Sheila Taylor ANR Rally – Krugersdorp 2019

By Cally Eckard and Photos by Willie Bodenstein

Competitors and organisers. 

The Sheila Taylor Trophy has traditionally been held as a Fun Rally event, but Krugersdrop members asked if SAPFA could provide something simpler, quicker and more fun. So event organiser Frank Eckard offered an ANR, or Air Navigation Race. 

Preparing for the race.

An ANR is similar to a fun rally, but without the photographs, and without time penalties at each turnpoint. Instead of flying from one turnpoint to another, the team must fly along a 0,5NM wide “corridor” which zigzags across the map. They are timed at the Start and Finish points only, and are penalised if they travel out of the bounds of the corridor. The route is much shorter than a rally, and is therefore a cheaper sport. 

The route showing the track of two of the competitors.

Frank set up two rounds, the second round being optional, for those who felt like getting some practise in. 

Participants hard at work.

The weather was absolutely perfect, with not a cloud in the sky, and perfectly still. KFC were all on board, with nine of their teams taking part, and many supporters enjoying the breakfast and special coffees available in the clubhouse. 

The results.

Five teams from out-of-town also flew in for the day, to try their hands at this relatively new version of the sport, some of them aiming to be selected at ANR Nationals in Brits in July, to represent South Africa in Portugal in September at the World ANR Championships. 

Ian and Adrienne Saunders KFC 1st place. 

Steve and Laura McDermid KFC 2nd place. 

Andy and Duncan Lawrence KFC 3rd place.

Interestingly, there were some aircraft not usually seen at ANR events – a helicopter, a gyrocopter, a Pioneer 300 and an RV10. The speed for an ANR is usually 80kts, but some of these aircraft had nominate different speeds, and Frank had to accommodate these manually. 

Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk 1st others. 

Shane Britz and Karen Stroud 2nd place others.


Pamela and Antony Russell 3rd place others.

It was heartening to see so many lady pilots and navigators, husband and wife teams, and father and daughter teams. Flying is definitely becoming more of a family sport, and this is a good thing.Please look out for the dates for the ANR Nationals in Brits – all are very welcome.

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Kitty Hawk ANR (Air Navigation race) Rally – 27 January 2018  by Rob Jonkers

The South African Power Flying Association (SAPFA) held a very successful ANR (Air Navigation Race) at Kittyhawk Airfield on Saturday 27 January 2018. The weather outlook during the week showed promise to be good and then not, and eventually when Saturday morning dawned the expected early morning rain appeared later than expected and a wall of showers descended over Johannesburg, trapping those competitors at their resident fields. Arriving at Kitty Hawk after 7 still had clear skies and most of the northern based aircraft arrived.

Route 1 – An Anti-Clockwise Route

Although briefing was planned for 8 am this was delayed to 8:30, with the weather outlook promising to be good after 10, thus the teams got under way plotting their route.

Route 2 – An Anti-Clockwise Route

There were 17 teams that registered, but eventually 14 took part, 3 had to scratch due to weather, and some other teams were just expected to pitch up, but it was a bigger than normal field of contestants. There were three local Kitty Hawk teams, and teams from clubs in Brits, Springs, Middelburg  and Nelspruit. There was a training session arranged for Friday evening where 5 teams were given an hour or so lecture on how to fly rallys as well as shown some in-cockpit footage of typical flights to gain an understanding of visualizing photo and ground features.

Most of the Competitors

There were two routes planned, the first one with 5 legs, and the second one with 10 legs, each 25 nm long, which would take around 20 minutes to fly, with the second route having around 2,5 minutes per leg, thus the cockpit gets extremely busy. The navigator has the unenviable task of keeping the pilot on the straight and narrow, and the pilot has to keeping checking that the navigator is doing his job….

Briefing the Route

With the competition groupings set-up in the SAPFA competition equality system, there were three classes taking part, Sportsmans (Novices and first timers), Intermediate (A mixed crew with novices), and Unlimited (Protea Teams). A leader board system will still be developed in the coming year.

In an ANR, there are only two objectives, the first being on-time at the start and finish gates, each second early or late attracts penalty points. The second objective is to remain inside the corridor which in this case is 0.4 nm wide (+/- 800 m), any excursion outside the corridor also attracts penalty points per second being outside the corridor.

