Alan Crouse - Behind the USHPA Curtain
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 12:31 amI attended the annual Crestline meeting last weekend, and I happened to see USHPA Regional Director Alan Crouse there.
Now Alan and I had been on friendly terms years ago, and I endorsed him very strongly when he first ran for Director.
So I asked him - fairly politely - why he didn't oppose my expulsion from USHPA. I pointed out that I hadn't committed any flying violations. I pointed out that I hadn't violated any SOPs or bylaws. So I wanted to know the basis for his decision*.
But before I give you his answer, I'd like you to take a guess.
Remember that flying has been a big part of my life. I got my private pilot's license and a seaplane rating in the late 70's. I first flew a hang glider in 1978 and my senior project for my Aeronautical Engineering degree was a model hang glider that I tested in the university wind tunnel. I made my first paragliding flights around 1990, and I've been flying very regularly for the past dozen years. I've joined clubs. I've helped start clubs. I've devoted time to outreach. I've mentored pilots, and I even served on the USHPA Board. In the last 12 years I've invested uncounted thousands of dollars on lessons, travel, and equipment in the sports of hang gliding and paragliding, and I've earned an advanced rating in both sports. In all that time, I never took a dime for my efforts. I didn't even ask for the customary travel reimbursement for attending USHPA Board meetings because I didn't want to take a dime from the pilots.
So with all that I've invested, you might expect that USHPA would have a very very very good reason to expel me and effectively remove my ability to fly. Have you guessed it yet?
Here's what Alan Crouse said with a straight face:
"We didn't want you to be able to tell people that you were a USHPA member."
Did you get that? Was that what you had guessed?
In other words all the lies that they sent out accusing me of doing things I didn't do was all a smoke screen to get rid of me because ... they didn't want me to be able to say that I was a USHPA member.
What kind of an organization has this become?
Are these the people we should be trusting with our "freedom" to fly?
* Correction from earlier post.
Now Alan and I had been on friendly terms years ago, and I endorsed him very strongly when he first ran for Director.
So I asked him - fairly politely - why he didn't oppose my expulsion from USHPA. I pointed out that I hadn't committed any flying violations. I pointed out that I hadn't violated any SOPs or bylaws. So I wanted to know the basis for his decision*.
But before I give you his answer, I'd like you to take a guess.
Remember that flying has been a big part of my life. I got my private pilot's license and a seaplane rating in the late 70's. I first flew a hang glider in 1978 and my senior project for my Aeronautical Engineering degree was a model hang glider that I tested in the university wind tunnel. I made my first paragliding flights around 1990, and I've been flying very regularly for the past dozen years. I've joined clubs. I've helped start clubs. I've devoted time to outreach. I've mentored pilots, and I even served on the USHPA Board. In the last 12 years I've invested uncounted thousands of dollars on lessons, travel, and equipment in the sports of hang gliding and paragliding, and I've earned an advanced rating in both sports. In all that time, I never took a dime for my efforts. I didn't even ask for the customary travel reimbursement for attending USHPA Board meetings because I didn't want to take a dime from the pilots.
So with all that I've invested, you might expect that USHPA would have a very very very good reason to expel me and effectively remove my ability to fly. Have you guessed it yet?
Here's what Alan Crouse said with a straight face:
"We didn't want you to be able to tell people that you were a USHPA member."
Did you get that? Was that what you had guessed?
In other words all the lies that they sent out accusing me of doing things I didn't do was all a smoke screen to get rid of me because ... they didn't want me to be able to say that I was a USHPA member.
What kind of an organization has this become?
Are these the people we should be trusting with our "freedom" to fly?
* Correction from earlier post.
