Hi Alan,

I meet your qualifications and would be interested in a long shot on something.

Tom

Thanks Bille for the suggestion about the “GOAT.” I’m very interested if you could help put me in contact with Floyd. Text me at nine five one five zero five twentyfive fifty.

Tom

https://jivaro-models.org/bug_glider/bug_4_m.jpg

I regretfully resign from my current position as CSS Safety Officer and must remove my name from the nomination list. Last year I suffered a significant tear to the rotator cuff of my right arm. The first orthopedic surgeon I consulted did not think it was repairable and referred me to a sports medicine specialist. This surgeon was confident he could repair it but warned me of a higher than normal failure rate. I underwent surgery last October and have since been in physical therapy. I still lack the strength and flexibility to perform many normal activities.  Hang gliding is utterly impossible. Of course this is enormously disappointing, especially as one who has spent both a career and a hobby of flight. This is a very frustrating period for me forcing me to reconsider priorities and personal choices. Luckily I’ve been involved in building a light-sport aircraft which is nearly complete. So although it does mean sitting behind a noisy fan, I will still be able to enjoy the view from above.

CSS deserves a Safety Officer who is active and involved. A commitment which I cannot fulfill. I know there are pilots in our club who could serve well in this capacity and I encourage you to come forward.

Lastly, I want to commend the service of the current board of directors. I was not privy to many of the politics within our club but found each of the members to be thoughtful, considerate and always thinking of the clubs best interest. They did not deserve much of the criticism leveled upon them from ill-informed forum posts. They served you quite well!

Sincerely

Tom Evans

Very cool! Congratulations!!

I’ve no doubt all parties are interested in keeping Andy Jackson an exceptional free flight site for the indefinite future, but manipulating the vote to accomplish an agenda sought by a few is simply wrong. It makes no sense having four voting options. Each option can of course be “negotiated” so there’s no reason to have four – there should be just two. But such as it is, make sure you read Jeff Bether’s post and voting recommendation.

It seems obvious giving up the water and therefore the grass for artificial turf is an expensive and risky option. If it fails we’ll never get water again. Those who have the most to lose are the PG pilots. It won’t be nice, but hang pilots can deal with rocks, thorns and thistles, but those things will be pretty hard on the lines and canopy of PG’s. In reality though, we’ll all lose because we simply need each other to keep the future of AJX alive.

It was suggested by someone in a separate communication that my military background and work as a professional pilot is a strong negative to the free flight community because of their strict regulatory nature. I can certainly understand this concern because one reason I love hang gliding is the freedom from the long list of regulations I so long had to endure! I do not believe we need more regulation in our sport, what we need are pilots with good judgment. To create that we must start with good training; then provide honest and thorough communication of accident trends and potential dangers; and then lastly, encourage a culture of safety by example. The end goal is simply to help pilots make their own wise decisions for their own safety and that of others.

I was also asked what I teach. I teach specialized aviation courses at a charter school for high school students desiring a career in aviation. This includes ground and flight instruction in simulators as well as building an RV-12 kit plane. If you care for more information on this please visit the below link:

https://www.sjva.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=3432202&type=d&pREC_ID=2386609

Sincerely,

Tom Evans

Questions requiring explanations on weather usually require a PhD to fully understand and even then their only right 4 out of 5 times. Santa Anna’s are weird. I was flying a fixed wing aircraft low level off the coast one Santa Anna day and saw a narrow band of strong white caps on the water flowing from the shoreline to the South East. I flew through it and got a strong buffet and definite drift to the SE. It was like a river of wind flowing through our low level atmosphere.

Another time I was crossing over Santiago Peak on a Santa Anna Day in relatively smooth conditions when all of a sudden I got whacked so hard my head hit the ceiling. I was sure I’d find popped rivets when I landed, but none were found as the C185 held it’s own.

Another time I was riding my bicycle to work on a beautiful calm day south of Hemet. One mile into my ride I suddenly encountered 40 mph north winds. I turned back home to a calm homestead and got in my truck. Weird.

Sometimes weather questions have an answer. Like maybe 4 out of 5 times, but that 1 in 5 is tough.

I also saw the downed PG pilot below BB and above the cistern. I circled a few times and could see him moving around and thought he must be okay, but decided it would be prudent to land and report the situation. No one in the LZ seemed overly concerned or felt the need to take action. One PG pilot radioed Marcello and told him of the situation. I later saw Gene in his UTV and told him and he replied there was not much we could do as the roads to that point were all locked and the pilot would have to walk out to a point they could pick him up.

I didn’t have a radio to hear communications from the downed pilot, but it seems an oversight for whoever did have communications with the pilot to not relay that information to the folks in the LZ. Maybe we need a club radio in the LZ with a speaker?

It would have been a bush-wacking walk for the downed pilot for maybe a half mile, but then he would have made it to good roads and an easy down hill hike to a point he could get a ride. Seems like he erred in trying to retrieve his gear rather than start walking right away while good daylight was available. Aerial rescues don’t do much for our reputation.