SAFA Skysailor Magazine

33 July | August 2022 SKY SAILOR Greetings fellow pilots. Snow is blanketing the mountain down here in SMO land, and all I can do is look with longing at weather conditions in other places on Windy. That and assemble this issue’s safety messages for your attention. In looking through my board of reports, I’m noticing a lot of reports involving trees and vegetation. We’ll go through chronologically, dealing with the ‘what happened’ and finish up with the learnings and rehash some advice from 2019. AIRS #1139 – PG at Flowerdale, Emergency landing, broken wrist PIC was flying their paraglider at Three Sisters/ Flowerdale (Vic) and following the right-side protocol whilst ridge-soaring. PIC lost more height than expected while flying over a gully and then spotted a large, dead tree in their immediate path that they could not avoid. In an attempt to do so, they made a left turn, planning to fly over a fallen dead treetop to land on the slope. Instead, they snagged a dead branch and impacted the terrain resulting in a fractured wrist. AIRS #1424 – PG accident at Spion, 20-01-2021 PIC was flying their paraglider at Spion Kop (Vic), a site they are very familiar with, in a light southerly breeze. They were traversing a ridge line that enters a bowl where there is a reliable source of lift. Pilot did some turns to gain height and was momentarily distracted by some people sitting close on the ridge. The harness clipped the top of a tree and the wing continued forward, pulling PIC free of the tree and then, by pendulum action, into the terrain. The pilot sustained a number of injuries (minor to moderate fractures) and was extract- ed by emergency services. AIRS #1489 – PG tree landing, Qld/S PIC arrived on launch at Rosin’s Lookout (Beechmont, Qld/S), with a new (for them) second-hand wing for its first flight. Conditions on arrival were too strong, so PIC waited for several hours observing the conditions evolve. At around midday, there were two other pilots in the air and PIC judged the conditions suitable for them to launch. The wind at this stage was slightly crossed from the south. They launched in smooth air but rather than fly north to take the bowl better suited for the southerly com- ponent, they headed south and into rotored air off the next ridge. The wing lost pressure and the brakes became unresponsive. The wing pitched back, and PIC went hands-up, preparing for a surge. The wing then took an asymmetric tuck on the left side and fell back again. By this stage, PIC was in the tree canopy; they have grabbed a branch and secured themselves, then made a radio call for assistance. AIRS #1490 – Corryong PG tree landing PIC was on launch with their paraglider at Mt Elliot (NE Vic). After a couple of failed launch attempts, they walked over their own brake line after bundling up and preparing for another launch. This was not detected on the final launch, resulting in a severely fouled brake line and a glider that was essentially not control- lable. Attempts at maintaining straight flight resulted in a flat spin into nearby shrubbery. AIRS #1528 – PG crash landing in a tree The PIC launched from Gerrards look-out near Montville (Qld/S) and flew towards Conondale AIRS Safety Wrap-up – July 2022 by Iain Clarke – SAFA Safety Management Officer