[TIL] About Tad Eareckson

OP · Post by OP » Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:57 pm

(Today I learned) There is a guy who reads our forum every and does detailed analysis on all our comments. This guy has Rafferty amounts of extra time to just be an idiot and not fly/work/live.

In place of adding to our discourse he bought a website in which he makes comments about our comments. That's just weird. Apparently we are all we are all suicidal idiots and destroying the sport. Also he apparently really doesn't like NME_RIDER/LA Glide. JD to him is apparently Satan with a glider and a youtube account.

Look at this shit. He literaly goes through every comment and makes his own comment on his own webside: http://www.kitestrings.org/topic10-310.html

I know that haters' gonna hate. But what is with weird antisocial behavior? Who has the time to not go flying, but to sit around and organize and edit weird videos (rafferty)? Who has the time to register websites and make their own PHPBB dedicated to every comment on the SHGA? Weirdos, Y U NO JUST FLY?

I ain't even mad. This is just FYI

Bob Kuczewski · Post by **Bob Kuczewski** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 10:20 am

I first learned about Tad Eareckson when I was Regional Director and the USHPA Board circulated a letter he had written (with intention to send?) to the FAA about some dangerous practices in hang gliding.

The Board's knee-jerk response was to try to take some kind of legal action to silence Tad. I indicated that I thought we shouldn't be sending our lawyers in as our first response, and that maybe we should have someone talk with him first. So Dennis Pagen volunteered, and I believe the matter was settled without any serious damage to the sport.

A few years later (when I was starting the US Hawks Hang Gliding Association), I actually wrote to Tad inviting him to our forum because I wanted to incorporate diverse views in our new association. Tad joined us, and for a while things were fine. But over time, it became obvious to me that he was more interested in just bashing people than trying to actually solve problems in the sport of hang gliding. For a long time, I tried to show him kindness on our forum and I gave him a lot of slack with regard to his profanity and his comments that he wished certain people would crash and kill themselves. Eventually (and for reasons that I won't full disclose here), it became necessary to ask Tad to leave the US Hawks forum, and he is currently the only person who's been completely banned from the US Hawks.

Having said all of that, I have to add that Tad has an incredible amount of energy, and I think it would be great if the sport of hang gliding could figure out how to harness it. He's done extensive work on towing releases and he has a library of photographs related to releases. I think he brings an important perspective to the sport, but his personality is so toxic that it's very difficult to gain any benefit from it. Indeed, I consider it a failing on my part that I wasn't able to help Tad get past some of his "personality" issues and become a good contributing member on the US Hawks forum.

Steve D · Post by **Steve D** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:15 pm

Freedomspyder - 2009/02/14

I've found your posts on both hook-in checks and releases very interesting and well thought out.

Best of luck dealing with the Oz Report forum cult and its leader.

Zack C - 2010/10/15
Houston

Speaking of which, while I can fault Tad's approach, I can't fault his logic, nor have I seen anyone here try to refute it.

Dave Williams - 2010/11/08
Texas

I was almost speechless that within a short space of time yet another failure to clip in INCIDENT (no accident) and we're trying to ban Tad from our daily email delight.

One of the three things Tad is very forthright on is the hang check/clip in. I was very concerned that the most recent failure to clip in was glossed over as if it was totally unimportant. Whilst anyone in this group displays this complacent attitude we need at least one Tad with regular inputs, most of which are safety oriented. So my input is that we absolutely need Tad, at least until we can learn to do the basics.

Jason Rogers - 2008/10/14
Port Macquarie, New South Wales

Thanks for this discussion. I spent most of my flying time at a rounded hill takeoff, where this really isn't that much of an issue. I don't think I was placing the right sort of importance on being hooked in... So now that I'm flying less "forgiving" sites, you may well have saved my life.

Norm Boessler - 2010/01/11
Armidale, New South Wales

Lift and Tug - identified my absent leg loop - thank you!

Helen McKerral - 2010/01/27
Adelaide Hills, South Australia

Hiya Tad,

I've been doing the lift and tug for some months now, after our discussion. It's good and it works.

Allen Sparks - 2010/09/07
Evergreen, Colorado

Oscar,

I'm very happy you weren't injured.

Helen,

Thanks for the Tad 'lift and tug' reminder.

I have launched unhooked and experienced the horror of hanging by my fingers over jagged rocks ... and the surreal result - i.e. not being significantly injured.

I am a firm believer in 'lift and tug' and the mindset of assuming I am not hooked in. It is motivated by the recurring memory of my own experience ... and the tragic deaths and life-altering injuries of good friends.

Bryan Hindle - 2009/12/15
UK

I have read Tad's posts with interest and he seems to make a lot of sense. I don't see why we cannot learn from what sailplanes have been doing.

