June 2000

Apparently we as a group have not learned with the recent loss of flying privileges at Mt. Ascutney. Over the Memorial Day weekend there were several incidents and another talked about. These incidents involved both hang glider and paraglider pilots.

The first incident was a pilot who went to fly the northwest launch at Mt Ascutney. This pilot did not sign in with the rangers, was not a VHGA member and did not sign the waiver required by the state of Vermont and the town of Brownsville, VT. The pilot decided not to fly due to the winds being too strong. But he was ready to fly if the conditions were right.

A different pilot flew tandem at Mt. Ascutney this day. His passenger did not have a signed waiver on file. Tandem Passengers must have a signed waiver like any other pilot before the flight takes place.

Another incident occurred at Skinner State Park in Hadley MA. On Saturday May 27 in the late AM. Two pilots flew there without signing in with the ranger. The ranger contacted Mark Droy of the Massachusetts Hang Gliding Association and stated that he wanted these two pilots to go back to Skinner, report to him and fill out the proper paperwork. Flying at Skinner State Park has been regulated for over 23 years. The rules are distributed each year and are also available at the mountain.

The talked about incident was a pilot who stated that he wanted to go to Skinner State Park and cut brush and trim back the trees. I told him that there were procedures that had to be followed before anything could be done. He then said he would not get caught doing it. I quickly jumped all over him about what he said. This cannot be tolerated at all

These are several things that could have had a long lasting effect on all of us in the sport that we enjoy. It is everyone’s responsibility to know the rules before flying a site and obey them. It is time we all take responsibility and help police our flying sites. We all have to do this because some of us don’t think of the repercussions before they do or what effect it will have on the future of our sport. If you see a pilot doing something wrong? Please say something to them. Explain the proper procedures. If they don’t listen let them go and report the incident to the VHGA officers and we will handle it. I don’t know of any pilot who won’t be willing to help or explain proper site procedures. The VHGA site rules can also be found on our web site (www.vhga.org). If incidents like this keep happening it is only a matter of time before there is no hang gliding or paragliding in New England. So let’s group together and do what we have to do to protect our sport.

I am glad to say that all the pilots involved in these incidents have been contacted and are sorry for their mistakes. They all vowed not to make the same mistake again. I am especially proud of the pilots involved with the Skinner State Park incident. They were unknown and could have kept their mouths shut and got away with it but they came forward right away and vowed to straighten things out with the ranger.

This article is not to chastise the pilots that made a mistake but to get all of us to think before we make mistakes that might effect our sport.

From the President

The 2000 flying season is well under way, and the optimism for a great spring has given way to the reality of a soggy spring instead. It has been nice to see some of my flying buddies whom I have not seen since last year, and I hope to see the rest of you soon.

Even though the flying has not been great, some great flights have been made. Ted H., Jeff B., and John S. all went 60 miles and landed together May 7th. May9th was one of the best flying days I've seen in several years. Congratulations to the V.P. Dennis C. on making it to the coast on his maiden Ascutney flight in his new Atos. Cloud base was 9500' and three of us logged a total of 266 miles that day.

Many thanks go to the good turnout on May 20th to work on the south launch at Ascutney. All of the work required to be in compliance with Act 250 was accomplished, and the launch is considerably safer for paraglider launching. After the work was finished, several of the paraglider pilots christened the improvements with nice flights.

I would also like to thank Gary Trudeau for the great job he has been doing with the newsletter. It is a lot of work putting the newsletter together. Please help out and write short articles; trips, equipment, and close calls all make good subjects.

At the June 24th meeting I would like to start a critique of accidents and close calls. I am hoping pilots will be willing to share their experiences so that others may learn and we can all fly more safely.

Also at the June meeting I am trying to have a meteorologist give a talk on micrometeorology; instability, predicting cloud base, and cloud cover are the subjects I am shooting for. I do not have a firm commitment from a speaker yet, but I hope that one of the people I have spoken with will come.

