Hi again (after posting to the old shoutbox...)
I'm Jakob. I'm going to move from Karlsruhe Germany (where my usual flying site is the Merkur in Baden-Baden) to Nottingham to do my PhD at the University of Nottingham. Since the internet did not give my any information on pragliding pilots at UoN: Are any of you based in Nottingham? Not having a car myself, are there regular trips to the peak district from there? Is there any winch flying going on?
Best
Jakob
Hi Jakob!
Glad you found where we've all moved to!
There are a number of DSC members living in the Nottingham area, and the Peak District is definitely the nearest (and best!) playground for anyone living in Nottingham. Not having a car is certainly a disadvantage, but quite a few of us lift-share, so you should be able to team up with someone travelling up. I recommend that you join the DSC once you've moved over, and put a request on here for anyone living in the Nottingham area to give you a lift out to the hills.
What is your experience, and what is your rating? If you have experience in winching and wish to do that, Airways Airsports near Ashbourne have this facility. The Peak District has a good range of hills for most wind directions, so most of us are hill flyers.
Good luck, and hope to see you soon!
My experience of ~150 flights (black forest, vosges, alps), no XC so far. I did my license in 2011. In Germany/DHV, we don't really have pilot ratings, I have the "A license" which, according to a quick Google search, corresponds to IPPI level 4.
I'm looking forward to meeting you and the Peak District 🙂
Hi Javra,
As I understand it, the short answer is yes. If you wish to fly the DSC club sites then you must be a DSC member and to be a DSC member you must be a BHPA member. Might be worth double checking this with the membership secretary membership@derbyshiresoaringclub.org.uk 🙂
Jakob, I'd recommend you posted on both Facebook and here for maximum coverage. What usually seems to happen is that once you get to know club members living in your area, you also get to know their work arrangements, they get to know yours and planning tends to be done directly by phone. So keep doing what you're doing, look ahead for flyable days that fit your schedule, and post requests for lift as soon as you see such a day approaching. We haven't had many recently!