Breaking USHPA's Monopoly Control of Flying Sites

[Steve Davy]

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Can you expand on it?

If a glider driver at Funston clobbers a recreational user such as a pedestrian, that pedestrian files a claim and wins then USHPA pays the bill. I have no issue with USHPA paying the bill, Bob.

[bobk]

Eight years is probably long enough. Here you go Tad.

We need to consider getting an injunction against this guy communicating with the FAA on this subject.

I forwarded the letter to Tim Herr yesterday asking about this.

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!

The pilot who I asked about towing was John Heiney and he definately knows towing.

[Steve Davy]

Eight years is probably long enough. Here you go Tad.

We need to consider getting an injunction against this guy communicating with the FAA on this subject.

I forwarded the letter to Tim Herr yesterday asking about this.

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!

The pilot who I asked about towing was John Heiney and he definately knows towing.

[bobk]

Now you can see how USHPA spends the members' money trying to intimidate and silence other members. In this case, I spoke up against legal action (see my other posts), and no legal action was taken against Tad

That's just another reason USHPA wanted me out. I wasn't another "go along to get along" director that wouldn't speak up. They couldn't have that.

[Tad Eareckson]

Eight years is probably long enough.

Arguably a week or two TOO long.

Here you go Tad.

Not to mention hang gliding at large and the general public.

We need to consider getting an injunction against this guy communicating with the FAA on this subject.

Fuckin' waste of space. All heartbroken about the 1996/07/25 Bill Bennett / Mike Del Signore in his backyard (was participating in the clinic the day before but had to split), did the standard never again...

We owe it to Mike and Bill to further refine aerotowing in general and tandem towing in particular.

...crap in the 1996/12 magazine issue, never lifted a finger.

Had an extensive correspondence with him in the late June of 2006. Continued his proud tradition of not doing shit.

Lost his aerotow site just east of Cleveland...

http://ozreport.com/20.104
A major nuisance
Luis Felipe Amunategui - 2016/05/24 13:04:52 UTC

...and five miles NNE of Gates where Bill and Mike had bought it a wee bit under a decade prior.

And regarding that issue... Ya know the way standard aerotow weak links that blow just off the cart every other pull are mere inconveniences which increase the safety of the towing operation? Bet the neighbors really appreciate listening to all those extra takeoffs, approaches, landings.

I forwarded the letter to Tim Herr yesterday asking about this.

Waste of space. Gets a copy of that vile, stupid, semiliterate letter to me Tracy posts 2009/05/10 02:08:52 UTC then writes advising me that I need to work with the Towing Committee - the one that had totally ignored my hundreds of hours worth of work on the revisions its Chairman had asked me to make.

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.

"We can't force Tad to work within the u$hPa framework but we can make it unpleasant and expensive for him if he chooses to firebomb u$hPa headquarters to further his goals."

WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT COME FROM??? Where was there a SCRAP of evidence of a derogatory and FALSE statement about u$hPa?

And you'll notice that what he's REALLY worried about are the derogatory and false statements about u$hPa that he CAN back up. Gotchya motherfucker. Total smoking gun.

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.

With the derogatory and derogatory and false statements about USHPA that he can back up. Then we're fucked. We'll have no recourse.

Good luck with this guy!

Why does anyone need LUCK dealing with this guy when we're all on such totally solid ground with absolutely nothing to hide, no skeletons anywhere in any closets? I've never needed any LUCK clearly exposing any of u$hPa's criminal negligence in the deaths of scores of its participants. Everything's crystal clear in black and white from posts and in pixels from high resolution video stills.

The pilot who I asked about towing was John Heiney and he definately knows towing.

- Oh really, Bob?

http://www.kitestrings.org/post7657.html#p7657

If you don't know squat about towing then how is it possible to identify anyone who DEFINATELY does?

- Name one individual involved in US hang glider towing who definately DOESN'T know towing. Bobby Bailey? Malcolm Jones? Tracy Tillman? Davis Straub? Steve Kroop? Steve Wendt? Jim Rooney? Ryan Voight? Lauren Tjaden? Bart Weghorst? Bill Cummings? Peter Birren? Sam Kellner? Pat Denevan? Just name ONE. Kelly Harrison work for ya?

