The Southern Eagles Soaring made a formal complaint to the local FAA
FSDO in ATL concerning the LaGrange-Callaway airport(LGC)restricting
glider flying to weekends only and unwillingness to rent hangars to
club members.

The LGC board claimed to the FAA that these restrictions are in the
interest to safety.

The FAA told the airport authority that they could not restrict the
gliders from operating on weekdays and that they also must rent us
hangars. We are still attempting to accomplish the latter. The FSDO
further directed the club and the airport board to *jointly* draft
glider operating procedures at LGC. To this end, the airport board
refused to communicate with the club and unilaterally implemented
procedures that, although allows gliders to fly any day of the week,
created other restrictions to glider operations which, in effect, make
it damn difficult to fly at all. The FSDO (in all its bureaucratic
ineptitude) took the word of the airport manager that the glider club
was involved in the derivation of the rules, and approved the rules(in
writing). When apprised of being misled, the FSDO did agree to hear
the glider club's concerns about specific rules. But in the end, the
FAA did not change what they had already approved under a false
assumption of mutual agreement.

The most disconcerting and onerous rule is that the glider club must
post a person posessing at least a private pilot rating at the
intersection of the airport's crossing runways to observe for any
landing or departing traffic and give an "all clear" radio call before
a glider tow can commence take off. Keep in mind that LGC is an
uncontrolled airport. Also realize that SES is a small club and that
it is normally difficult to schedule a tow pilot and have a wing
runner, much less now have to need for someone to bake in the sun all
day standing at the intersecting runways. As far as the need for such
an observer, there was a grand total of seven(7) non-glider flights
all day at the airport last Saturday.

The airport manager claims the need for the observer is for safety
(note that no such need existed when we only flew on the weekends).
We made the point that I.A.W. the Airport Assurances Agreement that
LGC is bound for accepting federal money that all aviation activity is
be allowed to operate on the same fair and reasonable terms without
discrimination. No other operator at LGC is required to post an
observer in order to operate at LGC. Not a single accident or incident
been attributed to the operation of gliders during the six and
one-half years the SES has been flying at LGC. At no time did any
representative of the FAA come down to observe glider operations
before approving these procedures.

Does anyone out there in the glider community have any experience with
this sort of situation? Where do we go from now? We sincerely
request any information or guidance in this matter. Private responses
(if so desired) may be addressed to:

Responses alluding to the need to negotiate or get along are not
necessary as such tactics have been tried and exhausted. This has
been an ongoing concern since 1998 when the airport board notified the
club by official letter that they "decided unanimously to terminate
glider operations at LGC". The club has since tried every conceivable
way to educate the airport authority about our operations and convince
them that we do not constitute a hazard to other aviation activity at
LGC to no avail. Now it seems we can't convince the FAA of that,
either. Help!