Executive Repor ts Selected Accident & Incident Summaries from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 These summaries are a selection taken from members reports supplied via the NZHGPA reporting system AIRS. How to report an accident or incident What to report? You must report as soon as practical anything that is defined as an “Accident” by CAA rules. That is anything that caused significant damage or serious injuries while the aircraft is being used. Club safety officers and other pilots can help out here by reporting even basic information about an accident for pilots that are unable to do it themselves. We also want reports for incidents or accidents that aren’t so serious. The biggest benefit comes from the reporting of the smaller incidents and near misses. How small? Well, if good luck is all that saved you from an accident then it’s probably worth reporting. Your personal details will be kept confidential.
How? To make a report go to the NZHGPA website and click on ”Safety”. www.nzhgpa.org.nz/safety Then the button to hit for starting your report looks like this;
Your description of what happened is the most important part and makes up the majority of the reports we publish but other details are used to help with statistics that show trends so please complete as much as you can. Please include the location so we can send the report to the local safety officer and the club president for any follow up they need to do. Don’t worry, our policy is that we do not use the reports to lay blame or for any disciplinary action. They are for safety and learning. Finally if you want to see other reports then click on this button;
Date Region Type Aircraft 23/03/2020 Marlborough Serious injury accident Paramotor Summary of report provided by accompanying pilot. Forecast 45km/hr away to north, was light offshore 7-10km/hr in the morning but building mid afternoon. Forecast in direction of flight (south) was light onshore 7-8km/hr for the day. We took off just before midday. On launch we had a NE sea breeze 15-20km/hr and it was smooth. C took off first and said it was nice flying and I followed. We both flew south for 15 minutes heading south. During the flight the wind direction turned to a NW (offshore) and started to build. At 800-1000ft I radioed to C that I was going to fly lower to check out the wind as there was indicators that there was a sea breeze lower down. C radioed thru that he was going to top land and avoid flying/landing in the lee side of the hill. After I encountered some turbulence lower down I decided to land on the beach. I radioed thru to say there was turbulence lower down after I had landed. C then replied he had crashed while coming in to land. I told him to initiate his Epirb locator beacon. I did not know at the time but he could not activate it as it was in his side leg pocket. I left everything and went searching for him. I found a farmer on a 4 wheel quad bike went to the top of the hill to get cell coverage and notified emergency services. We drove around and found C just below a flat area that he was trying to land on, about 1 km from where I landed on the beach. The winds along the coast were very light NE at least at lower levels as I suspected it would be prior to launching. We encountered a sudden change of wind direction into our flight. Injuries: Broken pelvis and leg. 17/5/2020 Canterbury Near miss or minor incident Paramotor On approach to landing, I applied too much brake and spun the glider. Conditions were calm and sunny. Injuries: Not reported. Glider damage: Nil
President’s Column Mid winter thoughts Happy days everyone. As I write this we are just past the shortest day of the year and flying times are coming again in a couple of months. In the meantime, I see the pictures on Facebook of the Southern Club folk flying off Coronet and feel pure envy. If we think back a year, who would have thought that we and New Zealand would have been through the Covid-19 journey we just have. A year ago I was flying my paraglider in Piedrahita without a worry in the world. Now we can’t travel and even had all our flying activities banned for a period! The Covid-19 crisis is going to have an ongoing effect on the NZHGPA. Each year we earn about $15,000 from visiting pilot fees. Currently we have no visiting pilots. Normally 25% of our visitors are from Australia so if we get a Trans-Tasman bubble operating, we may gain some income – somewhere between $Zero and $3000 to replace $15,000. If we have a 10% unemployment rate, we have to assume that will have some effect on our pilot renewals or the number of new pilots training. All of these things are being considered by your Exec team as we prepare a budget for the new year which you will all have opportunity to comment on at the AGM. We live in a politically correct, safety conscious world and we are not going to change that. We actually have to cope with it and as part of that we find that some parts of the NZHGPA running can no longer be done by volunteers. The time, skill set and delivery standards required put some of these jobs beyond what a volunteer can reasonably be expected to do. A year ago, at the AGM we appointed Mark Hardman as our Training Manager because of gaps in our training material and a lot of it being out of date. The things he
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is working on are excellent. I am not sure how many of you have given the new VFR online exams a go, but they are a small example of what is happening. As Mark is going through our training material there is a serious move to put as much online as we can, where there is common material between hang gliding and paragliding to have common training material, even to the point of sharing some of the Instructors Seminars. We now have a new Speed Flying rating and approved training to match. Yes, it took a while, but it was interesting to see just how much work it was to get agreement between existing pilots and to get the definitions and technical stuff sorted so the CAA could sign it off. It has been a really good thing to get sorted and hopefully it helps ensure many happy hours of safe zooming around by pilots on their speed wings. Thanks to Mark Hardman, Blake Round and all the others who put so much work into seeing this through. It is really pleasing to see paragliding towing underway again in New Zealand. The NZHGPA was involved in helping this happen in that we financially supported the application to get towing listed as an accepted recreational activity on Lake Wakatipu. There have been hundreds of tows done and a good number of pilots now have their tow rating. Both the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Towing Manuals are being revised. I am told that there will be a Pilotage Course teaching spiralling and other good wing control techniques and before long we will also have NZ based SIV training available again. By the time you get this it will be starting to be thermal time again. YAY!!! Begin the season carefully, remember the basics, stay safe and above all enjoy the wonder of Free Flight! Cheers, Duncan
Date Region Type Aircraft 28/5/2020 Southern Near miss or minor incident Paraglider Pilot under instruction. Approach to landing. The pilot had made 2 previous landings (right hand Westerly) without incident. On the 3rd landing, the wind had shifted from a Westerly to an Easterly wind, the instructor positioned the student at the Eastern end of the field for a left-hand approach. The pilot started a left turn just past the fence line at the western end of the field, as they started to come round they tried to turn the glider before the goalposts. Realizing they did not have enough room to clear the goalposts, they opted to go to the southern side of the posts. As they had more distance to cover they were getting lower and, not wanting to be close to the goalposts, they opted to go wide. As they came around they slowed up in to wind and started to sink as well. The bottom of the harness clipped a pile of fill, and then touched on to the top of the fence. RECOMMENDATION This entire incident could have been avoided if Warren Park had been opted for. The Recreation Ground is not the place for training pilots for use of the Gondola. Use Warren Park for the training of Gondola flights. 6/26/2020
Southern
Near miss or minor incident Paraglider Aerobatic manoeuvre Not flying my usual wing. From a stable heli I stalled out and released to exit the heli. The wing shot out of the stall strongly in the opposite direction (from the heli). Wing surged far forward symmetrically and 75% collapsed, ending with maybe 50% of the wing in a cravat. Wing then started spiralling (possibly in auto rotation) and diving to the ground. I slowed the rotation as much as I could, vertical and rotation speeds were slow enough and I felt too low for reserve throw or re-stalling to clear the cravat, so I kept the rotation under control and prepared for ground impact. Landed on my feet and rolled sideways. No bruises or injury.
FMC Photo Competition 2020 Entries close on 15th September, so you’ve only got a few weeks left to get your clubs’ entries in. All NZHGPA affiliated clubs are eligible to enter, and it can all be done online via your club’s Facebook Group. To learn more about the FMC competition, and get tips on how to run your club comp online, please visit www.fmc.org.nz/photo-competition.
Above bushline with a human element winner – Eddy McGrath
