Historic Flight, I didn't think it was possible. Very impressive. I fly around the Central Coast and I was pretty pleased with myself for flying from Crackneck to Spoon bay and back, but your flight is so much ballsier covering so much open water. It must be hard to get the smile off your face. Thanks for sharing , great vid.
Gotta be prepared, plus I’m sure he would had a pfd on also, this flight would have had huge risks, not to mention being in open airspace, can’t imagine the civil aviation authority would have been happy haha Amazing flight, but huge risks
Thanks Dora... this was a project that took about 2 years to achieve but having a project such as this is a total joy. Flying across Sydney harbour blew my mind ... not the actual day I did it but 18 months before when I realised it was possible. Consider paragliding.
The day I crossed the harbour I was flying with one of my best mates .... Charly. Charly is 80 + and he’s still improving. Sixty is not old for a paraglider pilot. Learning will probably take a little longer. Email me to discuss off line. John4Flying@gmail.com
+John Norman was there any backlash from CASA for this flight? Can’t imagine they would have been happy flying in their airspace with tourist choppers etc!... Still one of my fave flight vids I’ve ever seen!
Tim Pentreath We had set 250m as the minimum height so when I got 280m I was very confident. Have loved many of your videos even the packing one from yesterday. Cheers john
BIZZYBUGSEVERYWHERE I didn’t have anyone following me in a boat. But when I headed out across the harbour about five boats started following me. One of them was a police boat that gave up after about 20 minutes. I was wearing a wet suit and had flippers with me.
Eddie Delahoz , was flying a Mentor 3, its a fantastic wing but any modern high performance B+ wing could do it. The decision to takeoff was the critical moment- if you are 100% confident you are flying a wing within your abilities then you can fly your best.
Hi Zavier, I'm happy to show you some Sydney flying sites and helping you anyway I can. I will be in France from August 3 till August 24th, but after that I will be in Sydney and keen to help you out. John4flying (at) gmail.com
To bad, we are missing eachother. Im french and you are going to france, you are australian and im going to australia : funny !! If you want know some very nice place to fly in south of France, let me know, i will help you !
+xavier moreel Send me an email a week before you arrive in Sydney and I will give you some contact details for helpful local pilots. We drive out of Milan and are choosing between Sospel and Petit Veillos - Valdeblore? Can you advise which is the best XC site?
Hi John, actually, these places are all in the same area : mercantour park. It is very nice and there are plenty of good spots. Here is the link of the french federation : federation.ffvl.fr/actus/pour-information-parc-mercantour-arr-t-concernant-vol-libre Souple is very nice, nice valley and its not very far from roque brune cap martin where you should definitely go if you want to fly above Monaco. You take off from mont gros and you land on the beach ( you can only fly after 12pm and its 15 euros for unlimited drive to the take off. Anyways, all this park (mercantour ) is beautiful so i hope you will have fun. Thank you for the contact details when i will be in sydney, ii will email you for sure. I would love to fly in the blue mountain too and im going to perth and cairns so im going to look for some good spots. thank a lot
John were you carrying a VHF radio in this area? Also, how did you get permission from Sydney control zone to land at Bronte? According to the maps i have...none of those beaches are in the Victor 1 air lane...therefore they are as much as 1 km inside surface to 2500 C class airspace (including where you landed at Bronte). Finally, it is a requirement of the Victor 1 EARS documentation (see section 19 on page 18 Sydney Special conditions) that whilst it isnt mandatory to carry a transponder if your aircraft doesnt come fitted with one, you must carry both a VHF radio, and a life jacket. A wetsuit doesnt fit the bill im afraid! Also, your altitude in Victor 1 South, out the front of Bondi was too high...you would have been inside C Class airspace above 500 ft in that location.
Adam Edgar , you now have practical experience in Victor 1 so I'm interested in your perspective. For your epic paramotor flight down the coast was it a requirement to stay 1 km off-shore? I've read about this in one of the Victor 1 documents but was not sure if it was a rule or recommendation or if even applied to us at all?
I just followed my Airspace maps down the coast. The boundaries on the maps are marked with very thick lines so i took the liberty of following that very thick line on the closer side of nearest land (I have Ausrunways on my mobile phone and my argument is "on a small screen its pretty difficult to be perfectlly accurate") I am not sure why the 1km statement is mentioned, but i assume its to help restrict low flying aircraft noise? I think generally; 1. as long as we are not flying over houses or the beaches in CTAF at Bronte and Bondi and 2. we maintain height restrictions, 3. residents dont complain, the HGFA and CASA will not be too concerned. I told Brett Copeland about my flight afterwards and he didnt convey any concerns to me so my assumption is I didnt bend any rules beyond what he was comfortable with. The only issue i had to be really careful of was the 25nm rule for pilots without xcountry endorsement (hence my landing and disassembled paramotor photos at Marley). I would very much like to see a new airspace brought in that gives paragliders and hang gliders a surface - 300ft window in controlled airspace. This would make it perfectly legal to land at any time on Bronte, Bondi beaches. kind regards, Adam
John Norman Did you cop any grief from CASA for this flight? Just curious being in open airspace is all... Incredible flight! Did you have a boat out there with you? Blue skies brother
Hi Patrick, yes I was fined $1800 from Casa for exceeding the 500 foot ceiling on the south side of the harbour and not carrying VHF radio. I also lost my HGFA Paragliding licence for a year. But that flight took 2 years to plan and execute and is the only truely unique thing I have done in my life. The takeoff at Blue Fish point is now a gem in the Sydney Paragliding area.
