trying to save HG

[SamKellner]

Hello Hawks,

Did any other of you get this invitation? Ed Pitman is also sales/mfg. of Dragonfly UL designed by Bill Moyes and Bobby Bailey, specifically to tow hang gliders.


Ed Pitman <ed@flyul.org>
To:
Sam Kellner

Apr 28 at 2:12 PM

Dear Sam Kellner
I would like to introduce you to American Ultralight Association Inc. http://www.flyul.org

We are here to simply support and assist our membership! Conducting your flying including your Basic Instruction Privileges.

Here are a few ways we can help you:

1) Cost savings.

2) No Insurance requirements. Insurance is a personal choice as every members circumstances often vary greatly.

2.1) We advise numerous ways for you to meet your insurance needs.

3) AUA Exemption is much more simple, but just as effective. We Don't have clauses that are designed to hook you and force continued dues and fees.

3.1) Exemption requires "AUA shall also have a procedure to rescind this authority when needed".. FAA requires for justified reasons, not political or economic reasons.

4) AUA Pilot Ratings (and Equivalent ratings) like FAA ratings are a lifetime issuance. Currency is the variable, but they are logbook endorsements except for CFI's which require refresher every 2 years to remain current.

5) AUA has all your ratings etc, Listed on your Card. No need to access via internet.

6) We don't sit on big piles of money. (which becomes bait for legal actions.) AUA is solely a Member service organization.

7) Our goals are to keep dues to a minimum, and look forward to dues reductions, not increases.

8) AUA is a Tax Exempt 501(c)(3) but unlike USHPA we don't sit on your money. We feel the member should sit on their own money.

9) No Temporary Memberships, or mandated Instructor record keeping required, Accident/Incident reports are not mandated, simply requested, and always confidential.

10) We don't track or dictate your business practices.

11) All 50 states have some form of Landowner Liability Exemption for Recreational use.

12) We are here to simply help our membership keep their right to fly ultralight vehicles!

Visit our website: http://www.flyul.org Membership Application and Rating Programs are there.

Best Regards! Ed Pitman President, American Ultralight Assoc. Inc.

[Bob Kuczewski]

WOW!!!

They may be the solution for hang gliding!!!

Someone had directed me to them recently, and I did a quick scan of their web site, but I wasn't sure if they could help with USHPA's insurance stranglehold. It's cool that they're reaching out directly to hang glider pilots.

[SamKellner]

Also they are using each state's liability recreational hold harmless laws.

11) All 50 states have some form of Landowner Liability Exemption for Recreational use.

They already have FAA exemption for tandem instruction

[Bill Cummings]

Yes, PG instructor Hadley Robinson forwarded this to the RGSAgoglegroups email.
The area's local hang gliding and paragliding club, RGSA, during it January meeting, motioned and passed that only insurance required by a land owner will be bought.
In other words no club money will be spent on insurance unless it is required.
The club also removed language that to be a RGSA member you also had to be a USHPA member.
I, Bill Cummings was happy about this change as it allowed myself and four others to join the RGSA. All had dropped their membership with the USHPA.
Another Honorary Member (HM) in the RGSA also dropped membership with the USHPA.
There were still enough members in the club to meet the 70% rule of the USHPA so the RGSA is able to meet chapter-ship and qualify for insurance for those
club members that fly sites where land managers require it.
I have chosen to withdraw my support of any flying event that requires insurance.
I have dropped back into recreational hang gliding only and carry with me a copy of the Hold Harmless Act of New Mexico.
The "ACT" protects land owners and managers from liability caused from recreational activity on their land where there is
neither a fee nor a invitation.

[Rick Masters]

Evidence of an earthquake

Bill might be an oldie-but-goodie but he's a perfect representation of the new hang glider pilot.
Those who join philosophies with Bill will form the ranks of the new hang gliding resurgence.
Note how now dropping connections with USHPA helps the club grow stronger.
The landscape is changing. This is an inflexion point.

I have chosen to withdraw my support of any flying event that requires insurance.
I have dropped back into recreational hang gliding only and carry with me a copy of the Hold Harmless Act of New Mexico.
The "ACT" protects land owners and managers from liability caused from recreational activity on their land where there is
neither a fee nor a invitation.

Hang gliding is dying?    
Don't panic!!!!!!!!!!

