Grand Central Fun Rally - 8 September 2018

Grand Central Fun Rally - 8 September 2018

By Rob Jonkers. Photos by Willie Bodenstein

The South African Power Flying Association (SAPFA) together with the Superior Pilot Services (SPS) organised a successful Navigation Fun Rally on Saturday 8th September 2018. 

Under the Stewardship of SAPFA's Rob Jonkers who planned & plotted the course, a total of 18 entrants registered to partake in the rally, although only 13 eventually were able to take part, some of them having had to withdraw.


Rob Jonkers busy with the competitor briefing.

There were 3 crews from SPS, all commercial pilot students getting their first experience in the art of Navigation Rally flying, although traditionally in previous rallies there was a Friday night course, this was not done, thus the newbies had to learn from the older hands in the room on the day.


Sanele Mkize and Lungule Jiyana listening to the briefing.

With a mix of Newbies and Protean teams, there were three classes of competition, Fun, Advanced, Unlimited, where the Fun class were for those new to the sport, Advanced Class where a Protea team member teamed up with a Newbie and Unlimited Class with a full Protea team. There were two competition rule sets flown although both were on exactly the same route, with the Fun rules requiring photo recognition in sequence, one per leg, and Unlimited with 18 scrambled leg photos. 

Most competitors arrived by 8.00 on Saturday morning to start the plotting activity which took the best part of 2 hours with the first aircraft off at 10:45. The weather forecast initially did not look promising with early morning showers, which did not materialise, just some scattered cloud with not much wind. The wind prediction for the day however was going to be blustery later in the morning.


Edzard Verseput and Michael Crause busy plotting the course.

The route was planned to go out north, into familiar territory for the Grand Central based crews as most of the legs were in their training backyard. The start and finish points were just north of the N14 in the narrow Special Rules corridor between the Waterkloof & Lanseria airspace, and from there the route went out past the red and white radio mast, up through to Soshanguve, west over the hills adjacent to the Brits airfield, then south through granite quarrying territory, then further west with a turning point over the Silver Creek Airfield. From there across the Maglies northern ridge, then east across the Hartebeepoort Dam, then south to the finish point being a road and creek crossing just north of the Ernie Els Golf course.

There was one photo per leg that needed to be recognized, somehow for this rally not many of them were spotted by the crews in this year. After returning, the teams had to carry out a spot landing, only yielding three bingo's, as the stiff crosswind became apparent as the competitors returned.



Newbies Wian Minne & Keuler Breed busy plotting their course.

One of the SPS crews of Wian Minne and Keuler Breed did exceptionally well, having found all the turning points, but hampered with a late take-off, thus catching up on timing proved difficult, although good effort was made to catch up and timing was overall good. One team had to divert with some sickness on board, and the last teams to take-off had to contend with high westerly winds of 20 kts gusting 27kts making the downwind legs tough to keep time having to perform snake maneuvers and 20 degree of flap at minimum speed.


Newbies Wian Minne & Keuler Breed's track they flew with only one track error.

After all the scores were tallied, first in Fun class was Leon Bouttell with first time navigator Karen Purchase, in Advanced class Steven vd Merwe with father Thys flying at 130 kts in their RV6 with Pierre Dippenaar achieving a perfect timing score, and in Unlimited Rob Jonkers and Martin Meyer who being the route planner was expected to return with a perfect zero, but could not find the all the photos…., memory not that good it seems.


Leon Bouttell with Mary de Klerk on their Spot landing attempt.


Shane Britz and Karen Stroud on their spot landing attempt.
This event was for sure enjoyed by all, especially for the entrants never having flown a rally before, getting an understanding of flying with more precision, especially in the slower flight regime, and having to deal with wind variation. Many thanks extended to SPS for making all the arrangements with Grand Central Management, also to Frank Eckard who assisted with the scoring allowing Rob & Martin to catch some air time to practice. 


Some of the competitors at the end of the day.



