How exactly did Lisa Tate, the organizer and meet director of the King Mountain co-Nationals (and not incidentally USHPA President), entice pilots to come and fly at the meet? Let's see what she wrote about the upcoming competition.

The July 1st press release

“The ‘Ironman’ nature of the week long event is one of the most grueling and extreme hang gliding challenges in the world,” said Lisa Tate, the meet director.

http://www.flykingmountain.com/kinginfo.html

This area compares quite favorably with the Owens Valley (Southern California). This is a world class Hang Gliding and Paragliding site guaranteed to test your flying skills! There are booming thermals, outrageous turbulence, and the promise of long XC flights.

Lisa is promising that pilots will have a very exciting time at the King Mountain co-Nationals. Having flown in the previous US Nationals held at King Mountain I can attest to her characterization of the type of air conditions one can expect there. Chris Arai stated at the end of that Nationals that it was the most turbulent Nationals ever held. I thought at the time that that was an understatement.

It is completely legitimate to make the test of hang gliding skill the test of the pilot's ability to handle difficult and perhaps dangerous conditions. We all know that pilots have died at King Mountain due to turbulence, both in the air and near the ground. Cheating death is certainly one aspect of piloting skill.

Flying over the back of twelve thousand foot mountain ranges  (Mt. Borah is 12,662') in high wind conditions (20 mph is typical) is not done in other locations that I am aware of. Flying over multiple ranges in such conditions has to be unique to the King Mountain meets. The only thing that comes close, as far as I have experienced, is flying in the Alps in the Föhn.

As a fair number of pilots attended the King Mountain co-Nationals this year (although down quite a bit from previous years) it is clear that whatever they read or heard about the King Mountain air conditions didn't provide a deterrent (at least not enough of one to stop the ones who ended up coming to the meet).

The USHPA BOD should reflect for a moment and determine whether this is the kind of competition that they want for their Nationals. While it is completely legitimate to have this as one of the competitions that pilots who wish to enter it can have during the year, and we for sure wouldn't want to take that away from them, does the USHPA think that this is the best type of competition to represent our sport as the Nationals?

I am quite sure that while some (maybe many) pilots would argue that it is indeed the type of competition that should be used to choose the National Champion, it is clear that on a world wide basis, this has been rejected as an appropriate measure of hang gliding skill.

Next I'll discuss safety aspects of the King Mountain co-Nationals.