be a weirdo so fast just eight sentences after just being a generally discounted crackpot who doesn't advance much of anything?

- So Joe's running an artificial pulpit? What are your recommendations to him for legitimizing it?

- And what Baby Oh Pee wants Baby Oh Pee should get. Baby Oh Pee - by virtue of all he has done to build the sport and address all the problems it doesn't' have should be able to walk into any glider website he feels like and control what's permitted to be posted and what people are permitted to read.

I think Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney's shot himself in the foot so many times that there's a major gag order on him.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22660
What can be learned from this "scooter" towing accident?

Mitch Shipley - 2011/01/31 15:22:59 UTC

Enjoy your posts, as always, and find your comments solid, based on hundreds of hours / tows of experience and backed up by a keen intellect/knowledge of the issues when it comes to most things in general and hang gliding AT/Towing in particular. Wanted to go on record in case anyone reading wanted to know one persons comments they should give weight to.

Not any more. That little shit could never wait to be God's Gift to Aviation and Top Authority on Everything immediately after anything blew a landing, went down in flames, or ran into the air with a dangling carabiner. Here are his first responses after Zack Marzec last year:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30912
Death at Quest Air

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/03 10:57:17 UTC

I hate getting "that" phone call. I got it this morning.
I'm considering becoming an asshole. With all the nice people dying, it just seems safer. So kiss my ass.

I met Zach up at Morningside.
Zach was hard not to like... and hard not to like instantly.

He will be sorely missed.

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/08 18:40:12 UTC

aaaaaaaand... here we go again.

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/09 18:30:26 UTC

Because it's one of those crusty old debates that HGs love to go round and round with.
It's like uttering the word "wheels"... the conversation instantly turns into the great wheel debate.

Sorry for the interruption.
Please continue with the speculation.
I'll be over here, doing something productive.

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/11 09:13:01 UTC

Hey Deltaman.
Get fucked.

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/11 19:22:18 UTC

Of course not... it's Asshole-ese.

Sorry, I'm sick and tired of all these soap box bullshit assheads that feel the need to spout their shit at funerals. I just buried my friend and you're seizing the moment to preach your bullshit? GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!!!!!

I can barely stand these pompus asswipes on a normal day.

Tons of two hundred pound weak links have been going up the past couple years with ZERO percent of the carnage he's been promising for a decade we'd be having. His credibility is TOTALLY SHOT.

Mark Knight was a highly experienced, respected, popular, beloved Moyes-BAILEY Dragonfly jockey; a tandem aerotow instructor; and Jim's old weak link testing buddy. And we haven't heard the SLIGHTEST PEEP out of that little shit on ANYTHING ANYWHERE since a week and a half before Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey's engineering opus magnum killed Mark because of an OBVIOUS control system failure. Can't play the heart attack card again 'cause that blew up in Rooney's face when he tried to use it for Charles Matthews.

Rooney filled a vacuum in the ecosystem created by a totally incompetent, corrupt, evil hang gliding culture and milked that niche for all it was worth and way more. If he hadn't come along when he did somebody else would've filled it and become the same person.

There's a vacancy now and Baby Oh Pee wants to fill it. I think he's been told that if he sucks some USHGA/Industry dick by attacking T** at K*** S****** it's all his. Have at it, punk. There was never anything to you to begin with and there'll be WAY less when I've finished with you.

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/10 16:36:32 UTC

Orion Price - 2014/03/07

You have ultimate editorial power for your hosted content.

Ditto for everyone else running a forum or blog.

Read anything he has written in the last five years and decide if you want to be associated with it.
http://www.kitestrings.org/topic7.html

- Why just the last five years? The curve of my learning and hatred for most of the assholes in this sport has been pretty linear since I started in the early Eighties.

- Why does Joe need you to tell him what he should be reading? He's been registered on this forum a wee bit over three years.

- Does including somebody else's writing on one's forum necessarily mean one agrees with and support what he's saying? I'd say the overwhelming bulk of what I quote, document, archive on Kite Strings is - unfortunately - the work of total sleazebags such as yourself.

- And obviously you've read Dr. Trisa Tilletti's "Tie a (Better) Weak Link" Higher Education article in the 2012/06 issue of USHGA'S Hang Gliding magazine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjRrYAOnqqw

...and are totally cool with every punctuation mark in it. Like all the other stupid clones in this sport you appoint a Marzec Link as your Pilot In Command and hold out eternal hope that it will meet your expectation of breaking as early as possible in lockout situations, but being strong and reliable enough to avoid frequent breaks from turbulence.

The guy openly mocks the families of dead-and-injured pilots.