Team SA at the 21st World Rally Flying Championships 2018

By Rob Jonkers

The World Rally Flying Championship happens every two years and is hosted by one of the participating nations. This year Slovakia hosted the 21st FAI World Rally Flying Championships in the town of Dubnica which is along the river Vah (which flows into the Danube) in the northern most valley of Slovakia where the Carpathian Mountain range borders with the Czech Republic and Poland.



This year, 50 crews from 16 nations participated, where South Africa was the only Southern Hemisphere team to take part. Team SA was represented by 4 crews in the Unlimited Class: Frank & Cally Eckard, Thys vd Merwe & Ron Stirk, Jonty Essor & Sandi Goddard, Rob Jonkers (Team Captain) and Martin Meyer with Mary de Klerk as the Team Manager, Hans & Ursula Schwebel, Jacques Jacobs, Barbara Freibose as International Judges and Leon Bouttell as Judge Observer. The team was given superb support from Vera Jonkers and Alex Meyer, and later joined by Dr Thys and Rentia Geldenhuys as South African supporters.


The scenic town of Trencin with the Castle on the hill

Our team's arrival was Monday the 30th July. A full week before the championship, team SA are normally the first to arrive, as we need the most exposure to the European conditions and terrain as well as aircraft familiarization, as we need to hire local aircraft. By Tuesday mid-morning we had our first aircraft ready for us, a local Slovakian C172 OM-DCD (DOC) and joined the next morning with another local C172 OM-SNA (SNAP). Thus as a team we could get started with our training. Normally no validations are required, but back in 2010 this club had the bad experience of one of the participating teams have bent two aircraft (by the same crew no less….), thus we all had to have a check ride with the local instructor for 2 circuits to verify we could fly, thus by lunch time this was completed. Each team then had a chance to fly a navigation exercise in DOC for the rest of the afternoon till late and with European summer the light fades only around 9 PM.


The team SA C172's DOC and SNAP

The organisers provided three official practice routes, and these were put to full use in the following days, where we were able to carry out the plot inside the aircraft as one would do in the competition week, giving us a good practice run-up. The landscape varies radically between the valley at 800 ft and mountains going up to 3500 ft, and within minutes of taking off some routes would see you facing a steep climb out over the mountains, with check points often located just behind a steep incline and hidden behind forest features.


The river Vah with Trencin in the background

The weather for the practice week was good without much wind, although some thundershowers had to be avoided, with temperatures mostly above 34 deg, making the cockpit a sweltering sauna, at least in the mountainous areas higher up the cockpit became slightly cooler.

For this competition format, there was only an Unlimited class, in previous years there was an Advanced Class as well which was intended to bring in newer or amateur teams which made the competition somewhat more difficult for those teams who had no year round sponsorship or sports federation support. Clearly in the case of Team SA, all of the competitors and judges have to fund their own costs towards the event, travel, hotels and aircraft hire which is almost three times the cost of hire & fly in SA.

For the three practice days left from Wednesday to Friday, each of the teams flew the given practice routes, the Red route which was mostly east of the city of Trencin, proved the most difficult, as the terrain was very undulating, with more densely populated areas, making following the route very difficult especially recognizing the map shades of the various features and looking for turn points of minor river creeks and farm road crossings. The routes also had two arcs to follow, and with precessing DI's somewhat challenging to follow round, with the need to rely only on what is going on outside the window and what is on the map, and at least some sense of direction. Some of us re-flew the Red route a second time to get more familiar with the terrain in that busy eastern area.



Slovakian valleys and mountains

At the end of each day, each of the teams did landing practice to get speed and descent control familiarisation at these near sea level conditions to find that sweet spot of rate of descent at minimum control speed to bingo the landing line, and as most pilots know, every landing is completely different. Saturday was a rest day, with some sightseeing flights and visiting the old town area of Trencin, and Sunday the whole team went to the airfield for our customary team photo shoot with DOC and SNAP, and then returned to the hotel for the opening ceremony in the late afternoon which was somewhat a simple and short event followed by an excellent dinner.



