Bylaw Change for Intro Membership via FAST Flight

[Christian Robert]

A few questions to discuss:

1) Do we need to explicitly state that purchasing an SSA FAST certificate is the sole means to qualify for introductory membership?

2) Will we define standard tow as 3000 AGL or is it already defined somewhere?

3) Will the Intro Member have access to the scheduling tool or does instructor schedule on his/her behalf? If the former should we define the intro member's scheduling privilege here?

4) Do we accept only cash or checks for additional flights after FAST, or will the intro member be added to the club's billing system?

5) For sites like Morgan, where membership in Elk Mountain Soaring is required for tows, whose responsibility is it to ensure the intro member applies?

[Bret Hess]

All good questions.  

The first question deals directly with what will be in the bylaw.  Right now getting a FAST certificate is the only way to get 3 months of insurance coverage cheaply (the other way is to join the SSA for a full year).  We could make it more broad by referring to "candidates who purchase 3 months of insurance coverage", but this makes it vague and makes it harder to write the rest of the bylaw.  If another method of getting insurance appears, we can changed the bylaw.

Numbers 2-5 probably won't be addressed in the bylaw, but the board should discuss them and get a policy in writing.

2. FAST flights are defined to be 30 min (or more...).  I guess 3000 ft tows work out for the Grobs

3. The instructor would schedule the first flight.  For after that,we've discussed giving the Intro member the same privileges as a Limited member: 

Limited Member
Maximum two reservations at any time, 6 hrs total

Weekdays: Two-hour limit per day if scheduled up to 30 days in advance; 4 hr limit per day up to 24 hrs in advance.

Weekends: Two-hour limit per day. First reservation up to 5 days in advance. Second up to 24 hrs in advance.  

4.  If they want to continue, we would get intro members on the invoice system soon, but would need to allow at least checks in the meantime. 

5.  If the instructor is a member, is that sufficient for Elk Mountain?  The payments could go through the instructor.  Maybe Elk Mountain could grant one-day free membership for FAST participants.  

[Rex]

Bret,

Thank you for all of your work putting this together!  This should make the process much more streamlined and save everyone involved large amounts of time!

A few other points of possible discussion I have are

1) 3000’ total aero tow and 30 min total time? Or can it be two 1500’ tows for example? What if you catch good lift and have a multi hour flight and no one is on the schedule behind the FAST ride? Do they owe $75/hr for everything beyond the 30 min? For me personally I haven't done those flights as I don't want to clean out the glider. I stick to the 30 minute flight for the most part. 2) Can a FAST certificate apply to winch launching? If so is it good for one launch or more? If it is good for more than one, would be easiest/best to require them to redeem them all on the same day?  

3) If the intro member doesn’t fly any of the tow and the instructor has a membership in Elk Mountain, does the intro member still need to be a member of Elk Mountain to be in the glider while on tow?  This might be another option.

Again, thank you!

Rex

[Bret Hess]

On Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 9:46 AM Rex <rexs...@gmail.com> wrote:

Bret,

 

1) 3000’ total aero tow and 30 min total time? Or can it be two 1500’ tows for example? The board wants it not to cost more than a 3000 ft tow. Do they owe $75/hr for everything beyond the 30 min? Yes 2) Can a FAST certificate apply to winch launching? I think the board would say Yes. If so is it good for one launch or more? Probably for two. If it is good for more than one, would be easiest/best to require them to redeem them all on the same day? Yes, and the participant would need to stay in the glider for the 2nd one.  

3) If the intro member doesn’t fly any of the tow and the instructor has a membership in Elk Mountain, does the intro member still need to be a member of Elk Mountain to be in the glider while on tow?  If the intructor schedules and pays, Elk Mountain would even know, and I don't know why they would object. They'll have to tell us. 

[Rex]

Bret,

Sounds great!  Thank you for the clarification

Rex