Our videos seem to be extremely popular. No one even gets naked in them, but
still we pump them out at 15 GB a day at
http://www.ozreportradio.com/video/. Gerry set up the whole video thing and
we put it on a different server so as not to bother the Oz Report server. For
the price of two movie tickets you can subscribe/donate to/support the Oz
Report.
Why do we put out hang gliding videos? To revive hang gliding as a popular
sport. To try to encourage the growth of the sport. Everything we do has that as
a goal.
If you like and/or read the Oz Report, use the Oz Report forum, use our
connections to Google Earth, won't you do a little something to help support us? $20 per year (or more if
you find the value here) for a year subscription:
If you want to send in a check it's:
Davis Straub
PMB 1889 PO Box 2430 Pensacola, FL 32513
First of all I find this to be an outstanding and professional report. Very
clear and easy to follow. I have a few critiques and issues, but they are only
meant to "beef up" some areas that show more bone than muscle.
Page 16 (see already thought the first 15 pages were
great), membership relations: Re-brand USHGA merchandise and re-launch USHGA
store
I wear almost exclusively hang gliding t-shirts. I don't wear any USHGA branded
gear, although I have a bunch of it. I love my Flytec t-shirts. I wear hang
gliding clothes that are made with love and artistry.
I get the feeling about USHGA branded gear that no one really is invested in it,
that no one really cares, that it is only a job (that its done by people who
don't like hang gliding). I think that the USHGA should find someone with heart
and vision and love for the sport who can actually produce stuff that I would
wear. Talk to Steve Kroop about how this is done.
Do you mean talk to USHGA members? Who is supposed to talk to them? Do you mean
actual surveys, ongoing, about what? Lisa seems to have received an earful
lately visiting clubs. Is that what you mean?
How does this get into the "right" people's ears? Who's doing the relating? Are
we talking about being on the mailing lists (the USHGA one for example)?
• “Meet the EC” forums
On the USHGA web site? In the Oz Report? Where? Physical or cyber?
• “What You’ve Been Missing” direct mail piece to former
members
What have they been missing? Well, a lot of rancor as far as I can tell. :-)
What is our positive story for the members?
What's missing?
Articles in the Oz Report or on the lists with questions to members. Support the
Oz Report.
Request to Regional Directors to go out and hear what the members are saying in
their region.
There can be a lot more here, but I can't think of what it is at the moment. We
need to build a strong positive relationship with the members in order to hold
on to them while we bring in new members.
Page 17, For Dealers, Schools, Clubs and Chapters
Teach how to build relationships with the press and
maximize exposure
I'm skeptical of this.
• Business/organizing tips?
I want to include how to set up a successful business in Steve Wendt's scooter
tow clinics (that was supposed to be part of it) because he is an obvious model
of how to do it (by yourself).
• Other?
Vastly increase the support for instructors as their health is the key to
meeting our growth goal. This is where we really have to put a lot of new
effort.
Page 18, For Alliance Partners and Governing Bodies (FAI, CIVL, etc.)
Periodic updates and progress summaries
We are constantly communicating (and bickering) with CIVL as we have two world
championships coming up in the US. I've had significant communication with
Heather the upcoming CIVL steward for the flex wing worlds and am currently
working on the local regulations.
The Competition Committee through its CIVL Rep and very often directly works
with (and against) CIVL on many issues. See the Competition Committee Report out
before the BOD meeting.
• Other?
I can't think of who the other Alliance Partners might be. Our insurance
company?
Page 19, For Manufacturers and Suppliers
Strategy and business review tours
There are so few. Other than Wills Wing they are all over seas.
USHGA booth (or tent) at selected sporting or outdoor
events
Booths are static and not much fun. I suggest definitely going to a lot of
outdoor type events, but with something better than a booth.
• Offer demo and discovery flights
We have plenty of those. According to the latest articles in the Oz Report (out
in a couple of days), they don't work, but something else does. See it soon.
Also see the P,P,P flights that do work.
• Use USHGA Discover DVD video series as give-a-ways
Good idea. I am giving away videos on my web site. People are downloading them
at the rate of 15 GB a day. It's amazing.
• Test program at Sun 'n Fun and Oshkosh (see next page)
Flying straight. VG on. Flying fast. The bar pulled in. The nose
goes over and the glider tucks and then it tumbles.
Rob Hibberd pointed out that the glider from Mick's tuck was likely in a
configuration that would make it so that the glider would not necessarily
recover from a tuck. Gliders have to be able to recover when their noses go over
suddenly, which they apparently do because of the "conditions."
Now Gerolf describes another tuck here: http://ozreport.com/10.027.4. And to add to that apparently Ferenc describes
the bar coming way back on him before it got ripped out of his hands. Apparently
he was trying to pull the bar forward when the bar was pulled way forward. What
was going on there. Conditions again?
And then we continue to wait for word from Chris Jones (why does almost everyone
clam up at times like this, it sure wasn't my first instinct) re what happened
to him. Was he really flyin straight and level, fast, with the bar pulled in and
3/4 VG. The nose goes down, the glider tucks and then tumbles without recovery.
Aren't these gliders supposed to recover from tucks.
If the gliders aren't recovering from tucks, like my ATOS C didn't recover when
I was flying straight and level pulled in, then not only do we wonder why, but
we might wonder what we are going to do about it.
Why don't we talk about these incidents openly and honestly first?
You got a bunch of Oz Report in the email yesterday because I
started blogging a little too early. I've got to wait until 8:15 AM EST. Sorry
about that. I won't let it happen again.
Gerry writes great code to make sure that the Oz Report now goes out
automatically now from the Oz Report blog. But I found a way to mess it up.
Gary's view is that tucks and tumbles are a fact of life for
flying wings. Well, he felt that they were a fact of life for all aircraft, but
that the prevalence of air conditions that would cause hang gliders to tuck
would be much more common than those that would cause a 747 to tuck. That no
matter what wing you flew, if you flew it long enough you were going to tuck or
tumble.
If you talk to top competition pilots you will find many that have tucked or
tumbled. It's not necessarily the case that they are flying in recognizably
unsafe conditions or taking unreasonable changes. Rather, what they almost
universally report is that they were flying along and without warning in an
instant they tucked or tumbled.
Gary felt that there were just a certain number of air conditions out there and
that when you ran into one of them you were going to tuck. He felt that all
changes that you could reasonably make on modern hang gliders did not
significantly reduce your chances of tucking.
My question is, not why we have tucks (invisible dragons explain
that well enough), but why these gliders don't recover. It's pretty clear in the
case of Mick's glider that it was not correctly configured, but what about Chris
Jones? I'm waiting to hear.
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Credits
Gerry makes the Oz Report portal much smarter. He is a web consultant and a PHP expert. He's the brains behind the Oz Report, so contact him for PHP programming services. David Glover heads up the Oz Report Radio
The Oz Report, a near-daily, world wide hang gliding news ezine, with reports on competitions, pilot rankings, political issues, fly-ins, the latest technology, ultralight sailplanes, reader feedback and anything else from within the global HG community worthy of coverage. Hang gliding, paragliding, hang gliders, paragliders, aerotowing, hang glide, paraglide, platform towing, competitions, fly-ins. Hang gliding and paragliding news from around the world, by Davis Straub.
