I've been swamped with phone calls this evening. During my last conversation, a bunch of new posts were put up on hanggliding.org:
red wrote:sg wrote:Just got the email. WHOA. Can they still fly tandems in any way at all?
They have their own insurance. What are all the implications here?
Campers,
Insurance is no part of the issue. Without the USHPA exemption, tandem ultralight flight (anywhere in the USA) is illegal at the federal level. Part 103 only allows the operation of single occupant ultralights. Outside of Part 103, there are numerous requirements for aircraft certifications, inspections, registration, and FAA pilot licensing. TP would have to pursue their own FAA exemption, pertaining to Part 103.
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SI ... 4.2.103_11Source: Docket No. 21631, 47 FR 38776, Sept. 2, 1982, unless otherwise noted.
Subpart A—General
§103.1 Applicability.
This part prescribes rules governing the operation of ultralight vehicles in the United States. For the purposes of this part, an ultralight vehicle is a vehicle that:
(a) Is used or intended to be used for manned operation in the air by a single occupant;
Red is a good man, but he may not have known that there were other sources of FAA tandem exemptions when he wrote this. So his statement that "Without the USHPA exemption, tandem ultralight flight (anywhere in the USA) is illegal at the federal level" is mistaken.
The "brilliant" Davis Straub wrote this:
davisstraub wrote:I'm going to predict that Torrey Pines (ACA) will not be able to have their own tandem exemption outside the USHPA, so that tandem instruction will not take place there until the USHPA is ready to let it happen there.
What would Bob say?
Careful Davis. Aside from making an already provably wrong prediction, your mention of the "B" word can get you banned from hanggliding.org.
But if "Bob" could post on hanggliding.org, "Bob" would inform everyone of this web site:
http://aerosports.org/:
- aerosports_org.png (228.42 KiB) Viewed 11119 times
Click the button, enter your Visa card, tandem to go.
But not even Mark Forbes wants to "let the cat out of the bag" to share the Aero Sports Connection secret. Here's the half truth that Mark Forbes passes on as gospel:
Mark Forbes on Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 6:25 pm wrote:If you're working for ACA (Torrey) in any capacity, you're not authorized to fly under our tandem exemption. If you're a T1, then you'd only be flying recreationally with other rated pilots, and you would not be taking compensation for the flight or operating as an instructor, so therefore would not be working for ACA. You might be flying at the site, but so long as you're not employed or contracting for them, that's fine.
As mentioned earlier, we have to request that FAA renews our tandem exemption every two years. In that renewal letter, we must discuss significant accidents, injuries, fatalities and other factors that relate to our tandem operations. The justification for issuing the exemption in the first place is that it promotes flight safety by giving students a way to train alongside an instructor, as is done typically in other sectors of aviation. That's why tandem instructional flights must have some at-least-basic elements of flight instruction, and are not simply joyrides.
A school openly defying the rules and the requirements of the exemption is one such factor that must be disclosed, along with USHPA's response to that behavior. The same goes for other significant incidents; we have revoked some instructor appointments, and in two cases the tandem instructors were fatally injured. One of those accidents killed the student too, and in the other case the student safely landed the glider after the instructor slipped out of the harness due to failure to hook in leg straps.
MGF
He's right about
USHPA's exemption, but he kind of left out the important part about alternative tandem exemptions. Who wants to bet that Mark Forbes doesn't already know about Aero Sports Connection, but is conveniently leaving that out? Any takers?
In fact, there's a lot that Mark Forbes seems to be leaving out. For example, Mark Forbes isn't saying that I (Bob Kuczewski) had been reporting serious safety and training violations at Torrey Pines for the better part of the last decade. USHPA did nothing. They remained buddy-buddy with Air California Adventure for all of that time.
My guess is this "rift" resulted from USHPA effectively pulling Max Marien's tandem ticket (see footnote below) due to the joy riding episode recorded in the Shannon Hamby incident video. USHPA had no choice but to pull Max's rating, but Max Marien is Robin Marien's son. So Robin goes to Aero Sports Connection for their tandem exemptions and tells USHPA to get lost. All of a sudden USHPA's nose is out of joint, so they send this smear letter out to the national organization.
The wheels are falling off at USHPA ... and at Torrey.
Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas.
Footnote: Mark Forbes has written: "I have heard that he was internally suspended at Torrey for a while. I have no details of that action."
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