SAFA Skysailor Magazine

64 SKY SAILOR September-October-November | SPRING 2025 AIRS Safety Wrap-up – Spring 2025 by Iain Clarke – SAFA Safety Management Officer Here we are with the Spring issue. For those subject to Winter hibernation, Spring brings excitement, looking forward to the coming season. There’s plenty of stuff to do though before getting in the air: • Check your gear! Has your wing or harness sustained some unobserved damage or wear? • Has your reserve parachute been lofted and repacked? • Do your instruments need updating? • Have you been ground-handling recently? • Have you been keeping track of the weather patterns? Remember that spring is characterised with very blustery conditions and very variable gusts. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t fly! • Are you ready to fly? How’s your health and fitness? As we get older, we need to pay closer attention to these aspects. I haven’t flown since May, so I’ll be out ground-handling soon, now that I’m over the dose of influenza A my wife and I copped recently. Lurking behind it all in my mind is the very recent death of my father. I’m pretty good at blocking such concerns out and focusing solely on aviating; but it is there, so needs to be considered. Anyway, enough of me. The question I have for you is: How ready are you? Remember the IMSAFE acronym? Have a look at the Fitness To Fly: I’m Safe graphic and see if you’re fit to fly. Now, on with the AIRS reports. We’ll start off by going back in time first, and then jump forward to the most recently processed reports. #1677 – PG breach of flying zone, Cooks Terrace Mona Vale, NSW PIC was witnessed flying inside an ex- clusion zone at Cooks Terrace (NSW). PIC was approached by a club SSO and briefed on the zone and its boundaries and asked if they were a SAFA member, to which they replied in the affirmative, then departed. A later check revealed that they were in fact non-financial and had previously