Articles Rally (Page 7)

Brits Airfield welcomed 35 airplanes on Saturday 13 November to celebrate the Peter Hengst Memorial Day. Peter was a loyal and active member of Brits Flying Club for many years, and the project is held annually in his honour. His wife, Crystal, was present, preparing breakfast and coffee for all the visitors.

The EAA and SAPFA members braved the heat to spend some time together and swap flying anecdotes.

SAPFA took the opportunity to hold a “Fun Precision Flying Competition”. 17 pilots took part, many of them contenders for National Precision Flying Championships which are scheduled for the end of November, also in Brits.

Hans Schwebel, chairman of Brits Flying Club, long-time Rally and Precision pilot, and the newly instated Vice President of the GAC (General Aviation Commission) of the FAI, put together a route that was both challenging and enjoyable. The normally rigid rules of Precision were relaxed slightly for the day, to enable pilots to adjust their skills from Rally Flying to Precision Flying. SAPFA are also trying to encourage more Rally pilots to attempt Precision, in order to expand the field available for National selection, and to improve South Africa’s chances next year at The World Championships.

Frank Eckard won first place, with up-and-coming Jonty Esser hot on his heels. Ron Stirk from Brits was placed third, and Rob Kennedy fourth. Congratulations to all the pilots who attempted Precision Flying for the first time.
Mike Cathro came first in the Sportsman class, with Keith Irwin second, Wynand Uys third and Rob Jonkers fourth.

Thanks to Brits Flying Club for hosting the event, to Hans for preparing the route, to Crystal and Ursula for preparing the delicious breakfast, and to Nella for running the club.

Brits Flying Club has generously offered to host the World Precision Flying Championships in October 2011, and if Saturday’s event is anything to go by, then our local and overseas visitors are in for a treat.

FULL RESULTS

Saturday 5th June dawned and brought with it wall to wall blue skies – perfect weather to jump in an aery and take to the skies. The challenge was on for the SA Rally Flying team to challenge the Fun Rally pilots and any Airline Pilots brave enough to tackle the plot and convert it into a route. Nico Brandt, from Tedderfield Airpark hosted the event at their fabulous clubhouse. From early the aeries started to fly in from various local airfields as well as from all over the country including Durban, Polokwane and Hoedspruit.

Scores of brand new Young Eagles from various schools in the area also started to arrive, eager to learn a bit more about the opportunity to pursue a career in aviation, and enjoy their first free flight. Jayson and Nicky van Schalkwyk took them under their wings and put them through their paces. They enjoyed a day filled with aviation input and this was topped with a flight around Soccer City and back to Tedderfield by Chris Bailes, Nico Brandt, Laszlo Liszkay and the inimitable Captain Karl Jensen. Also attending the event were representatives from Youth in Action South Africa.

The Rally challenge saw 16 teams cross the start and finish line. Six of the teams comprised the recently selected Proteas who were flying in the Open Class Section, and the balance were the Fun Rally and Airline pilots.

The route was set by Tony Russell, the current SA Team Manager and covered a distance of 120nm. Mary de Klerk did her usual prebrief on “How to Fly a Fun Rally” and took the new and old teams through a detailed step by step account of how to prepare the maps and how to fly the route, while Frank Eckard arranged the start lists and take off times.

The route itself, was nothing short of challenging – even to the seasoned Proteas, and this was not made easier by the fact that a gremlin crept into the scoring system and caused the participants to have to fly a 5 minute leg in 9 minutes. For a first timer, this proved to be quite disconcerting, but everyone managed to get through the glitch and continue through to the finish.

The Proteas flew to Open Class standard whilst the rest of the field flew to Sportsmans Class Standard. The original objective was for the Proteas to challenge the Airline Pilots, but only one brave Airline Pilot showed up and the results proved most interesting. He was Snr Captain Thys van der Merwe from SAA, who with his talented pilot, Rob Jonkers, in a C172, cruised into first position in the Sportsmans Class and beating some Proteas into 4th position overall…..an outstanding achievement for a first timer!

Full results are attached below.

Another fantastic Aviation event notched up this past weekend at Klerksdorp. The entire weekend was run under the auspices of the EAA Sun & Fun convention under the directorship of Cliff Lotter and his team, Len du Preez and Piesang Myburgh.

Despite the threatening weather and isolated thunderstorms, 98 aircraft out of the expected 150 aircraft arrived. The AOG rig was set up close to the club house and the scene was set for a successful weekend of aviating.

Brian Emmenis of Capital Sounds entertained the crowds while Karl Jensen showcased various aery’s on the “block”. No less than 21 brand new keen Young Eagles arrived from 7 different schools in the area. They were supervised by Jason van Schalkwyk and enjoyed a day filled with experiencing the thrill of their first real flight with the Young Eagle Volunteer Pilots.

The Klerksdorp Flying Club proved to be very hospitable hosts, providing fabulous food with live music and dancing on both nights.

Then the Fun Rally….. 14 aircraft participated and although the start was delayed to avoid some storm cells, the first few competitors still had to cut short on a few legs to avoid tangling the weather – good call guys! Unfortunately for the early starters, the second half of the field all managed to get through, so no legs were scratched.