MHGA Web Site

The Massachusetts Hang Gliding Association has a new web site. The web address is case sensitive. http:/people.ne.mediaone.net/mdroy/MHGA Check it out. It is new and under construction but it has information on Greylock and Skinner.

Safety Notice

There is a safety notice of paraswivels manufactured by Willswing before March of 2000. Willswing is the producer of paraswivels for most of the manufactures of back up parachutes for the hang gliding and paragliding community. They are blue in color and have a bolt holding both halves of the paraswivel together. This can identify these paraswivels. They also have a locking bolt or setscrew that can come lose or were not seated properly. This can cause separation of the paraswivel in use.

I encourage everyone with a paraswivel on their backup parachute to have it checked out immediately. Marilyn at Nichols sail loft located at Morningside Flight Park has been authorized to check, identify and repair these paraswivels. Marilyn is charging a small fee of $3.00 for this service. Again I would recommend that everyone have this done before it is too late and you need your backup. Besides your backup can not do it job if you are not attached to it.

Dream of Flight

All of us share a part of a special world that is far different from the everyday reality of our lives. The task is to find columns of raising warm air and ride it up to the clouds and the dream is to travel along the countryside but in a glider thousands of feet above the ground.

Out west pilots fly over the desert and go for 200-mile flights. In Chelan Washington, they shoot for the potato fields of Idaho. Down in Florida a flight into Georgia gives one bragging rights and here in good old New England well… we have the ocean and a sandy beach for our goal.

It was 1979 I believe when pilots around here started to focus on "going XC". Of course the XC flight of the time was Ascutney to Morningside but even then we talked about going to the "beach". A few years later Nelson Howe accomplished that task and I guess I am the 10^th pilot to do so.

21 years, tons of equipment changes, hundreds of failed attempts, days upon days of conversation and endless time spent daydreaming and yet only a few of us understand enough to really share the experience and joy. But that’s what makes it so rewarding.

I have another dream now and hopefully this one won’t take as long to accomplish. What ever yours is don’t give it up or compromise. Because that dream is key to what makes our private world of flying so special

XC Contest Update

I have had two official reports to the year 2000 XC contest. They are big ones. Our vice president is currently in first place with a flight of 91 miles. Yes he ran out of places to land unless he wanted to make a water landing in the Atlantic Ocean. Yes he made it to the coast for the first time. Congratulations Dennis. Just short of Dennis on the same day, was our president John Arrison with a flight of 86 miles. Nice flight John. I also heard Steve Ardnt was about the same distance but he has not reported it to me yet. There is still a chance for you to win a trophy in this year XC contest. Remember there are different classes this year. So report you flight and get recognition for it even if you don’t win a trophy.

Earthsky Update

Bob and I have been doing our first lessons for the season. Bob had hand surgery this spring and has made a good recovery. The large "Z" shaped scar is pretty cool. We have some regular HG and PG student pilots that have been coming every weekend and some new starts too. We are offering towing, training hill lessons, Hang Glider Tandems, Rating Clinics and Novice pilots observations. Also the

Mountain queen (Bob's Truck) is running great will be offering rides again for $5.00 donation. The new tenants in Jake's house have offered to let us keep using the garage for storage and I already gave one of them their first lesson. The Woburn Hill has been through great improvements with more to come. We just made a second hill that is 20 foot to capture a very consistent wind direction for this site. The

Rutland phone will be not be turned on this year, we will keep the Woburn business line 781.376.9129. Both e-mails are working earthsky@vermontel.net for Bob and mefly@erols.com for Jon.

Apostle List

The state of Vermont required that the VHGA cut the apostle list to ten pilots. Here is the updated list for 2000.

