Manifesto

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Cragin Shelton - 2014/09/28 15:08:33 UTC

Tad is not one of my favorite people. A bit of Google effort will demonstrate that I am most definitely not one of his favorite people.

You don't like me for no good reason, I hate your fuckin' guts for a TON of good reasons. And I'll tell ya sumpin'...

A half a dozen years out of the sport and after having been booted off all but one of the discussion groups I've ever been on I'm still a center of attention.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31781
Another hang check lesson

Alan Deikman - 2014/09/23 19:47:06 UTC

Amazing how when this topic comes up every time you see people argue the same arguments over and over again. It has been a classic (although niche) endless Internet flame topic.

I suspect that some of the parties that have posted in threads like these before are refraining now since they have learned that it is nearly (completely?) impossible to change people's minds on the topic.

For my part I will just refer you to the classic Tad Eareckson essay which I call "the gun is always loaded" which is a bit overworked but probably all you will ever need to read regarding FTHI. A lot of people will find it gores their particular sacred Ox, but I have never seen anyone point out a flaw in his logic.

I get both attacked and supported for the same reason: I know what the fuck I'm doing and talking about in this sport like very few others.

You? You're a NOTHING. You take whatever you've been spoon fed by The Industry and have never had a ghost of an original idea and are incapable of incorporating anything solid even when it's handed to you on a silver platter.

The sport as you knew it is collapsing under the weight of decades worth of stupidity, incompetence, lies, and corruption. I'm gonna emerge from the rubble with my reputation and integrity fully INTACT. You...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1152
Bill Priday's death

Cragin Shelton - 2005/10/03 15:13:27 UTC

You are not hooked in until after the hang check.

Still reading this thread?

Swift - 2014/09/28 16:37:50 UTC

But Tad was right all along. Long time insiders are now using 200lb test weak links.
Op Op should have been writing an apology instead of a weak (link) cheap shot.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?

Cragin Shelton - 2011/09/03 23:57:33 UTC

Nice Reference Citation

Manned Kiting
The Basic Handbook of Tow Launched Hang Gliding
Daniel F. Poynter
1974

"The greatest dangers are a rope break or a premature release." - Richard Johnson

Do you REALLY think that there has been no progress in knowledge about the practical applied physics and engineering of hang gliding in 37 years? OR that an early, 3+ decade old, information book written by a non-pilot is a solid reference when you have multiple high experience current instructors involved in the discussion?

Get in line. And don't expect much in the way of forgiveness. WAY too much damage has been done.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Davis Straub - 2014/09/28 15:15:40 UTC

I locked the thread because it was going no where and had descended into Tad territory.

Four days, eight hours, fifty-one minutes, twenty-seven seconds. That was the time span on your inbred decadent little forum between flying related posts that hadn't descended into Tad territory.

Appears to me that your dump would've been going nowhere a helluva lot faster without the Tad territory discussions than it was with them. But arithmetic has never really been your thing, has it Davis?

Tad territory discussions hits currently totaling 1301 (1017+284), bracketing topics - 665 (656+9).

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Gerry Grossnegger - 2014/09/29 22:34:48 UTC

Just bob-ing along in the current.

Yeah Gerry, that's all you - and tens of thousands of glider assholes just like you - will ever be any good for.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Orion Price - 2014/10/01 00:15:56 UTC

The problem with tad:

1. He's been writing the FAA trying to get aero-tow governmently regulated according to his protocol. If you chance upon his faux scholarly-ish article about areo tow safety you will see a window into the mind of a mad man. It's like 80 pages of ASCII text drawings of his Rube Goldberg designs. He's been mailing, and emailing his article to government agencies. I'm sure his communications get filed along with alien sightings, crop circles, and perpetual motion machines the FAA receives from other crackpots. Still weird behavior.

2. He open and notoriously taunts the families of dead pilots. This is seriously low. If you think that only someone without balls could do such a thing, then you'd be right. He literally has no testicles. He had them surgically removed. Ask him about it, he'll tell you about life walking around with a flat sack. Low T, it's just a number.

3. A chance to defend himself? Do the dead pilots he lampoons get to defend themselves? Does anyone on his own forum get to defend themselves? Both are a no. He bans most everyone on his forum. It's a PHPBB forum just like ozreport is, so it looks and feels similar. However all the posts are by one person. He'll take a silly single thread from hanggling.org and write a 20 page treatise covering every post and reply with his opinion on it. It's a seriously time consuming endeavor he's on.

The problem with tad:

1. He's been writing the FAA trying...

LIAR. I wrote those useless fuckin' douchebags ONCE on 2009/10/27 - and ONLY after exhausting every effort to work with the useless fuckin' douchebags running USHGA and the Aerotow Industry.

...to get aero-tow governmently regulated...

Aerotow IS governmently regulated - and has been since 1984/10/25.

...according to his protocol.

According to EXISTING FAA regulations and USHGA SOPs.

If you chance upon his faux scholarly-ish article about areo...

Is that some kind of cookie?

...tow safety you will see a window into the mind of a mad man.

Yeah.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=12403
weak link table

ian9toes - 2009/06/14 15:18:37 UTC
Gold Coast, Queensland

I strongly disagree with banning the one guy who has the most knowledge about safety issues involving what I believe is the most dangerous part of our sport. I hear someone dies every year from towing. I hope SG bites his tongue in the interest of public safety.

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=805
Aerotowing Guidelines

Bill Cummings - 2011/10/26 11:06:32 UTC

Very fine effort Tad.

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=929
Training Manual Comments / Contribution

Bill Cummings - 2012/01/10 14:04:59 UTC

Tad's procedures for aerotowing should become part of any training manual.

Warren Narron - 2012/01/06 18:55:32 UTC

Going against the grain here, but someone has to point out that the probable best candidate to write a training manual has been banned from this site.

