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| The Website of the Avon Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club - Avon Online Sites Guide | Friday, 24th May, 2013 |
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| The Website of the Avon Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club - Avon Online Sites Guide | Friday, 24th May, 2013 |
| Site Officer: | Brent Pullen (01373 825737). |
| Rating: | Any rated pilot. Soaring only - no top-to-bottoms. |
| Permission: | This is an Open Site. Please abide by Avon Club Rules and if you are not a club member read the section for Non-Members. Training is not allowed. Remember that this is a sensitive site that is always busy with other members of the public and we have a responsibility to ensure that their safety is not compromised by our activities. |
| Parking: | Park in the westernmost car park. Try to leave a gap for gliders to be carried forward to take-off. |
| Rigging: | Do not rig on any of the paths as you'll block the route to take-off. Do not rig hang-gliders on the front of the hill, stay far enough back to give paraglider pilots room to take off and land. Watch out for dog mess, it is a big problem here! If you are using the northerly take-off, carry your glider over onto the hill fort and rig just in front of the long barrow. |
| Take Offs: | Either side of the obelisk on the north-westerly take-off or just in front of the barrow on the northerly. When conditions permit, on the north westerly take-off paragliders should launch from well to the east of the obelisk. Never inflate a paraglider in front of a hang glider - blow back accidents have happened. |
| Turbulence: | Westbury is a superb flying site in the right conditions but it can also be turbulent in certain wind directions. If you are new to the site please take the time to talk to pilots who fly there regularly. It could save you a long visit to a hospital! If the wind is too far off to the west low in the left side of the horse bowl will be in lee at the spur and is not a safe place to be. Conversely when the wind is NNW the other side of the spur can be rough. On the North face when the wind has gone too far to the east the bowl at the western end of the ridge has caused problems for many pilots. Finally do not underestimate the rotor behind the barrows at the back of take off on the North ridge. If you plan to land behind, or have been blown back, fly downwind to the far side of the kite flying area before attempting your landing. If you don't you can expect a low level SIV course, you have been warned! |
| Local Flying: | Make sure you can stay up before you take-off. Definitely no top to bottom flights! When flying locally do not fly south of the fence forming the southern boundary of the common area. If you do you will be violating the danger area. This site has great potential for flying out in front of the ridge. It is common for pilots to fly out over the cement works, over a mile out from the ridge and on good days triangles of 20 miles or more have been flown. |
| XC Flying: | If you intend to fly XC make sure you have a map and know the position of the danger area. It is impossible to fly directly down wind from this site due to this danger area, you must first track west for three miles. Alternatively you can track east, but this is a much more difficult track as the danger area extends further north in that direction. Detailed information on our local agreement for XC flying can be found here. |
| Top Landing: | Do not land on the side of the hill, especially on the White Horse as it is a national monument. Land anywhere on the common area behind the parked cars. Beware of members of the public, especially those flying kites. This area can be very turbulent in fresh winds, especially if the winds are northerly. In these conditions land back in the rough grass. It is also possible to land in front of the posts on both paragliders and hang gliders. Whenever possible use this area only mid-week when the site is not crowded with members of the public. Top landings on the northerly face should be made to the east of the long barrow on a hang glider, but note that they can be difficult in lighter winds due to the slope. Paragliders can land anywhere on top. Be especially careful if this area contains sheep. Do not land in any of the farmer's fields on the top or side of the hill. |
| Bottom Landing: | There is one field available for emergency landings only. It is the large grass field south of the road with the wire gate in the north western corner. If you do bottom land do not walk back up the face of the hill, go out of the gate then along the road to the east and walk up the footpath on the spur. Do not drive your car into this field to retrieve your glider - carry it out. instruction! All other fields are out of bounds. If in doubt ask! |
| Telephones: | Bratton village or Westbury town. |
| Hospitals: | Frome or Bath. |
| Directions: | Just after leaving Westbury on the B3098 to Bratton turn right up Newton Road. At the crossroads at the top of the hill turn left and drive until the road reaches the large grass common area. |
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