August 2009

By John Miller

The words “recreational flying” are rarely, if ever, found in the same sentence with “Boeing 737,” but while two South African aviation enthusiasts, Gavin Branson and Menno Parsons, were having a few beers last August, the combination became strangely plausible.

Branson is the CEO of a charter company, AirQuarius, which owns several Fokker F28 and Boeing 737 passenger jets. Parsons, an electrical engineer, owns a couple of airplanes, including an Aero L-29 Delfin.

Parsons likes to compete in air races, so he was interested to hear that the Rustenburg Flying Club (a small group about 90 minutes from Johannesburg) was organizing a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale-compliant sub-competition, to be held in August 2009. The organizers opened the event to jet aircraft, hoping to attract warbirds. Parsons contemplated entering his L-29: “I thought that I might have a chance of winning if I entered my jet. But on our second or third beer, I suggested to Gavin we enter one of his Boeings. Before I knew it, I heard myself say: ‘I’ll hire the Boeing for the day.’ ”

Branson immediately contacted his chief pilot, Captain Mark Nel. “I’ve never had a request like that before,” says Nel. “Usually it’s a call to do a charter flight into some African country, or to stand by for a posting to a far-flung Middle East contract. Flying a Boeing 737 around a 300-mile course for a flying club event stretched my sense of humour.”

Rustenburg’s runway was too short to accommodate a 737, so Nel and First Officer Hugo van den Berg helicoptered to the airfield to attend the obligatory pilots’ briefing, where they learned the 737 would be competing against a Hawker Hunter, an Aermacchi MB326, and an Aero L-29.
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