Guest Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Copied from another site: I actually can't believe this to be true?? START We had our monthly club meeting on Thursday,. One of our recent members ran a school in France for many years and is also on a safety committee on the BHPA. We were all shocked to learn that the suggestion to remove top landing and slope landing from the CP syllabus has been adopted by the BHPA . A 75% vote apparently. My club had expressed a 'no' to this suggestion. The need for the change was because signing off for many students is delayed waiting for these last two tasks to be completed. OK, schools can still teach it if they want to, and I know one local school has said they will do so. And I've no doubt the other will too, as he's a very diligent and dare I say caring instructor. The thought that CP's are going to turn up at sites, many of of which will need a knowledge of top landing to be safe, unable to do it did not bring a smile to our faces. The theory is that coaches will teach, oops, I mean coach, this aspect. On radio? I don't think many of our coaches will be keen? (I'm a coach.) And apart from that we could only think of maybe two sites that were suitable in our area. What are views on this? And how did this get through committee? END Whats the point in learning to Paraglide if you can only do top to bottom flights and soar the same ridge over and over? (Pilot rating is required to leave the hill if you choose to join the BHPA) Basically the students (paying customers) are the ones loosing out here as a result of the BHPA's constant drive for membership (even at the cost of safety it seems) SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Quite a conversation on my FB page evolving about this.... Not even the BHPA members want this. https://www.facebook.com/simon.westmore ... on_comment SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dariuszk24 Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 To be honest if we want healf and safe,then we have sit all the time in pub or on the front tv and never ever touch any para glider wing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivets Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Yes, my attempt at humour in that thread on PGF rather missed the mark! Strange as it may seem, I did some slope landing training on Day #2 of my EP (EP!). And I STILL find them hard sometimes, coming in hard and fast over rocky terrain especially. I've been taught two different techniques by two instructors and they're both tricky. That said, I do try to eak out every foot of flight in the mistaken belief I'm going to get some lift, I'm a b*gger for it. (And I have done some monster walk outs...) Seriously though, slope landings are a part of UK flying. Take the Long Mynd. There is an official bottom landing field. However, if you scratch too low, or you're at one of the extents of the ridge and the wind drops, what are you going to do? You could upset the locals and land in a field (full of livestock, fences, trees and powerlines if memory serves), or you could bail out on the side of the hill. And it's going to be fast and the slopes are steep. Surely, therefore, this should have been discussed and practiced during training? The Long Mynd is one of the most popular sites in the UK - and you could still come off second best, unless you just loiter round TO. That's before I get into coastal soaring, where the only bottom landing involves a water descent... Top landings? I think these are relatively easy. I think the only issues arise where either the LZ is very small or where the features of the terrain may give rise to rotor. Likewise, I'm bewildered why 360s seem to spook people so badly. However, they are both common elements of UK flying so should be part of training for flying in the UK - wouldn't you agree? So, objections to the change. Firstly, as someone new to PG you want to do training so that you are competent and safe at the end of it. By the end of that training, you should be able to meet these challenges. To find out that there is more to learn having paid over £1000 for training would p*ss me off. To find out that the follow-on training would be delivered by someone conceivably with only 10 hours themselves (I am told this is very unlikely though), unpaid and with no professional qualification (teaching or flying) would be concerning to me. Secondly, I get the feeling (and it's none of my business and I can only go by what I see on the forums) that BHPA comms from top downwards isn't good. I get the feeling that people don't feel consulted and feel imposed upon. That's never a good thing in a membership environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivets Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Then again, having just read the actual detail from BHPA, I can see more of the logic behind it now. (The intentions regarding Ground Handling on the same form look to be a particularly good idea - I hope that goes through without hitch.) On balance, I think the emphasis should be doing slope/top landing training unless it's blatantly impossible (cf Cyprus). Which, to be fair, is what appears to be the main thrust of the proposals. I also think that there is a big comms issue that the BHPA need to resolve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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