John Norman I know the spot well John. Bloody hell, you’re lucky the consequences weren’t worse. I have watched this video countless times and though ‘man, kudos for the effort, but he’s just given them all the evidence they need to f him over’... Epic flight mate, glad you got to conquer it and made it across safely. Just a few questions if you don’t mind? - what wing were you flying? - did you have a back up or safety boat on the harbour in case you bombed out? And no disrespect, was it worth the consequences of fines and loss if licence? Well done mate, crazy, but stunning flight! Just hearing your joy makes me excited haha I know the spot, but I was based up near Port Macquarie up until a month ago where we had to move up to a small coastal town near Bundaberg Qld, an absolute hole in the earth! It’s so flat, hot dry and arad! The most I can do is ground handle and if I get a chance every now and then head down to Rainbow and meet a mate there, but he’s fully immersed in his ppg now, so I’ve lost him to his motor haha
John Norman also, thanks for the reply mate, just wanted to hear your version of events a I’ve heard others stories, but everyone is different so I’d rather hear it from the pilot himself, so thank you for taking the time to get back to me 👍🏻 Blue skies buddy
I must convince my human to take me on a paravacation down under! Absolutely spellbinding!
Proper preparation prevents poor performance.... Nice work on the calculation and internal fortitude to pull it off.
I always thought there was the SIX P's hahaha
Historic Flight, I didn't think it was possible. Very impressive. I fly around the Central Coast and I was pretty pleased with myself for flying from Crackneck to Spoon bay and back, but your flight is so much ballsier covering so much open water. It must be hard to get the smile off your face. Thanks for sharing , great vid.
OH MY GOSH! What an EPIC flight! I guess this pilot is an execellent swimmer?
Good work man, this is a truly inspiring flight... foot launching to cross 2.5km of open water beats 250km of XC any day!!!
wetsuit and all !! well done :)
Gotta be prepared, plus I’m sure he would had a pfd on also, this flight would have had huge risks, not to mention being in open airspace, can’t imagine the civil aviation authority would have been happy haha
Amazing flight, but huge risks
sweet flight!!
So I guess a few people DID see it... amazing flight. So from your other vids I can see its possible to fly from Palmy to Bondi!!! WOW
Thanks Dora... this was a project that took about 2 years to achieve but having a project such as this is a total joy. Flying across Sydney harbour blew my mind ... not the actual day I did it but 18 months before when I realised it was possible. Consider paragliding.
@@john4flying I have been looking into it. I'm 60yo and I haven't seen too many guys my age floating about up there.
The day I crossed the harbour I was flying with one of my best mates .... Charly. Charly is 80 + and he’s still improving. Sixty is not old for a paraglider pilot. Learning will probably take a little longer. Email me to discuss off line. John4Flying@gmail.com
Wooww Bro' that's sick
Epic flight !!!
awesome video john !
Good! It was a great flight
+John Norman was there any backlash from CASA for this flight? Can’t imagine they would have been happy flying in their airspace with tourist choppers etc!...
Still one of my fave flight vids I’ve ever seen!
So epic!
How much was the fine from CASA afterwards? Hahaha
Still love this vid hey
Is it illegal to fly in sydney harbour? I mean i thought it is but then again i saw videos like this one.
Is there an uncut version?? Id love to see that!
SurvivalSquirrel sorry but the footage I cut was mostly shakey crap pointing at my knees
Nice flight! Those cliffs seemed to generate a huge amount of lift... What height were you at when you decided to go for it?
Tim Pentreath We had set 250m as the minimum height so when I got 280m I was very confident. Have loved many of your videos even the packing one from yesterday. Cheers john
Thanks for your reply John, and thanks re the vids!
Awesome! :D
that was amazing , nice to see the wetsuit , did you have a mate in a boat follow you along ?
BIZZYBUGSEVERYWHERE I didn’t have anyone following me in a boat. But when I headed out across the harbour about five boats started following me. One of them was a police boat that gave up after about 20 minutes. I was wearing a wet suit and had flippers with me.
epic crossing, with plenty of altitude arriving into lift. I like your safety wetsuit prethought. What wing did you fly?
Eddie Delahoz , was flying a Mentor 3, its a fantastic wing but any modern high performance B+ wing could do it. The decision to takeoff was the critical moment- if you are 100% confident you are flying a wing within your abilities then you can fly your best.
Hey John,
I introduced myself on Friday - Jason.
Could you add me to the group we talked about?
Discretion is not a problem.
Cheers
Man !!!! id love to fly with you when i come in august ! is that possible ?
