SAFA Skysailor Magazine

53 SPRING 2026 | September-October-November SKY SAILOR does not effectively prevent rule violations, it mainly relies on communications after a breach has occurred. These communi- cations/interactions can often be negative and confrontational, which does not help building a positive safety culture. Early communication protects pilots and sites At Wicked Wings, we protect our pilots and sites by providing information directly when it becomes relevant. One important club rule is that pilots have to announce their intention to fly a site on the club chat before flying – ideally, a day before. The club secretary then immediately provides information about the most important access rules on the group chat – especially when new pilots join us or it’s been a long time since the rules have been posted. We respect memory limitations in our communications. [6] Although we have 10 access rules for Ma Ma Creek, only the three most important ones are posted, to ensure they are being followed, others are explained later as they become relevant. This principle also applies to site brief- ings: Before each briefing, we focus on the most relevant items (depending on the Expecting pilots to be able to follow all club and site rules after reading them can be challenging: 1. The number of rules a pilot has to remember has increased for a whole range of reasons, including evolving community, regulatory, safety, and stakeholder expectations. Rules for accessing a site can span more than a full page. Our flying site at Ma Ma Creek is a good example: We started with one landowner rule, but now have to observe 10 rules. Research shows we only remember a limited amount of information, estimates range from seven chunks of information, such as written words [1] , to even fewer visual objects such as landing zones [2,3] . Given we often ask pilots to remember more than 10 things, even the most conscientious pilot will not be able to remember some of these. 2. Memory is not permanent. We are all prone to forgetting things. According to the Ebbinghaus For- getting Curve, we forget up to 50% of information within 24 hours, and up to 90% of information within a month if we do not review or use it. [4,5]