Brian Vant-Hull - 2007/07/21
Manhattan

I'll be lazy and ask if any of your references give a physical reason for the 0.8 to 2 g range they quote as safe. If not, constructing a reasonable physical argument could be a major contribution. You clearly have the physics down well enough (as good as anyone else in the world) to do so.

John Moody - 2010/02/03
Houston

Bob, I had already looked over the first two links you posted about the Capitol Hang Gliding Club and knew that Tad was an active member in the early '90's and I had also looked over his Flickr pictures of releases. It was the third link that turned out to be the really good one. I read the whole thread from top to bottom, about a three hour chore for me and keeping score as it bounced from person to person was hard for a while. The one thing I found I could seriously relate to was Tad Eareckson. He is my newest Hero now.

Donnell Hewett - 2008/11/05
Kingsville, Texas

Let me begin by saying that I personally appreciate Tad Eareckson's efforts to improve the SOP of aerotowing as well as his suggestion to update the Skyting Criteria. It is through efforts like his that progress is made toward safer towing.

I thank him for keeping this issue before the hang gliding community.

Gregg Ludwig - 2009/02/11
Towing Committee Chair
The Woodlands, Texas

Would you be interested in a position on the USHPA Tow Committee? You can participate via e-mail if you can't make it to a BOD meeting. ..or just help me with a single project...

I need to rewrite the aerotow SOP...to include ATP and Sport pilot stuff....weaklinks...or just send me a proposal on weaklink sop ideas...

Bill Cummings - 2012/01/10
Las Cruces, New Mexico

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

JohnG - 2009/04/13
Salt Lake City

There is one person who has put more thought and time into releases than anyone. That person is Tad. He explains the pros and cons to every release out there. I gave you the link to more release information than the average person could ever digest, and I didn't get a thank you. Just you bitching that we aren't being constructive. What more could you want? He has created something that is a solution, but no one is using it... apparently you aren't interested either. So what gives??? What do you want us to tell you? Your concerns echo Tad's concerns, so why not use his system? Every other system out there has known flaws.

Warren Narron - 2011/02/19
Excelsior Springs, Missouri

The photography is excellent, professional even...

Janni Papakrivos - 2008/06/30
Maryland

Tad showed me the release system he installed in Hugh's glider. I was amazed at the quality and complexity of the system.

ian9toes - 2009/06/14
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.

Warren Narron - 2012/01/06

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.

Adi Branch - 2009/11/10
UK

For what it's worth, I think Tad spoke a lot of sense.

Warren Narron - 2012/03/06

Tad, used to post about as nice as anyone, and nicer than some. Remember?

Blowback... You put in a thousand plus hour$, tooling, te$ting and documenting safety issues for the masses and have it ignored and suppressed by people, for whatever reason, and you would get testy too.
You're fairly snarky as it is, and you haven't done the work...

And you may be correct about the footnote... but today's footnotes are now hyperlinks...

There is a good chance that from now on, for every incident and fatality caused by insufficient weaklinks or sub-standard release mechanisms, a hyperlink trail will lead back to Tadtriedtowarnyou.com ... where all the evidence can be found.

A further link could then go to a list of all the people and the role they played in the suppression of those safety issues...
Who would like to be on that list?
How many are already on it?

Antoine Saraf - 2011/09/05
France

I leave flatlands for the alps..
I'd like to thank you sincerly Tad to help me to introduce 2 point AT in France in a safely manner and understand better lot of important stuffs about AT (release, wl, asymmetrical tension..). I try to relay your work here.
Thanks Zack too for having offered you a place to talk about, and for us to ask and read.
Regards Guys

Zack C - 2011/08/26

Wow. The irony. The arrogance. And people call Tad arrogant...I can see why you have so much contempt for this guy, Tad.

I have yet to see anyone debunk Tad's 'lunacy'...

Jason Rogers - 2009/12/01

Hi Tad,

I read your summation on the oz report and you said it better in one line than I did in a whole page. Like getting hard on the brakes one foot before you hit. Wow. I can *see* that.

Actually concreted it in my mind better than all the numbers.

OP · Post by OP » Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:34 pm

Bob Kuczewski wrote:I first learned about Tad Eareckson when ...
Eventually... it became necessary to ask Tad to leave the US Hawks forum, and he is currently the only person who's been completely banned from the US Hawks.

I can imagine...geez. He's written a 10 page treatise about this very thread we're in now.

Hi there Tad. I can feel you watching in.

Busto · Post by **Busto** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:09 pm

Is that Russell Crow?

dhmartens · Post by **dhmartens** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:45 pm

Could the CIA have prevented the Apollo 1 fire?
Article:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/797/1

Taken from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1#Fire
On January 28, 1986, the Soviet Union disclosed that cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko died after a fire in a high-oxygen isolation chamber on March 23, 1961, less than three weeks before the first Vostok manned space flight.[33][34][35] This revelation caused some speculation whether the Apollo 1 disaster might have been averted had NASA been aware of the incident.[36]

Busto · Post by **Busto** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:46 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipe6w7aTk38[/youtube]

OP · Post by OP » Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:12 am

Final bit of troll food, I read about Tad's reputation this morning.

