Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

The USHPA Board of Directors meeting was held in Colorado Springs on March 22, 23, 24. The topic that dominated all committee's discussions was Risk Mitigation. Over the past couple of years there have been some very large damage claims made against USHPA. These claims are not settled yet. The biggest ones have to do with spectator injuries.

Over the years we have made large strides to protect ourselves, the pilots. Thanks to manufacturers our gliders are much better than the first ones. We have good instructors with good training programs. We have learned a lot about meteorology. Much of this has been initiated and promoted by USHPA.

Apparently we need to do as much effort to lower the risk of injury to spectators. Our insurance company is reevaluating the risk to spectators that is created by our activities. If we do nothing they could cancel our insurance, or substantially increase our premiums. We can keep our insurance and limit the increase to a moderate amount by instituting programs to protect spectators.

Clubs will be asked to make some changes. You will be receiving information in the mail to help with those changes. Here are a few highlights. All club officers must be current USHPA members. All clubs must have a Safety Officer. If your club does not want to create a new officer position then it is ok to have an existing officer take on the additional role of Safety Officer.

The Safety Officer will be responsible for assessing all sites where your club members fly (not just the insured sites) with regard to spectator safety. There are minimum standards that must be met. These involve distances from parking areas, spectator standing areas, power lines, trees, and towers at both the launch areas and landing areas. Forms will be provided to help with these assessments.

At some sites it may be that some requirements can not be met. In those instances there must be procedures that reduce the chance of injury to spectators and participants. For example if a launch is two miles past a locked gate and only club members have a key then that site inherently has Risk Mitigation.

Look for the information that will be coming your way soon. In the mean time think about how you can reduce the risk of injury to spectators (that means launch helpers too) and pilots.

Bill Helliwell