Welcome to the SA Power Flying Association, a community of aviation enthusiasts that are passionate about recreational flying in South Africa.

If you are bored of the $100 burger or breakfast runs to the same old airfields, then we have great news for you. SA Power Flying Association is here to help you stretch your wings and advance your flying skills all while learning from some of the best aviators in the world.

We want to help you get in the air, stay in the air, and have fun while you’re at it! SA Power Flying membership makes participating in events easier and more rewarding. Whether you are new to aviation, want to brush up on your skills or want to fly for your country; SA Power Flying has the event for you.

In addition to our successful Speed Rallies, Rally Flying, Air Navigation Rallies (ANR), spot landings and the President’s Trophy, we will be adding a few new events to our calendar. These include launching our new ‘Rally League’ and reviving the ‘Poker Run’. Keep an eye on our calendar for our upcoming events or join our WhatsApp group using this link and be the first to find out what is coming up.

With Rally Flying World Championships coming up in August 2025 in Italy, we want to practice as much as possible. Whether you want to compete or just have fun, join us and learn from some experienced aviators while you have the opportunity.

We are always on the lookout for venues and are happy to tailor our events to your need. If you would like to arrange an event for your club or want to host an event at your airfield, get in touch. We would love to bring the fun to you.

We encourage you to renew your SA Power Flying membership through Aero Club, who provide us with the support to continue as a recreational aviation organisation in South Africa. It is through their hard work and dedication that we are able to continue to enjoy free flight across the skies of South Africa.

If you would like to join our events but need a crew member or just want to find out more, please phone or email us and we will be happy to share more info and try to find you a partner in flight. You are also welcome to fly/drive into any of our events to meet the team and join us for that burger. Hope to see you at one of our events soon. Happy flying.

PTAR 2024 – Makhado raises the bar

By Willie Bodenstein

26.05.2024
https://www.pilotspost.co.za/PsPpyarn3347

This year, for the first time, the PTAR goes north, far north to the delightful town of Makhado, previously Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. Nestled in the in the Soutpansberg mountain range the town is located in a fertile region where litchis, bananas, mangoes and nuts are produced. Makhado is 437 kilometres from Johannesburg and one hour’s drive from the Zimbabwean border at Beitbridge.

I grew up in Limpopo and many a weekend we drove from my birthplace in Potgietersrus to Louis Trichardt, a distance of 170 km, to visit distant family and to explore. My parents where great explorers of our lovely country a fact that I will forever be thankful for.

I have been honoured to have attended PTAR races at Springs, Witbank, Ermelo, Bethlehem, Bloemfontein (three times), Rustenburg, Klerksdorp (twice), Mahikeng and Saldanha Bay. Each venue pulled out all the stops for the honour of hosting this iconic race. Hosting this year’s race was the Soutpansberg Flying Club and the set a new standard.

This year I drove up from Johannesburg leaving on Thursday at 0600 and after having travelled 433 kilometres arrived 4.50 hours later. A number of competitors were already there whilst more arrived during the afternoon.

There were however some minor challenges for the organisers: the first was a delay with the printing of the T-shirts and caps for this event and the second is that Louis Trichardt is not a stone’s throw away from Gauteng. Fortunately, Reon Wiese and Kevin Mills from Vektor Aviation came to the organisers’ rescue by acting as dedicated “air couriers” to deliver the printed T-shirts and caps, in time for the start of the event.







It has always been my contention that the smaller clubs have the most dedicated members and this year, Soutpansberg with thirteen members, proved that. The grounds were spic and span. The grass neatly mowed. Everything was in place to host a successful PTAR.

 











 

Thirty-seven entries were received. People flew from the coastal town of Mossel Bay in the south, from Hluluhwe in the east coast of KZN, From Mpumalanga, the FreeState, the Northwest Province and off course Gauteng, the heartland of general aviation in SA.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 



Nigel Musgrave again was the Safety Officer and he was kept busy as a steady stream of arrivals slotted in with those who went were test flights to establish a handicap speed for the race.

 





Present were Piet and Rowland from the CAA always helpful and always friendly they are a pleasure to have at any event.

Friday the 24th was the day when the racing officially starts and as always it was opened by an obligatory safety briefing led by Nigel Musgrave, the Safety Director. Present were Piet and Rowland from the CAA always helpful and always friendly they are a pleasure to have at any event.