Team SA with DOC and SNAP in the background

For the competition week, flights are organized into two groups, flights start around 10 am at 5 minute intervals with the last flight taking off around 2 pm, and when returning, one spot landing needs to be done. 

Frank flying DOC & Rob flying SNAP were divided into group one, and Jonty in SNAP and Thys in DOC were in group two. There was a strict procedure of parking aircraft next to the grass runway in take-off sequence where crews were isolated prior to receiving papers, normally around 30 minutes prior the flight starting which each of the routes having around 15 plotting points, allowing 2 minutes per plotting point to prepare the map, the cockpit during this period normally a frenzied affair.



Team Rob Jonkers and Martin Meyer

As Monday 6th August dawned, the week's weather prediction was good with the latter part of the week with possible rain and wind, with four routes to be flown, one per day, where only three count as towards the competition results, the first day is generally excluded or only used if there were difficulties in completing the rest. Thus the teams set-off on the first Green route which was mostly south across a mix of high ground and next door valley, with two arcs to fly, and given the results of this first day some of us would be happy to have this day excluded from the results.



Team Thys vd Merwe and Ron Stirk

On Tuesday we flew the Yellow route, which was also towards the south, and did a little better, with Wednesday the infamous Red route which proved to be as difficult as the practice Red route in the busy eastern area, and the wind was around 20 kts pushing many off course, what we found especially in this terrain area, that flying at higher altitudes gives better view and perspective but makes the timing over check points more difficult to achieve within the 2 second window. Some teams drifted off course into the Czech Republic, so I guess most would have wished the Red route would be forgotten. As it turned out with many teams complaining that high wind conditions were not declared for this day, that the day needed to be annulled, which the organisers duly did.



Team Frank & Cally Eckard with Team Manager Mary



Attempting Spot Landing in SNAP

Thursday was the last competition day for the Blue route, with again high wind conditions predicted, at around 15+ kts, the plots and timing were given with a wind compensation factor, so that is was somewhat easier to fly in terms of consistent speed, although headings would remain a challenge to maintain. With this route most of our teams started to improve on our scores, especially the photo recognition and finding the elusive white markers, so just as we were finishing up on the competition, so we started to get a real feel for the landscape.



Team Jonty Esser & Sandi Goddard

With the competition flights done, team SA organized the traditional international drinks evening at the field, making "melk tertjies" shooters with the Germans, Italians, Russians, Norwegians bringing their traditional hooch. Needless to say, good fun was had by all. Our supporter Dr Thys Geldenhuys was the designated drinks judge, and judged Germany the best team, and Norway the best food team having brought their traditional Norwegian Salmon all the way from Norway.



The Norwegians preparing their salmon snacks

Friday was packing up day and the closing ceremony and prize giving held at the Airfield, with most of us going for a day outing for some sightseeing before dressing up for the closing ceremony. This day is also when the heavens opened with torrential rain waterlogging many places including the airfield. The top prizes went to the Czech Republic, Poland and France, with Poland winning the country team prize, Team SA were in tenth place, and with landings were able to achieve 4th place.



The SA Flying Team at the closing ceremony parade of nations 
It is clear that our teams to compete at the level displayed by the Polish and the French need way more practice and experience, and sponsorship would of course also help, and with the next competition being held in South Africa in Stellenbosch in 2020, we have an excellent opportunity in the intervening 2 years to get more teams to take part and improve our level of competitiveness.


Many thanks to our SA supporters that watch us from afar, also thanks to African Pilot and Absolute Aviation for the team clothing sponsorship, we always are the best dressed team with the best team spirit. 


The SA Flying Team

For those who have adventure in their blood, where you can sit in an airplane ready to go anywhere without a clue where the route will take you, and figure it all out in the air and find your way around with only a map and eye-ball Mk1, then take up the challenge and join the sport of rally flying.
 

