Welcome to visiting pilots wishing to fly in NE Fife/LOA with RAF Leuchars!

May 4, 2009 on 9:16 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

With changes in personel at Leuchars it is once again time for Murray to sign the latest update of East Scotland Paragliding clubs LOA with RAF Leuchars. Just to remind members and inform new visiting pilots, the LOA covers a number of the clubs paragliding sites in the NE of Fife and helps ensure there is no conflict between paragliding and fast/heavy ‘wake’ aircraft on low level sorties or departing/recovering at Leuchars.

In addition to the named/notified PG sites, as the LARS unit provides ‘conflict’ information to the many GA aircraft flying in this part of Fife they can also assist us in maintaining safe seperation from light aircraft by advising those GA pilots of the areas we are thermal flying, provided radio contact with ATC is maintained. Visiting pilots who hold the required FRTO licence can contact Murray and if need by hire/borrow a licenced ‘Airband’ radio if they do not have their own equipment.

NB as 2 m radios are illegal please don’t bring them on to club sites as flying illegally will invalidate your 3rd party insurance! Also at a number of the clubs sites the LZ is out of site of the launch area so BHPA ‘CP’ insurance will not provide cover!

The latest changes to the LOA mainly including more detailed information regarding thermal flights/routes, re-visiting pilots who still wish to avoid conflict with fast jets… are requested to find out about these details before thermal flying NE Fife!

If intending to fly at some of the ‘open’ sites along the Tay south bank, either in or out side of the MATZ it is still strongly advised to check with Murray as to the site status on that day (farmers/landowners requests) as well as to let the RAF controllers inform the Jet Jocks where we are soaring as this is a regular low level (below hill top) route.
Remember it’s not just to ensure safe separation between RAF Jets / paragliders… if anything the hazards from Helicopters, both civilian and military quite legaly flying at low level in the Class G airspace of Fife and passing in front of a windward slope or even poping straight over the top of a hill can not be over stated!

At the bigger soaring sites in the MATZ we have even had occasions when the RAF controler called Murray up on the radio to check no PG pilots are about to bottom land… then passed (on one occasion 4 in tight formation following the A92 well below hill top height!) some jets BELOW the soaring paragliders!

Murray Hay

Welcoming all safe & legal PG pilots to visit us in Scotland to enjoy some of the 250 (approx!) days flying a year we get!

:-)

Murray Hay
http://www.paraglidingscotland.co.uk
Born in Kenya from Scottish parents, 'full time' job is commercial photography but the last ten plus years has seen me fly well over 4,500 hours, paragliding all over Scotland!

Remembering our friend Nairn

April 3, 2009 on 10:31 am | In Paragliding | No Comments

Nairn Ferrier 1969~2009

A Husband, Father and Brother

Lost April 2009 along with 15 other

souls in the North Sea helicopter crash.

Our friend and fellow PG pilot who will be sadly missed.

Travel to Train ~ (or don’t forget the suntan oil!) Part one

August 1, 2008 on 12:46 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

In one single week during late July ’08 at Precision we had a total of 5 days of flight training (six days flying, more of which in the next Blog entry) in the east of Scotland followed on Sunday by one day on the west coast with an existing student. As is becoming more and more common the new students entering the sport were from all across the UK, with this week folk arriving from Wolverhampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen areas to train.

While the majority of the students are still re-training pilots Precision Paragliding has increasingly become the first choice for those new to the sport, for many years this was helped by my work with the Paraglider Show (internet radio) and writing for Paraglider Magazine. these days both my YouTube site and the on-line/phone help is proving invaluable in (slowly!) driving up standards in the sport world wide!

Monday started with Paul coming up from England for a three day starter short course, opting to train to the standards & theories/practice taught at Precision rather than train with any of the (9) PG schools local to his home area!

Stills taken from some of the YouTube clips of Paul training

Paul spent a lot of time over the last month or so, looking at the paragliding standards on sites like YouTube, following this initial step he then spent time on the phone/Email looking in depth at our training. His main reason for choosing Precision came down to the fact that most (95%) of what I teach directly contradicts what is taught in the rest of the paragliding community world wide, and so results in a significant difference in standards.

