The fall meeting of the USHGA will be held in Rochester, NY in October and there's an issue being raised that may change the direction and focus of the national organization.
There was a vote taken a couple years ago regarding the inclusion of powered harnesses under the auspices of the USHGA so they could be insured under our liability policy. The argument presented at that time was that Joe Flatlander who was hours away from mountain sites or tow parks was using his or her powered harness in the same fashion as a tug to get to altitude to take his/her best shot at soaring. The vote was later held to be invalid because of the wording which seemed to favor one outcome over the other. The USHGA leadership has since decided that the vote gave them the go-ahead to include this form of flight under the umbrella of our organization including our insurance coverage (they had already been providing insurance for a couple of specific types of powered HG harnesses).
They are now poised to allow entry of powered paragliding (PPG) aka, Fan Man into the USHGA. The issue, as I and several others see it, is that Fan Man is basically the paraglider version of trikes or ultralights. Their primary M.O. is motorized flight. They're not into soaring and are not marketed as soaring aircraft. They're noisy, polluting, oil-burning aircraft that may have their place in personal aviation, but not in an organization devoted to soaring.
If you have an opinion on this topic, I urge you to contact one or both of our Regional Directors and express your views prior to the upcoming USHGA meeting. Their contact info is:
David "Randy" Leggett (R - 05)
(610) 258-6066
ias@ot.com
Felipe Amunategui (R - 06)
(216) 751-0347
Dr.amunategui@att.net
Fan Man and the USHGA
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theflyingdude
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