There are a lot of trainers out there.
If you can think back to the days before the parasitic commercialization of hang gliding,
you will remember that most pilots learned from other pilots.
Not in schools. Out at the flying sites.
It would be easy enough to go back to those times - this time without divergent gliders -
when hang glider pilots were measured in the tens of thousands.
All you have to do is make it a habit to throw that trainer on your truck every time.
After that novice picks you up from your flight, pick out some nice little slope and show him how its done for an hour or so.
This is how you save hang gliding (or a bean field).
You seed it.

We are likely due to witness the USHPA decline as more hang glider pilots leave and it becomes more of an insurance of last resort to mostly paragliding businesses.
This is going to create a lot of opportunities for other people to build competing hang gliding and hybrid organizations.
Some won't work; some won't last; some will be scams; some will head off in the wrong direction.
I like the idea of running off a slope with a recreational, negative-rated, defined airfoil on my back.
That's not too complicated.

[SamKellner]

United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Assn Inc. (USHPA)
10 hrs

The Board of Directors voted 14-7 last Saturday to send the latest evolution of the governance proposal to the USHPA membership for a vote. This version was revised significantly following member feedback this summer. If passed, the proposal would reduce the board to 10 nationally elected members representing 5 regions, with a focus on diversity and other details that are still being worked out.

Directors’ comments on the proposal:
--“Change is difficult for organizations, but change they must to evolve and survive. After much spirited and respectful discussion at the last few BOD meetings, the motion to move this proposal forward to the membership has passed. I feel it is time to have a leaner, meaner, more cost-effective board that can move faster to address the issues facing the sports today.” (Bill Belcourt, region 4)
--“We don’t know if this is the answer, but we do know we have to do something. If we don’t do anything, we’re still in stasis.” (Paul Gazis, region 2)
--“I believe the new governance proposal is mutually beneficial for all through the continuation of regional representation and a model of greater diversity among board membership. The proposal promotes increased innovation and flexibility in meeting our mission and more responsiveness to our membership, especially in times of high need.” (Doyle Johnson, region 7)
--“Let’s look at the future of what we want as an organization. Maybe [in the new board] we wouldn’t be reflecting the diversity of what we have right now, but it’s an accurate representation of what we want our diversity to be 5 to 10 years down the road.” (Robert Booth, region 2)
—“[We should] put all this stuff off for a couple years and get [our] own house in order. Get this stuff under control, then hand it off to your 10-member board. Right now you’re handing this off to 10 people and expecting them to fix it and keep us from drowning ourselves.” (Tiki Mashy, region 6 and 11)
—“[The member feedback] was [more than] 2 to 1 in favor of the smaller board. It would be an egregious mistake for this board to say, ‘We’re not going to listen to the members again,’ because that’s how it’ll come down if we turn this down. Voting for this thing is not passing it, all we’re doing today is giving the members an opportunity to make their own decision.” (Rich Hass, region 1)

The membership vote will take place this winter. The final version will be posted soon (and approved by the board). The version discussed by the board at the meeting is available here: https://www.ushpa.org/member/governance-proposal-2018

Sounds like they are all into diversity, again. With less representation.

Not sure what Tiki Mashy was trying to say but I'm convinced Tiki and Bart are doing good at Cowboy UP in Wharton, Tx.

[Rick Masters]

I wouldn't expect this bunch to do much to save hang gliding.
They won't even acknowledge 5 of the 6 US citizens that have died paragliding so far this year.
That's exactly what a sleazy paragliding group would do to try to look good.
Did you see the steepening decline in HG membership? Like rats leaving a sinking ship.
I hear a toilet flushing.
By 2020 there'll be nothing left but a paragliding club with a lousy bi-monthly magazine and really expensive insurance,
screaming at the top of their lungs that little paragliders aren't paragliders and thinking somebody's listening.    

[Bob Kuczewski]

Just an observation from the Oz Forum:

20181029_004138.png (63.68 KiB) Viewed 11195 times

The top three active topics are all about paragliding.

As many of you know, I fly both HG and PG (advanced ratings in both). I started both the Torrey Hawks Hang Gliding Club and the U.S. Hawks Hang Gliding Association not because I dislike paragliding, but because I don't want to see hang gliding become a "second class citizen" at our flying sites.

Hang gliding is declining - in part - because USHPA really doesn't care as long as paragliding picks up the slack. The same appears to be true at the Oz Forum.