FlyGolden.ca, paragliding & hang gliding from Mount 7 Golden BC Canada
A
Community of Foot-launched Pilots - Hang Gliding & Paragliding in Golden
BC.
PLEASE - No Landing in the
CP Train Yard under any circumstances!
Baseball field - emergency only.
The safety officer from CP Rail called me today. He has observed,
and been reading reports from employees, about paragliders landing
in the CP Railyard near the Reflection Lake gravel pit.
We all know that from a Flight Safety point of view it's way better
to land out there than to try to land at the pit in a north wind.
But from a rail safety point of view, they think this is very
unsafe.
The representative told me, in a very friendly way, that this can't
continue or there will be the chance of the CP police issuing
tickets. Or worse, the RCMP issuing Trespassing tickets. He hopes it
doesn't have to escalate to that. Same here.
It's easy to tell before launching that the wind isn't favorable for
the pit and choose to land elsewhere. Like the LZ. It's a little
inconvenient to get a ride back to the pit but let's keep relations
good with the cp people.
The gravel pit is actually within the Town limits and is also within
the Town aerodrome. The rules state that we can only enter an
aerodrome with radio communication, phoned in contact or approval
from the Airport Manager. The airport manager is also the town
manager(this is a small town) who has given us the verbal agreement
to use the pit and, on a very limited basis, the baseball field. The
baseball field isn't much better in a north wind, or any wind for
that matter. Both locations are on the published approach in the AIP
for the downwind leg for runway 32. The published height is 1500
feet agl. If CP were ever to push the issue, the airport manager
could change his mind about us using the pit. The whole aerodrome
could become off-limits. Incidentally, part of the front ridge is
within the aerodrome.
Sorry for the long note, but please pass this info on to anyone who
could potentially be jeopardizing our alternate LZ.
Thanks, Scott Watwood
Mt. 7 Site Manager
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