Craig McMillan <>
writes:

The scooter tow clinic was excellent. Steve is a professional, and
nice guy.


I have been a certified instructor for years but never actually taught due to my
fear of hurting someone. The combination of the moderately powered scooter (very
controllable tension) and the huge 330 Condor gives me tools I can confidently
get people off the ground without fear of hurting them. I may actually try it in
Colorado this summer as a PR/marketing/ amusement type lesson where we have
almost a million whitewater rafters driving through looking for other things to
do.


Consensus seems that we need to lasso some of our renegade instructors who are
not teaching a standardized curriculum and get them on board for both safety and
promotion. If I were interested in making a living in hang gliding this would be
it. For $5000 you could have all the setup, go to a local venue where people
pass or gather, give rides, and let the 1 in a 1000 actual student/pilot ratio
start to work. Kind of like the old schools along I-70 in Golden, Colorado used
to do in their heyday, barnstorming style, if you build it they will fly.


I salute the USHPA for sponsoring these clinics and only wish more instructors
would attend. Maybe we need a whole new breed of instructors, young ones,
looking for girls. Take the scooter tow to where the girls are, beach parks,
soccer fields, swimming holes.


I don't know where the young people hang out, but they do, schools,
universities, race tracks? The big question is can they meet liability insurance
requirements for those venues.


By the way, I now hold the "record" for towing Steve the highest and farthest
unhooked on the Condor! That will teach him to test us for safety checking the
hook in by actually not hooking in, but he was never high enough to die about 10
feet.