Minutes

NWSPA April 18, 1998
"Save 10 Mile Hill"

Background:  Dennis Watson owns 10 Mile Hill, this areas preferred flying site in Asotin, Washington.  For over 20 years, the site has seen lot of foot launched flight activities from the early days of hang gliding, to the modern use of hang gliding and paragliding.  The site has been the location of numerous flying events.

Dennis' insurance agent is concerned that flights are happening from the hill.  He has therefore instructed Dennis to suspend any flight operations on the hill until a $2 million Limit Liability policy can be secured on the site, naming Dennis Watson as the primary interest in the insurance policy.

Scott Johnson, of U.S. AirBorne, contacted USHGA to obtain the standard insurance information about USHGA membership.  He gave this information to Vince Stroops to present to Dennis Watson & his insurance agent.  Apparently the papers did reach the insurance agent, but was rejected as being insufficient to continue flight operations from the hill.  At this time, the paperwork sent to us by USHGA is apparently in the possession of the insurance agency.

Aaron Frizzell initiated a phone call to the USHGA during the week of April 13.  After speaking with Phil Bachman, the Executive Director of the USHGA, we are in need of formal organization of the area pilots into a USHGA sanctioned Chapter.   Phil gave me the phone number of USHGA's insurance underwriter, First Flight Insurance, out of Kitty Hawk, NC.  The brokers name is Robert Well. [(919) 261-1903].

Robert Well mentioned that an additional $1 million site policy would be $550.00 per year, and an additional $2 million site policy is $1050 per year.  This would name Dennis Watson as the primary party in the policy with Vince Stroops as an interested party, since he owns the landing zone.

There was discussion about drivers.  Clarification needs to be obtained from USHGA and/or First Flight Insurance to see what needs to be done in order to ensure that drivers are covered under this policy.  We read the fax transmission, and are under the impression that as long as the drivers are detailed in the Chapter roster submitted to the USHGA, they will be covered in the insurance policy.

The Meeting

The meeting was held at Hogan's Pub downtown Clarkston, at 7pm.   T-shirts were passed out from the 20th Annual Easter Fly-in. 

We discussed the above mentioned background information and decided that $800 to secure 10 Mile Hill is totally reasonable, and something we are willing to do in order to keep 10 Mile as a flying site.

USHGA Chapter Formation Requirements

USHGA requires a $25 one time start up fee for each Chapter.    USHGA also requires a roster of all names & addresses of USHGA members.   FIVE members are required to be USHGA sanctioned pilots.  The Chapter fee of $25 will be paid by membership dues discussed below.  A list of current officers of the NWSPA must be filed with USHGA along with their 1 year term of office.  A list of the NWSPA bylaws will be sent to USHGA along with the percentage of club membership votes to change a bylaw.  A list of site names and ratings must  be sent to USHGA.   NWSPA must also provide the payment for site insurance for 10 Mile.  NWSPA must also provide USHGA with a community location to which to send a subscription of the Hang gliding Magazine to.  The other subscription will be sent to the default mailing address of the NWSPA.  At this time, the default address for NWSPA is listed at the bottom of this page. NWSPA must also provide a listing of any additional named insureds and addresses on the insurance certificate.

NWSPA will become a Chapter when these requirements are met, and at least 70% of the membership are full members of the USHGA.

A board of directors was voted in.  Vince Stroops was elected president, Larry Cochrane was elected vice-president, Aaron Frizzell was elected secretary, and Geri Heathman was elected treasurer.  We voted on a name for the club, and selected The Northwest Sport Pilot Association, with acronym of NWSPA.  We agreed that membership dues would be $60 per year per pilot.  Club membership dues are to be sent to:

Geri Heathman
NWSPA
PO Box 563
Asotin, WA  99402
509-256-3304
heman@valley-internet.net

The clubs first members were:

Jeff Peavey & Rod Parsells, who each reached deep into their pocketbooks and paid joyfully.  Congratulations to you both, and bravo!

We discussed the need for high visibility in the community.  Activities performed by the club should include:

• Charity Fly-ins to be held annually
• Sponsorship in the "Adopt a Highway" program in both Washington & Idaho
• 3 Day flying event charity events, where the community would sponsor pilots for such things as number of flights in a 3 day period (Friday, Saturday & Sunday), net altitude gain, and miles flown
• "Eye in the Sky" program, where the pilots and drivers would detail information about land usage should any problems arise
• The 1st Annual MDA Charity Fly-in to be held on Labor Day Weekend, 1999, at Tekoa, Washington.  More details on this event forthcoming in later meeting minutes.   Scott Johnson made a commitment to donate all  income generated with a $50 donation for a tandem flight at all official NWSPA sanctioned charity event.  Bravo, Scott.

The club would like to pursue Non-profit Organization status.  Geri will purse the necessary paperwork for this status.  Were we to be accepted as an NPO, the membership dues would be tax deductible as well as all donations.  If enough members sign up, the dues would be lowered to the the following formula:

$800 (insurance)
divided by
Number of club members
=
Club dues

At this time, any overage in the $60 membership dues will be held in a general fund for upcoming events and/or purchase of promotional materials.  There was discussion of making Bill Anderson of Edel USA and Jeffrey Farrell of Firebird Sky Sports associate members of the NWSPA.  Discussion of reduced membership dues was also discussed.

Aaron Frizzell brought up an idea for the 1999 Official NWSPA Calendar as a promotional item.  This would be a 5 1/2 " x 7 1/2" four color calendar.   All interested pilots would donate one photograph for the calendar, which would detail major holidays, major flying holidays, such as the 21st Annual Easter Fly-in in 1999, and any charity flying events to be held in the year.  It would also detail NWSPA meeting dates and locations (Hogan's being the default location).

Aaron donated space on the Northwest Outdoors website for use as the NWSPA official website.  The website address is:

http://northwestoutdoors.com/nwspa/

Aaron will also try to initiate a listserve mailing list for posting message to pilots in a majordomo fashion, similar to nwpglide@kurious.org.

Fun Notes:

• Scott Johnson "threw his beef on the floor"
• Tom Heathman was elected "Guido, the Killer Pimp" for membership due collections
• Ken Goods was "3 seconds quicker than Ellen" for the first time EVER!   Ask Ken and Ellen Anderson for more details
• Hogan's Pub was voted the Official NWSPA meeting location

The meeting was adjourned with discussion of where to fly on Saturday.  Steptoe Butte in Washington was certainly on option.

For more information on the NWSPA, please send us an e-mail.

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20th Annual Easter Fly-in Write-up & Photographs

NWSPA
PO Box 563
Asotin, WA 99402
tomski@tds.net