- If John Heiney definately knows towing and writes regarding balloon drops:

John Heiney - 1992/11

A small line (205 cord) extends from the release pin to the basetube (remember to stow it at the top of the downtube with tape). I pull the release with my teeth so I can keep both hands on the basetube.

When the balloonist gives you the okay, raise your head slightly, put the release line in your teeth, move the control bar to a good dive position (about your stomach) as you pull the front of your body down. You will feel weightless for a bit so hold yourself to the basetube. Hold the dive position until you feel moderate positive bar pressure, then ease out.

why do you think he's never found it worth his time and effort to comment on Industry Standard pro toad bent pin barrel releases...

07-300


...like the one that killed Jeff Bohl at Quest last spring?

http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7077/27082298482_cda1aba01b_o.png


What's unacceptable under a balloon at five thousand feet in dead air is totally cool behind a Dragonfly going 30 five feet off the deck in violent thermal conditions?

And I'm guessing John was totally OK with what happened to me in the aftermath 'cause I never heard anything to indicate anything otherwise.

His comment was that while it might be good for USHPA to make recommendations in this area...

...we CERTAINLY don't wanna have any REQUIREMENTS for stuff like strength, load capacity, load to actuation ratio - the way we did when we presented them to the FAA in 1984 as conditions to be granted our aerotowing exemption. Right after that we just disregarded them and changed all the requirements to recommendations to accelerate innovation and get real quality hardware into circulation.

....there is still plenty of room for innovation.

- Really? After a quarter century of ZERO effective enforcement of even the shoddy standards in the original conditions for the exemption? How is that possible?

- By the spring of 2009 how much room for innovation was left in the fucking gliders themselves? Tell me about some of the amazing advancements we've seen in the eight plus years since.

- He's a fucking glider designer and the stuff he put out had to comply with rigid HGMA strength, stability, performance, control responsiveness certification specs that NOBODY - since Donnell Hewett - has ever had the slightest problem with. How come he's not out there lobbying to have THOSE revoked or gutted to open up a new Golden Age of glider design?

- So obviously he knew that in 2009 the Industry Standard state-of-the-art towing equipment was dangerously flawed and people were dying and would continue to until the fixes were implemented. (Anybody care to argue otherwise? Anybody think we don't have enough fatality data to adequately illustrate that position?)

-- Did he bother to cite any examples in which we had serious issues which could be addressed before the next motherfucker got splattered?

-- Was something stopping him from implementing fixes, innovating designs himself? What was he doing that was more important than keeping Arys Moorhead from getting splattered at Jean Lake in front of his family a bit under half a dozen years later a couple hundred miles to his NNW?

- What did he cite in my SOPs proposal as the most innovation killing burden? Could he have helped me do a better job? Or wasn't that worth any of his precious fucking time either?

- And he's obviously been perfectly fine with all versions of whatever the fuck the Towing Committees were publishing from 1984 through this morning 'cause he's never thought any of them merited a single syllable of constructive criticism.

Yeah Bob, John Heiney DEFINATELY knows towing. Right up their with Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney and the people actually working things. Guess that's how things work in your aeronautical engineering profession too, Bob.

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.

Right?

For that reason, he doesn't think USHPA should mandate any kind of obligatory system that would stifle that innovation - whether Mr. Eareckson's or any other.

Just u$hPa's. That's always been perfect. If there were the possibility of anything better we'd all be using it everywhere already.

What a total load of unmitigated CRAP.

When I first read it as attributed to "someone who knows the topic pretty well" my response was what a total fucking ASSHOLE. Properly attributed now - even more so.

I used his article as an outline for the design of my balloon drop system that I used to go up and off from Milton, Delaware on 1993/04/29 - 5400 feet. And I'd crossed paths with John Heiney at the Kitty Hawk Spectacular once before and after, talked with him about stuff, liked him. Did a lecture on designing and bench certifying the basetube/downtube corner bracket hardware for a current high performance kingposted glider he was producing. Not consistent with this bullshit he spewed. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.

I have very little background in towing, so I'm just passing this perspective on for your general consideration.

I had no background whatsoever in balloon dropping and no certification whatsoever as an engineer. I just read the available material, built the best balloon drop system on the planet, and fuckin' did it though. 'Stead of spending years talking about I had no background in it.

By the way Bob. DEFINATE has the same root as FINATE - as in "finate resources" or "infinaty".

