February 2012

Kitty Hawk Rally – 25 February 2012

Rally pilots and navigators took to the clear skies above Kitty Hawk for the first of the qualifying competitions before Nationals. Most of the Protea hopefuls competed, with the remainder having to take part in either or both of the Virginia or Parys rallies in order to be considered for participation in Nationals in May.
Nine pilot-navigator teams participated, with only one flying in the Fun Rally section. It is really gratifying to see so many serious contenders for Nationals.
Rally competition directors Frank Eckard and Mary de Klerk have been putting together rally flying and navigation workshops, and their efforts to inject ‘new blood’ into the team seem to be paying off.
The organisers were disappointed however that none of the Kitty Hawk contingent took part. Every effort is made to include everyone in these rallies, and special arrangements can be made for gyrocopters and helicopters. First-time rallyers are given plenty of help, and usually attain surprisingly good ‘first-time-lucky’ results.

The rally season started this year with the fun rally at Rand Airport. This is traditionally a well-supported event in terms of both prizes and participants, and 2012 was no exception. Thirteen teams took to the Johannesburg skies and thanks to the sponsors, all received prizes.

Rand Airport hosted the event, presented the Rand Airport Winners Trophy , and waived landing fees. Karcher donated High Pressure Cleaners. Chris Linakis donated R3000 for cash prizes on behalf of his company, ACL Construction. AviMap donated 2 map books, 6 Pilot Destinations, and 6 Airfield Directories, and African Pilot 3 annual subscriptions to their magazine.

The competition was a bit different for this year, as Competition Director Frank Eckard chose a rally that asked questions about features along the route instead of identifying photographs. This was very popular with the participants, and lead to a lot of queries and discussion about the answers.

Last year being a Precision Flying year, all teams at Rand were taken by surprise with their lack of practise in plotting the route, and the word “rusty” was bandied around to excuse such mistakes as using tools designed exclusively for Slovakia, forgetting the difference between Magnetic and True, and using kilometres instead of nautical miles. All agreed that some extra hours need to be invested in plotting before Nationals.

Rand Airport Challenge 2012: Winners Johan Goosen & Esmond Erasmus

The flying was good, and only one team had to use Frank’s hint that if they were lost and saw the Vaal River, to turn back and not cross it. Thys van der Merwe was thrilled to receive a total score of zero for his flying, meaning that he crossed every turnpoint exactly on time. Winners Esmond Erasmus and Johan Goosen and third placers Sean Murphy and Carl Dollenberg are faithful competitors, and it is good to see their dedication to the sport rewarded.

It was also great to see that of the 26 competitors, 7 were women, and we had 2 all-women teams competing.

The results were as follows:
POSITION PILOT NAVIGATOR
1 Esmond Erasmus Johan Goosen
2 Thys van der Merwe Mary de Klerk
3 Sean Murphy Carl Dollenberg
4 Hans Shwebel Ron Stirk
The best First-timers, the father-and-son team of Dave and Aldo Naude finished in 7th. A creditable result.

The team of Lane x 2 and Sling	Thys van der Merwe Proud of his Zero Score

	8th Rand Airport Challenge
	4th February 2012
	Rand Airport
	RESULTS
POSITION	FILE	PILOT	NAVIGATOR	CALL SIGN	NAV	TRACK	OBS	TOTAL
1	8	Esmond Erasmus	Johan Goosen	ZU CHJ	13	0	60	73
2	15	Thys van der Merwe	Mary de Klerk	ZS CNZ	0	0	160	160
3	10	Sean Murphy	Carl Dollenberg	ZS-IRL	13	0	160	173
4	11	Hans Schwebel	Ron Stirk	ZS-IWD	70	60	160	290
5	5	Andrew Lane	Hugh Lane	ZU-NRC	6	0	340	346
6	6	Emmie Oelfse	Jonty Esser	ZU-DTB	144	0	300	444
7	9	Dave Naude	Aldo Naude	ZU CIA	177	0	280	457
8	13	Leonard Edwards	Leon Weideman	ZS-LXE	345	60	180	585
9	7	Domonique v Roet	Leon Boutell	ZU-FBJ	518	0	220	738
10	1	Federica de Micheli	Donald O’ Connor	ZS-ORO	585	0	220	805
11	12	Juri Nysschen	Julie Becker	ZU-FAX	600	0	300	900
12	14	Elizabeth Lombard	Kirsty Barker	ZS-IFW	475	240	300	1015
13	3	Larkin Pretorius	Candice OConnor	ZS-SAA	600	120	380	1100