Sonoma Wings Meeting Minutes

 

Thursday, April 25, 2002

 

The meeting was called to order by Prez. Larry Roberts at 7:31 p.m.  There was a good turnout including some new people interested in joining the club.  Those members in attendance were:  Larry Roberts, Ernie Camacho, Scot Huber, Todd Robinson, Charley Warren, Derk Steggewentz, Bob Storms, Matt Jagelka, Leo Jones, John DeAguiar, Fred Clement, Kurt Bainum, Justin Miller, Gregg Hackett, Lew Byington, Ian Riedel, JW Seeley, and Greg Sugg.  Also at the meeting were Paul Dick (who would like to take up hang gliding some day) and his father Steve (who were both at the meeting last month), Michal Krombholz, a PG pilot, and Lew, an HG pilot who we met at Elk last weekend (sorry I didn’t remember his last name).  I believe Michal and Lew joined the club.

 

The following topics were discussed:

 

Aerotow Clinic at Crazy Creek

Ken Brown has notified the club that Hungry Joe will be at Crazy Creek again this year to do aerotowing and an aerotow clinic.  The dates are from May 30th through June 10th.  It was mentioned that Wally Anderson will be there also doing scooter towing for paragliders.  Leo has already requested that Ken Brown of Moyes America ante up for the site insurance since the club has shouldered the entire burden the last two years.

 

St. John Ramp

The U.S. Forest Service has told Leo that the club will not have to obtain a special use permit for the St. John ramp and improvements after all.  He said an “official agreement” will be adequate.  This will probably work better for the club because it will not require yearly paperwork with the U.S.F.S.

 The Fouts Springs Youth Facility is still eager to provide man power to help improve the ramp.  The two days of work will probably have to take place on a Friday and Saturday because they don’t work on Sundays.  Leo received an enthusiastic response on his offer to make a presentation to the young men at the facility about hang gliding.  He has also offered to do a presentation for the kids at the Library in Stonyford.  One or two volunteers will be needed to help with those presentations which will probably be on the same day.

 

Cinco de Mayo Party

The Cinco de Mayo party is going to be Saturday, May 4th.  Safety Officer, John DeAguiar, needs two digital video cameras to record all the launches and landings.  This is so the pilots can benefit from actually seeing their own launching and landing techniques.  Leo pointed out that there is a new group of U.S.F.S. personnel in charge at Mount St. Helena.  It is important that we get of to a good start with these people who will likely be there on Saturday.  It is important that we abide by all the rules and regs. of the site.  Pilots should arrive at the L.Z. early.  The first vehicle up the mountain will leave the L.Z. at 10:00 a.m. so that we can get all pilots up to launch early.  Be there on time.  Late arrivals may not get to go up the mountain because of the limited number of vehicles allowed by our permit.

 

Club Radio Frequencies

There has been some radio interference from pilots using 147.525 MHz. At Mt. Diablo.  The old Bay Area H.G. freq. , 147.495, is heavily used around the Bay and at Hull, and it interferes with the Aircotech flight instruments that Scot and Ernie have.  We may need to start using another frequency either all the time or at specific sites.  This issue will be worked out on the BB.

 

Amateur Radio Technician License Class

      Johnny  D, our club Safety Officer, volunteered to arrange a future weekend cram course for several members who want to get the amateur radio technician license.

 

In Flight Radio Antennas

Ernie distributed the flexible base loaded  half wave antennas for in flight use which were ordered by members since last meeting.  He also discussed tuning them for optimum performance.

 

Coordinating Club Flying Outings

Ernie asked that pilots who will be going on any of the various club flying trips this season let him know either on the BB or via email so he can post it on the BB for coordination purposes.  This will help people team up for ride sharing among other things.

 

FAA NOPRM

The USHGA has asked that we all respond to the recent FAA NPRM (notice of proposed rule making) immediately.  It affects our future ability to do tandem instruction and aerotowing.  Leo has posted a sample letter to the BB to help organize your thoughts.  The letters should be sent via email because there is little time, and the snail mail in Washington now is way slower than before Sept. 11th.  Gregg Hackett said that the body of the letter is not important because they don’t really read them.  All they do is count letters for and against an issue.  An email which just says you are OPPOSED to the specific rule is adequate.

 

Charley Is Now In the Human Race!

Charley Warren is running in the up coming “Human Race” fund raiser and wants sponsors.  Dig deeply, and contact Charley.  I knew he would get into the human race eventually.

 

Club Trophies

      Scot would like the club to present the winners of the Coffee Can and Go For It competitions with trophies which they can keep.  He showed a very nice trophy Lisa Tate made for him which cost only $30.00.  It is nice to receive a trophy you can keep rather than just the money as we do now.  This rates further discussion.

 

Club Jacket for Linda Sauer

     Scot took donations for an embroidered club jacket for Linda Sauer in appreciation for all her help as a driver and in support of the club. 

 

The meeting was adjourned promptly some time after 9:00 p.m.

 

Greg Sugg, Secretary