I guess I should also address Doug’s comment (even though it is off topic for restoring the SHGA forum posts).
 
Doug wrote:

BobK will never rejoin USHPA because it would damage his brand

That’s not true. I am often accused of being anti-USHPA. I am not. I just want USHPA to be what it should be – an organization representing pilots. I never resigned from USHPA because I was working to change USHPA. That’s why I became a Director and that’s why I continued to run to be a Director.
 
Furthermore, not being a member of USHPA has the side effect of essentially isolating me from the pilot community – many of whom were my friends and who believed in what I have been trying to do. USHPA knows that isolating me is of far more value to their monopoly than collecting my annual membership fees. That’s why they’ve refused to retract their unjust expulsion.
 
But if you need any more proof than that, I have sent a number of email messages to all members of the USHPA Board over the years requesting a retraction of their unjust expulsion. Here’s one that was sent to the USHPA Board – coincidentally – a year ago today (May 21, 2023):

Bob’s Letter to the entire USHPA Board and a few observers:
 
Members of the USHPA Board (cc/bcc others),
 
I am writing to request a reversal of USHPA’s unjust 2015 Expulsion action against me (see attached) or to confirm that it is an ongoing action of USHPA under your Directorship.
 
I am also writing to request a reversal of USHPA’s unjust 2016 refusal to renew the Torrey Hawks Chapter status or again to confirm that the refusal is an ongoing action of USHPA under your own Directorship.
 
As I look at the list of current Directors (Nellie Milfield, Steven Pearson, Julia Knowles, Pamela Kinnaird, Nicholas Greece, Charles W. Allen, Stephan Mentler, Tiki Mashy, Bill Hughes, Jon Faiz Kayyem), I see very few names who were a party to these unjust actions taken in 2015 and 2016. I do not blame any of you for what your predecessors might have done. But every day is a new day, and today you begin to write your own legacy in the matter. I hope you will see this message as an opportunity to right some of the wrongs done by those who came before you. If you choose not to investigate and correct the matter, then you will no longer be blameless. I sincerely hope that you will make the effort to investigate this matter and reverse this long-standing injustice for the betterment of the entire hang gliding and paragliding community.
 
With regard to the facts, I will try to be brief, but there is a lot to cover. If you have any inclination toward correcting this injustice, I can provide many more details at your request. Please don’t hesitate to ask. Please call or write any time. Don’t believe what you might have heard. Contact me yourself.
 
The four core issues in my expulsion involved USHPA’s retaliation for my actions in:
 
A. Creating the U.S. Hawks Hang Gliding Association
B. “Disrupting”/”Endangering” operations at Torrey Pines
C. Testifying to the City Council about Torrey Pines
D. Testifying in court regarding a paragliding injury
 
Those four summarize the roughly two dozen individually numbered and lettered “charges” in my 2015 USHPA expulsion notice (see attached termination letter as well as my written response to each charge and each charge category).
 
I stand behind my actions listed above as A, C, and D. I did create the U.S. Hawks Hang Gliding Association to be an association representing hang gliding pilots. I have testified honestly to both the San Diego City Council and in a Court of Law about the ongoing problems and abuses at the Torrey Pines Gliderport. I have continued to do so since my expulsion, and I will continue to do so whether my expulsion is reversed or not. But none of those should have ever been grounds for expulsion. I do, however, deny all of the accusations summarized as “Disrupting”/”Endangering” operations at Torrey Pines Gliderport. Those are false claims and there was no evidence ever provided that I had done any of those things. I believe they were added to give at least some appearance of something related to flight for which I was being expelled, and they are simply not true. Please review the attached documents for more details.
 
There is no historical doubt that many of the charges were “window dressing” to cover USHPA’s retaliation against me for my testimony in the Shannon Hamby lawsuit which was settled in her favor for an undisclosed amount of money. It is likely that the Hamby settlement along with other potential litigation at that time (Jean Lake, for example) was behind USHPA’s loss of insurance. There is little doubt that this was the primary motivation behind my expulsion. After all, I started the U.S. Hawks in 2010, and USHPA knew about it from the very beginning. Yet USHPA never said a word or issued a warning that starting a national hang gliding association was grounds for expulsion. I had similarly been speaking to the San Diego City Council since at least 2008 about the problems at Torrey Pines. Again, USHPA never said a word or issued any warnings. It wasn’t until I testified in the Hamby case in the fall of 2014 (and the subsequent settlement), that USHPA suddenly decided to expel me including those “reasons” in early 2015. The attached expulsion letter is dripping with USHPA’s resentment in settling the Hamby case at a loss.
 
