Copy that, John. We’ll talk through that to see what might work. Definitely don’t want an unusable LZ due to overcrowding.

When the RRG started the Safety Director, in the course of working-up the site safety stuff for that, made some orange markers delineate (limit) the kiting area.  It’s on the web somewhere.

Why not carry a whistle when you fly? They’re mandatory at Torrey and they are at least somewhat effective.
I rarely hear anyone hollering when the LZ is blocked. Sometimes a good shout will get the attention of people in the way.
It’s not just PGs kiting. I have had stray kids and others enter my landing path  and create an obstruction.
What about RLF skills? If half the LZ is covered by 8 PGs that’s a good indication that there’s plenty of wind and this means that much less room is required to land an HG.
I invested thousands of dollars of my own funds in re-developing and existing drogue chute design into modern materials and construction. It’s very reliable and stable yet few pilots bought one when they were available and even fewer pilots who own one use it. A friend of mine now has permanent brain damage in large part because he was discouraged from using his other perfectly good drogue and crashed face-first. In fact a similar thing happened to the former USHPA HG safely analyst.
Honestly, the PGs need a spotter on the ground  to alert them of incoming traffic but we know this will never happen.
And here’s another thing that points to the whining hypocrisy of HG pilots. I have lost count of the fly-ins where more than half the LZ was covered by assembled HGs and nobody took responsibility for getting pilots to break their gear down yet there were still a dozen people in the air who needed to land on far less than half the LZ. This double-standard is typical and ridiculous.
Anyhow, take responsibility for your own landing safely and the safety of others. This is not the Wild West. Get out there and politely ask the kiters to  provide a spotter. Learn to yell real loud. Carry a whistle. Use a drogue chute. Get your RLF sign-off. And above all–don’t whine. 

Side Note: USHPA is failing to take responsibility for its role in any number of serious and fatal accidents. It’s fortunate that we even have an organization and liability pool still in existence.

The truth is that we are in the Wild West whether we like it or not. That means we all need to get along with our neighbors in the air and on the ground regardless of personal differences. Communicate, communicate, communicate!
Capice?

Fining people for crossing the line seems unrealistic, since the whole field should be open to anyone who needs to use it (unless it’s a busy afternoon with a lot of incoming traffic). Do we then fine hang gliders who can’t land in their own part of the field? Or just paragliders kiting their wing too close to the line? Who would volunteer to stand there and fine people all day for doing that? Calling the police? No way.

We have hundreds (if not thousands) of landings at AJX every year without incident. Hang gliders and paragliders are able to share the area quite well, especially when two skilled & aware pilots are coming in at the same time. It’s very rare that anyone needs to use the extra space to land whatever they’re flying, and most people with good training are able to have a good landing just in front of mid-field.

Personally I’ve only really seen a couple of visiting pilots needing to go all the way to the SW corner, or overshoot. That was usually in the morning, or at noon when there wasn’t much head wind. When there’s not much wind, the conditions for kiting are poor anyway. I don’t know what goes on during the weekdays, but on weekends when I’m there, it all seems to work out OK.

I’ve had a visiting hang glider pilot walk right in front of me carrying his wing across the PG section without looking around first. I was over the grass making my final approach, and I had a choice; I could either land on top of his glider into the wind, or go land elsewhere and run it out. I ran it out. I didn’t go lose my s**t on him, I figured he made a mistake and someone else already said something to him about it. So everyone, please try to be civil.

We don’t need fines, we don’t need to call the police, we don’t need raging. We need good communication skills. As they say, it takes a village. If you see someone doing something wrong, walk up to them, smile, introduce yourself and say “Hi, how you doin’? Just wanted to let you know that there’s people landing behind/in front of you, so you’ll need to ball up your wing and take it over to the shade structure to clear the landing area as soon as you can. Thanks a bunch and happy flying!” Not only will the person be more likely to comply, but they won’t walk away feeling hurt or angry, more likely to be spiteful. They’ll even want to come back to AJX and maybe pass the info onto their flying friends. Just my $0.02.

For ME , the solution is simple :  i can separate the controls to my

spoilers , by adding sliders , and now i have independent control

surfaces, for massive drag , to be used for short field landings ; bin doing that on

the Fledge , with rudders, since 1980 ; so it’s is a kinda simple technique, that i’m

already use to.

Now a rag-wing pilot has No real , (viable) glide ratio control ; if he encounters

lift, on his approach , then there is a decent chance of an over-shoot, and there

is no way around it.

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@ Jana Pivkova

I think you should read what, “John Benario” had to say , (again) :

— “The page mentions that because of two pilot to pilot lawsuits the RRG is going to run a loss this year, and warns of long term viability because of suits like these.  One of the suits being about”

“ a collision between a kiting glider and a glider coming in to land.

=============================================

Jana wrote  : “Do we then fine hang gliders who can’t land in their own part of the field? Or just paragliders kiting their wing too close to the line” ?

Seriously ? You Really said that ?? You honestly think that kiting a PG

is more important , than a pilot attempting to Land their glider ,(PG or HG) ??

Before you answer ; re-read what John Benario had to say , above.

Do Ya get it now ? Because i believe the usage permit that CSS has

for their club members ability to fly ; i think it’s contingent upon an insurance

policy, being  in place ? What are ya gonna do , when it’s gone ? Or maybe

you haven’t thought it ? If something isn’t done promptly ; it is an

accident waiting to happen , and another lawsuit , just waiting to

take the RRG under. I already have a plan in place, if that happens , and i’m

still gonna get to soar gliders legally ; what are you going to do ?

Bille