I knew an extremely competent glider pilot who would do an aerobatic sequence returning to the airfield from a cross country flight. After a couple of sessions he confessed he was in the red arrows and born and bred north of the border. I asked why he had relocated to the south..I make and sell racing sails and whilst those in the republic are happy to use his services the north is filled with civil servants who have nothing better to do than find the cheapest price.
A council has recently taken over a park that we use for paragliding..they have insisted that we sign an annual agreement to use it and give a weeks notice before we fly. Our take off criteria is wind direction of 290 to 250 degrees and 8 to 12 knots…they couldn’t even forecast the fastnet storm 24 hours in advance!