US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

I see USHPA has a new bad boy list on their web site. Members that got expelled from USHPA. Some day we will all be on it.

Gary Trudeau




Member Effective Date Rating, Appointment
Membership Status

Granger Banks (57235) 2017-12-12 PG Advanced Instructor
PG Tandem Instructor Permanent revocation (by regional director)

Lua Pepper (92832) 2017-11-22 PG Tandem 1 (T1) Revocation by the issuing official

Mike Jefferson (76175) 2017-09-14 HG Basic Instructor
HG Advanced Instructor Revocation by the issuing official
HG Tandem Instructor
HG Tandem (T1) Permanent revocation (by regional director)

Bob Hannah (56859)
2017-09-08 PG Tandem Instructor
PG Advanced Instructor Permanent revocation (by a tandem administrator, regional director)

Mitch Bogden (82940)
2017-08-28 PG Tandem (T1) Permanent revocation (by regional director)

Mike Jefferson (76175) 2017-08-15 HG Advanced (H4)
HG Intermediate (H3) 30 day temporary revocation (by regional director)

Mike Jefferson (76175) 2017-08-15 HG Master (H5) Revocation by the issuing official

Randell Raymundo
(95814) 2017-03-20 PG Tandem Instructor
PG Advanced (P4) Revocation by the issuing official

Richard Palmon
(46095) 2016-09-26 HG Advanced Instructor Conditional revocation
(1 year)

Daniel Ribas
(83173) 2015-12-23 PG Advanced Instructor
PG Tandem Instructor
PG Advanced (P4) Conditional revocation
(2 years)

Robert Kuczewski
(81898) 2015-04-29 Membership Permanent expulsion

Ka Sing (Johnny) Yu
(94621) 2015-04-28 PG Basic Instructor Revocation by the issuing official

Mitch Bogden
(82940) 2015-04-08 PG Tandem Instructor
PG Tandem (T1) Revocation by the issuing official

Ward Carter
(48149) 2013-12-16 Membership Permanent expulsion

Norman Vandergriff
(88280) 2009-08-03 Membership Permanent expulsion

Gary, I saw that also on Friday, but it took a lot of clicking around to get there.
Then I looked at the 9 pages of legal bs posted as USHPA SOP's for the "process".
I wonder how much the legal team billed the national paragliding club for that?

Some day we will all be on it.

I won't be on it.
My membership was with the USHGA.

One of the things USHPA did seriously wrong was to misinterpret (look the other way) the FAA tandem exemption to allow joyriding (tandem rides for money or skydiving) to pose as instruction.
This was a result of having FAA scoflaws on the USHPA BOD.
The US Hawks has highlighted some of these people but I don't see them on the list. Must be in who you know.
I suppose some of these expulsions are for joyriding, which woud indicate to me that USHPA is belatedly reacting to the huge black eye tandem joyriding is receiving in other parts of the world and, more specifically, to the HG fatalities at Jean Lake with the child and the one in Canada with the Mexican woman.
There is nothing USHPA has done to threaten freeflight that has been worse than to look the other way about joyriding.
Yet they sometimes focus their ire at members for strictly political reasons while ignoring vastly more serious issues.
I suppose having responsible instructors on the BOD is a step in the right direction for a paragliding club, but every time I see one elected, I cringe.
Maybe those lucrative winter vacations to the southern hemisphere with tandem paragliders has something to do with it.

Granger Banks (57235) 2017-12-12 PG Advanced Instructor
PG Tandem Instructor Permanent revocation (by regional director)
http://www.rmhpa.org/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5721&sid=45e8d0ddd5c6b3f132b4fa0ae02f5bf3

Lua Pepper (92832) 2017-11-22 PG Tandem 1 (T1) Revocation by the issuing official



Mike Jefferson (76175) 2017-09-14 HG Basic Instructor
HG Advanced Instructor Revocation by the issuing official
HG Tandem Instructor
HG Tandem (T1) Permanent revocation (by regional director)
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=683&start=10#p2038

Bob Hannah (56859)
2017-09-08 PG Tandem Instructor
PG Advanced Instructor Permanent revocation (by a tandem administrator, regional director)


Mitch Bogden (82940)
2017-08-28 PG Tandem (T1) Permanent revocation (by regional director)