 



 
 
 



Being a handicap race, theoretically, every aircraft entered have a change to win. On Friday at 10.00 the contestants took off for the first of the two legs, the fastest aircraft being the first to go. The slowest will start first in Saturday’s leg. The first arrival back were excepted at 11.00

I positioned myself so that I could theoretically capture a short video as well as a photo of each contestant taking off and landing. Video wise that did not always work. The videos are featured in the YouTube videos in the links below. Pictures of the first six away and back are featured below.


A contestant on the way to start line












The returning contestants as I captured them.











The fact that a competitor finished in first or any other position needs to verified by the judges with the track flown as per the logger recording. Any missed points or other infringements will obviously lead to penalties or exclusion.

 

 
More competitors backtracking after having completed race one.


Saturday morning and the weather was perfect for flying. When I arrived the first sight that caught my attention was of Max Kane Berman and Jaco Botma for Middelburg having a cup of “Boere Troos” under the wing of their Cessna 182N

Most of the competing aircraft were parked in their allocated departure slots. However, there were some changes that led to aircraft being moved which did not cause any delay and after the morning’s briefing it was all set for the final leg. This time it was the chance of the slowest to take to the sky first.



 





I took up position as close to as what I considered as the lift of point to capture pics as the competitors got airborne. Below are the photos of the first ten away. 

 









 

 

 
There was the first of two incidents, one when the Cessna 210N of Coert and Duaan Erasmus returned with technical issues. The other problem was experienced by John Sayers and Adrian Barry who reportedly had issues with their undercarriage of their Piper Pa-24-400. The too landed safely.
I drove to almost the end of the runway and had lunch under a typical bushveld shady thorn tree while waiting for the first aircraft to arrive. I didn’t wait long before I heard the drone as it approach and from then on, I was kept busy as at times three almost neck on neck aircraft approached.

 The following is photos of the first eight back. 








 

 

No event of this nature will ever succeed if it is not for those with a passion who will give their time and support without expectation anything in return. Organised by SAPFA and hosted by the Soutpansberg Flying Club we will need a separate report to thank all of them including the business that generously provided financial support.








All that was now to follow was the awards dinner hosted in one of the hangars at the field and it was as usual a lavish affair.








By Pamela Russell

11.05.2024


The Northern portion of the SA Nationals in ANR took place a few weeks ago out of Brakpan Airfield. This past weekend saw the corresponding Southern event at the beautiful Stellenbosch airfield. Running parallel competitions allows for greater representation from all parts of the country and will hopefully continue to fuel the growing participation by Western Cape pilots.


FASH – pretty as a picture
While a Nationals is there to allow pilots to attain a set standard and be available to the Selectors, it is also always important to encourage new participants. So, there was an Open and a Sportsmans class, and the field included a team that had not flown any type of aviation competition before.


Competitors studying the schedule
 

Read More →

By Andre Venter

13.04.2024


Competitors, judges and others

The Air Navigation Rally is a fun day depending on the weather, sadly this event was postponed on the scheduled day, due to the weather that was expected to reach the Highveld over the weekend. A new date was discussed and the event was moved to Saturday the 13th April 2024 which was to be held at the Brakpan Airfield.



I arrived fairly early to a sun filled airfield and found two entrants had already arrived and were sitting down to a hearty breakfast and a hot cuppa. The early birds of the day were two trikes who were out for their early tour of the countryside and a Giles G-202 that also on its way out.
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SAPFA Rand Airport Challenge Navigation Rally 2024

By Russell Dixon-Paver

27.01.2024
This was the 20th edition of this fun event! As per tradition and for this time of year, weather was expected to become stormy later in the day, but more of that later. The event base was once again the old customs hall, providing space for the briefing, preparation and direct access to the apron for participants. Many folks made use of the Harvard Café for coffee and breakfasts.There was a final field of twelve teams, some who entered just before the event started. Some were “old hands” and for others it was their first navigation rally. Frank and Cally Eckard have been running this event for 20 years now!

Cally assists some of the last-minute entrants with their paperwork. 


Frank handled the necessary roll-call and team briefing, covering the normal aspects such as expected weather, radio calls, overall event organization and safety.


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Based on the incredible success of the Soutpansberg Air Show and Speed Rally this year, we are thrilled to announce the location of the 2024 Presidents Trophy to be hosted by the Soutpansberg Vliegklub and organised by the South African Power Flying Association.