- But I have a soft spot for the families of dead-and-uninjured pilots.

- Can you provide any quotes to support that claim - motherfucker?

- Would it be OK if I just covertly mocked the families of dead-and-injured pilots?

- Let's assume I DO openly mock the families of dead-and-injured pilots. So what? What would that matter in comparison to the kind of crap that sleazebags such as yourself do - which is to openly mock people who've developed procedures and equipment to reduce the number of families of dead-and-injured pilots?

- Name some members of families of dead-and-injured pilots who've lifted fingers to reduce the chances of other hang gliding participants from being killed-and-injured by the same threats. I can think of about 1.3 off the top of my head - Robert Wills being one of them.

Doesn't offer much toward safety or education.

- Oh. But I offer SOMETHING toward safety or education - presumably something that nobody else is offering or I'd just be duplicating or plagiarizing. So can you identify what it is so's I can redouble my efforts in those areas?

- Didn't hear you say anything about me offering anything to decrease safety or derail education. Can that be said of all other entities - instructors, schools, textbook publishers, equipment manufacturers, national organizations, government regulatory agencies - involved with the sport?

- Name some people who've offered much toward safety or education in this sport, tell me what it is that they've offered, and give some evidence - anecdotal will do - that what they've offered has had a positive effect.

I have reason to believe he is not an engineer...

- Do you have reason to believe I'm not an astronaut - despite my many claims of being an astronaut - Sherlock?

- What's an engineer?
-- Does having an engineering degree make one an engineer?
-- Does not having an engineering degree preclude one from being an engineer?
-- Did Wilbur and Orville have engineering degrees?

- I have reason to believe that Bob Kuczewski has an aeronautical engineering degree. Can you:
-- point to a single positive contribution the motherfuckers ever made to:
--- any technology in the sport?
--- helping get any superior technology anyone else has developed into the air on a wider scale?
-- make a case that the sport wouldn't be much better off if a stake were driven through his heart within the next day or so?

- Can you cite:
-- a misleading statement that I've made concerning my background and qualifications?
-- me ever claiming to have developed or accomplished anything that a reasonably smart junior high school student couldn't have?

- Does Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey have an engineering degree?

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22308
Better mouse trap(release)?

Jim Rooney - 2010/12/18 20:12:54 UTC

I love innovation. However, this isn't the type of thing that's "puzzled out" on the internet. AKA, you're not going to figure it out here. This is real world engineering stuff. Five minutes with Bobby Bailey is worth more than anything you're going to achieve here. Pick your engineer of choice, Bobby's just a very good example.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30828
Sonora wings plane crash

Larry Howe - 2014/02/25 05:32:53 UTC

I could be wrong, but the amount of fatals involving Dragonflies per Dragonfly flying would have grounded any certified aircraft. Maybe we need to spend a little more time analyzing is this just a bad design aircraft. Or will we continue to look the other way because it's one of the few games in town for towing HG. How long do you think they'd put up with Super Cubs and Pawnees crashing and killing sailplane tow pilots if they had this rate of fatals?

Think we could find out why Keavy Nenninger and Mark Knight slammed in by spending five minutes with Bobby?

- With all the fucking brilliant professional engineers we have in this sport constantly spearheading all advancements - including NASA types like Dr. Francis Rogallo - how come:

-- everybody was towing off the bottom of the control frame instead of through the pilot and harness suspension until a bit after Brian Pattenden's proposal on 1979/09/26?

-- Yours Truly had to be the one to point out the astronomical stupidity of Bobby Fucking-Genius Balley's use of a bent parachute pin as the core element of a barrel release and still for every straight pin mechanism in circulation there are a thousand bent pin pieces of shit?

...as his designs are unsafe, untested...

- YOU are a LYING SACK OF SHIT.

-- My designs are about the only ones in western aerotowing that HAVE been tested before going in the air and I've published the performance test results - along with the test results of the pathetic bent pin crap Bobby, Quallaby, Lockout foist on the public.

-- But if I hadn't then how the fuck would you KNOW I haven't?

-- You bloody well know...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31432
Free* weak link tensile testing.

Orion Price - 2013/03/16 00:31:26 UTC

I've seen your guy's testing contraptions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8317889807/

...I've tested everything I've put up. And we bloody well know you've never tested a goddam thing used in this sport.

- How can you claim my designs are unsafe if they haven't been tested? Aren't you just talking out of your ass the way all your buddies do?