Fun Rally at Hoedspruit

Fun Rally at Hoedspruit - 21 July 2018

By Cally Eckard

Two years after the first SAPFA rally was held at Hoedspruit, another very successful one was held over the weekend.  Last year’s event was cancelled due to weather, so we were all hoping for conditions to be good for this popular event. 

Local organiser and Chairman of Hoedspruit Flying Club, Wynand Uys, roped in 12 teams to participate.  He is a very keen advocate of the sport, believing it to be an essential part of any pilot’s training in safety and competence.  He and his wife Maritinka kindly hosted SAPFA rally organisers Frank and Cally Eckard.

The weather was perfect, but unfortunately the Military Airfield was celebrating their Freedom of the Town of Hoedspruit on the same day, so the rally had to be delayed until mid-morning.  The advantage was that we were treated to a few low-level helicopter fly-bys from the nearby base.

 The Competitors

Ten aircraft eventually took off, and flew along the road North to Phalaborwa, then towards the Blyde River Canyon mountain range, and along their foothills, through the agricultural lands of Hoedspruit, crossing the Blyde River and Sandspruit, and using them as navigation points of reference.  The tasks were kept very basic, and included only one observation photo to be recognised per leg, and most teams found about half of the photographs, which is very commendable. 

4th Place Tom van der Meulen & Juan Gerrits

The landing at the end of the rally was included in the final results, and overall winner Don Clark was the winner of the Landing Competition, flying a Cessna 172, and with a score of only 4 points, he landed a mere four metres beyond the landing line.   

Wynand often holds informal “rallies” and flour bombing, which must explain the high level of skills held by these local pilots. 

Keen rallyers Uys van Rensburg and Thys Scheepers joined the infamous “One Minute Club” by setting their clocks one minute too late.  They flew a near-perfect route, and their times were excellent, but unfortunately one minute out all the way around the course - a very valuable but heart-wrenching lesson.

2nd Placed Team Willie du Plessis and Joggie & HJ Prinsloo

Winner Don Clark teamed up with co-organiser Cally Eckard because his own navigator cancelled at the last minute.  However, his win was definitely a well-deserved one, as he is a very precise and conscientious pilot and navigator.  Cally left the map-preparation to him, as well as most of the photo-spotting and navigation.

Winners Don Scott and Cally Eckard with organisors Wynand Uys and Frank Eckard  

Mention must also be made of Charlot Engels flying the Commander, the first woman to ever be trained as a pilot in the Netherlands navy.  She has participated in several rallies in Europe over the years, and is an intrepid pilot – always up for a challenge and an adventure. 

First-timer and seventh-placed Maritza de Kock, who flew with Jenny Newenham, is a very keen and competent balloon pilot, with Sun Catchers Hot Air Balloon Rides in Hoedspruit.  She said after the competition that she had learned so much during the flight, and is keen to participate in future events. 

Results: 

Place

Pilot

Navigator

Aircraft

Landing

Total Score

1

Don Scott

Cally Eckard

Cessna 172

4

166

2

Willie du Plessis

Joggie & HJ Prinsloo

Cessna 210

80

245

3

Charlot Engels

Percy Hanskins

Commander 114B

28

288

4

Tom van der Meulen

Juan Gerrits

Gyro

32

352

5

Jaco Scheepers

Anelle Vermeulen

Jabiru 2

200

396

The Albatos

 

The South African rally team will be participating in the World Rally Championships in Dubnica, Slovakia in early August.  Please follow them on Facebook and on the SAPFA website. 

The next Fun Rally will be held at Grand Central on 8 September.  Please watch the SAPFA website for more details.  All welcome. 

The end of a Great Day

 

Presidents Trophy Air Race 2018 - Home Page

President's Trophy Air Race 2018

Hosted by

Bloemfontein Flying Club

New Tempe

 

Bloemfontein Flying Club

 

Competitor Start List Results Day 1 Results Day 2 Overall Results Trophies

 

PTAR_2018_Results.xls   /   PTAR_2018_Results.pdf

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SAPFA

Message from the Race Director

The President’s Trophy Air Race hosted by the Bloemfontein Flying Club last weekend was, without doubt, one of the nicest ones we have had in a long time.