Monday (‘Day One’): Paul arrived in Scotland very early and we met up in
Fife at sunrise (4:30 am!), with him having fairly high expectations for the three days training, I think it’s safe to say he left on Wednesday afternoon with those expectations more than exceeded!

Paul: “I didn’t take the decision to train with
Murray lightly. I knew it would involve a round trip of at least 700 miles, so had to be sure the effort and cost would be worthwhile. At the age of 51 and a total novice, I wanted to make sure I would receive the best training in safe flying. I was aware that paragliding can be dangerous, that accidents do happen, but I had no wish to become ‘another statistic’. Having spent several hours on the phone to him, (during which time we covered a lot of theory) I was confident I was doing the right thing. I’d already been awake a lot of hours, had done a day’s work and driven 430 miles by the time I met up with Murray, so it’s testament to his teaching skills that he managed to keep my mind and body focused on the tasks in hand. We had clocked up around 24 flights before I finally succumbed to exhaustion on a sunny Scottish hillside that afternoon.”

Murray: Two late morning phone calls to the hill top from more new students (two from Aberdeen & one from Glasgow area) worked in nicely as it would give Paul time to ‘cat nap’ later on in the afternoon, as training (as normal) was planned to continue till near sunset, subject of course to student ‘energy levels’!

In the middle of the day we delayed an intended bottom landing flight (for lunch) so we could also meet Sam (Glasgow) by the main road, continuing with short flights and then flying all the way to the farm once Sam had called from the big roundabout several miles south of the hill, giving us time to bottom land/fold the glider & walk to the main road.

Like many of my Scottish students Sam had chosen to travel to Tayside/Fife for his training and had only needed to wait a couple of weeks for the right conditions/day off work to get started. One advantage students say they have with Precision is, subject to my work commitments in commercial photography/property management, training takes place both mid-week & weekend, it is easy to quickly build the 15-25 hours airtime in a few months to reach the Precision PG Basic Pilot standard. With flying at ESP club taking place on typically 200+ days (or part-days) each year it is not uncommon for new pilots to fly almost 100 hours by the end of their first year with the club, .Having fed, watered & met up with Sam, Paul, Sam and myself were soon back at the hill top ready for more Dual Control flights, first flight of the afternoon session with Paul on the Dual controls, and following that demonstration Sam’s first flights observing & assisting the ‘Wing Warp’ primary control prior to flying with the Dual Controls connected on his next flights.

Once the other two new students (from Aberdeen) had arrived at the main SW launch point Paul took the opportunity to have a snooze while the other three took their turn flying using the Dual controls, often including the launch & landing.

Paul: “It was only the ONE snooze!”

During the mid –afternoon the only change from SOP (standard operating procedure) was that the mandatory calls of “LAUNCHING” were more a case of ‘shouting pianissimo’ i.e. “launching” (quietly!) so as not to disturb Paul

Paul: “They are a very considerate lot!”

After any walk ups (some flights were ‘top landing’) the last pilot filmed video for later review/YouTube of the next student, then just rested/watched the flying before it was their turn again. With everyone rapidly building airtime, including on the controls for launch & landing, the afternoon quickly passed, the only down point was Sam getting an emergency call to head back to the west coast after only having time for a few flights.

Based on the MET aviation reports I had predicted that Fife would ‘blow out’ some time between late afternoon & tea time so it was simply a matter of keeping a close eye on the conditions ‘Mark One Eyeball’, helped by MET updates via the mobile internet until, as forecast the conditions started to become too windy for good ‘Day One’ student tandem training.

Calling an end to that part of the days flight training and leaving the ‘part day’ students to walk down the hill, Paul, after his short snooze.. got in one more big Dual Control flight to land leaving just a short walk to the car, then drive to Dundee for food & several cups of tea, a review of the flying (and MET updates) before Paul & the Aberdeen students headed to the last site of the day, everyone getting in several more short tandem flights in non-thermic (wind only) conditions, this in the early stages of training makes for better ground control ‘Taxi’ instruction.

Tuesday: As it had look likely on the longer term synoptic, it was too windy in Tayside/Fife so the morning was spent on review and more MET, Aerodynamics and other ground school work until Alan Coffin, an ex-BHPA pilot who re-trained with me a couple of years ago (and now has several 100 hours flight time) phoned to ask me to open one of our Class D airspace sites up in Aberdeen. He reported that the conditions there had become good, he often takes a ‘long lunch’ from work to fly our site under a mile from his office!… A quick call to ATC and an equipment check/load the car saw Paul on his way to fly his third site in
Scotland, stopping off to buy sunscreen!

