Seventy pilots from five countries are set to compete in the skies above Wanaka and Queenstown this week, with scores submitted to Switzerland’s Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the world governing body for air sports, to go towards world rankings.
Event organiser Tim Brown, of the Southern Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club, said organisers were informed of an issue with the Treble Cone consent the night before the competition was due to start.
Instead competitors had yesterday as a "free fly" day — a non-competition day of flying, pilots taking to the skies throughout the region.
Pilots could still launch from Treble Cone, but not as part of an event.
The Paragliding Open would resume later in the week at other pre-arranged locations.
"We are small fish getting caught up in a big whirlwind," Brown said.
New Zealand Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (NZHGPA) vice-president Ian Manton said the event’s permit to operate on Department of Conservation (Doc) land at Treble Cone was inadvertently not finalised because of delays in other national discussions held with the department.
"The NZHGPA is involved in high-level discussions [with Doc], which resulted in delays.
"We’re looking at a national [flying] concession and didn’t want the local concession to interfere," he said.
The Otago Daily Times understands a sticking point for a national flying concession is Doc’s classification of paragliders as aircraft, the same as planes and helicopters.
The association would like to see them reclassified as similar to hunters and trampers using public land.
Both organisations worked hard to come to agreement on the issue, including during the Christmas holiday period, Manton said.
"Doc are working very hard towards getting a concession granted — they want us to be able to fly."
Central Otago Pou Matarautaki operations manager Nicola Holmes said Doc granted a permit to hold the national competition at Treble Cone last month.
"We were pleased to support this event and the permit was approved on 23 December."
However, the permit was not valid until the NZHGPA had signed it to confirm agreement, she said.
Manton reiterated the organisation did not want a local consent to interfere with the national consent discussions and he hoped to get the local consent issue sorted during the week.
