Chinaplate

For mine, it all hinges on the left hand turn from the original climb out path. This is crucial and what happened in Jerusalem Bay is a distraction imho.

Mea Culpa re: turning downwind. Unmitigated retraction. I was wrong to relate the horizontal air direction specifically as being relevant to stall . :-(.

Yep, I reckon the investigation will focus on why that first turn took place.

Oscar that makes a lot of sense. I have some experience sailing there. I am very surprised that the plane would turn left into Jerusalem Bay rather than continue to climb out to the NE and then eventually turn right to head south. The prevailing at the time of the incident at Gosford was moderate NE. So turning left would immediately reduce airspeed. If the pilot recognised a problem at this stage, any hard right would already be on the edge of stall speed. I am always amazed watching those planes and feel that they dont have a lot of margin. Does that mean that their normal mode of operation is a left into Jerusalem Bay and then climb out over the highway? That surprises me.

old paraglider pilot. I enjoy the reality check in threads on incidents.