[Bob Kuczewski]

Great thoughts on all sides. Thanks.

Here's my 2 cents...

I suspect what will govern our policies more than anything else is the reality of what it will take to allow our US Hawks members to fly at sites like Sylmar, Crestline, Torrey Pines, Funston, Point of the Mountain, Henson's Gap and so on. In some cases, that will be direct negotiations with land owners, and in some of those cases they that will require some sort of protection of the land owner from liability. There may be many ways to address those concerns, but I suspect they will have an impact on how we certify our members. The shortest path would be for the US Hawks to use exactly the same ratings and standards (or even higher) as used by USHPA. That makes it harder for us to be turned down - especially by governmental agencies which are not supposed to show favoritism. The farther we deviate from those "established practices" the harder of a time we'll have convincing land owners to allow our members to fly.

This discussion is very good because it brings into sharp focus what the US Hawks needs to be. We can be a forum. We can be an advocacy group. We can have our own hang gliding magazine. But if we can't give our members the ability to fly their favorite sites without being members of USHPA, then we'll have fallen short.

I can't say that I'm happy with that answer, but if anyone else has a shorter path to widespread allowance of our members to fly those sites ... please let me know!!

[dhmartens]

There are 3 items I will list on this subject.
1) Living in a car to avoid rent costs.
This is possibly a google car that drives itself.
2) Education like the free online Aristotle type university.
This will also handle much of the HG rating system and training based on simulator scores
and your tracklog history.
3) Cheap imported Hang Gliders.
Possibly folding into a smaller footprint.





"Book: China Attacks"
http://www.strategypage.com/bookreviews/171.asp
"...interesting scenario for a mainland Chinese military attempt to take Taiwan using a combination of conventional, unconventional and innovative means (like hang-glider riding commandos, EMP weapons and cargo ships converted to fire support boats). "
I think the book stated the hang glider production cost was about $500.