[Bob Kuczewski]

Hello Fellow Board Members,

Our friend "Serge from the North" is bringing us what I would call another "happy problem". Serge has applied for a US Hawks rating based on his Canadian rating. I originally misread his post thinking that he had a USHPA rating, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I looked up Serge's rating on the HPAC web site and found this:

Name	City, Province, Country	Mem #	Expires	HAGAR #	HG Rating	PG Rating	Club
Serge Lamarche	Golden, BC, Canada	122	26-May-2018	P277148	Advanced TS CR	-	Golden Hang Gliding & Paragliding Club

So now it falls on us to decide what kind of policy we want to establish for such rating transfers.

Since this topic might benefit from input from Serge (and others with international experience), I suggest that we hold an open discussion here in this topic before starting any private discussions by the Board. If anyone (Board Members or not) has any thoughts or suggestions on how to handle the HPAC ratings or other international ratings, please post them to help us come up with a good responsible policy.

Thanks.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Update:

I just went to HPAC web site to see what it takes to be an HPAC member (which I might look into). They have several downloadable forms here: http://hpac.ca/pub/?pid=96

Their Application form has a section on Foreign Ratings:

Foreign Rating (if no HPAC rating yet): HG: _________________ PG: ____________________
Country: __________ Association & Membership #: ________________ Date (Y-M-D): _____
Foreign-rated new members should submit their foreign documentation to an HPAC-certified instructor for an in-person review and
flight test. The HPAC-certified instructor can then submit an HPAC rating at their discretion. A copy of the foreign rating certification
must be sent in by the HPAC instructor reviewing the rating and assigning an HPAC rating.

So it looks like they require an "in-person review and flight test" and they leave it to an instructor to make the call "at their discretion".

[Rick Masters]

If it was up to me, anyone who comes to the Hawks with an advanced rating from a foreign country gets a Hawks advanced rating.
I've held international invitational USHGA competitions where I've peen prepared to issue Advanced ratings as USHGA Special Observer on site, all with the approval of the USHGA president.
That's how it worked in the old days.
The only extra info an experienced foreign pilot needs is FAA airspace restrictions and local flying site policies.
This meets the FAA expectation that we self-regulate our sport.
It is all that is necessary. Keep your eye on that ball.
If you continue down this path with closer examination and tests and insurance you get the USHPA.
My advice is to keep things as simple as possible.
If they've already got a rating, award them a hawks rating.
If they want a towing endorsement, have a Hawks Special Observer at the Chapter towing site sign them off.
Leave the extra stuff to the Chapters.
If you do this, you don't end up with a big super headache.

[Bill Cummings]

If it was up to me, anyone who comes to the Hawks with an advanced rating from a foreign country gets a Hawks advanced rating.
I've held international invitational USHGA competitions where I've peen prepared to issue Advanced ratings as USHGA Special Observer on site, all with the approval of the USHGA president.
That's how it worked in the old days. .
The only extra info an experienced foreign pilot needs is FAA airspace restrictions and local flying site policies.
This meets the FAA expectation that we self-regulate our sport.
It is all that is necessary. Keep your eye on that ball.
If you continue down this path with closer examination and tests and insurance you get the USHPA.
My advice is to keep things as simple as possible.
If they've already got a rating, award them a hawks rating.
If they want a towing endorsement, have a Hawks Special Observer at the Chapter towing site sign them off.
Leave the extra stuff to the Chapters.
If you do this, you don't end up with a big super headache.

Even though I have my roots in towing hang gliders I think Rick is correct with his suggestion.
I can carry on with my towing at a local level. Maybe even think of it like flying a glider beyond the HGMA's
recommended limitations (60º bank/roll and 30º pitch with the horizon.) Anyone doing aerobatics will be doing
so without US Hawks approval.
How do the world meets deal with out of country rating equivalency?

[Bob Kuczewski]

I found this cute quote on Wikipedia. As you read the numbers, remember that it was written in 1984 when 10 MHz was blazingly fast and 1 megabyte was still a lot of RAM:

Imagine that Cray computer decides to make a personal computer. It has a 100 MHz processor, 20 megabytes of RAM, 500 megabytes of disk storage, a screen resolution of 1024 X 1024 pixels, relies entirely on voice recognition for input, fits in your shirt pocket and costs $3,000. What's the first question that the computer community asks?

        "Is it PC compatible?"

                                — InfoWorld, February 1984

As we issue ratings in the United States, the most common question we'll be asked is: "Are your ratings USHPA compatible?".   We need to be able to answer very simply: "Yes."