- I have reason to believe you, in addition to being a lying sack of shit, are also an engineer. You're stating that my designs are unsafe - and implying that the bent pin shit from Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey and Matt Taber is safe, despite numerous bench tests and fatality reports clearly establishing that it isn't - and claiming it to be untested. So don't you, with your probable credentials as an engineer and deep passion for the safety of your fellow pilot, have a moral obligation to duplicate and test my designs and issue an advisory in Hang Gliding magazine and on the Davis and Jack Shows based upon your findings?

- So what analogous designs are you endorsing as safe - or at least safer than mine...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/4049
Towing errata

Bill Bryden - 2004/04/01 16:20:18 UTC

Some aerotow releases, including a few models from prominent schools, have had problems releasing under high tensions. You must VERIFY through tests that a release will work for the tensions that could possibly be encountered. You better figure at least three hundred pounds to be modestly confident.

Maybe eight to ten years ago I got several comments from people saying a popular aerotow release (with a bicycle type brake lever) would fail to release at higher tensions. I called and talked to the producer sharing the people's experiences and concerns. I inquired to what tension their releases were tested but he refused to say, just aggressively stated they never had any problems with their releases, they were fine, goodbye, click. Another person tested one and found it started getting really hard to actuate in the range of only eighty to a hundred pounds as I vaguely recall. I noticed they did modify their design but I don't know if they ever really did any engineering tests on it. You should test the release yourself or have someone you trust do it. There is only one aerotow release manufacturer whose product I'd have reasonable confidence in without verifying it myself, the Wallaby release is not it.

...and where can we find the performance certification data?

Are there people not generally discounted as crackpots...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14221
Tad's release

John Fritsche - 2008/12/12 05:38:02 UTC
Lompoc, California

Do people still use those (IMO, stupid) releases that involve bicycle brakes?

...not in agreement with you? If so, shouldn't you be working hard to have them generally discounted as crackpots?

...and his method is against our purpose of safe free flight.

- List the people who authorized you to speak on their behalf.

- What IS my method? How does MY method...

Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06

We could get into details of lab testing weak links and bridles, but this article is already getting long. That would be a good topic for an article in the future. Besides, with our backgrounds in formal research, you and I both know that lab tests may produce results with good internal validity, but are often weak in regard to external validity--meaning lab conditions cannot completely include all the factors and variability that exists in the big, real world.

...compare to Dr. Trisa Tilletti's method?

- Can you define your purpose of free flight? I'm assuming that wanting to advance safer free flight ranks right up there near to concealing your dangerous activities from the scrutiny of the FAA.

- We know that the crap that Quest sells as aerotow equipment represents the pinnacle of human engineering achievement, absolute perfection for the following reasons:
-- It's not homemade.
-- Paul Tjaden has told us it is.
-- Davis Straub is very happy with it.
-- It's got an unbelievably long track record.
-- If there were anything better everybody would be using it already.
-- It's peen getting constantly perfected for more than twenty years now.
-- Hang Gliding magazine has never published an article on better technology.
-- Bobby Bailey designed it and he's a fucking genius when it comes to this shit.
-- USHGA's never cited it as a factor or issued an advisory after it's killed someone.
-- Nobody's ever modified it - just banned it (at least for a short while) from the Worlds at Hay.
-- Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney is tired as hell of "refuting" all these mouth release and "strong link" arguments.
-- Davis won't permit anything else to be flown at any competition he controls and nobody takes issue with him.
-- It's the only stuff Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney will allow you to fly with unless you get down on your knees and suck his dick.
-- Dennis Pagen and Bill Bryden tell us we're incapable of doing anything as well as the commercial operations have already done.

So why are you the LEAST bit concerned that anybody would be the LEAST bit interested in listening to someone generally discounted as a crackpot and diluting your existing cherished list of dangerous activities by flying with funky shit from The Flight Park Tad Runs?

This isn't an ex parte time-critical issue.

Really? How do you know one of my unsafe designs won't kill somebody just as dead as:

1985/07/17 - Chris Bulger
1990/03/29 - Brad Anderson
1990/07/05 - Eric Aasletten
1996/04/28 - Frank Sauber
1999/02/27 - Rob Richardson
2004/06/26 - Mike Haas
2005/01/09 - Robin Strid
2005/09/03 - Jeremiah Thompson
2006/01/19 - James Simpson
2009/01/03 - Steve Elliot
2009/08/31 - Roy Messing
2011/07/23 - Keavy Nenninger
2011/10/28 - Lois Preston
2013/02/02 - Zack Marzec
2014/02/24 - Mark Knight

within the next hour? How can you POSSIBLY make the claim that my designs - which ARE being flown and duplicated - are dangerous but that dealing with the threat they present isn't time critical? If I found a critical flaw in one of my designs I'd be scared shitless somebody was gonna eat it as a consequence and would put out an advisory IMMEDIATELY.

