[31 Mar 09]Saturday 11th April: AGM and reserve repack

The Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 11th April at 4pm, in the Holly Tree, Menstrie. Please come along.

On the same day from 12 until 4pm there will be a reserve repack in the Dumyat Centre. If you would like your parachute to be repacked please let Peter know as this will help with the planning - email

[25 Mar 09]Airspace update

It looks likely that we will get a 3000ft ceiling over the Gargunnock ridge, but with the possibility of expanding that with a letter of agreement (like they have at Campsie, Hillend etc.).

• Ochils club response to consultation
• SHPF summary of discussions

[16 Jan 09]Proposed airspace change affecting Gargunnock hills

There is a proposal to change the class E airspace between Glasgow and Edinburgh to class D. The change would put a ceiling of 2500ft over the whole Gargunnock ridge.

Have a look at this consultation document.

We have until mid-March to make responses to the proposal. To start with we want to gather comments from everyone, which the club and the SHPF will put together into a combined response. This should also become a useful basis for people sending individual responses to NATS later on.

Please send your comments to

[16 Jan 09]The Lomond Country Inn XC Challenge 2009

Sponsored by - you guessed it The Lomond Country Inn (Purveyors of fine Ale, food and accomodation! This competition is being organised by the Ochils Paragliding Club, Fraser Marwick and Terry Stubbs (Organisers and Sponsorship liaison) and Dave Thomson (XC League coordinator). The purpose of this challenge (and it is a challenge) to encourage BHPA XC pilots to come and fly from Bishops Hill on a cross country with the minimal distance requirement of crossing the Firth of Tay on what is a relatively unknown XC route by paraglider. This flight has the potential to be, not only a big flight, but an interesting and varied one. The Tay crossing has already been done twice last year by paraglider with one flight ending at Glamis.

The rules are simple...

The flight can take place between the 1st of March and the last day of October 2009.

All flights have to be from Bishops Hill (Bishops Hill only).

The task will be an open XC and to qualify you must cross the Firth of Tay - the winner will be the one who crosses the Tay and then flies the furthest... simple!

All classes of paraglider are eligible.

The flight has to be submitted to the XC League for validation.

There is no entry fee.

The winner will recieve Dinner, Bed and Breakfast for 2 at the Lomond on a date of your choosing (subject to availability). If no one crosses the Tay by paraglider the prize will continue onto the following year! Have big fun in the sky and good luck!