Last night I watched an
Outside Magazine Red Bull special on
speedriding from Mont Blanc and in Alaska. It was pretty interesting for someone like me, who constantly studies the attrition within these sports. The pro-speedflying documentary didn't much dwell on the dangers, although it did show one of the team miraculously escape falling down into a bottomless crevass by ten feet or so when his canopy stalled and collapsed, dropping him between crevasses on the side of the mountain.
http://www.redbull.com/us/en/adventure/stories/1331695509199/the-unrideables-alaska-range-explore-new-ski-lines What struck me most was the incredible difference between speedflying and hang gliding. These folks have a completely different goal orientation and mindset. Unlike hang gliding, it's all about flying close to terrain at breakneck speed. No wonder it's one of the most dangerous sports in the world! It was fascinating to watch and I tip my hat to their skill. But it leaves the elephant-in-the-room question hanging, "Why is hang gliding involved?"
I could understand hang gliding being loosely associated with speedflying. We could share landowner permissions and launch site protocols in the relatively uncommon cases where launches share the high 30-degree angles they need. But there is no way sane hang glider pilots would ever want to share public perception or insurance of any kind with PDMC daredevils on parachutes. The risk is horrifying.
For years I have been criticized by the paragliding-dominated U$hPA for refusing to "live and let live" when I protest parachuting being combined with hang gliding. But to me, "live and let live" requires the recognition of separate entities - not joining the sports at the hip. When you take a safer sport and mix it with a more dangerous one, the safer sport suffers. There is no advantage. The advantage goes to the more dangerous sport. You can see this in the reporting of the national worldwide orgs that give attrition numbers to the press in terms of "freeflight." By using "freeflight," all aspects of hang gliding are averaged with paragliding and speedflying. Hang gliding can no longer take pride in its record or build its reputation. It is now utterly dependent on the record of paragliding and speedflying for its public perception, including the perception of insurance providers. Tragically, for hang gliding, even the emphasis on safety we were once so proud of seems to have been dilluted by the new daredevil or armchair-piloting mindset of soaring parachutists.
I have documented over 1400 paragliding fatalities worldwide since the fateful decision to join the sports was made. Combining the sports has proven to be a disaster for hang gliding. Do I really have to list what has been lost? Where is the magazine? Where is affordable liability insurance? Where is affordable membership? We had all of these things when the memberrship was much smaller and consisted of only hang glider pilots. Now does the public even recognize the difference between hang gliders and parachutes anymore?
Where do we go from here? The answer is, actually, "Where ever we choose."
We really are free to set our own course. The vast majority of flying sites in the U.S. are available to us. Nothing prevents us from sharing responsibilities with other clubs. We just want to be recognized as responsible hang glider pilots.
Many hang glider pilots appear to be satisfied with the current situation. That's fine. I am calling for a return to recreational hang gliding as a niche sport, just as it was before the paragliding and rampant joyriding and training monopolization showed up. The US Hawks forum is the proper place for that discussion. The ability to express these ideas is protected here. We don't have to agree, but at least we can bring it up and be free to give it some thought. When I tried to discuss issues of PDMC-related safety or separation on Paragliding Forum and OZ Report, the defacto U$hPA forums, I was constantly attacked by soaring parachutists and antagonistic "moderators," then ultimately kicked off. When I suggested to some Hawks that they were wasting their time going head to head with antagonists on other forums, I was mostly hoping they will focus their efforts here, instead. I have faith that those interested in a new beginning will flock here (pardon the pun).
I see we've found a few who agree. This is not to say we shouldn't respond to members of other forums - but let's first put those responses here, on the Hawks Forum. That way we can depend on there being a record instead of a removed post surrounded by adolescent attacks on some other poorly managed forum.
USHPA will always say what we are thinking is a bad idea. There is no way they would consider an alternative because it eats away at their base. Witness BobK's expulsion for "daring to form an alternative national hang gliding organization." That was his right, USHPA. And should the Hawks incorporate, they will stand on equal footing with the FAA, by law.
Right now, the US Hawks is a forum, tossing around ideas on how to form that alternative national organization. If we choose to take the big step, there will be genuine elections. You will choose the people who hold the helm. The founder of the Hawks, BobK, has been very careful to bring like-minded or fair-minded people into the forum, while leaving the antagonistic and belligerent to the other forums where they belong. I give him a lot of credit for this. But be aware, on the day of voting we all will be tasked to remain vigilant against those who would seek to destroy the Hawks for the purposes of the USHPA. The key to our success will remain this forum and its guarantee of reasonable discourse.
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