http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39919
Bob Kuczewski's video log
Jeff Roberson - 2014/11/12 14:36:59 UTC
Looks to me like a messenger got shot
Is that what he got shot for? Bringing a message?
When Dangerous Dave, one of the baddest of the bad-boy e-teamers...
Friend o' Kelly's?
...first moved to Utah a couple decades ago, I remember he fancied flying without a helmet.
Anybody in Utah fancy flying without wheels or skids?
I was one of the local pilots who confronted him on this one day. We told him that the Point of the Mountain was a USHGA insured site and that helmets were required.
How far up your asses did you guys hafta reach to pull out that proclamation?
- Quote me something from u$hPa SOPs from Day One up to and including the 2014/03 revision that says ANYTHING about helmets for solo flyers.
- What the fuck does the issue of POTM being an insured site have to do with anything? Site insurance only covers stuff that we crash our gliders into.
He didn't put up too much of a fuss and has since gone on to become one of most respected pilots in the area.
Not much of a high bar from what I've seen.
Although Dave has some of the most impressive flying skills of any pilot I've ever met (and I've known quite a few who have lived in the SLC area including Larry Tudor, Dave Sharp, Paris Williams, Jeff O'Brian, etc.), thats no excuse - he is an imperfect human being who must obey the rules just like everyone else.
The imaginary ones? Goddam right! The hook-in check required for every flight of every rating.. Want a hang check in the setup area fifteen minutes ago to count as your hook-in check just prior to launch? Go for it.
If I saw an instructor teaching without a helmet, I'd say something for sure (and would be right in doing so).
Of course you would. You just said you would and that's plenty good enough for me. You'd just walk up to him while he's running his class and tell him how he should be doing his job 'cause the u$hPa Administrator who signed his ticket just really wasn't up to snuff.
If he refused to comply, I would continue to insist (and would hopefully receive the support of all my peers).
Oh my Gawd - you have PEERS out there. I'd so been hoping you were just a one-off genetic accident.
Brings to mind...
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=26557
Failure to hook in 6/29/12
Adam Parer - 2012/07/15 05:01:12 UTC
We are militant with this sort of thing down here. Anyone seen walking around in their harness unhooked are immediately pulled up, by everyone. Not sure of the reaction if the justification was to keep the harness clean or scratched free, or that it was uncomfortable to bend over because there was extra weight to carry, or they have a sore back. It would probably be advice along the lines of 'harden the f^&k up'
...a squad of Aussie Methodist vigilante thugs. They have NOTHING - and refuse to put anything - on their HGFA books but are all perfectly fine with intimidating any individual pilot who doesn't buy into their idiot crap.
Also note that Adam Parer was one of the most respected pilots on the fuckin' planet and in the space of just under five and three quarters years tumbled his glider twice.
- On 2009/11/16 he went over thermalling at high altitude and damn near died 'cause his piece o' shit harness wasn't designed to allow a parachute deployment in circumstances in which he'd most likely NEED a parachute deployment.
- On 2015/08/07 he fucked up doing aerobatics in smooth air too low for deployment and did die.
So I don't have much use for some of these highly respected pilots and their opinions on what the rest of us muppets should be doing to keep ourselves safe.
Does this Gabe fellow really teach without a helmet on a regular basis and does the site actually allow this?
Yes to both questions! And the effort they expend to suppress the news of all the consequential carnage is absolutely astounding.
Flying without a helmet is bad...
Flying paragliders at inland sites in thermal conditions is perfectly OK - just as long as you have that helmet on and buckled anyway.
...instructing without a helmet is MUCH worse.
Yeah. Students would see their instructor instructing without a helmet and get the idea that flying without a helmet was OK and the floodgates would open. And these sports are already dealing with more brain damage than they can really cope with. Just look at who they have running their comps, dictating fishing line standards, and writing magazine articles.
If the folks running the Torrey site are allowing instructors to teach without a helmet, (and it appears that they are), then I think the USHPA should certainly step in to correct this situation if they can.
Fear not. Any time those motherfuckers get opportunities to fix nonexistent problems and make things more miserable for recreational flyers...
I've never met this Bob fellow...
Pity. You guys would get along famously.
...but his message appears to be squarely in the right.
Not just regular right. Full blown Tea Party right.
Just my 2-cents after 33 years doing this HG foot launch thing.
Just think. In another 33 years we'll be up to FOUR cents worth. Tell me one thing of any practical use you've picked up in the course of that third of a century that can't and shouldn't be easily understood by Joe Hang Two.
Hey people of varying ages... Just a reminder to watch the fuck out whenever you hear these assholes playing their ratings, experience, hours cards. I one hundred percent guarantee you that whenever you hear any of this kinda crap being touted you are being conned. (Think Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney.)
Oh yeah and kiting *is* flying in my book - even on flat ground.
Must make it pretty convenient...
Jeff Roberson - 34482 - H4 - 1984/05/26 - G. LaGrone - FL AWCL CL FSL RLF TUR XC
...to pick up ratings and special skills signoffs.
Fuck you and your book, Jeff. Being a competent/safe pilot has shit to do with rigidly adhering to nonexistent helmet regulations. You need to crash - in a fairly specific manner in order for a helmet to be of the slightest benefit. Being a competent/safe pilot is about NOT crashing through judgment, decision making, threat assessment, response.
I'd previously dealt with this post - a good bit less thoroughly - on the day it appeared a bit under nine months ago when I was overloaded with the Bob/Torrey/u$hPa stuff and wasn't making the connection between Ridgerunner and LeverLink Jeff.
http://www.kitestrings.org/post6979.html#p6979
Commented on the head-up-the-assedness. I have to admire my consistency.