Paul: “Yes – really! I seriously did not think I would need to pack that!”

We arrived in perfect timing to get in first more tandem training flights, before with the mellowing conditions saw Alan heading off and so, in the now lighter (and dropping) breeze Paul got his first solo hop’s.Wednesday: Being Paul’s last (part) day in Scotland and needing to leave early to drive back to England, the choice was
Fife again, in part to save him some driving time, and so gain more time for flying. The wind forecast was for SSW to SW and as the intention was for more solo airtime, it was another SW site where we have private vehicle access direct to the top of the open grassy slope, giving first easy Dual Control tandem training and soon switching to the solo equipment (and back) as the conditions dictated the type of training during the morning/early afternoon.

In conclusion I leave Paul to sum up his start in the sport:

Paul: “How many instructors do you know who would be willing to meet up and start the day at 4.30am? And continue training until sunset? That sums up Murray Hay’s commitment to, and passion for, the sport. Paragliding, like many other

outdoor sports, is very much subject to the weather, and this is where
Murray’s knowledge of the weather and surrounding area plus access to a huge range of launch sites, is such a bonus. We were able to successfully train and fly at a variety of sites without training being adversely affected by changing conditions.

It wasn’t difficult to have confidence in, and great respect for, a guy who can demonstrate such incredible flying skills and depth of knowledge.
Murray’s teaching style is unique and effective. Rather than telling you things, he encourages you to realise that by utilising the information you already have, it’s possible to find the answer for yourself. This results in a greater degree of understanding and knowledge retention. He also exhibits enormous patience!The third day culminated in my first real solo flights, and with my confidence boosted by
Murray’s calm instructions over the radio, I executed the required tasks and made safe landings at the bottom of the hill. I enjoyed it so much I was convinced I would require surgery to remove the grin off my face!

I didn’t really expect to go ‘solo’ during this first trip to
Scotland, thinking that all flying would be on the dual control tandem, so I was delighted to have been able to take such a major step before having to leave. I will approach my next visit with much more confidence. I am utterly hooked and can’t wait for time and funds to allow the next session!”

Aerial Assault in Aberfoyle

June 30, 2008 on 12:37 pm | In Aerial Assault Course | 1 Comment

Last weekend I dragged poor Ally along to Go Ape in Aberfoyle. We were up for the weekend and it was too good an opportunity to miss. He wasn’t keen to begin with and I didn’t realise it was because he has a fear of heights.

We were booked in for 11:30 and turned up promptly to complete our medical forms and awaited the instruction. There were 13 (unlucky for some) in our group and we were harnessed up and shown the ropes (red to red and blue goes through) as we would be let loose on the course by ourselves without an instructor.

Aberfeldy Go Ape boasts Britains two longest zip wires. The first took us 150 feet over a 90 foot waterfall. My landing was without dignity and I ended up on my back on a pile of wet wood bark - really fetching but as the course goes on you know you are going to get even more dirty. We then climbed a tree and crossed several rope bridges as well as the tarzan swing which saw you holding onto a rope and crashing into a rope net.

The most difficult section was what were effectively horse stirrups high in the trees that you had to cross. It felt more like Gladiators by the minute.

The final zip wire was the best and longest and was totally exhilarating. The whole course took about three hours and left us feeling like we had a great adventure. After all that we treated outselves to a hot drink and cake in the David Marshall Lodge. We stayed at the Bield B&B which was lovely and welcoming and did magnificent breakfasts.

Gillian Thompson
http://www.visitscotland.com/adventure
Works with adventure sports in Scotland and has a keen interest in keeping fit and walking and a new passion for surfing.

Northerly Wind - thermal breezes

June 23, 2008 on 9:11 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

Niall Harvey was on Arran doing his tandem training he is an experienced pilot and has spent the last 5 months paragliding in Nepal.

He enjoyed soaring and flying on a great selection of Arran sites before heading back to Jersey a qualified tandem pilot!