Wayne van Rooyen and Almero Calitz at the Friday Evening Training Session preparing the 2 routes

Organiser Rob Jonkers busy with downloading logger results with Eric Addison looking on

The first course was an easy route with only 6 turning points to get everybody into the zone, and the second route had 9 turning points with very short legs, hardly being on one leg and then keep a time check and position for the next leg.

As the weather cleared, first off was Thys vd Merwe with his brand new navigator Wiehan Grove in a C172 at 10h30 followed by the rest of the field in 5 minute intervals, some longer if there were aircraft being used twice by different crews. Then there were late comers who arrived after the rain dissipated in the Jhb area, that had later starting times, thus quite a bit of juggling the lineup and separation.

Marc Clulow and Freddie van Rooyen with their Jabiru ZU-FEP

Safety Officer Nigel Musgrave and Airfield Manager Dawie Pretorius

The next round started at 12H30, with the last crews in by 14h00. Then the big task of logger downloads, analyzing and printing results, which was completed at around 15h30, with a short prize-giving and results.

 Neville Fereirra and Pierre vd Merwe with their Sling ZU-FWY

In the Sportsmans Class, in first place was Johan & Jurie van Eeden, flying their RV7 – at a high speed as well of 120 kts, 2^nd was Tyrone Steenkamp and Eric Addison flying their Cheetah at the other end of the speed spectrum of 70 kts, 3^rd was Pierre Dippenaar and Martin Meyer flying their C182.

 First place in Sportsmans class Johan and Jurie van Eeden in their RV7 ZU-IHH

In the Intermediate class with the experience of some of the old hands, in 1^st place was Mary de Klerk and Leon Bouttell flying a C172, in 2^nd place was Thys vd Merwe and Wiehan Grove also in a C172, and third was Andre Kluyts and Nick Christodoulou in a C172.

First place in Intermediate class, Mary de Klerk and Leon Bouttell in their C172 ZU-AFP

In the Unlimited Class, in 1^st place it was Frank and Cally Ekhard flying a C150 followed in 2^nd place by Rob Jonkers and Martin Meyer flying a C182, followed by Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk flying a C150.

First place in Unlimited Class Frank and Cally Ekhard in their C150 ZS-IWD

This event was for sure enjoyed by all, with a number of new entrants, who should quickly got up to speed given the improvements in scores between the easy route 1 and the more difficult route 2. SAPFA will for sure organize more of these events in 2018, and get more club level participation.

Two Google earth Livetrack results shown, the purple track one of the better tracks and the yellow track wandering off course somewhat.

By: Cally Eckard

The South African ANR team of six excelled at the first ever World Championships of this new and exciting sport, hosted by Aeroclub Castellon, Spain, in September 2017.

The three teams, each consisting of a pilot and a navigator, were chosen at the first SA ANR Championships held in Brits in August, and were accompanied by World class Judge Arddyn Moolman, and supporters Barbara Friebose and Leon Bouttel.

The team, consisting of Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk, Mary de Klerk and Thys van der Merwe, and Frank and Cally Eckard, took advantage of the training week in which they managed to complete all the training routes.  Having practised in SA on 1:200 000 maps and flying at a nominated speed of 80 knots, they discovered that the local rules required them to fly on 1:150 000 maps at a speed of 75 knots.  Taking this all in their stride, they also discovered that their Cessna 152 had not arrived, and was only going to arrive all the way from Portugal three days late.  However, they made a plan and even had to fix the mag drop on the Portuguese plane when it arrived, costing them another day of practise. Also, the local aircraft mechanic had to be coaxed out of church to fix the plane, and arrived without any tools.  Another challenge was obtaining fuel, which is outsourced at Castellon airfield, and is closed for siesta between 2 pm and 3:30 pm, causing much consternation when practise time is already compromised.

The area of Castellon is a large coastal plain surrounded by mountains reaching up to 2000m, making for a very varied and challenging task.  Compared to SA, their maps are extremely accurate and up-to-date and contain contour lines rather than hypsometric tint.  Initial training flights enabled the participants to decipher how what is on the map appears on the ground.  Training on Google Earth before they arrived in Castellon helped familiarise themselves with the terrain.  Despite being handicapped by flying unfamiliar aircraft (the other teams were all from Europe and all except for Cyprus and Norway flew their own aeroplanes) the South African team were placed 14^th, 19^th and 22^nd out of 32 in the Navigation Section of the competition.  This consisted of 4 stages held over 4 days.