Firstly, a huge debt of gratitude is owed to Andre Grobler and his team at the Bloemfontein Flying Club for working tirelessly for a year to get it all together on the race weekend.

 

The fact that we were down to 40 odd entries was a blessing and caused me to have a massive epiphany. 40 entries made everything easier to manage. There weren’t long queues for food and refreshment. Results came out quicker and everything ran like clockwork. There was a noticeable air of friendliness and mutual respect between competitors and officials alike with a distinct lack of acrimony.    

The final result was amazing to watch and to see once the downloads has been done. The most noticeable being the fact that, not too many years ago, the winner would come over the line 15 or 20 minutes ahead of the rest of the field. By comparison, now that we are applying the algorithm, the last 3 years comparison can be seen as

  • 2016 Bethlehem               top 10 aircraft over the line in           4 : 17 secs 
  • 2017 Springs                   top 10 aircraft over the line in           2 : 12 secs 
  • 2018 New Tempe            top 10 aircraft over the line in              : 92 secs

Now for my epiphany............. Maybe chasing a huge quantity of entries is not such a good idea.  Maybe we should limit our entries to say 60 which will serve to elevate the race to its former prestigious status which is a non commercial event recognised by FAI and giving the opportunity to win provincial colours. It involves Flying Clubs whose objective is to promote sport aviation at grass roots level.

Something to think about..............?

On behalf of my fantastic and hard working committee I would thank each and every one of the competitors who made this race the amazing event it was

Keeping the blue on top

Robin Spencer-Scarr

 

Presidents Trophy Air Race 2018

By Cheryl Smit, Willie Bodenstein and Rob Jonkers



This year's PTAR which celebrated its 81st Anniversary, was hosted by the Bloemfontein Flying Club at New Tempe Airfield and it was heartening to see; by a show of hands at the Friday briefing, that more than half of the entrants were first timers and also that a large number of younger pilots had entered the iconic air race. 


Liesl Damstra who did her PPL with Westline Aviation and currently resides in Bloemfontein but originally hailed from Nelspruit was one of only two lady pilots who crossed the startline. It was Liesl's first PTAR and she flies a Cessna 182 for fun. Navigating for her was Pieter Burger.


This was Willie Visser's 31st PTAR.  They are both based in Postmasburg.

The Governor General's Cup which became the State President's Air Race and then the President's Trophy Air Race has been run since 1937 with only a couple of breaks during the war years but pretty much has been the leader in the world with this type of amateur air event. It invites anyone with a pilot's licence and a bit of experience to test their skills in accurate flying and navigating at the maximum speed their aircraft is capable of doing.






Competing aircraft at Tempe on Thursday afternoon

It is the one event that allows the weekend warriors to spend three days amongst friends and peers and to experience the adrenalin rush of flying as fast as possible whilst testing their skills against those who would beat them to the line. This year there were 48 entrants, with 43 on the starting grid for day 1, where unfortunately five having had to withdraw with technical problems. 


Race Director Robin Spencer-Scarr

A week or two before the race, Race Director Robin Spencer-Scarr addressed an email, “To GPS or not to GPS” to all entrants asking for their opinion on the use of GPS during the race. A number responded and the general feeling is that the GPS system should not be allowed during the race. This opinion was confirmed during the briefing when an overwhelming majority of 99.9% who voted by a show of hands to retain the current format.


Safety Officer Nigel Musgrave and Chief Marshall Hans Potgieter


Race Secretary Sharon Potgieter
Sharon Potgieter Race Secretary has always been an unsung hero behind the scenes of the PTAR Air Race for more years than I can remember, it's the way she prefers it to be. Race Secretary has a tremendous responsibility towards the successful organising of the Race including to ensure that everything is in place for registration at the Race as the pilots and navigators arrive, including to assist with obtaining sponsors for the Race and then doing the actual registrations as the pilots and navigators arrive on the Thursday, which includes handing out their sponsor bags and accreditations at the event.


