Tedderfield Fun Rally - 5 June 2010
Saturday 5th June dawned and brought with it wall to wall blue skies – perfect weather to jump in an aery and take to the skies. The challenge was on for the SA Rally Flying team to challenge the Fun Rally pilots and any Airline Pilots brave enough to tackle the plot and convert it into a route. Nico Brandt, from Tedderfield Airpark hosted the event at their fabulous clubhouse. From early the aeries started to fly in from various local airfields as well as from all over the country including Durban, Polokwane and Hoedspruit.
Scores of brand new Young Eagles from various schools in the area also started to arrive, eager to learn a bit more about the opportunity to pursue a career in aviation, and enjoy their first free flight. Jayson and Nicky van Schalkwyk took them under their wings and put them through their paces. They enjoyed a day filled with aviation input and this was topped with a flight around Soccer City and back to Tedderfield by Chris Bailes, Nico Brandt, Laszlo Liszkay and the inimitable Captain Karl Jensen. Also attending the event were representatives from Youth in Action South Africa.
The Rally challenge saw 16 teams cross the start and finish line. Six of the teams comprised the recently selected Proteas who were flying in the Open Class Section, and the balance were the Fun Rally and Airline pilots.
The route was set by Tony Russell, the current SA Team Manager and covered a distance of 120nm. Mary de Klerk did her usual prebrief on “How to Fly a Fun Rally” and took the new and old teams through a detailed step by step account of how to prepare the maps and how to fly the route, while Frank Eckard arranged the start lists and take off times.
The route itself, was nothing short of challenging – even to the seasoned Proteas, and this was not made easier by the fact that a gremlin crept into the scoring system and caused the participants to have to fly a 5 minute leg in 9 minutes. For a first timer, this proved to be quite disconcerting, but everyone managed to get through the glitch and continue through to the finish.
The Proteas flew to Open Class standard whilst the rest of the field flew to Sportsmans Class Standard. The original objective was for the Proteas to challenge the Airline Pilots, but only one brave Airline Pilot showed up and the results proved most interesting. He was Snr Captain Thys van der Merwe from SAA, who with his talented pilot, Rob Jonkers, in a C172, cruised into first position in the Sportsmans Class and beating some Proteas into 4th position overall…..an outstanding achievement for a first timer!
Full results are attached below.
Attachment | Size |
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2010Tedderfield Final Results | 30.5 KB |
2010 President's Trophy Air Race
Isn’t amazing how the years fly by quicker than a turbo charged Lancair as we get older. Just finished the President’s Trophy Air Race 2009 in Bloemfontein and, as we were catching our breath, we found ourselves in Rustenburg getting ready for the PTAR 2010.
2010 SA National Rally Championships
Competitors & OrganisersThe SA Rally Flying Championships took place from 8 – 10 April at Aviators Paradise in the North West Province.
The event was generously sponsored to the tune of R20,000 by BRITS FLIGHT TRAINING CENTRE, and R15,000 by AFRICAN OUTDOOR GROUP.
Klerksdorp Fun Rally – 20 March 2010
Another fantastic Aviation event notched up this past weekend at Klerksdorp. The entire weekend was run under the auspices of the EAA Sun & Fun convention under the directorship of Cliff Lotter and his team, Len du Preez and Piesang Myburgh.
Despite the threatening weather and isolated thunderstorms, 98 aircraft out of the expected 150 aircraft arrived. The AOG rig was set up close to the club house and the scene was set for a successful weekend of aviating.
Virginia Fun Rally - 27 March 2010
The plan was set to hold the initial Rally briefing on Friday evening before the DWC sponsored Braai, then to arrive at 07H30 on Saturday morning for a pilot safety briefing, final route briefing, map preparation and then commence with the competition from 10H00. I love it when a plan comes together flawlessly, and this one indeed did....
The African Outdoor Group generously sent their fantastic new “Rig” all the way from Jhb to Dbn with the AOG crew. It arrived minutes before the 18H00 Briefing and was quickly reversed into place on the grass verge in front of the pool just off the taxi way. Within minutes, the scene was set for the weekend with the chairs and tables and umbrellas all laid out.