Agency Claims Skydive City Busted Regs

Australia is known for its variety of outdoor activities, including flying and skydiving. However, one particular jump operation faces a considerable clamp down of its activities. Skydive City owner Luke McWilliam has been banned from dropping parachutists within two miles of the Barwon Heads airport. Concerns about the safety of parachutists, aircraft and people in the vicinity of the aerodrome prompted the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to impose the potentially devastating ban.

McWilliam, who co-owns the aerodrome with Barbara Begg, said the ban, effective from last Friday, was costing the company up to $10,000 a day. He said the company was continuing to operate through the goodwill of a nearby private landholder who allowed them to drop into his paddocks.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said the authority had placed several conditions on the operations at Skydive City. CASA documents stated that Mr McWilliam had breached aviation regulations since 2001 by dropping parachutists through cloud and near other aircraft.

"The directions are made in the interests of the safety of air navigation. They have been made to protect the safety of parachutists, aircraft and persons in the vicinity of Barwon Heads aerodrome," the authority's directive states. "This is because since at least 2001, Luke McWilliam and Skydive City Pty Ltd have been a party to breaches of regulation . . . when parachutists exiting from aircraft . . . have descended through cloud and near other aircraft."

The aviation authority has banned people undertaking parachute descents within the two mile radius as well as ordering a pilot not to allow a person to exit the aircraft within that same area. The aviation authority originally launched an inquiry into an accident at Barwon Heads Airport in 2002.

FMI: www.skydivecity.com.au, www.casa.gov.au