Gary Whitecross

Ex-SAHPA Chairman, Gary unofficially resigned several months ago.
SAHPA membership was not advised.  Gary's email address was included in these emails as it was still on the SAHPA Committee mailing list and he is still named as SAHPA Chairman on the SAHPA website.

Gary was SAHPA Chairman at the time of the All Africa Open 2007 when the original ban was put in place and he is Rob Manzoni's primary support in these allegations and as such, I will be answering his allegations.

As he no longer has a position in SAHPA I have given Gary a category all of his own.  His personal opinions and allegations are just that.

Gary's response is after each email he received:

There are two issues at hand for which SAHPA is responsible.

1.                   We are the governing body of this sport and have the duty to ensure compliance with FAI rules and regulations, it is also our duty to ensure that the FAI requirements have been met inclusive of notam issue and sanction fee (this is recovered from the organizer)

2.                   To further the aims and aspirations of the sport and to ensure SAFETY.

From a legal perspective;

I am not sure that Rob has the right as an organizer to ban an individual based on a personal issue from an FAI sanctioned event, he may well have the right based on a safety issue and an undesirable individual, I suggest SAHPA committee send an urgent request for clarification on this issue to FAI/CIVL.

This event is also a SAHPA Paragliding Cup event and as such should be open to all SAHPA members who qualify. Failure of the organizer to meet with this requirement can and should result in SAHPA withdrawing its SAPC sanction.

So on the face of it Gaynor should not be excluded from entering and competing, However:-

1.                   There is a history of animosity between these individuals, there is also a serious unresolved safety issue where Gaynor disrupted an event last year at Porterville, which is the probable cause of the banning.

2.                   The site owner where the event takes place has the right to reserve admission, this however has to be clearly displayed on both the site notice board and entry forms. Should Rob as site owner wish to ban Gaynor by exercising his right of admission, he can do so and there is nothing anyone can do about it, in fact he has the right to have arrested anyone trespassing there, but SAHPA then has to decide whether to allow sanction of the event or any further events after that.

3.                   Gaynor also needs to decide, and her motives need to be questioned whether she really wants to enter an event that she historically has shunned and a discipline she publicly has called unsafe because of its high speed proximity to mountains, to which she has publicly stated she is afraid to partake in. Does she really want to create an issue over a comp that she really doesn’t want to be in just for the sake of making a point?

4.                   Rob needs to decide whether it is worth risking the cancellation of his comp by the removal of sanction, and any further sanction of comps there.

In the final analysis the best solution is mediation between the individuals NOW; they are both hard heads (sorry Rob / Gaynor) and maybe a bit of round table head bashing to soften them will make this whole issue disappear before it becomes a political hot potato.

But yes Charles you are correct SAHPA cannot act before it becomes official, I may suggest in the interests of all concerned it never does and we get the problem fixed before it does so.

Just my unofficial 2c worth as I am actually out of the decision making protocol.

Regards

Gary

From: Flygirl
Sent: 28 October 2008 09:30 PM
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Subject: Jaco - please could you forward this to the lists that may require a response from me
 
In the best interest of South African paragliding perhaps I can suggest this course of action:
 
The core of this rotten situation is personal issues.
 
If we can accept that, perhaps Rob and I can come to a mutual agreement  regarding our way forward.
 
I can and have accepted Rob's ban on flying from Dasklip and stepping on Flyers Lodge property for 10 months.
 
How long should this ban be imposed?
 
More importantly :-
 
Should CAT2 and CAT1 competitions be ruled by the negative emotions an organiser may feel towards a competitor?
 
I think this would set a negative precedent.  I do not want South Africa to become the focus of that precedent.
 
My motives for flying this competition are simple:-

I have been flying international competitions for two years now.
 
My rankings have suffered because I have not entered local competitions.

This year I wish to compete in two local competitions - in De Aar and at Dasklip.
 
Next year my goal is to fly the entire XC Open World Series.  My points are important to me.

Lastly, but certainly no least, I would like to fly with my friends, some of whom are coming from overseas to compete in South Africa.
 
Should there be no other way, of course we always have the alternative where there can be no winners.
 
