The Pico Club Incorporated is Australia's FIRST and currently the ONLY NATIONAL club for paramotor pilots, it is incorporated and is affiliated with the HGFA.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Click here to access our Terms of Reference Statement.

MEMBERSHIP FORM

Click here for our membership application form: But if you don't like the paperwork, you can become a Pico Club member by entering your details on-line and paying your ten dollars by credit card Application_for_Membership2009/2010.doc

MAILLING LIST

Join our Yahoo Web Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Picolights

OUR CLUB HISTORY

Jff Hoffmann and Jos Weemaes started all this way back, they thought it would be a good idea to form some sort of a club and invite others to join....it is always more fun to fly with likeminded folk than flying on your own, so this is where it all started

Here's a brief history of how we came about

• 1998 First “Pico-Light” fly-in at Jeff Hoffmann’s property in Milbrulong ( present: Jeff Hoffmann, Frank Fontyne and Jos Weemaes )
• 1999 Second “Pico-Light” Fly-in ( present: Jeff Hoffmann, Jos Weemaes, Tilo Schmidt, Murray Fraser, Rob Lithgow, Graham Sutherland, John Walmsley, Mark Cross and his Dad Kevin, Kurt Savage and Frank Fontyne)
• 2001 Establishment of “The Pico-Light Flying Club” with the aim:
  • Encourage participation in PPG
  • Information exchange
  • Communication via Email
• 2001 Establishment of The Pico Forum, compiled daily by Jos Weemaes ( 2007 we had 118 members on this forum)
• 2005 Establishment of “The PPG association of Australia ( The Pico) ” and Terms of Reference of the association defined
• 2005 Establishment of the association's web site “The Pico.com.au”
• 2006 “The Pico Club inc.” affiliated with the HGFA and established as a means for creating HGFA sanctioned PPG fly-in’s
• 2006 At the inaugural meeting of the club in Ardmona ( vic) during the fly-in at Dale Huggard's , the following appointments were made: President: Jeff Hoffmann, Vice President: Russell Diffey, Secretary: Jos Weemaes, Treasurer Andrew Shipley and PPG Safety Officer: Mike Forwood
• 2006 At the AGM of the association it was agreed to abolish the association and to extend the ToR of the incorporated club to include the ToR of the association. First election of Pico Club office bearers. The following appointments were made: President: Andrew Shipley, vice president: Jos Weemaes, Secretary: Andrew McCarthy and Treasurer Jeff Hoffmann
• 2006 Application to the NSW Office Of Fair Trading to incorporate The Pico Club., Public Officer: Jeff Hoffmann
• 2007 Tenth “Pico-Light” fly-in at Jeff Hoffmann’s property in Milbrulong 55 pilots
• 2007 Change from the forum moderated by Jos Weemaes to the public Yahoo forum
• 2007 Official recognition by the HGFA and State Organisations of the status of The Pico Club inc to be equivalent to HGFA State organisations
• 2007 Jeff Hoffmann and Jos Weemaes are awarded Life Membership of The Pico Club for outstanding contributions to the PPG community
• 2008 The Pico Club inc. becomes part of the " HGFA State Associations and Special Interest groups"
• 2008 Draft aviation law reforms (CASR Part 103 aka NPRM 0603os) published and includes Pico Club submissions. CASA agree to also amend CAO95.8 based on our work.
• 2009 The Pico Club proposes PPG mentoring and Restricted and Unrestricted Powered Paragliding to the HGFA Board
• 2009 The Pico Club exec takes over the organisation of the Annual fly-in from Jeff and Jos
• 2010 Mentoring and Restricted and Unrestricted PPG accepted by the HGFA and included in Revision 6 of the HGFA Operations Manual
• 2010 New PPG classification training underway based upon the PPG syllabus created by Andrew Polidano and Graham Sutherland.
• 2010 First PPG Mentor training takes place during the 13th annual Pico Fly-in

ORGANISING A FLY-IN

For those who want to organise their own fly-in, here is the PICOLIGHT FLY-IN 2008 INFORMATION FORM (Requirements for Pico fly-ins rev 5.doc)

EXAMPLE FLY-IN REGISTRATION FORM

Here is an example pilot registration form. This form is generally used at Pico-Club sanctioned fly-in events. Pilot_Registration_Pico Club Fly-in rev 2.doc

Roles and responsibilities of Pico Club office bearers:

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

PRESIDENT To oversee club direction and communicate these to/with club membership and the HGFA. Primary point of communication between the club and the HGFA. To develop new club initatives and organise club board to research, develop and install these. To lead, encourage, monitor and performance manage other board members in their roles. To represent the membership of the club in discussions and presentations to HGFA/CASA and in political and commercial activities where necessary. The Club president is responsible for the performance of the Board members

VICE-PRESIDENT Assist the President in his roles and when the President is unavailable to carry out these roles. To liaise with the President and other board members to develop new initiatives .

