There will be no general meeting of the CHGPA this December. Instead, we'll be celebrating the holidays at the annual CHGPA Christmas Party! This year's hosts are Cragin and Kay Shelton, and here are the details that they sent out via the listserv:

The festivities will take place on Friday night, December 19, starting about 7:00 p.m.

The party is a family affair, suitable for all ages, and will be held at the home of:

Cragin & Kay Shelton
4403 Roundhill Road
Alexandria VA 22310

See this map, and/or the more detailed directions below.

There will be a starter set of libations provided. Bring yummy stuff to share, liquid, solid, or both. (We won't have a keg this year - too much was left over last year.)

Our house is kid friendly. Be prepared for exceedingly friendly large dogs. We'll do our best to limit their participation.

How to Find us: Located about three miles outside the Capital Beltway, I-95, in the Franconia area of Fairfax County. Closest exits off of the Beltway are Telegraph Road and Van Dorn Street. (Don't use Eisenhower Avenue Exit - it takes you round-about.)

FROM MARYLAND OR NORTH SIDE OF DC:

• Take Capital Beltway Inner Loop, I-95 South, into Virginia, crossing the Wilson Bridge
• Exit on Telegraph Road Exit SOUTH from I-95 (second Virginia exit)
• Continue south on Telegraph past several gas stations. At the traffic light at Franconia Road, continue straight on Telegraph about 2 miles.
• RIGHT on Climbhill Road.
  (Climbhill is only to the right. If you get to a traffic light at Rose Hill Drive, you missed Climbhill by 1/2 mile. Turn right onto Rose Hill Drive, and then right on Apple Tree Drive. See below in the Van Dorn Exit directions).
• RIGHT at the T-intersection, onto Roundhill Road. Note that Climbhill is only one block long.
• Follow Roundhill as it curves up to the left.
• 4403 Roundhill will be 1/4 mile, on your right, 2d house before you go under the high tension power lines.

FROM NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND DC AREA, OTHER THAN SPRINGFIELD AREA:

• Take Beltway I-495/I-95 east to Van Dorn exit.
• RIGHT onto Van Dorn South. By 2d traffic light get into left lane. of Van Dorn.
• LEFT onto Franconia Road (at Edison High School)
• Continue ~3/4 mile (go past the High school, McDonald's and Post Office)
• RIGHT on Rose Hill Drive at the 2d McDonald's
• LEFT on Apple Tree Drive (1st intersection after Rose Hill School)
• LEFT on Blossom
• RIGHT on Roundhill Road
• 4403 is on left, 2d house after passing under the high tension power lines

FROM WEST SPRINGFIELD AREA:

• Take Old Keene Mill Road east, past Springfield Mall. Old Keene Mill becomes Franconia Road.
• Continue past Van Dorn Street & Edison High School
• Continue ~3/4 mile (go past the High school, McDonald's and Post Office)
• RIGHT on Rose Hill Drive at the 2d McDonald's
• LEFT on Apple Tree Drive (1st intersection after Rose Hill School)
• LEFT on Blossom
• RIGHT on Roundhill Road
• 4403 is on left, 2d house after passing under the high tension power lines

Josh Criss' 80-minute documentary film about the history of hang gliding, The Flyingest Flying, will premiere at the Visions DC Theatre on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 at 7:00pm.

Josh has recently become a hang glider pilot, and his experiences learning to fly at nearby Manquin Flight Park are included in the film. Many pilots who are well known to our membership are profiled, including Hank Hengst, Holly Korzilius, Terry Spencer, Adam Elchin, and Steve Wendt, among others.

According to Josh, "the film covers the history of hang gliding from DaVinci's sketches through the first Lilienthal meet in 1971 -- including never-before-seen photographs and interviews with Francis Rogallo, John Dickenson, Bill Moyes, and Bill Bennett".

Two years in the making, Josh's movie has been described by USHGA as "the best work on the history of hang gliding ever done, in any medium.".

I think we should try to get as large a turnout as possible for this film! What a golden opportunity to spread the word about hang gliding with friends, co-workers, etc. Note that Visions is metro accessible, and features both a bistro and a bar; could there be a better occasion for a mid-week party?

Tickets will be available for $9.00 at the Visions box office, starting Wednesday, Dec. 10. One Night Only!

Brian V-H has once again organized a chute repack event, this time at Highland Aerosports in Ridgely, MD. Check out the 2003 ChutePack Page for details and costs.

