TTT Board Meeting Notes 12/11/2010
Meeting called to order at 9:55 am Central Time.
Jeff Nibler acting as secretary.
Present:
Board Members: Steve Lee, James Anderson, Jeff Nibler, Kathy
Lee, Ollie Gregory, Michael Bradford, Barry Klein, Dan Shell,
Buddy Cutts,
Guests: Norman Neiderheiser, Dean Funk, Clell Logan,
Absent:
Ricker Goldsborough, Miller Stroud, Eric Donaldson, Kenny
Sandifer,
Old Business:
Whitwell LZ: Ollie states that the Henson Gap Southwest Site is
up for sale and some Arkansas Pilots are interested in buying
some land plots there (possibly working a deal out with our club
to purchase a launch). Ollie also states that there is a block
of land (40 acres on bottom on west side of the valley near
Pikeville) with 10 lots on top that may come up for sale. This
site faces SE. Dan states that he has not heard anything new on
the Whitwell LZ and is going to switch realty companies.
Henson LZ Hay. No new news.
RV/Trailer Placement. Jeff Nibler still working on this.
Map to come soon. Dan shell mentions one of the North spots Jeff
proposed is on an adjacent property. Dan also mentions to
encourage RV parking in the LZ and states that a condition of
the LZ trust is that we can add power to the LZ. Kathy Lee
mentions we should put power plugs toward the road up top so
people can plug in there. Michael Bradford mentions that he
walked the LZ to determine where RVs could park and said that
there would be quite a few spaces. Suggested water and power
could be added. Barry states we should investigate a small bath
house, water, and power in the LZ. Dan Shell mentions that we
should install one or two power poles in each place, as a start,
and go from there. Kathy Lee volunteers to call the electric
board to see how much it would cost to add power to the LZ.
Ballots: Received 14 mail-in and 36 online votes for a
total of 50. Buddy and James agreed to count.
Favorite Neighbor Gifts: 9 Neighbors to give this year. 9
will be given soap baskets that Ollie & Jackie created. Favorite
neighbors helps us demonstrate the club's appreciation to our
neighbors. Kathy, Steve and Dan will be distributing the gifts.
Gifts will be given to: Mrs Hudson, Mr Castle, Bashams, First
Baptist Church, Dunlap Rescue Squad, Mr Galloway, Dale
McCartney, Standifer, The family north of Whitwell LZ.
Tennessee Land Trust: We sent them a $500 check (Steve
Lee sent it this year).
New Business:
Kenny is investigating the SW facing Henson site and confirmed
that it is still for sale. Now that it is for sale, Jeff Nibler
will contact the land owner's realtor to find out if the seller
is willing to subdivide in order for us to get a launch. The
club plans to ask for an acre and ensure easement to the road.
If the acre doesn't provide access to the road, club will ask
for the minimum amount of acreage required to get from the bluff
to the existing road (for easement). Discussed improving the
launch there in order to make it safer. Dan Shell mentions that
the current seller/owner has sworn for 20 years that our club
would be the first to be offered this property if he ever sold
it.
TShirts. We have no shirts left. Steve says that the
Tshirt printer is ready to print more shirts as soon as we are
ready. The club has two different designs we can print. The
Board agrees to purchase 10 smalls, 20 mediums, 30 larges, 15
extra larges, 10 xxl. Dan Shell suggests we consider contacting
a different T-shirt company, for better quality shirts. Buddy
seconds the motion. Barry suggests we have speed sleeves
printed. Kathy Lee motions that we use Kip Stone to print
shirts. Ollie will contact Kip Stone about the shirts. Barry
Klein suggests we put Flytec logos on our speed sleeves so we
are promoting for free to keep Flytec happy. Ollie will contact
Steve Kroop to see if he'd be ok with it. Michael Bradford
suggests a TTT Team Challenge version of the speed sleeves with
Flytec logos on them as well. Michael Bradford suggests long
sleeve t-shirts. Dan Shell mentions that in the past, the long
sleeve shirts have sold fast. Board agrees to purchase 20 large
long sleeve and 10 long sleeve xl and 10 long sleeve mediums.
Budget $2000. Vote: If the above quantities of shirts result in
less than $2k, then we will move forward. 8 voted in favor, one
abstained.
