Parachuting at Elwood Park
Yesterday was probably the start of using the beachside park at Elwood as a parachuting DZ.
I would appear that the local council has approved para hops into the park on a trial basis, possibly two months. The jumps will be tandem (read passenger carrying) and will operate from Moorabbin airport.
Elwood Park is on the beach south of Melbourne City. An aircraft in that area could be on any one of four frequencies so hearing a two-minute-to-jump warning might not be heard. Elwood is just north of the Brighton VFR waypoint into Moorabbin.
The area is already very busy with aircraft going north and south and into Essendon, some in CTA, others about to join CTA and others flying OCTA.
One has to ask does this meet APF regulations in hopping over a built up area?
Do these jumps meet APF regs in terms of the jumpers having lifejackets on given the proximity to the sea?
It would appear that a NOTAM will be issued on the day of any scheduled jumps. Whether that will be a Moorabbin or Melbourne FIR NOTAM is unclear at this stage.
It has been reported that more than 100 jumps per week are planned.
Given the extra workload on the Melbourne RAS 135.7 perhaps AirServices should start thinking of charging per hop for each flight that involves an airways clearance, in the same way that IFR flights are charged for using the system.
Beware when flying north of Moorabbin for both horizontal and vertical traffic.