Skydiving gets the nod from council

DOUGLAS SHIRE

Howard Salkow

Senior Journalist

Email Howard
Last updated:

Council approved drop zones across the Douglas Shire yesterday for a new skydiving operation. IMAGE: Facebook.

RELATED:
Port Douglas tourism giant set to be taken over


THE sport of skydiving (or parachuting) has landed in the shire without a hitch after Council approved drop zone areas associated with a proposed tandem skydiving operation. 

Drop zones are the designated landing areas for the parachutists undertaking the activity. 

At Tuesday’s Council meeting, Skydive Great Barrier Reef Pty Ltd received the approval to use the southern end of Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas; Wonga Beach; Cow Bay Beach; and Myall Beach, Cape Tribulation for the commercial activity of tandem skydiving.

Skydive Great Barrier Reef selected the sites for the following reasons:

- Excellent beach access;
- Far enough from the main public beach area to avoid populated beach areas;
- Close to surf life-saving facilities.

The application was well received by the councillors and it was pointed out that this is a heavily regulated sport; it will have a positive impact on the shire and will be a boost for the tourism industry.

The core operations, including aeroplane take-off, landings, training and administration, will be conducted from an approved facility in Cairns. There will be a maximum of six flights per day with a maximum of four customers per flight. Flights will be spread across the various nominated drop zones based on customer preference, tides and weather conditions.

What do you think? let us know in the comments below.

* Readers are encouraged to use their full details below to ensure comment legitimacy. Comments are the opinions of readers and do not represent the views of Newsport or its staff. Comments containing unlawful, obscene, defamatory or abusive material will not be published.