Flyfunston

Fellow Feathers Club Meeting
Sept 12, 2006

In attendance September 12, 2006:

Steve
Rafie
Chris V.
Attila
Daniel Mizyrycki
Rubens

Treas. Report (I missed this, A.P., do you remember?)

Old Business

• Dan Murphy, Kurt Schmitz and counseling
o A minute of silence for Dan Murphy would be appropriate. It was.
o Thank you to everyone for coming together two weeks ago last Saturday. It was remarkable to see so many people from so long ago and from so many strains of flight.
o On a related note, I checked into the status of the emergency phone at the west end of the parking lot. Larry said it didn’t work the day of the shooting. I tried it too a week later and it also didn’t work. The GGNRA is going to replace the whole phone in about a month, and may replace the battery even sooner. Rafie saw someone working on the phone.
o Chris V. has a really good personal story about how counseling helped him through an ugly incident. Raffy commented how the “movie” of the shooting only plays for him 15 or 20 times a day. If anyone needs help, there is some available. Call Stephanie Eckhaus at SF General regarding the Federal Victims of Crime Program at (415) 206-4388. Everyone at the meeting is aware of this service. Some concerns were voiced about a couple of guys who are not taking advantage of this.
o I’d like to think about something to memorialize Dan. Let’s think of what would make good ideas: S.R. said that while Chuck K. plans on flying Dan's Stratus, we should allocate space for in the impound rack. (If that happens, we should start calling it Glider Heaven!)
 Apparently there were two plaques made for Woody and Eric DeRenier that are still in the possession of Mike Carlyle. We could get those from him and make a third for Dan, then install them in the bench in the setup area. Agreed that we should set the plaques somewhere on our own.
 What about naming the south launch after him, e.g. the Murphy Launch? Agreed. We could name it on the FF site guide.
 How about an annual contest or award? Maybe something indicating best glider control? How about naming the Funston air races after him? An annual fly-in sounds good. We could have spot landing contest or other fun tasks. Not on the anniversary of the shooting.
• Webcam update
o See separate email. It’s up and running and will be installed when we get DSL in the clubhouse (this weekend). Thanks Daniel!
o Re: Camera housing; CV to look into the humidity issue.
• People standing on launch
o Discussion per the forum. Personally I think having a laminated set of rules in the box would do wonders if we need it. Since it seems like only one or two people a year give us a headache, and since pilots are constantly flying low on to launch, a sign seems a little too much/dangerous. Rafie volunteered to be "Keeper of the Display Case" and will buy a new lock for it. We will post rules in it and while other pilots are free to post things, they should go through the board member in charge. We also talked about one spectator in particular who has objected to our request to clear launch on more than one occasion. He is very militant on this issue and concerns for safety were expressed in light of the recent violence. We agreed that having the rules posted somewhere would help support our request, and that asking calmly would help, and calling police/rangers would be used as a last resort to avoid conflict. It is understood that the rules prohibit us from launching when spectators are in the area, but no rule prohibits spectators from being in the area. We just can't launch.
• Incorporation
o What’s the status, Brian? Brian not in attendance.
• BBQ Sept 30
o Is this still happening? I think it should. Let’s get the word out. Still happening. Rafie wants to BBQ in or near the set up area. (in light of fire hazard and also proximity to gliders, I suggest we set up the BBQ on the paved wash down area by the drinking fountain.)
• Glider Auction
o Chris, please post a reminder on Sept 23 to FlightPlans and the other boards. It’s already a sticky at the top of the Forum list, and I’ll add it to the top of flyfunston.org. C.V. to re-post one week prior to event. (Chris, please mention the BBQ too!)
• Art’s suspension debrief
o Perhaps Steve can give a brief rundown of what agreement we came to with Art. S.R. gave a summary of the meeting and added how difficult it was to justify applying rules to one person and not others. Someone mentioned it was like a group of cars going down the freeway doing 70 in a 65, then someone goes by doing 90.
• Go to the USHPA dinner! It’ll be lots of fun.

New Business

-C.V. requested a list of sticker holders to compare with the club house slots. S.R. will get list that A.P. started and add the rest of the names.

-We all agreed that wording should be added to the Clubhouse Rules that mentioned that "the clubhouse spaces are for active pilots who fly the fort at least 6 times per year." This mention would not be created to start a vendetta but just to give more awareness to those storing their gliders in the clubhouse and give the clubhouse manager some leverage to create room for active pilots.

-Rubens just moved back into the area asked if there was room in the clubhouse for his glider. Mention was made about some people who have two spaces for one glider, and all in attendance agreed that this seemed unfair. S.R. mentioned that this practice is no longer allowed but those with two spaces prior to the ruling were grandfathered in. All agreed that even so, we should have a kind word with these guys and see if they wouldn't give up one spot. The returning pilot said he was friends with one of the two-space holders but would wait a while to broach the subject since the guy just got a brand new glider and is very protective of it.

-C.V. said Dr. D called him and apologized for putting his glider in the clubhouse without asking. The glider has been removed.

-C.V. reported that Tom Jensen refurbished and donated a set of 6 lockers for the clubhouse. 5 lockers are available. Thanks Tom!

- S.R. reviewed last months minutes and was not sure if we voted on the proposed changes to the tandem rules. Vote taken on changes that would apply a suspension to all flying privileges, not just tandem flying, and that the FF tandem rules be incorporated into main body of FF rules. All in favor- 6, all opposed-0.

- Concerns expressed about a near-miss that happened when one pilot overshot top landing as another pilot was flying though the launch window. S.R. proposed that a special alert be made on various forums. (perhaps we can even put a cover sheet on the 07' rules pointing out the need to not only watch the LZ for spectators but also for oncoming gliders that might be hidden below the cliff.)