We used the video and solo camera to help him assess and improve his technique on the solo and tandem paraglider. - Looking on the horizon when you fly helps you know your place in the sky and keep better contact with your wing.

Congratulation Niall !

Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.

Elementary Pilots Qualified

June 2, 2008 on 11:16 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

May was a beautiful month giving good flying conditions on the Isle of Arran. Lots of students and fundays. Grigor and Amanda completed their Elementary pilots course whilst on a weeks holiday camping in Glen Rosa.

Flying Fever is a British Hang gliding and Paragliding Registered School with qualified instructors. The training and ratings given are recongnised internationally. The first course is the Elementary Pilot which normally takes 5 days followed by the Club pilot course. You are working through a series of tasks - we are not looking just to tick the boxes but to help create qualified thinking pilots who will continue flying safely in the sport once they leave the school enviroment.

The length of the course depends on the individual and on the weather conditions. It is like learning how to drive so everyone takes a differant time. Currency is an issue so we offer a season pass that lets you come over and fly as many days as you want in the one season. More details of the courses and a list of the tasks on www.flyingfever.net you can find a list of registered BHPA schools and clubs on www.bhpa.co.uk

Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.

Paragliding in Nepal

June 2, 2008 on 10:56 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

We spent three months of the winter teaching Paragliding in Nepal. The weather is very good for paragliding with consistent conditions. There is a taxi up to take off and landing beside a lake. We work with Blue Sky Paragliding offering a range of courses from beginner to advanced acrobatic courses. The challenge this year was having a baby with us in Nepal! Kieran was great - 9 months old and working in the landing field!

Our Nepali friend Kanchi came with us to help watch him so there was not too much interferance on the radio during landings. His Dad Maurice Geraghty launched the students from the top then flew down to join us. I got a bit of flying done, it was great to circle high in the Himalayas again with griffon vultures and eagles stretching their wings beside me.

We went on expedition by Jeep with a group and camped out high in the mountains. It became a bit manic when the interest a blond haired baby created was more than the paragliding. I opened the tent to find a wall of interested kids and womens faces trying to peer in!

It was great to get back to the Isle of Arran Scotland again but then the Spring felt like we had the whole winter still!

Now the weather is great and Flying Fever paragliding School is in full swing with pilots qualifying.

We plan to return to Nepal teaching paragliding again on our Migration at the end of October for a few months. More details on website www.flyingfever.net

Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.

A short look back at the first quarter of 2008

May 6, 2008 on 10:40 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

Despite a weather imposed slow start to the flying year the club has, during Jan-April, seen members out flying in Scotland (and some ‘doon south’) on over fifty days so far, in addition to flying abroad, this year India has been added to the countries already flown by ESP club members.

With several 100 hours airtime safely flown already this year, despite the fairly few flying days we had in Jan/Feb, it is looking like this year could even exceed the exceptionally good year we had last year!

Over the next few months several members and associate members of the club are planning (or have already booked) more trips abroad, either as individuals or in small groups. As the returning pilots pass on photographs & stories on their return, for the clubs own blog I will post the ’highlights’ on this site.

On the training side: Several of the new students who are just entering the sport for the first time in 2008, are lady pilots, I hope with the continuing steady increase in pilot numbers, that over the next decade we will slowly see a better ballance in what is still at least in the UK, a male dominated sport.

In a sport that has the potential to have almost no accidents, provided the issues in training standards are addressed, I hope more and more individuals in the UK will take note of the standard the members & students display in the many 100’s of YouTube clips the club now has on-line, the last few years has seen an increase in information/advice requests coming from non-UK pilots also seeking to improve with re-training, the feedback from other countries showing that as has been the case often in the past Scotland easily leads the world in inovation and improvement, this time in aviation!

Any non-pilots reading the articles on this blog, and who are intrested in finding out more about the sport in Scotland are always welcome to phone to find out where we are flying and/or training on any day, and come out to meet the members and ‘pick their brains’ regarding both ’AB intro’ training and the re-training options for those already in the sport.

Murray Hay, 6th May 2008 (four days flying so far this month!)

1997-2007, Precision Paragliding ten years of innovation in aviation.

January 2, 2008 on 8:11 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

The start of 2008 brings to the end of the first decade of Scottish (plus some English & Welsh!) training by Precision Paragliding. Time to review/rewind!