[Tad Eareckson]

Bob Kuczewski - 2017/08/06 03:57:08 UTC

You know Tad ... I was having that same thought.

Good. An important chunk of hang gliding history to be filled in.

Let me fire up my "way back" machine and see what I can find.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41619
Goodbye Bob K?

Bob Kuczewski - 2015/03/30 20:41:53 UTC

Re: Expelling Bob at great expense is not solving waiver pro

Mark Forbes and the EC control USHPA's lawyer (Tim Herr) and they use USHPA's lawyer (Tim Herr) to intimidate the Board and the members. I saw it up close when I was a USHPA Director and it's at the heart of USHPA's dysfunction.

P.S. I have a series of email messages by Luis Felipe Amunategui, Lisa Tate, and Richard Hass from 2009 that demonstrate this same tactic against Tad Eareckson. Guess which Director stood up for Tad? Rather than jumping on the bandwagon to bring in USHPA's lawyer (Tim Herr) to "make it unpleasant and expensive for [Tad]", I wrote this to the Board:

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.

USHPA never learns from its mistakes.

Didn't really register at the time.

But be prepared that you may not like some of the answers.

Why wouldn't I? Right now hang gliding is so grotesquely corrupt and vile that I automatically despise virtually everybody in it - save for the tiny handful making significant stinks at substantial social cost. I knew and got along well with John Heiney at a couple of gatherings and I knew that he wasn't doing shit about anything that mattered.

Now you can see how USHPA spends the members' money trying to intimidate and silence other members.

I've been able to see that for as long as I can easily remember now.

In this case, I spoke up against legal action (see my other posts), and no legal action was taken against Tad

Wow. Last night I spoke up against a blizzard shutting down I-97 and this morning the roads were clear and dry and traffic was running smoothly. And the phone is ringing off the hook with people thanking me.

That's just another reason USHPA wanted me out.

Not much of one. No impedance whatsoever to what they were gonna do and did to me.

I wasn't another "go along to get along" director that wouldn't speak up.

You were for all intents and purposes in that case. Wasn't your ox getting gored.

They couldn't have that.

It's total bullshit that you risked life and limb standing up against the mob that was gonna lynch me. All you did was make an empty decency gesture in having a professional Industry Sleazebag try to silence me and when that effort failed you were gonna support the lynch mob to preserve u$hPa's dangerous practices / prevent me from doing serious damage to the sport. That's totally in your black and white over in Grebloville.

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

Bob Kuczewski - 2011/02/11 16:13:44 UTC

I remember when I was Regional Director there was a big dust up about Tad back in May of 2009, and some of the Directors were calling for legal action to censor him.

WHAT "LEGAL" action to censor me? u$hPa got special legislation enacted to make it a felony to mail a 1.5 page open letter to a federal government agency? This was a bunch of stupid drunken yahoos making a lot of noise at a stupid boys club meeting.

And at that point I still had a flying career and was trying to work within the system. And what I was doing in regard to those motherfuckers now PALES in comparison to the scorched earth campaign I started waging not long into the history of Kite Strings. So is there another Bob in there who picked up where the old one left off keeping the legal machinery at bay?

- You think u$hPa wanted me in court presenting u$hPa Hang Gliding magazine fatality reports as clear evidence of criminal negligence and manslaughter?

- Or did I cease being a viable legal target when I allowed my membership to expire?

You as an active flying member - both flavors - did all that City Council, expert witness for the plaintiff stuff that went a significant / substantial way to collapse u$hPa's insurance coverage. You DID get repeatedly arrested - but all that was by corrupt city cops operating on behalf of a corrupt Torrey concessionaire and was thrown out as it should have been when it got to court. But when were you in the slightest jeopardy of legal action from u$hPa?

If legal action were ever the least viable weapon for u$hPa to use against us they most assuredly would have. The dynamics now are such that they don't want anybody to so much as mention either of our names / acknowledge our existence. And the silence is conspicuously DEAFENING.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.kitestrings.org/post10386.html#p10386

Bob Kuczewski - 2017/08/05 16:01:34 UTC

You say that you "despise destruction of people's work and obliteration of history" yet I've seen you shuffling posts around and scrambling the names of your bootlickers to cover their misdeeds.

I know this is from a post that you didn't delete quite quickly enough but...

