Articles Rally (Page 10)

EASTERN PROVINCE RALLY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Port Elizabeth – 22 and 23 September 2002

By Ernie Alexander

Most pilots consider themselves lucky to have an understanding family who let them take the day off to go flying, but a two-day rally which turns into a four day affair with travelling and over a long weekend takes a little more suss. I engineered that we take a week long family holiday at Kob Inn near East London, which is a little over three hours in the 182. This would give me the opportunity to sneak off to PE for the EP rally champs.

With the family settled and after a few days relaxing on the beach I set off for PE on Saturday 21 Sept armed with my 182 and the necessary rally paraphernalia. The coastal weather was not playing the game and after being forced to land at 43 Air School in Port Alfred, the heavens really opened. Miraculously after 3 hours the weather cleared and I arrived amid overcast conditions at the Algoa Flying Club in time to meet my fill in navigator, Neil Hattingh, whom I had not even met before. I had also not flown in the PE area and was flying in a 182, as my Wag (Cub) was a little slow to make the PE trip.

Day 1 – Sunday 22 Sept

Sunday morning dawned with typical coastal rain and intermittent squall conditions with low overcast cloud over the inland high ground. It did not look like much flying would take place. All start times were postponed by 3 hours and finally the weather played ball. The experience of Dave Perelson saved the day in that he had predicted that the weather could play a major factor and had planned a short rally and a long one for the two days. Given the remaining time left the short rally was chosen which initially followed the coastal route over the picturesque Algoa Bay, before turning inland to Nanaga, Paterson, and Kirkwood, before returning to PE via Uitenhague. The two National teams of Stirk/ Schwebel and De Groot/De Klerk proved too strong for the rest of the field with both teams scoring under 500 points with Stirk/Schwebel just edging ahead.

They were followed by the rest of the pack with 3rd place going to the Van Vuurens, a local family duo scoring 2086 points. We were really disappointed with our performance and turned for checkpoint CP9 at CP7 missing two CP’s for full penalties resulting in 6th place in the Open Class. I noted a little smugness from Wally Walle who had come in ahead of us. Well done Wally!

The Sportsman Class was having a jolly time with a lot of young talent from Progress Flying School participating for the 1st time. A royal battle was taking place behind the 1st and 2nd teams scoring 1001/1048 respectively with the rest of the field trailing a further 1500 odd points adrift. A great day’s flying with 11 checkpoints including start to finish. If I thought we had been blooded on day one I would have to think again. Third place behind the national teams was still an achievable target. Watch out Wally!

Day 2 – Monday 23 September

The weather played ball for a change with sunny skys and calm wind conditions. The longer rally would take off in time. The organisers decided that a taste of international standard would prepare some competitors for the upcoming World Champs in July 2003. The navigators were set a really difficult plot with 17 checkpoints including start and finish. Some plotted throughout the route which immediately ventured inland to Kirkwood and on to the mountainous region north of Patterson eventually heading south east toward Alexandria before turning for home to intercept the coast at Blue Water. The organisers also introduced checkpoints that were not on the map and these had to be established from the plotting point, which was always a map feature. I believe that this is what can be expected at an international event, which really adds to the workload. The pilot also has to be a lot sharper in terms of timing to the checkpoint as a visual would only be established late in the leg and sometimes not at all as was evident from the number of missed checkpoints.

The top teams of Stirk/Schwebel and De Groot/De Klerk again proved too good for the others with De Groot/De Klerk just edging out their rivals on a technicality due to a logger problem.

We managed to pick up a few positions by beating Wally into 4th place, but our hope for a third place recovery was dashed by the Van Vuuren brothers, who in our view had a better local knowledge advantage – some excuse is better than none. Hats off to my navigator, Neil who plotted the whole route perfectly – Talk about being cool under pressure!

The battle in the Sportsmans class went to the Russian team, piloted by Velekorodney who managed to maintain the classy performance of Du Plessis/Viner who narrowly led on the opening day.

The rally closed with a Spitbraai held at the Algoa Flying Club. The locals were fantastic and showed their flair for good old East Cape hospitality. Dave Perelson and Chris Booysen must be singled out for their organisation and enthusiasm in what panned out to be a great aviation experience. I was disappointed at the poor showing of crews from the other parts of S.A. but I guess costs of aviation today prohibit participation at away events.

ACSA CUP NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Bloemfontein 2002

By Dale de Klerk

Well this was an event that most of us will remember for a long time. After the postponement from last year and the difficulty for organizers to get to Bloemfontein, nobody knew what to expect.

Bloemfontein International Airport
Bloemfontein International

Competitors arrived from Sunday 7th March up until late on Wednesday evening in time for the official briefing. What a turnout, ten open class entries and six sportsman. Most of us had the opportunity to fly at least one practice route and get to know the area. The maps were surprisingly accurate once you got to understand what’s what.

Day one

The plot was quite easy with only nine checkpoints and the start given to us in advance. This was to avoid anyone starting at the wrong place and interfering with the scheduled flights in and out of Bloem international. We all thought Dave Perelson was joking when he said no one would find more than ten out of a possible twenty en-route photos. I think some of us are still looking for those alien dwellings. And then there was the famous church at checkpoint seven. A real church about one mile right of track distracted most of us. Some realized there mistake found the ruin at the correct checkpoint and some didn’t.

The final results for the day were:

Open class

  • 1st Nigel & Dale with 765 penalties
  • 2nd Barry & Mary with 780 penalties
  • 3rd Hans & Ron with 1332 penalties
  • 4th Frank & Quinten with 1561 penalties
  • 5th Rob & Rynier with 1587 penalties

Sportsman

  • 1st Kluyts Father & son with 1754 penalties
  • 2nd Ernie & George with 2174 penalties
  • 3rd U K team Green with 2432 penalties

What a wake up call ? The G P S loggers had taken their toll and Deon certainly didn’t make the rest any easier.

Day two

The route was a little longer with more checkpoints but still easy enough on the plot. The start was at the same place which made it easier, except for one lonely pilot and his navigator who flew off the map and eventually took thirteen minutes longer than anyone else to find it. Most of us were now wide-awake and except for two checkpoint photos in dispute we all flew a better rally. Unfortunately no one had told (or no one had read the rules) Mike Cathro and Ernie Alexander that procedure turn’s were only used in precision flying. This cost them dearly with 200 penalties per turn.