Date: Friday and Saturday 24 & 25 May 2024
Where: Louis Trichardt Civil Airfield (FALO), Soutpansberg

Visit https://sapfa.co.za/home/ptar/ for more information or enter now!

Flying aces Alewyn Burger and Steve van der Merwe piloted the ‘Bok plane’ to the various city parades

17 NOVEMBER 2023 by MARK ETHERIDGE

Captains, my captains: Capt Alewyn Burger, left, with Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and Capt Steve van der Merwe. Picture: TANJA LUGG/SAFAIR

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The 23rd FAI World Rally Flying Championships 2023

The 23rd World Rally Flying Championships was held in Mâcon, France, from 31 July to 04 August 2023. A total of 45 teams from 12 countries were present, and South Africa was represented by 4 teams, Alewyn Burger and Steve van der Merwe, Tarryn and Iaan Myburgh, Tony and Pam Russell, and Apie and Frederik Kotzee. They were accompanied by team manager, Leon Bouttell and 3 international judges, Rob Jonkers, Martin Meyer and Barbara Frieböse. Hans Schwebel was also present as the President of the General Aviation Commission.

The competition kicked off on Monday with a challenging route to the west of Mâcon. This wine region is a mix of vineyards and disjointed forestry areas subdivided by numerous small agricultural villages and farm roads. Navigation is difficult and the route includes a scored away landing at Montceau-les-Mines as well as a scored landing at the home airfield, Mâcon Charnay. The South African team ended the day with mixed results. Alewyn Burger and Steve van der Merwe finish the day in 14th position. Apie and Frederik Kotzee had a difficult day where everything that could go wrong, did. A respectable navigation result from Tarryn and Iaan Myburgh contribute to South Africa now in 5th position in the Team Standings behind the Czech Republic, France, Poland and Spain.

The competition day on Tuesday had to be suspended due to a medical emergency for the Competition Director. Thanks to the speedy reaction from trained competitors a tragedy was averted, however, the organisers considered it prudent to cancel the day and reconvene on Wednesday for the second competition day.

High wind conditions started on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday as a cold front passed through the area. The Day 2 route took us to the west again. As the competing crews prepared for a challenging day, the organisers also included an adjustment to the timing of each leg to accommodate for the windy conditions. If the wind remained constant, the adjustment of 15 knots wind from 210° should have made the flight much easier as you now need to maintain your selected airspeed rather than ground speed. The wind certainly did not pay along, increasing in strength all day with strong gusts of over 35 knots. All the South African teams found the conditions extremely challenging, as was reflected by the scores for the day. As the wind continued to increase in strength and turn into a direct crosswind during the afternoon session, the landing scores at the home Mâcon Charnay Airfield also got cancelled for the day.

After the unfortunate cancellation of flying on Tuesday, Thursday would be the third and final day of competition. The route for Day 3 finally took us to east and would include two scored landings, an away landing at Bourg on Bresse and a home landing at Mâcon-Charnay. The winds remained strong, but largely improved from the day before. Despite this, an adjustment to the timing was still made, this time for 10 knots from 250°. The South African teams all dramatically improved their navigation scores from the previous day but other mistakes for landings, altitudes or observation proved costly.

Alewyn Burger and Steve van der Merwe flew the South African flag high and finished in 3rd place overall for Landings. They accumulated a mere 40 penalty points overall for the 4 scored landings, resulting from one bingo, two 10 pointers and one 20 pointer. This is only 20 points behind the winners from the Czech Republic, Lukas Behounek and Krystof Bobek, who scored two bingos and two 10 pointers.

The overall winners of the competition Petr Jonas and Marek Velat of the Czech Republic with an incredible total score of 553. The were followed by two French crews, Olivier Riviere and Jerome Jireau, and Alexis Fuchs and Jean-Baptiste Trouche. France was crowned the team winners, followed by the Czech Republic and Poland.

The results for each day, as well as overall, teams and landings can be found on the website: 

RESULTS

If you would like to re-watch the live tracks, they are available (Days 1, 2 and 3) on the website:

TRACKING

The next World Rally Flying Championships will be held in Ferrara, Italy in 2025. A truly unforgettable experience, we hope to see our many new friends there and fly the South African flag high once again.