Martin Meyer, Frank Eckard and Rob Jonkers


Aero Club General Manager Alan Evan-Hanes

When we arrived Thursday midday the field was a hive of activity. Sharon Potgieter, Race Secretary was kept busy with confirming entries and issuing entrants with the sponsor's gift bags, caps, race shirts and meal tickets.







A large number of entrants were cleaning and polishing their aircraft to try and get that elusive knot that will give them the edge over their competitors whilst others were socialising with friends under the large marquee.







 



The Safety briefing, led by Robin Spencer-Scarr took place in one of the hangars where after some contestants got busy with route planning whilst others relaxed. 


Those that remained on the field were entertained on both Thursday and Friday night by Zak Steyn


Ensuring safety were the ATC Special Events Team of from left to right Peter, Ricardo, Kane and Safety Officer Nigel Musgrave

Race One. Friday 25th.

The weather predicted for the race weekend were near perfect conditions, clear skies with high pressure system over the mid country, and virtually no wind, the morning starting off at less than 5 knots, and at midday to around a maximum of 10 knots, this made for more accurate and easier flying and of course getting everybody to achieve their handicap speed without to much effect of the weather.


Race 45 the Vans RV7A ZU-LAX Flown by Eric Addison with navigator Mario Fabbraio finished 13th overall


Johan van Eeden and Cor Esterhuizen, Race 44 ZU-IHH Vans RV7A was placed 7th overall

The route for day one took contestants from Tempe to Boshof. The turn point at Boshof was a brightly coloured gazebo at which they had to turn left whilst staying above 200feet AGL and then head towards Gariep Dam. Another Gazebo erected on the shores of an Island in the middle of the dam was the next turnpoint. Another left turn and then head in the general direction of Bethulie keeping the Orange River in their sights. A third Gazebo at the end of the bridge on the Orange River was the next turn point. Turning left yet again they would then head home being mindful too keep below the TMA and the CTR boundary. 


Steve and Thys van der Merwe Race 61 in ZU-FHZ the Vans RV6A


Willie Uys and Frans Maeder Race 20 in the Jabiru J430 ZU-FVA

This course was a simple four corner route, and even though it was relatively easy over the flat terrain of the Freestate, there were a few competitors having got lost or temporarily unsure of their position, and most were able to regain their track and find their way home. One competitor happened to find the Big Hole of Kimberley an interesting diversion by the number of circles flown over it before a SAPS helicopter helped them on their way to the first turning point of Boshof. 


Before contestants were allowed depart they, as well as their aircraft were thoroughly searched for any devices that may assist them in navigation


At 10h00 Robin Spencer-Scarr waved Dieter Bock and Dale de Klerk in Dieter's Lancair Legacy away and the PTAR has officially started. 


Next to leave was Jack Onderstall and Nicholaas Janse van Rensburg in Jack's Glasair III. 


Following the Glasair was the Cirrus SR22 with Shaun Baron piloting and Steve Watkins navigating


Another Cirrus SR22 with Simon Abbott at the control and Chris Shillaw navigating was the 4th to depart

 

 

 
Other day one arrivals overhead the airfield

The first five places adjusted by handicap after the day one race was as follows:


1st Race 32 ZS-ACA Cirrus SR22 Steve Abbott and Chris Shillaw


2nd Race 56 SU-SAX Vans RV10 Stephan Fourie and Derek Bird


3rd Race 44 ZU-IHH Vans RV7A Johan van Eeden and Cor Esterhuizen


4th Race 84 ZU-KKL Jabiru Clive Louw and Leonard Hawkins


5th Race 39 ZS-KOB Piper PA-28-235 Mark Bristow and Quinteon Warne

Day two. Saturday 26th.

