In autumn 2022, the General Meeting of the PG Association was held, which this time was at an unusually calm pace and without significant turbulence. In the course of it, as part of a freer discussion, we came across the topic of the union and the benefits for its members several times. The debate smoothly and logically resulted in a proposal for the new presidency, which reads: "Promote membership in LAA ČR and ve Union PG among pilots who are not currently members, especially to more publicly promote the benefits of membership.”. This all led me to think whether, after more than 7 years of functioning in the presidency and the sports commission, we are not somewhat trapped in our own social bubble, in which we naturally know about all the possible advantages that membership in the PG Association brings and orient ourselves in them , but we slightly neglect their presentation on the outside, as everything seems clear and obvious to us at first glance. It all fell into place when I looked at the approved one Organizational rules, Organizational rules with an addendum, in which a new point appeared "Participate in all activities of the PG Association and enjoy the benefits associated with membership".
A few numbers to start with
Number of members of the Union PG in 2023: 2 399.
Number of valid pilot licenses for PK in 2023: 7 145.
Number of newly issued pilot licenses in 2023: 366 (+306 extended 450).
The middle number certainly deserves a comment, which tells us how many valid PPs we have, but does not tell us how many we have active pilots, and since the validity of our PP is 10 years in the case of a single, these two numbers can differ significantly. Unfortunately, the number of active pilots will remain a secret to us, so we can only assume what the potential is in increasing our membership base.
Be that as it may, one thing is for sure - we certainly do not have all active pilots in the union as members, which is our long term goal that we will never actually achieve :).
Graph No. 1, Development of the number of members in the years 2010 – 2022
Now let's see Why to be a member of Union PG
What Membership Will Get Me, Part One – direct financial benefits to the wider public
We will start with the benefits that directly affect our members and are thus the main attraction that should motivate a pilot to become our member.
- Repacking of reserve parachute free of charge: not every pilot dares to repack ZP himself and is thus dependent on someone else. Anyone who has a friend whom they trust and who knows that they will repack ZP correctly and for free, is at peace and membership in the union will not bring them an advantage at this point. But what about the others? They have two options. Have your spare parachute packed by one of the commercial packers, or take advantage of the promotion Repacking reserve parachutes, which the PG Association has been providing for you for several years. This event is always held in autumn and clubs and packers from all over the country participate in it. These are mostly the same packers you'll come across in the commercial world, but in this case the repacking won't cost you anything because the union will pay for it! Another plus is that at most of these mass events you have the opportunity to try throwing a reserve parachute in the safety of the gym, and in the off-season break you will meet a lot of friends here, whom you already miss so much :).
- Lower entry fee on hills: across our republic we encounter a large number of starting areas. Not every such area is official, so there is usually no entry fee. But then there are a number of official ones, on which the need to collect start-up fees stems from the need to pay rent, PUPFL (fee for fulfilling the function of the forest), maintenance of information signs, cutting, etc. At these startups, our membership pays off because our association supports them in the form of an operating subsidy. In exchange for this support, he is asking the hill managers to reduce the entry fees for members of the PG Association, leaving you with a beer after the landing!
- Lower price for reel starts: dragging - a constant and a kind of old lady among the benefits of membership is the support for dragging. Not every pilot has a usable hill within reach of his residence, so he prefers to use a winch or winder start. Even here, as a member, you cannot avoid benefits. The operators of these facilities make extensive use of this support, and we and you thank them for it, because it is a little bit of extra bureaucracy for the lift operator, and the only advantage for him is higher attendance. Thanks to this, you can enjoy the first lift at a significantly lower price than your colleague who is not a member of the association, and then whet your appetite after the digester with the good food you have left over thanks to your membership.
- Still not a member of the Union PG? Let's move on!
What Membership Will Get Me, Part Two – direct financial benefits for contest participants
- No entry fee in the Czech Paragliding Cup – you know that the entry fee in our most popular competition is 200 CZK, and that as a member of the union you avoid this fee? If not, you have already forgotten that the union is your supporter here as well, and you may take it for granted, but be careful, it is not so and non-member must pay the entry fee!
