Administration

AGM Documentation for the AGM held at Rand Airport on 29th January 2022 at 14h00. Next AGM planned for January 2023, after the RAC 2023.

Minutes of 2022 AGM

Annual Financial Statements – 2021

AGM Documentation for the AGM held at Rand Airport on 30th January 2021 at 14h00. Next AGM planned for January 2022 – Date TBD

Minutes of 2021 AGM

Annual Financial Statements – 2020 

AIR NAVIGATION RACE 27TH Jan 2018 – KITTYHAWK

Chairman’s Report 2017 – South African Power Flying Association

Before I start I want to thank all our SAPFA members for their commitment and participation in our different disciplines – THANK YOU MEMBERS.

The South African Power Flying Association’s (SAPFA) main focus is to organise and promote power flying sports. We also represent the interests of our members by providing input on matters that affect GA pilots. We maintain links with the General Aviation Commission (GAC) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). We also support the Aero Club of South Africa 100%.

We at SAPFA wanted to do something different this year with regards to competition flying and create a fair playing field for new competition pilots, Rob Jonkers created the Adventure Rallies and I created the SECS (SAPFA Equality Competition System) and Club Challenge CALL OUTS.

Thank you, Rob Jonkers for creating the first platform to introduce competition flying to the general aviator and the EAA members for embracing the new format of Adventure Rallies.

I would also like to thank the three clubs that helped SAPFA start the Club Call outs namely Secunda Flying Club, Ermelo and Springs (ERFC). This will grow as it has proven to become very popular and fun to take part in.

I would like to extend special thanks to Christoff le Grange (Secunda Club) and Eric Addision (Springs) for helping and hosting the Club Challenges.

I strongly believe that growing the sport is the most fundamental sustainable solution for the future.

The stepping stones have been laid for the future to grow the sport next year.

The PTAR was a huge success seeing new sponsors and excellent piloting skills from all the pilots and navigators. Next year the PTAR will be hosted by New Tempe and will be as awesome as it has always been when hosted by the Bloemfontein Flying Club.

Pylon Racing will be given more attention next year, we are possibly looking at racing a few Yak 52 against each other in the last part of 2018. Keep an eye on this, it is going to be great and revolutionary.

We had many great international achievements this year and we are very proud of our Protean Competition Pilots, Frank and Cally Eckard managed to secure a Gold Medal for South Africa in the landing section of the competition. Also a warm welcoming Andre Kluyts to the Green and Gold for the first time.

SAPFA Achievements below:

Senior Protea Colours for the 1st FAI World Air Navigation Race Championship 2017 held in Castellon, Spain held from the 11th to the 17th of September 2017 to Cally Eckard, Frank Eckard, Hans Schwebel, Mary De Klerk, Ronald Stirk, Thys van der Merwe and for participation as International Judge Special Acknowledgement to Arddyn Moolman.

Senior Protea Colours for the 23rd FAI World Precision Flying Championships held in Spitzerberg Airfield, Austria from the 29th of July to the 5th of August 2017 to Andre Kluyts, Frank Eckard, Mauritz Du Plessis, Ronald Stirk and the team manager Mary De Klerk and for participation as President of the Jury, Special Acknowledgement to Hans Schwebel.

Ron Stirk – For achieving a Silver Medal, 2nd Place in the Landing Section of the 23rd FAI World Precision Flying Championships held in Spitzerberg Airfield, Austria from the 29 July – 5 August 2017

Rob Jonkers – Sliver Wings for creating the Adventure Rallies and Assisting with the 2020 Aero Club Centenary arrangements

Mary De Klerk –  Gold wings foe serving on the SAPFA committee for 10 years

Frank Eckard  – Lewis Lang Trophy was awarded to “Pilot of the Year” for FAI Gold Medal for 1st Place in the Landing Section of the 1st FAI World Air Navigation Race Championship 2017 held in Castellon, Spain in July 2017 (DON’T FORGET FRANK HAD HIS WIFE AS HIS NAVIGATOR – WELL DONE CALLY)

Sadly, I have stepped down as Chairman due to International commitments and will not be available to serve as the Chairman for SAPFA in 2018. I have handed the Chairmanship to a worthy and fully capable Rob Jonkers (was my Vice Chairman) that will continue to grow SAPFA and support our Members.

Jonty Esser

SAPFA X-Chairman             

Report on the Meeting of the FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC)

held in Paris, France from Thursday 9^th to Saturday 11^th November 2017.

By Frank Eckard

The meeting was attended by delegate Hans Schwebel and alternative delegate Frank Eckard.

South Africa will host the 2020 World Rally Flying Championships and World Air Navigation Race Championships. Our organisation will be celebrating its centenary in 2020. As part of the 100 year celebrations the SAPFA committee decided to bid for these two prestigious competitions. France gracefully postponed their bid and our bid was unanimously approved.

