At 04:36 12 December 2005, Jack Glendening wrote:
The forward-looking strategic planning of a powerless-flight
organization facing challenges similar to those of
sailplane
organizations makes for interesting reading for those
concerned with
the future of our sport - it can be downloaded from:

http://ozreport.com/docs/USHGASTRATEGICPLAN10.10.pdf

To identify critical issues for the USHGA future, they
hired a
consulting service to guide and keep them focussed,
went through
weekly meetings capped by a two-day intensive session,
and came up
with specific actions (including estimated costs in
money and time).

For those unfamiliar with the the USHGA, it has around
12,000 members
(about same as SSA) but with falling HangGlider membership,
til-now
partially compensated by a growing ParaGlider segment.
Like the SSA
they are volunteer-based and put out a magazine (80
pages vice the
SSA's 60) but also handle their sport's licensing requirements
and
monitor their launch/land sites.

Jack



Buried way back on page 58 of their 59-page document
they pretty well sum up their direction with the following
statement.

PG is replacing HG—HG was the king, the king is dead—long
live the king. PG & PPG will dominate the future of
USHGA & this may keep HG alive.

For the uninformed HG (Hangglider), PG (Paraglider)
and PPG (Powered Paraglider).
Having been a Charter member of USHGA I find it more
than sad that parachutes will now be leading USHGA.
What a great solution! I would rather see it close.