Day two took participants to Bultfontein. Contestants had to be mindful to keep the CTR boundary to the east. The turn point at Bultfontein was a Gazebo erected at the side of a pan near the Protespan Railway Station from where they headed towards Boshof where they again had to turn left staying above 200 feet AGL and head towards New Tempe for the cross over and then head for Jagersfontein where the turn point again was an orange Gazebo. From Jagersfontien they turned left and headed for Edenburg where they were required to turn left and head back home. 


Race 63, ZU-EWL the Vans RC10 flown by Boetie Herhold and Johan Greyling was placed 12th overall


Gustave Bester and Helius Smit Race 58 finished 10th in ZS-NFI the Beech A36

With everybody now having had practice on day 1, the accuracy of navigation and flying improved dramatically on day 2, with hardly anybody having wandering tracks, and even with the Bloemfontein CTR and TMA boundaries being close and with good briefings to remain well clear, the airspace was well managed by the competitors, with ATNS having issued transponder squawks, they were fully aware of everybody's position at all times. To give an idea of how close the race was on day two, the first 20 or so competitors were within around 20 secs of each other. The handicap system which is always a controversial topic, with this year being the 2nd year where the handicap algorithm has been used, the narrowing down of accuracy is seen to be improving given the closeness of the race results.




First to depart were Race 33 Kevin Reeves and Ken Hawkins in ZS-IXL Grumman AA-5





2nd Race 88 Danie and Yvonne Kritzinger in their Jabiru J-430 ZU-IEI


3rd Race 25 Ivan and Martin Marx in ZU-ACY Aermacchi AM 3C

The line-up on day two is where the slowest aircraft is off first and fastest last with the attempt to get everybody over the line at the same time, and some of the aircraft had very close start times of 8 seconds apart, just enough to provide take-off spacing, quite a sight to see as each was released to go. 

 

 

 
Other arrivals overhead the field

Normally the race ending is planned for a 13h00 finish time, this year it was moved to 13h40 to accommodate Bloemfontein scheduled traffic timing, and at the planned time the first aircraft came over and within the first minute around 20 aircraft had crossed the finish line, quite a sight to see as they came over. 



 

 







The Awards dinner, sponsored by Puma Energy, was held at the legendary Ramblers Club in Bloemfontein and what a lavish affair it was and the meal was awesome.


Master of Ceremonies Robin Spencer-Scarr had those attending in stiches with his quips and jokes before getting down to serious business, the announcing of the prize winners and the results.




The Presidents Trophy awarded to the aircraft and crew gaining the most time on handicap went to Race 76 the Beechcraft BE 33 ZS MYB flown by Joggie Prinsloo and navigator Rufus Dreyer




The Air Charter Trophy awarded to the second place crew went to Race 84 the Jabiru ZU-KKL piloted by Clive Louw and Leonard Hawkins who navigated




Third place finishers Simon Abbott and Chris Shillaw Race 84 who flew the Cirrus SR22 ZS ACA


4th Stephan Fourie and Derek Bird in Race 56 ZU-SAX Vans RV10



5th Hennie and Dandre Bisschoff in race 64 ZS-BNA Beech F33A 


6th Mark Bristow and Quinton Warne Race 39 ZS-KOB Piper PA-28-235


The Saldanha Bay Flying Club will host the 2019 PTAR

Extremely well organised organised by the Bloemfontein Flying and made possible by the generous support of Puma Energy, DJA, Wings and Things, Aviation Direct as well as Comet Aviation Supplies the 2018 was incident free and lived up its name as one of the world's premier air races. Pilot's Post looks forward to report at the 2019 Saldanha Bay Flying Club. 

 

 

 

EAA Vryheid Convention 2018 Adventure Rally

EAA Vryheid Convention 2018 Adventure Rally

By Rob Jonkers

The EAA convention this year was held at Vryheid, which is situated close to the escarpment and in the heart of the Anglo Boer & Zulu war zones. It was decided to hold an adventure format rally which is becoming a signature EAA event in conjunction with SAPFA, which is a format that EAA'ers enjoy, as a more relaxed fun kind of event mostly involving observation out of the window recognition of ground features and learning about the area being flown over. The Vryheid area is rich in history especially in the war times at the turn of the 20th century. The Vryheid club were new to this type of event and a few members took part, as well as members from other local clubs and of course a number of EAA members.