So the decision for you today is whether **YOUR** USHPA should continue to act out of retaliation or not. Do you want to inherit the sins of your predecessors or not? Please think for yourself. That’s why you were elected.
 
I will say that my expulsion has had a number of important benefits in freeing both pilots and sites from USHPA’s grip.
 
The clearest example has been Dockweiler Beach. For many years the County of Los Angeles required USHPA membership as a condition to fly at that site. In the spring of 2017 we brought the injustice of USHPA’s expulsion to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. They looked into the matter and decided very quickly that there was a clear need to provide some mechanism for non-USHPA members to fly at the site based on USHPA’s own expulsion documents. By July of 2017 (just a few months later), the Los Angeles County legal department had drafted and approved a simple one sheet waiver that we have been able to use to fly at Dockweiler WITHOUT USHPA membership ever since (see the attached Dockweiler waiver).
 
Similarly, several other sites have since withdrawn their requirement for USHPA membership. It’s my understanding that the entire state of Utah has removed their USHPA requirement from all of their sites. In fact I flew at Point of the Mountain shortly after that change. I believe that many more sites could be opened up to non-USHPA flying by exposing this injustice to the appropriate land owners. It’s just a matter of finding the appropriate land owner and making the case. USHPA’s own expulsion letter reads like USHPA’s confession that they will retaliate for even simple things like creating an alternative hang gliding association. Go ahead and read it again. Such retaliation is seen by any good governments and any good land owners as entirely inappropriate and even repugnant.
 
In addition to loss of USHPA monopolized sites, the unjust expulsion has also cost USHPA both members and money. I personally know a number of pilots who explicitly terminated their membership because of USHPA’s unjust retaliation in my case. I know of others who explicitly withheld donations that they intended to make based on USHPA’s unjust retaliation in my case. I know of many many others who remain USHPA members so they can fly, but are otherwise disgusted with USHPA’s actions in this matter and would happily go elsewhere.
 
In closing, I’d like to paraphrase what I recall from Director Tiki Mashy when she spoke at my expulsion hearing. She pointed out that I was not being expelled for any flight violations at all. In fact, there has been no claim that my flying has been unsafe in any way (see Joe Greblo’s attached 2017 endorsement as an example of my flying history). Tiki pointed out that the things that USHPA didn’t like (testifying in court, speaking to the San Diego City Council, and operating the U.S. Hawks) were all things that I would keep doing whether expelled or not. She was similarly pointing out that the ONLY thing USHPA’s expulsion was doing was keeping me from flying … and I had never even been accused of any flight violations in the first place. Unfortunately, Mark Forbes stepped in and quickly shut down Tiki’s line of reasoning. Sadly, she gave in to the lynch mob mentality (“The sky is falling because we lost our insurance”), and she voted to expel me along with the rest. That is a stain on Tiki’s otherwise sterling record that I hope she will consider reversing while she is still in office and able to do so.
 
As I said, the sins of the past are only on your shoulders as long as you continue to allow them. I am sure that you will be pressured to ignore this request, but your decision is your own. Please be advised that I will be using your response – or lack of response – to establish USHPA’s ongoing retaliation against both individuals and clubs at flying sites throughout the United States. It is my first desire that USHPA reverse both of these actions, and I request that the matters be brought before the entire USHPA Board for reversal at the next available meeting. I will be happy to attend as needed.
 
Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski
Club Secretary – Torrey Hawks Hang Gliding Club
Board Member – US Hawks Hang Gliding Association
Former USHPA Member ######
 
cc/bcc: Observers

So please don’t say that I would never rejoin USHPA. I have made the effort again and again, and USHPA has refused it each time.