US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

al hernandez wrote:Title: Jack Axaopoulos Hangglidng.Org Puts freedom of speech 2 stop

From AL, I am pissing on your turff, see if this brings the monkey out of the cage
After reading all the crap that you do to people Whacko Jacko, and silent whoever you want Like, Noman, Scott Wise, Tad, Bob and who knows how many others
Who the F do you think you are fool
silent this MF.
Actually, your Hang glidng Org. SUCKS as much as you do fool
Whacko Jacko, you can exclude me from being a part of this f#cked up forum
Take your hang glidng. ORG and Shove IT where the sun doesn't shine, way up in there MF.
freedom of speech : ) I've said all I needed to say, Forever on this F%ucked up site (A Dios) Puto

USHPA is supposed to do this, but they won't set up a forum because they don't want to have to answer to their members. For example, if they set up a members forum, then members might ask how their individual Directors are voting. The Directors don't want to go on record and that would become an instant embarrassment. There are dozens of issues (similar to open voting) where the USHPA leadership would be embarrassed by the questions their members ask. That's why they won't support an open forum.

hanggliding.org is the largest forum we have in the sport, but it's run by Jack Axaopoulos (sg) who decides who can post and what can be posted. He's kicked off several people who've been critical of him (Tad, Scott, Noman and Bob, AL Hernandez are three examples). Because of Jack's temper (and threats) others are afraid to speak out. This is in violation of his own rules which claim that criticising the moderator won't get you banned. Ask Scott Wise (wingspan) about that one or view the topic where many hanggliding.org members asked to have me reinstated.

al hernandez wrote:Title: Hangglidng.Org rules!

But I like to touch little boys.

Jack offered to give us our own forum. At the time, I thought it was very generous

I was slightly concerned that it wasn't registered to the Hawks, but I had trusted Jack and so I didn't press the issue (my mistake).

That same pattern repeated itself when I started the HGAA. Jack volunteered to give us our own forum, and again, he registered the domain name and gave himself absolute control of the forum

So when Jack and I found ourselves disagreeing, he used his power to control the HGAA forum and then, He kicked people off of the HGAA forum without any approval from the HGAA Transition Team, and he kicked people off of the Torrey Hawks forum without any approval from our Board (where I was President!!). He knew I'd raise these issues on hangglidng.org, and that's why he kicked me off there as well. Several people began asking to have me reinstated on hanggliding.org, and Jack sunk that topic to the basement right away (he can do that himself regardless of any vote count). Even with it in the basement and hidden from view, Jack locked that topic so no one else could comment. Since when does Jack lock topics in the basement? What is he afraid of down there?

Code: Select all

Someone has been hanging around some koo koo people it seems. The effect is clear

Bye bye al, now go cry censorship with your little pity party friends. Its what you wanted to accomplish, keyboard warrior

Interpretation: AL you B**** slapped me in front of everyone and you have accomplished what you wanted, now in re-turn I get to delete what you posted and Re-write what I want about you because I have control of my Word-Press on my web-page... and you hang around with the HAWKS you are now my enemy.

bobk wrote:Hi Al (and Tad, and Scott, and ....),

There's been a lot of injustice in this sport, and I do hope we can fix it. But when all else fails, please remember one of my favorite quotes:

"The best revenge ... is living well."

The best thing we can do to counter these injustices is work to build a better organization here. We should constantly work to make people want to join us. Sure, there will be people who will come here because they've seen the injustices. But we also have to make this site welcoming to those who haven't seen it and who don't know the history of what's been happening. That's the real challenge and I'd like each of us to try to balance some of our "political" posts with some just plain fun or informative posts.

I just got an email message from a new member who was concerned about all the negativity. We can't let this become the complainer's forum. So please look for opportunities to post fun and interesting information. Please strive to at least make one "non-political" post for every "political" post you make. That will go a long way.

bobk wrote:Al's last post ended with "Everything has a place and time and time will tell all things". That's very very true Al. So let's enjoy some of our time on this forum and let that time work its magic.

Thanks,
Bob Kuczewski

billcummings wrote:Greetings! 1st post from me. (Bill C.)
I said nothing as I took down my Avatar and up dated my personal information by deleting all I could.

I left hang gliding dot org.

So if anything is posted, back there, in my name, since I signed on here, it didn’t come from me.

While I was there at hg dot org I said nothing disrespectful about anyone. If something shows up there that looks disrespectful it was not of my doing.

I was researching sg and US Hawks these past few days and the trick with Al was the straw the broke the camel’s back where I was concerned.

This site looks like it will be my new hang out.

Speaking ill of others or their ideas, and name calling wastes time that would be better spent advancing the sport.

I put up a link to this Hawks site on our clubs message board: http://www.rgsa.info/

I asked the members there to check out the Hawks site since I like what I’m seeing here.
Bill C.

Skyting newsletters

>
If I still had his 25 year old newsletters I'd scan and post them.

Would that be copyright infringement?
<

Probably - which is why, at this time, I'm sending this to you individually.

I've spent some time with John Woiwode - road tripped with him to Chattanooga when he participated in the '88 Nationals, took a hop on his Magic IV, helped fish him out of a tree at Hyner where he parked a demo glider.

I've read that Wyoming crash report a zillion times and missed the primary cause every one of them. What he did was so incredibly stupid that I blanked on those two sentences 'cause I couldn't comprehend that someone like him was capable of it.

If you need to, take a look 1982/11 Skyting issue to see Donnell almost kill himself the same way.

Since reading your post and having that ten thousand watt lightbulb come on I've reviewed some other lockout incidents. This same bulls*** was the cause definitely of one severe crash, quite likely of the Richard Graham fatality, possibly of the Debbie Young fatality, possibly of a non injury platform lockout crash.

And check this one out carefully:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=18868
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ilD-0Mw_9qg

  Moderator's Note:    Link now at: http://forum.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=18868.  

Frank Sauber was I guy I met on my first weekend of lessons (Easter, 1980) at Kitty Hawk Kites. Much love for hang gliding but little aptitude and acrophobic. I worked with him, signed him off on his Two, and did a zillion weekend trips with him.

Seventeen years ago after a little truck towing he submitted an article on it to the DC club newsletter. He said to stay behind the truck. I said "NO, point at the truck." He rewrote the article and I reviewed it. He said to maintain the same heading as the truck. I said "NO, POINT AT THE TRUCK." He eventually grudgingly got something acceptable into print but a little over two years later was killed in a scooter tow lockout.

Makes ya wonder.

Anyway... Good call - that one always REALLY bothered me.

>
Ask Doctor Hewett to list for you the issues that need to be addressed for a safe tow flight.
<

Doctor Hewett, for all his good intentions and extensive efforts, was - and pretty much is - largely CLUELESS. He got one thing partially right for the wrong reasons and damn near everything else backwards - and that's translated to a lot of death and destruction over the years. If you're using a Hewett Bridle and light weak links - and you are - you don't understand the physics of towing any better than he does.

If you wanna understand towing after thirty years of Dark Ages and how to get it out of the deep and deadly hole he dug for us, you're welcome to participate in the forum Zack set up for me a couple months ago.

http://kitestrings.prophpbb.com/

  Moderator's Note:    Link now at: http://kitestrings.org.  

Otherwise...

MAJOR thanks for the Woiwode catch, bye,
Tad