Altitude with Attitude

06/12/2021

** Note that dates updated **
If you haven't heard we are holding a Women's Fly-In at Mystic on Dec 18/19! This event is an opportunity to get to brush up on your Mystic familiarity within a supportive environment with all retrieves and rides up the hill taken care of! Also a great opportunity to get to know other women pilots 🤗

To ensure we can organise enough drivers please purchase your ticket as early as possible using the link in the comments

23/03/2021

It’s been a quiet season for Altitude with Attitude as I decided to take a season off given the uncertainty of COVID restrictions. Cath Deacon, however, was determined to make the Dubbo Tow Safari go ahead and volunteered to do the organisation to make this one happen. The weather gods made up for the deluge we endured last year with some absolutely awesome Autumn flying conditions. We flew every day and had an absolute blast thanks to Phil Mansell and Stephen Noble from FlyDubbo.

I normally make an effort to keep AwA events all female, but apart from that being pretty hard in the towing department, we always find Stephen and Phil such a pleasure to have with us. No mansplaining, no interrupting, no assumptions they know best. Just respect and support, not to mention amazing food and fantastic company. I know I speak for us all when I say thank you so much. You facilitate flying in whatever form we love to do it and we always have a ball (even last year, which sucked). You guys rock.

Highlights of this trip include
- Some *amazing* sunsets
- Challenging tow conditions that everyone nailed
- Learning to give it a good 10mins before launching after a dusty has ripped through
- Susy bringing the right equipment to make Aperol Spritzers
- Cath establishing that she is a thistle-diviner when it comes to choosing landing paddocks
- Cath ensuring we are never welcomed back to the Warren RSL (keep her away from fake Grass Tree plants)
- Susy’s encounter with a land owner who owned the biggest dog I thought could exist
- Camping by a river that ensured we were dirtier after swimming than before
- Lucy establishing that there are parts of western NSW where fun is prohibited in most forms, even in the middle of nowhere
- Coming to understand that Marie’s accent gets harder to understand the more excited she is
- Learning that there is a mouse plague all over the east coast (except in the Alpine areas) and they will bite
- Learning not to pick up a mouse to pat it - it will end badly for everyone, but mostly the mouse
- Learning not to leave your swag unzipped during dinner. See previous items as to why.

19/03/2020

Some photos from the Dubbo Women's Tow Safari 🤗

We were pretty unlucky with the weather, being informed upon arrival that Dubbo had received its biggest rain event in 3-4 years and more rain had fallen than forecast, wider than forecast. It didn't look like we would even be able to drive to a flyable place.

We spent a day at FlyDubbo HQ, talking about towing, weather, looking at gear, learning about line measuring & trimming and generally chilling out. We then managed to fly locally the next 2 days, in super mellow conditions. The biggest stress was not landing in muddy paddocks 😅

We finished the trip with a meal at Narromine Pub watching the T20 Women's Cricket Final on International Women's Day. We did well with what the weather dished to us. Top weekend 😍

08/03/2020

Watching the T20 Womens World Cup at the Narromine Royal Hotel with the women's towing fly-in on my birthday 👌

20/02/2020

If you are thinking about coming towing with us, here is an article I wrote about year's event. 1 spot left - do it!

Tales from the 2019 Altitude with Attitude Dubbo Tow Safari

03/12/2019

What can we do to increase female participation in paragliding?

A few people have asked me this and whilst I have not applied a scientific approach to the fly-ins, this is a pretty comprehensive list from the top of my head. It's just my opinion and based on what I have heard some women pilots tell me over the past 7 fly-ins or what I have observed first-hand. But you asked, so here is my opinion.

Top 5 Issues contributing to low participation rates:
1. Lack of visibility of women in the sport - appears to outsiders to be a man’s sport. Visibility of women currently participating is hugely important.
2. Understanding that women learn differently to men - in a school environment men are keen to get out there and do, whilst women want to know all the details before they start trying. When men dominate the student numbers they tend to dictate the pace. If women students happen to need more time they feel left behind. Smaller women will also have additional challenges learning on smaller, twitchier wings not realising the additional challenges they have in controlling such wings. When few people understand that these additional challenges exist, it can feel isolating.
3. Tolerance for bullying behaviour within the paragliding community that manifests itself as blatant sexism by individuals, including a few instructors. Whilst this is out-weighed by many great instructors, the reputation of offending instructors within the community does not reach those looking to join the community. Sadly those unfortunate students who end up with instructors least suited to teach women end up with a poor view of the community. These behaviours are left to thrive because the community does not know how to call out bad behaviour from influential individuals. It’s up to all of us to start standing up to stamp it out. Enough of the “Oh, don’t pay attention to him.. He’s old-fashioned”. Bad behaviour continues because we let it.
4. A reluctance from some clubs to moderate inappropriate behaviour on online forums. This speaks volumes to those marginalised by discouraging comments that the community condones the behaviour. There is a common belief that ignoring the trolls makes them go away, but more often than not it is their intended targets that go away instead.
5. A focus on quantity over quality - the tendency male pilots have towards competition in the air, rather than a focus on fun. The women’s fly-ins are a pleasure to be a part of because it doesn’t matter how much flying we get, we always have fun. I can’t remember a time where we have compared distances flown as much as stories shared about what happened in the air.

Top 5 Actions we can take to address this:
1. Encourage female pilots in your club to connect with other female pilots. To those within your club, or to Altitude with Attitude which has a very active and welcoming network attached to it.
2. Be attentive to the language used on launch, in the LZ, on online forums. If you see women look uncomfortable ask yourself why. “Locker Room” talk is going to turn women off your community. Call out poor behaviour including derogatory comments about women, their appearance, their performance in flight. Men calling out men is much more powerful than women calling them out.
3. Be respectful when assisting female pilots on launch. Respect means asking if they need help, not automatically fluffing, asking about their level of experience before launching into a site brief that assumes they just got licensed. Never assume a woman on launch is a retrieve driver - ask if she is a pilot first. If a woman pilot asks about conditions, tell her what you see in the conditions and not whether you think she should launch or not.
4. Consider what could help women pilots get more involved, especially those who have families. More family-orientated social events where pilots can take turns to look after kids are going to be well received, and likely to be appreciated by male pilots who have family responsibilities also.
5. Encourage women pilots to work through their ratings and step up to be Safety Officers. The more they feel involved and valued, the more they will stay involved and the greater their visibility within the community which will encourage more women pilots. Help promote the benefits of working through ratings so that they can fly more sites and help supervise lower airtime pilots.

29/11/2019

Radio interview with Sandra Moon about the Bright Women's Fly-In

29/11/2019

Here is a radio interview I did with ABC before the Bright Women's Fly-In. I was at the airport and stuck in a massive check-in queue up until 4 minutes before they called!

27/11/2019

Coverage of our last women's fly-in at Bright last weekend 🤗
Change Our Game Sports Aviation Federation of Australia

A dozen of the country's best female paragliders gathered in Victoria's north east this week for the Altitude with Attitude event, which aims to combat the perception that paragliding is a man's world.

27/11/2019

ABC article on last weekend’s fly-in 🤗

Female paragliders tackle casual sexism in a bid to encourage more women to take to the skies.