caught this footage late today at 4Mile....

That looked so avoidable, where was it? Why were the paraglider pilots landing so close to the kiters? Were the pilots ok?

good to see the guy walking after that! that was a massive fall... and guessing from the height of the kite at-least 15m drop

Nasty stuff.

Yet another thing to be weary of when kiting. I have seen these at both Wanda and Laperuse and in the right (wrong) conditions we end up very close

Hope the pilot is ok.

... those north Queenslanders are crazy, doesn't every one there know that that part of the beach is kite corner, maybe those gliders were caught out and had to emergency land and only place was there?????? Is the pilot ok???

cheers,

Robbie

ps great footage John

Kitepower Australia said...

That looked so avoidable, where was it? Why were the paraglider pilots landing so close to the kiters? Were the pilots ok?

Correct me if i'm wrong, looks like Four mile beach at Port Douglas, southern corner?
I have kited there and had some guys fly in, they take of way up in the hills about 10 km inland, in the sky for hours.
Bit like a down winder, they park their cars at that spot and walk there gliders up to their cars.

Common what? I didnt get that at the shop.

Amazing how easily one can go down. Lesson learnt to give them space

Glad that the pilot is ok. Its good that you posted this kitemanjohn. Hopefully kiters can learn from this. If there are hang gliders landing give them a wide berth even if you have to go right out for a while till they land. Its obvious they are a lot less monuverable when landing.
Edit : And I would be pretty sure that the hang gliders were landing there before kiting came along.

When you have to land .... you have to land. It's not as if they could go and land somewhere else. They don't have a motor.

I wonder if the first hang glider down tried to get the kiters to clear the area while the other two landed?

Did the kiters not notice the hang gliders or were they just too thoughtless to think it might be an issue. Based on how most kiters behave when other kiters are around I am thinking it is the latter.

If I saw an aircraft of any kind coming in to land at my kite beach I would think "Oooh! Big scary flying thing. I better get away from it. One of us might get hurt."

to the comments above -
you guys are making out it was the kiters fault - not in my opinion -
I have kited at this spot and these hangliders have been landing here for ages
Every time I saw it I thought this is an accident waiting to happen
There is no reason for these guys to land here

They could have landed 400 m either north or south of this spot - but they dont because they dont want to carry the gliders so they land right at the kite sopt and in my opinion they like the show pony aspect of landing infront of people

Its not like they dont know there are kiters here but they still choose to land here

I am so glad the kiter wasnt injured and the goose on the hanglider got lucky except i bet his glider got trashed

I am sure the council will do something to stop this happenning again

Lets hope the kook hanglider doesnt sue for damages otherwise our aksa fees will go up again

Ouch, glad no-one was seriously hurt.

I was a hang glider pilot for many years and for the last three a kite surfer.

It's a tricky process coming into land with a glider, the wind and conditions are variable close to the ground, and the precise spot they were after to land on, the glider can either drop short of or fly over. For example gliders get very efficient close to the ground due to a condition known as "ground effect" and can glide for a long way only 3 metres off the ground. They also get affected by turbulence or lift from the wind getting pushed up over objects - you can fly a glider continuously off the ridge lift from very small dunes if the wind is strong enough or it is unstable air (pre frontal wind). There are also "dead wind zones" to avoid like the bottom of cliffs, where the wind is compressed and generally the wind is less close to the ground, so the glider flies faster relative to the ground the closer it gets. Also hang gliders must land directly into wind, especially when there's plenty of wind around, otherwise one wing or other will lift and flip the glider.

Add that all up and normally pilots are pretty conservative, picking landing spots with decent room and free of objects (humans, kites, whatever) just in case the unusual strikes. Seeing 3 gliders all planning to land amongst (or very close to) kites seems crazy at the very least, maybe this means this was the only landing spot suitable?

Looking at the video, if you take the kites out of the picture, you can see the attraction of the landing spot - the beach is damn narrow with high trees, so landing approaches need to be done from over the sea and slowly drift over the beach as you get lower. The only beach spot suitable will be one where the wind is coming straight down the beach (about perfect close to the kites.).

It looks like the last guy overshot his landing approach and is much higher than the other guys at the same point. He also doesn't look like he has the height to go around and re-try further down the beach - he's basically "locked and loaded" to the landing path he has chosen.

