US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

It gives me no great pleasure to announce that Tad's account has been suspended.

This is a sad day for the US Hawks, and I wish I could have found some other way to handle this situation.

I apologize to everyone (including Tad) that I could not find a better way.

It was never my intention to disgrace Tad, and I was disappointed that he felt the need to post his "confession" to the forum. So I've asked Rick if we could move this topic to the "Free Speech Zone" where it will be less prominent. Rick was kind enough to agree, and so I've just done that.

Can someone help with contact info for Tad?
I want to wish him well this Christmas season and possibly get help in restoring my login privilege at Kitestrings.

Let's talk, Tad.
Warren

I believe Tad still reads this forum, but I'll be sure to get the message to him. I've been talking to Tad on the phone for quite some time, and I'll either pass it along by phone or post on Kite Strings.

I wish you well this Christmas also, and it's very kind of you to think of Tad.

Bob Kuczewski

bobk wrote:I believe Tad still reads this forum, but I'll be sure to get the message to him. I've been talking to Tad on the phone for quite some time, and I'll either pass it along by phone or post on Kite Strings.

I wish you well this Christmas also, and it's very kind of you to think of Tad.

Bob Kuczewski

Same to you, Bob.
I'm wishing all of us well this Christmas.. and on.
Division is to our own detriment.
Here's hoping that we can all come together for common cause and good will.

Merry Christmas, folks!
Warren

This summer will be the 7th anniversary of the founding of the US Hawks. A lot of history has flowed through this site in that 7 years.

The sentiments expressed by Warren above are consistent with my own view. I don't wish ill on anyone, including Tad. And from time to time I stop by his site (kitestrings.org) to see how things are going. I hadn't posted there in years (he's banned me on and off), but I recently saw this snippet in one of Tad's posts:

Tad Eareckson on March 6th, 2017 (topic: Re: open phones) wrote:From my perspective the mission of Kite Strings has (d)evolved since its inception over half a dozen years ago. The original goal/hope was to reform the sport. "We" now understand why things are like they are and that reform on any significant scale is not a possibility. I now see the primary mission as doing as much damage as possible to the corrupt commercial motherf***ers who hijacked the sport from the recreational pilot decades ago - and ditto for their enablers (99 percent of current participants).

That post also mentioned that Tad had "entered a phase of serious burnout (and (even more) substantial depression) months ago".

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Tad, and I know how hard it's been to reform the sport of hang gliding (believe me, I really know). I had originally invited Tad to join us in 2010, but as time went on, his desire for doing damage to 99% of hang gliding participants (the last sentence in his quote) became all too apparent. Even so, and after many years of not posting to KiteStrings, I broke my silence with the following post to that same KiteStrings topic ("open phones"):

Bob Kuczewski on May 5th, 2017 (topic: Re: open phones) wrote:

Tad wrote:From my perspective the mission of Kite Strings has (d)evolved since its inception over half a dozen years ago. The original goal/hope was to reform the sport. "We" now understand why things are like they are and that reform on any significant scale is not a possibility. I now see the primary mission as doing as much damage as possible to the corrupt commercial motherf***ers who hijacked the sport from the recreational pilot decades ago - and ditto for their enablers (99 percent of current participants).

There are many people who want to reform the sport. You've alienated almost all of them ... making the job that much harder.

USHPA's monopoly is at the heart of the problem. You won't reform the sport until that monopoly grip is loosened. Every time you fire a shot at any USHPA competitor, you also shoot your self (and your goal of reform) in the foot. There's nothing that makes the USHPA insiders happier than seeing their critics fighting among themselves.

Your posting of the Brad Geary frames, on the other hand, was excellent. Thanks for making that major effort.

In short order Tad's gang was on the attack. Even worse, a number of posts (including mine, but not Tad's that I'd quoted) were moved to another topic ("The Bob Show"). This took them completely out of context and made them very difficult to follow. I protested in the original ("open phones") topic:

Bob Kuczewski on May 5th, 2017 (topic: Re: open phones) wrote:For the record ... my posts to this topic (which were in direct response to Tad's post above) have been moved to another topic.

Mutilation of history often starts with the smallest of steps.

That post brought this reply from the screen name of "Steve Davy":

Steve Davy on May 5th, 2017 (topic: Re: open phones) wrote:Post in "The Bob Show" thread if you're going to post on this site, Bob. If you choose to post in any other threads I will kick you out of here.

