PASA’s board consists of 5 voting members and various ad hoc members (who are on the board because of their particular expertise). Great care has been taken to bring a well rounded and highly respected knowledge pool together to create the board.
The PASA Board of Directors Consists of:
Voting Members
John Harris : President and Founder
Founded by John Harris in 1974 on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Kitty Hawk Flight School is the largest hang gliding school in the world, boasting an alumni list of over 400,000 students.
John Harris, who’s always been enamored by flight, grew up on a farm in rural Missouri, became a geological engineer, and set his sights on graduate school. Then, on a sunny August day in 1973, he saw the world from beneath the wings of a hang glider and everything changed. That flight, launched from Jockey’s Ridge, the highest live dune on the east coast, convinced John that hang gliding was a sport that was going places.
John is still working in and on the business every day, as President, Chairman of the Board, he leads the executive committee and staff, pursuing his life’s and the Company’s mission, to teach the world to fly.
Honors, Awards & Community Support
Industry Involvement and Support
* Past VP and Director-At-Large for the United States Hang Gliding Association, Member since 1976, Intermediate rating, 20 year instructor
* Founder, Professional Air Sports Association (PASA)
Committed to the improvement of the hang gliding, ultralighting, parasailing, paragliding and kite surfing industries.
* Founder and President of The Rogallo Foundation
Committed to preserving the artifacts of Mr. Francis Rogallo, inventor of the flexible wing, and world renowned as the father of hang gliding.
* Member, International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions
* Member, New England Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions
Local/Regional Community Support – Outer Banks, NC
* Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce
* First Flight Society – Past Vice President and President
* First Flight Foundation – Past President and Current Board Member
* North Carolina Coastal Land Trust
* Dare County Arts Council
* North Carolina Nature Conservatory
* Friends of Jockey’s Ridge
* Roanoke Island Historical Association
* Wright Flight of North Carolina
* North Carolina Aquariums
* North Banks Rotary Club
* Outer Banks Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Coalition – Founder and Board Member
Awards & Honors
* Pioneer in the NC Tourism Leaders of the 20th Century Award (awarded by North Carolina Department of Travel & Tourism)
* DMANC Lifetime Achievement Award (awarded by Destination Marketing Association of North Carolina)
* The Rogallo Foundation Hall of Fame
G.W. Meadows : Vice President and Founder
GW first saw hang gliding on Jockeys Ridge on North Carolina’s Outer Banks back in the early 1970’s while on a family vacation. More interested in spending time watching the flapping fabric covered frames transform into somewhat graceful gliding art forms rather that sit on the beach like the rest of the family, GW was destined to eventually hook into the control frame of some hang glider on some hill.
That opportunity came about in the late 70’s when GW met up with an instructor in western NC who was running a one-man show under the name of Kitty Hawk Kites of Morganton.
Since that time, GW has created a couple and worked for multiple hang gliding schools including , Sequatchie Valley Soaring, The Hang Gliding Center of San Diego, Windsports International and Kitty Hawk Kites. GW was the vice president of UP International in the early 90s.
GW was on the USHGA’s Board of Directors for 15 years and served as President of the USHGA as well. Contributing to the tandem program during it’s earlier years, GW helped refine the way that tandem hang gliding was utilized in the U.S. In 1996, GW flew a tandem hang glider off of 10,300 ft. Sandia Peak with the sitting Governor of New Mexico (and presidential candidate) Gary Johnson. GW retired from tandem hang gliding with over 2200 tandem hang gliding flights under his belt – almost all of them foot landing.
Along the way GW was awarded the USHGA’s Presidential Citation, organized and ran more than 25 world class hang gliding and paragliding competitions, started and ran Just Fly Aviation Gear, as well as U.S. Aeros. GW was the highest placing member of the Gold Medal winning U.S. Team at the first ever FAI Word Speed Gliding Championships at Mt. Olympus Greece in 2000.
