SAFA Skysailor Magazine

28 SKY SAILOR July | August 2021 occurred, resulting in a hard impact onto the beach in a seated position, despite attempting to transition to a landing position. Injuries were compression fractures of T11/T12 and a fracture of S1. There is the possibility that a slight westerly influence was in play here, as other pilots had made the same flight over to the next bowl and returned without incident. All pilots should be aware that there is the possibility of rotor off the small headland to the west of launch when a westerly is in play. A couple of reports from Mt Broughton, north of Melbourne. AIRS #1207 – Single skin wing ding… A PG2 pilot arrived at Mt Broughton with an unrated, single-skin hike and fly wing. They made a number of flights from the training slope before heading to the summit. They launched into S to SSE winds, made the LZ, but had been scratching to clear trees. They went back up to launch and launched again, taking a more south-westerly route. They did not use a thermal that was encountered and headed for the LZ. Passing over a gully, they encountered sink, realised they would not make the LZ and landed in a gully 100m short of the LZ. Damage to the wing was sustained. The pilot had failed to identify themselves as a PG2. Unrated wings are not suitable for operations by PG2 pilots, and single-skin wings have some flight characteristics that make them unsuitable for low-hours pilots lacking the skills or judgement required. This is especially so when flying a site they are not familiar with, and even more so when the wind is off the ideal wind direction for this site, which is SW. AIRS #1236 – Flying into the hill PIC (PG2) was on their second flight of the day. On their previous flight they had been thermalling and felt quite at ease in that type of flight. After forward launching, the pilot headed towards some eagles in a thermal when they encountered another thermal. The pilot turned into the thermal without realising they did not have adequate sepa- ration from a hill. The prevailing wind pushed them further towards the hill. They applied brake to avoid a collision, but were then heading towards a tree. The PIC applied more right brake, lost height and impacted the hill, landing heavily on their back protection. After assistance arrived and after resting, the witness was satisfied the pilot was uninjured, they started to develop some back and neck pain, but were able to drive themselves home. Thermalling is a thrilling aspect of our operations, but pilots must retain their situational awareness and ensure that they have sufficient horizontal and vertical separation, and taking into account the wind strength and direction before committing to flying in the core. Fly Figure-8 patterns to gain altitude and always turn away from terrain. Once there is adequate separation, circling in the core will be safely possible. As always, if any back or neck injury is suspected, remain immobile and seek medical assistance. Let’s head west to Gordon, near Ballarat. AIRS 1385 – Landing in lee PIC was a PG2 pilot at the time of this incident and was conducting their second flight at this site. On this flight their radio had ceased to function, rendering communications with other pilots impossible. After flying for about 90 minutes, the wing strength had increased, and PIC was using big-ears and speedbar to maintain penetration and stay in front of the hill. The wind continued to strengthen which was not forecast, and the pilot found themselves being pushed behind the hill. They decided to turn and run towards a landing (there is a no-landing zone in the vicinity of the hill), were hit by rotor and took an asymmetric collapse before landing safely. No damage or injury. AIRS Safety Wrap-up Photo: Mike Long