SAFA Skysailor Magazine

66 SKY SAILOR September-October-November | SPRING 2025 regarding the Exclusion Zone in force at Cook’s Terrace. #1696 – PG incident 18/06/22, Stringybark Qld/S PIC was flying in a Queensland PG Cham- pionship task from the Stringybark site at Derrymore near Toowoomba (Qld/S). Conditions were light and pilots were scratching for lift along the ridge at an elevation no higher than launch. PIC was heading low along the ridge in a northerly direction when they caught a little lift, about 50-100m to the north of launch. PIC turned right (south) in the lift, but the wing appeared to collapse (first one side of the wing, then the other) and the pilot fell onto the ridge. The fall height looked to be between 10 and 20m. PIC reported they were turning in a small amount of lift, but had turned harder than they would have liked to avoid another pilot coming along the ridge in the opposite direction, when they felt the wing collapse. PIC was evacuated by helicopter to a Brisbane hospital with unstable vertebrae fractures not requiring surgical intervention. No neurological damage associated with the fractures. Pilots are reminded to use moderate brake inputs in light conditions when at low elevations. Be prepared for the unexpected. #1740 – Failed PG launch, Vic PIC was attending a thermal clinic at Bright (Vic). On the second flight of the day, they lofted their paraglider in a reverse launch, turned and proceeded with the launch, but the wing had overshot them. The leading edge collapsed, resulting in the wing de- flating and falling slightly behind the pilot. Rather than abort the launch, PIC jumped into their harness, tumbling through the crushed rock in front and rolling a further AIRS Safety Wrap-up