SAFA Skysailor Magazine

34 SKY SAILOR May | June 2021 AIRS #1450 – PG landing in sea-breeze front Finally, one involving yours truly. In #1450, after 80 minutes of flying in thermic conditions at Winton, I noticed my ground speed was reduced and realised this was the expected sea-breeze coming through. At Winton this can often present as a wall of air frequently exceeding 20kt, so I headed over the LZ to lose height to land. At 10m off the ground, on finals in turbulent and gusty conditions, my heading was pushed 45 degrees downwind. I made the decision not to correct my heading at the risk of over- correcting or the potential for collapse at low level, landing and rolling onto my right side. No injury or damage resulted. The advice from Luke Denniss is that paraglider pilots experiment with brake inputs whilst ground handling to de- termine the effect of increasing brake pressure and recognise the warning signs of stall and spin points. Something I will be doing when an opportunity presents itself. Let’s scoot over to WA next AIRS #1430 – PG RC mid-air A paraglider pilot found themselves on the receiving end of a radio-controlled glider’s attention. They had launched at Bunbury and became aware of the RC glider 250m ahead of them while heading south. As they approached the point of the controller in a carpark below, they lost sight of it and turned to the north. The glider then struck the pilot in the back and fell to the ground. The RC operator became abusive, and the PG pilot turned to the south, heading towards Dalyellup. No damage or injury. As a result of this incident, the local PG and HG club will meet with the local model airplane club to reach agreements around flying in this area, and the RC operator ensuring their members observe proper flying rules and etiquette. Rory at Sharppoint Albany, WA Photo: Sylvie Hlavaty AIRS #1364 – Powered HG related complaint This involves a complaint made by a member of the public to CASA about ‘powered hang gliders’ operating at low level at Cottesloe Beach (WA). An investigation revealed that these were not powered hang gliders at all, but that one of them had a small ‘glide assist’ electric motor fitted. HGPAWA advise pilots to avoid the area north of the Groyne at Cottesloe when the area is crowded. SAFA Opera- tions will review the definition of powered hang gliders in the Operations Manual so as not to capture hang gliders fitted with small electric glide assist motors. A selection of vegetative encounters We have quite a few landings in trees and brushes with vegetation to tick off, so we’ll go back in time and work our way forwards through these. AIRS #1154 – PG failed launch A PG pilot was on launch at The Paps (near Mansfield, Vic) waiting for a cycle to come straight up the face, as thermals were kicking off in the adjacent bowl, causing launch to be crossed from the right at times, and they had been timing the cycles for some time. PIC saw a cycle generating in trees in front of launch and come straight up the face, building gradually. PIC pulled wing up straight, launched into strong lift and was plucked off ground under control, but with no forward penetration. PIC landed on their feet in the same spot, hands up, and decided for a positive run to gain forward speed, but encountered minimal lift as forward speed was gained down slope towards the trees. The pilot then turned slightly left to where trees were lower as they were not going to clear the trees in front and instead steered for the lowest point in trees, remained hands up to generate as much energy to try and get a final pop/lift over trees, and then went deep on brakes to try and flare the harness over the trees. This did not work as the bottom of harness clipped the trees as the wing surged. PIC caught the surge and went down through the tree-tops vertically, finishing on a branch three metres from the ground. The pilot climbed the tree and recovered the damaged glider. Timing launch on a thermic day is important. Launching too late in a cycle will leave you in dead or sinky air. If there are obstacles in front of launch such as here, it may be best to abort the launch and wait for another cycle, rather than push on and run the risk of a tree landing. This can be a common occurrence at the south launch at this site. Site briefings where the potential for this exists should outline the hazard and stress the options to take if a launch late in the cycle is experienced. AIRS #1188 – Snagged PG A PG pilot was on launch at Sunnyside (Vic). Wind direction and strength appeared suitable to launch, although some lulls were apparent. Other pilots launched around the same time, and when timed correctly they got lift and flew away from launch. PIC launched, however, mistimed between lulls, and flew away from launch as a lull and slight wind direction change came through. They misjudged their distance to the terrain, and the harness hit the bushes causing an unex- pected and unplanned landing. One brake line was broken during wing extraction operations. No injury. Again, care needs to be taken in the timing of launch. Avoid lulls when there may not be adequate lift. Only turn when you AIRS Safety Wrap-up