First, a pilot is killed the day before the meet. This does not
put everyone is a pleasant forward looking mood, a mood which you really need to
be able to battle with the elements (heat and wind) here. Certain
individuals need to carry the psychic load for the competition and they were
missing in action due to the pilot's death.
Second, the many enemies of hang gliding (GA business interests here at the
Tocumwal airfield) had worn down the meet organizer over the last year with
their constant negativity and they only increased the intensity of their battle
to close down hang gliding here in the last week.
Third, the heat. The temperatures have averaged between five and nine degrees
(Celsius) above normal over the
last week. Twelve degrees above average over the last week was reported on
television for the Riverina (that's where we are). Eight today and nine
tomorrow.
Fourth, abnormally high humidity. There were numerous days with abnormally high
humidity leading to towering cu's and over development, especially on the last
two days.
Fifth, north and northeast winds. The normal winds are out of the south and
cooler. The north winds pushed us up against the Victorian Alps 100 kilometers
to the south. We were more restricted in our task calling then would have been
the case otherwise. This may have lead to one day being called when it shouldn't
have been.
Sixth, marginal or slightly stronger winds than we were psychologically prepared
to deal with. With the early pilot's death in somewhat windy conditions we were
generally gun shy and not gung ho to go out and get in the air when it was a bit
rowdy and perhaps more dangerous.
Seventh, a safety committee that took its job very very seriously (too serious for my
tastes) and succumbed to the psychology of the moment rather than looking
empirically at the wind strength issues. The high temperatures caused them to
evaluate the conditions as more dangerous than when it was cooler (with the same
winds). One member of the safety committee even said that this was a valid
response on their part. I feel that the safety committee should be seen and not heard.
Eighth, the meet organizer and meet director were the same person, and while
this has worked for her in the past, it was, in my humble opinion, too much,
given the vast array of forces aimed against her. It would have been better for
her to concentrate on the organizational issues and let someone else deal with
the meet direction. She was unable to keep her composure given all the pressures
on her. Just having another individual in charge would have helped everyone,
especially her.
Ninth, some pilots did not act fully responsibly. They need to refrain from
acting out their feelings and putting them on the meet director. If you can't
handle the conditions because you are too hot, that's your problem, not hers.
Tenth, on one day the safety committee said the day was fine, but some
unofficial actors got to feeling that they could determine the course of the
meet and persuade the meet officials that the day had to be called without a
safety reason. It never was clear why the day was actually called.
Eleventh, we started in a hole and a black mood and we needed to climb out of
that hole on the very first day. Or the night before the very first day. We
needed active participants willing to pump up the mood to get us all aligned
with our better natures and our active competitive selves.
In spite of these significant problems, we did have a reasonable meet. There
were only very minor dramas at the air field. One pilot who got too close to the
storms had to throw his chute, but he and his glider ended up fine. We were able
to land in gust fronts without killing anyone.
We had strong tasks and flew on four days and could easily have flown on seven
days. The facilities here are great and provided much comfort to the pilots. The
journey to the runways was minor and it was easy to setup and break down if
necessary and get back to creature comforts. Zupy handled the scoring with ease.
There were plenty of volunteers and launch officials, and the launching went
smoothly.
We were able to mix easily and professionally with the glider traffic and other
airport traffic (which was very minor). It was easy to stay away from the no fly
zone in the power plane pattern. The lift was strong and fully packed and we
were able to get to reasonable height on many days. The remote start circles
worked fine. The remote virtual goals worked fine. We had nice territories to
fly over and often good conditions in fly in.
The sailplane and hang glider pilots got along well and there was lots of
activity at the Bomber Bar and Restaurant. This is a great venue for a hang
glider comp and we proved that it could work well at a large glider port and
general aviation field. The tugs had a large hangar to stay in over night. The
glider people, both those who work here, and those who came to fly here, seemed
to learn a lot about hang gliding and enjoy it.
We plan to be back next year and assume that the problems that I have addressed
above will be taken care of by then (if not sooner). I'd like to see sixty to
hundred pilots here for a super competition (Australian Nationals).
Front page of the San Diego Union today was an article titled "Crosswinds and a
crash landing" with a picture of a guy paragliding and reporters interviewing
Dave Jebb. Turns out the crash landing was a bumpy landing in a balloon but to
those who only look at headlines and pictures the implication is obvious.
Up to one hundred of the finest paragliding pilots in the country
will meet in Sun Valley, Idaho, August 27 – September 2 to fly the skies high
over the Sawtooth Mountains and compete for the title of US National Champion.
Regarding the lawsuit that our neighbors brought attempting to
shut down the flight park. As of last week, the Wayne County Supreme Court
Judge, threw the suit OUT OF COURT! Siting a few responses to the neighbors.
In a nut shell he found the neighbors to be unreasonable. Consequently, we are
FREE AT LAST!! As a result the news has been getting around like wild fire and
YES!! we are going to have a fly in this year as well as the "Marty Party". The
actual date has not been selected as of today, however, we do anticipate
sometime after August 15th but before Labor Day.
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The Oz Report, a near-daily, world wide hang gliding news ezine, with reports on competitions, pilot rankings, political issues, fly-ins, the latest technology, ultralight sailplanes, reader feedback and anything else from within the global HG community worthy of coverage. Hang gliding, paragliding, hang gliders, paragliders, aerotowing, hang glide, paraglide, platform towing, competitions, fly-ins. Hang gliding and paragliding news from around the world, by Davis Straub.
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