We would like to encourage all South African pilots who have aspirations to obtain their Green and Gold to start their campaign and training in order to qualify to represent their country in these two prestigious World Championship events. Please speak to any SAPFA committee members for more information.

The Rally Flying Sub Committee. The chairman had through the year obtained the majority opinion and drafted a new set of rules for our future competitions. The new rules will allow the crews to plot their maps before the start point, however still challenging them with accurate navigation, timing and observation.

The next World Rally Flying Championships will be held in Dubnica, Slovakia from the 5 – 11 Aug 2018.

The Precision Subcommittee With the advances in GPS equipment installed in the modern cockpit, the precision committee decided to lift the ban on using GPS devices for these competitions, this will mean that pilots will no longer miss the turn points, but map reading skill will still ne required to win the competition.

The next World Precision Flying Championships will take place Castellon, Spain – June 2019

The Air Navigation Race Subcommittee Following the experience at the 1^st World Air Navigation Race Championships in Spain, they decided to amend the rules and the clock will now continue to run when you are out of the parcour, and not stop at 300 points.

The second World ANR Championships will be held in Santa Cruz, Portugal – September 2019.

The calendar therefore was accepted as follows.

2018 – World Rally Championships – Dubnica nad Váhom, SLOVAKIA 5 – 11 Aug 2018

2019 – World Precision Flying Championships – Castellon, Spain – June 2019

2019 – World Air Navigation Race Championships – Santa Cruz, Portugal – September 2019

2020 – World Rally Flying Championships – Venue TBA, South Africa – Date TBA

2020 – World Air Navigation Race Championships – Venue TBA, South Africa – Date TBA

2021 – World Precision Flying Championships – France

2022 – World Rally Championships – France.

Election of officials.

Hans Schewbel will continue to serve as Vice President and Frank Eckard as the Chairman of the Rally Flying Subcommittee.

The South African Power Flying Association’s (SAPFA) main focus is to organise and promote power flying sports. We also represent the interests of our members by providing input on matters that affect GA pilots. We maintain links with the General Aviation Commission (GAC) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

World Air Games – Dubai
Based on their performance at the 19th FAI World Rally Flying Championships held in Torun, Poland, Frank Eckard and Cally Eckard were nominated by the FAI to represent South Africa in the World Air Games which were held in Dubai. At these World Air Games the team was awarded the FAI Gold Medal for the Landing Competition which was held in difficult cross wind conditions, and also the Bronze Medal for the Overall Result in the Air Navigation Race.

President’s Trophy Air Race
Bethlehem Aero Club set a new standard as hosts of the 2016 President’s Trophy Air Race.
After two days of racing the local team of Philip Jacobs and Nico Smith, took top honours. They had put in many hours of practice to hone their skills and the effort was rewarded with 1st place.

The 2017 race will be held at Springs. This promises to be yet another great event. Get your entries in early as the field is limited to 100 aircraft.

Precision and Rally Competitions
Our Fun Rallies were held at Rand Airport, Stellenbosch, Virginia, Brits, Morning Star, Hoedspruit, Secunda, Krugerdorp, Grand Central and Baragwanath.

The National Rally Flying Championships were hosted at Brits. At the 20th FAI World Rally Flying Competition held in Santa Cruz, Portugal, the South African Rally Flying Team were awarded the FAI Silver Medal for a team second place in the Advanced class of this event. The Team consisted of Frank Eckard and Cally Eckard, and Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk. A joint second place in the Landing Competition was also awarded to Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk.

Adventure Rally
SAPFA arranged yet another successful Adventure Rally at the EAA Sun and Fun which was held in Brits. Crews enjoyed solving the cryptic clues as they flew around the Brits Area and great fun was had by all competitors.

SAPFA continues to be run by volunteers who give up their personal time to attend meetings, organise events, study legislation and more.

Thank You.

Frank Eckard
Chairman
South African Power Flying Association (SAPFA)

Report on the Meeting of the FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC) held in Limassol, Cyprus From Thursday 3rd to Sunday 5th of November 2016

By Frank Eckard

The meeting was attended by delegate Hans Schwebel and alternative delegate Frank Eckard.

While much transpired, here are the key highlights.

The Precision Subcommittee adopted an updated set of rules which are written in a better quality of English. There are also some minor changes. The next World Precision Flying Championships will take place in Spitzerberg, Austria 28 Jul to 03 Aug 2017.

The Air Navigation Race Subcommittee has also made some small adjustments to the rules. The scoring software has now been released in a PC based package rather than the previous internet base software. One of the ANR committee members, Armin Zueger, is now managing the software and also looking at new technology for loggers. Spain entered a bid to host the first World ANR Championships in Castellón, Spain at the end of September 2017.