G.W. was a staff writer for HANG GLIDING magazine for more than a decade with the 2 instructional columns titled ‘Hang Gliding 101’ and ‘Ask Geedub’. GW has sat on the boards of numerous aviation related organizations including the First Flight Society and Icarus International, both dedicated to Wright Brothers related items.
In 2006, GW was inducted into the Rogallo Foundation’s Hall of Fame.
Currently GW is a USCG 50 Ton Master Captain, lives in Kitty Hawk, NC and works all over the country in the high tech world of live sports graphics with Sportvision (the company of ‘glowing hockey puck”, “virtual 1st & 10 line”, “virtual strike zone” fame). GW has won 4 Emmys for his contributions to various Television broadcasts including the Americas Cup series broadcast in 2011.
Bruce Weaver : Secretary and Treasurer
Recreation Manager of Kitty Hawk Kites in charge of overseeing all aspects of the Recreation department, specifically the Hang Gliding operations.
Experience:
1987-1990
Kitty Hawk Kites Inc. – Hang Gliding Instructor
Responsible for teaching students of all skill levels the sport of Hang Gliding.
1990-Present
Kitty Hawk Kites- Kitty Hawk Flight School – Hang Gliding/Recreation Manager
Responsible for all portions of Hang Gliding and other recreations offered at Kitty Hawk Kites including Kayaking, Sport Wall Climbing, Sailing and Kiteboarding. Responsibilities include hiring, training, budgeting, teaching, maintenance of equipment, purchasing and scheduling.
Professional Licenses and Designations:
Vice President of Recreation, Kitty Hawk Kites, Inc.
Advanced Hang Gliding Certification, United States Hang Gliding &Paragliding Association
Advanced Instructor Certification, United States Hang Gliding Association
Board of Directors Member, United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association
Instructor Administrator, United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association
Joe Greblo : Founder
As a young college student, Joe Greblo began hang gliding in 1973 and quickly developed a passion for the sport. Within his first year, he learned to fly, developed an interest in apprentice hang gliding instruction, and joined Southern California School of Hang Gliding under the tutelage of then prominent hang gliding instructors.
As a developing flight instructor, Joe was later offered a partnership in the business, accepting the responsibility of curriculum development, beginning through advanced instruction, and instructor training.
In 1974 the school incorporated under the name Windsports International Inc., and became one of the nation’s top producers of rated hang glider pilots. Windsports is now well beyond its 4th decade of providing quality flight instruction to the public.
Joe contributed to the hang gliding industry for many years as Regional Director of the United States Hang Gliding Association, Vice-President of the Sylmar Hang Gliding Association, and volunteer aviation safety counselor for the FAA. His primary contributions involved safety and training, flying site acquisition and preservation, and public and governmental relations.
In 1982 Joe married young and talented hang glider pilot Kristen Hartinian, who played a major role in Joe’s happiness and success. Together they have enjoyed long and productive careers in hang gliding aviation.
Since his early days in hang gliding, Joe has logged more than 7,000 flight hours in more than 300 different makes and models of hang gliders, paragliders, powered ultralight vehicles, and light aircraft. He has provided more than 5,000 solo and dual flight lessons, and assisted dozens of flight instructors in advancing their skills. In addition, Joe has ranked highly in local, national, and international hang gliding competitions, and has appeared in more than 150 major television and motion pictures and commercials featuring hang gliding.
Chris Santacroce
Utah based Chris Santacroce has been in the Paragliding and Hang Gliding business for more than 25 years. He is a Hang Gliding and Paragliding Instructor and is an Instructor and Tandem Administrator for the free flying organization and the powered paragliding association. He flies just about everything.
Founded in 1998, Chris a school and distributes three major brands of paragliders and several lines of accessories. He lives on the takeoff spot at the Point of the Mountain in Draper, UT with his wife and two children. He was a Red Bull Athlete for 13 years but his current passion is his non profit, Project Airtime, which takes special needs individuals, spinal cord and brain injury champions, the elderly and veterans flying using an adaptive chair. He provides 60 of these therapeutic flight experiences per year.