Steve Ardnt 603-228-8612	John Arrison 802-674-2549
Dave Baxter 603-542-4416	Dennis Cavagnaro 603-529-2010
Tim Donovan 603-542-2277	Ted Hasenfus 781-461-9807
Tom Lanning 978-486-3568	Scott Leonard 603-422-3031
Jon Szarek 603-635-2777	Mark Vaughn 508-877-8545

Letter from the Editor

I am encouraging any member of the VHGA to submit articles to the VHGA Newsletter. Any article submitted will be considered for possible publication. The editor reserves the right to publish and edit any articles submitted. The editor will accept classified ads pertaining to hang gliding and paragliding. Classified ads must be resubmitted if you wish them to be published in the next VHGA newsletter. Articles, classified and upcoming events may be submitted to the VHGA Newsletter at

VHGA Tee Shirt Update

We have the last of three batches totaling 130 shirts to be sold this spring. These will be available through emails orders and direct first come first serve sales at whatever flying site you and I meet at. This is the last of the old/classic design. Having brand new ones to wear ten years from now would be cool. If the Brazilians don’t get them first. $12.50 for the beefy-tee Haines, 100% cotton tee shirt with custom 5 color screen print is a quality bargain.

I have not received any offers to take over the this mission so I have again contacted Lori Sanchez of Wallaby Ranch to come up with a new rendition of the original VHGA logo. She recently reported to me that the first viewing of a suggested change/edition would be ready for viewing by May. The next version will be sure to include at least 1 colorful paraglider. The question is who or what will be flying it? Any original ideas will be kept confidential until the unveiling hopefully in the fall (in time for school shopping)

Reaching Your Dreams

Most pilots have a dream of flying to the coast or a hundred-mile flight. Mine were much simpler. Even before I was a teenager, I used to sit in my parents’ back yard watching the hang gliders flying around Mt Greylock. I told myself that I would do that someday. Well many years passed and I forgot about my dream. In 1994 a local newspaper had an article about Morningside Flight Park. This article got me thinking about my boyhood dreams. This was the thing that got me started in hang gliding.

After learning a little about the sport of hang gliding. I set two goals for myself. The first was to fly Mt Greylock and the second was to fly Mt Greylock and land at my house.

In 1996 I got the opportunity to reach my first goal. I flew Mt Greylock for the first time. It was not the greatest flight by many other pilots’ standards but it was great to me. I had a good launch, flew for about 45 minutes and had a good landing. I remember thinking it doesn’t get any better than this.

Well after reaching one of my goals. It was time to reach for the next one. I flew Greylock several times over the next couple of years. But I was not able to make it to my house to land. I knew landing at my house would be difficult for several reasons. First I would have to fly upwind all the way with no place to land. Also if I could do that I would have to be high enough to get over the mountain right behind my house.

In May of 1999, I was flying Mt Greylock. The lift at the mountain was not all that good. Most of the pilots could not get more than 500 ft above the mountain. I decided to try to make my house. I knew I would need to find lift on the way. I left the mountain with only about 500 feet. over. I started to glide to my goal and I was sinking. I thought I felt some lift so I tried to turn in it. But it was not strong enough to lift me. I lost about 200 feet. I tried to get back on course. I then flew into some more lift. I turned and lost again. So I went back on course. By this time I was getting real low. I was well below the top of the mountain that I had to get over. I was also too low to make it back to the mountain. My only hope was to fly out over the valley and maybe I could find a small field that I could land in. Just as I was getting ready to turn to the valley. I flew into another lift cycle. I decided to try it one last time. So I turned and I did not loose any altitude. I then kept turning and turning and I found myself going up at about 25 feet minute. It was slow but at least I wasn’t going down. I stayed with the lift cycle and it got stronger and stronger. It seemed like I was in this thermal forever. When I finally pulled out of the lift to continue on my way, I was 4500 feet above where I was in the beginning of this lift cycle. At this altitude I could I knew I could make it to my house. I easily made it over the mountain behind my house. When I arrived over my house I had 3000 feet to spare. I was looking down at a 20-acre field to land in when I noticed my neighbor standing outside. I yelled down to her so someone could witness my accomplishment. This was one of the greatest feelings I ever had in reaching my goal.

