IT'S THE era of trying something new, and as the majority of big planes sit idle during the pandemic, light aircraft and paragliders are filling the skies above.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Manilla Paragliding School owner Godfrey Wenness said after a bumpy ride at the start of the COVID crisis, the company's world famous licensing courses at Mount Borah have been full - with waiting lists - consistently over the past few months.
"We're running them at a time of year that we wouldn't normally run them, and yet they've been overbooked - every single one - and we've had to get extra instructors in," Mr Wenness said.
READ ALSO:
"A lot of people tend to spend their money overseas ... and right now everyone's been stuck indoors and looking around online for what they might try next.
"They want to go out and do something for themselves and a lot of people have taken in interest in flying."
Mr Wenness said he believed local schools teaching anything from paragliding to controlling ultra light planes were "surprisingly" busy.
He said Manilla Paragliding School picked up when intrastate travel reopened.
"As soon as the spring season kicked in a few weeks ago, we've had a lot of warm days and we've had groups coming up from Sydney every weekend basically," he said.
Mr Wenness is also the president of the Manilla SkySailors Club, and said new launches at Mount Borah will be getting a workout in the coming days.
"This long weekend is going to be extremely busy, everything is booked out and there should be over 100 pilots here for the long weekend," he said.
But the turbulence hasn't completely cleared yet.
Mr Wenness said during Mount Borah's peak flying season between November and March, visitation is expected to take a nosedive, compared to what the mountain would normally see.
"This year it's just going to be domestic and regional visitors turning up, which means it will be around 20 to 30 per cent only of our regular visitation numbers, because the internationals make up 60 to 70 per cent, or even more," he said.
Although it doesn't affect his business too badly, the club funds will dry up a bit without visiting membership payments from overseas pilots.
But nothing can keep Mr Wenness down.
Despite having to cancel an annual international event in February, he has taken on a never-done-before task by creating an online competition.
Over the entire summer, paragliders are challenged to take flight and hit as many designated "GPS turnpoints" in the skies around Mount Borah in the shortest amount of time, and score it online, to win.
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
