In San Diego, the situation for impacted hospitals and service workers is just starting to ramp up and we can expect hospitals to be triaging similar to what was experienced in Colorado this past weekend.

There was an incident in Colorado this past weekend where a snowboarder ended up with a broken clavicle (collarbone) and at the ER, he was turned away from treatment at triage with the explanation that collarbone surgery is elective. They were an impacted hospital and not doing any elective procedures . . . that are not life-threatening. At Tiger (WA Site), there were also two separate incidents requiring ER and hospitalization in an impacted area this past week. 

Hoping we get through this and back in the air without complex social health concerns.

Regards and Safe Flights!

Steve Rohrbaugh  (SDHGPA President) and the SDHGPA Board

Horse Road Rain and Fire Closures:
The road up to the launch at Horse Canyon, Sheephead Mountain Road  (15S18), may closed before and after periods of heavy rain or severe fire danger. If that is the case, the gate just past the postage stamp lz will be locked.

The reason if and when the Gate is locked for rain, is that the road is wet and they don't want vehicles tearing up the road. The plan is typically that closures would be for just a few days until the dirt dries out a bit. With periods of heavy or extended rain this it will likely be a few more days. 

Border Patrol activity during an active pursuit might other reason that the Gate could be locked. In this case, closure would be for a very short term and not show up in the following tables.

The road to Horse is the Sheephead Mountain Road  (15S18).
When the road is open it will not appear on the table. I have been told that the table is updated right away whenever there is change to a road status. So you can check each morning to see if a road is closed or not.

Big Black Road Rain and Fire Closures:
Also on the table is the Black Mountain Road (11S04), the road we use to get to Big Black. Road closure due to wet ground is rare at Horse, and more common at Big Black. A few years ago when there was an unusually wet winter the road to Big Black was periodically closed throughout the rainy season. It was closed just after a rain when it was wet and the wind was West. Then it would be open for a few days when a Santa Ana wind dried things out. Such is life.

This past Sunday (January 12th, 2020) we got the year off to a fine start with another Holfuy weather station installation, this time at Little Black.  After about a year and half of working with the park rangers there (well done Jeff Brown!) we agreed on a spot, set up a date, and rallied the troops.

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 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