The Competitors

The theme for this event were following railroads and rivers, and finding a few battlefield sites. The route was mostly towards the north and west, in the mountainous areas of the region, but is also the most scenic area as well, which was one of the objectives for everybody to at least enjoy the local scenery.


 
Plotting the route

The route started at the local Klipfontein dam just south east of the airfield, and then in an anti-clockwise manner followed the railway line towards the northeast until it disappeared into the mountainside, and then continued to follow the railway northwards until the crossing with the Bivane river, where the teams had to follow the river westwards until they found a prominent farm house complex. From there southwards with no real following features to the Kambule Memorial site, which required recognition of a photo taken at ground level from the air. It was this part of the route that a few of the competitors lost their bearings given the wayward tracks see from the loggers. 
The competition map showing the route. From this first battlefield memorial, competitors had to climb a little onto a plateau to find the head waters of the Nsondo river at the top of the Aasvoelkrans gorge, and then fly descending into the gorge where three distinctive waterfalls could be seen, making this the most worthwhile scenic part of the route. At the bottom of the gorge another farmhouse was a waypoint and then to another battlefield memorial of Scheepersnek, and from there to a small farm dam to end off at the Stilwater railway station.


As part of this rally, it was decided that to add some spice as well, to track everybody with loggers to check how accurately they fly to keep within a 1 km corridor, which should have been easy given that one is allowed to fly with GPS. The map and task booklet were provided 20 minutes prior the take-off for everybody to either plan their route with traditional map plotting tools or to program their GPS's - if they were more at home following the magenta line.


Each route's leg had turning point photographs to be recognised (either being correct or incorrect), then a few questions had to be answered on ground features or sites that were historic or scenic, mostly cryptic in nature. 

 
An example out of the task booklet for one of the turning points....The tracks of some of the competitors - the blue one flown the most accurately and the yellow track of a competitor that got lost

The booklet contained a section of wiki notes that would enable the crews to answer all the questions - with a warning - "Don't read at your peril….", and guess what…., most forgot to find the answers in the most obvious place…. Some crews of course were googling for answers on their cell phones - because they can - somewhat inefficient given everything was right in front of them.

There were 14 crews who registered by briefing time, with a broad spectrum of aircraft participating, from a fast Cessna 210 to slow open cockpit Bat Hawks. 


Alan Lorimer assisting with getting the task booklets and loggers ready for the competitors

After the briefing, and with 20 minutes prior take-off of handing out papers prepared in sequence by Alan Lorimer, the first competitors took to the skies at 10:15, with the last off at 13.15. The weather was good for flying but the wind had picked up somewhat, which made navigation a little challenging.

With everybody successfully home, it was time for marking the exam papers which was left to Clive King to do, and Rob downloading loggers, and then printing the results.







When all was tallied up, two crews tied for first place, Carl Visagie with Navigator Mike Terreblanche in their Ikarus ZU-EOV and Shane Brits with Navigator Karen Stroud in their Jabiru ZU-FEP. Greg Clegg and Keaton Perkins in a Jodel ZU-UEK attained 2nd place, with third place going to Wayne Giles and Mark Clulow in their Bearhawk LSA ZU-IKO. In the spot landing that everybody carried out after the rally, the winner was Mike Ehrich flying a Bantam ZU-ADW.

Thus came to the end of a hopefully enjoyable day for everybody who took part, and given the interest in the event, should bode well for future rallies of this type and also gain an expression of interest in the more formal and timed rallies.


The Overall Results
  1. Rand Airport and SAPFA - Fly-in and Adventure Fun Rally
  2. SAPFA Fun Rally Virginia 3 March 2018
  3. Dare to Excite-the SAPFA Rally at Rand Airport 2018
  4. Kitty Hawk ANR Rally Results