The results for day two were:

Mary de Klerk and Barry de Groot
2nd Mary de Klerk and Barry de Groot

Open class

  • 1st Nigel & Dale with 632 penalties
  • 2nd Hans & Ron with 853 penalties
  • 3rd Frank & Quentin with 972 penalties
  • 4th Barry & Mary with 1338 penalties
  • 5th Walter & James with 1764 penalties

Sportsman

  • 1st U K Team green with 1282 penalties
  • 2nd Kluyts Father & son with 1370 penalties
  • 3rd Ernie & George with 1652 penalties

Ted and Tino were convinced that the logger was cheating. The chief marshal, Thys put in some overtime and superimposed the logger track onto a map and proved yet again that these electronic devices can’t think for themselves. Sorry Ted, that T-junction looked similar but it wasn’t the correct one. The landings were done all at once at Tempe airfield on Friday afternoon. Conditions weren’t great but everybody managed their three landings and except for a few hops and bounces, all went well.

Landing results

Open class

  • 1st Nigel & Dale with 20 penalties
  • 2nd Hans & Ron with 70 penalties
  • 3rd Frank & Quentin with 110 penalties
  • 4th Ted & Tino with 160 penalties
  • 5th Claude & Francois with 230 penalties

Sportsman

  • 1st, Kluyts Father & son with 80 penalties
  • 2nd, Ernie & George with 200 penalties
  • 3rd, U K Team green with 290 penalties

Nigel & Dale had now built up a lead but the pressure was on between Hans & Ron and Barry & Mary for 2nd place.

Day three

A short route again with a very easy plot. And even the en-route photos were clearer, what a relief. This time Chris & Peter actually found the start, the finish and most of the checkpoints. It just goes to show, keep on trying. Except for the monument at checkpoint one that we all flew straight over without seeing it, we all found our way round the route and back to Bloem International. What a tough competition. One thing for sure, everybody had fun. Not to mention the evenings around the braai. Final results were made public at the awards dinner on Saturday evening.

Open class

Dale de Klerk and Nigel Hopkins
2002 South African Champions Dale de Klerk and Nigel Hopkins

  • 1st Nigel & Dale with 1673 penalties
  • 2nd Barry & Mary with 2731 penalties
  • 3rd Hans & Ron with 3111 penalties
  • 4th Frank & Quentin 3977 penalties
  • 5th Mike & Mark 6222 penalties.

Sportsman

  • 1st Ernie & George Brink 862 penalties
  • 2nd Father & Son Kluyts 3540 penalties
  • 3rd U K team Green 4242 penalties

From all the happy faces at the awards dinner one could tell that everyone enjoyed the rally. Special thanks to the organizers who set up a fantastic event and put in many hours of work. An even bigger thanks to SAPFA and our sponsors ACSA without whom we simply could not have such an event. Congratulations to all the competitors, especially Ted & Tino who were awarded their Northwest Provincial Colours.

We look forward to see you all at Brits on 16 May 2002 for the Precision Championships.

Detailed Results

2002 ACSA National Air Rally Championship
OPEN CLASS
Day One Day Two Day Three
Pos. Name Reg Class Prov Mkrs Photo Flight Other Tot Mkrs Photo Flight Other Tot Mkrs Photo Flight Other Tot Land Grand Total Nav Total
1 N Hopkins         D de Klerk CNZ O NW 0 325 440 0 765 0 550 82 0 632 0 200 56 0 256 20 1673 578
2 B de Groot        M de Klerk BMZ O KN 0 650 130 0 780 50 800 488 0 1338 0 225 128 0 353 260 2731 746
3 H Schwebel      R Stirk IWD O NW 0 700 432 200 1332 0 725 128 0 853 0 600 256 0 856 70 3111 1016
4 F Eckard          Q Taylor IVK O GP 0 925 636 0 1561 0 650 322 0 972 100 750 484 0 1334 110 3977 1442
5 M Cathro          M Gregson BMZ O GP 50 650 1136 400 2236 50 650 572 800 2072 50 950 664 0 1664 250 6222 3572
6 R Gleimius       R Moolman CKE O FS 0 1025 362 200 1587 0 1075 890 0 1965 50 850 1340 400 2640 280 6472 3192
7 W Walle            J Lidderd CNZ O FS 200 1050 1392 0 2642 0 850 514 400 1764 0 900 1188 200 2288 320 7014 3694
8 T McKerchar    T Booysen GVR O NW 50 1200 1342 200 2792 0 950 1122 200 2272 50 1050 888 0 1988 160 7212 3752
9 C Hardman      F du Toit UZS O EP 50 1300 1902 400 3652 50 1250 2192 0 3492 50 1175 1556 0 2781 230 10155 6050
10 C van Hoof       P van der Velden FSH O GP 100 1400 3118 200 4818 50 1250 3890 200 5390 100 1200 2280 400 3980 340 14528 10088
SPORTSMAN CLASS
Day One – Official Practice Day Two Day Three Land Grand Total Nav total
1 E Alexander            G Brits AHM S GP 0 1150 1024 0 2174 0 850 402 400 1652 0 800 410 0 1210 200 3062 1212
2 T Kluyts                  A Kluyts FTT S GP 100 1200 454 0 1754 50 900 420 0 1370 100 1100 770 200 2170 80 3620 1390
3 N Green                  D Green KSF S UK 150 1100 1182 0 2432 0 850 432 0 1282 0 1200 1760 0 2960 290 4532 2192

 

2nd WORLD AIR GAMES

Cordoba, Spain – 23 to 29 June 2001.

By Adrian Pilling

Everybody knows about the Olympic Games, the Winter Olympics and the Paraplegic Olympics, but not many know about the Aviation Olympics. That is probably because they only started 4 years ago, the first being held in Turkey and the most recent in Spain. They even have a special name – World Air Games.

Spain was chosen as the venue for the 2nd World Air Games, because of its great climate and multitude of airfields. The events were held in the province of Andalucia at 11 airfields and represented 18 different aviation disciplines. South Africa sent teams to most of these events and in particular sent two very strong teams to the Precision Flying (single crew) and Rally Flying (two crew) events.

The combined precision and rally flying teams arrived at Madrid airport on the 15th June and then were pleasantly surprised to find out that the Spanish trains are very efficient. We caught the bullet train to Cordoba and within 2 hours were at Cordoba station where our manager picked us up and ferried us to our beautiful hotel, in the old town opposite the biggest Mosque in Europe. Unfortunately Spanish thieves are also very efficient and managed to relieve me of my laptop while waiting for the train at the Madrid main station.

Cordoba is one of those beautiful town, steeped in history and dating back to the Roman times – with the original bridge still being used – absolutely incredible. The climate was hot, in fact very hot. The team even has a photograph of an early afternoon temperature display, showing 49 degrees Celsius. One midnight the temperature was 31 degrees. Hot and dry – perfect for flying.

