Week #16 – Flying the Wheatbelt.

Wanging around in Pootanup.  Yep, I’ve said it.  What is it you ask?  Well’ it’s probably not quite what you think.

A  ‘Wangy’ is a non technical term for a aerobatic Hang Gliding manoeuvre, and Pootanup, well that’s a place north of the Stirling Ranges in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.

When the conditions are right, Simon Shuttleworth, President of the Albany Hang Gliding Club, and a small crew of eager pilots, can be found hanging around the wheat belt – literally.

Flying up to 10,000ft on a good day, they are towed into the air by microlights.  Gaining altitude quickly, they search for the near invisible thermals, or columns of rising air, that keep them aloft.  Hopping from thermal to thermal, pilots can cover incredible distances.  Simon’s best inland flight lasted 5 hours in which he travelled a 150 kilometre triangle.  When I asked Simon, who started flying in 1973, what he loved best about flying, his response was “I just love flying, just wanging around”.

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