SlopeSkimmer wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:28 pm
DAVE 858 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 17, 2018 8:50 pm
The bucket listers & those trying to make a living off of them should be sent to fend for themselves. Why do I have to support that risk with my dues?
Dave gets it!
My commercial liability insurance policy is actually cheaper than that of the USHPA/RRRG. Big Air Hang Gliding also has it's own tandem exemption. This makes our school totally independent of the USHPA. I am here to help if anyone wants to get their own FAA exemption and liability insurance.
So once your students stop giving money to your completely-independent-of-the-USHPA school, what do they have?
When one of your former students shows up at a site wanting to fly, what do the people running the site have?
I lived through 1974 once. There were spots I enjoyed, but I suspect that had to do with being 17.
I'm not directly involved with paragliders, but I have not been impressed with the process output of the Torrey completely-independent-of-the-USHPA-training that show up at Crestline.
That's not you, of course. But it gets back to the same problem we had in 1974, which was random people showing up with equipment to fly, and the desire to fly, and the locals preferring that these guys
not fly rather than get killed and screw things up for everybody else. Eventually, someone did die stupidly,
as I'm sure you'll agree was their legal right, and San Bernardino City passed an ordinance making hang gliding unlawful in the City of San Bernardino. A few years later, Kenny Westfall was forced down by the police helicopter even though he hadn't launched in the City of San Bernardino, and fined, I suppose, just to make the point.
Philosophically, I'll agree everyone should be free to go to hell in their own way. Legally you don't need any paper at all to fly under Part 103. Elsinore works that way. There's a fence around the latest traditional LZ right now, but SFAIK, they're not arresting people for landing there, it's mostly to prevent homeless encampments. So getting over the fence and parking is a little more hassle, but it's still free. And there are other LZs available. For now. You can drive out to Garlock, or Ave S in Palmdale, and fly. Or tow off any of multiple dry lakes.
Mostly, I fly Crestline. I read a lot of crap about how "Oh, that's PUBLIC LAND, so I should be able to do whatever the f--- I want there." I disagree. The access we have to that property is the result of work a lot of people (most of whom weren't me) did. Some of that was physical work, some of that was political work. USHPA -- just by existing -- helped with the political side. I don't necessarily agree with the current policies, but I'm not conceited enough to go around saying "they're useless."
People think of Marshall as an "unimproved" site, which is bullshit. Until the CSS, working with the Forest Service, put in the railroad tie fence on 2N40, Marshall was closed during fire season. Now it's not. All the days where it's down at Crestline, but up at Marshall? Good days, with high ceilings? Didn't fly then, because it was usually fire season. I call that an improvement.
The club gets along fine with the Forest Service. I don't think we're in any danger of losing the site. But the club does its best to discourage low time pilots from launching/landing when it's nuking. Philosophically, that's interfering with their God-given right to be idiots. Practically, I think it's good policy. Personally, I do what I can to get low-time pilots to the top of Marshall or Crestline when it's suitable conditions, so they won't be low-time so long.