SECRETARY To carry out all the administrative duties in-so-far-as record keeping, minutes of meetings, lodgement of legal documentation is concerned. To call for, and administer, when necessary, Board and AGM meetings. The secretary is responsible for maintaining and keeping up-to-date all club procedures, club records, club statutory documents and club membership listings and to provide this information in an urgent manner when requested by the president. The secretary will ensure that all documents related to the clubs activities are available to all club members on request. To ensure any necessary affiliation documents are submitted when necessary. The secretary's role is a key position on the Board and it is expected that the secretary is active in improving value for money for the club members.

TREASURER Responsible for the methodology, timeliness and accuracy of signing up of new members. As part of the financial transactions documentation, the treasurer will communicate on a regular basis with the secretary on membership payments and current membership lists. To keep current and auditable financial records for the club. Liaise with the club secretary to provide financial statements, as and when required, to the HGFA and the Office of Fair Trading. When necessary submit funding applications to the HGFA and liase with them to secure such funding. To ensure club bank accounts are kept current and in good order. Provide payments to board approved beneficiaries when authorised.

SARSIG Representative Represent the opinion of the Board and the members to SARSIG related activities.

SENIOR SAFETY OFFICER The Club SSO is pro-active in promoting PPG safety related activities and will engage pilots in safety matters. To investigate and report on, to the required bodies, any accidents and incidents occurring at club sites. To ensure activities at club sites are conducted using all safety procedures and systems available and current.

PUBLIC OFFICER The "Public Officer" for the club in accordance with the requirements under the clubs "association" through the Office Of Fair Trading Victoria.

The Pico Club inc. Duty Pilot

April 2009, rev 3

Definition of "The Pico Club inc. Duty Pilot"

Requirements for nomination:

A "Pico Club Duty Pilot" shall be nominated when there is a Pico Club event where flying takes place. A Pico Club event is a gathering of Powered Paragliding (PPG) Pilots intended to fly from a dedicated site organised by members of The Pico Club inc. who have notified The Pico Club exec of their intentions to organise a Pico Club event A roster shall be established and displayed. The duty pilot will not fly while on duty and shall be identified by a high visibility jacket with the words Duty Pilot on the back. The Pico Club Duty Pilot plays an active and participating role in assisting safe operations at the flying field and their decisions is binding

1 Nomination of a Pico Club Duty Pilot:

A Pico Club Duty Pilot shall be nominated as follows: (a) The organisers of a Pico Club event where flying will take place may establish a Duty Pilot roster to ensure that the site is appropriately supervised when the volume of operations necessitates. (b) The Safety Officer(s) present at a Pico Club event where flying is taking place and no Duty Pilot has been appointed, will elect a Duty Pilot. (c) Experienced Pilots present at a Pico Club event where flying is to take place and no Duty Pilot has been appointed and no safety officer(s) are present, will elect a Duty Pilot.

2 Experience required of a Pico Club Duty Pilot:

A Pico Club Duty Pilot shall have the following minimum experience: (a) A minimum of 80 hours flying Powered Paragliders, or (b) A minimum of 50 hours flying Powered Paragliders with previous flying experience at the site used on the day.

3 Responsibilities of a Pico Club Duty Pilot:

(a) Provide advice to pilots on request (b) Assists Restricted and other pilots on request (c) Make enquiries at random from pilots as to their qualifications to fly the particular site (d) Ensure safe operating procedures are established and are adhered to in regards to: (1) Separation of take-off and landing activities from spectators and visitors (2) No low flying restrictions at take off and landing zone (3) Definition of take off and landing circuits for the site and taking into consideration wind directions. (4) Site radio communication channels (e) Participate in the daily Pilot safety briefings if the event is over multiple consecutive days.

The Pico Club 2009 Annual General Meeting.

Passionate about powered paragliding.

AGM Minutes Dated September 2009 AGM 2009 Minutes

Place : Milbrulong NSW

The Pico Club 2010 Annual General Meeting.

To be held during the 2010 Milbrulong fly-in, September 2010, Milbrulong NSW.

During the fly-in there will be new elections for the Club exec for the period Sept 2010 till Sept 2011 and nominations are currently being called for.

You can nominate yourself or nominate your buddy ( with his approval).
You can email the nomination to the club secretary ( jweemaes@bordernet.com.au)
The nominees will be published on this page on the clubs web site.
Nominations are called for membership of the club exec team, not for individual positions.
Individual positions e.g. President, Vice Present , Secretary etc will be decided upon by the new team. This will be done on the day of the AGM
Nominations for club exec membership will close on the day of the AGM.
Club members can nominate a maximum of 4 nominees.
The actual voting for who will be elected to be on the team will start on the first of September and will finish at the AGM.
Voting for club exec team membership can be done in person or by proxy.
You can email a voting proxy to the club secretary ( jweemaes@bordernet.com.au) or you can give a written proxy to your buddy who is attending the AGM.
Club members can vote for a maximum of 4 nominees to become part of the exec team.
Those members with the most votes will be elected exec team members.
The new executive can decide to have additional non executive members selected for the team.

The club needs pilots who are passionate about the sport and want to help to secure the sport for the future, improve the safety and grow the sport.

Jos Weemaes
Secretary The Pico Club
Passionate about powered paragliding

The current nominees are:

Brett Coupland
Grant Casser
Rizzo
Chris Drake