Hi Zavier, I'm happy to show you some Sydney flying sites and helping you anyway I can. I will be in France from August 3 till August 24th, but after that I will be in Sydney and keen to help you out. John4flying (at) gmail.com
To bad, we are missing eachother. Im french and you are going to france, you are australian and im going to australia : funny !!
If you want know some very nice place to fly in south of France, let me know, i will help you !
+xavier moreel Send me an email a week before you arrive in Sydney and I will give you some contact details for helpful local pilots.
We drive out of Milan and are choosing between Sospel and Petit Veillos - Valdeblore? Can you advise which is the best XC site?
Hi John, actually, these places are all in the same area : mercantour park. It is very nice and there are plenty of good spots.
Here is the link of the french federation : federation.ffvl.fr/actus/pour-information-parc-mercantour-arr-t-concernant-vol-libre
Souple is very nice, nice valley and its not very far from roque brune cap martin where you should definitely go if you want to fly above Monaco. You take off from mont gros and you land on the beach ( you can only fly after 12pm and its 15 euros for unlimited drive to the take off.
Anyways, all this park (mercantour ) is beautiful so i hope you will have fun.
Thank you for the contact details when i will be in sydney, ii will email you for sure. I would love to fly in the blue mountain too and im going to perth and cairns so im going to look for some good spots.
thank a lot
John were you carrying a VHF radio in this area? Also, how did you get permission from Sydney control zone to land at Bronte? According to the maps i have...none of those beaches are in the Victor 1 air lane...therefore they are as much as 1 km inside surface to 2500 C class airspace (including where you landed at Bronte).
Finally, it is a requirement of the Victor 1 EARS documentation (see section 19 on page 18 Sydney Special conditions) that whilst it isnt mandatory to carry a transponder if your aircraft doesnt come fitted with one, you must carry both a VHF radio, and a life jacket. A wetsuit doesnt fit the bill im afraid!
Also, your altitude in Victor 1 South, out the front of Bondi was too high...you would have been inside C Class airspace above 500 ft in that location.
Adam Edgar , you now have practical experience in Victor 1 so I'm interested in your perspective. For your epic paramotor flight down the coast was it a requirement to stay 1 km off-shore? I've read about this in one of the Victor 1 documents but was not sure if it was a rule or recommendation or if even applied to us at all?
I just followed my Airspace maps down the coast. The boundaries on the maps are marked with very thick lines so i took the liberty of following that very thick line on the closer side of nearest land (I have Ausrunways on my mobile phone and my argument is "on a small screen its pretty difficult to be perfectlly accurate") I am not sure why the 1km statement is mentioned, but i assume its to help restrict low flying aircraft noise?
I think generally;
1. as long as we are not flying over houses or the beaches in CTAF at Bronte and Bondi and
2. we maintain height restrictions,
3. residents dont complain,
the HGFA and CASA will not be too concerned.
I told Brett Copeland about my flight afterwards and he didnt convey any concerns to me so my assumption is I didnt bend any rules beyond what he was comfortable with. The only issue i had to be really careful of was the 25nm rule for pilots without xcountry endorsement (hence my landing and disassembled paramotor photos at Marley).
I would very much like to see a new airspace brought in that gives paragliders and hang gliders a surface - 300ft window in controlled airspace. This would make it perfectly legal to land at any time on Bronte, Bondi beaches.
kind regards,
Adam
John Norman
Did you cop any grief from CASA for this flight?
Just curious being in open airspace is all...
Incredible flight! Did you have a boat out there with you?
Blue skies brother
Hi Patrick, yes I was fined $1800 from Casa for exceeding the 500 foot ceiling on the south side of the harbour and not carrying VHF radio. I also lost my HGFA Paragliding licence for a year. But that flight took 2 years to plan and execute and is the only truely unique thing I have done in my life. The takeoff at Blue Fish point is now a gem in the Sydney Paragliding area.
John Norman I know the spot well John.
Bloody hell, you’re lucky the consequences weren’t worse. I have watched this video countless times and though ‘man, kudos for the effort, but he’s just given them all the evidence they need to f him over’...
Epic flight mate, glad you got to conquer it and made it across safely.
Just a few questions if you don’t mind?
- what wing were you flying?
- did you have a back up or safety boat on the harbour in case you bombed out?
And no disrespect, was it worth the consequences of fines and loss if licence?
Well done mate, crazy, but stunning flight! Just hearing your joy makes me excited haha
I know the spot, but I was based up near Port Macquarie up until a month ago where we had to move up to a small coastal town near Bundaberg Qld, an absolute hole in the earth!
It’s so flat, hot dry and arad!
The most I can do is ground handle and if I get a chance every now and then head down to Rainbow and meet a mate there, but he’s fully immersed in his ppg now, so I’ve lost him to his motor haha
John Norman also, thanks for the reply mate, just wanted to hear your version of events a I’ve heard others stories, but everyone is different so I’d rather hear it from the pilot himself, so thank you for taking the time to get back to me 👍🏻
Blue skies buddy
Ballsy