Hopefully a learning for the pilot - don't plan to land that damn close to kites! Also learnings for the kiters - it may be necessity for them to land where you are, if they have an issue. If you see them coming towards you and they're less than 15 metres up, they will only be making minor changes to their flight path, they are not going to have options to deviate majorly from it. 5 metres up they are "locked" and will land in the direction they are facing. Your kite also causes significant air turbulence downwind, not something that a hang glider pilot wants to fly through just before they land.
Basically you need to take action to get out of their way because close to landing they cannot get out of yours.

Does Windswell Kitesurfing make beginners aware of the gliders coming in to land when they are doing lessons,if not perhaps they should .The gliders would land there because they have to land straight into the SE trade wind and it is the only part of a beach around there that runs in that direction.
Chadster you would rather see a glider pilot carry his rig 400m along the beach than perhaps go out a bit until he has landed. Thats pretty selfish. Its attitudes like yours that give kitesurfing a bad name.
Can only hope that a compromising solution between the gliders and kiters comes out of this

You should note that hang gliders have been landing there well before kite surfing was even invented!
They land there because the wind is a much better and safer direction on the beach than further up the beach and because carrying your glider to the pack up area is not the easiest task on the best of days.
We must work together to find a safe way for all of us to all enjoy this great part of the far north.

kitemanjohn said...

caught this footage late today at 4Mile....

Hey Chadster, who's the kook, you need to have a good look at yourself after a comment like that, what makes you think these guys dont have a right to land there, maybe you should go and do some research and realise as you say that they have been flying there for years and therefore have the same rights to the beach as anyone else. As mentioned by others they dont always have a choice how far they can go to find a landing spot, and yes I do kitesurf.

Chadster said.....

"They could have landed 400 m either north or south of this spot - but they dont because they dont want to carry the gliders so they land right at the kite sopt and in my opinion they like the show pony aspect of landing infront of people"

You say that gliders are being a show pony? that statement is just pure ignorance.
IF you understand the wind then you would see why they land there. Also, a hang glider is much harder to carry to the pack up area compared to a kite.

We all pack up in the same area and can continue to share this area for a long time to come as long as we do not have to deal with this kind of attitude!

Listen you do gooders you dont have to be a rocket scientist to realise that mixing hangliders with kiting is just plain dumb

Dont worry about trying to get a loving relationship with the kiters and hgliders all using the one spot
I am sure the council will ban one of these groups form the spot.
Any bets who is going to lose ...??????

Anyway hangliding is so 70s

Ii'am a one of two local hang gliding instructors based in the Cairns area and i have been based here for the last 18 years.
I teach hang gliding at the Rex lookout aprox 20 kms south of Port Doug.
This Hang gliding site has been here and used for the last 25+years without incident.
On many occasions we land at the south end of four mile beach [Port Douglas]and on other occasions we fly as far as Mossman and the Daintree village.
We are in full control of our flights and handling of our air craft.
We have been landing on the southern end of four mile beach long before kite surfing was even thaught of as someone else pointed out.And it's usually away from most of the general public.We land in this area because of the prevailing south east trade winds and it's the cleanest safest and most direct landing into the wind possible in this area,not because as some one commented that [we are show ponies]Have some common sense mate.
On this occasion 3 of the local guy's have flown to Port Douglas, and as usual they arrive at the southern end of the beach above the Kite borders from a height of at least 1000 feet or more.They circle above the landing area so as to lose height and to give the kite borders a good visual of thier presence and to give them time to lower thier kites or move out to sea for a few of minutes so they have time to land safely on the beach.I have done this many times in the past without incident.Some times it is noted that some of the borders don't stop or move away and come close to the shore line which does make our landing choices a bit difficult especially when we are on final approach [there is no turning back]On Saturday it was noted that there was an extra high tide on the beaches which made the landing area smaller and the wind was a little more south than usual which makes landing difficult[turbulence from the tree line] coupled with a big contingent of borders as well.From word of mouth and the video it was plain to see there were borders close to the beach an still operating.and as we all sore the potential did happen.with a glider smashed up and the pilot of 35 or more years exp was lucky to walk away from this pretty nasty incident.We all love our sports and and should have a general respect for each other with regards to safety.I would like this to be a warning to all of us and i see no reason why we can't share our beaches and enjoy this beautiful and fun part of far nort QLD.Regards Greg.