HVFF Meeting Recap – Oct. 14, 2023

Recap courtesy of Shani Schechter

A brief recap of the HVFF club meeting on 10/14/23.

Since 2016, Wayne Neckles, HVFF president, has endeavored to get Ellenville Flight Park under pilot ownership, working extensively behind the scenes in talks with Tony Covelli and the Open Space Institute to broker an agreement.

On 9/27/23, Wayne reached an agreement to buy both the Ellenville Launch area (16.67 acres) and the LZ (13 acres) from Tony Covelli, the site owner. The LZ plot goes from the creek to the edge of Tony’s training hill, between the road and the organic farm.

The price for the Launch and the LZ together is $650,000. The agreement is to pay Tony a $200,000 downpayment by 1/6/24 to keep the deal, and then $90,000 per year for the next 5 years, interest free. The site would become an USHPA site and thus get USHPA insurance.

The HVFF club will be seeking pledges in 2 stages:

1. First pledge drive is for the $200,000 downpayment due to Tony on 1/6/24 (pledges due 12/31/23).
2. Second pledge drive is to cover an enlarged fee ($90,000 per year plus ~$12,000 in prospective operating costs per year) for 5 years. Divide $102K by however many people you think will pledge to contribute as annual members – less some contribution from monthly members – and that gives you a sense of the membership cost per year for 5 years. That is the enlarged fee due for 5 years until the club owns the site outright. If more money is raised upfront – or if more members pledge to contribute (for the whole 5 years or any given year) – the membership cost goes down.

After the $650,000 is paid off in 5 years, the club will own the site outright, and get to fly it without threat of LOSS OF FLYING SITE, new ownership or development. At that point, the membership fees could go down dramatically. As Wayne said: it’d be nice if “Free Flight” were free.

• The club would just need to cover its expenses (property taxes, USHPA insurance, site & road maintenance while still relying on volunteers, legal/accounting fees while leveraging pilot volunteers, weather station maintenance, any new bathroom or campground maintenance, etc.).
• Wayne has considered starting an endowment for the flight park. That way future operating expenses could potentially be paid for out of an endowment as it grows.

A word from Jim Donovan: “We cannot underestimate Tony’s steadfast resolve to see this site end up in the pilots’ hands. He turned down numerous offers for more money from individuals both pilot and non-pilot.”

A couple words on the pledges: the club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, thanks to Wayne. For this reason, any donations would be tax deductible. Also, if for some reason HVFF cannot gather the funds, any pledges already paid out would be returned.

Now a good chunk of the work begins. We have to raise the money for this purchase. And all the tasks of site ownership would, of course, come under HVFF purview.

To have the site end up in pilot’s hands would be tremendous – and almost unprecedented in the U.S. The number of such sites is probably countable on one hand. But club ownership of Ellenville Flight Park is not a foregone conclusion – and depends on the generosity and vision of the community as a whole.

Let’s see what we as a community can do.