Since then I have gotten my tandem rating and a Willswing Falcon glider to fly tandem. In May of this year conditions were looking good for Mt Greylock once again. I have a friend who has been asking me to take her for a tandem flight off of Mt Greylock. So I decided to try to call my friend but she could not be reached. I decided to fly my tandem falcon by myself. I launched in a light cycle and started to climb. That was short lived before all the pilots started to sink. This cycle lasted for a long time. It was lift but very light. So light where it would not support any of us gliders and we were all sinking. I was the lowest glider of all. After about 45 minutes of this, I was close to the point were I would have to go get ready for a landing in the bail out field located at the base of the mountain. Then I flew into a good thermal. I started to turn right away. I found myself going up at about 800 feet/minute. I stayed in this thermal till I lost it at about 5800 feet, which was about 2300 feet above the mountain. Being this high I thought about trying to make it to my house once again. I knew if I could make it in this big beginner’s glider. It would prove last time was not a fluke. I went on a glide towards my house and found very little sink all the way there. So I made it again and this time in a low performance glider. I think the only thing that could have made this flight any better is if I did it with my tandem friend. Maybe next time. Maybe new goal.

Note from the Secretary

The general membership recently had a meeting on 4/22/00. This is a summary of the meeting minutes.

Rutland- Road is not open up due the latest snow and rain. Colin will arrange work party and materials needed for the job. Work will be held off till summer when the road will be firm enough to handle all the extra traffic of the heavy trucks and equipment.

Ascutney- Special use permit has been approved by the state of Vermont. The VHGA has or soon will complied with all the requirements to satisfy the approval of the special use permit. Some of the requirements included cutting the apostle list to 10, changing the lock system on the access gate. The one that still needs to be done is to complete the work at the south launch. Work party to be called soon for south launch.

Hawk- The board of directors has agreed to include the insurance on this site due to some of our members flying here. We were informed that the New England Paragliding and Hang Gliding Club has already insured this site. We have agreed to work with the NEPHGC on resolving any issues with this site.

Sugarbush- This site will be investigated by Dennis Cavagnaro and Niece Miller to possibly add to the VHGA flying sites.

Cushman- This site will be followed up by John Arrison. This site used to be flown a long time ago but has a terrible road to launch.

Regionals: Tim Donavan volunteered to run this year competition. Proposed date around Labor Day weekend. Doug Sharpe to assist Tim with registration of the event with USHGA.

Summer Party: Members want to have one and voted for the VHGA to front money up to $500.00 for expenses. The date and location to be set in the June meeting. Tim Donavan donated $210.00 towards the summer party. He stared that this was money left over from the last years-XC contest.

Bylaws: An amendment to the bylaws was voted and passed by a vote of 16 for, 3 against and 1 abstained. The amendment to the bylaws read as follows.

Section 1. Any member of the VHGA may be suspended or expelled for a cause: such as violation of any part of these bylaws, flight regulations, the rules of the VHGA, or conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the VHGA.

Section 2. Call for action: For action to be taken against a member/ members a petition signed by 4% of the VHGA members shall be presented to the Board of Directors outlining the allegations. The BOD shall conduct a finding of the facts regarding the allegations. All the members shall cooperate fully and honestly with any finding of facts by the BOD.

Section 3. After finding the facts the BOD shall within one week call a meeting of the general membership. All the members shall be notified of the meeting in writing. The members shall decide on the level of action to be taken. Any action shall require 25% of the general membership to be present and a 2/3 vote for action. Any accused member shall be allowed to present his or her defense at this meeting.

Section 4. Any suspended or expelled member shall loose all flying privileges at all VHGA flying sites.

First Aid Kits: John Arrison Has put together three first aid kits for the VHGA. These kits will be placed at the launches of the following sites: West Rutland, Northwest Ascutney, and South Ascutney. Both West Rutland and Northwest Ascutney will be placed under the ramp or platform. The kits are in a plastic 5-gallon pail and include basic supplies needed in case of emergency. If any supplies are used please notify the officers of the VHGA so we can get them replenished.

Every Pilots Responsibility