[Bob Kuczewski]

This Blog Topic contains notes from the pages of Joe Faust's banning at hanggliding.org in 2018. I have been privately working on these notes for some time (as you can see from the post dates), and I finally decided make them public on September 13, 2021 - which is exactly 3 years since Joe Faust was banned.

There has been much written on this forum about the banning of Joe Faust, and I believe it was the most significant banning in the history of the sport. Joe Faust is one of the most thoughtful and sincere pilots in hang gliding, and Joe's early efforts brought the sport of hang gliding to the world. Yet Jack Axaopoulos banned Joe for simply daring to create a public ratings organization that Jack didn't like. Please read this topic for yourself and see if you can find any legitimate reason for Joe's banning.

The notes in this topic document the full conversation that led to Joe's banning. These notes were made manually, so there may be errors. Please contact me by PM if you see anything that isn't correct. Unfortunately, the original text is no longer available to me for verification. If you have copies of those original posts, please post them publicly or share them privately. Thank you.

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USHGRS.ORG
By joefaust - Sat Aug 25, 2018 12:43 am #404664

Let ushgrs.org possibly file your HG ratings and special skills. U.S. only.

United States Hang Gliding Rating System independent of clubs, corporations, associations, schools, instructors, businesses to fulfill self-regulation per FAR 103 for recreational hang gliding in the U.S

http://ushgrs.org

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By Paul H - Sat Aug 25, 2018 1:16 am #404665

Let ushgrs.org possibly file your HG ratings and special skills. U.S. only.

United States Hang Gliding Rating System independent of clubs, corporations, associations, schools, instructors, businesses to fulfill self-regulation per FAR 103 for recreational hang gliding in the U.S

http://ushgrs.org

.....and independant of any skills, responsibility, or good judgement.

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By miraclepieco - Sat Aug 25, 2018 2:51 am #404666

Thanks Joe, I'm proud to be on that list. And I see I'm in good company with some of the most venerable names in the sport.

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By NMERider - Sat Aug 25, 2018 3:34 pm #404671

Let ushgrs.org possibly file your HG ratings and special skills. U.S. only.

United States Hang Gliding Rating System independent of clubs, corporations, associations, schools, instructors, businesses to fulfill self-regulation per FAR 103 for recreational hang gliding in the U.S

http://ushgrs.org.org

.....and independant of any skills, responsibility, or good judgement.

And an anonymous domain registered in Canada and a Texas-based domain owner. Just more shilling from USH*wks.com.

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By once&future - Sat Aug 25, 2018 5:21 pm #404672

Not sure how I'd fill out the form in any case. I was a hang 5 for about 15 years until my USHGA rating lapsed. These days I'm officially a USHPA Hang 3, but I haven't re-upped in the last couple of years. So I'm either a 3, 5 or 0 - who knows. Probably best not to bother - sort of like my feeling about the current USHPA.

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By DMarley - Sat Aug 25, 2018 7:58 pm #404673

I thought that there was supposed to be no more mention or material or anything from the irresponsible, untrustworthy, free-loading us-auks.org, Joe?

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By hgflying - Sun Aug 26, 2018 12:05 am #404675

I'll take two H5s. Throw in a PhD while you are at it.

> independent of ... instructors

Ratings are used for safety, and should not be an "internet degree" you sign up for.

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By joefaust - Sun Aug 26, 2018 2:30 am #404680

JohnHeineyCongratulatesFrankColverXlintFlight2.png (209.9 KiB) Viewed 2183 times

The agency ushgrs.org is independent of instructors. No instructor can force a stating of a rating at ushgrs.org. Raw procedural actions and paperwork may not suffice to have a rating stated at ushgrs.org. No fees are collected. Ratings last forever and cannot be dropped. There are no renewals. Each pilot is 100% responsible for acting in the moment relative to readiness for safe acting.

Instructors remain an important sector of recreational hang gliding. Mentors and coaches are also important sectors that play in advancing safety and enjoyment in recreational hang gliding. Poor instructors, mentors, and coaches may occur. May pilots, their instructors, their mentors, and their coaches well gather to effect safe and confident gliding and soaring.

Instructors and anyone else is invited to feed information about a pilot into the ushgrs.org files.

Suggestions, questions, corrections, etc. are invited from the entire hang gliding community for advancing ushgrs.org.

http://www.ushgrs.org/about.html
http://www.ushgrs.org/QandA.html

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RE: USHGRS.ORG
By joefaust - Sun Aug 26, 2018 2:45 am #404681

Not sure how I'd fill out the form in any case. I was a hang 5 for about 15 years until my USHGA rating lapsed. These days I'm officially a USHPA Hang 3, but I haven't re-upped in the last couple of years. So I'm either a 3, 5 or 0 - who knows. Probably best not to bother - sort of like my feeling about the current USHPA.

once@future,

Send your HG data to ushgrs.org to start a file on your case. See the email addresses on the index page. ushgrs.org is independent of USHPA and independent of other clubs and associations.