- Can you provide any actual quotes to illustrate any actual examples of all, some, any of that being done? I go to great lengths to maintain all information presented in Kite Strings to be as clear and unambiguous as possible. And shuffling posts - including my own (inevitably) - around is often an important tool I occasionally employ to facilitate that. And:
-- I'm pretty sure most other forum moderators are using that tool for the same purpose
-- you appear to be the only participant or reader that I know about expressing that viewpoint
-- I usually hear about it when readers are having hard times following what's going on

- I don't have or want any bootlickers on Kite Strings. The last thing I want it to be is about Yours Truly. Kite Strings is primarily about aeronautical competence and reform and the goal is to have as many participants as possible equally and fully up to snuff such that we're all redundant. And that's totally doable and we've had a measure of total success.

We function as a team as much as possible, monitor what's going on out in the world, collect data, catch each other's mistakes (and most of the mistakes that get caught now are mine).

And I can't IMAGINE why anyone would have the least interest in licking MY boots. What is it I'm supposed to be oozing or radiating that's making me so attractive/desirable? Fame? Fortune? Enhanced flying opportunities? Seems to me that people tend to pay significant social prices for associating with Yours Truly - abuse, deletions, bannings, curtailing of flying opportunities...

Go to "Board Index" and click "Global moderators". You'll find nineteen distinct individuals representing seven nationalities and five first languages. And a member not on there who prefers not to be has my password. That's twenty individuals with the power to totally demolish Kite Strings in short order. (And so far not a hint of abuse.) Does that look like a bootlicker dynamic to you? Find something else like it. If you're looking for bootlicker culture I'll be happy to give you a few leads. Never found that to be very challenging in this sport.

[bobk]

In reply to your previous post....

Sure, go ahead and try to minimize the efforts of the only Director who stuck his neck out to keep the U$HPA attack dogs from spending 10,000 memberships worth of dues to make it "unpleasant" and "expensive" for you to write a letter to the FAA about your safety concerns.

Better yet, start a zillion post topic trashing the only Director who tried to establish a voting record of the USHPA Board, tried to get fair representation for pilots on the Torrey Pines Soaring Council, and tried to get due process for instructors having their ratings reduced.

Even better than that, boot out anyone who dares to correctly name Jonathan "not-allowed-to-spell-his-last-name-correctly" Deetch because ha's one of your pet bootlickers.

Tad, there's a lot of sickness in USHPA, and you own a fair share of it because you've never been able to put aside your own petty disageements with those who similarly want reforms.

This topic is about breaking USHPA's monopoly grip on flying sites. This little diversion has underscored the need for alternatives to USHPA's corrupt control of hang gliding. Let's stop this endless sniping and get to work on actually fixing it.

With my expulsion - for the reasons listed (testifying in court, speaking at City Council, creating a USHPA competitor) - we have plenty of grounds to remove USHPA requirements at government owned sites. If you or any of your members would like to help ... it would be welcomed. If not, then I won't waste any more time asking.

Thanks.

P.S. Your most recent post (posted while I was composing) doesn't contribute to this topic, so I'm skipping it. That's not intended as an insult. I just don't have the time to go round in circles getting nowhere. We can either find common ground to fix USHPA's monopoly or we can't. That's the purpose of this topic so please honor it.

[Tad Eareckson]

Sure, go ahead and try to minimize the efforts...

I don't need to. I can't see how they'd be much more minimal. Compare/Contrast with the thousands of tons of ammo I've given you by way of covering fire in your conflicts with u$hPa, ACA, San Diego, The Davis Show, Grebloville.

...of the only Director who stuck his neck out to keep the U$HPA attack dogs from spending 10,000 memberships worth of dues to make it "unpleasant" and "expensive" for you to write a letter to the FAA...

Tell me how your neck was endangered by that exercise. What were the possible repercussions? I've never heard of and can't imagine any. Not a whisper even in your kangaroo court expulsion proceedings. Anybody else got anything?

...about your safety concerns.

Yeah Bob. MY safety concerns. Nothing to do with grotesque and universal violations of virtually any FAA regulation and u$hPa SOP you can name. Just Tad's whacko opinion stuff. Thanks. Gotchya. Loud and clear. You'd comment with something of substance but you have very little towing experience.