Steve notes that the TTT has been in almost every issue of the
USHPA magazine. Ollie encourages more articles to be written for
Branches and the USHPA Mag by TTT Members to continue this
trend. Dean Funk suggests a PR Committee. Michael Bradford
suggests that Keith Atkins could head this committee. Ollie
volunteers to e-mail Keith Atkins about this. Dan mentions that
the Sequatchie Valley Chamber of commerce has new hang gliding
video that includes footage shot this year from Henson Gap.
The club received a postcard from Tyson Richmond wishing us
happy holidays.
Christmas party is 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central. We had 30 RSVPs for
the party and are expecting many last minute attendees. Steve
asks for a volunteer to greet at the door. Barry Klein
volunteers.
Committee Reports:
Treasurer:
$11,275.41 balance in checking account with all bills paid to
date.
CD: $57,185.92 as of 11/30.
Notes that 50% of checking account must be put into CD fund.
Ollie mentions we need to credit funds for maintenance projects
and T-shirts.
Discussion took place about which projects we should budget for
December. After much discussion, Jeff Nibler motions to replace
the old water heaters in the bath-house if it can be done for
under $1500, purchase t-shirts within $2000 budget, freeze proof
the plumbing in the clubhouse if it can be done for under $200,
and completely rebuild the deck on the clubhouse if it can be
done for under $1,000. Dan seconds the motion. Vote: Unanimous.
Web Committee:
Buddy Cutts reports the website is up and working properly.
Bylaws Committee:
Dan Shell reports no current issues or agendas.
Newsletter:
Nothing to report. People are reminded to please send in
articles.
Membership:
Ollie notes that this year's annual dues increase does not seem
to have had an affect on membership as the club currently has
141 members.
Ollie suggests adding a checkbox on the membership form for
ordering t-shirts.
Steve Lee suggests we reach out to the lifetime members to get
them to sign updated waivers. Jeff agrees to take care of this.
Safety Committee:
Accident report will be filed for C.K.'s crash.
Accident report will be filed for another pilot's crash (hereby
noted as "subject"). It was brought to the board's attention
that "subject" was a bandito (not a club member) at the time of
his accident and he has also been seen flying TTT sites several
times in 2011, while not having a membership. During the
completion of the accident report, the board attempted to obtain
"subject's" USHPA membership number and it was found that
"subject" does not have a current, valid USHPA membership.
"subject's" accident occurred when he flew too far back into the
gap on a borrowed glider, and was unable to make the LZ,
resulting in a crash into the trees. It was brought to the
board's attention that "subject" had a crash under the exact
same circumstances four years ago at Whitwell and was
reprimanded for his decision making at that time. Dan motions
that "subject's" site privileges be indefinitely banned and a
letter be sent to him explaining the reasoning before this. The
motion continues to state that "subject's" H-rating within the
club will be reduced to H1 until such time as "subject" stands
before the board and presents a case to the club showing clear
evidence of remedial training. At such time, the board will vote
to once again allow "subject's" membership, or leave the ban in
place. In addition, "subject" will be required to pay $100 for
his violation of TTT FRP for flying of site without being a
member. Jeff Nibler seconds the motion. Vote: Unanimous. Jeff
Nibler volunteers to send the letter to "subject".
IT Committee:
Discussion took place about whether we should consider board
members as "present" if they attend via teleconference. General
consensus was no. Michael states that he is waiting until summer
to setup the new clubhouse computer. Ollie and Michael both
mention they have some computer components that they can donated
to the club. Buddy asks the board if we should consider making
the meeting minutes available online only to club members.
Michael states that he has code to do this, but that it would
take time to get added to the site. Tom Primavera sent in a $100
donation to the club to be put toward web meeting access of the
board meetings, and if that wasn't going to happen, then he
wanted it to go to putting in a permanent restroom at Whitwell.
Michael suggests we update the website to include more
visibility for our donors.
Paragliding Committee:
Dean states that the paragliders have already obtained
permission to land at Castle's field and that we should discuss
this with them. Dean mentions that Whitwell is an H3 site and
that we possibly suggest that the paragliders make their site a
P3 or P4 site as well. Ollie states that we should consider
asking the paragliders about flying etiquette, for our own
education as to how best to share the air with them. Dean asks
how site insurance will work for Castles field? Most agreed that
our existing site insurance would cover paragliders as well.