I think I can convince you from hosting his content.

If my designs are dangerous why are you so interested in getting Joe to stop hosting my content? Shouldn't he be giving it prominence in order to alert as many of my victims as possible before it's too late? In the excellent book, Towing Aloft, by Dennis Pagen and Bill Bryden, for example, one finds illustrations and descriptions of three-string release configurations which HAVE locked and HAVE killed people. They only suppress information on lethally flawed equipment if it's:
- Industry Standard
- promoted and sold by their friends
- something they've previously endorsed

I myself feature the kind of deadly crap that Bobby Bailey, Davis Straub, Matt Taber, Steve Wendt perpetrate on the public very prominently in my discussions, posts, photographs, video collection.

Cite me one other example of an individual genuinely concerned with safety wanting information on defective hardware suppressed.

Do the following Google Images search:

"hang gliding" "aerotow release"

Links to Kite Strings and my Flickr site pop up all over the place. And nobody 'cept Yours Truly can do much to erase that material. You should be trying to convince Joe of the critical importance of leaving my work up so's you and your constituents can very publicly tear it to shreds.

Next week, when I have time, I will address all of your enumerated points. You have good questions and I feel I can address them all.

Good. If you do then I'll be able to tear you to shreds. And if you don't I'll be able to tear you to shreds.

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html
Tad Eareckson

This column is open for serving essays that discuss Tad's ideas sans personal attacks.
Stay on the ideas. Thank you.
Send your essays to editor@HangGliderHistory.com

Joe...

Nobody's ever gonna be interested in discussing "my" ideas over there. "My" ideas are all - at the most - simple high school physics, grade school science concept machines, and look-both-ways-before-crossing-the-street common sense. It's a disservice to "my" ideas to refer to them as my ideas.

The person in English speaking hang gliding who's on all those wavelengths is one in several thousand and if he had any need to speak or interest in speaking about "my" ideas he'd have already done it - with me, over here, years ago.

Baby Oh Pee is a vile little shit who has zero concern for promoting anything other than himself and doesn't have the brains to coordinate his lies for more than two or three consecutive sentences. He thinks he can use vague personal attacks on me to work his way up in the social hierarchy and deserves to be treated with nothing better than pure unadulterated contempt and nonstop personal counterattacks. Vile little shits like this need to be CONSTANTLY reminded throughout the courses of their miserable lives to their last breaths that they are vile little shits or they start deluding themselves into thinking they have some measures of worth as human beings.

I will address anything and everything relevant that happens on the discussion you've opened and you, of course, are more than welcome to post any or all of my responses or parts thereof at:

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html
Tad Eareckson

but I won't be treating anyone with respect who's demonstrated scores of times over that he doesn't deserve any. My days of giving assholes any possible benefit of any possible doubt went on far too long but are now very long gone.

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/10 22:16:46 UTC

Orion Price - 2014/03/10

He threatened to advise the FAA about our dangerous activities. After much discouragement from the USHPA, he still sent it in. His ill-lettered advice was unintelligible and disregarded by the FAA.

- So what's your source on that, OP? I sure never got so much as a postcard's worth of acknowledgement of receipt from the motherfuckers. Does the FAA have a web page up somewhere at which they post private letters from private citizens and state their reasons for disregarding them? Or did they just share that information with you because they really admire the size of your testicles?

- Or are you just assuming that that was their response because you found my writing unintelligible and assumed that if it was beyond your reading comprehension level it had to be beyond EVERYONE's reading comprehension level?

- Don't you think it a bit odd that there was no comment from anybody at USHGA...

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=463
Davis Straub's "Oz Report" Conflict of Interest

Bob Kuczewski - 2011/02/12 06:56:36 UTC

Without naming names (I'm curious to see if they'll own up to it first), on May 10, 2009, one Director wrote:
We need to consider getting an injunction against this guy communicating with the FAA on this subject.
That same day, another Director responded:
I forwarded the letter to Tim Herr yesterday asking about this.
For those who don't know, Tim Herr is ... USHPA's lawyer!!

A third Director (who I'll call "Mr. X") chimed in that same day with this:

Mr. X wrote:
Perhaps a strongly worded letter from Tim will do the trick. We can't force Tad to work within the USHPA framework but we can make it unpleasant and expensive for him if he chooses to makes derogatory and false statements about USHPA to the FAA he can't back up.

If I understand the previous comments, his sending USHPA a draft letter is an indication of willingness to engage in some dialogue before going to the FAA.