Fer sure.

It's like 80 pages of ASCII text drawings of his Rube Goldberg designs.

Let's see some of YOUR drawings and designs - pigfucker. You apparently lack the qualifications to do so much as find the breaking strength of a single Davis Link on your quantum physics load tester.

He's been mailing, and emailing his article to government agencies.

LIAR.
- See above.
- What agencies? Present some evidence.

I'm sure his communications get filed along with alien sightings, crop circles, and perpetual motion machines...

...global warming, ice cap and glacier melt, sea level rise, desertification, mass extinction...

...the FAA receives from other crackpots.

Well then. I don't see what the problem is. You're:
- scared shitless that I'm gonna bring down this avalanche of government regulation that's gonna destroy hang gliding
- sure my communications get filed along with alien sightings, crop circles, and perpetual motion machines

Pick one - ASSHOLE. You can't have it both ways.

Still weird behavior.

Wanna see some weird behavior?


http://ozreport.com/pub/images/fingerlakesaccident2.jpg
http://ozreport.com/pub/images/fingerlakesaccident3.jpg

2. He open and notoriously taunts the families of dead pilots.

QUOTE ME - MOTHERFUCKER.

This is seriously low.

WHAT IS?

If you think that only someone without balls could do such a thing, then you'd be right.

Somebody without balls gets on The Davis Show and mouths off anything he feels like knowing he has Davis's skirt to hide behind and the owner of that skirt to lock things down and keep him out of trouble.

He literally has no testicles. He had them surgically removed. Ask him about it, he'll tell you about life walking around with a flat sack. Low T, it's just a number.

Despicable cowardly little shit.

3. A chance to defend himself? Do the dead pilots he lampoons get to defend themselves?

- QUOTE ME.
-- PILOTS tend not to end up dead.
-- Dead "pilots" - like Zack Marzec - had the opportunity to listen to me. If they had they wouldn't have ended up dead.

Does anyone on his own forum get to defend themselves? Both are a no. He bans most everyone on his forum.

- Yeah, talk to Davis about the unfairness of people being banned, locked down, locked out, sabotaged, unable to defend themselves.

- Tell Davis about how I banned Bob Kuczewski. That should certainly win you some points.

- I also banned Sam 'cause he was just to far down in the bottom layers of the dregs of the gene pool and you - who came on under false pretenses and with the sole purpose of being banned.

- Fuckin' Bob Kuczewski got to make repeated grotesque personal attacks on me before I took his sleazy ass out. None of those attacks has been deleted or edited. Enjoy.

It's a PHPBB forum just like ozreport is...

No it's not, it's wide fuckin' open. Any member of the public is able to see every punctuation mark and bots are free to roam and index everything so people can find what they're looking for.

...so it looks and feels similar. However all the posts are by one person.

LIAR.
- There are currently 35 approved users, mostly hang glider people.
- Sixteen have elected to post.
- As of this one there are 6721 posts total.
- 5066 - a bit over 75 percent - are mine. That ain't ALL.

He'll take a silly single...

Moronic.

...thread from hanggling.org...

Sorry, not familiar with hanggling.org. Not even close, asshole.

...and write a 20 page treatise covering every post...

So?

...and reply with his opinion on it.

I don't do opinion. If you want opinion...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22660
What can be learned from this "scooter" towing accident?

Mitch Shipley - 2011/01/31 15:22:59 UTC

Enjoy your posts, as always, and find your comments solid, based on hundreds of hours / tows of experience and backed up by a keen intellect/knowledge of the issues when it comes to most things in general and hang gliding AT/Towing in particular. Wanted to go on record in case anyone reading wanted to know one persons comments they should give weight to.

...go to Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney. The line's pretty short nowadays.

And why do you think it is that NOBODY on the Cragin, Jack, Davis, or Bob Shows EVER quotes anything from T** at K*** S****** and rips it to shreds? Douchebags like Paul Hurless wouldn't want too? Or it's all bulletproof?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31781
Another hang check lesson

Alan Deikman - 2014/09/23 19:47:06 UTC

Amazing how when this topic comes up every time you see people argue the same arguments over and over again. It has been a classic (although niche) endless Internet flame topic.

I suspect that some of the parties that have posted in threads like these before are refraining now since they have learned that it is nearly (completely?) impossible to change people's minds on the topic.

For my part I will just refer you to the classic Tad Eareckson essay which I call "the gun is always loaded" which is a bit overworked but probably all you will ever need to read regarding FTHI. A lot of people will find it gores their particular sacred Ox, but I have never seen anyone point out a flaw in his logic.

It's a seriously time consuming endeavor he's on.

God fuckin' damn right it is - motherfucker. A lot tougher than popping up here and there around various glider forums, pulling whatever you feel like out of your ass, and presenting it as fact. So what's your point? People shouldn't read it? Go ahead, tell them they shouldn't. Can't think of a better way to get my hit counters to accelerate.

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1041
"Sharing" of Hang Gliding Information ?!?

Merlin - 2012/05/26 14:22:30 UTC

I confess to previously having a bit of an Oz Report habit, but the forced login thing has turned me off permanently, and I am in fact grateful. Frankly, the site had pretty much been reduced to a few dedicated sycophants in any case.

I've seen many times the destructive consequences of "control freaks".

"Welcome / About This Forum" cracked twenty thousand hits today. Kite Strings is a growing power. The Davis Show has been going down the toilet where it belongs for years.

Wanna answer any questions about why you presented my photo of a balloon drop system component as "Tad Eareckson's latest tow release"?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Martin Henry - 2014/10/01 03:49:43 UTC

Yikes (to the above)... looks like a line has been crossed.

By whom? Any chance you could check sources and verify whether or not a line - or two - has been crossed and by whom?