Why not let us try something new?
 
Gaynor
 
'Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull's life is so short, and with these gone from his thoughts, he  lived a long fine life indeed.'    Richard Bach

From: "Gary Whitecross" < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >
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Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 8:41 AM
Subject: RE: Jaco - please could you forward this to the lists that may require a response from me

With respect Gaynor,
 
The situation is NOT just PERSONAL and should have been dealt with long ago;  the big problem here is that you have created so much animosity that it is doubtful that Rob would recant. Before you look at Dasklip and Rob being the problem possibly you should take a long look in the mirror.
 
You have successfully managed to p1ss off just about everyone in the paragliding community, including me who takes a hell of a lot to get p1ssed off; it is amazing that you actually have any friends left.
 
Your mouth and your official mouthpiece (Flygirl.co.za) are your biggest liabilities coupled especially with your lack of care for peoples feelings, I am not even going to go into the "out of order" drivel that you spoke of me publicly in Spain, or the other nonsense when you assumed that statements made by SAHPA originated from me (those are personal issues and will be kept as such).
 
As far as Rob goes, I sincerely believe he is wrong in his decision and I distance myself from it (not from a legal point of view) but in the spirit of the sport, and the fact that there is always better solution to the problem, However:
 
I was witness to your gross lack of airmanship, lack of safety and lack of regard to authority, all of these traits very negative requirements of a safe pilot. In my humble opinion while you have the prerequisite physical skills to fly FAI type competitions you certainly do not have the correct attitude or emotional control, neither would I enjoy being with you in a  close thermal right in front of take off especially at Dasklip (and we both know the reasons for that).

In the interests of this sport, I implore you please, withdraw your entry,  as all you are doing is trying to prove a point, go and fly your XC Open
 where you are away from other pilots and it is nice and safe, and you can head down the middle of valleys and stay away from hills and stop putting the comps that we (the rest of us) hold as extremely important, at risk.
 
Just so you understand clearly. This is not the opinion of SAHPA, neither is it an official statement from  any SAHPA or AeCSA official, it is my personal opinion, and you have the right to keep it personal if you wish but I don't hold any umbrage against you, you are what you are, warts and all, including the good that is still definitely inside you.
 
Regards
 Gary.
 

From: Flygirl
Sent: 04 November 2008 11:57 AM
To: Gary Whitecross; 'Kev Storie'; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 'John Reid'; 'Louise'; 'Jaco Wolmarans'; 'Jim Holtzhausen'; 'Abraham Meyer'; 'Downing, Tim (Dr) (Summerstrand Campus South)'
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Subject: Re: Pre-World Cup: Safety Issues / Risks - Ms Schoeman/ Mr Manzoni

Gary

Perhaps we should get this out of the way:

Please state day and time of alleged overfly of Dasklip take off where I allegedly mingled with competition pilots like yourself in the air after window opened.

And from which take off site did I allegedly launch.

Regards

Gaynor

From: Gary Whitecross
To: 'Flygirl'
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 2:01 PM
Subject: RE: Pre-World Cup: Safety Issues / Risks - Ms Schoeman/ Mr Manzoni

Gaynor,

I am going to keep this semi-private so as to not embarrass you any further.

1.                   Nobody accused you of an overfly, you took off from another site within the demarcated competition area which was clearly NOTAM’d without clearance or permission, this is already an infringement of FAI rules and good practice as well as blatantly illegal.

2.                   Nobody accused you of mingling with the comp pilots, you would not do that, as by self admission were too scared to anyway.

3.                   You blatantly continued to broadcast on the safety channel even after being warned not to, and subsequently thumbed your nose at the authority, this all took place while the competition organizer was trying to make announcements on the radio, if memory serves correct (and it may not, it was long ago) it was due to another blithering idiot trying to do what you now propose, by taking off adjacent to the take off area as a mark of disrespect, and got himself damaged in the process, thus causing everyone to panic.

4.                   The worst part is you refused to apologize and make good, you just maintained a “hardegat” attitude and “supposedly gave up flying”

Date and time…. Jeez about midday around the 18th 19th or 20th December I think, who cares, you know you did it, I know you did it, and everyone who had a radio on knew you did it, what exactly is your point?