The final portion of the competition was the Precision Landings, consisting of two normal landings and one forced landing (glide approach without flaps) in which the pilot has to land as close to the one metre landing line as possible.  Penalties are given for landing outside the line.  Here the SA team is traditionally feared by the European countries, as we have a World Air Games gold medallist in Frank Eckard, a twice World Landing Champion in Ron Stirk, and a several time SA landing champion and runner-up World Champion in Hans Schwebel.

The team did not disappoint, with Frank and Cally Eckard winning gold with two landings on the zero line and one 3m after it, Mary de Klerk coming 7^th and Hans Schwebel 15th.

This form of the sport is gaining very quickly in popularity both amongst newcomers to flying and to current Precision and Rally pilots.  It requires far more teamwork and input from the navigator as they work together to maintain their course along a software-created zigzag “corridor”.  It is much shorter in distance and duration, and requires fewer volunteers, making it much more affordable.  The software is easier to use, making it much quicker to plan and organise, and the trackers which are placed in each plane enable spectators to watch the progress of each team either at the airfield on big screens, or on any device, make it a very exciting spectator sport.

The sport is designed to improve fundamental flying skills, emphasizing the ability of the crew to follow a precise track whilst adhering closely to a time schedule, a given corridor and a groundspeed. The Landing portion emphasizes the ability of a pilot to land an aircraft in short and narrow places with the simulation of trees or other obstacles on the approach, thereby fully demonstrating his or her ability to handle an aircraft both accurately and safely.

The rules are deliberately kept simple and easy to remember, to encourage young and new pilots to participate in a fun and challenging but “doable” flying sport.

Being the first championship held on the world stage, some minor changes will have to be made to the model, but currently the rules give each team 30 minutes to plan their flight after being given a map with the printed “corridor” on it.  They then have 15 mins to jump into their aeroplane, and have to take off at a predetermined time, and are given a particular time to fly to the Start Point.  The Start and Finish Points are the only points which are timed, and the whole competition is flown at a speed determined by the organisers.  The route is approximately 45 mins long from take-off to landing, and requires the participants to fly along the narrow “corridor” which is a series of zigzag legs with “turnpoints” at any place on the map, not necessarily a feature.

For more information regarding Air Navigation Race please go to: www.fai.org/gac-our-sport/air-navigation-race and please look out for more ANR events hosted by SAPFA. 

FAI World Air Games Dubai 2015 photo book -> Read online

Best action of the FAI World Air Games Dubai 2015 in a 2 minute video ->Video

by Cally Eckard

The World Air Games were held in Dubai in the first two weeks of December, and were the first to be held since Turin (Italy) in 2009. The World Air Games comprises many disciplines, and new ones are introduced each WAG as new technology, apparatus and sports appear in the aviation world.  Amongst these are various types of skydiving, aerobatics, and disciplines involving gliders, paramotors, microlights, balloons, air ships and helicopters.  The selected South African team were Frank and Cally Eckard for General Aviation (ANR), Nigel Hopkins for aerobatics and Paul Jackson for paramotors.

The Eckard team were selected from their results in the World Rally Championships in Poland in 2014, but the discipline implemented at the WAG in Dubai is a new one, called Air Navigation Race (ANR) and this is the first time it has been used in an international competition.  For most of the teams it was therefore a brand new sport requiring a brand new set of skills.  Instead of flying along a track and crossing turn points, the planes are given a zigzag “corridor” on a map, and are severely penalised for infringing out of the corridor.  Only the start and finish points are timed.   The competitive section only takes about 15 mins, and navigation is on a much smaller scale than rally, and requires good communication and teamwork between pilot and navigator.  Software has been developed to enable the map and track of the plane to be seen online in real time, making it more spectator-friendly.

