Members of the Torrey Pines Soaring Council and Others,

At the last meeting we discussed the possibility of reviewing
disputes at the Gliderport. Among other benefits, I believe
that reviewing these cases will provide the Soaring Council
with insights into problems and conflicts affecting both safety
and enjoyment at the site.

With that thought in mind, I would like to offer the following
suggested procedures for incident reporting and resolution.
Please take this suggestion into consideration along with past
practices when deciding on an incident handling procedure.

Sincerely,
Bob Kuczewski

================================
DRAFT:
Torrey Pines Soaring Council
Incident Reporting and Resolution Procedure

Purpose - This document describes the Torrey Pines
Soaring Council's procedure for the reporting and
resolution of various conflicts and violations at the
Torrey Pines Gliderport. The goal of this procedure
is to provide due process for all parties as well as
provide a mechanism for documenting problems
that might suggest rule changes at the Gliderport. 

Definitions:

Incident (definition) - An "Incident" with regard to this
procedure is any action (or combination of actions)
which is determined - by any party - to be a threat to
the public's safety and enjoyment of the Gliderport.
These include collisions, near collisions, and violations
of any Gliderport rules and regulations.

Incident Report (definition) - An "Incident Report" is
a written document (typically a completed Incident
Report Form) that describes an incident from one
person's perspective. Multiple Incident Reports may
be filed for a single incident.

Finding (definition) - A Finding is a written document
produced by the Soaring Council which expresses the
Soaring Council's beliefs and recommendations with
regard to one or more Incident Reports. Each Finding
may also include several 100 word commentaries by
Council members who wish to express their support
or dissent of the Finding. A Finding is not binding on
any parties, but may be used by the parties in other
proceedings.

Procedures:

Incident Declaration and Reporting - Any person may
declare that an incident has occurred and may report that
incident in writing to any member of the Soaring Council.
All incidents which result in injury, damage to property,
or disciplinary action will require the Flight Director to fill
out an Incident Report Form and give copies to all parties
involved at the time of the incident. The Flight Director
will submit a copy of the Incident Report Form to the
Soaring Council on or before the next Soaring Council
meeting.

Incident Handling - The Torrey Pines Soaring Council
will collect and record all Incident Reports. Any Incident
Reports which have been submitted to any Council
member prior to a Council meeting will be added to the
agenda for that meeting. Each incident on the agenda will
be discussed by the Council, and volunteers will be sought
to form an investigative committee to investigate the incident
and draft a Proposed Finding. If no Council Members
volunteer, then no further action (other than recording the
incident) will be taken by the Council at that time. If one or
more Council Members volunteer to form an investigative
committee, they will be expected to talk with all parties and
write a Proposed Finding for the Council to consider at the
next meeting.

Incident Resolution - The Torrey Pines Soaring Council will
review each Proposed Finding prepared by an investigative
committee and debate potential changes. After a suitable
debate period, the Soaring Council will vote on adopting
the modified Finding as an Official Finding of the Soaring
Council. If the Finding is adopted, it will be recorded as
an Official Finding of the Torrey Pines Soaring Council,
and all Council members will have one month to submit
a 100 word commentary of support or dissent. These
will also be recorded as an addendum to the Finding.

Notes:

-- The Soaring Council serves as an advisory body for
the benefit of all pilots who fly at the Gliderport. As such,
the Soaring Council has no defined authority to make or
enforce rules at the Gliderport. However, the Soaring
Council does contain the critical flight expertise needed
by anyone else who might be called on to evaluate flight
disputes at the Gliderport. The procedures listed in this
document are intended to allow the Soaring Council to
share its own expertise with other parties without requiring
any additional authority or responsibility by the Council.
Once the Council has issued a Finding, it has done its job.
It will be up to the other parties to decide how they wish
to proceed in light of that Finding. Ideally, the Finding itself
will carry sufficient weight that it will be followed voluntarily
by all parties involved without further proceedings.

-- These procedures are intended to provide an orderly
process for the resolution of incidents. By following
this procedure, all incidents should be resolved in two
meetings of the Soaring Council. However, this time
period might be considered to be either too long or
too short for a particular situation. It is understood that
the Council might change these time periods to either
accelerate or retard the process as appropriate. In
some cases, for example, the Council might choose
to hear all sides of a case and vote on a resolution
all in one meeting. This would be acceptable as long
as all parties are in agreement that they can present
their sides of the story and get a fair hearing in one
meeting. Similarly, it might be that certain information
or parties will not be available in the time frame of two
meetings. Again, if all parties are in general agreement,
there is no requirement for the process to be completed
in two meetings.

-- The Incident Report Form might contain the following:
  Date of Incident
  Parties to Incident (including contact information)
  Description of Incident
  Personal Damage from Incident
  Property Damage from Incident
  Action Taken by Flight Director
  Action Requested of the Soaring Council