Saturday and part of Sunday were spent organising airplanes and getting to know the area. The countryside is most interesting. It’s either very flat (and completely cultivated with olive trees or wheat) or very mountainous and very difficult to navigate on. To make matters worse it was discovered that the map was less than accurate with complete road and farm track systems not even on the map at all. Just as this was starting to make things interesting, we were able to discover that the maps had the same symbol for a single farm house as for several hundred houses – challenging to say the least. We soon had it sorted out however, by sharing information after each days flying amongst the team at our regular evening team briefings. This allowed us to fast track the assimilation process and within a couple of days we were completely on top of things.

We also used GPS Loggers in each aircraft. This tracks the position of the plane during each second of the flight. At the end of each route we downloaded our track and superimposed this onto a map of the area. Thus we could see how we were doing each and every step of the way. This feature really helped us do well and learn the map and it’s peculiarities really well.

With our six teams sharing four airplanes, it was always going to be difficult to schedule ourselves to get the maximum training in, but with the Spanish summer providing us with daylight until almost 10pm, we were able to fit in most of the training that we wanted. However afternoon siesta and very late suppers wrecked havoc with our planning. Training was further complicated by the fact that four of our crews were flying both events and had to train in two disciplines simultaneously!

The official training week went really well with our teams putting in all the practice they needed. The organisers ran an unofficial navigation day as well as a landings day. Our teams used these as the culmination of the training and did really well during these two events. It was felt that training had gone well and that the crews should have a rest day on Saturday 22nd as Sunday was the Start of the precision event. We also had to move hotel and that added to the pressure on the crews – just keeping the mind right was an exercise in itself. The Spanish had decided that the Opening Ceremony would be held in Seville and true to Mediterranean form it would be a late night affair. It was decided by the team that as the Precision Competition was first, the pilots for this event would not participate as the busses would only return at 4am.

Sunday 23rd
The start of the Precision Flying Competition.

This was a most interesting navigation day with the route taking us through the mountains. A very difficult area indeed. When the crews returned there was much moaning about the difficulty of the course and the quality of the photographs (the colours were no longer accurate!).

Some of our navigators and supporters ( Ron, Mary, Renier & Frikkie) acted as judges and helped the organisers with the event. It was fun talking to them when we returned.

We new we had done well, but as there were protests still to come in we were not sure. Still by the end of day one we were as follows; Nigel Hopkins 1st, Adrian Pilling 7th, Barry de Groot 36th, Jan Hanekom 42nd and Hans Schwebel 45th. Clearly it was a tall mountain to climb but we were in with a chance of a team medal here (the first three scores counting).

Monday 24th

Landing test. The day started off with a little fog interfering with the first four groups of planes. Several of the planes lost sight of the runway on downwind (I know I was one of them). It was decided to delay the rest of the field for an hour and pretty soon we were all flying again. The morning exercise comprised the powered landing and the glide approach. At lunch we were ecstatic as a team as Barry de Groot had scored a double bingo (perfect score) putting him joint first and Adrian Pilling ad Nigel Hopkins were in the top ten. Both Jan and Hans had done good landings ad we were looking good for the team landing prize. Then came lunch.

The afternoon slot comprised the flapless glide and the powered barrier approach landings. Things went well with our pilots getting 5 bingos between them for that session. The pressure was on. There were some protests that had to be sorted out first but after that the placings were announced: Johannes Cserveny from Austria was the confirmed landing champion with only 6 penalties, then Otto Bauer from Austria was second with 7 penalties, then Nigel Hopkins joint 3rd with 11 penalties, then Adrian Pilling joint fourth with 17 penalties and so on. Tricky wind conditions in the afternoon took it’s toll of the pilots. Barry had an unfortunate gust to give him 22nd place overall, Jan managed 31st place and Hans 39th place after a gust of wind lifted his wing and he got penalised with a skip. The results left us in a great position as prior to the landings we were fighting the British Team for the team bronze medal, and after the landings we were able to pull clearly away from them.

Tuesday 25th

The last navigation day. The day started off as usual hot and dry. We were surprised to discover that the route took us back over the mountains and into the difficult terrain. This was really a bonus for us as all we had to do was fly well and the other teams would have to do very well indeed to catch us.

The day went very well for us with all our crews flying really well. We knew we had done well when the provisionals came out but could not be sure until all the protests were in. Later the results showed that in our team the placing were as follows; Adrian Pilling 5th, Nigel Hopkins 18th, Barry de Groot 21st, Jan Hanekom 34th and Hans Schwebel 41st. We were not sure if this combined score was good enough to get us into the medals or not. We had to wait for the prize giving.

Wednesday 26th
The first Rally Competition Day.

This day started off with a 4 hour delay due to fog and an increase in the plotting time for the navigator from 15 to 35 minutes. It was interesting to see that the route took us over some mountains and some flat land as well. A really nice mixture. The first day had us looking for 20 photographs as well as some really tricky turning points. At the end of the day and after protests we were thrilled to find out that our placings were; Hopkins/de Klerk 2nd, de Groot/de Klerk 14th, Pilling/Moolman 20th, Churley/Macintyre 27th, Schwebel/Stirk 33rd. This stood us in really good stead as the first two crews counted for team placings and we had built a nice platform for the rest of the competition.

Thursday 27th

The second rally day went well. The organisers planned a good route but inflicted strict penalties on several of us for not taxiing in certain areas, This lead to many protests but the penalties stood. At the end of the day the exhausted crews dressed and changed for our showcase evening.

We all did our bit as ambassadors for South Africa at the South African Evening with Mr Lungile Mkuyana from the South African Embassy. Here we showed the rest of the world how good we were and of course we showcased our event for 2003 which is the World Rally Championships to be held in the North West Province, at Sun City. Jan Hanekon in his capacity as Chairman of SAPFA conducted a great evening that was enjoyed by all.

At the same time the results for day two were announced. Hopkins/de Klerk 7th, Churley/Macintyre 18th, de Groot/de Klerk 23rd, Schwebel/Stirk 25th, Pilling/Moolman 32nd. The later crews landing well after 6pm. Several of us were hit by those taxiing penalties. It was getting close but the team placing was looking strong.

Friday 28th

Final Rally Day. This was a day spent in the olive trees and the flat lands. A really difficult course with many difficult turning points and lots of photos to find. The results for the day were eagerly awaited. Eventually they were announced. Hopkins/de Klerk 6th, de Groot/de Klerk 24th, Schwebel/Stirk 26th, Pilling/Moolman 38th, Churley/Macintyre 39th. We some of us had a particularly shocking day, but well done to the rest. All we had to do now was to wait for the final results to find out how we all did. That night we all celebrated the end of the 2nd World Air Games.

