Oz Report

A few ideas on how to support and grow competition

Let's look for the positive things that we can do (Big Spring, Texas, USA)

What can the USHPA do if it wants to grow competition?  The best path, in my humble opinion, is to support the folks who already have the interest and desire to put on competitions, and help those who would like to put on competitions.

Here are some ideas:

1.  Reduce the red tape.  Already changes have been made over the last five years to reduce the head ache of the sanctioning process.  The documents are on line at the USHPA web site, for example.  I have volunteered to make the documents easier to use.  I have created an on-line version of the USHPA Sanction form that can be filled out in your browser.  It is a dummy form at the moment and isn't hooked up to their server.

You can find it here: http://ozreport.com/docs/USHPASanctionApplication.htm

Stream line the documents.  They are often redundant.  I have begun to do this.

2.  Gather a group of existing meet organizers and form them as a committee to be called on by the Competition Committee Chairman to assist new meet organizers and to help the Competition Committee.  This group could be called on one on one to help new potential meet organizers get through the sanctioning process as well as with other needs that they have.

3.  If a budget is required, create a model budget, pay a reasonable fee to the meet organizers for the work of creating their budget.  Get one of the members of the meet organizers committee to help the new meet organizer with their budget.

4.  Create an on-line scoring facility.  That is pay someone to do the scoring for meets, not necessarily on site, but on-line.  Create a set of instructions for meet organizers that allows them to download their flight tracks to their local computer and then upload them to a person on-line who does the scoring for them.

5.  Give out a rotating computer to meet organizers that is configured with cables and software for downloading GPSes with instructions and on-line (manned) help facility.

6.  Create an on-line meet registration facility (or use an existing one), that allows for easy registration for meets.  (The HGFA does this, and Mark Dowsett does this, and the Oz Report has such a facility, that could be added to the USHPA web site.)

7.  Provide support to meet organizers for Sport and Single Surface Class.  Pay the meet organizers the difference between the normal registration fee and the fee that they ask of Sport or Single Surface Class pilots.  The meet organizers can benefit by charging much less for Sport and Single Surface Class pilots, thereby encouraging them to attend.

8.  Create a Sport and Single Surface Class ranking system (based on the NTSS system).  Put it up on the USHPA web site.

9.  Have the Competition Committee Chairman call and develop an on-going supportive relationship with all existing and potential meet organizers encouraging and helping them through USHPA facilities (as above).  He is tasked with making sure that they get what they need to put on successful meets.  Have the CCC actively search out new potential meet organizers and venues.

10.  Have the Competition Committee Chairman check with all meet organizers to learn what they need regarding tug pilots and the need for tugs and tug pilots especially concerned FAA regulations.  Ensure that there are enough tug pilots in the future for future competitions.

11.  Combine these ideas with previous suggestions to build a more supportive and simpler system while significantly reducing the burden shouldered by meet organizers.

The previous suggestions

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No longer the stealth glider?

Wills Wing goes white (Wills Wing Factory, California, USA)

http://willswing.com/news.asp?newsSeek=364

The UV resistant UVM10T sail cloth is now available in white for use on the leading edge and (on T2's) trailing edge panels.  The use of this material in white greatly enhances visibility and addresses a concern that pilots have expressed with the gray color UVM material blending into the background and making the glider hard to see in the air.

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Big Blue Sky

(This topic is in: Nov.18 Nov.12 Oct.13 -> )

A well done documentary of the early days (Torrance Beach, CA)

http://www.bigblueskythemovie.com/

Big Blue Sky is a feature length documentary about hang gliding, the first Extreme Sport, and how it started.  Big Blue Sky is the story of the “Lost Frontier” of flight, tracing the origins of hang gliding from the 1880s thru today, focusing on the golden years of this exciting sport, the 1970s.  It is a story of mankind’s spirit, dreams and experiences as much as it is a definitive historical reference.

This is a professionally produced documentary with vintage footage and pictures.  Its focus is the 1971 First Universal Hang Gliding Championships.  Check out the trailer at the web site.

Donita Hall comes across as having a great time.  Belinda and I enjoyed watching it.  It is vastly more entertaining than many of the YouTube videos that I have linked to here on the Oz Report over the years (although there are some very entertaining ones).

Belinda thinks that it would do well on NetFlix, which has many documentaries.

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Drogue chutes

The video and the explanations (Sylmar LZ, CA, USA)

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=62961

I think he might have dived on purpose, but maybe he simply did not anticipate how quickly one loses altitude while dragging a drogue and diving.

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