Hang Gliding and Paragliding Volume 44 / Issue 1: January 2014 | Page 5

programs have been added which help protect the pilot and instructor communities as well as
securing sites that are constantly under threat.
We've come a long way from our initial days of ground skimming. We are dedicating this
year to revisiting our roots, understanding our accomplishments and challenges, and sharing our vision and goals for the future. In addition to these articles, we are creating a history
archive. Capturing the history of free-flight is an immense undertaking and will be a crowdsourced endeavor. A repository for digital submissions will be created soon to collect items
relevant to the national, regional or local level. We encourage each chapter to begin recording
interviews, digitizing films and scanning historical documents that you think are historically
valuable. Before we lose our link to history from the pilots who witnessed it firsthand, please
help us capture it with the pilots in your own community. Details on how to submit your materials will be published when the program is released.
This 40-year XC flight has been incredible and it isn’t over yet. The tales of our journey will
continue to unfold in the coming years. When we better understand our origins we will also be
more prepared to achieve our future goals.
We regularly face new obstacles that threaten sustainable access to free-flight, such as
Unmanned Aerial Systems and the loss of launch sites. Your expertise is needed in keeping
free-flight a viable aviation alternative for the future. Please consider volunteering and helping
us protect the next 40 years in the sky, for you and us and all those to come.
- Martin Palmaz, Executive Director
USHPA# 40148: H-1, P-4