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Members of the HGAA Transition Team and others,
I've been watching the slow decline of the HGAA since the ousting of myself and Scott Wise. There have been weeks between posts. The most recent post says:
Title: Hgaas future?
by Theayeinthesky on March 22, 2011
Is this just a flash in the pan?
That post has gone unanswered for 5 days now. The silence itself has become the answer.
I started the HGAA because I recognized the need for an independent organization to represent hang gliding pilots and hang gliding interests. That need still exists.
Sure, right now USHPA leadership is doing their best to be the warm fuzzy association that we all want. But it's only doing that because it recognized both the HGAA and the new US Hawks as a threat to their one-party system. If those organizations don't survive, then USHPA will surely return to the arrogance of its monopoly. That's not anyone's fault. It's just what monopolies do - they grow insensitive to the wishes of their members.
For that reason, I am asking you to come and join us in the US Hawks Hang Gliding Association (ushawks.org). We're not very big and only have about 45 members who are real pilots (we got hit with lots of fake spam robots). But we're taking the long view of forming a better national association. We're not in any hurry, and we don't have any deadlines to meet. Membership is currently free, and we're just starting to look into insurance .... and that will take some time. We're building our organization with a strong relationship to our Chapters right from the start. Each Chapter has its own sub forum (if they want it) and that helps to bring people together both nationally and locally. I think it's a good model, and I hope you'll come and participate.
Finally, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, I'd like you to think about what our country would be like if we only had one party or the other ... even if it was the party of your choice. If you think about it, even your own favorite party would quickly become intolerably corrupt if it were the only game in town. That's the problem inherent in any monopoly. So even if you are a big fan of USHPA, I hope you'll see the benefit in having another national organization to provide a competitive check and balance. In fact, I think the US Hawks will end up making USHPA into a better and more responsive organization. I hope you'll help make that happen by joining us on the US Hawks forum (ushawks.org).
Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski
858-204-7499
I don't know if any of them will join us ... or even respond. But I wanted to make sure that I'd done my best to offer the olive branch and welcome them to the US Hawks. I even included Jack and Davis in that message. We'll see what happens...