Too bad, forums used to be a way for us to share stuff, vent and rant and remember.

So'd the magazine.

I think...

You THINK?

...Tad is a bit off...

On what?

...and a bit compulsive (ok... maybe way off and way compulsive?)...

MAYBE?

...but heck we all have a wacko side...

I don't. Not on anything relevant to hang gliding anyway.

...look at the "sport" we participate in !

No...

Zack C - 2012/06/02 02:20:45 UTC

I just cannot fathom how our sport can be so screwed up.

...shit. And no small thanks to scum like Davis and OP.

Looks like another Tad thread is bringing out our best.

No argument with that whatsoever.

Time for a lock?

Sure, Martin. That'll help restore The Davis Show as a forum in which people can share stuff, vent and rant, and remember.

One thing is for sure, Forums are starting to loose their appeal.

On what are they loosing it?

Cheers

Don't hold your breath.

Steve Davy - 2014/10/01 04:07:27 UTC

Thought it would be prudent to read the forum rules in order to learn if a moratorium exists prohibiting links to Kite Strings.

There isn't, so here is a direct link to Tad Eareckson's reply to Op Op:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post6764.html#p6764

Davis Straub - 2014/10/01 04:12:54 UTC

You can link.

How...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27494
The exciting bits

Steve Davy - 2012/04/27 01:55:17 UTC

Why did you delete my post?

Davis Straub - 2012/04/27 02:42:02 UTC

Tad's name.

...magnanimous of you.

No worries.

Nah, no worries. You'll just dump the thread into "Off Topic" without leaving a "Moved" tracer in "Hang Gliding", the way you do for every other thread you dump, so no current readers will ever see the link and just assume that you deleted the thread - the way I did before Steve clued me in - and many intermittent and all future readers will never know it exists.

But why?

Yeah, why should Tad be given any semblance of an opportunity to defend himself and counterattack?

Steve Corbin - 2014/10/01 04:14:34 UTC

Martin, there was a time, not long ago, when I decided that the forums were losing...

Loosing.

...their appeal.

What trends were you noticing? People with intelligent stuff to say throwing in the towel...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31781
Another hang check lesson

Alan Deikman - 2014/09/23 19:47:06 UTC

I suspect that some of the parties that have posted in threads like these before are refraining now since they have learned that it is nearly (completely?) impossible to change people's minds on the topic.

...out of frustration and/or being sabotaged, locked down, deleted, banned by scum like Davis?

So I went off-line and read books...

The excellent book, Towing Aloft, by Dennis Pagen and Bill Bryden?

...and watched TV for a few months.

Not mutually exclusive, ya know.

Then I got back online.

And I realized that the forums could be very entertaining, so long as they weren't taken seriously.

Good plan. Don't take what people post to present themselves and influence this flavor of aviation seriously.

Once it is recognized that everyone participating in the online forums is batshit crazy...

Yeah, they're all batshit crazy. It's the people who NEVER participate in online forums - Dennis Pagen, Mike Meier, Bill Moyes, Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey, Matt Taber, Malcolm Jones, Tracy Tillman, Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt, Adam Elchin, Paul Tjaden, Pat Denevan - who have monopolies on the true wisdom for which all of us muppets are so starved.

...the forums then become a wonderful psychedelic playground.

'Specially if drop a tab of acid first.

There's lots of fun to be had, all ya gotta do is pretend to be crazier than they are. Of course, there's always the risk of discovering that you are, after all, crazier than they are. But if that happens, you will suddenly feel totally free, because your ego no longer has anything to fear.

Life is such a trip.

Don't bother registering for Kite Strings.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Whoa! This topic is still getting attention in Davis's Invisible Basement! Who'da thunk!

Brad Barkley - 2014/10/01 14:22:24 UTC

I am assuming that Tad's defenders here have never actually spent any time reading his posts.

Of course not, Brad. These are the people who just threw darts, scored my name, and got stuck with defending me no matter what.

They are interesting, in the sense that it's kind of like getting a look inside the mind of the Unabomber.

- Well DUH!

- Yeah Brad...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=28581
How to get banned from kitestrings.org ((tad drama)lol)

Brad Barkley - 2013/03/12 21:09:06 UTC

I sometimes go to kitestrings and read Tad's rantings because it's interesting in its way, and I mean interesting in the way the Unabomber's Manifesto is interesting... to see how a mind like that works.

So you keep saying.

To his defenders, do you know that he cackles with glee and delight any time a pilot is injured or killed?

- Oh. So you follow my posts more thoroughly than my defenders. How very strange.

- QUOTE ME - MOTHERFUCKER /...

http://www.hanggliding.org/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=3910
Viewing profile

Western Maryland
fiction writer

...Western Maryland fiction writer.

He practically had an orgasm...

Practically. Couldn't have ACTUALLY had an orgasm 'cause...

Orion Price - 2014/10/01 00:15:56 UTC

If you think that only someone without balls could do such a thing, then you'd be right. He literally has no testicles. He had them surgically removed. Ask him about it, he'll tell you about life walking around with a flat sack. Low T, it's just a number.

...I literally have no testicles. I had them surgically removed. Just ask me about it.

...over the death of Zach Marzec...

I so do appreciate your deep feelings regarding this individual. You even managed to spell three quarters of his first name correctly. Keep plugging away.

...and continues to gloat about it to this day.

Nah. If it had been Davis or Rooney I'd have had an orgasm. But as it was just a friend of Rooney's, Paul's, Lauren's, all those other Quest assholes' I just had an erection that lasted for four hours or more.

His postings in this regard are, in my opnion, sociopathic.

Well great! Hang gliding can always use another opnion from another asshole on something!