Saturday 29th

The organisers had arranged for an excursion to a sherry processing factory. This was interesting and we were back in time to enjoy a swim and prepare for the prize giving ceremony to be held in a very old square in the heart of the old city.

At the prize giving it was all about relaxing and enjoying ourselves with many tense moments and crossed fingers to find out how we had done. After dinner and speeches the results were announced:

Precision Flying

Individual Results:

  • Gold Medal: Waclaw Wieczorek Poland
  • Silver Medal: Robert Verbancic Slovakia
  • Bronze Medal: Adrian Pilling South Africa
  • Nigel Hopkins 6th Place
  • Barry de Groot 30th Place
  • Jan Hanekom 41st Place
  • Hans Schwebel 45th Place

Team Results

  • Gold Medal: Chech Republic (Chilar, Jakes, Hajek)
  • Silver Medal: Poland (Wieczorek, Darocha, Wieczorek)
  • Bronze Medal: South Africa (Pilling, Hopkins, de Groot)

Well done guys – we did it – an individual and a team medal. The best we have ever done. Well done to us all.

Rally Flying

Individual results

  • Hopkins/de Klerk 4th Place
  • De Groot/de Klerk 16th Place
  • Churley/Macintyre 25th Place
  • Schwebel/Stirk 26th Place
  • Pilling/Moolman 28th Place

Team Results

  • Gold Medal – Poland
  • Silver Medal – France
  • Bronze Medal – Czech Republic
  • 4th Place – South Africa

Wow guys that was close. We were less than 50 points from being in the medals. Well we will show them on home ground in 2003.

So ended the 2nd World Air Games with all the triumph and tragedy of the Olympics. Well done to our teams and to the supporters and to everyone who helped to make our team the success that it was. Well done to Adrian Pilling for his Medal – South Africa’s highest achievement yet. Well done to the Precision Flying Team for bringing back the medal (the countries highest achievement yet) and well done to Nigel and Dale for making the top ten in Rally Flying and very well done to Nigel for being in the top 10 in two disciplines. A special thanks to Deon van Den Berg our team manager for keeping us all together.

Representing South Africa

  • Deon Van Den Berg (Manager)
  • Mary de Klerk (Navigator/Judge Observer)
  • Adrian Pilling (Team Captain / Pilot)
  • Jan Hanekom (Pilot/Logger Expert)
  • Renier Moolman (Navigator / Judge Observer)
  • Richard Churley (Pilot)
  • Nigel Hopkins (Pilot)
  • Don Macintyre (Navigator)
  • Dale De Klerk (Navigator)
  • Frikkie Lubbe (International Judge)
  • Hans Schwebel (Pilot)
  • Ron Stirk (Navigator / Judge Observer)
  • Barry de Groot (Pilot)

News from WAG2001 – Spain

PRECISION DAY 1

23 June 2001

It was a slightly cooler day at 38 degrees. However a 10 to 12 knot westerly started blowing – it was not taken into consideration in the ground speeds given.

PRECISION DAY 2

24 June 2001

LANDINGS

The morning started with cool conditions (in Spain?) and very bad visibility. We were briefed to do a power, touch and go and then a glide first.

When the 4th group was busy, fog came in from the South West and landings were stopped. The weather cleared within half an hour and we could continue. After the first session (2 landings each) we had 3 competitors with zero penalties. One of them was Barry de Groot.

By the time we started with second round, the time with a glide first and then the obstacle landing, a strong gusty wind started blowing from the North West and we were back to the sweat and 37 degrees.

Landing conditions were tough and positions changed completely. Depending on outstanding queries and protests, it seems as if Johannes Cserveny of Austria has won ( to make good after he got lost yesterday) with Nigel Hopkins very close and Adrian Pilling just behind Nigel.

Final positions will only be published tomorrow.

PRECISION DAY 3

25 June 2001

Today was a disaster for some teams as the plotting of two checkpoints did not quite work out. Luckily our guys worked it out somehow. The wind was blowing at up to 15 knots to make it more challenging. The route was 144nm long and the terrain very difficult.

At the end of the day Nigel Hopkins and Dale de Klerk were placed second with Adrian Pilling and Renier Moolman also in the top ten.

RALLY DAY 1

26 June 2001

Delayed by fog. A tricky but good day for us.

RALLY DAY 2

27 June 2001

Well the weather keeps on changing. Today we had a light wind blowing, but we were back to the heat – 38oC at nine o clock in the evening. Remember the sun only sets at about 10:15. All our guys and girl (Mary) did much better today, but Nigel and Dale had one Checkpoint photo wrong which can be expensive when the final results are calculated. Many other teams had the same problem so it might still be scrapped.

RALLY DAY 3

28 June 2001

Another day of pressure on everyone. Nigel Hopkins & Dale de Klerk are at this stage in the 3rd place as well as the team probably in the 3rd position. That is according to our calculations. So they have to fly very well. And they did fly well, unfortunately not good enough to keep their 3rd place. Arian Pilling and Renier Moolman had a rough time when they missed a Checkpoint. The end result is that Nigel and Dale ended in 4th place and the team is also placed 4th overall.

GREAT NEWS

The news of the day is that we can now say that Adrian Pilling has definitely won the Bronze medal in the Precision and that the team consisting of Adrian Pilling, Nigel Hopkins, Barry de Groot, Jan Hanekom and Hans Schwebel has also won the Bronze medal for RSA in the Precisions.

 

 

ACSA CUP NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Port Elizabeth 2000

By Adrian Pilling

December is always a difficult time of the year, with all those last minute things to do. This December was more important than most. Not only were the National Rally Championships being flown, but the competition had been upgraded to international status with four Russian teams competing and one combined South African / Australian team. If this wasn’t pressure enough, the format had been changed to three routes and the results of this counted for the selection of the national team to the World Air Games in Spain in June 2001. A humdinger of a competition was about to begin.

ACSA (Airports Company of South Africa) were very kind to sponsor the event which was held at Port Elizabeth Airport. The organising club was Algoa Flying Club and boy do they know how to organise an event.

Most of the 21 crews arrived between the 10th and 12th of December and immediately found that the wind conditions were very challenging indeed. It really is difficult to do spot landings in 38kt winds and to navigate accurately to the second in these conditions. There were many sick navigators during the practice sessions!!!

