Thanks for mentioning this, Steve ... but it is a somewhat thorny topic.

There are tandem instructors out there who are very careful about following the strict letter of the law regarding the FAA's tandem exemption. Joe Greblo in Sylmar comes to mind. Instructors like Joe are very very careful to only offer tandem flights for true instructional purposes.

But that's a gray line, and different people can differ on what's on one side or the other of that line. Sometimes what seems like a "ride" can end up being the first entry in a pilot's 10,000 hour log book. So I'm not sure how to handle that one. It can be a hard line to draw.

More Bad News
The Radio Rule is Posted Back Up ~ All pilots Must have radios By the June 20th
The Torrey Pines Gliderport Management are totally out of control
They are Ruining Our Sport with there BS Rule's ~

Wont one of our leader do something about this ???

We didn't know it when we were discussing this topic, but USHPA (via Ken Baier) was busy selling us out all along.

Just this morning I got the Soaring Council minutes from July, and they include the following reason for the radio rule:

    "The Flight Director will call down pilots violating the rules."

Given the concessionaire's long history of "selective enforcement" this fully supports Eagle's concerns.

I've posted the details of these Soaring Council minutes at this topic:

    http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1597

For the record, here's what's been posted in the sign-in book at Torrey Pines.

This photo was taken on June 12th, 2014 showing the "Emergency" frequency as 151.925:



This photo was taken on October 12th, 2014 showing the "Emergency" frequency as 151.505:

E.bay inexpensive Radio ~ Price: US $39.99
Baofeng VHF Radio, UV-5R V2+ Dual-Band 136-174/400-480 MHz FM Ham Two-way Radio 2014!
Will receive 151.505 or 151.925 mhz as required by Torrey Pines Gliderport. (Lame Rule)
Colors: Black, Yellow, Red, Blue, Camo

I was motivated to join this forum by Bob's post about radio requirements at Torrey Pines and USH”P”A supporting it Seems to me if certain pilots don’t respond to visual prompts to get out of the air in an emergency then a radio will be just as useless. I personally don’t want to hear the chatter of a “control” frequency at any site.

I kinda feel the USH”P”A is an ineffective, good buddy oriented, organization. IMHO, the USH"P"A support for this radio requirement is a perfect example of that.

Phil
KE6HUL

I don't get it. What was wrong with the idea of a red flag? And if everybody already has a cell phone, why not use that? The concessionaire could send a message from "TORREY CLOSED." No response needed. What's the 2-way for? To argue about it? And what's wrong with a siren? Anybody besides me ever hear of a radio running out of juice? Anybody besides me ever hear of a pilot setting the wrong channel? For Christ sake, it's Torrey Pines, not an XC contest. What kind of idiots run that place now?

Jeez, I remember when the original hotdoggers would launch HGs standing on the bar without a harness...

Good points BigBird!!!

Does anyone think that seeing one of these flying around wouldn't be enough to clear the air?

Did you notice the PA system dangling from that thing? What's going to be more effective, a small hand-held radio stuffed in a harness that might be turned on, and might be tuned to the right frequency, and might have the volume turned up, and might have the battery fully charged, or that helicopter and PA system blasting "Clear the air"? The failure modes of the former are many. The failure modes of the latter are about zero.


You're exactly right. USHPA has become the concessionaire's lap dog. That's why USHPA has failed to balance the Soaring Council and has done everything they could do to undermine the Torrey Hawks.



All excellent points. Those measures work for every other site in the country. Crestline, for example, has a big "X" they roll out when they need to land. Eagle is right. The radio rule is just a way for them to single pilots out, and demand that they land when they haven't broken any rules. USHPA's willingness to impose this on us further demonstrates that they are NOT a pilot's organization.