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A terrible development on Saturday for Brazillian hang gliding. Francisco Honda, the manager of Parque Estadual da Serra do Itapetinga and the Monumento Natural da Pedra Grande (the national park that includes the Great Stone Monument), stormed the launch site with a contingent of military police and shut it down. For over 20 years, Pedra Grande has served as one of the most popular hang gliding sites in Brazil with no problems. But on August 10, following a near collision between a commercial airliner and a paraglider flying at illegal altitude, the regional free-flight organization Clube Atibaiense de Voo Livre (CAVL) took pre-emptive action and shut the site temporarily, promising the national park and aviation authorities that such an incident would never happen again. Today's furious and unannounced action by the national authorities suggests another violation of airspace incident may have occurred. Again, I cannot emphasize strongly enough that hang glider pilots need to formally distance themselves from all association with paragliding. Unless they present themselves to the world as a distinct and separate sport, their fates will hinge on the irresponsible actions of paraglider pilots over whom they have no control.
PDMC RESERVE - A Plague of Paragliders
Oct 1, 2011 Mythology of the Airframe
http://www.cometclones.com/mythology2011.htm
