So you found the SDHGPA weather station on El Cajon mountain, eh?  Maybe you hiked out there and saw the QR code link on the mast.  Maybe you heard about it from a fellow paraglider or hang glider pilot.  Perhaps you’re a supporter of the San Diego River Park Foundation, or a biologist over at the US Forest Service.  However you found it, there’s a pretty rad story behind how it got there, who the players were, and just how much collaborated effort and expense we went to in order to plant that mast and gather weather data.

Like any good story, this one starts in a few different places.

Here are Nik's notes:

This month's meeting was generously hosted at SportRx, just east of PB.  We had a strong turnout, with 40+ pilots showing up including a bunch of pilots from Torrey.  Thanks to everyone who showed up and mowed down the pizza!  

Robert Michiels attempted a livestream of the meeting on his YouTube channel, and while he wasn't psyched on the results (in fact, I think he's deleted the 2nd half of the meeting from his channel) it was a step in the right direction.  Live-streaming is an often requested action item for those of us who can't make the physical meetings. If YOU are a tech-geek who wants to commit to attending the meetings and live-streaming 'em, please let me (Nik) know so we can do this.


Presentations:
6:30 - 6:45
-Thanks to SportRx, quick explanation of what they do:  Offer a TON of sunglasses that they can make prescription.  They're offering a 15% discount to any pilot who showed up at the meeting, contact Nik for how to get that.

-Try ’n Fly day with SportRx, location TBA (though probably at Torrey since that's the easiest for most pilots to get to and fly/land safely.)

6:45-7:00
News Items (see below)

7:00—7:30
Phil Russman, Voice of Darkness - Flight Safety
Steve Rohrbaugh & Ryan Bloum,  accident reports

7:30-8:00
Phil Russman, Team Flying
  - How To
  - Commitment
  - Team Building

News Items
- Kinetik has offered up their space for us to do a Mon or Thurs reserve repack 7-9 pm, we've got to coordinate someone who'll run it (Betty?) and then set a date.

-Any interest in starting up a stolen gear telegram thread national and international?  This met with lukewarm feedback, probably not worth it.

-Blog post, spots to kite in San Diego
    -Torrey
    -Mission Bay
    -near Little Black 
    -ball fields at the western terminus of the 8
    -where else can you kite in San Diego?  Let's build a map and post it on the SDHGPA site!

-Blossom updates
    -fire hazard/BBQ concerns to fire hazards (neighbors are complaining on the NextDoor app, one of them came up and talked to pilots on launch. Robert M got the neighbor psyched on flying, BUT others are still unconvinced.  It seem as if other groups of Off-roaders have been seen partying and BBQing up on the hill creating this valid concern. )
    -parking issue on the road (neighbors are complaining that it is hazardous to have so many cars parked on the road.  No solution offered.)
    -RC pilots invited to meeting, and while I didn't see 'em (maybe they came and I didn't realize it) I think involving RC pilots and inviting them to our meetings is a step in the "build a strong flying community" direction.

-El Cap weather station    
    -Bill Kimball’s proposed position has been accepted.  We still need to hike out there to figure out how we're going to anchor it, AND we're waiting to hear from wildlife agencies re. golden eagles, they’ll give us a 20 min presentation on it Nov 21st
    -Dave Metzgar’s advice for climbing up at the Cap:  Stay out front to avoid a North vs staying in tight to cliff.

-Palomar is still a tender site.  You MUST check in and check out, they keep track of this pretty rigorously in order to make sure pilots have landed safely and are off the property. All other Palomar Site Protocols must be followed regardless of the launch used to keep all landowners happy and the site open for all to enjoy.

-SDHGPA member Sofia Puerta Webber wanted to make sure you guys know about her tour down to Columbia with Kari Castle.  Reach out to Sofia if you're game to head south and LEARN!


Ideas if we have time:

-opening up new sites…check with landowners first, be ready to hike a TON, the "best" sites are the ones we already fly.

-what does membership mean?  Why join?  What does USHPA & SDHGPA get you? For a listing, see : SDHGPA Benefits 

-why carry a radio?  What should you get?  What should you know how to do?

Pilots of San Diego, rejoice!  Restrictions on flying Palomar have been lifted, you may now go back to using the Main LZ, launch, etc. 

​However, we still need to follow all of the Site Protocols including Checking-in and Checking-out at the Start and End of every day. Refer to the Palomar site guide for the most updated guidance.

See ya in the sky (and thanks to Steve R for doing the legwork on this!)

-Nik

Palomar has been reopened for Weekday flying starting 7-16-19.

However, there are new Protocols worked out with the Pala Roberts Ranch for checking in and out with the Ranch office and Tribal Security along with a few other protocol updates. 

Make SURE all Pilots read the full updated Palomar site guide!
​

SDHGPA board members voted on the issue of making our minimum visitor/short term dues as a month duration instead of just a week.