The final results were:
1st Position : Rob Kennedy (Pilot) Wikus Kritzinger (Navigator) in ZU FHD
2nd Position : Johnnie Smith (Pilot) Christiaan Le Grange (Navigator) ZS AXX
3rd Position : Derick Lategan (Pilot) Francois van Eeden (Navigator) ZS CBO

African Outdoor Group

The Fun Rally pilots started arriving from as early as 06h30 and on arrival were greeted with a full breakfast sponsored by the East Rand Flying Club. No less than 24 aircraft entered the Rally, but after sifting through the weather and other technical aircraft issues the final field was whittled down to eighteen competing crews and one unofficial entry from current Protea pilots, Hans and Ron.

For once the weather played along and although rain was forecast the day was a typical hot Highveld summer’s day. The wind was rather strong in the morning.

The route saw them take off on 03 and follow a 90 nautical mile anticlockwise path towards Leandra, then up north towards Witbank and then back to Springs via North of Delmas.

Jonty Esser and Sandy Goddard from Polokwane (who finished second in the Open Class in the Yuma at the SA National Championships) were the eventual winners followed by Robert Gassmann and Antony McBride in the futuristic Tanarg Trike with Hendrik and Adele Loots in third place in the striking Apollo Delta Jet Trike. Jonty and Sandi finished with an impressive 56 penalties (50 of which were for a single incorrectly identified picture).

The event was combined with the EAA and 14 young aspiring eagles attending the event. They spent the day assisting Frank and Mary with the Rally and were then whisked away into the air with their respective YOUNG EAGLES PILOTS. Lofty from SAMAA entertained them with Model Aircraft building and at the end of a hot exhausting day, the fourteen young people left the airfield feeling as though they has enjoyed a life changing experience.

The next Rally will take place at Rand Airport in February 2010.

The podium:

1st Pos Jonty Essar/Sandi Goddard
2nd Pos Robert Gassmann/Antony Mc Bride
3rd Pos Hendrik Loots/Adele Loots

Full results are attached below.

Fun Rally Briefing	Springs – 2nd Crew	Springs Fun Rally -1
Springs Fun Rally – 2	Springs Fun Rally – 3	Springs Fun Rally – 4
Springs Fun Rally – 5	Springs Fun Rally – 6	Springs Fun Rally – 7
Springs Fun Rally – 8	Springs Fun Rally – 9

The South African National Rally Championships were held from 5 – 7 Nov in Parys. Twelve teams entered, six in the Sportsmans Class and six in the Open Class. The Open Teams consisted of four good old stalwarts being Barry de Groot, Mary de Klerk, Ron Stirk & Walter Walle and four teams made up of guys that have only flown Fun Rallies for a year and who decided that it was time to upgrade to the real thing. They were Jonty Esser and his partner Sandi Goddard, Rob Kennedy and his partner Wikus Kritzinger, and Emmie Oelofse and her partner Andrew Lane.

These 3 new teams were quickly brought up to speed with the Open Class Plotting requirements in a few Classroom sessions held by Mary prior to the event. This training stood them all in very good stead during the competition and all sailed through the plots with ease and confidence.

All Teams were welcomed by Wynn Dedwith and his wife Tacye in their cottage on the Vaal River and in their beautiful home in Parys.

The Competition Director, Frank Eckard, worked tirelessly for weeks to plan and produce the routes with his normal military precision.

Day 1 dawned and brought with it a very challenging route which was not made any easier by the strong westerlies. There was also much murmuring about confusion in the plot because 2 roads were marked N1…..Results after day 1 were:
#1 Barry de Groot Mary de Klerk
#2 Walter Walle Ron Stirk
#3 Jonty Esser Sandi Goddard
#4 Rob Kennedy Wikus Kritzinger
#5 Emmie Oelofse Andrew Lane

Scores were close between the 2nd and the 5th position so the competition screws tightened on Day 2. Again the wind was not on their side. Other challenging factors for some of the teams were the choice of aitcraft. Rob was flying an RV7 and Emmie her Dyn Aero. Neither of these aircraft are suitable for Rally Flying for two reasons – Low wing and Too Fast. Whilst there was nothing they could do to alter the wing structure, they both reduced their speed on Day 2 and both improved their performances enormously.

Day 2 also brought with it some new faces and 6 teams arrived to fly Sportsman’s Rally which is in essence exactly the same route as Open Class, but it is pre-plotted on the ground and flown with sequential photos as opposed to random.

The Final Results for the competition were:
OPEN CLASS:
#1 Barry de Groot Mary de Klerk
#2 Jonty Esser Sandi Goddard
#3 Walter Walle Ron Stirk
#4 Rob Kennedy Wikus Kritzinger
#5 Emmie Oelofse Andrew Lane

SPORTSMANS CLASS:
#1 Kobus Kotze Frank Smook
#2 Ralph Hurwitz David Stein
#3 Roger Bazolli Freek Stegman
#4 Corno Badenhorst Ronsard Lazare
#5 Rick Barnardie Esmond Erasmus
#6 John Shaw Chris Shaw

Prize Giving was held in the clubhouse and by 15H00 the last aircraft had flown back to base to avoid the nasty weather that was approaching.

This 2009 SA Rally Flying Championship results will count towards the SA Team selection to attend the World Rally Flying Championships in Slovakia in August 2010. The final selection will take place at the next SA Rally Flying Championships to be held in April 2010.