Dave Perelson (Competition Director) and his team were marvellous and had practice routes for us to fly on. This allowed the crews to familiarise themselves with the area and get to grips with away starts at Progress and Uitenhage airfields.

After a comprehensive briefing (where the crews were advised that they would be doing four landings during the competition, the best of three counting) and welcoming party on Thursday night the crews retired for the evening to prepare themselves for the coming tournament. Remember not only were national honours at stake but also the selection for the national team. A restless night was had by all.

Friday – Competition Day 1

The crews were all up early and took off in order to position themselves at Progress airfield. Remember this landing counted and there were some fun landings in the strong wind. Once all was set up the crews took off at their correct time slots and the competition was on.

The route was tricky but fair with two sets of eight photographs having to be identified. We flew over mountains and down some valleys that I have never seen before, beautiful but tricky country. The turning points were sometimes difficult to find but all in all a great and fair route.

The returning landing counted, and most of the tired crews did well on the landing.

After a brief respite it was back to PE where the results of the day were announced at Algoa Flying Club. The results were: Open Class: 1st (N.Hopkins & D. De Klerk) 2nd (A.Pilling & R.Moolman) 3rd (H.Schwebel & R.Stirk) 4th (B.De Groot & M.De Klerk) 5th (S.Svetlossanova & D.Soukharev) with the combined team from Australia of (J.Dorfling & G.Henschell) coming a creditable 7th. In the Sportsman’s Class the results were: 1st (C.Hardman & F. Du Toit) 2nd (T. McKerchar & T.Booysen) 3rd (A.Gibb & P.Booth-Jones) 4TH (O. Agadaznov & S. Malofeev) 5th (E.Pearce & B.Johnson). The games were on, and after a trip to the Ron Belling Art Gallery (which was opposite the SA vs. Sri Lanka cricket match, which some of us watched), the crews retired for the night in order to prepare for the next day.

Saturday – Competition Day 2

The crews departed P.E. airfield and did a low fly past over the new beach front development, and then over to Progress for the start. This fly past was to show the locals our appreciation for them hosting the event in their city. It was appreciated by all and reported in the press – great fun.

The route flown today was tough but fair. The away start catching out some pilots. Again there were two sets of photos to be found and most pilots found these photos more difficult than yesterday. Some low cloud along the route affected some of the pilots. Again the returning landing was marked, and after a brief respite the crews flew back to P.E. for the results. They were: Open Class 1st (N.Hopkins & D. De Klerk) 2nd (A.Pilling & R.Moolman) 3rd (D.Churley & D.Macintyre) 4th (H.Schwebel & R.Stirk) 5th (S.Svetlossanova & D.Soukharev). In the Sportsmans Class the results were: 1st (J.Ferreira & A.Hitge) 2nd (C.Hardman & F. Du Toit) 3rd (T. McKerchar & T.Booysen) 4th (A.Patterson & K.de Wet) 5th (A.Gibb & P.Booth-Jones).

Dale de Klerk and Nigel Hopkins
2000 South African Champions Dale de Klerk and Nigel Hopkins

Sunday – Rest Day

Much of the day was spent relaxing and exploring the new casino complex called “The Boardwalk”. It really is most spectacular. P.E. has certainly grown as a city and it boasts one of the best beachfronts in the country.

Monday – Competition Day 3

The day started an hour early with the crews positioning themselves for a start at Uitenhage, the landing there counting for points.

After a brief pause the competition got underway. This time there were photos and ground markers to find. The route was short sharp, intense and high pressure. When the crews returned (the landing counting again) most had had a tough time.

Well now it was back to P.E. and into the club to await the provisional results for the day. When they came the results were: Open Class: 1st (N.Hopkins & D. De Klerk) 2nd (B.De Groot & M.De Klerk) 3rd (D.Churley & D.Macintyre) 4th (A.Pilling & R.Moolman) 5th (S.Svetlossanova & D.Soukharev). The Sportsmans Class results were: 1st (C.Hardman & F. Du Toit) 2nd (T. McKerchar & T.Booysen) 3rd ( J.Ferreira & A.Hitge) 4th (A.Gibb & P.Booth-Jones) 5th ( B.Williams & R.Burgher).

All that remained now was for the gala evening and the announcement of the team.

The Final Night

The function was a gala evening held in a private room at the Boardwalk Casino. Wow what a marvelous place indeed. The entertainment was superb with live music and a comedian to lift our spirits. It was all good fun indeed. After the meal it came down to the speeches where ACSA reaffirmed their commitment to the sport for the next three years, thank you indeed.

Then it was the time for the moment we had all been waiting for –

Final Top 5 Positions:

Francois du Toit and Claude Hardman
Sportsmans Class winners -Francois du Toit and Claude Hardman

Open Class

  • 1st Place N. Hopkins & D. de Klerk
  • 2nd Place A.Pilling & Renier Moolman
  • 3rd Place B.de Groot & Mary de Klerk
  • 4th Place H. Schwebel & Ron Stirk
  • 5th Place S. Svetlossanova & D. Soukharev

Landing Prize:

  • N. Hopkins & D. de Klerk

Best Crew:

  • N. Hopkins & D. de Klerk

Sportsmans Class:

  • 1st Place C.Hardman & F. Du Toit
  • 2nd Place J.Ferreira & G Hitge
  • 3rd Place T. McKerchar & T.Booysen
  • 4th Place A.Gibb & P.Booth-Jones
  • 5th Place B.Williams & R.Burgher

Landing Prize:

  • T. McKerchar & T.Booysen

Congratulations to you all. You all deserve it. A special congratulations to Hopkins and De Klerk who achieved the distinction of being the first team ever to finish a Nationals with under 100 penalty points – this is world class – well done. To those that did not make the top five – Well there is always next year.

World Air Games Team Announced

Shortly after the final positions were announced, the team to the 2nd World Air Games in Spain (this is the Olympics of the air) for 2001 was announced.

Renier Moolman, Deon van den Berg, Don MacIntyre, Hans Schwebel Dick Churley, Mary de Klerk, Dale de Klerk, Nigel Hopkins and Russell Phillips, Ron Stirk, Barry de Groot, Adrian Pilling, Jan Hanekom and Rob van der Merwe.
Rear L to R: Renier Moolman, Deon van den Berg, Don MacIntyre, Hans Schwebel Dick Churley, Mary de Klerk, Dale de Klerk, Nigel Hopkins and Russell Phillips. Front: Ron Stirk, Barry de Groot, Adrian Pilling, Jan Hanekom and Rob van der Merwe.