Ya know who I consider to be the real sociopaths in this sport? The ones who have NOTHING to say when somebody's been killed or seriously injured - particularly the ones who teach and/or endorse the practices and policies that caused the incident. Plus, obviously, the assholes who go charging to the front lines in support of the practices and policies that caused the incident.

Zack entered the sport in 2009 (29 years after I entered it and one year after I was blacklisted out of it primarily for trying to do something about this insane weak link issue which is half of what got his stupid ass killed). In the course of his short career there was no shortage of death and destruction in hang gliding in general and aerotowing in particular - unhooked launches, stunt landings, lockouts, Rooney Link inconveniences, Dragonfly crashes. Quote me one punctuation mark from Zack's involvement in any of the discussions.

Jim Rooney is one of the most vile pieces of shit I've ever known - in or out of the sport of hang gliding.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/11 19:22:18 UTC

Of course not... it's Asshole-see.

Sorry, I'm sick and tired of all these soap box bullshit assheads that feel the need to spout their shit at funerals. I just buried my friend and you're seizing the moment to preach your bullshit? GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!!!!!

I can barely stand these pompus asswipes on a normal day.

Fuck anybody in this sport who isn't denouncing him. Anybody who has anything to do with him is off the list of people I could give a rat's ass about. Somebody who's a FRIEND of his gets killed - tough shit. Don't expect me to shed any tears.

But I didn't go orgasmic 'cause this incompetent bozo got killed. I went orgasmic 'cause after 32 years of Hewett Easy Reach / Infallible Weak Link Hell plus a couple decades of Easy Reach / Standard Aerotow Weak Link Super Hell we FINALLY had these motherfuckers right where we wanted and needed them. That little 230 pound towline tension pop on a popular professional pro toad tandem aerotow instructor and the ensuing fatal impact destroyed the reputations of decades and untold hundreds worth of lying pieces of shit and permanently changed the course of the sport for the better. And it HAD to be a popular professional pro toad tandem aerotow instructor - otherwise he'd have just been another incompetent muppet who just froze / didn't react properly and been swept under the rug with all the other Standard Aerotow Weak Link victims.

But go ahead, Brad. Keep aligning yourself with scum like OP, Davis, Rooney, Steve Wendt, your Ridgely and CHGA buddies. See where it gets you.

[Tad Eareckson]

Ya know, Brad...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=28581
How to get banned from kitestrings.org ((tad drama)lol)

Brad Barkley - 2013/03/12 21:09:06 UTC

I sometimes go to kitestrings and read Tad's rantings because it's interesting in its way, and I mean interesting in the way the Unabomber's Manifesto is interesting... to see how a mind like that works.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Brad Barkley - 2014/10/01 14:22:24 UTC

I am assuming that Tad's defenders here have never actually spent any time reading his posts. They are interesting, in the sense that it's kind of like getting a look inside the mind of the Unabomber.

If I've gotta make a choice between being compared to a Ted Kaczynski...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25302
Interview with Davis Straub, OzReport founder

Jack Axaopoulos - 2012/02/24 15:00:21 UTC

Go crawl back under your rock with Bob and the other extremists that get themselves banned from every site and group they deal with.

...and a Bob Kuczewski I'll take Ted any day of the week.

Sending out mail bombs and injuring, burning, crippling, disfiguring, killing people is horrible - BUT...

- The death and destruction Ted perpetrated was a drop in the bucket compared to what the hang gliding industry deliberately wreaks on participants it rakes in and pretends to care about

- What Ted did was arguably WAY less despicable than the bullshit hang gliding...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=27736
Increase in our USHpA dues

Mark G. Forbes - 2012/12/20 06:21:33 UTC

We're re-working the accident reporting system, but again it's a matter of getting the reports submitted and having a volunteer willing to do the detail work necessary to get them posted. There are also numerous legal issues associated with accident reports, which we're still wrestling with. It's a trade-off between informing our members so they can avoid those kinds of accidents in the future, and exposing ourselves to even more lawsuits by giving plaintiff's attorneys more ammunition to shoot at us.

Imagine a report that concludes, "If we'd had a procedure "x" in place, then it would have probably prevented this accident. And we're going to put that procedure in place at the next BOD meeting." Good info, and what we want to be able to convey. But what comes out at trial is, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, my client suffered injury because USHPA knew or should have known that a safety procedure was not in place, and was therefore negligent and at fault." We're constantly walking this line between full disclosure and handing out nooses at the hangmen's convention.

...is doing, has always done, always will do.

The guy is a genius, has principles, was/is probably spot on with respect to most of his beliefs, understandings, predictions. ALL of the people in significant positions of control and a huge chunk of the rank and file in this sport are scum for which I have nothing but unmitigated contempt. What a trajedy it is that Ted chose the course of action he did, spread a lot of misery around that probably accomplished nothing to further his goals, and will rot in supermax for the rest of his life.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Orion Price - 2014/10/01 00:15:56 UTC

The problem with tad:

1. He's been writing the FAA trying to get aero-tow governmently regulated according to his protocol. If you chance upon his faux scholarly-ish article about areo tow safety you will see a window into the mind of a mad man. It's like 80 pages of ASCII text drawings of his Rube Goldberg designs. He's been mailing, and emailing his article to government agencies. I'm sure his communications get filed along with alien sightings, crop circles, and perpetual motion machines the FAA receives from other crackpots. Still weird behavior.

Brad Barkley - 2014/10/01 14:22:24 UTC

I am assuming that Tad's defenders here have never actually spent any time reading his posts. They are interesting, in the sense that it's kind of like getting a look inside the mind of the Unabomber.

Neither you nor any other of you Davis Show motherfuckers have challenged that comparison, OP...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski
Ted Kaczynski

As a result of testing conducted in the fifth grade, which determined he had an IQ of 167, he was allowed to skip the sixth grade and enroll in the seventh grade.

