SAFA Skysailor Magazine

28 SKY SAILOR March | April 2021 Greetings fellow pilots and welcome to 2021. I want to start off with a request. A few of our AIRS Managers are noting that some pilots appear to deliberately downplay the nature of some of the incidents being reported. Reports run contrary to what was actually observed occurring either by the AIRS Manager themselves, or by other witnesses. We ask you all to be honest in your reporting – you won’t get into strife and everybody will benefit from a full understanding of the circumstances. As is usual for this time of the year, pilots are out and about, and we have a steady flow of reports coming in. Our AIRS Managers are working through their reviews of these, but in this issue we are going to clear some of the backlog of older reports awaiting your perusal. We’ll follow the reports clockwise around the country. Starting with Queensland First up to North Queensland and AIRS #1142. PIC was under instruction, flying from Mt Inkerman near Townsville. PIC was familiar with the site and was heading to the LZ. The pilot decided to land closer to the road rather than make full use of the landing paddock. While setting up for landing, the pilot took measures to avoid trees 30 to 40m away, but then hit sink and light turbulence at 6m agl. The pilot landed stiff-legged, and a fractured tibia and fibula resulted. PIC was taken to Ayr Hospital, has since made a full recovery and is about to complete their course. Consideration needs to be given to any decision to prefer a convenient landing over a safer landing location. Sometimes convenience does not win out and the desire to avoid a long walk may result in just that, but not in the way expected. Pilots, particularly student pilots, are advised to wear suitable footwear for our sport and the terrain at locations. Specialised footwear for para- and hang gliding is available. AIRS #1010 sees us further south at Beechmont. PIC has launched their paraglider and was in flight on the way to the designated LZ. During the flight, the pilot experienced sudden sink and was confronted with a choice of colliding with a tree, a powerline or change direction. PIC applied right brake to turn while at 10 to 15m agl. Once parallel with the trees, the pilot experienced a sudden loss of altitude with minimal amount of brake applied on both sides at 8 to 12m agl and fell to the ground. Resulting injury was a damaged L2 vertebra. Extreme care needs to be exercised when setting up for a landing in the proximity of tree lines. Falling into wind shadow or lee-side turbulence is a real risk. Always try to AIRS Safety Wrap-up – February 2021 by Iain Clarke – SAFA Safety Management Officer