US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

Rich Hass, Ken Baier (cc/bcc others),

Today I saw the first bulldozer chipping away at the training hill know as the "Bennett Bunny Hill" just to the east of the Torrey Pines Gliderport.

Bill Armstrong and others (including myself) have long been advocating that the Torrey Pines Soaring Council take some kind of action to try to preserve that hill for hang gliding training. Bill has brought the matter to the Council on several occasions. Yet the USHPA representative(s) appointed by Lisa Tate and Rich Hass have done nothing.

And please don't tell me that it's not the Soaring Council's job. I watched for years as Gary Fogel rallied the Council to speak to defend the sailplane runway ... even trying to block the construction of buildings that weren't even on the runway. I even spoke at public meetings in support of Gary's efforts as a sign of goodwill between the gliding groups. That issue dominated the Council's discussions for months and even years (check the minutes). And that was on the EXACT SAME PIECE OF GROUND as the training hill.

So where is the support from the Soaring Council when our training hill is being threatened? Rich, you've "played nice" with the Soaring Council by sustaining Ken Baier as USHPA's representative on the grounds that you wanted someone who could "get along" with the Council. Well, how is that working out now? Now we could use some vigorous support from all the people that Ken has coddled for years. Let's see how well they repay him and USHPA.

Ken, I am asking you to bring this issue to the Council and to get support from them that is comparable to the effort they expended on the sailplane runway. Rich, I am asking for USHPA's support to help stop the destruction of that hill.

Let the record be clear.

Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski

P.S. I will be updating this discussion on the US Hawks forum. Here's a link to my first post related to the topic:

http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1315

By the way, here's just one post I found from well over a year ago (January 17th, 2012) regarding that training hill...

During "New Business", Willy brought up the question of the Training Hill for hang glider training. Several of the Hawks echoed the idea that the training hill would be an asset to the site and would allow training of hang glider pilots. This would allow training of all forms of powerless aviation at the facility. David Metzgar of the San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association resisted the suggestion, and Byron Lowry expressed that it wasn't in the Soaring Council's purview to make suggestions on that property. Bob Kuczewski commented that the Soaring Council was already involved with the sailplane operations on that property, so including the training hill would not be outside of the Council's scope. Bob Kuczewski asked if the Council would endorse the idea, but it wasn't supported by any of the Council members. Bob Kuczewski then asked if the Council would oppose that use of the land, and no representatives voiced opposition either. It was somewhat surprising (and disappointing) that neither the SDHGPA representative (David Metzgar) nor the USHPA representative (Ken Baier) would endorse the use of the land for a training hill.

        From: http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=942&p=4001

Rich, Ken has not only done nothing to support the Hawks, but he's also done nothing to support the growth of hang gliding at Torrey. But then that's consistent with your position as well.

Disgusted,
Bob Kuczewski