SAFA Skysailor Magazine

34 SKY SAILOR March | April 2023 AIRS Safety Wrap-up – February 2023 by Iain Clarke – SAFA Safety Management Officer Greetings fellow pilots. I’m going to lead-off this issue’s wrap-up with a couple of reminders. Firstly, always wear appropriate footwear and gloves when undertaking flying activities. A few of our safety personnel have comment- ed recently on new pilots arriving on the hill in footwear that does not offer much protection. You really need something good and solid that secures above the ankle. It is all too easy to damage your feet and ankles on rough ground when launching and landing. Good footwear will afford a measure of protection. Gloves are particularly important for paragliding. The last thing I want to see is a report where someone has been ‘degloved’. This is a particularly nasty injury, where a line gets wrapped around an arm, hand or finger, is pulled tight cutting into the flesh, and under tension strips flesh and muscle from the trapped arm/hand/finger. I would not recommend you go looking for pictures of this injury on the web – there are things you cannot unsee… Do us all a favour and get some gloves. If, like me, you lack manual dexterity, get some fingerless yachting gloves. These last for years (mine are over 10 years old) and are very robust. They leave just the fingertips exposed, so handling risers and lines is very easy, while leaving you well protected. The next reminder is about AIRS, specifically what it is, and what it isn’t. AIRS is our Accident and Incident Reporting System. It is used as a tool to collect informa- tion on accidents and incidents so that we can all learn from these events so that hopefully, others can avoid falling into similar traps. What it is not is a device to whack people about the head for making a mistake or getting caught out. That said, if someone is willfully negligent or conducts themselves in an unlawful manner, there are consequences. When should you report? If you are involved in an accident or incident, or have a near-miss, regardless of how trivial it may seem, we want to get a report. If you see something and you are not sure if the other pilot will report, then put in a report. This is particularly the case if one of the people involved is in the back of an ambu- lance. I can handle multiple reports for the same event; it’s not a problem. What is a problem is no report at all coming in for an event. Have a look at Section 2.3 of the SAFA Operations Manual (V20211006) for more information. There is a User Guide for AIRS in the Doc- uments section of the Member’s Area of the SAFA website; look under User Guides. And so, we turn to this issues reports. We’ll start off with some recent events and then jump back in time. #1759 – PG incident at Stanwell Tops A low-hours PG2 pilot launched their paraglider from Bald Hill, Stanwell Park (NSW). PIC had been searching for lift, but instead was sinking out. PIC delayed the decision to head for a safe landing, and as a result, collided with a tree on the extreme edge of the LZ. No damage or injury. Pilots must allow a safety margin to make a safe landing. If the search for lift does not meet with success, ensure you can reach a landing