President’s Mid-Year Report
August, 2012
There is a lot of progress to report on this year. Thanks in large part to the efforts of Rich
Hass; the Club was finally able to complete a new Land Use License agreement
(LUL) with DNR. The LUL is an agreement
between the Northwest Paragliding Club and the Washington State Department of
Natural Resources. It specifically
authorizes the Club’s use of the north and south launches, Chirico Trail, Tiger Mountain Road
1000 and the Highway 18 gate, operation of the Shuttle, construction and use of
the Cut, and installation of a windsock tower and a storage container. It also requires that we maintain our launch
areas, the Cut, and Road 1000 between the Cut and launch.
Most importantly, the LUL requires that we maintain several
insurance policies, Including Commercial General Liability, Business Auto, and
third party insurance naming DNR as an additional insured. After a great deal of effort, the Club was
able to obtain the required insurance.
The USHPS site insurance is a key portion of the required insurance. As a result, USHPA membership (and the
insurance it provides) is required for flight at Tiger Mountain
Status of the Club’s
Projects:
·
The Cut at Tiger Mountain Road is now essentially
completed and is in service. The shuttle
now drives all the way from the LZ to launch.
Thanks to Jeff Slotta’s very generous donation of a week’s effort with
his large excavator and 3-man crew, we took down about a dozen large trees,
placed about 400 cubic yards of gravel and graded the roadway. We also installed a new culvert at the Tiger Mountain Road
entrance and moved and installed one of DNR’s heavy steel gates. Thanks
to Jeff’s contribution, and to many of you who participated in several very
successful work parties, we were able to construct the cut for a bit less than
$6,000.
The Cut is now a legal entrance to the
interior Tiger Mountain
·
We are presently in the process of obtaining a
county building permit; and installation of the tower will begin on north
launch as soon as the permit is obtained.
Volunteers have replaced the cables and bearings on the tower, and it
has been mostly painted. A design for
the tower’s foundation has been completed and its proposed location has been approved
by DNR. The tower will allow us to fly a
windsock well above the 65-foot-tall trees on north launch, so that it will
indicate wind from any direction. We also
hope to install web cams on the tower and move Wind Talker to the tower,
improving its accuracy.
·
About 20 volunteers spent two Saturday mornings
in July filling holes and installing carpet on upper north launch. The new carpet greatly reduces the risk
twisting an ankle while launching.
·
A 20-foot steel container was purchased by the
Club and installed on north launch. The
container is primarily for the storage of tools and equipment, but is available
for storage of flying gear. Talk to one
of the board members for more information.
·
The AED (defibrillator) is located on the shelf
under the outhouse at north launch.
Patti Fujii arranged for a class to show us how to use it. About 15 club members took the class and are
prepared to zap you, should you need it.
If that time comes, we hope one of the trained individuals is present to
operate the device.
Other News:
- Matt
Amend has volunteered to be the Safety Officer for the Northwest
Paragliding Club. This is a new
position on the board. The
requirements for our third person insurance policy have become more
complex and USHPA requires each member chapter to work with them to meet
those new challenges. Part of those
requirements will be fulfilled by the position of Safety Officer and Matt
has already hit the pavement running.
·
The Tandem Fly-In was held on July 21. We had fewer student pilots than had been
hoped for, but still flew about 45 tandems.
The weather and Jesse Saylor’s Bar-B-Q ribs were great, and everyone who
flew landed safely. Total income from
the fly-in was $8,332, and the Club netted $3,703 after expenses; and after donating
25% of the net proceeds to the Shuttle.
·
The floor of the Class B airspace above Tiger was
recently lowered from 6,000 to 5,000 feet.
That means that paragliders and hang gliders may not legally fly higher
than 4,999 feet over Tiger. The lower
ceiling extends over Squak
Mt. Redmond and south to about 5 miles
south of Covington . Please familiarize yourself with the new
airspace boundaries. Airspace maps can
be downloaded at: http://soaringweb.org/Airspace/NA/HomePage.html
·
Thanks in large part to Chris
Amonson , the Club’s blog editor; there are several new
articles and great photos on the club’s blog.
Chris has kept the blog active and it is a good place to go to read
about other pilot’s experiences. Feel
free to write up your flying experience and share it with the rest of us.
·
After a lengthy review of comments from
interested parties, including negative comments from the US Navy, the Parks
Department decided not to allow paragliding at Ebey’s Landing.
·
Anti-Dog Poop signs have been posted on the
Tiger LZ, advertising the County’s leash law and our desire not to have the
property fouled with feces and urine.
·
The club has purchased a number of white, long-sleeved
T shirts bearing the NWPC logo on the front.
These shirts are only given to individuals who make a special effort to
help the club. When you see someone
wearing one, feel free to thank them for their efforts.
