US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

Most of You know by now that I pounded Myself into the Ground, it will Be 12 years ago on March 28th. Well after the time I spent in a Coma. When I could speak, and to be able to think both of which I could barely do at that time. My Friend Pilot-X came to see Me. Take note Pilot-X is called Pilot-X because He absolutely does not want anyone to know if and when He is Flying. Call it paranoia, but it works for X to do the stealthy way of operating His Flying career. I do not get itm, but I comply with His wishes that help X in His mind anyways stay undercover. Heck X We all know who You are.

OK BACK TO MY STORY;

So there I was flat on My Back in Bed at a place where I would be living for a long while, a Hospital Well Pilot X came into the room. I asked X; Are there any good Pilots here to see Me? Or is it just You?" Well I pounded My Predator on aCross Country Flight that started out at our local Mountain site here in the Bay Area of Northern California. The first thought that I had while laying there on My Back was; Due to the fact that My Flight had begun on the Best place to launch from. That Mountain is here in the S-F East Bay Area Bay Area. I said tio X; "Would the fact that My Flight had began up the Mountain, and that I had opounded? Would this hurt our Flying negatively at the number one Launch site in the S-F Bay Area?" X told Me; "That He did not think so".

Yes My first concern was; That My poor job of dealing with High winds would Hurt Pilot's ability to Fly, Yes to Launch from this Great site.

So I am almost 12 Years into recovering from My last Flight. Well this May I should be flying down at Dockweiler Beach in May. I hope to meet some of You. Good By. Also remember these two things; It is Cloud base or higher, and A Day without XC is like a Day without SunShine.1Annita was so Correct.

Hello all You Fellow Hawks You.

Why don't You check out My response to a comment on one of My Posts. I have no idea who this Gal is, nor what she wants, or has to offer Me. I just sent Her this so that She Might be able to get a general Rough idea of Who I am and some of My Flying Mishap. You know, I truly do believe that before a Doctor Writes off a Patient as Dead-Meat, they should at least have the Decency to let the situation play out, Not simply make declarations of Doom based on BS!


https://www.erikajklein.com/contact

Chris, I suspect that you were put into contact with Erika Klein via this post on hanggliding.org:

To spice up Your anticipation on the beach fun with the Condor,
You could look up what Ms Erika K. (http://www.erikajklein.com) publishes from her her experiences on Instagram ( @erika.j.klein ).
She has some very impressive short clips of her progress. :mosh:
Tons of fun ahead !

Erika Klein was a young friend of Windsports about a decade ago. I believe she was a sincerely nice person, but she got caught up in the corruption at USHPA. She was hired as USHPA's Communications Director (PR person) some time around 2018, and she wrote "puff pieces" about hang gliding while ignoring the corruption that she surely saw first hand.

As a side note, Erika Klein was answering the phones at USHPA Headquarters when I called to ask about the ratings of the two pilots killed at Torrey in the 2019 mid-air collision between Glenn Bengtsson and Raul Valerio. It turns out that Frank Colver had known Raul from many years prior to the accident. The following post recounts my phone call with Erika Klein at that time:

Bob Kuczewski wrote:I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your friend Frank.

As I read through the accident reports, there's been a careful skirting of the pilot's ratings, so I called USHPA to find out directly. I spoke to Erika Klein and introduced myself as Bob Kuczewski. I asked for the rating of Glenn Bengtsson. Erika looked it up and confirmed that he was a member with a number over either 100,000 or 101,000 (very recent numbers). Erika said it was very "weird" that no other information was showing. Then she began asking why I wanted to know. I told her that he was one of the pilots involved in the Torrey Pines collision. Then I asked for Raul Valerio's rating. That's when Erika said she would transfer me to their Executive Director Martin Palmaz. Martin didn't answer so I left a message.

At this point I am suspecting that your friend was a victim of the same kinds of gross negligence that injured Shannon Hamby a few years back.

This is Bryan's speech from September of 2018. Note his comments about crowding and the students just being put out there. Bryan expressed concern for safety. Watch it carefully.

After my conversation with Erika Klein, USHPA again circled the wagons to protect Air California Adventure. To my knowledge, Erika Klein has never spoken up about the abuses and atrocities that she's seen swept under the carpet at USHPA. Instead, she rode the gravy train of USHPA's membership money while having a good time at our expense.

My guess is that she will try to write another "puff piece" about how great it is for Chris to be returning to hang gliding "under USHPA" while continuing to ignore all of the abuses of that same organization for decades. It gives me no pleasure to have to characterize Erika this way, and this is certainly a case where I'd like to be proven wrong. Time will tell, and this forum will record it for the record.