Back in the late 1990’s I was looking for a new challenge that would combine the best mix of my interest in both science and activity sports combined with the enjoyment of the Scottish landscape, in all its seasons and variety. With a life long love of sailing and wind sports and a desire to be in the hills and mountains of Scotland, and not just when the ski centers are open, but restricted by the demands of a job that kept me ‘on call’ so in need of being able to get off the hills and back to work with only an hour or two notice the then still developing/growing sport of paragliding looked to be the ideal choice.

Picture: Holding in a parachutal stall (1997). My Mk1 ‘glass’ Wayfarer “Pamoja”, 3rd in class ’Tay Week’ (1970’s)

With light weight (relatively!) and certainly highly portable equipment, and living in a part of Scotland absolutely ‘hoaching’ with flyable hills & cliffs, the choice of sports was almost inevitable, not to mention the amount of very low hours, inexpensive second hand kit available! Something guaranteed to appeal to the heart (wallet!) of a Scotsman….!

Having a general background in science and having already read (and rejected) most of the theory & much of the practice commonly taught in paragliding, I went back to the core science stated by Bernoulli & Newton in the 16^th and 17^th century and looked at how the various physical Law’s and Theorem’s would be correctly applied to the structure and flight of ‘soft wing’ aircraft, i.e. paragliders. As a result of this study in just over a year after starting to self train I was on 100 hours and soon flying a ‘comp’ rated Nova wing…. at only TWO hours old and 2 thousand pounds off list price the wing was perfect for me!

Ten years later and over 3,000+ hours airtime my early choice to self train is now paying dividends for others in/coming into the sport as they get similar results from using the theories I’ve developed/polished over the last decade, resulting in these days almost 75% of my students being pilots re-training to the alternative that Precision Paragliding is unique in the world in providing.

By ‘98 I was modifying/test flying wings, steadily increasing the knowledge and understanding of the true aerodynamic principles involved in this branch of aviation. Ten years on and I’ve written and had published a number of technical & safety articles in the leading US paragliding magazine as well as being a regular guest presenter on “Paraglider Radio” a internet talk show for a number of years, the show being hosted by David & Gabe Jebb who run Torrey Pines Glider Port, San Deigo, CA.

As to the last year… while many in the sport have been bemoaning the weather especially English pilots, in Scotland at our club sites we have had almost 400 ‘pilot days’, with members out flying on well over 150 separate days, and these statistics don’t include the days some of the Scottish members spent flying abroad!

Keeping track of the total flying hours at the club is a near impossible task but it looks like 2007 saw somewhere in the region of 1,500-2,000 UK hours been flown at the club.

Looking forward to 2008, and with more members now getting towards flying 100 hours a year and also a slow but steady growth in membership, this year/the next decade is looking good for the club and paragliding in Scotland!

Spin off’s from paragliding at the club now include paramotoring, with the first test flight of Ian Archers PPG on the 30^th of December (up on YouTube… but turn down the volume!) and possibly finaly the long awaited start of some limited hang glider flying/training in the coming summer if there is enough demand..

So please keep coming back to the Visit Scotland Blog to read about what is going on in the air over Scotland amongst both BHPC and the BHPA paraglider pilots, and of course those visiting to fly in Scotland, don’t forget you can also watch the YouTube clips of members flying & training at www.ParaVideo.co.uk

Murray Hay, 3,000+ hours and counting! (BHPC Pilot)

Last big ESP club meet of 2007 - Morrone near Braemar

December 9, 2007 on 7:24 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

The last big club meet of 2007 For East Scotland Paragliding was planned to also be the first club day at a new site, one which only Duncan Booth, who had re-trained with me back in 2003, had flown before. Another re-training pilot Ian Archer, had arranged access with his friends at the estate as well as a second 4×4. The logistics of getting all the pilot members & students, plus all the equipment, including a couple of tandems (to cover the weight range) as well as the folk from the estate who would be flying with me make the logistics a VITAL part of any good club day! With ten years of running the club and providing training to pilots this is a well practiced fine art for me! The common additional problem this day being getting pilots from all over Scotland to the location at the same time, as despite the name of East Scotland Paragliding club we are attracting pilots from all over Scotland not to mention a few from England & Wales! As it ended up we had (after a
LOT of time on the mobile over a couple of days!) in the end just two ‘up-lifts’ needed, and with a 20 min drive up that was just as well, the second near midday for those with family commitments in the morning!

