[Rick Masters]

http://www.10news.com/news/watch-paraglider-crash-caught-on-video-092115
Almost took out the girls watching at Torrey.
This makes insurance more affordable for hang glider pilots, says the U$hPa and their pontiff.

[Rick Masters]

Torrey paragliding incident makes the British press.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/scary-moment-paraglider-crashes-ground-6498112

[Rick Masters]

Where is the claims plot?

What drives the USHPA membership rate increases for hang glider pilots?
"Our last dues increase was in 2007, when we obtained instructor liability insurance coverage."
"In 2012, USHPA's insurance premium effectively doubled due, in part, to increased claims activity. USHPA's reserves aren't sufficient to cover the 2013 insurance premiums without a dues increase."
https://www.ushpa.aero/membership.asp

Does it seem odd to anyone (except me) that in light of declining numbers of hang gliding participants and hang gliding students, that claims for hang glider pilots would rise?
Claims from where? Hang gliding or paragliding? And why are you paying to insure paragliding instructors? WTF?
What's that? They won't say?
Why won't they say?
Oh, it's all free-flight incidents and accidents now. It's all the same.
Really?
What a hopeless bunch of suckers you are.
Bend over again.
Get ready for your next dues increase.

[Rick Masters]

After ground handling practice, paragliders practice landings before strapping in.
"We practice 'cuz we don't want to go whack like those hang glider dudes!"

[Rick Masters]

Another paragliding FAR violation?

Is this in the USA? Squaw Valley?
https://instagram.com/p/0qqwP_hvx0/
If so, this is a violation. Can you name the commander?

This skydiver, renowned BASE-jumper Erik Roner, was killed in Squaw Valley September 28 in a tree impact.
http://www.powder.com/stories/erik-roner-dies-in-parachuting-accident/

Do paragliding scofflaws threaten hang gliding?
How many sit on the USHPA BOD?
USHPA says hang glider pilots need paragliders in their organization to keep insurance rates low.
I say hang gliding needs a hang gliding organization that excludes paragliding, joyriding instructors and tandem-for-hire.
These can be left with the USHPA.
Why carry water for a bunch of parachutists?
Why tie the survival of hang gliding to the actions of parachutists?
What does parachuting - both paragliding and skydiving - have to do with hang gliding?
Nothing.
By embracing paragliding, hang gliding jumps from the frying pan into the fire.
Decades of hard work thrown away in exchange for nothing.

[Rick Masters]

    
    "The no-recourse zone a paraglider must enter on every flight,
    both at takeoff and landing, where it flies
    below effective emergency parachute deployment altitude."
      http://www.abbreviations.com/term/1639796

Paraglider speedflying has a horrendous kill rate because it is inherently one of the most dangerous ways to fly and most of it is done within the Paraglider Dead Man's Curve.
The USHPA quickly embraced speedflying with open arms, yet it has never even mentioned the PDMC.
The ad shown below is on the main web page of the USHPA. http://ushpa.aero/aboutus.asp
As a USHPA member, you endorse this activity by default.
    
    Speedflying fatality list
    http://www.speed-flying.com/fatality-list

The USHPA tells hang glider pilots that mixing paragliders with hang gliders keeps hang gliding liability insurance down.
Who believes that? Raise your hands.
USHGA hang gliding membership dues were $38 the year before the paragliding slaughter began. (See chart above.)
Today, with over one thousand, three hundred eighty dead paragliding enthusiasts worldwide, dues are nearly $100 per year.

I am not against people doing stupid things. It defines who they are.
I am against people doing stupid things that have nothing to do with hang gliding from within a hang gliding organization.
It's only common sense. We need to protect the victories hang gliding has fought for and won over a history of 40 years.
But common sense no longer exists in our sport. We have lost focus.
We are throwing everything away by thinking parachuting is hang gliding. It's not. It's different.
Bring hang gliding back. Join the US Hawks.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hi Rick,

Sorry I've been away from the forum for a few days. I'm just starting to recover from a nasty cold/flu/something.

Your definition of the PDMC is concise and clear.

The PG takeover of USHGA is nearly complete now. Hang gliding is being slow-boiled like the proverbial lobster in a pot. Done slowly enough, only the most perceptive will be able to recognize what is happening.

Thanks for being one of the first to see this.

Sadly, USHPA's insurance monopoly is very strong, and building an alternative won't be easy. Thanks very much for your continued contributions toward that goal.

[Rick Masters]

...building an alternative won't be easy.

You really don't know until you try.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if the opposite was true.
When we did it before, it worked.
Without paragliding; without competitions; without tandem and joyriding instructors; with only free-flying solo hang glider pilots...
With peer to peer training; without the need to insure schools or instructors (let them pay for it themselves!)...
It might be easy.
The USHPA can carry the other stuff. That's okay.

I haven't tried, yet, so I don't really know.
I do know that the last thing I'd do is go to USHPA's insurers.
BUT...
Hang glider pilots must understand that here's no point starting this until you all come on board because we need a number to use in the insurance negotiation.
Here's the kicker: It doesn't cost anyone anything to find out, thanks to the free membership in the US Hawks!
This was insightful. This was planned.
And only BobK knows your real name, so why not?
Look what they did to him. If anyone's going to keep your name confidential, BobK is the guy.
You just need to throw your hat into the ring.
Let's try.
Let's find out if we can do this.

Here's the list. http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21&sid=98ce58aed7f008491a99794c53219138
There are some people on this list who were intimately involved in bringing hang gliding to the fore as a respectable and desirable sport.
People who I respect tremendously.
I haven't talked directly to many of them but I am certain that some must share my disappointment at where we stand today.
We can do better. We can bring hang gliding back.
We can bring hang gliding back because we know what's wrong and we know how to fix it.

Here's where you throw your hat. http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1&start=200&sid=98ce58aed7f008491a99794c53219138
Jump in and say hi. Nothing else is needed right now.
It would be a good idea to get started right away.

[DaveSchy]

In Washington State, the Outdoor Recreation Act removes liability for any owner of recreational land UNLESS THEY ARE PAID FOR SAID USE. Offering insurance is about making $$ from our sport, not recreational hang gliding.
Site negotiations should have NEVER included any mention of insurance coverage. Dweebus knows about how that went at Sauk Mt. Hwy 20 LZ, which was open for many years until the farmer heard him utter "insurance". (Even after CJ needed Search and Rescue to get her from 100' up a fir tree to the east (way to the east) of that LZ). Yes, I was there...

The "new" LZ we were then forced to use was further away, surrounded by tall trees and the rotor there was formidable, and it claimed it's share of aluminum and bone!

Remember, initially, paragliding had their own organization, was unable to obtain ANY insurance, so they went first to the parachuting organization for inclusion and insurance, and were soundly (and wisely) denied!

USHGA, acting out of their desire for a future revenue stream in the face of our decline, drank the Kool-Aid that led us to this point.

USHGA was like a male praying mantis, so horny to mate that they could not envision being eaten by the object of their desire.

I sure am glad we are Hawks, not mantises!!

[JoeF]

Well said, Dave