SAFA Skysailor Magazine

33 SPRING 2025 | September-October-November SKY SAILOR I am blessed to have an acre of clear yard out front, and a low scrubby hill behind our place in Parkes. I love living here, and so do a family of lovely, docile kangaroos and a few wallabies. Knowing the value of ground-handling for a new pilot, recently I thought I’d get the wing out after work one arvo and do some practice. The front yard was clear but for a single roo and half grown joey grazing peacefully away up in the corner. I had barely got the wing up over my head when I noticed in my periph- eral vision, the roo haring along straight towards me. Incredulous, I quickly dropped the wing back onto the ground and braced for certain impact. At the last second the roo changed course and started jumping all over my wing as if trying to kill it – hissing and growling, sounds I didn’t know roos even made. Once it was happy that it had rendered whatever it thought the wing was, com- pletely lifeless and still, it went to hop away and got all tangled up in the lines and started dragging me off towards the bush. Fortunately, it quickly got free and hopped away, leaving me just staring after it, jaw on the ground. What had just happened? I can only surmise it was a very protective mother, or else, a young buck trying to prove his manliness. Checking the sex of the attacker was not high on my priorities at the time. Now my lovely, virtually un- marked new wing is a mud-stained old looking wing with 12 roo-foot-sized, sticky tape patched holes in it! Anger over the damage only just surpassed my frustration at not having a video of the incident so there was no chance anyone would believe me when I tell them. Beware the hidden dangers of ground-handling! Back in the air, 12 sticky plasters later – eat your heart out Norman Gunston!