The team announced is:

  • N. Hopkins & D. de Klerk
  • A.Pilling & Renier Moolman
  • B.de Groot & Mary de Klerk
  • H. Schwebel & Ron Stirk
  • D.Churley & D.Macintyre
  • R.Phillips & R vd Merwe (Reserve)

After a brief meeting it was decided that the team manager would be Deon van den Berg and the team captain Adrian Pilling. Well done on these appointments and to the team as a whole. I know that this team is the strongest yet and will do very well. This is a great honour to be chosen to be at the aviation equivalent of the Olympics and it bodes well for South Africa’s own world event in 2003.

A great competition was had by all. It goes without say that the competition could not be run without the help of lots of people especially but not only the following: ACSA for the venue and the sponsorship, Algoa Flying Club for their time and incredible input, Glynis for taking all our grief and still smiling, the English family for the use of Progress airfield, the Uitenhage Flying Club, Imperial Bank for past sponsorship, various local sponsors, the marshalls, the jury and of course the competition director Mr Dave Perelson.

A special thank you to the Russian team and to Geoff Henschel who came from Australia to partake.

Well done to you all.

EASTERN PROVINCE RALLY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Port Elizabeth – 2 September 2000

By Dave Perelson

The Eastern Province Rally Flying Championship took place in Port Elizabeth on Saturday 2nd September. We couldn’t have wished for a better day. Clear skies and fairly light winds meant a prompt start for the 10 aircraft that took part. The initial entry of 12 was unfortunately reduced to ten when two of the out of town entries had to cancel because of the rain forecast for Sunday. The day they would have to return home.

Competition director was Roy Waldek who also set the challenging route. Yours truly (Dave Perelson) took the photos and with the visitors in mind decided to give the Open Class a real challenge ending up with a total of 35 targets. This was made up of 7 TP ground markers. 16 en-route photos and 12 Turning point photos. Sportsman Class got the route plotted on the map and 8 fewer en-route photos but with 27 targets left still had a lot to cope with.

The competition started at Uitenhage airfield where the Microlight and Glider Clubs kindly made their facilities available as well as providing the refreshments. Take offs at 3minute intervals saw all aircraft off in quick succession and then the wait for each aircraft to return and carry out the compulsory spot landing. Not easy when you have to come in cold at a strange airfield.

The event ended with a sponsored braai at the Algoa Flying Club. Thanks to NAC and Air Cape and Mr. and Mrs. Bowden. Trophies were presented to the top three places in both the Sportsman and Open Class thanks to the generous sponsorship of Mr. and Mrs. Bowden.

First place in Open class went to Russell Phillips and Rob van der Merwe who received the Goodyear Floating Trophy and the Bowden individual trophies. Second place was Anton and Marius van Vuuren who received miniatures. Third place went to Claude Gerard and Kenneth Symons who also received miniatures.

In Sportsman Class first place went to Ola Akerlund and Ian Hoppe who received the Bowden Floating Trophy as well as the Bowden individual trophies. Second team was Chris Lodge and Olinga Martel who received miniatures. In third place was the team of Mike Spearpoint and Tom Crisp who also received miniatures.

Overall results:

Open Class

  • 1 R Philips and R v d Merwe 836
  • 2 A van Vuuren and M van Vuuren 2006
  • 3 C Gerard and K Symons 3214

Sportsman Class

  • 1 O Akerlund and Ian Hoppe 664
  • 2 C Lodge and O Martel 850
  • 3 M Spearpoint and T Crisp 1224
  • 4 J Ferreira and A Hitge 1472
  • 5 T Simms and R Thomas 1734
  • 6 P van der Poel and F Du Toit 1984
  • 7 J Lidderd and L Lidderd 2836

Those that could not make it this time, well you will be able to fly this route as a practice in December when you come to the Nationals. See you there.

KWA ZULU NATAL Rally Flying Championships

Cato Ridge – 9 August 1998

Barry de Groot

Cato Ridge airfield was once again a hive of activity with the KWA ZULU NATAL Rally flying championships held on 9th August 1998. While the number of competitors was only 7 a great time was had by all. This was partly due to the fact that Ron Stirk has the ability to keep the jokes and laughter going non stop, and makes so much noise that you would be forgiven for thinking that there were at least 20 teams present.

Andre Fourie designed a tough course for us with 18 en-route photographs and 9 turn point photos covering a distance of 138 nautical miles. The course was split in two at approximately the half way mark, 9 photographs marked with a green border covered the first half and 9 photos with a red border covered the second half. Andre designed the course in this way so that microlights wishing to compete could do so by flying only half the course. Unfortunately only one microlight pilot Jas Van Wyk took up the challenge.

Friday the weather was typical of the past 3 months �..perfect! Hans, Ron, Dicky, and Quinton had terrific flights down from Gauteng. But true to form Saturday dawned overcast with drizzle, keeping the guys wishing to practice firmly on the ground, at least in the morning, for after lunch at about 2.OOpm the sun came out. This was great as apart from making it possible to practice, it allowed two teams from Bloemfontein to get through, namely Walter with Nico and Jack Onderstall with Lucas Wiese, who are a new team flying a beautifully constructed KITFOX.

Unfortunately Andre had to be in London for business during the week before the event and handed the completed course over to me to run it. Naturally I preferred to fly it, and besides we needed to have the JABIRU compete to help make up the numbers. To accomplish this I roped Mickey Biermann in to run the event for us. Mickey has organised and run several events for the microlights, so he only required a quick conversion to enable him to run a S.A.P.F.A. event. All went well with the exception of the computer program which we could not get to run on our computer, a second program was emailed to us by Dave Perelson in Port Elizabeth but was still unsuccessful. Undaunted Mickey quickly made up a spreadsheet and had results out in a short time. This was made possible partly to only having 7 competitors.

The event was flown on Sunday in perfect weather. All made it around the course safely except Jas Van Wyk who had to return to base with a very green looking navigator, fortunately arriving back before he dished his egg and bacon up for the second time.

Results of the KWA ZULU NATAL Rally are as follows:

  • Barry de Groot / Mary de Klerk
  • Dicky Swanepoel / Quenton Taylor
  • Hans Schwebel / Ron Stirk
  • Frank Eckard / Nico Henning
  • Walter Walle / Nico
  • Jack Onderstall / Lucas Wiese

1987 BMW OFS Rally

Tempe – 26 September 1997

On Friday afternoon the organisers Messrs Dr Fontanel, Dup du Plessis and Kassie Kaselman were worried men, and rightly so as the weather was low cloud as far as the eye could see – the rains, as yet, had not begun.