Picture: Just a few of the pilot members, students & friends out to enjoy the sunny winter flying.

With the MET office aviation weather & enough A4 maps printed (Memory Map) of the flying site, it was time for me to do a quick, top landing, solo site/wind/lift check on Nova Vertex then the final site brief/discussion. The ‘top’ LZ was set to enable all the pilots to top land and keep the launch window clear, this LZ was in fact off to the left 200ft lower in a dip (col) in the ridge so even if the lift dropped/was flown out of, little to no vertical walking over snow would be required!

Picture: For those interested in the physics the top right image that looks like ‘left weight shifted’ in fact shows the white Vertex held in a RIGHT beat all the way along the ridge as I hold it in a “Vectored Side Slip”… this looks from the ground (I am told) “VERY weird” and rather proves some of the points I have been making for 10 years about standard PG theory!

Landing next the snow covered track meant pilots were back at the launch site by 4×4 under 5 minutes later so a LOT of flying with almost no sweat was the order of the day in mellow light lift until near sundown when the forecast conditions were due to start to pick up.

As this was a new site a number of the students each did a short tandem flight prior to soloing flying their own equipment, Alan and Duncan were away then Jonathan, who is still at the stage to need the odd radio instruction followed, but took one beat too many deciding to “turn in lift”, which he did.. but promptly flew out of…. Giving him about his only (modest) ‘hike’ up… assisted by yours truly, having brought the retrieve vehicle down jogged down the slope to carry then fly JR’s wing back up! Meantime Nairn was again showing just how far he had progressed in his re-training, it appeared he was only going to land if he got cold!

During the day between checking students per-launch/reviewing flights, the folk from the estate were flying tandem with me, all as ‘first timers’. Barry’s two sons, first Ryan with two 15-20 minutes flights on the Dual Controls of G-BZJI, then young Lee (aged 3!) on a Philou 29, rigged as a tandem and finally their dad Barry, who said he could hardly go home and say he had not flown when both the boys had!

As it got near dusk those with more flight time/experience were getting longer and higher flights but with the changing conditions it was time for another site/weather review. JR having had a fantastic day decided that it was time to stop, and would drive the pickup rather than tandem to the LZ (Thanks JR!) while both Alan & Duncan, having a lot of hours airtime, opted to fly north from the launch site towards Braemar before cutting SE around Morrone towards the parking area. Next away about quarter of an hour later, was Ian Archer who is very ‘current’ but has a lower total hours flight time than Alan & Duncan, he took my advice and followed the simpler route downwind over the smooth rounded shape of the hill via the col which let him fly near the track all the way to land near those that had already bottom landed by the vehicles.

With the pilots on the ground taking advantage of the drive down the SE side of the hill in the two 4×4’s, I was off the ground for a quick beat to get just enough height in the now strong conditions to clear the ridge and carve downwind, with Nairn several hundred feet above the hill top just waiting for me ready to ‘convoy’ for his first ‘over the back’ LZ flight… Immediately I went to full speed bar and then with the back of the hill smoothly dropping away below me into the valley 2km downwind it was ‘Bar & Big Ears’ punching both well ahead & below to asses the conditions/landing options. This was going to be a guaranteed way of meeting wind shear where the prevailing NW wind would rub against the light valley wind above the LZ… and it did! Prompted a ‘interesting’ Acro show from the Vertex, with I am told those several 100 feet below at the vehicles having a good view of the top of my wing a few times! Nairn having plenty of spare height with at least 1,500ft above the valley floor and following my radio instructions passed high over the valley at it’s broadest point, and then it was a case of him spending time doing smooth 360* to the right & left to ‘burn’ altitude, showing just how efficient his Skywalk wing is by gaining height again at one point when he let the Ear’s out! Big Ears back in it was down to a couple of 100 ft on the far side of the valley then head back across the river to land about 15 minutes later within 20 feet of my touch down! A cracking landing to end a fantastic day, Nair is clearly another one of the rising stars of the club, rapidly building the hours and site experience so I expect it will not be long before he catches up with Alan who has done almost 100 hours since starting re-training in late November last year.