[SamKellner]

That Jean Lake crash is such a sad story.

Thanks Rick, for posting the Memorial vid.

[Rick Masters]

You know, any of us, all of us, if we had died at 11 years, are worthy of such a video. All kids are special, filled with promise, deserving of adulthood and a full life and all the protection adults are obligated to provide. But Jean Lake was more than a tragedy. FAR 103 explicitly prohibits public advertising. Look at that hang glider. The other wing said "UNLIMITED." All of us know the rules. And we can't expect the public to know them. It is our responsibility to adhere to them and a lot of us do.

But for those who don't, there is an implied obligation for the rest of us to at least say something and perhaps for those of us who represent the sport to stand up and say "Enough is enough!" To put a stop to the drift of our sport away from its roots and into this abyss of prohibited commercialism and public endangerment. If U.S. hang glider pilots are too shy to speak out in the face of what happened at Jean Lake, there is no question in my mind that they deserve whatever results.

I am not impressed with the response of the USHPA. I would choose to turn to a more competent organization, one that understands and respects FAR 103. Where is it? The only person I know of to challenge the USHPA and attempt to form such an alternative organization was kicked out of USHPA for the stated reason of attempting to form an alternative organization. He was then attacked with the court system in a mockery of justice as USHPA's lawyer stood by, costing him tens of thousands of dollars in defense.

In my opinion, all USHPA members have blood on their hands by forcing a myopic monopoly upon the sport of hang gliding. USHPA should be broken up and replaced by separate groups dedicated to recreational hang gliding and paragliding. Commercial interests should be left on their own to survive or fall based on their own levels of competence and not allowed to hide behind a pot of membership money.

You poor pilots. I actually feel sorry for you. You have been taken to the cleaners. You have decided your fate and I fear it is not going to end well.

[Bob Kuczewski]

I am not impressed with the response of the USHPA. I would choose to turn to a more competent organization, one that understands and respects FAR 103. Where is it? The only person I know of to challenge the USHPA and attempt to form such an alternative organization was kicked out of USHPA for the stated reason of attempting to form an alternative organization. He was then attacked with the court system in a mockery of justice as USHPA's lawyer stood by, costing him tens of thousands of dollars in defense.

Thanks Rick. That's a pretty good account of what happened.

USHPA has demonstrated that pilots who speak out about problems risk losing their ability to fly. What kind of a "safety policy" is that?

[SamKellner]

USHPA has demonstrated that pilots who speak out about problems risk losing their ability to fly.

There's a lot of dissatisfied customers when these kind of outstanding instructors/individuals start asking these questions of MGF and u$hpa.
Some good questions are being asked. Small instructors are being squeezed out!

Location: Ellenville, NY
I find it hard that statements like "lower still at $2.7k" and "the second year costs drop to $2.4k" should be considered good news
_________________
Ryan Voight
http://www.AIRTHUG.com

Fly High Hang Gliding / Ellenville, NY
http://www.FlyHighHG.com

Read more: http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.ph ... z42Xo6bcMh

[Rick Masters]

Wrecking ball.
Again, the root cause is paragliding.
Once the faulty parachutes were mixed in with our robust hang gliders, things started falling apart.
The only way to fix it is to start over.

- Form a robust national hang gliding association -