Colin Jordaan and John Adams
Colin Jordaan and John Adams

Saturday morning arrived with the same conditions still prevailing but nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of the Bloemfontein Flying Club and their helpers, who assisted in manning various checkpoints. A field of eleven crew was briefed by Dup and the master map was put out for the crews to copy in their allocated lime. The rally format was nicely presented with a secret leg which had to be worked out during the flight. Photographs also had to be identified – thirteen in all, plus five secret ground markers. Dup flew me around the 100 nm course just before the first competitor was due to take off. We checked to see all the ground marshalls and markers were in place at the correct spots.

The organisation of this rally was faultless, thanks to the three wise men and the time and deliberation they took to make this a successful event. At the end of the rally a spot landing had to be carried out and here some more penalties were collected by all. I think only one or two good landings were accomplished out of the whole field. The three wise men worked diligently without the assistance of modern technology – computers and managed without any sweat to have the preliminary results out by 4.00 p.m.

Once these had been checked by the competitors, and minor errors sorted out, the final results ware there for all to see at 5.30 p.m. – a record time indeed. We purposely delayed the announcement of the results and kept everyone in suspense just a little bit longer – this resulted in a record bar taking, I am sure.

Finally, the results to sixth position were made known as follows:

1 C. Jordaan & J. Adams 1592
2 D. Perelson & I. Perelson 1821
3 G. Henschel & I. Kruger 1823
4 A. Pilling & K. Croskill 2049
5 D. Mostert & A. Mostert 2103
6 J. Swart & A. Schoeman 2108

A splendid spit braai followed and everyone appeared to have a good time. We arrived back at our hotel at about 16.30 p.m. and all hell broke loose at around 12 o’clock when thunder, rain, hail, wind were unleashed from the heavens. The Natal floods had just begun. Thanks to the SAA Flight 404 on Sunday morning we were able to get back home – all seven of us from Port Elizabeth, leaving behind our aircraft and crew from W.P. The Natal boys managed to get airborne and somehow found their way back home eventually.

To all the competitors let me say thank you for your sportsmanlike attitude, and to all the Vry Staters, particularly the organisers – baie dankie vir’n plesierige naweek – ons het dit geniet

1987 BMW Eastern Province Rally

Port Elizabeth – 22 August 1997

Dave Perelson and Ivanhoe Perelson
Dave Perelson and Ivanhoe Perelson

Scheduled for Saturday 22nd August, the Eastern Province Rally drew a respectable number of entries – 29 in all.

The locals assured us that the weather in Port Elizabeth had been extraordinarily fine for weeks (and if the weather encountered en route earlier in the week was anything to go by, perhaps they were telling the truth), but on Saturday, after a very thorough briefing the previous night by Major Budgie Burgers, the heavens opened up and it poured. After a couple of delays it was eventually decided that Saturday was not a day for flying and the competitors retired to the pub, or the rugby, or the movies.

If the Eastern Province line to upstairs was fouled up on Saturday, they finally got it right on Sunday for just long enough to run the event, albeit the P.E. wind maintained its normal standards. The judges were flown round the route to confirm the precise location of turning points, and in two cases, to relocate them at the correct points. Although required by the world rules, this is seldom done in local events and was just one illustration of the thoroughness of the organisation behind the rally. The Algoa Flying Club must be congratulated on the enthusiasm which was evident all weekend. There were no less than fourteen checkpoints and each was served by a radio. Some of the more remote stations out in the hills had to relay through other stations, but most of the results came back very smartly. This enabled the computer boffins (Prof. Guy Bate and Hein Gerber) to start entering their info much earlier than would otherwise have been the case with a subsequent earlier release of results.

Incidentally, the flying club has been developing their computer programme for some years and it certainly seems to be working very well. The Aero Club is also writing a programme with the thought that it could be made available to all clubs at a very nominal fee, but more of that at a later date. In the meantime, other clubs may like to get hold of the programme used at P.E.

Well, everyone got away more or less on time and the impression certainly is that most people enjoyed themselves. Back at base Eric Van der Merwe co-ordinated all the incoming radio results and entered them on a master sheet for later ratification. Runners took these to the computer station for entry into the results log. Other runners took competitors documents from the pilots to the control room where the log sheets were marked. There were nine photos, presented rather decently in order of appearance, but these still give pilots hassles, even though many had to be marked simply as correct or not. Only the first three legs were marked on the map and the balance had to be discovered whilst in the air. The rough flying conditions did not make this too easy and a compliment must be paid to those competitors who found all the checkpoints and were able to mark up their maps so well. There were no less than twenty four observers out in the field checking the aircraft overhead. Each team was provided with proper sighting equipment (again as laid down) and the observations appeared to be of a high standard. These were fed through to Budgie Burgers and Roy Waldeck who, ably assisted by Ros Gibson and Janet Burgers, processed them all before passing the gen onto the computer boys. Generally, the whole team set a very high standard and must be congratulated on their efforts.

The weather which started off fine, if windy, gradually deteriorated and it again started to rain at about 3.00 p.m. It was therefore another piece of good organisation that the organisers managed to keep the weather off until everyone had landed. It did mean, however, that many of the visitors from afar had to get going shortly after lunch before the clag really set in. They therefore missed what apparently was a super prize giving party in the evening. The food was great and the beer cold and a good time was had by all.

The Algoa Flying Club, under the guidance of Roy Waldek, must be congratulated on the enthusiasm and effort which went into a splendid rally. The rally itself was not easy and this says a lot for Dave and Ivanhoe Perelson, the winners. Congratulations to them both. The only criticismn which your scribe can level, is that perhaps a sportsman’s class, as opposed to the open class, is necessary. This has been done elsewhere and it is the suggestion of Gavin Beck, the Aero Club Rally Controller, that this be standard practice. In this event a series of envelopes were provided which gave emergency directions to the next check point (100 penalties were applied if the envelope was opened) in the sportsman’s class, had it existed, these could possibly have been supplied opened and without penalty. The Aero Club is anxious to encourage the sport and this two-class system will perhaps assist in this desire.

Anyway, well done Algoa Flying Club, and well done all who took part. Perhaps we will see you at the next rally which is at Tempe on 26 September or at the Western Province Rally at Stellenbosch on 28 November.

How about it?

Of the 29 competitors the following are the main results:

  • D Perelson & I Perelson
  • M Spence & B Gibson
  • C Jordaan & J Adams

9th World Rally Flying Championship

Held at Herning, Denmark – 23 July to 30 July 1995

Team Managers Report – Johan Swart

GENERAL

The South African Team left Johannesburg on 16 July 1995 after a cocktail party and Colours Presentation at Jan Smuts Airport. I accompanied the team as International Judge for South Africa as per rule D 5.1.2.

