Dear USPPA Members, It’s nomination time! As we approach the end of the current terms for our President and Vice President positions on December 31st, we invite you to nominate candidates. It has been an honor to serve as President for the last two years. During my tenure, our membership has seen a growth of nearly 50%. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to this wonderful achievement. Although I am open to serving another term as President, I strongly believe in the value of fresh perspectives and the energy they bring. This role requires a significant investment ..read more

An FAA rulemaking committee has proposed a regulatory framework to safely integrate drones that fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) into the current airpace. Their final report includes some recommendations that would place unsafe burdens and unfeasible requirements on the PPG community. This post contains all the information about what is happening, what you can do, and what the USPPA is doing to oppose these recommendations. Read more: BVLOS Rulemaking Statement What is the “final report”? The FAA’s UAS Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) issued a 381 ..read more

We’re pleased to inform all USPPA members that our Tandem Exemption from the FAA has been renewed. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted our petition to extend Exemption No. 9751F. The FAA has determined that the justification for the issuance of Exemption No. 9751F remains valid with respect to this exemption and is in the public interest. The USPPA is granted an exemption from 14 CFR § 103.1(a) to the extent necessary to allow USPPA members to operate two-place tandem powered paragliders for training purposes, subject to the conditions and limitations outlined in the letter ..read more

It’s back and better than before… One of the most valuable tools of the new USPPA website will be the Incident Database. We have over 430 incident reports dating back to 2006. There is a lot of information and data we can extract from each incident to help us learn and find ways to avoid similar incidents and be safer. What’s new with the database? The new format for the database and the incident forms will allow us to extract valuable information, visual graphs, charts, and more. With each new incident added to the new database, we will be able to extract key data. These key data points will ..read more

We’re excited to announce that new membership cards are in the works. For the time being, we are not sending out any membership cards because we’re redesigning them. The new cards will be plastic and of high quality. They will contain a unique URL and custom QR code that will allow your membership status and ratings to be displayed on any smartphone. To ensure you receive yours, please update your address in the menu under “Magazine” and then “Update your address for the magazine”. The cards will go to the same address we have for the magazine. Thank you ..read more

Becoming an Instructor It’s way more than just a rating. It’s valuable tips and techniques that will help make you more effective. You will learn the best practices to help your students quickly learn, survive, and thrive in this vulnerable time of their education. Over the years a lot has been learned about what works and what doesn’t. This clinic will improve your instruction by sharing that wealth of information along with earning your instructor rating for those who qualify. You’ll appreciate the course as much as your students will appreciate you having the knowledge. $900 –USPPA Powered ..read more

I was recently teaching a beginners course and some of the students had questions about injuries, specifically, what kind of injuries will “ground” you from flying. I thought it was a good question, and it got me thinking. In my 8 years of flying, I’ve only had a handful of times that I was “grounded” from flying due to injury or illness. I want to share some of them with you. Lower body injuries I think lower body injuries are most detrimental to foot launch pilots because our legs are landing gear, and if we can’t run, we can’t launch or land very well. I’ve been grounded before due to simpl ..read more

by Jeff Goin   Effective Nov 3, I will be resigning as USPPA president and turning the keys over to Noah Rasheta — an extremely competent pilot, instructor, family man, and all-around great human. Once I’ve resigned, he must be approved by the remaining three officers and then takes over immediately. I will remain in an advisory role, help with the website for a while, and offer any other help desired. Back Story In June 2019, after two tragic Boeing 737 Max accidents, a switch flipped in my head: we need a generational improvement in airline pilot distant learning. This is not unlike wha ..read more

Chad Bastian will be holding an instructor’s clinic at this year’s Endless Footdrag Sep 20 – 26, 2021. Event information is here. For more information, please visit here ..read more

USPPA members get a discount for attending Sun-N-Fun in Lakeland, FL for 2021 and beyond. To get the discount code, please send a request with your member number to theUSPPA@gmail.com and it will be emailed to the address we have on file. The Paradigm paramotor team will be performing on two evenings in the 2021 “night” show as they have in the past. Thanks, and enjoy the show ..read more