Tad Eareckson is a generally discounted crackpot and internet troll. He doesn't fly and has been perma-banned from most everywhere: .org, oz report and all the local club websites with discussion forums like ours.

He has two main speaking points. 1. All HG landings should be done prone as belly landings using wheels. All other foot landings are suicidal, he will say. He schadenfreudes hard at our accidents and especially fatalities

2. He is a self proclaimed "engineer" and inventor of Rube Goldberg tow bridles. As you can see his elegant designs are a huge commercial success sweeping the industry. His explanation of how his bridles work indicated he doesn't have any education on the subject.

His situation reminds me of a tragedy of a family friend. As began to loose his edge, he proportionality wanted to write people weirder and weirder letters. Newspaper editors, distant relatives, and especially the government would receive long rants pointing out his intelligence and schadenfreuding over their failures. Eventually his internet usage had to be monitored, and his snail-mail letters "mailed" by someone else. The failure mode exhibited here is nearly identical.

He may not fly, but I do. And it's all about the flying.
Last month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... FZk#t=156s

[/feeding weird internet troll]

dhmartens · Post by **dhmartens** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 3:12 pm

I don't know a lot about towing but looking through all the different ones on Tad's pages makes me think there should be 1 or 2 standardized designs and weak link designed to exacting standards.

I was looking at mountain bike accident statistics for any insight:
Mountain Bike-Related Injuries Down 56 Percent, According to a U.S. National Study
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 113812.htm

somewhere I read body armor can reduce accidents on mountain bikes.

In a way I feel left out for not being mentioned anywhere on Tad's forum. I am also very glad to not have been injured to where I would be mentioned there.

Mike Blankenhorn · Post by **Mike Blankenhorn** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:57 pm

Suicide is highly under rated, Tad should try it, but no wait he's lost his balls!

Busto · Post by **Busto** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:06 pm

OP · Post by OP » Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:12 pm

Mike Blankenhorn wrote:....Tad should try it, but no wait he's lost his balls!

Normally I'd say that is a low blow Mike. However, this time it's not. I don't want to re-post it. But the senile guy has read our entire forum history and make detailed comments about our activities. He waxes on with glee about our fatalities. It is disgusting. Beyond anti-social.

Anywho. my comment this morning, posted only on shga at first, got be banned from kitestrings.org

Busto · Post by **Busto** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:01 pm

This is a great lick!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elQPRhZYU2Y[/youtube]

Mike Blankenhorn · Post by **Mike Blankenhorn** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:07 am

OP wrote:Anywho. my comment this morning, posted only on shga at first, got be banned from kitestrings.org

We should bury this thread and not give Tad the satisfaction that we are actually wasting our time acknowledging his existence. Yes, this needed to be brought into the light but now we should bury this asshole with some nice cold dirt (metaphorically) and never speak of him again.

Busto · Post by **Busto** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:24 am

The girl can pluck some strings... not bad!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46hxpj-DPHg[/youtube]

OP · Post by OP » Tue Mar 12, 2013 9:52 pm

Tad really has no testicles. He says he had one surgically removed. However we all know they took both out.

Quote Tad about our this thread here on SHGA:
"tell Rob McKenzie he can go fuck himself"

Surely that is a quotation of a man with no balls. Imagine living most of your life with no testicles.

Mr: "I'm a genius, no one listens to me, the world will burn" decides to write the FAA a letter about how unsafe we are:

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/h ... review.pdf

Imagine you work for the FAA in DC and you get an 80 something page letter divided into 12 sections. It refers to other documents he's written of similar length. Ramblings of a mad man. It's not so much what he's written anything damning. It's more they have to receive letters from weirdos whom used to fly, but still associate with our sport.

Why does the world contain Raffertys and Tad Earecksons?

Busto · Post by **Busto** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:16 pm

[/quote]Imagine living most of your life with no testicles. [quote]

Really...

How do women do it?

Here is a good video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... W8qZESnFvQ

It's good for sharpening that edge we loose when not flying for awhile... or when we get to comfortable.

OP · Post by OP » Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:40 pm

Busto get real,

Imagine walking around with a flat sack. Talking all castrato. A eunuch who wanted to be put out to stud, instead writes weird letters to the FAA. It's no way to be.

Busto · Post by **Busto** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:50 pm

Mike Blankenhorn · Post by **Mike Blankenhorn** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:55 am

OP wrote:Busto get real,

Imagine walking around with a flat sack. Talking all castrato. A eunuch who wanted to be put out to stud, instead writes weird letters to the FAA. It's no way to be.

Pure poetry!!!