He was encouraged to apply to Harvard University, and was subsequently accepted as a student beginning in 1958 at the age of 16. While at Harvard, Kaczynski was taught by famed logician Willard Van Orman Quine, scoring at the top of Quine's class with a 98.9% final grade.

Kaczynski graduated from Harvard University in 1962, at age 20, and subsequently enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he earned a PhD in mathematics. Kaczynski's specialty was a branch of complex analysis known as geometric function theory. His professors at Michigan were impressed with his intellect and drive. "He was an unusual person. He was not like the other graduate students", said Dr. Peter Duren, one of Kaczynski's math professors at Michigan. "He was much more focused about his work. He had a drive to discover mathematical truth." "It is not enough to say he was smart", said Dr. George Piranian, another of his Michigan math professors. Kaczynski earned his PhD with his thesis entitled "Boundary Functions" by solving a problem so difficult that Piranian could not figure it out. Maxwell Reade, a retired math professor who served on Kaczynski's dissertation committee, also commented on his thesis by noting, "I would guess that maybe 10 or 12 men in the country understood or appreciated it."

Kaczynski's activities came to the attention of the FBI in 1978 with the explosion of his first, primitive homemade bomb. Over the next 17 years, he mailed or hand-delivered a series of increasingly sophisticated explosive devices that killed three people and injured 23 more.

The initial 1978 bombing was followed by bombs sent to airline officials, and in 1979 a bomb was placed in the cargo hold of American Airlines Flight 444, a Boeing 727 flying from Chicago to Washington, D.C. The bomb began smoking, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing. Some passengers were treated for smoke inhalation. Only a faulty timing mechanism prevented the bomb from exploding. Authorities said it had enough power to "obliterate the plane".

After the manifesto was published, the FBI received over a thousand calls a day for months in response to the offer of a $1 million reward for information leading to the identity of the Unabomber.

By this point, the Unabomber had been the target of one of the most expensive investigations in the FBI's history.

This guy was/is not stupid. You've got his IQ with the decimal point moved to the left a notch. His shit WORKED - he was extremely effective at doing what he set out to do. If he'd been motivated to design hang glider tow releases they wouldn't have looked like the cheap bent pin crap you fly with - they'd have looked just like the stuff I've designed, flown with, distributed.

The ultimate catalyst which drove him to begin his campaign of bombings was when he went out for a walk to one of his favorite wild spots, only to find that it had been destroyed and replaced with a road. About this, he said:

The best place, to me, was the largest remnant of this plateau that dates from the tertiary age. It's kind of rolling country, not flat, and when you get to the edge of it you find these ravines that cut very steeply in to cliff-like drop-offs and there was even a waterfall there. It was about a two days' hike from my cabin. That was the best spot until the summer of 1983. That summer there were too many people around my cabin so I decided I needed some peace. I went back to the plateau and when I got there I found they had put a road right through the middle of it... You just can't imagine how upset I was. It was from that point on I decided that, rather than trying to acquire further wilderness skills, I would work on getting back at the system. Revenge.

I can totally relate to those feelings. A few years ago I was on my way to start a Christmas Bird Count in the territory I've been doing since I was a kid. Came around a curve and I was so shocked by what I saw that I'd have wrecked the car if my sister hadn't grabbed the steering wheel.

But the really cool thing about hang gliding is that I don't need to build, plant, mail bombs. I just sit back and wait for a few of the untold tens of thousands of bombs hang gliding culture spends twenty years perfecting, plants, mails to go off. Toldyaso, motherfucker. Glad you totaled your glider, snapped your arm in half, died doing what you loved. Next.

Anyway OP...

When you get through with pissing all over me and my work, discussing my deranged brain and missing testicles, your exhaustive weak link testing program... How but telling us what you're RECOMMENDING in the way of:
- releases
- weak link strength, rating, material, design
- aerotowing SOPs
- strategy for ensuring hooked in launches
- trustworthy instructors, schools, flight parks, forums, texts

Everybody and his dog already know the one person they need to AVOID like the plague...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25963
Woman killed in B.C. hang gliding fall.

Dennis Cavagnaro - 2014/10/02 20:18:23 UTC

As fellow flyers have we learned anything new?

I don't think so. I have always thought the one of the purposes of this site was to expose hang gliding as a exciting healthy activity.

When analysis reaches obsession it leads to people being turned off.

Tad sucked...he sucked as a HGing pilot and then reinvented himself as a sucky paraglider pilot. F him and lets not replicate his negative views on flying.

Sad accident, mistakes made, we know the mistakes....lets move on.

But that doesn't really help them all that much.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Orion Price - 2014/10/01 00:15:56 UTC

The problem with tad:

1. He's been writing the FAA trying to get aero-tow governmently regulated according to his protocol. If you chance upon his faux scholarly-ish article about areo tow safety you will see a window into the mind of a mad man. It's like 80 pages of ASCII text drawings of his Rube Goldberg designs. He's been mailing, and emailing his article to government agencies. I'm sure his communications get filed along with alien sightings, crop circles, and perpetual motion machines the FAA receives from other crackpots. Still weird behavior.

2. He open and notoriously taunts the families of dead pilots. This is seriously low. If you think that only someone without balls could do such a thing, then you'd be right. He literally has no testicles. He had them surgically removed. Ask him about it, he'll tell you about life walking around with a flat sack. Low T, it's just a number.

