As much as I hate using americanisms.....my Bad.
I will refrain from mentioning lesser sites in future and just
stick to the Best ....Otford.
[ hoping they will still let me fly there.......for the first time ]
Hey but going to a " lesser site tomorrow " should be a hoot.!
Glenn.

Solidarity Bothers

Originally Posted by Mr Kamikaze

Solidarity Bothers

Yep... it certainly does.

I had a fly at Otford yesterday afternoon ( nice smooth lift from the south) and as I drove past the parking area at the pie shop site, I noticed there were yellow markings on the road and a bunch of flowers strapped to the armco . It looked as though a car was coming from the south and lost control into the area were we all park opposite the shop. I just hope there was know one there flying at the time.

Glenn
who could not hear any jets

A motorbike rider was killed there on sunday. From our local newspaper, he was heading north, tried to overtake a car, clipped it and was thrown into car parked on the side of the road.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...003402,00.html

I've been passed on double yellows by bikes doing in excess of 120kph on some of those corners, not to say this guy was doing anything wrong of course.

When I left 1 hour earlier there were still lots of people flying.. wonder if any of them were still there when it happenned?

I think I left not long after you Dave last thing that happened was the Hang glider pilot making and emergency landing . He was very apologetic about the landing and was stunned by the help that was offered . sad about the guy that died but the bikes do tend to use it as a race way ,how must the woman driving the car he tagged be feeling
SteveW

Dave,

It whited out when the fog rolled in, just after the hang glider pilot landed in front of us. No one was flying after that and I packed up and left about when Steve did.

I think quite a few motorcyclists use the road through the Royal National Park for a bit of a buzz with a fast run and all the tight corners to throw their bikes aorund. I've overheard conversations at the Sydney end car park from riders who were taking a break, along the lines of 'hey dude, did you see the face on the driver of that car when I came around that corner and drifted onto his side of the road!'.

I am guessing that now there will be a lot more radar setups along Lawrence Hargrave Drive.
F

Guys,
just for interest sake, our local paper ( the Leader ) had a story on the 2 missing hangliders last weekend.
They reported 3 rescue helicopters were called to the area after 2 hangliders ( I thought they were jelly fish?) failed to return to the landing area after low cloud moved in. They searched until 7.15pm when both pilots were found safely at little Garie beach unharmed.

On a different note I used to be one of those crazed motorcylist tearing up the national park, up until 2 years ago when the Mrs fell pregnant. We really used the road like a themepark - and I am wondering how I survived? After selling the bike 2 years ago, I really don't miss it at all - flying, surfing, sailing are all just as fun, but no where near as dangerous. Sad news to hear of the death so close to Christmas.


Greg K

I plan to be there after lunch on Saturday. I could be dodging rain showers and the breeze could be light, but the direction looks good for the pie shop end.
F

we might be losing the all powerful weather guru from Stanwell Park....

from the flystanwell website..


'Unfortunately we have been told by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) that we have to take the wind gauge down from it's current position before 8th Dec 2007. This will mean we will not be able to display the wind speed/direction until we can either relocate the gauge or have our application to NPWS to reinstate it approved. The club committee is working to try to resolve this difficult situation.'


Wasn't this area covered by wollongong council bylaws, not the npws?

Was going to suggest that the Pie Shop would be a perfect place to relocate it to

found this link on their website.. I guess we aren't too badly off after all!

The last clip is a classic.

Valle De Bravo - January 2007 (5 min 40 sec)

Dave, the weather station is not actually at Bald Hill. On their web site they used to have a picture of the tower it was mounted on and it looked like it might be at Stanwell Tops or thereabouts. There are notes about shielding and turbulence caused by trees making readings in W-N winds read lower than true and causing the direction indicated to be variable.

I hope they do get to keep it as it is fantastic.
F

Did any one get down to Otford today?

Yes. It was fantastic.
I had rain all the way to Stanwell Tops, then it was just overcast. I got to Otford at around 12:20pm and everything was dry.

The yellow paint lines in the car park are a bit eerie though.

The cloud base was very high. The wind was light (maybe 8 knots) from the ESE. At times it would drop a little for a minute or so. From about 4pm it picked up and was around 12 knots and only blowing the odd whitecap on the ocean. It swung a little to the SE too, but the lift was awesome. The cloud cleared away a bit and there were sunny periods.

I flew the Weasel earlier on, then the Mini Ellipse and finally I got the Banana out and it relished the fresher breeze and the great lift.

Tom was there for a couple of hours, a guy called Mike with his Starling Pro showed up (new member in the making), then Malcolm came for a fly later in the afternoon.

Drew came down with his new 2.4GHz PCM 9X and we spent some time programming it up for his Tragi and sorting out channels on the receiver for his wing servos. Then we charged the battery in the Tragi, did a range check and flew it with the new radio gear in it. With the awesome lift it was possible to get very high and the 3m+ wing span allows you to fly it at some distance. No problems at all with the 2.4GHz equipment which was comforting. His digital servos appear to be programmed with their own failsafe (full crow positions) so we surely would have known if the 2.4GHz signal dropped out. When it was on the ground before flying it we checked out what would happen in that situation. Drew did some fast flybys, I had a go at flying it, he landed it safely (that thing is a rock magnet and today he just missed another one by less than a meter, there aren't many, Drew knows them all) and we packed up around 6:45pm. A great day!
F