We arrived the next day in Dusseldorf from where we took four trains to the competition destination. We finally arrived that evening of the 17th of July at 23h30 in Herning. South Africa was the third team to arrive – during the morning the team from France arrived followed that afternoon by the Polish Team.

The next day competition management fetched our team at the hotel and took us to Herning Airfield to sort out aircraft hire and registration. I reported to the Championship Director and offered my assistance. Everything was fairly well under control. The rest of the week I assisted Deon van Eeden. team manager, and our team with practice route planning, route instructions and route photographs. No practice routes were available from competition management.

It was also good to meet with old friends and make new ones. Once again it was good to see that quite a number of the competitors were still wearing our T-shirt, golf shirts etc. from the 1991 event in Stellenbosch. Everybody was expressing the hope that we must host an event in South Africa in the near future.

OFFICIALS

Kongelig Dansk Aeroklub
Dansk Motorflyver Union
Herning Motorflyve Klub

  • Competition Director – Vagn Jensen – Denmark
  • Route Planner Director – Olaf Skov – Denmark
  • Local Chief Judge – Carl Mikkelsen – Demnark
  • Technical Manager – Mogens Thaagaard – Denmark
  • International Chief Judge – Ottar Teigland – Norway
  • International Jury
    • Colin Jordaan (President) – South Africa
    • Gerold Detter – Austria
    • Jiri Dodal – Czech Republic
    • Johan Swart (Observer) – South Africa

THE COMPETITION

Before my departure, I was in contact with the Championship Director, Vagn Jensen, to find out if I may attend this event as Jury Observer. He gave me the initial go ahead, but he wanted first to discuss this with the International Jury because they can only except one observer. The Jury discussed my request at their first meeting and I was then approved to attend as Jury Observer.

I was allowed free access to the workings of the Jury and to attend all their meetings, I was also allowed free access to all aspects of the competition management.

Our first task was to cheek the route descriptions of the all the tests and to plot the routes to make sure everything was correct. We basically had to re-write all the route descriptions, because the route planner did not follow the latest rules. Every day’s test was given back to the route planner to correct and then afterwards we had to recheck it again. This was a very time consuming task and we normally finished our tasks very late at night. We, however, did realise that this was of vital importance for the Jury to do their best to make this an exceptable World event and to do everything within their power to avoid another Chile disaster.

One must also realise that checking the route descriptions is only a small part of assuring the success of a competition. During the event the Jury and myself performed checks on all aspects on a rotation basis so that good quality control was maintained throughout the event. This included: Proof flying the routes 45 minutes before the first aircraft takes off to ensure that all Timed Points were correctly set up and manned by international Judges, to make sure all photographs were correct and inside the specified limits, checking on the placement of en-route markers, checking on Yes/No photographs at Checkpoints, as well as on Checkpoint ground markers. Driving by car to a few Timed Points to ensure from the ground that the Judges were performing correctly. Visiting the away landing airfield to see if there were enough manpower for judging, that video recordings were taken of the landings, positioning of the landing markers and the crosswind flag. Also checking on the physical judging of the landings. Checking at the departure airfield the handing out of route instructions, searching for illegal navigational equipment, cell phones, etc., checking if all radios and nav equipment were sealed properly. Sitting in at random at the debriefing of pilots and navigators. Checking on the landings at the finishing airfield and observing if the 5 min period after wheels stop are implemented correctly.

During the official practise test the Jury picked up various mistakes and problems with the running of the event and all these mistakes and problems were listed and handed to the competition management to rectify and also to report back to the Jury. The Jury had to make a final decision to go ahead or either postpone the start of the event with one day. After a meeting with the Chief Judge and Competition Manager where they have assured the Jury that everything was under control, the Jury gave the go-ahead for the start of the event. This have caused a little bit of tension between competition management and the Jury, but proved at the end of the event that the Jury had made the correct decision on behalf of the competitors. The decisions taken by the Jury was to ensure a successful event and also has caused that the minimum amount of protests were received by the Jury.

I was responsible on Test 2 to do the proof flying of the route with the route planner and with Jiri Dodal, Jury Member from Czech Rep. The following were noted and passed on to the Jury for decision.

  • a. The ground maker at a timed point was to far away from the point itself (250 meters). We rectified this over the radio and this was repositioned in the correct spot.
  • b. One photo was further than 300m from track – this was plotted and measured on our return. The Jury agreed with me and the photo was cancelled.
  • c. An en-route ground marker was not where it was supposed to be and I was about to tell the route planner to continue when I picked up a car on the correct road. I then asked the route planner to to make sure if this was the ground crew. It turned on to be the crew and from the air we witnessed the placing of the marker at the correct spot.
  • d. 0ne photo was plotted incorrectly on the master map and I marked the correct spot for remeasuring.
  • e. The photo before the finish point was not where the route planner plotted it on the master map. After an intensive search and also at the point where I wanted to tell the route planner to continue I spotted the photo – approximately 4 nautical miles down track. This was also corrected.

0n. the more lighter side: 0n my return flight to the airfeld there was an urgent call from the Spanish team to talk to their manager, because they are experiencing problems inside the cockpit. A long discussion in Spanish followed, which I1 reported to the Jury. I later found out what was the problem: As explained to me: When this team arrived at a turning point the aircraft refused to follow the pilot’s input on the controls and decided to continue in it’s own direction, which was not the outbound track. The pilot and navigator were very worried. The problem: The pilot switched on the autopilot by accident without knowing it. Something to remember!

Observing at the debriefing I picked up and pointed out various adding mistakes by the debriefing judge. All these mistakes were in favour of the competitors.

The other Jury members also picked up minor mistakes during the course of this event but not to such an extent to classify it as a badly organised event. One complaint from the competitors was that there were not enough ground markers. 0ne is allowed, according to the rules (A.2.4.6), to use up to 8 markers – the max that were used were 3.

IN CONCLUSION

This was a very good experience and I have enjoyed it very much. In general one can say that it was a well run event. South Africa has made many new friends and we are still entrusted with the standard we have set in 1991.

At the closing of this event I have been honoured by an invitation to either act as Chief Judge or member of the Jury for the 1996 European Rally Flying Championships which will be held in the Czech Republic.

In closing – the South African team did not do to badly, we must look at the polishing phase of our competitors for the International market. As ambassadors for our county we have scored many valuable bonus points.

To the South African Power Flying Association – thank you for al1owing me to attend this World event.