Hi All,

Although gone for a while, I've actually been here all along.

Hoping and wishing for the best this Christmas day, and for many good things this coming year.

Hoping and wishing the same for you Scott!!!

I believe 2016 will be a challenging time in our sport and we will need all the good people we can find.

Hello Scott!

And Happy New Year !

Thanks Bob and Sam!

I've recently been faced with a challenging local HG (and PG) issue involving a landowner demanding liability insurance - or flight activities must cease from their property (a Village park).

However NYS has a long standing Recreational Land Use (non-liability for owners) Law on the books. It even mentions hang gliding specifically - as well as about 10 other activities that regularly take place in this park (many acres of which are wooded and have trails winding through them). Oddly, no other group (that I know of) has been faced with a demand to provide liability insurance. A person could see this as a case of recreational sport class discrimination. (? ? ?)

In the coming new year, I will be working to set things straight. Might be easy, might be hard. But the new year definitely does hold challenges for the sport of hang gliding. The local issue could prove to be a good "test case" if things go that far.

No question that the NYS Recreational Land Use Law is really all that's necessary to protect the Village. But like so many other individuals or groups, they're ignorant of relevant and important laws that protect them. Time for them to wake up!

I think the same is true all around the country now that the USHPA is about to lose their long time commercially available liability insurance. Time to invoke the landowner protection afforded by similar laws in most states around the country!

One strategy you might try is to explain that, while the USHPA has provided limited liability coverage for years, the sport is now transitioning to the new state landholder protection laws that have no liability limit and offer superior protection without a formal contract. Provide a copy of the state code. Make sure he understands that you will be flying without invitation and that the club will continue to regulate flying and safety at the site. And don't forget to offer to help him with maintenance or whatever a few days out of the year just for the hell of it.

Scott, your pioneering work on the Village Park may well be key for the whole U.S. recreational hang gliding environment!
Merry Christmas season and Happy 2016
for you and yours,
Joe

Rick,

One thing I learned this summer is that the local government committee overseeing the local Village park "found out" that a Rochester HG/PG club (a USHPA Chapter - R.A.F.) was "charging" pilots to be able to fly from this Village park. This charge was simply for club dues, but it's also clear that this Rochester, NY HG/PG club claims to administer and have authority over every launch site listed on its web site (they hold USHPA Site Insurance at most of them). From personal knowledge, this club also has an attitude that IT is the sole authority over every site it "claims" - as if it owns them. In fact, it doesn't own a single one of these launch sites.

As to your many suggestions below, . . . spot on the money! Thanks.