The husband and wife team arrived in Dubai with the intention of learning how to run this type of competition and how to fly it on a competent level.  Day one and two were training days, and they came in last position.  With several other aerosports taking place at the same airfield, in this case the Sky Dive Dubai Desert Dropzone, there was little opportunity to learn much from the training days, but a few team discussions and adjustments to their methods gave better results on Days 1 and 2.  They made it through to the next round, and beat the Austrian team in order to reach the semi-finals, which they lost to Norway, putting them in fourth place for the navigation category.

Asked what the navigation conditions were like compared to South Africa, Frank pointed out that they had been flying over a lot of desert, and had to judge the width and length of the corridor based solely on visual comparison to the map and the few available landmarks.  Also the maps were Russian and not current, so there were many new features on the ground that were missing on the maps, making it a very challenging but interesting exercise.

The wind came up on the day that the Landing Competition was going to be held, and with crosswinds of 20 knots at 90⁰ to the runway, the competitors were asked if they were willing to participate, since Cessnas are only indicated for a crosswind component of 15 knots.  They all agreed to the challenge, along with the fact that the aeroplane they were going to fly was not one they had ever flown before.  All the planes made available to them had glass cockpits (digital instrumentation) which none of them were familiar with.  Every pilot gets used to his aeroplanes little idiosyncrasies, and spot-landing an unfamiliar one in such winds is not something for the faint-hearted.  Frank took off, with a plan to cope with the cross-wind conditions, and landed the plane 1 m from the Zero line.  The next landing was to be an engine-off landing, using just flaps to guide the plane to the landing spot, and Frank landed -2 m from the line.  They were then in joint first place with the German team, so a “land-off” was required to determine the first position, and Frank nailed it again -2m from the line, and the German team were forced into second place with their tail-strike landing being judged “abnormal”.

In an official ceremony held at Sky Dive Dubai Palm Drop Zone, Frank and Cally were awarded gold medals for the Landing Competition, and Bronze medals for third overall.  The medals were presented by the new President of the GAC, Rodney Blois from Great Britain, and by the vice-President of the Sports Committee for Dubai.

Frank and Cally are very excited to introduce the sport to South African aviators, and hope it will inject enthusiasm amongst participants of the current Precision and Rally competitions, and encourage new pilots to join.

For more information go to the World Air Games website at https://www.wagdubai.ae/    https://www.fai.org/wag-2015multimedia under the Press Section you can view all the photos and videos. The opening and closing ceremonies were spectacular and worth watching.

Here is an interesting page on how the media is changing: https://www.fai.org/static/WAG2015_Photobook-flipbook/files/assets/basic-html/page-127.html

by Mary de Klerk

The first ever ANR was held  on the 8^th August 2015 in Brits.

Air Navigation Racing (ANR) is a recently developed aviation discipline introduced to attract more aviators into the sport that is positioned somewhere between Rally Flying and Air Racing.  It has been accepted by GAC (General Aviation Commission) as a recognised sport and  falls under the auspices of FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) It is probably the newest most exciting International aviation competition discipline for many reasons. SAPFA (South African Power Flying Association) under the guidance of its Chairman, Frank Eckard, has ventured to introduce the very first event into South African skies.

The team consists of Pilot and Navigator. The crew is given a map with a printed corridor on. After the crew have added headings and times (minute markings) to their map, they fly to a pre allocated time slot. All aircraft fly at the same speed (normally 80kts)

The objective is for the aircraft has to pass the start gate at a specific time (Hr:min:Sec) fly the route accurately as close to the centre line as possible. Touching the borders or flying outside of the corridor will incur penalty points.. The corridor  width can vary from 1nm either side of track to 200m either side of track. As the crews improve, the corridor becomes narrower to increase the level of difficulty. No timing penalties are awarded during the corridor flight, but the aircraft will be timed as they exit the final gate at the finish point.  The winner is the crew with the least amount of penaties.

What makes this new sport so attractive is the fact that it’s fun, its achievable for most, its inexpensive to fly, and the rules are simple.

Frank designed the first event  to be held in SA and had to modify the rules slightly to accommodate the SA landscape and scoring system. The entire route took less than 45 mins to complete and the crews returned having had a lot of fun in the air. Watch this space for the next event and be sure not to miss it.

For more information on the sport please visit : https://www.fai.org/page/gac-air-navigation-race