- 2019 Gate code for Laguna and Palomar gates is: XXXX
All Gate Codes are available in the Member Only Section
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Palomar has been reopened for Weekend flying starting 4-27-19.
However, there are new Protocols worked out with the Pala Roberts Ranch for checking in and out with Tribal Security and a few other protocol updates. Make SURE you read this! Many of us who fly the San Diego area could use a weather station at "The Cap". The Cap sticks up higher into the airflow than launch at Blossom, and a weather station there would help us make better calls on XC days as well as safety calls on those North-y days. Here's what you can do to help make an El Cap Weather Station a reality...
** New for 2019 ** Follow the SDHGPA - Announcements Telegram Channel for updates and information broadcasts: New News Articles, Fly-ins, Meetings, TFRs and other important updates and reminders from SDHGPA.
Join the New SDHGPA Telegram Flight Planning Group to find out who is flying where.
SDHGPA Annual 2019 Membership Renewal is open for the 2019 Calendar Year! Now is the Time to renew as All 2018 memberships expire on Dec 31st.
All Gate Codes are available in the Member Only Section
Reminder: All 2018 Annual (calendar year) memberships expire on Dec 31st. For 2019 Site & Gate access: Join or Renew SDHGPA Membership if you have not already done so for the 2019 calendar year.
Plus you get all the other great SDHGPA membership benefits:
You can check Current Membership Status under the Membership menu.
SDHGPA will be hosting the
USHPA 2018 Film Festival November 17th!
The San Diego Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association presents the 2018 USHPA Free Flight Film Festival, featuring five new films showcasing hang gliding, paragliding, and adventure travel in the US. The two-hour showing will be held at on November 17th at The Palomar Main LZ starting at 5:30pm with Fly-in & BBQ before. The amazing visuals and compelling stories are sure to appeal to all audiences – pilots and non-pilots alike.
“The USHPA Free Flight Film Festival showcases the best hang gliding and paragliding has to offer, from imagery captured utilizing a Cineflex camera stabilization system mounted to a helicopter, to a first-person GoPro masterpiece shot by professional pilots,” said Martin Palmaz, Executive Director of USHPA. “This festival highlights the heart of hang gliding and paragliding, from projects working with communities, to flying and camping over vast mountain ranges, to aerobatics, to a lone falconer and his pursuit of the perfect flight. There is something for everyone.”
Films included in the 2018 Film Festival showing:
Hang gliding and paragliding are a combination of adventure sport and aviation. Pilots fly light and non-motorized foot-launch aircraft both recreationally and competitively. Hang gliding pilots hang prone in a harness, suspended from the airframe, and exercise control by shifting their body weight. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminum alloy frame covered with synthetic sailcloth to form a wing. Paragliding pilots fly lightweight aircraft that have no rigid primary structure and resemble elliptical parachutes. The pilot sits in a harness suspended below a fabric wing that is comprised of a large number of interconnected baffled cells. Hang gliders and paragliders can travel hundreds of miles on rising columns of air, called thermals, soar for hours in the wind pushed upward by coastal terrain, or simply fly down from a mountain in calm, still, air.
Event & Site Location : Palomar Main LZ
(SDHGPA Palomar Main LZ - Roberts Ranch, 15482 CA-76, Pauma Valley, CA 92061) (map) When: Rough Schedule 9:00am - Start Meeting in Main LZ for BBQ set-up and dropping off supplies. 10:30 - 3pm Carpooling to launch: Many will be coming out later in the day. Please try to wait for others and carpool up to launch from the LZ to minimize number of cars on launch. We expect it to be flyable until dusk. See forecast to be updated below. 11:30 - Peak Heating BBQ will start as people start to land. 4:46 - Sunset ~5:00 November General Club Meeting 5:30 ~ Film Festival Start
For detailed Site info, see the Palomar Site Guide
If you haven't flown Palomar before or checked out the site guide this month for updates, please read the site guide prior to arrival. It may save you from landing in a burial ground or from wandering into rotor, or it may even help make your flight epic!
Cost:
Free to SDHGPA Members & $5/ non flying guest BBQ donation is appreciated SDHGPA Membership is required to participate in the Fly-in at Palomar and covers the BBQ. Any new (late) Annual Memberships joining for the Fly-in will be rolled over into a 2019 Annual Membership as an added bonus. (Full Annual Membership, or Visiting Pilot membership is valid for this event. For non flying guests, a $5/ person BBQ donation is appreciated) Note that all Cars must have a parking pass in the LZ & Launch (& no parking out on the road). Please take care of Memberships and print parking passes before driving out if not current. All memberships are on line and easier with a strong connection. . . To Check Current Membership Status
Please RSVP
RSVP Responses
ABOUT USHPA
The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (USHPA) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to support sport flying in foot-launchable, unpowered soaring aircraft. USHPA develops, standardizes, and administers programs that foster and promote practices for safe flying. USHPA maintains a working relationship with the FAA and other regulatory organizations to ensure continued access to airspace. The organization also maintains relationships with public and private entities to promote the procurement and maintenance of flying sites. USHPA is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. For more information on hang gliding and paragliding, go to www.ushpa.org.