The CHGPA and MHGA will be holding their annual Fly-In and Just-For-Fun XC Competition the third weekend of September. Details and the latest info can be found at the HGFest'2003 website

You'll save about $21 if you register for HGFest'2003 in advance, plus you'll receive 10 tickets for the raffle (on-site registration only gets ya three!). We're going to have a ton of great prizes, a cook-out and party on Saturday night, trophies and medals for the winners of the XC comp, and fireworks too!

Our Festival benefits the Rescue Squad of McConnellsburg PA, so your participation will also help out a very worthy cause.

Reserve the 20th and 21st of September for our Fly-In, we guarantee you'll have a great time if you do!

The Annual High Rock Party will be held Saturday, August 2nd.

The menu consists of Pit Beef, Pit Ham, Sausage and Peppers, Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, sodas, chips, a vegetarian dish, the usual condiments and maybe a dessert item. Cost will be $10 per person this year. All proceeds will go toward the High Rock LZ Preservation Fund.

It is difficult planning the amount of food to have on hand, so if you are pretty sure or even kind of sure you will be attending, please email me directly with the number attending, so I can get a head count. bsatatis@earthlink.net

Beer will not be provided this year because we have found that a lot of pilots do not drink and there was a lot left over last year. So, if you care to imbibe, please bring your own beverages.

Everyone is invited to bring their own favorite side dish or dessert item, as the variety is always welcome.

Barb and Bruce

Just a reminder that the meeting this month will be held at Kelvin and Susan Pierce's place. It's at 8:00, July 23rd, this next Wednesday. Their address is 8830 Old Courthouse Road, Vienna, VA 22182. I have included directions from the beltway below. Bring your own beverages (Susan said it's OK if you want to bring beer) and munchies. It would be great if we could have a large turnout. I am going to try to get a member to give a special talk, as well as our usual stuff to make it more interesting. I will be wearing my new crown, too. Very cool. Look forward to seeing you there!

Directions: From the beltway, take exit #46, Rt. 123 South, towards Tyson's Corner. At the 4th light, take a right on Old Courthouse Road. Go left at the next light to stay on Old Courthouse. Continue 8/10ths of a mile. The house is on the right, and you will see a black mailbox right after the road narrows and the sidewalk ends. The numbers are not consecutive. Don't park in the driveway, but use the street instead.

Many thanks to Kelvin and Susan for their generosity in sharing their home with us.

Lauren (Madam-President-Dictator-Sky-Goddess) Tjaden

The Highland Crew writes:

Highland Aerosports will be holding its annual fly-in this year on Saturday, June 7. We apologize for the late notice, but we just finalized this years date. There is a 50% chance for spectacular weather, so everyone will speck out during the day, and have some fun in the evening. We hope to have a few demos available, and we will do burgers / dogs and something for the veggie eaters for dinner. So on June 7, bring your beverage of choice, and come out to Highland for some flying and a good time. Please send us an email to flyin@aerosports.net and let us know if you are going to make it.

Click Here for further details about what is sure to be a great time at Highland!

A memorial service will be held for another fallen pilot and friend, Terry Spencer, in Linden Virginia.

Please visit our Terry Spencer Memorial page for location, time, directions, and other information.

Two back-to-back losses.... What a harsh blow to absorb.

A wake and funeral services will be held for our fallen friend and fellow pilot, Chad Elchin, in Portage Pennsylvania this week.

Please visit our Chad Elchin Memorial page for information about location, times, how to send flowers, and contributions that you can make to Chad's family and to Highland Aerosports.

Chad's loss is a blow to everyone : family, friends, his students, all of Region IX....

The CHGPA will once again be in attendance at the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival held on the Mall in Washington DC. This is our club's most effective event for spreading the word about hang gliding and paragliding to the public!

Set-up starts at 8:30am, and the festival runs until 4:00pm. The more enthusiastic people we have on-hand to help explain the sport and the many opportunities for learning to fly, the better!

So please stop by the CHGPA booth, even if only for an hour or so. You will be amazed at the number of genuinely-interested people who flock around the gliders and want to learn about our sports. After all, we fly big kites, how could anyone resist?

By the way: we hope to eventually include flight demonstrations at the KiteFest, which would make for incredible PR. So that's another good reason to make some time to attend : if we attract bigger crowds and generate lots of interest, we're more likely to get the go-ahead on actual flying demos. Waaaaayy cool!

By The Way: The KiteFest has moved a bit this year, to the area between 4th and 7th Streets of the Mall. See the KiteFest website for more details.

POSTPONED! The original date was March 1, but heavy snowfall limited the parking areas, so this event was pushed back two weeks.

CHGPA and MHGA are once again holding a 'pack-yer-own' chute soiree, courtesy of the organizational talents of Brian VH. Check out the 2003 ChutePack webpage for details like when, where, and what to bring.