Chris’ latest movement is Aware Apps, a company which developed and debuted the Pilot Aware App in 2016. The iOS and Android App is a pilot awareness and communication App that allows users to share constructive, pre-scripted comments anonymously with other users in the area. It also allows custom broadcast messages that can alert the each user in the area to evolving situations and conditions along with a “last known” position function to easily locate lost pilots. It’s functionality serves hang gliders, paragliders, powered paragliders, BASE jumpers, sky divers, ultralight and airplane pilots.
Ad Hoc Members
Matt Taber
Background:
I have been working in the recreation industry since the early 1970’s. My career began with swimming and scuba instruction, and I later became part owner of a dive shop in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
After selling my interest in the dive shop, I was recruited as a hang gliding instructor by Kitty Hawk Kites – an experience that ignited my lifelong passion for hang gliding. Following my time with KHK I started a very successful water sports business called Bayside Water Sports, which I sold in the fall of 1979 to finance my next business venture.
I launched Lookout Mountain Flight Park (LMFP) in March of 1980 with the goal of creating a hang gliding flight resort that would attract pilots from around the world.
LMFP creates more USHPA-rated hang glider pilots than any other school in North America, and has played a leading role in key flight safety and training initiatives. We offer advanced facilities for both foot launch and aerotow training, and our site is home to a large and vibrant pilot community.
- DOB: 1953
- Business owner & entrepreneur
- USHPA Master-rated pilot with over 2,000 hours airtime
- Veteran hang glider competition pilot
- Tandem instructor with over 1,000 logged tandem flights
- USHPA Tandem administrator
- USHPA Instructor administrator
- FAA licensed pilot with over 1,000 logged hours (mostly towing with Dragonfly tow plane)
- FAA weight shift rating (trike pilot)
- Owner / operator of Lookout Mountain Flight Park since 1980
- Publisher of USHGA official flight manual
- Designer and manufacturer of Skycycle soaring trikes
- Designer and manufacturer of GT hang gliding harnesses
- USHPA Regional Director since 1987
Rob Sporrer
Rob has been flying Paragliders since 1995, and began apprenticing as an instructor in 1997. He became a certified USHPA Instructor in 1998, and received the USHPA Paragliding Instructor of the year award in 2002. His reputation as a safe and conservative pilot is seen in his own flying and the students he trains. Rob had a wrist injury his 3rd month in the sport of paragliding, and has been accident free ever since.
Rob is a former USHPA Region 3 Director (Southern California & Hawaii). He owns and operates Eagle Paragliding www.paraglding.com. Eagle offers every type of paragliding clinic imaginable, and Eagle has offered more clinics and tours over the last decade than any other school in the USA. Rob is also a USHPA instructor and tandem instructor administrator.
Rob teaches year round in Santa Barbara California. He has traveled the world participating in paragliding competitions. He leads paragliding tours in Europe, and North and South America. He has represented the United States at the pre- world paragliding competition in Brazil in 2004. He also coached the US Paragliding National Team in Valle De Bravo Mexico in 2009, Spain in 2011, and Bulgaria in 2013.
Rob was a certified EMT for 6 years, and a member of Santa Barbara Search and Rescue team.
Paul Murdoch
Paul dreamed of flying at an early age, trying skydiving and various ultralights. His first taste of foot launched free flight was in the mid ‘90s. Since then he has focused on paragliding, primarily XC and competitions. Paul has his tandem instructor rating.
Much of Paul’s flying career has involved landowner relations and insurance coverage. Initially this was focused on the Southern Oregon region, then expanded to a national focus in 2014 when Paul was elected as a USHPA Director at Large and Vice President. Currently USHPA President, Paul has helped navigate the path to self-insurance. A critical part of a successful transition will be risk mitigation and self-regulation. PASA will play a very important role in the process.
Paul lives within a short XC flight from Woodrat in Southern Oregon. Paul and his wife maintain a business and farm in Jacksonville, within site of launch.