Good luck with this guy!
That's an example of USHPA's typical tactics: Call up the lawyer, then Attack, Attack, Attack. I responded to this last message by focussing on the only positive quote I could find in there:

Bob Kuczewski wrote:
cI agree with that sentiment, and I think it would be wise for USHPA to ask Mr. Eareckson what it is specifically that he is seeking. I don't think trying to silence him with an injunction is a good start.

Also, I have almost no background in towing, so I've asked a close friend to review his concerns for my own enlightenment. If anyone else on the Board with towing expertise would like to offer comments on Mr. Eareckson's points for similar enlightenment that would be appreciated by us gravity launch pilots.

...on the unintelligibility of my writing? Their concern appeared to be that it was EXTREMELY intelligible.

- Have you ever read anything like THIS:

Tost Flugzeuggerätebau

Weak links protect your aircraft against overloading.

before, OP?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjRrYAOnqqw

I'm guessing you would find something like that to be indecipherable gibberish and be totally in tune with:

http://www.questairforce.com/aero.html
Aerotow FAQ

Weak Link

The strength of the weak link is crucial to a safe tow. It should be weak enough so that it will break before the pressure of the towline reaches a level that compromises the handling of the glider but strong enough so that it doesn't break every time you fly into a bit of rough air. A good rule of thumb for the optimum strength is one G, or in other words, equal to the total wing load of the glider. Most flight parks use 130 lb. braided Dacron line, so that one loop (which is the equivalent to two strands) is about 260 lb. strong - about the average wing load of a single pilot on a typical glider. For tandems, either two loops (four strands) of the same line or one loop of a stronger line is usually used to compensate for nearly twice the wing loading. When attaching the weak link to the bridle, position the knot so that it's hidden from the main tension in the link and excluded altogether from the equation.

IMPORTANT - It should never be assumed that the weak link will break in a lockout.
ALWAYS RELEASE THE TOWLINE before there is a problem.

or any similar babblings from Lauren Eminently-Qualified-Tandem-Pilot Tjaden.

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/11 02:00:01 UTC

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
[TIL] About Tad Eareckson

Orion Price - 2013/03/11 15:12:28 UTC

Final bit of troll food, I read about Tad's reputation this morning.

Tad Eareckson is a generally discounted crackpot and internet troll. He doesn't fly and has been perma-banned from most everywhere: .org, oz report and all the local club websites with discussion forums like ours.

His situation reminds me of a tragedy of a family friend. As began to loose his edge, he proportionality wanted to write people weirder and weirder letters. Newspaper editors, distant relatives, and especially the government would receive long rants pointing out his intelligence and schadenfreuding over their failures. Eventually his internet usage had to be monitored, and his snail-mail letters "mailed" by someone else. The failure mode exhibited here is nearly identical.

Orion Price - 2013/03/12 05:12:33 UTC

Normally I'd say that is a low blow Mike. However, this time it's not. I don't want to re-post it. But the senile guy has read our entire forum history and make detailed comments about our activities. He waxes on with glee about our fatalities.

Orion Price - 2013/03/13 05:52:48 UTC

Tad really has no testicles. He says he had one surgically removed. However we all know they took both out.

Imagine living most of your life with no testicles.

Mr: "I'm a genius, no one listens to me, the world will burn" decides to write the FAA a letter about how unsafe we are:

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/4144review.pdf

Imagine you work for the FAA in DC and you get an 80 something page letter divided into 12 sections. It refers to other documents he's written of similar length. Ramblings of a mad man. It's not so much what he's written anything damning. It's more they have to receive letters from weirdos whom used to fly, but still associate with our sport.

Orion Price - 2013/03/14 02:30:05 UTC

Yea, someone else pointed that out to me. That's some weird stuff. A window into the mind of a madman. In 80+ page colored ASCII texts he starts calling other designs and people "insane." I noticed on his tow treatise he keeps mentioning the word "strength." And referred to the "G" rating of weak links and ropes.

Might of has well mention the number in inches of water in of gallon, or how many volts are in a pound. A clear demonstration of ignorance involving simple concepts.

Some times, in life, you get left with the short end of the stick. And sometimes, in Tad Earecson's case, holding an empty sack. Literally. The man has no testicles.

Orion Price - 2013/03/16 17:56:25 UTC

The crack pot has been banned from most every arena of discourse on hang gliding. Now he is also known to our group as an incredible idiot on the subject of hang gliding.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=28581
How to get banned from kitestrings.org ((tad drama)lol)

Orion Price - 2013/03/12 15:20:37 UTC

Wow, that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. 71 pages of .... well you can see what it is. The ignorant building an obelisk to the unknown. Weird world out there.

