Paul H wrote: ↑Fri Jul 20, 2018 4:43 am....We can only hope you don't cause an incident that would force the feds involvement....
If this has been your concern all along then rest assured that I've never even come close to having an adversarial encounter with the FAA for any reason. I have a very good working relationship with various FAA offices and personnel. I been involved in or contributed to meetings and communications that promote public safety and preserve our freedom of free-flight. If you or anyone else is doing the same then I certainly respect that.
4-1/2 years ago I chose to deal with a serious incident with pilots who not only chose to fly past midnight while drunk on beer and in front of 6 students but bragged about the stunt on social media where they received numerous pats on the back from other pilots. This potentially threatened one of the most import sites in the U.S. I preserved all available documentation and provided it to the appropriate club officials who then promptly declared it was a personal matter between me and the offenders and proceeded to identify me to the pilots and gave out my cell phone number. I brought it up to the local RDs and again received the royal blow-off. I went to USHPA and raised holy hell. I learned that there were far worse problems that were being pussy-footed around. Not long after this came the fatal HG tandem crash at Jean Lake that ended our outside liability insurance. Do you see a pattern here?
Eventually discipline was meted out and one pilot cleaned their act and is now an asset to the entire community. The other pilot never changed and went one to have several crashes that royally fucked up other pilots' days. Luckily I was there during the last crash and shot a photo sequence that I provided to the USHPA safety analyst. That pilot lost several rating permanently including a tandem rating. We are the eyes and ears of not only USHPA but of the FAA and even local law enforcement and if we don't clearly document and report it then nobody is any the wiser other than the offender who takes it as a sign to keep up with their behavior.
There have been numerous other incidents that involved a real and direct threat to public safety in which I persevered the documentation and brought it to the attention of the local USHPA official responsible. I have had several good outcomes including the production of a club safety video. In my case I do push my limits beyond was is reasonable but I have never, ever recklessly endangered a member of the public. There is always the prospect of having to land on a rooftop or hit a parked vehicle. Nothing like this has ever happened to me since but I'd still have to pay for repairs if it did. I've never damaged crops in an out-landing where I needed to pay the farmer for the loss of revenue. Many pilots have to do this and it's a risk of X/C flying.
Where we all need to draw the line on ourselves and one another is flying that poses a threat to another human being. This just isn't being done as it should. Not only ate too few pilots reporting public safety threats and incidents but the USHPA discipline process is opaque and my experiences have been generally disappointing and frustrating to the point where most pilots stop giving a rat's ass.
The FAA doesn't have time for us Paul, unless we fail to exercise 'See and Avoid' and fail to get out of the way of approaching aircraft which results in a near-miss report or evasive maneuver that injures passengers. There is a famous case of an airliner on approach to ORD that made a sudden evasive maneuver to avoid striking a sailplane that had no business lingering in a well-established glide path. That raised a shitstorm and it happened after I repeatedly and specifically warned SoCal TRACON that this was coming but they ignored it. I was taken seriously after that folly but to what end? Drones are now f---ing it up for everybody and we in the free-flight community are ultimately going to pay for their sins.
Until ADS-B transponders are affordable and registered for Free-Flight use there is really very little we can do other than study glide-paths and stay vigilant at all times.
If I remain a thorn in your side, then so be it.