ABOUT SDHGPA
The San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (SDHGPA) is a hang gliding and paragliding club dedicated to the promotion and preservation of foot launched soaring (non motorized "free flight") in San Diego County. SDHGPA is a local chapter of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, USHPA. We work collaboratively with land owners and governing agencies at the local level to keep our primary flying sites open by maintaining, insuring, purchasing, regulating, and monitoring our launch sites and landing zones. Our guiding principle is that all foot launched pilots of hang gliders and paragliders alike share common goals and interests best served by a united effort to promote flying safety, education, and good community relations in San Diego County. We support hang gliding and paragliding at the national level through the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (USHPA) and concurrent membership in that organization is the one and only club membership requirement.
History: The SDHGPA is the Oldest and Longest Running Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club and Organization in San Diego and Southern California originally organized in 1973.
For detailed Club History and History of motor-less Free Flight in San Diego that goes back to the 1930's, See: SDHGPA and San Diego Free Flight History. Palomar de Halloween ICARNAVAL :
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Contest of costumed hang glider and paraglider pilots: exciting, hilarious, original, fantastically creative and daring… ***
Other Contests:
- Spot Landing - Bomb Drop - Time Aloft - Fastest Sled
*** Costumes must not restrict vision and or flying in any manor nor unnecessarily impede running. Masks will not be permitted during takeoff or flight.
Site: Palomar
Where: Palomar Main LZ SDHGPA Palomar Main LZ - Roberts Ranch, 15482 CA-76, Pauma Valley, CA 92061 map
When: Meeting in Main LZ around 11 for set-up and dropping off supplies. We'll start driving to launch around 12:00. The late afternoon flights have also been fantastic, and many pilots will be showing up later in the day.
Rough Time Table:
12:00 - General Meeting Time & Set-up in LZ 1:00 - Drive to launch 1:30 - Site intros on Main Launch 1 - 5:30 - Launching ~4:30 BBQ Set-up & Start Cooking ~ 5pm - BBQ starts ~7:00 - Contest Awards Ceremony |
2017 Costume Award Winners:
Grand Prize: Kim Fyi-UN Missile Test Launch: Kim McJong-un Most Daring: Tigger 80s Crop Top gone bad: Ira Hayes Most Original: Fake News Newsy: Moises Bada Scariest / disturbingly creepy: Tux Morph - Aaron Price Most Creative: Speed Racer & the Mach 5 : Steve Rohrbaugh |
Any new (late) Annual Memberships joining for the Fly-in (after October 20th), will be rolled over into a 2019 Annual Membership as an added bonus treat. Late membership Roll-over normally starts in November.
(Full Annual Membership, or Visiting Pilot membership is valid for this event. For non flying guests, a $5/ person BBQ donation is appreciated)
Please take care of Memberships and print parking passes before driving out if not current.
All memberships are on line and easier with a strong connection. . .
To Check Current Membership Status
Weekend Mountain Flying Forecast
On Saturday SDHGPA is putting on a fly-in and BBQ at Palomar. The flying conditions look pretty good. It will be sunny and quite warm. Wind will be West at 8 mph. Lift at 400 fpm will get over 6,000'. With those thermals there should be nice cycles for hang glider pilots to take off. Sunday will have some clouds. At Laguna it looks like it will be light East, 6 mph, all day. Lift at 400 fpm will get to 8,000'. At Horse wind will be 9 mph from the West. Lift will get to 7,000'. Bill H. |
Current Conditions on Launch
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Year in Review It’s been a rad year of learning for me. I spent most of this last year flying Blossom with the intent to build my basic XC skills of thermal flying and mini-XC legs over to the Cap & back. The good news is that Blossom is still as technical and and fun and challenging/dangerous as it ever was, the better news is that I’m still in one piece to be able to enjoy it thanks to a bit of luck and a lot of guidance from the local pilot community. |
Speaking of launches and sites, the big news right now (end of October) is the fight to keep Blossom free of the massive El Monte Valley Sand Mine project. If you’d like to help (and you bloody well should pitch in on this one), cruise over to the Google doc Will you pitch in to help maintain this beauty? This view may be forever changed if the proposed sand mine goes in, with impacts ranging from lowered visibility, Valley Fever exposure (no joke, I have several friends who got this NON-CURABLE disease), environmental damage, and up to 170 trucks per day on that tiny little road snaking through the middle of the valley. Here's what you can do to help. Yes, it involves reading & writing. You can do this! Hit the link above and send in a written statement to the listed contacts prior to the Oct 25th meeting and submit it to the county planning commission. | |
Finally, if you’re new and thinking about joining SDHGPA, please do!
At $40 per year for a full annual membership, this is about the most valuable spend you’ll make this year. Ping us with any questions, and see ya in the sky!
Nik Hawks
SDHGPA
The San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
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