3. A chance to defend himself? Do the dead pilots he lampoons get to defend themselves? Does anyone on his own forum get to defend themselves? Both are a no. He bans most everyone on his forum. It's a PHPBB forum just like ozreport is, so it looks and feels similar. However all the posts are by one person. He'll take a silly single thread from hanggling.org and write a 20 page treatise covering every post and reply with his opinion on it. It's a seriously time consuming endeavor he's on.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39347
Please explain yourself without deleting me

Brad Barkley - 2014/10/01 14:22:24 UTC

I am assuming that Tad's defenders here have never actually spent any time reading his posts. They are interesting, in the sense that it's kind of like getting a look inside the mind of the Unabomber. To his defenders, do you know that he cackles with glee and delight any time a pilot is injured or killed? He practically had an orgasm over the death of Zach Marzec, and continues to gloat about it to this day. His postings in this regard are, in my opnion, sociopathic.

Meanwhile, back in Realityland...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=865
Tandem pilot and passenger death

Davis Straub - 2005/10/08 01:26:22 UTC

Personally if lawyers were involved I wouldn't be doing any accident report myself.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/08 21:31:15 UTC

No one. There is no obligation to do any of this. If private persons wish to do it, then fine, but there is no entitlement to know anything.
...
I have no idea. Who did they ask? Who did they sue first?
...
I'm pretty upset that I don't have a lot of things, but I learn to live with it. I was very unhappy and frustrated by the results of the last two presidential elections, for example. Trivial compared to the death of one person you say, hardly.
...
Rely on the kindness of strangers.
...
Yah, got that. So, what?

I admit I have very little sympathy for your position and your feeling that somehow somebody is owed something by somebody who is still alive. Arlan is dead and he can't make anyone whole.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/11 02:04:06 UTC

But do we owe anyone anything? No, but that's beside the point.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/11 03:40:35 UTC

And who do you suggest is supposed to cooperate with the family? And what does cooperation mean? I would suggest that Arlan is that person.

I don't care that there are no "good" answers for the "family." There are no good answers for the 20,000 dead people in Pakistan either. So what?

If you are willing to start the accident database and start doing the accident reporting, feel free to get to it. The USHGA is a volunteer organization and only does what volunteers are willing to do. Live with it.

I am saying that the disappointment of 50,000,000 people who feel that the country is going in the wrong direction is a lot greater than that of the familiy of one man who died in an accident. Get it? 1,950 dead Americans in Iraq for example.

If you want the outsider to know something the first thing you do is make sure that they don't sue anyone, because if they do, they will be sure not to get any answers from people who are volunteering their time and effort.

Just who is "we?" Did you give them any answers?

If the family is way past talking then how are they expecting to get any answers. But, I'm sure that you are right, and they won't be getting any.
...
Well go back twenty or thirty years and change things.

We are not sticking our heads in the stand. The accident was (maybe is) being investigated, as per the standard procedure, but now I assume that the family has totaly screwed that up.

It would also be the last accident report you got from a professional. BTW, the accident report volunteer for the USHGA does this for a living. I.E. he is a professional.

Next time try to write your screed so that it doesn't sound like one more long whine about how the world is unfair. Then you won't sound like you or they are entitled, which you definitely did.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/11 15:30:25 UTC

The family lost all moral standing as far as I'm concerned as soon as they sued.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/11 17:45:14 UTC

BTW, I have lots of private postings from pilots at the scene or who came and gathered evidence. I am not at liberty to disclose them. Why? Because of the possibility of a lawsuit, which, well how about that, we now have.

So if you are looking for a detailed and knowledgeable discussion about the cause of the accident, I guess we won't have the benefit of those observations.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/11 21:45:00 UTC

Again, I have received plenty of private email from people involved with Hang Glide Chicago. You guarantee a lawyer won't use discovery to find out who wrote what to me? You guarantee me they won't take away my hard disk? Do you want to bond your guarantee?

One person in the Chicago area took on the responsibility for writing up an accident report. They were very clear that they did not want speculation in the forums about the accident. I went ahead and published material about it anyway.

I hope that he is still writing the accident report.

My figure of six months comes from previous experience. See my discussion of Terry Spencer. BTW, you will find a "treasure trove" of accident reports in the Oz Report.

I would bet the the Kolb is a non legal ultralight engaged in a non legal activity, towing hang gliders.

BTW, what exactly counts as an "answer" for the "family?" One person writing to me privately has stated that I have already provided the answer in the Oz Report, many weeks ago. Perhaps the "family" should look there if they truly want an aswer. When do they know that they've got "the" answer.

What is an "answer" going to look like that will satisfy them?

What if you don't wish to become involved in any legal matters what so ever, whether just testifying or not. Keeping your mouth shut is a good way to avoid entanglement. Not taking responsibility for writing an accident report is a good way to avoid entanglement.

And what is paranoid about that?

I doubt that there are any direct employees as such at Hang Glide Chicago. I spoke at length with Arlan last year regarding his exposure to law suits. No assests, no law suits.

I guess if you pay the lawyer yourself, then that equation doesn't hold up.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/12 04:18:40 UTC

Oh Gosh, I'm so sorry, I just didn't realize how noble the family was. If only I had known that it was necessary to file a law suit to get people to act like good citizens, I would have started filing them a long time ago. Thanks for setting me straight on that.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/12 05:08:45 UTC

Let us say that I continue to be completely outraged that any member of the hang gliding community is supporting this law suit.
...
Yes, it is actually. It is very unlikely that the law suit is done on contingency as there are little to no assets to get value from. As I wrote earlier Arlan and I had a long talk about this, and there is nothing there. I won't go into why this is the case.
...
There is no need to file a lawsuit then. You can hire a lawyer and have the lawyer send letters and ask questions. There is no need to file a lawsuit.
...
How is a lawsuit going to insure this? A lawsuit against Arlan's estate? You expect a Kolb to write the report? How is a law suit against an estate going to force a complete and detailed report? How do you know if it is "complete?" Who are you going to threaten that they have to write such a report and how does suing an estate do this?

