Articles Rally (Page 30)

Cato Ridge Rally Flying Competition

Held at Cato Ridge on 17 September 2005

by Adrian Pilling

 

Friday night the crews assembled for a welcome supper and briefing on the course. Maps were prepared and crews familiarized themselves with the new rules and requirements. An interesting aspect of the competition was that the Virtual Flying Association had computerized the scenery for the route and were preparing to compete on a virtual basis the next morning. An early night was had by all.

Saturday Morning

The day dawned hot and sunny. The crews attended the morning briefing and synchronized their watches. The weather was extremely hot and a most unwelcome change for the crews that flew in from Gauteng who had just come out of a reasonably cold winter. The crews were sweating in more ways than one as they sat in the sweltering heat and prepared themselves for the envelope to arrive that signalled the start to the competition.

One by one, at five minute intervals, the crews were handed their envelopes and after the required 15 minute interval, launched themselves into the air to begin the competition.

The navigators worked feverishly to plot the new tricky curved and railway line routes. These they handed to the pilots who had to fly the course accurate to the second, all the time plotting photographs and ground markers, a high work load indeed, and in sweltering heat.

The route took the crews out over the Valley of the Thousand Hills and down to near La Mercy before turning inland towards Pietermaritzburg and then back to Cato Ridge. The organizers were cunning in the selection of their turning points and set the course to world standards. This was a great baptism of fire for the SA Team members who are to partake in the World Championships in France in 2006.

The course made cunning use of contours and rivers. The roads and towns were not easy to navigate on and the crews really had to change their approach, especially those from Gauteng, who are too used to their own patch around Brits.

To be honest the performance of the majority of crews was extremely poor. The sportsman’s class did well considering their inexperience. The open class however were shocked to find that they had missed turning points, got lost over difficult terrain, forgot to switch on their GPS loggers (part of the scoring system) etc.

Quite incredibly Adrian and Francois who were competing had an anxious moment when, due to a vapour lock, the engine stopped on leg 11. They managed to execute a perfect forced landing into a farmer’s field and walked away, no damage at all. As a result they incurred maximum penalties for the balance of the competition. All in all, way far too many penalties were incurred by all the competitors at a competition that was not too difficult even though it was set to a high standard.

On their return to Cato Ridge after flying the rally the landing of all teams was recorded and the scores added to their penalties to calculate the final positions.

The crews had an opportunity to fly the course again using the virtual course prepared by Andre and his hard working crews who had painstakingly recreated the route. Well done Andre and team, you helped us sort out our problems, please keep up the good work.

Our hosts once again did us proud by providing a fantastic braai to accompany the prizegiving:

Final results (Open):

• 1st Place Frank Eckard & Quentin Taylor
• 2nd Place Adrian Pilling & Francois Du Toit
• 3rd Place Hans Schwebel & Ron Stirk
• 4th Jan Hanekom & Hugo Stark – 634

Sportsman’s Class was won by the team of Warren Neupen and Steve Erasmus followed by Robert Naismith and Ashley Gill. The virtual rally was won by Johan van Wyk and Mike Robertson with Rassie Erasmus and Buks Hugo in second.

A fantastic time was had by all. A big wake up call for the crews indeed. Well done to Barry, Mary and the crew at Cato Ridge. Till Next time�

---

 

Pictures courtesy Denise Booysen

Computer set-up	Virtual winners	Waiting for start Walter and Ron	Marshall Cuan Bond
Johan & Mike Winners	Jacques and Quentin	Andre and Mary	Organising team
Forced lob Award	Second Overall	End of a long day

 

2005 Air Observer South African Rally Flying Championships

Held at Brits on 17/18 June 2005

 

After a number of venue and date changes the 2005 National Rally Flying Championships was eventually held at Brits on 17 and 18 June 2005.

The main sponsor of the event was Air Observer, the manufacturer of the very successful logging system. This logger is used by most Inter-national flying teams and is now breaking into other fields like road rallying and rolling stock monitoring. It was also used at the recent National Microlight Championships.

Of interest this year was the participation of the Association of Virtual Aviation in the event. This was their first attempt at rally flying and I am sure that the experience they gained will assist them in developing their own events or enabling them to compete at SAPFA events.

2003 World and 2004 South African Champions Nigel Hopkins and Dale de Klerk were not able to take part in the competition due to other commitments so the event would turn out to be fiercely competitive between the other top teams.