- People's entry fee at Czech League races – league support - do you find our league entry fees expensive and race costs high? Take a look at the prices of foreign races. For example, the entry fee for a similar competition – the 4-day Austrian league was around 3 CZK last year, and this is one of the cheapest races. Normally, the starting fee is around 500 or more Euros. The entry fee for our league was a maximum of 200 CZK, not only thanks to lower costs in our region, but also thanks to a subsidy from the union. This is (for XC) in the amount of CZK 1 / person-day, i.e. that the union will contribute CZK 800 to the organizer for the pilot for LA 150-day race, and the cheaper one is the entry fee for the union member.
What can the union better support with my membership?
In this paragraph, we will take a look at other benefits that are not directly linked to union membership and can be enjoyed by our non-members as well. With your membership, you will help to raise funds for their maintenance and as a teacher, you will feel better about enjoying them, because part of your LAA membership fee will be transferred to the funds of the Union PG. Specifically, it is 100 CZK to support the representation a 200 CZK to the federal budget.
- Weather probes – the union supports wind probe operators every year subsidies for their operation.
- The emergence of new starters – do you have a hill in your sights that would suit a starter? The association will advise you on how to do this and will also help you finance the creation of a new starting point. More here.
- Car rental – LAA bus or asocial, call it what you want, but we have it available, primarily for the purposes of the national team and talented youth. as a legacy of representation. The LAA bus is popularly used by the organizers of league competitions or camps for our youth. Thanks to this, they are able to reduce the costs of these events and thus keep the entry fee as low as possible for you.
- Collection we fly with our hearts – as a member of the association, you are entitled to a contribution from the voluntary collection Létáme srdcem, which is available from 2022 and is intended for quick help in case of injuries to our members during paragliding.
In addition to financial benefits for members, by increasing the membership base the association gains a stronger position for possible negotiations with other entities regarding take-off sites, airspace and the like. Which can sometimes be much more important than saving a few hundred.
What will it cost me? – disadvantages
Membership in the Union PG is free. All you have to do is log in to the union in the LAA online administration by ticking the appropriate box. The only condition is a valid LAA membership, which an active pilot usually pays for liability insurance. https://sprava.laacr.cz/
For your idea, let's take a look at the table of how much you can save with membership
My cargo | Savings | |
Membership in LAA CR | 1100Kč | |
Membership in the Union PG | 0Kč | |
Repackaging ZP | 400Kč | |
Hill entry fees | approx. 50 CZK/day | |
Drag subsidy | 200 CZK/lift/day | |
ČPP starting fee | 200Kč | |
League starters | 600 CZK/race | |
total | 1100Kč | 1450Kč |
So if I am a member of LAA, my next cost is exactly CZK 0, but I will keep it repackage the bookmark, once I will go to a subsidized hill, let myself be pulled on the rope, I have the ČPP as a flight log and I will visit a round of the Czech League, I saved exactly 1450 CZK. The more I fly, the more my savings will increase, plus as a member I can enjoy other benefits, indirectly related to my wallet. Well, isn't it great?
It's called socialism, and here we see it in its purest form - for 200 CZK from my membership fee, I get benefits at a multiple times higher price. You might be thinking how is this possible? We will try to answer. The Presidency of the PG Association, with its hard work, has long been successful in obtaining funds from subsidies from the National Sports Agency. This subsidy exceeds the PG Association's own resources many times over, and thanks to this we can significantly support our members. However, what is most important and what we would like you to take away and remember from this article is that the subsidy is NOT claimable! Every change in the government, the political situation, the state of the state budget, the number of lobbyists for big sports, a war in the world or the coronavirus, all this affects the allocation rules and the total amount of the subsidy. We have to work with that and hope it doesn't drop too much in the future because we've spoiled our members too much and we can't sustain most of the benefits we've described above from their contributions.
After reading this article, I am wondering what could prevent me from becoming a member of the Union PG. Perhaps the word SVAZ itself is not very sexy and may evoke memories of a time that I have not personally experienced. However, the change would not really bring any benefits and it would only be work and extra costs for redoing all documents, statutes, regulations, graphics and other things, so for now we will remain a union...