How is a law suit going to get any volunteer to write a complete and detailed report?

This makes no sense at all.
...
It's real easy. I judge their actions not themselves. I see their actions and their actions speak for themselves.
...
Well, they blew that one.
...
Ah, exactly how does a law suit against an estate manage to do that? Please explain your logic here. Last time I checked the volunteer who was writing up the report wasn't being sued. Are you saying he is? Is the USHGA being sued?
...
And that isn't a "good" enough answer for them?

Either you're nuts, or not only does this smell, it stinks.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/12 15:42:42 UTC

Yes, I do not owe the family anything. None of us owe the family anything. Arlan was the responsible party and he is dead. Anyone can take on the responsibility and one volunteer has, but they do not owe anyone anything. They make the decision about what they are going to do.

Who exactly is "we?" They are suing Arlan's estate. Is that the we we are talking about? Who should answer the call when "we" are called?

The USHGA has a process for accident reports. I gave you the email address for Joe Gregor. You can contact him. I gave you the emal address for the local volunteer who is doing the accident report, you can contact him.

Who do you suggest?

Should the USHGA hire a grief counseler? Maybe we should make this one of the job qualifications of the Executive Director. (BTW, she would in fact do it, as unlike me, she actually has feelings.)
...
Exactly. It should be you and those who care. Who better?

Davis Straub - 2005/10/12 18:20:49 UTC

Unbelievable.

Still no answer to what constitutes an answer in jpnielsen's mind or the even more ephemeral "family." It appears that really an answer is not what is actually wanted, but a shoulder to cry on.

Fine, jpnielsen seems up the task. Go for it. Represent "we."

Davis Straub - 2005/10/15 06:01:25 UTC

I'm a little lost as to understand what it was about the family or the situation that made it so they didn't get an "answer," whatever that means. I got plenty of "answers" starting the very night of the accident.

There seemed to be three eye witnesses. There were plenty of people there the next day. Did the family not go there on Sunday? There was plenty of investigation going on.

We have never heard anything about what they did to try to get an "answer." We have never heard what constitutes an "answer."

Who do or did they expect to hear an answer from? I asked Jayne and they have not sued the USHGA. Did anyone feel the obligation to talk to the family?

Davis Straub - 2005/10/16 04:18:40 UTC

I think we all agree that a lawsuit doesn't "make the medicine go down." And that it doesn't make any sense given the particulars. And it sure doesn't seem like any one did anything wrong.

Davis Straub - 2005/10/19 23:58:11 UTC

From: Jayne DePanfilis
To: 'Davis Straub'
Sent: 2005/10/19 16:42
Subject: Will you consider removing Lili's email address?

The family has received a deluge of harmful emails, some of them very accusatory, calling the family money grubbers etc. I think it would be best to apologize and remove the email addresses. I know this isn't what you intended to have happen but some members of our flying community are making things much worse for this family that just suffered a terrible loss. Jayne

Sam Panarella - 2011/05/28 02:25:22 UTC

RE: Jeremiah

Tad, Lili forwarded your email to me. I'm Lili's husband, Jeremiah's brother-in-law. As you can imagine, this is still a very tough subject for Lili and the rest of the family. I will discuss it with them and let you know if there's anything they would like to do. Thanks for reaching out.

http://www.kitestrings.org/topic76.html
2005/09/03 AT crash

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=4574
Drogue use in the LZ

Orion Price - 2014/10/20 16:55:40 UTC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X79lFdhjd_4


RshawHG4's experiences using drogues.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pFwxGMOoSc#t=160

NMERider - 2014/10/20 22:01:18 UTC

Why is this posted under 'Safety and Incidents in flight'?

Why is ANYTHING that asshole posts posted ANYWHERE?

Regardless, here is what a large and stable drag chute will deliver and more...

Big Drag Chute at Sylmar 1-22-2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPrLTBrmcgE
Soar SoCal - 2014/08/12
dead

Orion Price - 2014/10/21 17:09:25 UTC

As internet peeps have been mining our incident sub for their glory, i'm going to be polluting it with all my posts until chip makes it subscribeable only.

Where to begin...

- As opposed to hieroglyphics peeps. It's on the INTERNET - asshole. How is somebody gonna read it unless he's also on the internet? Do you really need that adjective?

- What the fuck are "peeps"? Too goddam much trouble to write or say PEOPLE? Go ahead, take the language with you down the sewer while you're doing the same thing to the sport.

- I'm mining this for my GLORY? I'm getting GLORY for my efforts? Thanks for letting me know. Must be getting buried by all the shit peeps are constantly trying to bury me with.

- Everything you write/say/do is pollution. Doesn't matter what the venue is.

- Great!

-- Sabotage your pathetic little club forum. I've got no problem with that.

-- Get your pathetic little club forum locked down so's fewer people will be able to hear the crap you have to say. Any guesses as to where people hungry for information will end up going when you do that?

We've had, what, 2 fatalities over the past 25 years.

- In the first half of 2008 "WE" had two fatalities on gliders trying to hit the Kagel primary within the space of forty-five days.

- Who's "WE"? When Joe Julik was killed when his glider caught a wind shear at Whitewater a bit over three weeks ago Jonathan posted:

Sad Loss to the Entire Free-Flight Community

But he doesn't rate as "WE" 'cause his glider didn't catch a wind shear in the LA Basin?

That's gotta be less than any dirt bike track or a surf spot.

SUPER! You guys don't have any real problems that need to be addressed. You're all the best you can possibly be. Fuck Mother Nature. You've got this flying thing nailed. Knock yourselves out.

Yet we've got your boy Tad E. combing our posts.

Whose boy? Jonathan's? I thought you said:

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
[TIL] About Tad Eareckson

Orion Price - 2013/03/10 05:57:24 UTC

Also he apparently really doesn't like NME_RIDER/LA Glide. JD to him is apparently Satan with a glider and a youtube account.

