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News from Salt Lake!

http://fox13now.com/2013/04/08/man-kicks-owl-while-paragliding-outrage-ensues/

WPPGA World Powered Paragliding Association

SuperDell goes beyond unethical.

It should come as no surprise that Dell Schanze has managed to define yet another low in the business ethics of powered paragliding. Nobody has even come close to being this clueless or classless.

In an effort to dupe the gullible into thinking there is, in fact, paramotor certification he has created a sham powered paragliding "association" that portends to test and certify equipment. Of course the website is registered with Dell's email and, as of Feb 28, 2011, the phone number was the same as Dell Schanze's sales number. There are, of course, no officers listed, no committees or names listed, and nothing that would suggest that it's registered as a corporation of any kind.

Records are claimed that have no bearing on what either the USUA (U.S. organization tasked with overseeing records under the auspices of NAA.aero) or the FAI recognize. They're just Dell's own claims. Of course this does a dis-service to the real record holders who have actually earned their titles as measured by someone other than the record claimant.

Paramotor flying is a remarkable undertaking -- it's a shame when someone treads so disrespectfully on its participants and potentials.

The Flattop

Not surprisingly, he lists his Flattop as the only paramotor meeting his "standards" while many other paramotors are listed as failing. Can you imagine if paraglider certification was done by an organization owned and operated by, say, BRANDX Paragliders, and the only glider that passed their certification was - you guessed it - BRANDX Paragliders!

Not only is there no data to suggest there is any better safety in the Flattop paramotor, but there have been serious accidents with the machine resulting in serious injuries. The rate appears to be no different than any other machine when flown the same way. The raw data suggests it's less safe but that's likely because of pilots trying to emulate Dell's risky flying. Additionally, the higher power versions of the machine have average to poor handling of torque which puts it in another risk category. Not that it's worse than other similarly powered machines, but it's nothing like how Dell Schanze promotes it.

Sadly enough, people do drink Dell's Cool-aid and some pay the price.

Another travesty is how he berates anyone who says anything bad about the machine even when it's something that needs to be publicized.

When the front arms cracked on several machines and broke on another, the pilots didn't report it publicly for fear of losing service. And, of course, Dell certainly wouldn't report it. Things breaking doesn't mean the machine is bad, it means there was a problem and the manufacturer should point it out and offer a correction. You don't have to offer the part for free, either, but offer it as an improvement. That's the responsible thing to do. That's not what you'll get with Dell Schanze and the Flattop.

Jumping Out Of An Airplane

Amazingly, he claims that you can jump out of an airplane with stock powered paraglider gear. This is beyond dangerous. If the wing did NOT break on opening, YOU probably would, and likely in a catastrophic manner. The fact that it's illegal (skydiving is covered under FAR part 105)  is way less important than the extreme risk. Paragliders are not designed for a high speed opening nor is your body.

Suggesting that pilots can jump out of an airplane with an unmodified paraglider and paramotor is absurdly irresponsible.

The Ultimate Paramotor Sham

Doing business with U-TurnUSA, Paramotor Mall or even buying a new Flat Top Paramotor from any dealer selling them is an affront to every business and school out there trying to be even remotely honest in this game. Its a tough business and there have always been those willing to push the truth in various ways but never to this degree. Do yourself a favor, do your friends a favor, do the sport a favor and stay as far away as possible from dealing with this unethical sham that is Dell Schanze, U-TurnUSA and Flattop Paramotors.

You can find certified instructors through the US Powered Paragliding Association which has officers and a training committee that has developed a program modeled after the US Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association.

Do us all a favor and don't be an enabler of this incredibly unethical behavior. Please visit These websites to see for yourself:

• www.PPGTruth.com
• http://super-dell-schanze.com
• http://flattopparamotors.com (there are plenty more links to visit at this website!)

Here's a recent post of his from his "truth" group:

Yes for sure self training is idiotic. I was definitely not recommending self training. Reading it again I can see how it wasn't very clear. What I was saying is that I though even idiotic self training was likely better than the usppascam. In the scam you never learn to really properly control your glider but they build your confidence and assure you everything is ok. Then you get hurt or killed thinking you got "certified training". At least those self trained feel unsure and unconfident as they have nobody reinforcing their incorrect behavior so in a way I think even idiocy would be better than the usppascam.

For example I've trained people that had already been through "training" with people like Eric Dufour, Chad Bastain and Paul Zarnacki. I've dealt with quite a few. The damage is quite interesting. I had a guy from Paul for example who was taught wrong and was completely clueless but he was absolutely adamant that he knew what he was doing because he had "great" training. Then he launched, snagged a 20 ft tall telescoping wing sock in his lines and flew around that way for quite some time with no clue at all that it was in his lines. The guy almost crashed several times on other occasions and did indeed crash on another just trying to do a very simple launch.

I'm not quite sure the best way to address this in the industry. People build a bond with their "instructor" and seem to want to fight to the death for them for better or for worse. All reality and logic seems to go out the window and it gets very personal. They seem to feel that telling the truth about people who simple don't have the skills or ability or just get lazy over the years and cut corners is somehow a personal attack on their honor and should be defended to the death.

I mean seriously, who is going to defend Chad Bastain for pushing Miniplanes onto brand new students when it had no crumple zone, no protection from the prop, no quick release harnes, blows up every time you flinch or do a hard forward launch and so many people have been chopped up and injured we can't even count them all. Who wants to argue in his favor?

Students are students, we are all going to have students that do crazy things and no we shouldn't be judged based on that one guy who freaks out and does something stupid. It is the over all game plan and logic. The preparation to help best protect the students from what we know for a fact they are going to do because we have seen it over and over and over for so many years it is just blatant common knowledge. How do guys like Dufour who has been in the industry for quite some time explain their blatant refusal to update to safer equipment? Guy's like Paul Zarnacki though are a different breed. He had one single day of nothing even remotely close to training from the nightmare of training Capt Kirk. One single day with Capt Kirk and he thinks he is an advanced instructor administrator or something. He even figured if he bought equipment from me that the truth about him would quickly change. Nope. Didn't work. The truth is the truth no matter how much you spend with me. Sure I shot myself in the foot telling the truth with the arm of man but God is the only one I care to impress and I got high marks for blowing off profits to tell the truth about Paul Zarnacki. He can't teach what he doesn't know.

Of course complete ignorance is a different breed to dishonor. Guy's like john black who preach about the safety, know about the safety after breaking his own back on a Fresh Breeze but having his life saved several times on a Flat Top but then because he thinks he can make more money bowing to the usppascam he decides to change his story and fight against the truth he already touted. A little money and he will promote hell itself if he thinks it is a bigger market then those that want to go to heaven.

God helps those that help themselves. If you are so filled with hate and contention that you literally use it as an excuse to get inferior gear then how quickly do you think God will be there to help you when you need it? Use your head, do what is right, be super duper sweet and loving to your wife & family and if you die then great. That's awesome too.