Advocacy
USHPA regularly interfaces with agencies and organizations to protect and promote free flight.
USHPA helps counter the threat of drones, works with federal land management agencies and partners to protect and expand access to federal land, lobbies for legislation such as tariff relief on glider imports, supports chapters with local challenges, maintains exemptions with the FAA, and much more.
FAA
- FAA tandem exemption: Every two years, USHPA renews its exemption with the FAA to allow certified members to continue flying tandem. This responsibility involves handling unexpected circumstances, such as when the FAA unexpectedly disallowed recreational tandems when renewing USHPA’s tandem exemption in 2018, temporarily prohibiting Tandem 1-rated pilots from flying with H1/P1 pilots and above. USHPA worked to revise the exemption language and keep it progressing through the FAA, resulting in the reauthorization of T1 training flights (with T1 pilots newly classified as Tandem Instructors-in-Training) on July 17, 2019. USHPA also created a brief informational webpage for tandem students to fulfill the FAA’s new requirement that flight students be provided access to FAA training materials.
- FAA towing exemption: USHPA also maintains a towing exemption with the FAA.
- FAA sectionals: USHPA helps coordinate site information (through chapter renewals) for updating FAA sectionals.
Drones
- B4UFLY app: In 2019, USHPA began working with the FAA to include information about free-flight sites in the new UAS (drone) informational app, B4UFLY. Although site information is still pending, the free app lets users check airspace over different locations and includes information on temporary flight restrictions, and is a great resource for hang glider and paraglider pilots as well as drone operators.
- UAS Symposium: USHPA Executive Director Martin Palmaz regularly attends the FAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Symposium. Most recently, at the June 2019 event, he spoke with FAA officials and offered tips for drone pilots flying near hang gliders and paragliders.
- Read more on the topic of drones.
Tariffs
- Tariff relief bill: Executive Director Martin Palmaz worked with paraglider importers and a DC lobbying firm to prepare a Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) to remove the 3% tariff on paraglider imports (there are no tariffs on hang glider imports). The bill was submitted on November 12, 2019. Over the next 12 months, it must pass through a public comment period, Secretary of Commerce, U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), and the Senate Finance and House Way & Means Committees before being presented to congress at the end of 2020 for a vote. If passed by congress, the MTB would be effective from 2021-2023 and could represent savings of $250,000-$650,000 annually on national wing, parts, and accessory imports. It could be renewed every three years thereafter.
Updates:
- July 2020: The U.S. International Trade Commission denied the petition for tariff relief, but USHPA is appealing it.
- August 2020: The CBP & U.S. International Trade Commission approved USHPA's revised (excluding parts and accessories) petition for full tariff relief (0%) on paraglider wing and harness imports. This was the final step before it can be compiled with other petitions to officially become a bill for congressional vote. It will hopefully be approved by Congress before the end of the year.
Access
- Working with recreational partners: USHPA collaborates with recreational partners like the Outdoor Alliance on shared concerns for recreational use. This has included sharing flying site information with them in order to coordinate upcoming advocacy issues through their network, and vice versa. USHPA has been able to help protect sites through these efforts. One example was excluding an active site that was being proposed for inclusion in a wilderness bill. While the bill was still being drafted, USHPA was able to redraw the boundaries to exclude the flying site if the bill is passed. If members are aware of similar threats to flying sites, please contact USHPA to help coordinate advocacy efforts with our recreational partners.