Hang glider pilot Howard Taylor of Tomakin just loves the scenery while soaring over the Narooma Bermagui area. And so every chance he gets, he comes down to fly the local skies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But how does he reach his great heights without any cliffs or hills to take off from? Well his secret is the small 2-stroke chainsaw engine strapped to the end of his harness.
The small whirring carbon-fibre prop can take him to great heights and using this power, he can take off from any flat location and stay airborne as long as his fuel lasts and the thermals dictate. Narooma and Bermagui locals may have seen his distinctive green glider in the skies above.
On Wednesday he was flying with fellow powered glider pilot Steve Docherty who came down all the way from Sydney to experience the awesome scenery.
The pair took off and landed from the Tilba oval headed south over Bermagui where golfers on where the golfers on the Bermagui Country Club course seemed surprised to have the two gliders overhead and could be seen by the pilots looking up.
A highlight of Wednesday’s flight was a whale that they flew over at a few thousand feet, while Montague Island also looked stunning. The bright blue waters of Narooma are always worth checking out.
“I come down quite often as it is just so picturesque,” Mr Taylor said. “When the sun is out, the water is so blue, it’s fantastic.”
He does also fly closer to home and residents of Batemans Bay and the northern parts of the Eurobodalla may have seen him tracking above their local beaches.
Narooma meanwhile has its own intrepid pilot in the form of Wayne Byard, whose adventures flying off a Balinese volcano using his paraglider we recently featured. Read more about Wayne here