SAFA Skysailor Magazine

24 SKY SAILOR November | December 2019 Okay, now what? There are a number of instructors in Australia who conduct SIV courses – indeed, the instructor you learnt with may be one of them. And of course, you could head overseas where arguably there are many more schools to choose from. Personally, I would be cautious of doing my first SIV overseas, but that’s up to you. Following are the sorts of questions I would ask myself today if I was con- templating SIV for the first time: ➲ ➲ Which instructor am I going to choose? Ask around as there should be a few pilots on launch who have done a SIV course in recent times and who can talk about their experience. I would want to do my SIV course with an instructor and crewwho work well as a team and have my interests and safety as their overarching concern and priority. ➲ ➲ What sort of personality will I be dealing with? I for one want an instructor who remains calm and in control when under stress. Let me assure you, SIV is stressful for the instructor and the crew, mainly because until you have completed a SIV course with them, you are an unknown quantity. As for me, when things aren’t going quite to plan and my stress levels are going through the roof, I don’t need an instructor screaming down the radio at me. What I need is a calming voice, someone who clearly recognises what is going on with my wing, and who can give me very clear direction to cut through the fog. ➲ ➲ Where/how did the instructor learn SIV? In the very early days of the sport, instructors were pretty much self-taught. That was fine back then, but today I would be looking for an instructor who received formal training and was mentored by a more experienced SIV instructor. If they are learn- ing on the job, then you are the guinea pig. ➲ ➲ How many SIV courses has the instructor conducted and how frequently are these held? I am after an instructor who runs a couple of courses a year and is therefore maintaining cur- rency. ➲ ➲ How remote is the site of the course from the nearest emergency services? If you did have an accident requiring medical care, how long might it realistically take emergency services to get to the scene of the accident? Does the instructor have a written medical emergency plan? Are the crew trained in basic first aid? Is there a crew member with more advanced first aid or medical skills? Is there a comprehensive first aid kit readily available? Is there a spinal board on the tow boat? Your obligations Once you have decided on an instructor and are about to book in, pause for a moment and think about your obligations as a pilot to the instructor. ➲ ➲ Your equipment should be in good order. Equipment including harness, reserve and paraglider that are close to their use by date may not handle the stresses of SIV. How old are your carabiners and what sort of condition are they in? Changing them periodically is very good insurance ➲ ➲ Your reserve should have been repacked within the past 12 months. It should be correctly mounted and you should have practised throwing it before the SIV course. ➲ ➲ You should be flying a paraglider commensurate with your experience level. If you are a novice pilot then the expectation is that you are flying an EN-A or low EN-B wing. I have seen enough pilots on SIV with a wing well above their expe- rience level. It quickly becomes obvious that the pilot simply cannot control the wing, usually because their reactions and inputs are way to slow compared to what the wing is doing.