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Skywings news stories posted online in Aug 2014 are displayed below.
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South Wales airspace restriction
A temporary airspace restriction [RA(T)] will be put in place around a forthcoming NATO Summit in Newport, South Wales. The restriction, from 3 - 5 September 2014, will cover a broad area from Bristol in the east, to Bridgend in the west, and from Crickhowell in the north, to the Somerset coast in the south. The restricted area will extend from the surface up to flight level 105 (around 10,000ft).
The RA(T) is being established at the request of Gwent Police and South Wales Police. Aircraft entering the restricted area without authorisation will be subject to interception by police or military.
Full details are on the EAD Eurocontrol website.
Posted: 8 August 2014
15-year-old Jack Pimblett started to train for his CP with Dean Crosby at Active Edge in May. On June 22nd he passed the final tasks to become one of the UK's youngest qualified paraglider pilots.
"Jack's very pleased with himself", says Tony, his proud dad. "I couldn't be happier with the tuition he received with Dean. Thanks from us to the lads and lasses of the Pennine club for their support, and a big thank you to Deano".
A flying career which began with going tandem with his dad at the age of five, and gathered pace at Dune de Pyla last summer and during a five week trip across the Pyrenees. has come to fruition.
Jack and Tony plan to fly at Organja later this year. We wish him all the best with his flying ambitions.
Posted: 4 August 2014
In winning the Paragliding Accuracy National Championships for the second year consecutive year, in Wales in July, Simon Sykes became the first pilot to achieve British Accuracy's highest award.
The Platinum Award is awarded by the Accuracy Panel for achieving four consecutive flights with a combined total score of 10cm or less.
In the same competition Green Dragons (Simon Sykes, Billy Elliston and Andy Shaw) won the team trophy.
Posted: 4 August 2014
London Southend Airport (LSA) has applied for controlled airspace to protect its operations, about which there has been a recent consultation process. Any controlled airspace at LSA, if granted, will not be in place before 2015.
With no warning at all the CAA have seen fit to impose the UK&s first ever semi-permanent Radio Mandatory Zone around Southend, which became live on July 18th! The RMZ extends from the surface up to the base of the overlying controlled airspace.
The CAA Safety and Airspace Regulation Group comments that a temporary RMZ will satisfy LSA's requirement for enhanced safety in the vicinity of the airport until a decision is made on controlled airspace.
"The establishment of an RMZ is considered to be appropriate and to satisfactorily accommodate Southend ATC's short term requirements, to have a known traffic environment, whilst not overly restricting other airspace users".
A BHPA response to this unprecedented and unbelievably speedy land-grab (the CAA release appeared just two weeks before the go-live date) is being discussed with our GA Alliance colleagues.
In practical terms no penetration of the RMZ is allowed without an Airband radio, FRTO Licence and live comms with Southend on 130.775MHz. An actual ATC clearance is not required. But to all intents and purposes this 350 square miles of airspace, from the surface to 3,500, 4,500ft and sometimes higher, is closed to all free-flight operations - and is already active!
Local pilots, however much inconvenienced or incensed, please avoid. Any infringements will no doubt make a bad situation worse.
Posted: 4 August 2014
The fabled Coupe Icare and St Hilaire Festival, billed as the world's biggest paragliding and ultralight airsports event, will be held on the 18 - 21 September 2014. Last year's 40th anniversary event broke all records in attracting more than 1000,000 visitors. Further details of this year's event are available at www.coupe-icare.org
Posted: 4 August 2014
Further information about the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association and skywings magazine can be found on the about the BHPA and Skywings magazine pages on this website.
