[Bob Kuczewski]

Blog: Hang Gliding and the Press in San Diego

This blog is about the press coverage of hang gliding in San Diego. It also offers a place to showcase the work of those press members who've dared to cover the ongoing abuses at Torrey Pines. This blog may expose some of the poor press coverage as well.

Rules:

US Hawks members may comment on these posts, however I reserve the right to request the removal of any posts that are not consistent with the stated goals of this blog. Thanks.

[Bob Kuczewski]

JC Playford
      https://www.youtube.com/user/NewsNowSanDiego/videos

Regardless of what you may think of JC Playford, he is on the front lines of First Amendment issues in San Diego County and Southern California.

Incidents over the past several years have created the need to establish that James Charles Playford Jr. (JC Playford) is a 'DULY AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE" of American News and Information Services Inc. - a recognized "NEWS SERVICE" as explained in California Penal Code Section 409.5.

Mr. Playford will now be able to explain that he has taken an oath to support First Amendment rights and the provision of Calif. Penal Code Section 409.5.


Here's a video of Mr. Playford taking his oath:




JC Playford covers the "made up" restrictions on photography at Torrey Pines:




JC Playford covers the "Gliderport Pig" ... one of many violations at Torrey:

[Bob Kuczewski]

Thom Senzee has written at least two stories about the Torrey Pines Gliderport.

He published this first story on June 17th, 2015:

    https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/jun/17/cover-keep-out/

That link to Thom's story includes Judge Ipema's ruling and the now-famous video of the events leading up to my first arrest at Torrey Pines:

Ruling_with_Comments.pdf

Judge Ipema's Ruling

(481.64 KiB) Downloaded 175 times

Thom wrote a second article about the Gliderport shortly after the deaths of Bengsston and Valerio in 2019. Thom's story was published on July 17th of 2019 (four years and one month after his June 2015 story above):

    https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2019/jul/17/feature-self-regulation-working-torrey-pines/

Very few reporters get everything right, and I disagree with some aspects of Thom's coverage. But at least he's raising some important questions, and so far the City of San Diego has provided no good answers.

[Chris McKeon]

Bob I mean it. Leave the Paragliders alone!

Moderator's Note:

In a telephone discussion with Chris, he indicated that this
comment was intended as tongue-in-cheek humor.

[Chris McKeon]

Up here where I live. that is the SF Bay Area. I do not have much conflict with Para Gliders. When I am flying, say that I am working the same thermal that a Paraglider has been working. I will be getting My groove on , that is I will be working the Thermal so as that My Predator will core through the Paraglider that was already working the Thermal. Well the Paraglider who would be above Me in the Thermal. a transitory state By the way. Well as I would {Core through the Paraglider. I have never had any trouble, conflict caused by the Predator as I cored through Him. Heck We all just love to Fly. Just because a Paraglider does not have the Performance that My Predator has. We can both enjoy the same Air. Yes the Paraglider would understand that it would be I because I yes I would be the lower aircraft. I would have the right away.

I look at Paraglider PIlots and I marvel at how much courage that they have in flying their fabric wings. If I possed more courage I would Fly them also. But I guess that I am a coward Pilot.

Moderator's Note:

In a telephone discussion with Chris, he indicated that this
comment was intended as tongue-in-cheek humor.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Bob I mean it. Leave the Paragliders alone!

This post was from Dec 12, 2014 9:25 pm (https://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php ... 8896#p8896):

Don't get dragged down and around by the sport of paragliding. Just promote the sport you know and love - hang gliding.

Bob, the next time you see a bunch of paragliders flying around, I would like you to ask yourself how many of them might have become hang glider pilots had the USHGA not invited paragliding into our hang gliding association.

Rick, I know that probably better than anyone. Torrey Pines has been "ground zero" for the PG takeover, and they've turned the SDHGPA into an almost purely paragliding organization.

I'll share a story. In 2004 I was interested in getting back into hang gliding (I had dabbled with HG in 1978 and PG in 1990). So I went to Torrey Pines and found myself sitting at a table with David Jebb. I told him I was interested in hang gliding and then he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was an engineer. Then he told me that "all the professional people are getting into paragliding" as if I would be swayed by his appeal to my snobbery. I was mostly disgusted, but I am sure that many in the San Diego paragliding scene got their start because of David Jebb's appeal to their egos.

It's clear to me that if paragliding didn't exist at all, then about 80% of those PG pilots would probably be HG pilots (I'm estimating a 20% washout because hang gliding can be more challenging to learn than paragliding ... especially at Torrey Pines). However, that's not what you asked. You asked what would have happened if USHGA hadn't invited paragliding into their association. I still think paragliding would have grown. It's my understanding that the national paragliding association was financially "on the ropes" when they joined USHGA, and that certainly helped them. But I believe they would have grown (maybe not quite as fast) even if they'd stayed on their own.

But here's what would have changed. If USHGA had stayed USHGA and the SDHGPA had stayed a hang gliding only club, then the paraglider pilots would have needed their own national association (which they did have) and their own local association (which they could have easily started). Those two PG clubs would certainly have petitioned the Torrey Pines Soaring Council for admission, and I believe it would have been hard to exclude them (and they certainly would deserve their own representation). So the Soaring Council would have had the two original HG representatives (one local and one national) as well as two new PG representatives (one local and one national). So the combined sports would have had 4 (FOUR) representatives. But by combining the clubs (locally and nationally) it turned out that no new seats (representatives) were created, and the two previously HG seats have become effectively PG seats because both the SDHGPA and USHPA have not cared enough about hang gliding to appoint a true hang gliding representative to that Council. The result is that there are ZERO dedicated hang gliding pilots on the Torrey Pines Soaring Council.

There's no doubt that paragliding has hurt the sport of hang gliding, and it will get worse as USHPA becomes more and more of a paragliding association. If hang gliding is going to survive, it is going to need its own voice.