Also participating after a year’s absence was Adrian Pilling with a new navigator Francois du Toit. It was also pleasing to have some new entrants in the competition including the Warden team who flew in open class. I am sure it was a different experience for Glen when compared to flying the Mirage III. The other new teams of Lamond/Siebert and Linakis/Carstens entered in Sportsman’s class which was held as a single day event on Saturday only.

The event was run strictly in accordance with the 2005 FAI International rules and included the changes that were introduced including a curved track, tracks following features and sealed instructions.

The route and plot for day 1 was difficult with the aircraft routing south of Brits with a curved track along the FAJS TMA as marked on the map. There were 18 en-route photos and 8 turning point photos that had to be identified. On return there was a scored landing at Brits.

With the new innovations in the sport it is now possible to score a team on timing, photo recognition and landing within a few minutes. The small field also meant that the aircraft could be set off with 10 minute intervals in between. Teams received their final scores before the next aircraft landed.

The results after day one were close. Leading the pack were Jan Hanekom and Hugo Stark on 262 points. They were followed by Barry de Groot and Mary de Klerk on 282 points, Frank Eckard and Quentin Taylor on 314 points. In 4th position were Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk on 316 points despite Ron suffering from a serious bout of flu. They were followed by Adrian Pilling and newcomer Francois du Toit on 424 points. A single photo can cost as much as 50 points so the gap between 1st and 4th represented only one photograph. A very close result!

Day 2 started with a bit more tension between the front runners and the usual poor winter visibility. The clue sheet contained a sealed section that could only be opened during the flight and a section where the route followed a railway line. Day 1 leader, Jan Hanekom had also caught the flu and should really have stayed in bed.

There was a small panic amongst the organisers when it was realised that the final clue on the clue sheet was incorrect. ZS-MOR was launched quickly and was used as an airborne platform to broadcast the correction to the competitors in the air – no damage done.

Day 2 results were also very close with only 82 points between 1st and 4th. The “Flu” teams both suffered a large penalty for an incorrect identification of the photograph at the start. Despite a protest the photo was included and the 100 penalty points they incurred had a dramatic effect on the results.

Final results were:

• 1st Barry de Groot & Mary de Klerk – 522
• 2nd Frank Eckard & Quentin Taylor – 558
• 3rd Hans Schwebel & Ron Stirk – 570
• 4th Jan Hanekom & Hugo Stark – 634
• 5th Adrian Pilling & Francois du Toit – 746
• 6th Ernie Alexander & Mike Ehrman – 1 786
• 7th Walter Walle & Dale Joseph – 2 860
• 8th Glen Warden & Dale Warden – 4 518

Sportsman’s Class was won by the team of Paul Lamond and Chris Siebert followed by Chris Linakis and Blaine Carstens. The virtual rally was won by Johan van Wyk with Harry Mole in second.

The competition also saw the awarding of provincial colours to two navigators, Hugo Stark and Francios du Toit. The competition also culminated in the announcement of the squad for the 2006 World Rally Flying Championships to be held in Troyes, France.

---

 

Pictures courtesy Denise Booysen

Ernie & Mike refuelling	Waiting for the start	Route Discussion	Route Discussion	Chris & Blaine floating
ZS-FIF down hard	Landing marshals	How it should be done	Gold Mashall Award	Third Overall
Second Overall	2005 S A Rally Flying Champs	Provincial Colours	Team for 2006 Worlds	Brits FC Caterers
First attempt at German song	Quick briefing	Co-ordinated song at last	Vlam Vinger	More Vlam- vinger

EASTERN CAPE RALLY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Port Elizabeth 20 November 2004

By Roger Thomas

For weeks leading up to the EC Rally, the question on one teams mind was – should we be looking to make the jump to open from the sportsman class?

We had some reasonable success in the sportsman class and had built up some great friendly rivalry over the last few rallies with another team being Tony van Vliet at the controls and the human GPS – Mark Snelgar. Also entered into the rivalry at the last Ritchie Rally was Paul Ferreira. We were wondering what these teams were going to do.

A few days before the event and in walks the navigator with a large piece of cardboard (from a Rotax engine box) to be used as a template to see how big a desk could be constructed in the back of a C172. Two days later a plywood kneeboard spanning the entire width of the ‘172 was ready. Hardly a kneeboard being that size! More like a lap board.

Following the desk fitment, the decision was made – Open Class it will be. Now that we had the desk bit sorted out, we just weren’t sure what would happen when we were put onto spin cycle and contend with a desk that would be bouncing around. That would equate closer to a lap dance – well we can wish can’t we?