Dean suggests we partner with the paragliders on things such as
DNLs and favorite neighbor gifts. Ollie suggests inviting the
paragliders to Mayhem to discuss these and other topics. James
suggests inviting PG and HG pilots from Arkansas to come and
discuss the secrets to their success with sharing the air.
Competition Committee:
Ollie mentions the club will not host weekend series, sprints,
or the Superman even in 2011 due to lack of interest and
participation in 2010. Ollie and Jeff will discuss creating a
year-long Online Competition website where members can enter the
flights from any day in the year, and the flights will not need
to be pre-declared or use TTT waypoints. It will work like most
any OLC site. Ollie mentions that the Team Challenge will be
modified slightly in 2011 to include a day or two of very long
open distance flights, if conditions allow. Jeff comments that
the TTT Online Contest website was not very well used this year.
Buddy mentions that he is willing to enter flights into the TTT
OLC for pilots who don't have a computer or don't want to take
the time to do it.
Awards:
Eric Donaldson will present awards this evening. This years
awards go to:
- Dave Hopkins: XC Flight of the year (rigid wing) for flying an
open distance flight of 74 miles.
- Trevor Childress: XC Flight of the year (flex wing) for flying
an open distance flight of 54 miles.
- Ollie Gregory: Triangle Site Record for rigid wing of 87
miles.
- Jeff Nibler: Triangle Site Record for flex wing of 67 miles.
Jeff Nibler mentions that the club has a long standing history
of awarding the XC Flight of the Year award exclusively to Open
Distance flights, and that was the precedent established over 30
years ago when glider performance was poor and pilots didn't
flew with GPS etc. Times have changed and suggests that the club
consider recognizing triangle and out and return tasks in
addition to open distance, for XC flight of the year. Jeff
proposes that we have a total of 8 awards each year, 4 for
flexwing, and 4 for rigid. The awards would be Furthest XC Open
Distance, Furthest XC Out & Return, and Furthest XC Triangle
flight. The last award would be for "XC Flight of the Year" and
this would always be granted to the pilot with the furthest
flight (of any kind of task), one for flex, one for rigid. Jeff
mentions that a triangle task is defined as any task that has at
least three legs, three waypoints, and includes two valley
crossings (or any flight that adheres to the FAI triangle
rules). Kathy Lee states that she doesn't believe we should have
any single "XC Flight of the Year" award at all, and that we
should not bother comparing open distance, out and return, and
triangles, and that we keep it to six awards only (three for
flex, three for rigid): Open distance, out and return, and
triangle. The board agrees. Jeff makes a motion to set
precedence for flight awards as follows:
Each year, six XC Flight Awards will be granted. The awards will
be:
1. Furthest XC Open Distance Flight. Defined as any flight with
a launch and a landing. Miles are scored by drawing a direct
line from point of launch to point of landing. (One award for
best flexwing flight, one award for best rigidwing flight).
2. Furthest XC Out and Return Flight. Defined as any flight with
at least three way points (start, turnaround, and finish). Start
must be a TTT launch site, and finish must be either the launch
site, or a designated LZ below the launch site. (One award for
best flexwing flight, one award for best rigidwing flight).
3. Furthest XC Triangle Flight. Defined as any flight with four
separate waypoints, at least one waypoint on the opposite side
of the valley from launch (must be within 1/4 mile of the ridge
bluff point), and the finish waypoint being the starting point
or a designated LZ below the starting point. Alternatively, any
flight that meets the specifications of an FAI triangle is valid
as well. (One award for best flexwing flight, one award for best
rigidwing flight).
Motion is seconded, voted: Unanimous.
Maintenance:
Steve Lee has shut the water off to keep the pipes from
freezing.
James Anderson mentions the Stove and Oven need to be wired up.
Social:
TTT Annual holiday party is tonight.
Misc:
Steve Lee mentions the safety box was missing two carabineers;
Steve purchased two new ones.
The rescue ladder below Rick Jacob's house needs to be replaced.
BOD Election Results 2011:
James Anderson
Michael Bradford
Buddy Cutts
Trevor Childress
Rob Dallas
Dean Funk
Clark Harlow
Rick Jacob
Barry Klein
Kathy Lee
Steve Lee
Jeff Nibler
Dan Shell
Miller Stroud
Ollie Gregory
Tree Topper of the Year Award: Jeff Nibler
Jeff Nibler motions to adjorn. Motion seconded. Meeting
adjourned at 1:49pm Central Time.
