Joe, its hard to believe but there are gaps of nine years in the U$hGA PG and HG Accident Reports that prevent comparisons from being made. Is this intentional? Members should have spoken up long before now. (Some of the links deliver no pages and many others do not exist or seem to have been removed.)
http://ushpa.aero/safety.asp#accidentreports2005 seems to be the latest report, other than the 2014 Fatality Report, from which a comparison can be drawn. In 2005, there were 3 PG fatalities in the USA but no HG fatalities. Joe Gregor wrote a report that took the place of our traditional USHGA fatality and accident reports, stating a desire to "lead us away from the bi-monthly ‘fatality report’ that this column has unfortunately fallen into, misleading many lay readers into concluding that hang gliding is synonymous with insane risk and near certain death." Of course, our traditional accident reports were written for association members, not lay people. And it is ridiculous to think that lay people come to the U$hPA - what they do is read the newspapers. These reports were initiated by USGHA's first Accident Chairman Robert Wills, Sr., an insurance industry expert, and were continued in the same impeccable fashion by Doug Hildreth, who once wrote me, in a moment of despair, that I seemed to be "the only one who cared" about his efforts. These reports were effective in making hang glider pilots and hang gliding manufacturers improve their art by providing a real look into what was going on in the sport. To me, it is unbelievable to see their work disparaged in this way. It looks to me that around 2005, fatality and injury reporting became a public relations exercise and honest reporting took a nosedive. If I were a U$hPA member, I would run, not walk, to the nearest exit.
When I ask
What have the public liability claims looked like for the past ten years?
my intent is twofold.
First, members of the association should know exactly how many incidents cost what amount of money to their insurer. It is their association and this information is very important to ensure everyone is treated fairly.
Just what is an association? An association is formed when a group of people formally agree to do something together. But they do not and cannot agree to withhold information from certain members. In fact, when I incorporated the XCPA (Cross Country Pilots Association) as a nonprofit in 1983, the books were required by the articles of incorporation to be available to any member.
I think you U$hPA members are perhaps deliberately being kept in the dark because the more dangerous segment of the U$hPA - paragliding and speedflying - finds advantage in concealing this information.Second, knowledge of liability claims is important because
the USHGA has been absorbed by parachuting - a much more dangerous activity. My research indicates that public liability incidents in paragliding (where a member of the public is injured by a soaring parachutist) far outweigh any involving hang gliding. If this is correct,
hang glider pilots are carrying a disproportionate burden of liability insurance costs by being lumped in with parachuting. Paragliding has benefited from this by absorbing a safer sport. It might be a good idea to look into this. Who knows, maybe HG could be insured for a lot less.
Have a look here, first.http://ushpa.aero/safety/fatality_report_2014.pdfAgain, injuries and accidents have no bearing on public liability insurance other than to indicate the relative safety of one sport to another.
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