As you can plainly see from the schematic below:

Why? Who would spend the time to make this shit.

Orion Price - 2013/03/12 15:59:24 UTC

That's what he has done to me. That's why I'm here on the .org.

I don't know him. Never flown with him. I believe him to be a crack pot.

Imagine turning his paper in at University. Imagine trying to submit it to a journal. It's the ramble and rants of a mad man.

Orion Price - 2013/04/29 21:09:43 UTC

kitestrings.org = Tad Eareckson has a conversation with himself.

Lessee...

- I'm generally discounted crackpot and internet troll who doesn't fly and has been perma-banned from most most every arena of discourse on hang gliding: .org, Oz Report, and all the local club websites with discussion forums like yours.

- I remind you of a family friend who began to "loose" his edge, wrote weirder and weirder letters to newspaper editors, distant relatives, the government.

- I'm a senile guy who's read your entire forum history and makes detailed comments about your totally harmless activities and I wax on with glee about your fatalities.

- Despite/Because of my lack of testicles I write the FAA about your totally harmless fatalities.

- The eighty page documents I send to the FAA contain nothing of real concern, but are just annoyances, the ramble and rants of a madman, from a weirdo "whom" no longer flies (and thus couldn't possibly have anything legitimate to say).

- I refer to the "G" ratings of weak links and ropes, clear demonstrating my of ignorance involving simple concepts.

- I'm now also known to our group as an incredible idiot on the subject of hang gliding.

- Nobody would spend the time to make the shit I've developed and provided schematics for when they can just tie a loop with a piece of 130 pound fishing line and call its breaking strength anything he feels like.

- You don't know me and have never flown with be but believe me to be a crackpot.

- Kite Strings is just Tad Eareckson has a conversation with himself.

AND YET...

Orion Price - 2014/03/07

As a younger person trying to keep free flight alive, I request you stop publishing Eareckson's letters.

Just a year later you're scared shitless that this ONE SINGLE INDIVIDUAL has the potential to kill the sport of hang gliding.

COOL!!!

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/11 12:53:44 UTC

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
[TIL] About Tad Eareckson

Orion Price - 2013/03/10 05:57:24 UTC

(Today I learned) There is a guy who reads our forum every and does detailed analysis on all our comments. This guy has Rafferty amounts of extra time to just be an idiot and not fly/work/live.

In place of adding to our discourse he bought a website in which he makes comments about our comments. That's just weird. Apparently we are all we are all suicidal idiots and destroying the sport. Also he apparently really doesn't like NME_RIDER/LA Glide. JD to him is apparently Satan with a glider and a youtube account.

Look at this shit. He literaly goes through every comment and makes his own comment on his own webside: http://www.kitestrings.org/topic10-310.html

I know that haters' gonna hate. But what is with weird antisocial behavior? Who has the time to not go flying, but to sit around and organize and edit weird videos (rafferty)? Who has the time to register websites and make their own PHPBB dedicated to every comment on the SHGA? Weirdos, Y U NO JUST FLY?

I ain't even mad. This is just FYI

And twenty hours, thirty-one minutes, seventeen seconds later:

http://www.kitestrings.org/post3960.html#p3960
instructors and other qualified pilot fiends

Orion Price - 2013/03/11 02:28:41 UTC

Wow, you have a lot of time on your hands. Keep on crusading! The truth is out there my friend. Stay hungry.

I recently make a camera boom from some carbon fiber tubing. Do you have any ideas to get a good angle?

Arg, I can't post the link because I'm new. Google: "Carbon rod gopro"

So what kind of disengenuous, conniving, sick little sleazebag would do something like that? The first post is total rot, beyond even the limits of what scum like Davis, Jack, Rooney, Bob would do... But then to come over here and feign sincerity and a desire for help?

Why would ANYONE with a significant remnant of a functional brain EVER under ANY circumstances trust this son of a bitch on ANYTHING?

I don't believe that when I started flying in the early Eighties (the first harness I owned was a Price stirrup, by the way) this kind of crap would be tolerated be tolerated. But after several decades worth of USHGA's sleazebag selective breeding program it doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

Have your fun while it lasts, OP. But you really oughta be aware that it WON'T LAST and you'll never be able to take back what you've said and done. Your role models are all toast and will not be remembered kindly by history.

Too bad you didn't have enough in the way of brains to appreciate how much in the way of brains it takes to have any appreciable success as a liar. And do keep relying on those testicles of yours for all your piloting decisions. You have no freakin' clue as to how much fun I'm gonna have WHEN that strategy blows up in your face...

