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isle of wight
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NEWS 2006
Laurie launches in Olu Deniz back in 2001 Here's a slo-mo shot showing Laurie taking off at the top of Babadag,
and hitting some nasty rotor. Luckily he landed on his feet, but it was a
little scary, and he smelled rather nasty for the rest of the day! Club Dinner 07 We have booked the 360 Degree Photo's Not really news, but a pretty interesting link all the same.
News items:
East Afton Tree Clearance (Sunday Update) East Afton Tree Clearance (Sunday Update) Sunday saw a smaller team go out to clear the remaining trees from the site. A local resident had called the police on the Friday because there was a Badger Sett just next to the quarry, so we had to work outside of a 20m radius exclusion zone. We can't work in the quarry until DEFRA have been down to assess the site and issue a license to continue. We spent over an hour discussing his concerns on Sunday too, and he told us there was another in among the trees that were left. He declined to tell us where, so we had to find it ourselves. That meant avoiding another Sett, but as we were only using bowsaws, this wasn't difficult. What was difficult was working with damned bowsaws! The majority of us left around 3pm, but Butterfly and Marek, the mad axeman had turned up at lunchtime and were still going strong. By the end of the day it appears that they had cleared the rest of the trees. I had a call on Monday from the NT warning us that the local resident was intent on stirring it up, and had threatened to get the press involved. The NT were a little upset initially, but this got cleared up. The bottom line is that they had given us permission to remove all the trees, and that we could continue working on the weekend...which is exactly what we did. Until DEFRA have been down (this Friday), then the site is now closed. Please don't go up there for now. Here's the movie again, with the credits
for Sunday added ! (check the
size, though...8Mb)... East Afton Tree Clearance (Tree huggers look away) On a rather "moist" day in October, a fair sized group of club members
went to East Afton to clear the famous "Rotor Trees" to the left of take
off. Armed with bow saws, and the very helpful Tom Owen (Arborist to the
Rich and Famous), virtually the whole lot was felled. One or two
arrived with somewhat unusual clearance tools - namely our dear President
Barney, who turned up with a rather nifty hedge trimmer. Tom duly
set him the task of shaping a Chicken out of one of the holly bushes on
site. It will be just our luck that the Wind Farm will get approval, and result in site closure !!! Here's a quick movie of the day (check the
size, though...8Mb)... A small but perfectly formed group of pilots went down to the Pyrenees to see Udo and Jen for a few days in October. Dead easy from the Island, with Flybe from Southampton to Perpignan leaving at 10:30am, meaning we were flying at their Ceret site by 4pm! The weather was great, and we flew their fantastic sites at Ceret and Peyreperteuse. Whilst the Island boys flew without incident (for a change!), we were joined by Bob, who was still in nesting mode, and took to the bushes at every oppotunity. John Bentley who has not flown much since qualifying, flew brilliantly, and here's the proof....way up above the Cathar Castle at Peyreperteuse...nice. Get on down to Udo & Jenny's if you haven't already been there. www.fly1166.com
High Adventure doing White Air High Adventure will be attending White Air this year at the end of October. They will have a stand and will be doing ground handling demonstrations Click here to download the report Proposals for PG/HG pilots to carry
Transponders !!!! IMPORTANT !!! Mode S transponders for all UK aircraft - responses to CAA required by all BHPA members by 29 August As some of you may be aware the UK CAA is carrying out a consultation into making it compulsory for ALL aircraft to carry a working Mode S transponder when flying anywhere in the UK. The change is due for implementation in 2008. Link:- www.caa.co.uk/ModeS The consultation does talk about exemptions, but when viewed against the real world they are pretty impractical and show a poor understanding of our type of flying. One lightweight transponder does now exist at prototype stage, even though the CAA has yet to issue a specification for manufacturers to work to. This manufacturer expects a retail price of £1000 -£1500. It has a battery life of 4-5 hours. Link: http://www.kinetic-avionics.co.uk/LAST.php