[Frank Colver]

BobK if you decide this needs to be moved to the blog section I won't be offended.

Back when we formed the USHGA out of the SCHGA there was a push for a hang gliding rating system. As one who built and learned to fly his own glider I was one of those individuals who felt like it was an infringement on my personal freedom of choice. At that time no sites I was flying, or knew of, were run by anyone and no rating was needed. However, I could see "the hand writing on the wall" so to prevent being excluded from some future flying site I reluctantly got my "Intermediate" hang rating. Then at some later date USHGA changed the entire rating system to what they have now. i was sent a congratulatory letter stating that I was now a member of the pioneering rating system and a part of history. Oh, wow, thank you, thank you, i am so blessed. The letter indicated that I was "grandfathered" in as rated. That rating lasted on my membership cards each year until some point at which it disappeared. It's possible that happened when I renewed my membership as non-flying for several years. This problem came up when I was signing up to fly at Dockweiler Beach. What rating should I put down. Persona non grata? The site operator decided for me to just put H2.

Now to my point.

I've been boating whitewater rivers for 38 years. In my younger days I ran rapids up to class V rating, which are identified as "high risk of serious injury or death and requiring a high degree of skill to navigate safely". Most whitewater rivers in the USA require permits from the managing agency for anyone wanting to boat the river. I have done many of those rivers and I have never been asked what my "rating" or skill level was when I applied for a permit. It is always left to my judgement as to whether I should boat the river. Of course there are boaters who attempt beyond their skill level and they have a higher risk of accidents. The managing agency deals with this minority of people by running rescues and recovery operations. Sometimes they will close rivers when conditions are highly dangerous, usually flood stage, or landslides, or log jams. Many times boaters object to those closures as well.

Most rivers are rated for difficulty, not the people who run them. HG sites could be rated on degree of danger from many criteria, chance of heavy turbulence, time of year relation to difficulty, obstacles to avoid, etc., etc.

So, if management of rivers doesn't require skill ratings for people doing something much more dangerous than hang gliding (I've been scared many more times on rivers than I ever have been hang gliding) why do we need these "stinkin ratings" just to fly? Let the foolish suffer the consequences of their decisions. I'm willing to pay the taxes to scoop up the injured and the dead.

Frank Colver

BTW - I don't remember if BobK said the USHPA took his ratings away when they kicked him out of the org. If they did, then that is a pure travesty and totally wrong. Acquired skill level has nothing to do with what club one belongs to.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hi Frank,

I don't quite know what we're going to do about ratings. I suspect the issue will come up as the US Hawks Board begins to take shape.

My original plan was to simply honor USHPA's ratings so we would dovetail into the existing framework at most flying sites. I'm still leaning in that direction, but I'll just be casting one vote on the Board when that topic comes around.

Regarding my own ratings, I still consider myself to be an H4/P4 since none of my "crimes" involved flying in any way. I am hopeful that the US Hawks Board will feel that's appropriate and at least preserve the "H" portion of my rating. But the whole thing will be up for discussion whenever enough Board members want to take it up.

As a member of the Board, I would certainly like to see our ratings coupled more toward currency of flight experience than currency in membership dues. In USHPA you can fly as an H4 - at an H4 site - without having had a single flight in 20 years ... as long as you've paid your annual renewal. Conversely, you could be at the top of your game and flying every day, but if your member$hip had lapsed for too long you might have to go through re-education camp. The FAA currency requirements are about skills and not fees. That's the model I hope the US Hawks will adopt.

[JoeF]

At any one flight launch scene, an H57 could be in a state of Hminus3; whose is to know?
Grading by exteriors is a model. There are other models. Interior present-risk-managing-and-situation-awareness self-rating for THIS launch is another model. Frank Colver mentioned river rating and independent risk managing. What if the HG culture focused on readiness, wind facts, site awareness, site incidents, profound incident awareness, and open blogging with open comment on each pilot? Hang-glider pilot. Here for all is my history; comment as you might.

[Frank Colver]

I lead by example: I used to fly from mountains until 1979. Since then I've only flown a few times from beach dune sites. I'm now going to fly more frequently from a beach dune site but I wouldn't imagine in my wildest dreams of flying from the same mountains that used to be routine for me. Two reasons: My lack of recent experience and my present age. If I was younger I would want to work my way up to mountain flying again, as I did in the beginning, but it's not in the cards now.

Frank Colver

[Rick Masters]