...again.

And I'm already real happy that it's Joe's signature on your card and not mine.

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/11 17:33:17 UTC

Orion Price - 2014/03/07

As a younger person trying to keep free flight alive, I request you stop publishing Eareckson's letters.

Can you fuckin' READ, shithead? (Rhetorical question.)

Ten PDF files.

- How many letters did you find? My count is one - five pages.

-- Did you read it? Just kidding. Here's the response of one of the many other shitheads who didn't read it:

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=463
Davis Straub's "Oz Report" Conflict of Interest

Bob Kuczewski - 2011/02/12 06:56:36 UTC

A third Director (who I'll call "Mr. X") chimed in that same day with this:

Mr. X wrote:

Perhaps a strongly worded letter from Tim will do the trick. We can't force Tad to work within the USHPA framework but we can make it unpleasant and expensive for him if he chooses to makes derogatory and false statements about USHPA to the FAA he can't back up.

He - like you - is terrified of me making derogatory and false statements about USHPA to the FAA that he - along with every single other USHGA BOD shit - bloody well knows I CAN back up. All you USHGA shits know perfectly well that the majority of my derogatory and false statements are quotes from the Hang Gliding magazine archives.

- Did you find anything posted, dated, revised, updated subsequent to 2010/10/13? I'll do the math for you - three years plus two days shy of five months. Wouldn't a person capable of doing grade school arithmetic reasonably conclude that Joe had started and stopped publishing Eareckson's letters close to three and a half years ago?

- So given the facts that:
-- I'm a generally discounted crackpot whom doesn't advance much of anything
-- I openly mock the families of dead-and-injured pilots
-- I don't offer much toward safety or education
-- you have reason to believe I am not an engineer as my designs are unsafe and untested.
-- my method is against our purpose of safe free flight
shouldn't we have seen a tremendous amount of carnage as a consequence of the authors and supporters of the First Amendment of the US Constitution failing to have taken into consideration weirdoes like Tad Eareckson before carving free speech principles into granite? Can you cite anything?

The most recent of those documents is the article I submitted to Hang Gliding magazine supporting actual implementation of USHGA's 1981/05 Pilot Proficiency System regulation:

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

And here's the response to that document from one of your Greblo-/McKenzie-ville douchebag buddies:

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3638
FTHI

Mike Blankenhorn - 2012/10/26 02:39:07 UTC

Wow, I never saw it put quite like that before. Great write up!

I see no evidence whatsoever that he's been subsequently alerted to the fact that a hook-in check should NEVER be done because it gives a false sense of security. How has this guy managed to stay alive over the course of the last sixteen and a half months?

My best guess is that you've got some really sharp observers of there on Kagel catching him doing hook-in checks at the last instant and ensuring that he gets a good five minute cooling off period for the false sense of security to subside.

But it seems to me that it would make a lot more sense if somebody on the Sylmar forum would publicly denounce the practice - the way Tom Galvin did for all the Rocky Mountain club pigfuckers. Wouldn't you agree? And, if so, WHY THE FUCK HAVEN''T YOU DONE IT - ASSHOLE?

Lemme guess... You just throw a lot of generalized personal insults and vague, nonspecific attacks - heavily laden with crap escape clauses like:
- generally discounted
- have reason to believe
- indicated he doesn't have any education on the subject
- doesn't:
-- advance much of anything
-- offer much
misrepresent and lie about my statetments, avoid actual quotes like the plague, become obsessed with discussions about my testicles... because THE INSTANT you attack anything SPECIFIC in my comments, recommendations, procedures, positions, criticisms, designs... or make unqualified blanket statements you're gonna start REALLY ALIENATING people - lotsa them in positions higher up on the totem pole - who are on the same wavelength as I am. And EVERYONE is on the same wavelength as I am on SOMETHING. You scrape enough shit off of Rooney, Davis, Jack, Sam, anybody who actually has a few positions you're gonna find SOMETHING. And then you're gonna start getting in the same kind of ultimately fatal trouble that they have.

And this is a game that you're not gonna be able to sustain. So DO keep playing it. Time is totally on my side.

P.S. And how come you seem to be a one man army in this little campaign of yours? As much as I'm shunned, hated, reviled, despised throughout English speaking world hang gliding culture...

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
[TIL] About Tad Eareckson

Orion Price - 2013/03/11 15:12:28 UTC

Final bit of troll food, I read about Tad's reputation this morning.

Tad Eareckson is a generally discounted crackpot and internet troll. He doesn't fly and has been perma-banned from most everywhere: .org, oz report and all the local club websites with discussion forums like ours.

