March 1, 2003

A Message from your President
  by Mike Miller

Hello, I am your new president.
I, like the rest of the executive, am a paraglider pilot.

I have 13 years experience flying, the last five I have been an instructor and tandem pilot working in Whistler, Vernon, Cochrane and Mexico.

The reason I am president is not through an overwhelming desire to control, but to give something back to the community I’ve belonged to for so long and, no one else put up their hand at the AGM.

Do I have ideas about what the BCHPA should be? Yes.

I think our mission statement of:

a. The primary purpose of the association shall be to promote fun, improve safety and to provide leadership in developing educational opportunities for its members.

b. To promote a positive public image for the sport.

reflects what I’d like to see us do.

I’d like to see BCHPA start to promote basic flying to the public more. There is no reason why we have so little coverage and understanding by the media and public.

The first question we all have to deal with from J. Public (about paragliding) is: "Isn’t that pulled behind a boat?" Followed by: " Isn’t that dangerous?"

That is the perceived image. But what do we want it to be through public relations?

The reality says one in 46 (Safety Officer stat.) of us will incur an injury.

This seems high, but mountain biking must come close (at least in Whistler), driving in the US gives one in 22 people having an accident (139M drivers and 6.36M accidents).

To answer the latter question, "Yes, it is dangerous," to be followed by, "it is as dangerous as you are! If you are a risk taker you will increase the chance of an accident."

We pilots should take responsibility and encourage safety through promotion of knowledge and invite thought on situations and conditions. Like Diemos Paraglidings’ promotion of HAGAR skills clinic.

Instructors can minimise chances and severity of injuries by having an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for all of their sites (like Alpine Airsports has). Risk management can also be encouraged through weather knowledge and ‘Old pilot’ information (Fly By Kite Paragliding brought all the Yahoos in Pemberton Valley into HPAC last year).

To return to BCHPA involvement and the mission statement: for safety, creating an EAP form is a start. Reviewing the information through our safety officer and having some inspections or even trading instructors could be beneficial to all schools.

I want to promote new sites through the $250 new site fund. We are lucky that all our regions have representatives and they can start to suggest how these monies can be applied in their areas.

In the promotion department we have this new e-zine, Cloudstreet. We also have great stunts like Fly B.C.’s indoor flight at GM Place.

Creating a list of media contacts should be on our agenda, as should a damage control program for accidents that make it into the media, such as WCSC has.

I’d also like to put some thought into a standard, mass advertising pamphlet sponsored by either BCHPA or HPAC that could go to every school and then be stamped by them.

Then there is the fact that there is no one teaching Hang Gliding in this province. How can we promote a return of this sport?

Other questions I see we will need to address are: should we encompass PPG: Should we promote more standards and conditions for student flying conditions: Can we continue to use and modify crown land: And, what can we do about the insurance situation for the next year?

The flying season is ready to start anytime now. Once HPAC has manuveured the insurance companies to our benefit, I hope that we can realise some of these proposals. I also hope that each one of us realises our personal flying goals for the coming season.

Take care and Take off
Mike Miller