An annual licence fee and servicing costs will also be payable, possibly in the region of £300-£400 per annum. The BHPA was originally planning to submit an official response on behalf of all of its members but a recent change in the consultation process has meant individual responses from the membership are now VERY important. To that end the BHPA is preparing a set of guidance notes which will be published on the BHPA website, hopefully by Friday 11th August 2006. As the consultation close is 17:00 on Tuesday 29th August 2006 this will allow just over two weeks for members to get their responses to the CAA. TIME IS CRITICAL! It is critical that you take time to read the consultation document and respond in your own words on the official response form. Guidelines on issues to be raised will be published on the BHPA website. In the meantime background information can be found on the BGA & PFA websites Link:- www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/airspace/transponders.htm http://www.pfa.org.uk/mode_s.asp Small businesses effected by the proposals (all BHPA schools, dealers) are invited to attend a presentation at the CAA in London on 15 August. CAA House (1000-1400hrs) for GA User Groups and Small Businesses. Details from contact at CAA: Max Seaman mode.s@dap.caa.co.uk An evening presentation is to be held at Lasham airfield 17 August to which all BHPA members are invited. They expect to be swamped with pilots from the ballooning and microlight communities in addition to the gliding fraternity so they need an idea of numbers from the BHPA. Please liaise at a club level and club secretaries contact Lasham (01256 384900) to confirm expected numbers. A few other meetings are mooted in the North but dates and venues are yet to be confirmed - watch the BHPA website, details will be posted as soon as we are made aware. Make no mistake, this could well signal the end of cross country flying as we know it in the UK. Even if you aren't an XC hound you WILL also be affected. Please read the CAA proposal carefully and submit a reasoned response on the proper form by the deadline of 17:00 on 29 August - remember BHPA guidance will be on the website www.bhpa.co.uk . The CAA change has made the time scale unreasonable but the CAA will not consider changing the closing date. If things do not go our way we may yet be asking you to contact your MPs, but please do not do anything yet. Thank you Airspace Panel, and The Chairman BHPA
Summer Barbie: Friday 21st July (Sat 22nd
Fallback date) Phil Booth Phil, and Mike R will probably be reporting more details soon, but in the meantime, take extra care when close to the ground...especially in thermic conditions. The Real History of Paragliding?
The formal application for six 320ft high, wind turbines has been made.
This will be very close to our site at East Afton just behind Tapnell
Farm. For the "no" www.thwart.info
Yes! Its true....Laurie is off to work in Bangladesh for three years. So, in true Laurie fashion, he's throwing a barbie for all comers! 34 Downs View Road, Bembridge, 7:30pm Saturday 24th June. Booze and Food laid on. Yes! Miranda is home with the not-so-little ones, and is having a welcome home party for Dave at the Terrace on 20th May from 7pm. All welcome! Butterfly Paragliding will hold the Solstice Cup this year on 24/25 June, with fallback dates of 1/2 July. Price per entrant £30. Let Miranda know asap End of Year Bash and AGM Report AGM: 15 attended. Phil Booth resigned as Safety Officer to be replaced
by Mike Rouse. Many thanks to Phil for his work over the years. Sites: We are still working on the St.Cats and Downcourt issue. St.Cats
is looking highly unlikely whilst the Foss' are still tenant farmers. BASH: The club dinner was well attended and everyone seemed to enjoy
the evening. The Ceilidh band were excellent, as was the food and the
venue. For once, the farmers stayed until the bitter end, so that's a
success in itself. Venue: The Aviator Bar and Restaurant, Sandown Airport AGM: Same Venue - Aviator Bar Anyone willing to stand for the committee is encouraged to put themselves forward as we always want new ideas Chillerton - NO BOTTOM LANDING The landing field at Chillerton (the one with the Power Cables in it)
has been sold, and we are no longer allowed to land there, as the new
owners will be keeping livestock in it. Please make sure that you only
top, or slope land from now on, although the larger field to the North is
available in emergencies. |
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