...you couldn't get a SINGLE comrade-in-arms or endorser for this latest noble crusade? Looks to me like...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

Jim Rooney - 2013/03/07 18:24:58 UTC

Go back to Tad's hole in the ground.
While you're there, ask him why he was banned from every east coast flying site.

...Baby Oh Pee's Hole In The Ground isn't even as big as Tad's Hole In The Ground.

Tad Eareckson · Post by **Tad Eareckson** » 2014/03/11 21:05:10 UTC

Davis Show, Page 30, seventh from the top, only post, 161 hits...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31432
Free* weak link tensile testing.

Orion Price - 2013/03/16 00:31:26 UTC

I have a 10kN (2,200lbf) tensile tester at my disposal. Mail me your links, and I will test them.

The * after the "free" is a stipulation. Disclose all relevant information about the link, and let me publish the data for everyone to enjoy. That's it. All it costs you is a envelope. Want to try a different knot? What to try a new material? What happens when you use two links? What about old links? You will know. Tensile tests like this are much more telling than just a material's failure or ultimate point.

I'm a west coast foot launch guy, but I've got about 20 tows at enjoy field and whitewater combined. I've seen your guy's testing contraptions. I've also glossed over Tad's color ASCII text batshit insane manifesto. But I got turned off when it was clear he doesn't know the difference between acceleration, mass, and what forces are. Maybe my machine can paint a better picture for the tow world. Also in the background of that pic is a SEM, it will be interesting to see the failure up close.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress%E2%80%93strain_curve

Send them to:
OP C/O
SHGA
P.O. Box 922303
Sylmar, CA 91392

Also allow several weeks for processing. Label your links clearly.

Grebloville, Page 04, twenty-third from the bottom, last of thirty posts, 4784 hits:

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
[TIL] About Tad Eareckson

Orion Price - 2013/03/16 17:56:25 UTC

In place of debunking the scientifically illiterate and religiously motivated Tad. I've started a free weak link testing endeavor. Send me your links and i will test them free of charge.

- How's that going, OP? As a younger person trying to keep free flight alive, how's your method working for your purpose of safe free flight?

- Did you just HAPPEN to post that generous offer on The Davis Show three days after Davis threatened to ban people and locked down the threads on the Zack Marzec fatality with the raging battles over weak links and their purpose and strengths? Or did you post it because you believed that weak link strength was a factor in the fatality and wanted to get some solid data on what weak link strengths actually were?

- If the latter... As a younger person trying to keep safe free flight alive:

-- How come you didn't participate in any of the discussions?

-- What were YOUR findings on the single loop of 130 Zack was using to very clearly provide protection from excessive angles of attack, high bank turns, and the like for that form of towing?

-- Given that there was no mention of the weak link material, configuration, or breaking strength in the official USHGA report:

http://www.ushpa.aero/safety/fatality_report_2013.pdf

2-8-2013 - Zack Marzec

Zack Marzec (27), an H-4 Pilot with Aero Tow and Tandem Aero Tow proficiency as well as Advanced Instructor and Tandem Instructor appointments, and a USHPA member since 2009, suffered fatal injuries when when his glider tumbled during an aero tow launch. During the launch, at an altitude of 150 AGL, the pilot encountered an invisible bullet thermal which pitched the nose up, causing the weak link to break. Upon the breakage of the weak link, the glider whip stalled and then tumbled twice. The pilot and glider's leading edge hit the ground simultaneously. The pilot was utilizing his own pro-tow style tow harness, this own high performance glider with VG on, and was not wearing a full face helmet.

shouldn't you, at this point, have the decency to concur that weak link strength is only an issue in fatalities when its higher than whatever the standard aerotow weak link and withdraw your offer of free testing and results publication?

-- Isn't it a really bad idea to test weak links and publish results based on lab testing anyway, because...

Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06

We could get into details of lab testing weak links and bridles, but this article is already getting long. That would be a good topic for an article in the future. Besides, with our backgrounds in formal research, you and I both know that lab tests may produce results with good internal validity, but are often weak in regard to external validity--meaning lab conditions cannot completely include all the factors and variability that exists in the big, real world.

...with our backgrounds in formal research, you and I both know that lab tests may produce results with good internal validity, but are often weak in regard to external validity - meaning lab conditions cannot completely include all the factors and variability that exists in the big, real world?

- How 'bout this, OP? How 'bout just telling us what the purposes of the weak link are and what we should be using and how we should be tying it to best meet our expectations?

Kite Strings

Manifesto

Manifesto

Re: Manifesto

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