"Steve Davy" will kick me out of KiteStrings? My reply was short and to the point:

Bob Kuczewski on May 5th, 2017 (topic: Re: open phones) wrote:Go ahead. Show everyone what this site is really all about.

That's when Tad jumped in with a typically long post that started out with this:

Tad Eareckson on May 5th, 2017 (topic: Re: open phones) wrote:OK Bob. Done. 2017/05/05 12:11:25 UTC.
...

That's how I was banned from KiteStrings on Cinco de Mayo, 2017.

If you read the actual topics, it can be a bit hard to follow since the posts had been moved around. It's also hard to know if any of the content had been (or will be) altered. But that's what's happening at KiteStrings.

As I said at the beginning, I do have some sympathy for Tad. He's also trying to reform a sport controlled by the powerful insiders at USHPA.

But we part company at Tad's need to take pot shots at others who are similarly working for reform. The US Hawks are not Tad's enemy, and I don't see Tad (or KiteStrings) as our enemy. But somehow Tad can't get past his need to tear us down because we don't agree on everything. I think that's short-sighted and destructive of the reform efforts in general. I would welcome a change, but I'm not expecting it.

I don't want to get into a long drawn out discussion about Tad and KiteStrings (there's been enough of that already). But I did want to document what's happened so people can get a better view of the sad state of hang gliding forums.

Thanks to Rick for starting this "Discuss Tad here" topic back in 2011. When I went looking for a place to put this recent news, I searched for "Tad" in topic titles (titles only). Here's what I found:

  Tad's nightmare post (tough on server) by Bob Kuczewski - Mon Jul 18, 2011 2:05 pm
  Input from Tad please. by Bill Cummings - Fri Jul 29, 2011 6:58 pm
  Discussion with Tad about Towing / Foot Launch by TadEareckson - Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:53 pm
  Tad Eareckson ...an ongoing project by Nobody - Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:42 pm
  Discuss Tad here by Rick Masters - Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:57 pm
  Tad Towing Winch Kingsville by DarthVader - Mon Dec 05, 2011 8:53 pm
  Tad by DarthVader - Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:07 pm
  Complaints about Tad by Jacmac - Tue Jan 13, 2015 11:36 am
  Review of Tad Eareckson's Ban from US Hawks by Bob Kuczewski Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:06 pm

Somehow the one titled: "Discuss Tad here" was as appropriate as I could find. Thanks Rick.   

Once again, it brings me no pleasure to post in this topic. But I feel compelled to report that posts are now being changed on the KiteStrings forum in order to protect Tad's supporters like Jonathan Dietch.

It's ironic that Tad has spent considerable effort to try to find (and post) the real names of anyone he doesn't like, but he will actually edit out the name "Dietch" (or is it "Deitch"?) to protect one of his supporters. I dared to edit the name back into my post and I was instantly banned.

I've come to expect this from Jack Axaopoulos and Davis Straub, but it's sad to see Tad falling into that trap. Despite the many areas where Tad and I have disagreed, he's always been meticulous about preserving every punctuation mark on his site. It makes me wonder how Jonathan Dietch has so much influence over him.

While the source of Jonathan's influence over Tad may remain a mystery, the thing I can report for certain is that posts on kitestrings.org have been altered against the wishes of the person making the post.

I am writing to again document that posts are being changed and moved on the kitestrings.org web site. The most recent round of mutilation happened within the week prior to this post.

I want to again state that such alterations are destructive to the history of hang gliding and the history of humanity in general.

Yesterday (2020/05/23), Tad posted this regarding the November 9th, 2014 Torrey incident:

Tad Eareckson wrote:You were shooting video of a routine beginning level paragliding class in which zero violations of anything - FAA regs; u$hPa SOPs; federal, state, county, city laws or ordinances; park rules - were being committed. Cite something as evidence to the contrary.

That's easy ...


I downloaded that document less than 30 days after the incident, and I believe it was in effect at the time of the incident.

I placed a few phone calls to Tad to ask that he correct his post before I posted this answer to his challenge. He did not answer any of those calls.

I placed those calls because I feel it's far better to have people making truthful and accurate postings in the first place than to have to discredit them later with the facts. Unfortunately, that's not under my control.

Tad Eareckson wrote:You were shooting video of a routine beginning level paragliding class in which zero violations of anything - FAA regs; u$hPa SOPs; federal, state, county, city laws or ordinances; park rules - were being committed. Cite something as evidence to the contrary.

Maybe this will help you Tad ...



There's nothing wrong with being wrong. The folly is not admitting it quickly and getting it behind you.

That's the lesson that USHPA has yet to learn.