The prospect of skydivers landing on Shellharbour's South Beach doesn't sit well with a group of Illawarra aviation enthusiasts.
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Shellharbour Council had given Corrimal-based adventure tourism outfit Blue Sky Adventures approval for a 12-month trial to run its skydiving business on Shellharbour South Beach.
The business had been in the planning stage for two years.
The approval lists 26 conditions of consent, which will allow the business to operate seven days a week and offer up to 12 tandem skydive sessions a day.
The Illawarra Flyers, whose members own and operate aircraft at Shellharbour Airport, was one group that raised objections to the proposal when it was before council.
In a submission the group raised concerns of "a risk to aviation safety" due to proximity to the airport.
"The level of activity [at the airport] is significant and mostly falls within 5-10 nautical miles of the aerodrome," the submission stated. "The proposed two drop zones are within five nautical miles of the airport."
Pioneer Park is a secondary drop zone in the event of poor weather conditions.
The group claimed the development application focused on the ground operations and only touched on aircraft and parachute descents.
"While ground operations are important element of a parachute operation, of equal importance is how air operations will be conducted and how will these be managed to protect the participant tandem parachutists, other airspace users and, persons and property on the ground," the submission stated.
The group said they had no general objection to parachuting operations, but felt any risk "needs to be mitigated through one means or another".
ExperienceCo, which runs a rival skydive business at North Wollongong, also expressed concerns about the proximity to Shellharbour Regional Airport.
Additionally, the company also saw issues with the secondary landing site, which is a cricket oval.
"The proposed landing area is within very close proximity of a cricket wicket (approximately ten metres from the stumps) and any games in progress are likely to be disrupted multiple times a day by the laying out of the landing area and parachutists landing (who in turn might have to avoid flying cricket balls)," the company's submission stated.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
