HHPA Zoom Meeting Minutes May 8, 2021

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Tiki
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HHPA Zoom Meeting Minutes May 8, 2021

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HHPA Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Attendance:

Matt McCleskey – President
Efrain Garza – Vice President
Tiki Mashy – Secretary
Read Bixby – Treasurer
Tyson Taylor – WebMaster
Rich Diamond – Safety Director
Carl Boddie
Chad Garrett
Eduardo Fonseca
Henry Wise
John Chapa
Nate Wreyford
Paul Boydston
Robin Hamilton

Safety Moment - Rich Diamond
Many accident videos online. The takeaway is that the majority are pilot error and we need to be diligent about preflight checks and helping to check each other.

Matt: We are coming into the hottest part of our season and it is important that everyone avoid health injuries related to heat, everyone should be sure to properly hydrate. There is cold water in the refrigerator in Wharton.

Folks like Read and Matt and Tiki try to keep the refrigerator stocked with water. If you are at the grocery store and would like to contribute to the hydration effort, go ahead and grab a case of water or sparkling water and bring it out to stick in the refrigerator. We have plenty of refrigerators (two in the big hangar and one in the pilot lounge). It’s important that we all care enough to do our part to keep each other hydrated.

Treasury Report: - Read Bixby
We have $2075.08 in our bank account.

HHPA is registering for an EIN number so that we can further legitimize HHPA as a legally recognized Non-Profit. It was voted unanimously that the legal name would be “Houston Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association.” And that the club would be situated in Harris County. This is a change to the current Bylaws so it required a vote of the membership.

USHPA Update: Tiki Mashy, USHPA National Director
- The problem we faced with the $5mil premium required by AIG of some of the schools has been resolved and will put no burden on the membership to secure the premium.

- USHPA is in good shape financially.

- It appears we are flattening out the HG curve which was on the decline

- Instructors are now able to issues ratings online, whereby the instructor fills out the rating form online and it automatically gets sent to the pilot for signature, payment and on to the USHPA

- We received a third grant under the VA program

- The website has been updated so it will now include non-PASA schools in addition to PASA certified schools

- RRRG has paid off its initial capitalization.

- We will be republishing the National Site Guide based on the Chapter renewals through the RRRG

- You know we sold the USHPA building long ago to capitalize the RRRG, and have been renting space in that building. We have just informed our landlord that we will not be renewing our lease. Since Covid the office staff has been working from home so we will continue that in an effort to save money. We are looking into possibly sharing storage space with other activities in the area such as US Hockey.

- We have applied for forgiveness of the $75k PPP loan and expect to receive that forgiveness.

- We had $19k in sales after the USHPA store closed. All remaining items will be housed at the USHPA Headquarters

- 30 Day temporary forms will be online soon.

- Diamond Safety Awards use to be a diamond pin that was extremely expensive. It has been replaced with a USHPA Jacket with a Patch, a less expensive Pin and a certificate.

- Zac Majors volunteered and is now HG Co-Chair of the Towing Committee

Go Long in Texas – Robin Hamilton, Co-Organizer
-Robin reminded us this is an event not a comp so some of the issues are different

- We are building sun shade – which was tested out this past weekend by Matt, Tiki, Yvonne, & Aaron

- Looks like Mark Moore is going to manage the ground crew. We could use folks who would like to volunteer to help Mark on the ground.

- Tugs are being secured. Gregg Ludwig has offered to bring his tug, along with using the CU Dragonfly and Trike with Sir Richard piloting the CU Trike. We are in discussions with Rick Mullins (X-Flight tug pilot) to do some trike towing, and the possibility of using Nekked Rich’s trike too.

- We are looking into having porta-potties out there.

- Entertainment is something we are trying to decide on – possibly a 1st night and last night dinner, perhaps some karaoke, which went over very well at the Florida comp.

- We are trying to figure out the best way to keep track of the amount of tows and at the same time credit the tow pilot. Eduardo had a suggestion of QR codes of some type.

(See Eduardo’s post in the General section of this forum under response to Go Long In Texas Meeting)

Eduardo added that he is putting together the tracking for the meet and putting it on a website.

Tiki added that we have commissioned legendary hg artist Harry Martin (who designed some of the Buffalo Mountain t-shirts) to do a design for Go Long. Harry has promised to come up with an awesome design. He sent a rough draft and I showed it around, and folks generally liked it, when I told Harry that folks generally like it, he said: “Like is not good enough, I want them to love it, and maybe do hand to hand combat to get one.” So he is reworking it and wants to do some sort of 3D view.

Tiki said Ty had indicated that he might like to resurrect the blue cloud t-shirts with some sort of one color design. These shirts were pretty popular. Tiki told him he has blank tshirts giving to her by Kip Stone specifically built for tie-dying. So we’ll see what happens with that. Ty was not available to comment.

Tiki also added that we would like to have day prizes for those who do their personal best. We’d like to have a volunteer who can call and secure some prizes.

In Person Meetings – Matt McCleskey


At our last in person meeting there were 8 people. It was at the St. Arnold’s Brewery, however the seating was all outside which made it quite noisy, not to the mentioned the train going by every 30 minutes. He would like us to get back to in-person meetings along with having a place to have others participate on a Zoom call.

It was suggested that we hold it at someone’s house. Robin and Efrain offered their homes. Efrain also suggested Karbach Brewery (outside), however we are not sure of the noise level and the wifi at Karbach. The EC will take all this under consideration for the next meeting.

Buffalo Mountain 4th of July Fly-In – Tyson Taylor
Ty said they are not having a traditional fly-in due to the restrictions and complications associated with the RRRG mandates. So it will just be people getting together during that seven day period around the 4th of July to go flying. There will be no formal dinner.

Matt and Read, in additional to Ty expressed interest in getting a group together to go there for a long weekend.

Weather – Robin Hamilton
The rain has stopped for the foreseeable future and things should be dry this weekend.

Tiki added that the airport has sprayed for mosquitos and everyone agreed that the spraying has help big time with the mosquitos as they are hardly noticeable.

Other news:

Introduced new members to the area. John Chapa and Paul Boydston.

Wills Wing Closing – Tiki spoke on that subject, she had a conversation with Steve Pearson last week and gave some insight as to reasons and the future outlook.

Meeting adjourned.

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