Kite Strings

http://USHGRS.org

Let USHGRS possibly file your HG ratings and special skills.
U.S. only.
United States Hang Gliding Rating System
independent of
clubs, corporations, associations, schools, instructors, businesses
to fulfill self-regulation per FAR 103
for recreational hang gliding in the U.S

So Fjordflier, Mike Lake, Jason Rogers, Antoine Saraf, Aleksey Vilkov need not apply.

But Jack Axaopoulos, Brad Barkley, Peter Birren, Pat Denevan, Rich Diamond, Marc Fink, Mark G. Forbes, Tom Galvin, Brad Gryder, Bo Hagewood, Paul Hurless, Sam Kellner, Bob Kuczewski, Dennis Pagen, Cragin Shelton, Mitch Shipley, Davis Straub, Matt Taber, Tracy Tillman, Chris Valley, Ryan Voight, Steve Wendt... Welcome aboard!

In response to a 2018/09/05 17:29:20 UTC PM from Joe... My merit badge stuff:
---
Tad Eareckson - 32674

1980/04/03 - Beginner - Jim Johns
1980/04/07 - Novice - Doug Rice
1982/07/25 - Intermediate - Mark E. Airey
1991/12/17 - Advanced - Santos H. Mendoza
1982/05/15 - Towing Launch - Mark E. Airey
1982/06/26 - Flat Slope Launch - Mark E. Airey
1982/06/26 - Cliff Launch - Mark E. Airey
1982/07/24 - 360 Turns - Mark E. Airey
1982/09/30 - Auxiliary Power - Mark E. Airey
1983/02/26 - Assisted Windy Cliff Launch - Juan Sonen, Jr.
1984/07/05 - Turbulence - John Harris
1985/03/09 - Restricted Landing Field - Jay Gianforte
1986/08/01 - Aero Tow - Jon Leak
1988/04/24 - High Altitude - John G. Woiwode
1988/04/24 - Cross Country - John G. Woiwode
1991/03/27 - Launch - Lester H. Billings:
- Foot
- Tow
1991/12/21 - Radio - William J. Kautter
- Portable
- Vehicular
1993/04/10 - US Amateur Radio Operator - Technician - N3PGE
Basic Instructor
- 1982/06/04 - Mike Robertson
- 1989/06/04 - Dennis Pagen
---
Major assholes:
- Mike Robertson
- Dennis Pagen
- Mark Airey
- Bill Kautter
Middling assholes:
- Santos Mendoza
- Juan Sonen
Good guys:
- Jim Johns
- Jon Leak
Santos Mendoza:
- killed my eight year mentoring project, Frank Sauber, on his shit-rigged scooter tow setup - 1996/04/28
Known dead:
- Jon Leak - heart attack while airborne on an ultralight
- Santos Mendoza - congestive heart failure - 2009/12/02
Majorly permanently physically demolished:
- John Woiwode - crabbing upwind to stay behind platform tow rig - 2005/07/07
---
P.S - 2018/09/05 18:50:00 UTC

And I was under thirty hours away from being a highly overqualified Five on 2008/10/12 (just shy of a decade ago) shortly before my career got ended for me by this totally shit-rigged asshole sport.

Your pilot line at United States Hang Gliding Rating System http://www.ushgrs.org
shows H4

Noted also in USHawks:
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=867&p=23866

My merit badge stuff...

That's it? In all those years you never achieved the Holy Grail of tug pilot. Pathetic.

Wittingly or not, it appears a courtesy rule has been broken.

Indeed. Bragging about one's "merit badge stuff" is a major courtesy rule violation, but I'm going to let it slide this time.

Merit badge stuff...

- Guess I just didn't have the requisite keen intellect and level of righteous stuff of a Bill Moyes, Bobby Bailey, Malcolm Jones, Russell Brown, Bo Hagewood, Trisa Tilletti, Windsor Coggeshall, Brad Gryder, Bill Olive, Mark Knight, Bart Weghorst, Tiki Mashy, Jim Rooney, Paul Tjaden, Mark Frutiger, April Mackin, Zhenya Laritskaya. Really breaks my heart 'cause on prime thermal days I'd have gotten to drive a gas guzzler up and down all day long instead of just making zillions of little circles and hanging out at cloudbase.

- Probably would've never gotten off the ground 'cause I'd have insisted on some pretense of compliance with AT SOPs/regs.

Courtesy... Nice catch, Brian. But Jonathan's concern had to do with web search results and this instance is just an image (versus text) so... Plus he's a Moderator here and thus empowered to do as he likes.

JoeF - 2018/09/17 05:49:33 UTC

Exploring edits and unbanning

Hi Tad,
Exploring editing and unbanning. Have not figured out how to give bobk another go.

Also, I did not receive from you any answer, if sent, about what "end of career" meant re: you.
Best,
Joe

Sorry I haven't yet responded to your email message concerning the circumstances regarding the end of my flying career. But:
- I've been tied up with higher priority stuff
- it's already been covered thoroughly and publicly on this forum

Bob...

No. Bob's HAD *MULTIPLE* other goes at access to Kite Strings and has abused the crap outta the courtesies every single time - as he abused the crap outta his status as a regular member long before I banned him in 2012.

Bob is a sociopath and another major threat to hang gliding as a legitimate branch of aviation. And as long as I have adequate control of the switches here he doesn't EVER post here again.

Kite Strings is a dictatorship and there's never been any pretense to the contrary. I don't like being a dictator but that's how things have gotta be to prevent it from being taken over by u$hPa operatives and destroyed. But I wanna be as benevolent dictator as possible and thus I extended Moderator privileges to all members who'd made positive contributions to the forum. And that was primarily to give them access to the forum similar to mine; allow them to explore; let them seamlessly edit their own posts for typos, grammar issues, clarifications.

And there was an unspoken expectation that those privileges WOULDN'T be used for destructive actions and overriding of others' decisions and actions. And until now I've never had any problems along those lines.

I've rebanned Bob and - to be on the safe side - pulled your Moderator access. I'll consider restoring it if you assure me that you'll never again commit such a clear abuse of those privileges.

P.S. And I wasn't real happy about seeing:

JoeF - 2018/09/13 01:16:45 UTC - Edited post - Tad Eareckson - "Re: instructors and other qualified pilot fiends"
JoeF - 2018/09/13 02:15:52 UTC - Edited post - Tad Eareckson - "Incident Reports - Index"
JoeF - 2018/09/13 03:56:17 UTC - Edited post - Tad Eareckson - "Incident Reports - Index"
JoeF - 2018/09/17 05:13:04 UTC - Edited post - Tad Eareckson - "Re: Weak links"

either.