SAFA Skysailor Magazine

43 March | April 2022 SKY SAILOR strength dropped momentarily, their harness came into contact with vegetation, snagging and causing PIC to make an unintended landing. No injury or damage. Pilots are reminded that they need to give themselves a wide safety margin when flying close to terrain in light to variable wind speeds. AIRS #1566 – Training Slope Landing Accident PIC was under instruction and making a landing on a training slope in NE Victoria. They lost their footing in the long grass on touchdown, twisting a leg and rupturing that leg’s patella tendon. When landing, keep the legs bent ready to absorb impact and roll if footing is lost; long grass can hide surface undulations. Pilots are advised to wear appropriate footwear for our activities. PIC was wearing shoes and it is uncertain if boots would have made a difference in this case, however, the advice remains relevant. We’ll finish the Victorian reports on the coast. AIRS #1478 – Accident at Cape Liptrap PIC (HG-Supervised) was flying their ‘floater’ hang glider in company at Cape Liptrap (Vic). At the briefing prior to flight, mention was made of the need to use caution due to the direction of the wind – west, not ideal – and the possibility of rotor behind headlands; the dangers of landing in the sea; potential landing options; and the landing approach for top-landing at launch, as per normal site operations. Pilots launched in 18kt with compression requiring a lot of bar pressure to penetrate. Pilots were not flying with radios. After about 5-10 minutes, PIC was observed to head towards the lighthouse bowl, at what a witness judged to be insufficient height to make the return crossing. They were then observed to make soaring passes in an effort to gain altitude, before being seen to head back before getting low, north of the lighthouse, and landing in low scrub some way back from the ridge. PIC was not observed emerging from beneath the wing. The other pilots landed but took some 20 minutes before reaching the pilot, by which stage they had unclipped their harness from the wing. The downtubes had been bent some 90 degrees but there was no other damage. PIC explained they had decided to land and had been hit by a gust and dumped in from 4m agl in the process of doing so. PIC complained of a sore hip and chest. An ambulance was called, but PIC was airlifted to hospital with suspected fractured hip and sternum. PIC did not have an ambulance subscription or insurance. All pilots are advised to pay attention to briefings and particularly note any hazards that are identified. Take extreme caution to not place yourself in harm’s way by venturing into areas known to be affected by rotor, and do not extend the range of your flight into areas where your equipment may not allow for an easy return. The carriage and use of radios by all pilots involved may well have prevented this accident from occurring. Up to NSW… AIRS #1565 – PG reserve deployment PIC was flying their paraglider from Mt Blackheath (NSW). Conditions were described