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This meeting will be held at the Cottonwood Condominium clubhouse, 1900 E. 5150 S. Enter from Highland Drive (approximately 2000 E.) and go west. It is located on the south side of the street. Refreshments will be served. This is our annual meeting at which new officers will be elected and other club business will be discussed, and is therefore limited to club members only. Please make every effort to attend. If for some reason you are unable to attend, please send your proxy (for voting purposes) to one of the current officers, or to another club member. It is very important that sufficient member be present or have sent proxies so that we have a quorum. The two major items of business will be: 1. Nomination and election of new officers. It’s that time of year again, when we ask members to volunteer their time by serving on the Board of Utah Soaring Association. We need members to fill the following positions: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Safety/Operations Officer and Maintenance Officer. Please do your part in supporting the club by accepting the responsibility of one of these positions. CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR 1997 Nov 1, 10:00 am Glider disassembly, Heber airport FOR SALE 1-26 B, #191, Terra 720, Sage (dual scale), Cambridge with audio, oxygen, excellent built open trailer, many extras including new spare canopy, $8500. Contact Carl Redlin at 649- 6412. 1-26 E, basic instruments, oxygen, no radio, approx. 1300 TT, open trailer. $10,000. Can be seen at Cedar Valley Airport. Contact Larry Hansen at 752-2997. L-33 Blanik Solo, factory enclosed fiberglass trailer, many extras, only 40 minutes factory test flight time. Contact Steve Cristelli at 773-1293 or scristelli@aol.com THINK SOARING! An open letter to the Association from Fred Wright, Maintenance Officer: To Utah Soaring Association members: I don’t know about you, but I had some great times this season. I especially enjoyed my time in the 1-34 before its demise. I remember one evening floating at 12,500’ on that last soft bubble of lift above Deer Creek reservoir. The sun was setting over Deseret Peak in the Stansbury Mountains as I drifted down to the airport. It was the end of a perfect day. Over six hours of soaring which took me from the Pines to Mirror Lake; Jeremy Ranch to Current Creek reservoir and then into pucker country (f or me) across the North Fork of the Duschene towards Grandaddy Lake. At the end I’m returning from the west side of Timpanogos late in the day after watching the sunset. Descending from altitude in the evening the increasing darkness is comfortable and as I turn final the green and white rotating beacon comes on. I clear the runway and roll to a stop on the taxi-way, open the canopy and realize I am entirely alone. The airport is completely devoid of anyone or anything to break my mood. Pushing the 1-34 up the slight rise to the tiedown gets my blood moving again and I relish the quiet moments tying down the aircraft. The main reason I’m a member of the Utah Soaring Association is so that I can have such experiences and work towards having more. As an association member I am dependent on the contributions of both time and money (dues) of others. Serving as maintenance guy this past season provided me with a renewed view of what the club’s about and some questions about what the members’ perceptions of the club are. I think that many members think that the Utah Soaring Assn. is some sort of Hertz Glider Rentals; that by paying their dues members have the right to expect everything to be done for them. In mid-summer we had the Grob cleaned and waxed. The process was completed in the dark after the detail guy we hired spent ten and one half hours working on it. We tied it down and wiped off the last fingerprints in the green and white flashes of the rotating beacon. For some reason I thought the next person to fly the grob would tape it with the tape in our locker. The next time I got to Heber people began asking me when the Grob was going to be taped. I explained to several folks where to find the tape yet the Grob went untaped for several weeks until the tape disappeared from the locker. The same goes for filling the oxygen bottles and charging the batteries. Many seem to want others to do the work so they can fly with little inconvenience or contribution. I know, it’s the same old story. Several years ago we tried to create a series of committees to share the workload but due to our many of our members’ self-centered ways it didn’t last and the same few people ended up doing all the work, again. As members you are either part of the solution or part of the problem. If you pay your dues and don’t fly, great. Your money’s useful and you place no burden on the club. However if you pay your money and fly then you need to understand that you must make a contribution of effort to the club. You need to take the time to attend to the small things you notice. Tape the gliders, fill the oxygen bottles and charge the batteries as they need it. If you schedule flying time and decide not to show up be courteous enough to call and cancel your reservation. I think each member’s privilege to fly should be tied to a contribution of effort. No effort, no fly. We need to put some teeth into our requests so that we can weed out the flakes. Those who contribute should not be bothered by these statements but if you find yourself feeling angry perhaps you should look to your own efforts or lack thereof. Sincerely, Fred Wright |