Hi all,
Nice to be here, looking forward to hearing/sharing our experiences.
The reason I've joined up, is that I need some help... I'm a paraglider pilot, who flies a few sites around AU, but mainly Victoria, and am wondering if there is anything that I (and we, other pilots as well) can do to dissuade Wedge tail eagles from attacking us during our flights?
This usually occurs during spring, through to mid-summer (ish), when they're quite territorial around their nesting sites (I think). Unfortunately, their territories are quite large, and we can be happily flying along, when out of nowhere there's the chilling sound of a wedgie screeching at you, and you frantically look around to find a huge (usually - the juveniles are quite often happy to fly with us and even do a bit of showing off) eagle with wings tucked in, claws outstretched, coming in for the kill.
Not a lot of fun...
Apart from the damage they cause our wings - most people get hit repeatedly, resulting in multiple tears in the wing - there's been a few hits on the actual pilot this year, which is really quite scary and dangerous.
Now, to head off any incorrect assumptions, I'd like to make clear that we all love the eagles - they are often our best indicator of thermals on cross country flights, and there is nothing better than spending time thermalling/gliding with a wedgie on the leading edge of the wing, about 20 feet away...
What I'd like to know - does anyone have any ideas about how to dissuade them from attacking? The assumptions on our part is that they are territorial, and are trying to scare the intruding bird (us) away - quite successfully I might add, as the first thing we try and do is fly away. Not much else we can do unfortunately. The problem with this is that if we are forced to leave a thermal, there might not be anywhere to land close by, again creating an unsafe situation.
There has been in the past, people who (rumor has it) have taped/marked large eyes on the top of the wing, with apparently little result.
There is currently a pilot in Qld who has had luck apparently with dropping a rubber chicken he flies with... Upon an attack, he deploys the chook, and said eagle dives for it, allowing the pilot to fly away...
Even if this did work, I'm not a fan of carrying a rubber chicken or three around everytime I fly - I'm looking for a neater solution.
So, does anyone have any feedback?
Also, if you want to get up close to a wedge tailed eagle in all it's glory, I highly recommend a tandem cross country flight - you won't be disappointed. There a a few schools/teams that run tandems out of Bright, in north east Victoria.
Cheers, And merry Xmas!!
Alex
Nice to be here, looking forward to hearing/sharing our experiences.
The reason I've joined up, is that I need some help... I'm a paraglider pilot, who flies a few sites around AU, but mainly Victoria, and am wondering if there is anything that I (and we, other pilots as well) can do to dissuade Wedge tail eagles from attacking us during our flights?
This usually occurs during spring, through to mid-summer (ish), when they're quite territorial around their nesting sites (I think). Unfortunately, their territories are quite large, and we can be happily flying along, when out of nowhere there's the chilling sound of a wedgie screeching at you, and you frantically look around to find a huge (usually - the juveniles are quite often happy to fly with us and even do a bit of showing off) eagle with wings tucked in, claws outstretched, coming in for the kill.
Not a lot of fun...
Apart from the damage they cause our wings - most people get hit repeatedly, resulting in multiple tears in the wing - there's been a few hits on the actual pilot this year, which is really quite scary and dangerous.
Now, to head off any incorrect assumptions, I'd like to make clear that we all love the eagles - they are often our best indicator of thermals on cross country flights, and there is nothing better than spending time thermalling/gliding with a wedgie on the leading edge of the wing, about 20 feet away...
What I'd like to know - does anyone have any ideas about how to dissuade them from attacking? The assumptions on our part is that they are territorial, and are trying to scare the intruding bird (us) away - quite successfully I might add, as the first thing we try and do is fly away. Not much else we can do unfortunately. The problem with this is that if we are forced to leave a thermal, there might not be anywhere to land close by, again creating an unsafe situation.
There has been in the past, people who (rumor has it) have taped/marked large eyes on the top of the wing, with apparently little result.
There is currently a pilot in Qld who has had luck apparently with dropping a rubber chicken he flies with... Upon an attack, he deploys the chook, and said eagle dives for it, allowing the pilot to fly away...
Even if this did work, I'm not a fan of carrying a rubber chicken or three around everytime I fly - I'm looking for a neater solution.
So, does anyone have any feedback?
Also, if you want to get up close to a wedge tailed eagle in all it's glory, I highly recommend a tandem cross country flight - you won't be disappointed. There a a few schools/teams that run tandems out of Bright, in north east Victoria.
Cheers, And merry Xmas!!
Alex