Better yet, start a zillion post topic trashing the only Director who tried to establish a voting record of the USHPA Board, tried to get fair representation for pilots on the Torrey Pines Soaring Council, and tried to get due process for instructors having their ratings reduced.

- Oh well, we have this topic going now.
- You get trashed and supported with fairness here, Bob. How many other places do you have where you get much of a mix?

Even better than that, boot out anyone who dares to correctly name Jonathan "not-allowed-to-spell-his-last-name-correctly" Deetch...

Kite Strings is a dictatorship functioning ultra benevolently. When Jonathan registered here he requested that he preferred to not have his full name searchable for I don't give a rat's ass what reason(s), I found the request totally reasonable, and spent a day and a half making the edits. I want it kept that way unless/until he tells me different.

And nobody in this game has ever had the least confusion about his name and identity. Can't say the same for one or two of the assholes you had attacking me back at your place in 2011.

(Rick Masters is a megadouchebag and there's no way in hell I'd have him here but ya gotta give him credit for blowing the lid off of the issue of paragliders in turbulence.)

...because ha's one of your pet bootlickers.

Jonathan is MOST ASSUREDLY *NOT* one of my bootlickers. I got flak from him when I was on The Jack Show back in 2009 and I've called him a motherfucker scores of times here before he registered three years ago. And if you check the recent traffic "landing" thread you'll note that I was very much at odds with his position on the "Low Turns to Final" issue. Jonathan's here 'cause he's brought a lot of positive stuff to hang gliding and Kite Strings.

Tad, there's a lot of sickness in USHPA, and you own a fair share of it because you've never been able to put aside your own petty disageements...

Sorry Bob, I don't consider the disagreements I don't put aside to be petty. (Big surprise.)

...with those who similarly want reforms.

This topic is about breaking USHPA's monopoly grip on flying sites.

This topic is about whatever the participants and moderators make of it.

This little diversion has underscored the need for alternatives to USHPA's corrupt control of hang gliding. Let's stop this endless sniping and get to work on actually fixing it.

Is there some universal law that says we can't do both?

With my expulsion - for the reasons listed (testifying in court, speaking at City Council, creating a USHPA competitor) - we have plenty of grounds to remove USHPA requirements at government owned sites. If you or any of your members would like to help ... it would be welcomed.

We have already helped. Despite and BECAUSE of petty disagreements that put us on productive paths we'd have otherwise missed. I'm kinda proud of myself for figuring out what was going on with the Dockweiler Crumb and Cookie Days and the implications. And that took a lot of time and effort and came out of a path you considered a derailment.

If not, then I won't waste any more time asking.

Thanks.

You get what you get here, Bob. And whether you're participating or not it tends to be a lot better than what you'd got from The worlds largest hang gliding community.

P.S. Your most recent post (posted while I was composing) doesn't contribute to this topic...

Funny. I posted it because I considered that it did.

...so I'm skipping it.

You can. Probably be better if you didn't.

That's not intended as an insult. I just don't have the time to go round in circles getting nowhere. We can either find common ground to fix USHPA's monopoly or we can't.

We've already found common ground. Lots of it.

That's the purpose of this topic so please honor it.

That's YOUR purpose. Others might consider it to be A purpose. Lots of threads here develop useful multiple purposes never dreamed of by their creators at the points of their creations.

But you get to estimate the cost/benefit ratio and ration your efforts accordingly. And I think you can rest assured at least that it won't ever be maliciously sabotaged, edited, locked, deleted by some vile little Rooney caliber Industry scumbag - which are pretty common phenomena out in the mainstream.

P.S. Speaking of names...

If you'd prefer to have your user name changed here to what you changed it to back at your site I'll be happy to do that for you.

[bobk]

Continuing on the topic of breaking USHPA's monopoly control of hang gliding ... you wrote this:

What was it you stopped them from legally - or illegally - doing to me? I recall getting my flying career abruptly effectively terminated right about that time. Could I have been looking at prison time for sending an open letter to the FAA? Lethal injection maybe?

Could you provide the details of what happened? It might be helpful to start gathering more examples of USHPA's cartel-like behavoir.

P.S. I'm again ignoring your previous post because it s non-productive to the purpose of this topic. But if USHPA's monopoly played any role in ending your hang gliding career, then that's highly relevent. Thanks.