Do yourself a favor, If you were just plain stupid I could forgive you, but if your current mails about taking off from the road as a protest are indeed true, I don’t want to be anywhere in the air with you, your attitude sucks, you are a danger to yourself and as a result to other pilots as well, and are thus very bad for this sport, your airmanship is unprofessional, as is the “senior comp pilot” that advised you to do so, both you and this senior pilot should consider taking up another sport, in fact I would like to know who he/she is as I would like to give him/her a very large piece of my mind as well.

Further as a result of this, as an Instructor in good standing, I am going to lodge a formal protest with SAHPA opposing any future application you may make for either Tandem or Instructor ratings; you have clearly displayed your permanent unsuitability for either.

Subject closed, I will not enter into this fray with you again, from my personal perspective, I now think Rob is 100% correct in banning you, I withdraw my reservations and will tell him so.

Once again … my personal view only.

Now a bit angry,

Gary.

From: Flygirl
To: Gary Whitecross
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Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: Pre-World Cup: Safety Issues / Risks - Ms Schoeman/ Mr Manzoni

Thank you Gary.

No need to keep this semi-private on my account.  My future in flying is at stake.  Your email below:

'Further as a result of this, as an Instructor in good standing, I am going to lodge a formal protest with SAHPA opposing any future application you may make for either Tandem or Instructor ratings; you have clearly displayed your permanent unsuitability for either.'

Reviewing your evidence regarding the alledged incident in 2007:

No date

No time

No launch site named

No corroborating evidence

Please refrain from making further allegations without providing evidence.

Regards

Gaynor

From: Gary Whitecross
To: 'Flygirl'
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 3:47 PM
Subject: RE: Pre-World Cup: Safety Issues / Risks - Ms Schoeman/ Mr Manzoni

Firstly to the honorable ladies and gentlemen of FAI, CIVL and SAHPA Committee, I apologize for the continued inclusion of your names in this long winded debacle, as you can see I excluded most of you from the previous correspondence, I will after this mail ensure I do not answer Gaynor or include any of you in any further mails on this subject, having said that:-

Gaynor,

It is you that is putting you future in jeopardy, Change your attitude and you will have a future, else it’s probably better that you don’t have a future in flying because your attitude to flying will kill you, or worse someone else.

I pray you come to your senses… soon.

Gary

PS Koringberg I believe, 19th December around midday… and about 50 witnesses, and self admission …. Anything else?

Now please no more OK, I am very busy.

From: Gary Whitecross
To: 'Kev Storie' ; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 'John Reid' ; 'Louise' ; 'Jaco Wolmarans' ; 'Jim Holtzhausen' ; 'Abraham Meyer' ; 'Flygirl' ; 'Downing, Tim (Dr) (Summerstrand Campus South)'

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Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 11:39 AM

Subject: RE: Pre-World Cup: Safety Issues / Risks - Ms Schoeman/ Mr Manzoni

Kev Storie Wrote:-

In her defence though, we have received testimonials of her safe flying in international competitions which makes this an interesting deliberation.

Against her she has self declarations of fear and  thus I personally am interested to see the findings of our Safety commitee and Comp committee.

I agree but the international comps that she has entered are all XC-Open format, I have flown with her in these and she does well and is confident and certainly does fly safe, she habitually exits the mountain and flies valley or flatland where there are no other pilots, she excels at this type of flying, however:-

When Gaynor is under pressure especially close to mountain ranges and in tight thermals with a large number of other pilots, she tends to get overwhelmed and flies erratically (not necessarily unsafe) which poses a potential danger or irritation to other pilots (a bit like another Canadian pilot we have visiting here), this however is not what I understand the issue was at AAO 2007, there she was just blatantly a nuisance and endangered the safety of the comp by her actions, most of the pilots who were on take off or had just got airborne (including myself) would bear testimony to this, Gaynor was not the only transgressor either, there was another called Martin de Groot who made an even bigger idiot of himself, so if we are going to punish one we must punish both.

Regards

Gary.