L. Felipe Amunategui, Vice President, USHPA,
writes:

I greatly appreciate your acknowledgment of Tracy Tillman
regarding his leadership in the scooter tow proposal. I believe that Lisa
Coletti also deserves credit for helping put the proposal together. We need more
persons like them!


I do take issue with some of the statements you made in your acknowledgement.
While I recognize your right to make editorial comments, it is factually
incorrect to state that the Executive Committee was concerned about Steve
Wendt's compensation. As a member of said committee I never had such concern. I
am not aware of any other member of the EC having that concern either. I
strongly disagree with how you characterized the EC, but I recognize your right
to have a different opinion.


I do recall a shared interest of the EC to have a transparent process of funding
that avoided any appearance of impropriety, not that there has been any. It is a
prudent practice that is particularly relevant now in light of recent
developments in other organizations involved with soaring flight. Again, neither
myself nor any other member of the EC had concerns about Steve's compensation or
double dipping; we wanted an expedient decision within a process that was
thoughtful, transparent and accountable.


Also, the preference given to established instructors reflects an interest we
all share in reversing the downward trend in U.S. Hang Gliding pilot numbers.
The intent was to ensure that established instructors wishing to participate
would be assured to have access to the clinics. The issue of international
participants was not considered. If this makes the EC more imperfect than
provincial; there is always room for improvement. I applaud Rob Kells and Wills
Wings for bringing a global perspective to the issue and the resources to match.


At the time of proposal consideration it seemed consistent with the Strategic
Plan objective of growing the sport to give priority to established U.S.
instructors. In hindsight this may have been unnecessarily restrictive, and I
understand your disappointment and disagreement with that decision. Live and
learn.


In hindsight, again, it would have been better to have coordinated things
between the USHPA and Wills Wing. So when I say that I applaud Wills Wing for
their investment of money and resources, I mean just that. I did not intend to
comment nor alluded to the USHPA global vision or to compare resources between
USHPA and Wills Wing. I am just grateful and appreciative for their investment.


We need to get better at pooling resources and working collaboratively. There is
always room for improvement in this area. However, the net result of this
initiative is a positive one all around.


I understand your displeasure with some EC committee members on various issues,
but in the interest of accurate reporting, I wanted to clarify these points.


As always, thank you for the important service you provide to the Hang Gliding
and Paragliding community world wide.

More on this later.