Today was a low
point in my soaring career. I observed many people wanting to physically
and bodily cause harm one particular RC pilot.
For the past three
years, we reserve the Torrey Pine Glider Park for one full weekend for our
annual International F3F contest. We sanction this event through the AMA,
we reserve the slope many months in advance, and it gets published on a
number of calendars. This year was no exception.
F3F racing is a
short course format, and as such, we allow fun flying to occur on the southern
portion of the slope. We have a full time Safety Officer equipped with an
orange vest, hand held radio, and large red flag. We do this because TPG
is an active hang glider and parasail park, and we coordinate when they can
launch and/or flyover our section of the course, as well as the flight zone(s)
of the RC pilots not involved with racing.
In short, we do
everything in our power to share the air and keep things safe. But some
people just have to "push it."
There is a
particular gentlemen who resides the to SoCal area, and is a Club Officer of an
AMA sanctioned slope club. This particular man has appeared on race day
two years in a row, with an attitude that is far larger than his stature.
This gentleman refuses to obey the rules of conduct established by the TPG
staff, the CD of the race, and the parasailers and Safety Officer. Instead
of flying south of our race course, this gentleman prefers to
fly aerobatics only a few feet south of our turn pylon with his cheap
foamy.
As you can imagine,
this is extremely distracting to a racing pilot who is
concentrating mightily on this turn suddenly to discover a big 3 meter
foamy filling his airspace. Because of his actions, we were forced to
refly a number of races, which greatly impacts our schedule and
organization.
After the dozenth
infraction, communication with him broke down and everyone resorted to simply
screaming expletives back and forth. Finally, one pilot nearly crashed his
glider into the cliff face trying to avoid the big foamy that once again invaded
our airspace. This particular pilot and a few others nearby rushed at the
offending pilot with the intent to "educate" him.
The owner and
manager of the TPG port is a retired police officer and quickly took action to
break things up, as well as some cooler heads amongst our racing
group. No punches were thrown, no one completely lost it, and no planes
were lost.
However, thanks to
the repeatedly hostile and aggressive actions of this gentleman, as President of
the ASRO, I, along with the CD of the race, the TPG port manager, and several
dozen witnesses, am forced to take action and write to the AMA seeking his
abolishment from the sport.
Sir, I do not
personally know you, but I encourage you to contact me, and prepare your defense
to the AMA. Your actions, behavior, character and conduct are totally
unacceptable, and in my opinion, your continued association and membership with
the AMA is a detriment to the sport.
Sadly,
Nathan
Woods
President
American Slope
Racing Organization
