It is already March and very soon the flying season will start. In
April we will start to do our first xc flights from Panorama Mountain
Resort and once the road is open to Mt. Swansea (beginning to mid May), flying will be at its strongest season.
To keep us up to date on Reserves and getting some reserve tossing practice in, we headed to Calgary last weekend and attended the "Reserve Clinic/Repack" with Muller Windsports.
They had a great turn out and it was super to see people we have not seen for a long time.
Something that came to mind when discussing what radio channels to use and how to react when someone comes down on a reserve, was my SPOT. I suggested to use a SPOT and to have the "Golden flying website" add a page where every pilot can register their public SPOT URL. With this system, pilots flying XC can be located and one can see where he/she is currently flying or hiking and their "OK" or "HELP calls. Strangley enough I received a very negative response to the SPOT, which left me a bit confused, as it seems to me, an obvious choice in locating pilots.
At the completion of the clinic, Bruce Busby, who was one person who thought it was a great idea, discussed this option further with me. He is considering presenting it to the HPAC board to see if this could be implemented on the HPAC website. The SPOT is great to locate someone for a rescue, but how many times do we worry about others as to where they are and if they need help or not? Now if this gets implemented to the HPAC website, everyone could see where pilots are, if they are okay if they had to land way back in the mountains, or had to use their reserve, or simply need a retrieval after a long flight.
Thanks again to Vincene for hosting this great event and thanks to Bernand for repacking both Penny's and my reserve packs so quickly, in order for us to get back to Invermere so soon for another event!
To keep us up to date on Reserves and getting some reserve tossing practice in, we headed to Calgary last weekend and attended the "Reserve Clinic/Repack" with Muller Windsports.
They had a great turn out and it was super to see people we have not seen for a long time.
Something that came to mind when discussing what radio channels to use and how to react when someone comes down on a reserve, was my SPOT. I suggested to use a SPOT and to have the "Golden flying website" add a page where every pilot can register their public SPOT URL. With this system, pilots flying XC can be located and one can see where he/she is currently flying or hiking and their "OK" or "HELP calls. Strangley enough I received a very negative response to the SPOT, which left me a bit confused, as it seems to me, an obvious choice in locating pilots.
At the completion of the clinic, Bruce Busby, who was one person who thought it was a great idea, discussed this option further with me. He is considering presenting it to the HPAC board to see if this could be implemented on the HPAC website. The SPOT is great to locate someone for a rescue, but how many times do we worry about others as to where they are and if they need help or not? Now if this gets implemented to the HPAC website, everyone could see where pilots are, if they are okay if they had to land way back in the mountains, or had to use their reserve, or simply need a retrieval after a long flight.
Thanks again to Vincene for hosting this great event and thanks to Bernand for repacking both Penny's and my reserve packs so quickly, in order for us to get back to Invermere so soon for another event!