Mike Jefferson (76175) 2017-08-15 HG Advanced (H4)
HG Intermediate (H3) 30 day temporary revocation (by regional director)
Mike Jefferson (76175) 2017-08-15 HG Master (H5) Revocation by the issuing official

Randell Raymundo, President, Philipines Paragliding Association
(95814) 2017-03-20 PG Tandem Instructor
PG Advanced (P4) Revocation by the issuing official

Richard Palmon, Dive High Hang Gliding, Stockton, CA
(46095) 2016-09-26 HG Advanced Instructor Conditional revocation
(1 year)


Daniel Ribas, Just Fly Paragliding, Bakersfield, CA
(83173) 2015-12-23 PG Advanced Instructor
PG Tandem Instructor
PG Advanced (P4) Conditional revocation
(2 years)
http://bakersfield.nimbledeals.com/deal/bakersfield/50-off-paragliding-deluxe-tandem-or-solo-flight

Robert Kuczewski
(81898) 2015-04-29 Membership Permanent expulsion


Ka Sing (Johnny) Yu
(94621) 2015-04-28 PG Basic Instructor Revocation by the issuing official

Mitch Bogden
(82940) 2015-04-08 PG Tandem Instructor
PG Tandem (T1) Revocation by the issuing official

Ward Carter
(48149) 2013-12-16 Membership Permanent expulsion

Norman Vandergriff
(88280) 2009-08-03 Membership Permanent expulsion

Good topic and good posts!!

USHPA isn't a flying association any more. It has become a mechanism of retaliation by those in power against anyone who challenges that power.

I don't know the circumstances of all the other expulsions or revocations. But I do know the circumstances of my own. If there is any similarity, then they should all be reversed. I'll focus on what I know very well from my own expulsion.

This is a condensed version of USHPA's 2015 expulsion notice to me. When you read all the charges (even in this condensed form), they will seem overwhelming (as they were intended to be). But when you look at them closely, they all fall apart. USHPA counts on the fact that very few people will look at them closely. Here's the condensed letter:

USHPA wrote:March 20, 2015

Dear Mr. Kuczewski,

The behavior upon which the board has determined that you should be expelled from the association falls into the following categories:

1. Creation of at least two national hang gliding organizations with the stated purpose of competing with USHPA ...

2. a. Disrupting training of students at TPGP
2. b. Continuing to disrupt training ...
2. c. Being in the active airfield ...
2. d. Remaining in, and refusing to leave the active airfield ...

3. Endangering the existence of ... the Torrey Pines Gliderport

4. Misstatements ... to the San Diego City Council ...

5. Misstatements ... to the San Diego City council ...

6. Misrepresenting to the San Diego City Council ...

7. Repeated publication ...

8. Misrepresentation ...

9. ... your service as an expert witness in a court case ...
9. a. Representation that ...
9. b. Representation that ...
9. c. Representation that ...
9. d. Representation that ...
9. e. Representation that ...
9. f. Representation that ...
9. g. Representing that ...
9. h. Representing that ...
9. i. Representing that ...
9. j. Representing that ...
9. k. Representing that ...
9. l. Implying by your representations that ...
9. m. Representing that ...
9. n. Representing that ...
9. o. Representing that ...


Respectfully Yours,
Martin Palmaz
Executive Director
US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association

Now let's look at them a little more closely.

USHPA wrote:1. Creation of at least two national hang gliding organizations with the stated purpose of competing with USHPA, one of which you currently control;

What?      USHPA members are barred from creating national hang gliding organizations to compete with USHPA? Where is that in the membership agreement? Where is that in the ByLaws of USHPA? Where is that in USHPA's SOPs? Where does it say that creating a competing organization is grounds for expulsion ... anywhere? It doesn't. But that didn't stop the USHPA Board from doing whatever they wanted anyway.

USHPA wrote:2. Endangering safety of paragliding and hang gliding operations involving members of USHPA, USHPA Certified Instructors, and USHPA Tandem Instructors at the Torrey Pines Gliderport (TPGP) by, among other things:
    a. Disrupting training of students at TPGP;
    b. Continuing to disrupt training of students at TPGP, after being asked to stop by TPGP personnel;
    c. Being in the active airfield restricted area of TPGP for purposes unrelated to flying;
    d. Remaining in, and refusing to leave the active airfield restricted area of TPGP after being asked by TPGP personnel to leave;

Sounds awful doesn't it? Now let's look at the actual video from that event to see what really happened:



After watching that video, please read USHPA's charges again (above), and you'll see what liars they are.

