SAFA Skysailor Magazine

28 SKY SAILOR September | October 2019 R ecently we’ve had a case where a pilot failed to be accounted for at a popular inland site. The pilot was known to have been on site, but at the end of the day, others thought the pilot must have headed into town. It was not until the following day that folk realised the pilot was not around, and something was amiss. Sadly, this did not end well. Historically, again in Australia, we’ve had a case where a pilot came to grief on an XC, and only when it was noted that his car remained in the launch site carpark for several days that the alarm was raised. For those who’ve not heard of Scotty Marion, do a Google search. Looking back to when hang- and paragliding started, weekends were sacred, the whole commu- nity was built around clubs. As a group, pilots would meet at a designated location, the sky gods would declare the best site to go to and the group would car-pool to that location. Hang gliding and paraglid- ing was a shared experience, a typical Saturday would be spent flying with your mates. Great times. Now, it seems things are different: ➲ ➲ The nature of work is different, requiring some to be on call, work during the weekend, FIFO, and other pilots are retired. The weekend is no longer sacred. ➲ ➲ Some pilots want to progress beyond weekend flying and fly when conditions are right for high performance XC – meaning they often end up flying alone. ➲ ➲ Some pilots live far from cities with an active flying club. Fair enough, there are valid reasons as to why pilots might end up flying alone, but before commit- ting to that mode of flying, let’s look at the benefits of flying with a buddy: ➲ ➲ It’s just more fun – a shared experience en- hances the experience for all. ➲ ➲ It’s safer – should you get into trouble through even something minor, like bombing out in an area that takes time to get back from, flying with a buddy means someone knows where you are, what’s happened and (usually) what you are going to do about it. ➲ ➲ Response time – flying with a buddy means that if things go very wrong, there’s someone who can come to your immediate aid. The immediate response could be the difference between…well, you know. ➲ ➲ It’s similar to flying in a gaggle – pilots flying together can go further XC as they can use each other for marking thermals, etc. ➲ ➲ It could save your life! That’s the main reason SCUBA divers have this practice so deeply ingrained in their sport’s culture. “All well and good, but it’s on, and I want to go flying and no buddies are available…” If you can’t go flying with a buddy, there are some alternative actions you can take to make your flying safer. This applies equally to PG, HG, PPG, PHG, nanos and microlights. ➲ ➲ Leave a flight note with a responsible person – flight notes are used by other forms of aviation, a copy of the AMSA flight note form is on the SAFA website. Leaving a flight note provides the information emergency services may need in order to find you if you get into trouble. ➲ ➲ Use a tracker, (Spot, Garmin Inreach, etc.) – along with the flight note info, you can also use a tracker and provide details on the flight note form on how to access the tracking info. That way, if emergency services need to find you, they have information on where you are. ➲ ➲ Use a PLB (Personal Location Beacon) or EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) – this is a cheaper option than a tracker, but once activated provides a way that emergency services can find you if you are in trouble. However, a PLB relies on you keeping the contact information logged with AMSA up to date, and it assumes you are able to activate the beacon. Some fixed installation EPIRBs will activate on sensing an impact, but won’t always trigger. ➲ ➲ Carry and use a radio and/or a phone – this is an option, but assumes you will have reception and are able to operate it. We have accident reports in the database of pilots who have flown alone and had an accident, and it’s taken a long time to find them. We have accident reports where we’re sure that if the pilot could have made contact with others s/he would not have perished. We also have accident reports where a pilot got into trouble, then used some of the technology solutions above and changed a serious situation into an event that could be easily managed. The message we want to convey to you is: Fly with a buddy. If you can’t fly with a buddy, then use the technology solutions above. Right: Leaving a flight note provides the information emergency services may need in order to find you Fly with a Buddy It’s not written in the Ops Manual, or a club site guide. CASA provides no ruling on it, yet most SAFA members follow this golden rule. What is it? It’s simple: Fly with a buddy. by Peter Allen, SAFA’s Projects Officer Hike & fly Stubai valley, Austria Photo: Dominic Colville