Jan Hanekom had arrived in PE about three days before the event. I am not sure if he came down early to take a break from work, or whether it was to orientate himself. At supper the evening before the rally, Jan indicated to me that whilst driving around in a part of our countryside, that the farm fence lines were pretty accurate on our maps. Now I was scared – these guys are really serious!

I then heard that Mary de Klerk was not going to be coming down to PE – something about her or Barry being ill. Pity really – I needed to get re-current again with my map coloring-in skills that she had taught us a few years back at the same provincial rally. I can’t remember if it was yellow highlighter for Trig Beacons, or if that was for power lines. 😉

Friday night and it was briefing time. Dave Perelson, our competition director, went through the normal type briefing, and then gave us a bit of insight to some of the new rules. This was to be the first Rally in SA under the new regulations. Something about flying in circles and arcs and following features. This was going to be interesting. Added to this, there were some points we were not going to receive clue sheets for until we had passed a certain point on route.

On arriving at the club, Dave had indicated that they had re-calculated our times with a wind correction of 15 knots.

A quick call to my team mate and pilot Tracy Simms to ensure he was on his way. I then scampered to the aircraft and proceeded to set up. A neat trick I had seen at the 2003 World Championships was to use prestik and stick every instrument to the window for easy access. No having to scramble around to find your tools.

Tracy and I kept on assuring each other that nothing had changed. Since our first rally together our motto has been – “Let us go and have some fun!”

15 Minutes to go before take off time, and instructions were handed to us. The game was on!

There was one positive about plotting in the cockpit – No sign of Glen Meyburgh to fluster me! (Sorry Glen had to get this one in). Glen was Chief of Jury for this provincial rally. I do believe he popped his head past to see how we were doing, but being under this unfamiliar pressure of open class, I was concentrating and the outside world simply did not exist.

I managed to have the 2 maps plotted before we went over the start, and was able to complete the headings by end of leg 1. Thank goodness, as with that wind, it was quite bumpy and I needed to get my head out of the cockpit before the knot in my stomach gained some altitude and made a non standard arrival.

The route was very different to past rallies. For one leg we had to follow a railway line – being the feature, which made it interesting – up until now all rallies consisted of was straight tracks. Once we identified one of the sidings on the railway track, we were able to plot the missing points that were not provided in the original set of instructions.

For the arc, I think my head should have been outside, as I think the additional workload on the pilot made it a little busier than normal and we did not do too well at identifying some of the en route photographs that were surely to be on the arc. The additional plots could have waited a little later.

A single check point eluded us as we flew straight over it, but as we were far too early for it, we discounted it as the correct spot. Later we found, as did many others (about 90% of the field), we had over flown the point and into the neighboring Addo Elephant park and below the minima for national parks. Eina! In our analysis later, we concluded that the wind had not been as strong as had been factored in, and thus made us ‘early’ to the point – being an into wind and a very short leg.

It was a real treat to see and compete against some of South Africa’s finest. It also demonstrated that rally flying is much about practice making perfect. This is shown very much by our own team of Brett Williams and his daughter, Christine, who improve with every single rally they have entered.

I think later that night in the pub, Tony van Vliet suggested that we should end our rivalry and for both teams to work together on taking on some of the other rallies held around the country. A great thought – watch out Eastern Cape may make a charge!

Final results were divided into three categories as a number of the pilots qualifying for open class either did not have navigators or, in the case of Anton janse van Vuuren and Walter Walle, had brand new navigators that had never flown before.

Open Class

• 1st Place T Simms & Roger Thomas
• 2nd Place T van Vliet & M Snelgar
• 3rd Place P Ferreira & B Manthe
• 4th Place B & C Williams

“Special” Class

• 1st Place J Hanekom
• 2nd Place H Schwebel
• 3rd Place R Phillips
• 4th Place W Walle & J Onderstall
• 5th Place A janse van Vuuren (father and son team)

Sportsmans Class

• 1st Place J Wiehahn & R Crews (England)
• 2nd Place M Coutinho & S Mandel
• 3rd Place R Parmar & P Sutton
• 4th Place J Oates & G van Eeden
• 5th Place P Puren & G Wiggins
• 6th Place B Pilarczyk & K Seii

Thanks to Dave Perelson, Glen Meyburgh, Chris Booysen and all the marshals and helpers for a great day. Also a big thanks to all the pilots from outside of the PE area for taking the effort to attend one of our events.