The Long Distance Air Race committee gave us a presentation to the race to Georgia and also the Crete to Cape race which started departs Crete on the 12th November.

World Records is managed by Art Greenfield and Chris Booysen. They have around 100 records per year. New classes are being introduced with Solar Powered, Electric Powered and Drones.

Technical Equipment Committee This committee is managed by Ralph Grunwald. They have approved the Slovakian landing system and also continue to approve alternative loggers systems, as they have been proven to be reliable.

The Rally Flying Sub Committee had a tough job with a major change to the rules. After a few years of having two classes in the World Championships, and a lengthy debate, it was decided by a vote of 17 for, to 1 abstention to revert to a single class in the World Championships and to adopt the “Advanced” rules for the new world championships. The next World Rally Flying Championships will be held in Dubnica, Slovakia in 2018.

Election of officials.
It was wonderful to see the master tactician Hans Schewbel at work during the meeting. While Hans has served for some 23 years, he volunteered to serve for another year. The only change to the committee was Paul Szameitat who stood down as chairman of the Rally Flying Subcommittee. Frank Eckard was nominated and elected unopposed.

Once again the Aero Club has been hard busy at work on behalf of our members, they have asked me to pass this on to you.

As you know, aircraft owners are obliged to carry third party insurance as prescribed in terms of The Civil Aviation Act No 13 of 2009.

The Aeroclub has negotiated good rates for this insurance on behalf of its members who own aircraft in the following categories:
1. Aircraft eligible for NTCA Classification in the following groups:
a) Amateur built aircraft including Fixed and Rotary Wing, Motorised Gliders,
b) Production Built Aircraft
c) Limited Aircraft
d) Veteran Aircraft

2. Light Aircraft with an all up mass not exceeding 600kg, including
a) Microlights,
b) Light sport aircraft,
c) Gyrocopters
d) Gliders.
3. Hang Gliders and Paragliders.

Members interested in getting quotations for 1) and 2) above should call Joanne Herman of DJA on 011 463 5550 or email her at joanneh@jankelow.co.za. Members with aircraft falling in 3) above will obtain insurance through SAHPA.

Notes:
The act does not prescribe the value to be insured. DJA will quote for cover of either R500’000.00 or R1 million as specified by the member.
Some comprehensive hull insurance policies include a third party component, so if you carry hull insurance check this first before taking out additional third party cover.

Regards

Richard Becker

The Aero Club of South Africa
Cell: 060 997 3605
Tel : 011 082 1100
Fax : 086 635 3755
E-mail : richard@aeroclub.org
Website: www.aeroclub.org.za

Chairman’s Report 2015

South African Power Flying Association

The South African Power Flying Association’s (SAPFA) main focus is to organise and promote power flying sports. We also represent the interests of our members by providing input on matters that affect GA pilots. We maintain links with the General Aviation Commission (GAC) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

President’s Trophy Air Race
In 2015 the President’s Trophy Air Race returned to New Tempe. Bloemfontein Flying Club pulled out all the stops and welcomed the 85 teams to a very well organised event. Results were out before sunset on both days and this led to a well run gala dinner and some great socialising after the final trophies were awarded.

The 2016 race will be held at Bethlehem and from our meetings with the Bethlehem Aero Club, I am confident this will be an even better event. Get your entries in early as the field is limited to 100 aircraft.

Precision and Rally Competitions
Once again our Fun Rallies were held at Rand Airport, Bethlehem, Krugerdorp, Virginia and Grand Central and Brits. Competition flying has returned to Stellenbosch and the local club have arranged two events this year.

The National Precision Flying Championships were hosted at Brits. Four teams eventually represented South Africa at the 22nd FAI World Precision Flying Championships which were held in Skive, Denmark. Our aircraft were available on the day of arrival and we started with training right away. The wind always blows in Denmark, but the scenery was great with lots of water ways, forests and off course wind mills. The competition was well organised but very competitive, and our first competitor was placed 36th with a score of 1055 for the four competitions.

Adventure Rally
SAPFA will be arranging an Adventure Rally at the EAA Sun and Fun to be held in Brits. Crews will be required to solve cryptic clues as they fly around the Brits Area.

Air Navigation Race
The FAI has designed a new form of flying competition which involves very accurate navigation inside a narrow corridor. We had great fun with this competition in Brits. One of our teams has been nominated to compete in this new competition over the desert in the World Air Games in Dubai.

SAPFA continues to be run by volunteers who give up their personal time to attend meetings, organise events, study legislation and more.

Thank You.

Frank Eckard
Chairman
South African Power Flying Association (SAPFA)