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Dell's feelings about:

The tornado that destroyed over 65 aircraft at Sun N Fun air show

"Shoot that's nothing. Wait till you see what happens at Beach Blast. I personally wouldn't recommend casting out the righteous and then expecting good conditions. Yes the sun rises on the wicked the same as the righteous but if you flat out mock God you often get your butt whipped."

 

 

 

 

Flattop & World Powered Paragliding Association (WPPGA) Fraud

2011-02-28 This probably 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 or scary.

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. How disingenuous.

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 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.
 

Dell Schanze & Powered Paragliding

This webpage was inspired by Dell Schanze, a firebrand maker of pronouncements that sells his soul for the sale of his gear. He crossed the line one too many times and has made such ridiculous claims that we forced respond. The problem is that he'll say anything, regardless of its truth, to woo those who are either looking for gear or for advice.

His compulsive lying has landed him in legal trouble numerous times but, on Aug 28, it finally landed him in jail. This is the best single expose on his willingness to ignore truth.

His most destructive verbal diarrhea regards the USPPA which is trying mighty hard to encourage thorough training with certified instructors who use the syllabus. Going so far as to PAY pilots who go all the way through earning a rating. Neither the 2009 president nor any other USPPA officer or volunteer has ever gotten any money for their services. Even their web services was built by a particularly talented paramotor pilot volunteer. The organization has among the lowest overhead cost of any national nonprofit out there.

Dell Schanze has made all manner of ridiculous and completely false accusations of its leadership and instructors. Here are a few of the most heinous.

1. He has called Jeff Goin and USPPA Instructors murderers. In spite of success in numerous areas of education, he says this. He is accusing Jeff personally of nearly all the fatalities in the sport of powered paragliding. I'll leave you to savor the ridiculousness of that.

2. Accused the USPPA of being responsible for nearly all the fatalities in powered paragliding. There is, of course, no good data on which to base accident rates because we have no way of measuring flight times. Best guesses are all we can do. Suffice it to say that fatal accidents were happening long before USPPA was around just like paragliding accidents were happening before USHPA was around (and APA before it).

By his logic, USHPA would be responsible for all the paragliding deaths. That is, of course, utterly preposterous. It's far more likely that the rates would be worse without those organizations' efforts.

Find another organization that PAYS its members for getting complete training.

3. Accused me of taking "kick backs" from the USPPA. The truth is that USPPA probably owes me at least $1000 for unbilled expenses. Evidence is in the bank account. In spite of it being only a 500 member organization, the training fund has over $20,000 in it and is stable.

4. Uses equipment type as an issue. Anyone who does not "fall in line" with his or disagrees with him or sells gear other than his is lambasted

5. Calls himself "World Champion" and claims to have broken numerous world records. In fact, he has never even been US Champion let alone world champion. Such a claim demeans the real world champions including incredible pilot Mathieu Roanet. Regarding records, Dell has not made any US records let alone world records. It's just another example of saying whatever he wants regardless of the truth of it.

6. Accused the USPPA of being "fraudulent" in its issuance of ratings because it has no authority to do so. That's utter nonsense. USPPA has the same authority as any other volunteer organization that steps up to standardize training in its field. Like USHGA, USUA, the Scuba diving orgs and so on. USPPA was started by USHGA pilots who wanted to improve the standard of training since the USHGA didn't want anything to do with power.

That's the same way they all started. The FAA recognized USPPA when it granted it the first foot-launched training exemption after Sport Pilot ended the old ones. Hardly fraudulent.

7. Dell accuses the organization of "promoting" some instructors. The reality is that USPPA doesn't promote any instructor over another, rather it simply lists those who are certified, just like all the orgs. His beef is about some only do a short training program that is inadequate. USPPA doesn't like that either!

Instructors can become rated but not issue ratings, just like they can under any other org, or even FAA instructors for that matter. But USPPA, in an effort to combat inadequate training, implemented the pay-for-ratings program and required completion of the syllabus to participate. The instructors who Dell bashes don't participate in the program because it does indeed take more time.

So, unlike Dell, the org is doing something proactive, putting its money where its mouth is. What is Dell doing? Just spewing at the mouth.

Secondly, none of the orgs control business practices. Dell is always saying how USHPA is better. USHPA is a great org, of which I am a member, ardent supporter, and occasional contributor to their magazine, but its full of humans. Neither USPPA nor USHPA regulate business practices. If someone wants to sell gear to anyone who orders it, the USPPA has no ability to interfere. Just like USHPA. Peer pressure is the only avenue available.

8. He used to say the only way to good training is free-flight training first. And it is indeed a great way to start, that's how I started. In fact, that's why I started USPPA—to bring a similar, but appropriate, training regimen to paramotoring. But when Dell wanted to sell more gear by gaining distributors in flat parts of the country, he changed his tune. Now you don't hear him say that free flight first training is the ONLY acceptable method.

9. There are many more statements he's made that are completely false. Of less consequence but still lies—examples of his willingness to utterly disregard the truth. Many regard the history of USPPA. For example, he has said that I've been the president for its entire run. I haven't. A high-ranking USHGA Instructor Administrator was first. There are many more examples.

If you want even more evidence of his willingness to disregard the truth, see what the legal system thought in Salt Lake City. Make sure to read down to the line about "a conviction for giving false information to police" and "[prosecutor] Jarvis said Schanze had contradicted himself several times, was "a compulsive liar" and that his only witness was his wife, who said she supported her husband." There's plenty more.

Know who you're listening to

So be careful who you're listening to and apply the appropriate grains (or bags in this case) of salt to their advice. Know that anything you get from Dell will bash the competitors and exalt his own gear without regard to truth.

If you hear him tell of gear that will "fall apart like a cheap suit" know that I've seen one of his machines break the prop and cage when the pilot simply fell on launch. Paramotors aren't made to crash. They ALL break when crashed!

The problem is that some of what he says is true, namely regarding the value of getting thorough training. But along with those few nuggets, he'll spew many others that are completely erroneous. Information buyer beware.

Do get good training all the way through a USPPA PPG2 rating and enjoy the incredible sport of powered paragliding.