But now I'm his boy? OK.

He likes to call out our fallen as "Stupid assholes whom had it coming" and issuing fatwas against greblo and kells.

- "OUR" fallen? We're just talking two fatalities over the past twenty-five years. What's it matter?

- Why is:

Stupid assholes whom had it coming

inside of a pair of quotation marks? Wanna tell your fellow Grebloville douchebags where they can check the source?

- I'd have never written "Stupid assholes whom had it coming" 'cause my command of the English language sucks a whole lot less than yours does.

- Rob Kells...

- He died well over half a dozen years ago and never spoke his mind enough to have any influence on the sport one way or the other. What would be the point of issuing a fatwa on him?

- This quote:

Rob Kells - 2005/12

Always lift the glider vertically and feel the tug on the leg straps when the harness mains go tight, just before you start your launch run. I always use this test.

My partners (Steve Pearson and Mike Meier) and I have over 25,000 hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another 5000 flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above. Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.

...from him is plastered the hell all over Kite Strings. If you motherfuckers are all so goddam reverential of Rob then how come not a single goddam one of you pushes or even adheres to his twisted agenda on this issue? Y'all think you're OK 'cause y'all use appropriate weak links with a finished lengths of 1.5 inches or less?

- Joe Greblo?

-- He's the best of the best, does everything right, walks on water - right? What's he got to worry about with a fatwa from a senile old lunatic from T** at K*** S******?

-- You might notice that when he was involved in a midair with Corey it wasn't Joe I went after.

When NeonJ hurt his neck, it seemed the entire .org celebrated with glee. "Ha ha, motherfucker you had it coming" was the tone of many posts.

Seemed to WHOM? Even when you're talking about non Tad people you can't help but lie your ass off.

I for one don't like this attitude. It's not helpful to anyone.

So how come you didn't lift a finger in his defense? Too busy with your weak link testing program?

Weird anti-social behavior, I would call it.

Of course you would. You just said:

...it seemed the entire .org celebrated with glee.

That would make it totally normal social behavior. But you never had much going for you in the logic circuitry department.

Sometimes sailplane pilots fly without their spar pins in place. Does the rest of the community celebrate with "die motherfucker?" Do they call the FAA and try to have their sport banned? Talk to Joe Faust, and Tad E.

Reaching pretty far up your ass, aren't ya OP?

Sure. Talk to Joe Faust...

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/Manifesto01.html
Manifesto

Orion Price - 2014/03/07

Next week, when I have time, I will address all of your enumerated points. You have good questions and I feel I can address them all.

I've been waiting for your cowardly lying ass to talk to him for over seven months now.

Talk to me - motherfucker. I'll demolish your ass so fast you won't know what hit you. Or are you gonna save that for when the forum is locked down and no one can see what's going on?

NMERider - 2014/10/21 18:33:06 UTC

OP,

You raise a valid point in that public ostracism and hazing seem to worsen the safety of the sports of HG and PG.

Doesn't hold a candle to what happens to competent people who try to bring things back to the realm of sanity.

Let's not forget we are also a PG club and PG risk management requirements often differ from HG requirements.

Thank gawd.

Given the chance, (if elected Safety Officer) I try to foster an environment within the club that facilitates confidential accident, incident and risk management issue communication via a neutral party.

- Will you try to foster an environment within the club that takes a look at the people "instructing" and signing off ratings? Like when you've got people launching unhooked left and right and nobody's making the slightest pretense of teaching, complying with, enforcing:

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

- Fuck confidentiality. I have zero respect for someone who screws a pooch and doesn't identify himself and give a full honest account.

We can make our club an example for others to follow in the domain of maximizing safe soaring in otherwise crowded geographical and aviation spaces. If having a club members' only section of the forum facilitates this then I will propose it to the board (assuming we have the bbs resources).

Right, Jonathan. You're gonna make your club an example for others to follow in the domain of maximizing safe soaring in otherwise crowded geographical and aviation spaces. But you're not gonna let others see what you're doing. Lemme know how that works out.

I really don't know how the world of online communication actually influences the SHGA as a club or its pilots as individuals.

Do an experiment. Establish a Basement subforum and restrict Tad to it for "about a month". I predict you'll be amazed at the results.

It's my feeling that this is a people club that also flies and is driven mainly by face to face contact or live phone conversations.

No..

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=1389
Where are the Accident Reports for the two fatalities 2008?

Joe Greblo - 2009/04/11 15:16:54 UTC

Accident reports for both Richard and Jeff have been submitted to the USHPA. I sent one in for Richard and the SHGA has a copy in their files. I suspect accident reports were submitted by more than just one individual. For Richard's accident, I personally have a copy of the one I sent in and one that Rome sent. I'd be happy to share them with any current club member that would like to read them in my presence, but I don't think that they will be published out of deference to the families.

This is because accident reports are submitted by simple witnesses to the accident and not professional accident investigators. These witnesses are often other pilots, or simply spectators or passers by. The content often includes personal opinions of why the accident happened; opinions that do not necessarily hold true.

The USHPA often publishes summaries of accident reports in an effort to educate pilots as to specific dangers or accident trends. I don't know if a summary covering Richard or Jeff's accidents will appear in a future issue of Hang Gliding Magazine.

...shit.

Somewhere in all the various means of communication is our path to:

Maximize our airtime while minimizing our downtime.

Yeah? We've been playing this game for over four decades now. Any thoughts on why natural selection hasn't made any paths blindingly obvious yet?

P.S. OP... Thanks again for the morale boost. Whenever I get attacked by douchebags such as yourself it boosts my confidence that I'm straight and center on that path Jonathan's talking about.