Endangering safety?   Disrupting training?   Continuing to disrupt training?        Liars.

I had just set up my Falcon, and I saw Gabriel Jebb instructing 3 students while not wearing a helmet himself. I turned on my camera to capture the incident, and you can see what happened. Who was it that "Endangered safety"? Who was it that "Disrupted training"? As for "Being in the active airfield", I was a current USHPA member with an Advanced HG and PG rating. I had a signed and paid agreement to use the site, and I had signed in that day. I had every right to be standing where I was standing, and every pilot in this country knows it. USHPA just made stuff up to pad their expulsion which was really a retaliation for my testimony in court (see charges 9a. through 9o. below). But USHPA didn't want to make it too obvious that I was being expelled for testimony in court, so they threw in charges like "Endangering safety" and "Disrupting training". Disgusting liars.

USHPA wrote:3. 3. Endangering the existence of an historic and important hang gliding and paragliding site, namely the Torrey Pines Gliderport;;

What? When? How? USHPA just makes a broad statement like "3. Endangering the existence of an historic and important hang gliding and paragliding site, namely the Torrey Pines Gliderport;" (that's the full statement) with nothing to back it up as if it were a fact.

Then there was this whole section about my testimony to the San Diego City Council:

USHPA wrote:4. Misstatements ... to the San Diego City Council ...
5. Misstatements ... to the San Diego City council ...
6. Misrepresenting to the San Diego City Council ...
7. Repeated publication ...
8. Misrepresentation ...

What? USHPA Pilots aren't allowed to speak to their City Council? Where is that in the SOPs? What happened to the US Constitution? And furthermore, none of my statements were "misstatements" or "misrepresentations" in the first place. They just made those proclamations of "misstatements" and "misrepresentations" without anything to back them up. Liars again.

USHPA concluded its expulsion letter with this whole section based on my testimony as an expert witness in the Hamby case:

USHPA wrote:9. ... your service as an expert witness in a court case ...
9. a. Representation that ...
9. b. Representation that ...
9. c. Representation that ...
9. d. Representation that ...
9. e. Representation that ...
9. f. Representation that ...
9. g. Representing that ...
9. h. Representing that ...
9. i. Representing that ...
9. j. Representing that ...
9. k. Representing that ...
9. l. Implying by your representations that ...
9. m. Representing that ...
9. n. Representing that ...
9. o. Representing that ...

All of my testimony (fall of 2014) was accurate and unassailable. USHPA's lawyer, Tim Herr, grilled me for a full day - on camera - in that case, and he couldn't find anything that would stand up as perjury in court. They settled that case for an undisclosed amount (you can bet it was large). Tim Herr couldn't disprove any of my testimony in a real court, yet he backed USHPA in their "kangaroo court" expulsion, and all the sheeple Directors went along with it.

USHPA's expulsion letter was concluded with this:

USHPA wrote:Respectfully Yours,
Martin Palmaz
Executive Director
US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association

There was nothing respectful about any of this.

But Bob, some guy told me that some guy told him you were the devil...

Seriously, If you want to see real joyriding in action, look at the videos posted by joyriding passengers at Torrey Pines.
https://www.google.com/search?q=paragliding+torrey+Pines&num=50&client=ubuntu&hs=ZRY&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigzOSSpKPYAhUKxFQKHULHDPsQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1745&bih=986

Rick Masters wrote:But Bob, some guy told me that some guy told him you were the devil...

An excellent case against hear-say "evidence". That's what USHPA used to expel me since they didn't present a single witness.

Rick, I like you're "start over" message.

7 Signs of a Tyrant, see the similarities
see video: https://youtu.be/tg8y5H_Rrf0

WARNING to those whom have threaten Us
~ You Are being Exposed ~


The Torrey Pines Gliderport Illuminati

Reich is so frustrated now that he wets his bed and flicks boogers at people in red hats.
He could have been a tyrant, too, if only she had won. Curse the yellowhair!
#8 - Tyrants have no sense of humor.