Flyfunston

I have posted this topic to separate it from the USHPA insurance thread.

Mike Jefferson,

If you wish to defame my reputation I suggest that you find something factual. Until then, please stop spreading lies.

You wrote:

"SR told the told the USHPA I did not fill out insurance paperwork when I took his nephew on a tandem discovery flight at the fort. SR knows that was untrue because he helped me fill out the paperwork which we obtained from another tandem pilot. I guess he won that argument because this was used to support the revocations of my tandem rating."

Your statement is not true.

The truth is that I told USHPA that I got the 30 day membership form from Eric Mies and gave it to you. I even made a long distance call to my nephew in France and he confirmed that he did in fact fill out the waiver. Bastian's tandem flight was legal and had nothing to do with your ratings being revoked.

You also wrote:

"Now I got a letter from SR saying I cannot speak of my "agendas'" at the club meetings or he will not approve the reinstatement of my ratings."

Again, not true.

The email that I wrote to you follows. No where did I say that you couldn't speak your agenda or mention your rating review.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Dear Fellow Pilot,
There are privately run commercial hang gliding schools all across the U.S.
These schools are for-profit businesses and as such, they do not allow competitors to use their facilities.
What Pat Denevan is doing is no different than these other schools.
There is no legitimate reason to single out Mission Soaring Center.
Steve Rodrigues"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Taking cheap shots at someone on the internet is pretty lame, especially when you are making things up that can be easily disproved. If you have something to say, your facts straight and talk to me in person.

Mike,

When did I ever say I wasn't a commercial tandem pilot? Everyone knows I’m a professional so it would be absurd for me to say otherwise. Your accusing me of lying about that is BullS**t.

That said, if you paid attention to my website you would see that I have been on sabbatical for some time now and no longer do commercial tandems. That fact is known to other local Tandem Instructors who, before my accident, I told I was done with commercial work and asked them to take over my current bookings. I had also canceled my tandem services with 1-800-SKYRIDE, and I don’t work for San Francisco Hang Gliding either, so you would be incorrect to say I’m a current competitor. I have no monetary interest in your debacle.

In any case, you give yourself way too much credit: Even when I was doing commercial tandems, I had more customers than I could service and your BAHG school didn’t affect me one bit. I couldn’t care less if you made money at it and I wouldn’t waste a second of my time trying to put you out of business.

Speaking of business: I can honestly say that I have never broken the FF and GGNRA rules by doing a commercial tandem at Fort Funston. You might say the same, but then you would be lying wouldn’t you?!

BTW, the flights for Good Morning America! and MythBusters were not under FF jurisdiction. As I have previously posted, they were done under commercial film permits issued by the GGNRA and were thus legal.

Speaking of MythBusters: Have you completely forgotten that I hired you to work for them?!?! I got you a paycheck, I got you on TV, I got BAHG valuable publicity, and I even stuck up for you when people were accusing us of doing commercial work at the Fort. It is inconceivable that you would now accuse me of trying to put you out of business. I can’t understand why you would attack a person who has been good to you.

I have also tried to give you helpful advice over the years. Have you forgotten the long pep-talk I gave you at Ed Levin when you were about to expand your business? You had been developing a bad reputation for yourself and I encouraged you to improve your reputation by raising your standards and demanding the highest quality of work from your instructors. You seemed you take my advice to heart back then, but now later on when I give you advice that holds you accountable, you attack me.

About that advice, I stand by it. Your self-centered disruption of the WOR meetings was hurting your chances for redemption. My advice was two-fold: I wanted to help restore the WOR meetings to their fun and productive former state, and I also wanted to help you get back on track with your appointments. I thought I could get you to see how self destructive your behavior is. I guess I was wrong, forgive me for trying to help you.

As far as having the worst safety record in Nor Cal: Yep, I did wack in, and while my passenger was not hurt at all, by a fluke, I caught my arm on the nose wire and did hurt myself. That is a legitimate accident on my record, and if none of the other Tandem Instructors in Northern California have ever had an accident, then yes, my record is technically the worst. On the other hand, I’ve been doing tandems for over 18 years. S**t happens in this sport so you really should give yourself another 10 or 12 years of flying tandems before you go pointing fingers.

Lastly, on 12-30-2010, after writing a bunch of nasty things about me, you wrote me a nice email that I greatly appreciated:
Snip…“ This year has been very bad for me and I have done and said some things I regret. I would like to apologize for what I said about your tandem record. I hope you can forgive me and we can work together again like we did for MythBusters. Those we defiantly better days.” Snip…

After your apology I thought we were back on good terms, but now you start up all over again with the same BS. How am I supposed to believe anything you say? Can’t you see how your behavior keeps people from trusting you?

Once again, I’m advising you to calm down and stop falsely accusing people and blaming others for your own mistakes. I suggest that you focus on building back your relationships with your fellow pilots and local hang gliding clubs. You can take my advice or leave it, but trust me; you will accomplish much more through positive measures than by inappropriate aggression.

This internet back and forth is tedious. If you have anything else to say, I suggest that we talk face to face.
Sincerely,
Steve

Mike,

You are using Bastians flight as a Red Herring. You took Bastian tandem as a favor to me and I thanked you for that.
Afterwards, I went out of my way IN YOUR DEFENSE to call France on my dime to verify that he took the test, but,... you were required to turn the membership form/waivers back to USHPA for them to be valid. You dropped the ball somewhere and that had nothing to do with me. How can you hold me responsible for your mishandling of your own forms?!?

You quoted Dave: snip..."You were given the passenger names but have not provided proof of USHPA membership for these passengers. " snip.

All Tandem Instructors are required to turn the forms in to USHPA within 30 days. The point is that you have not, or can not, provide the 30 day membership/tandem forms. Your mis-handling of required paperwork is at issue.

I don't know if you will ever understand the concept of accountability, but if you want to make something of yourself, it is a crucial that you do. You should be trying to show everyone that you can be responsible but that will never happen if you continue to blame others for your own mistakes.

I'm sorry if there were too many words for you to comprehend.

Exactly which of your false allegations have I not addressed to your satisfaction?

I will be happy to reply if you can tell me why you have attacked someone who has tried to help you.

Mike,

I’m a little mad at myself for not being able to let this issue go, but your ingratitude and mis-guided aggression is so hard to believe that I have to address it.

Would I have spent all that time at Ed Levin giving you encouragement and advice on how to improve BAHG if I wanted you to fail?

Would I have paid you to work on MythBusters and get national television publicity if I wanted you out of the tandem business?

Would I have called France to check the facts if I wanted to rail-road your revocation?

I’ve been generous to you for many years. You need a reality check.