11th February 2017

By Cally Eckard

It was 13th time lucky for this event, with no incidences for organiser Frank Eckard.  Rand Airport waived landing fees for the sixteen aircraft who took part, and provided Paul Roberts to be the Safety Officer for the event.

 

The weather was perfect, and the route took the competitors to the Vaal River, and across the wall of the Vaal Dam and then across the dam, with part of the route requiring the pilots to fly along the river.  Beautiful views of a nearly-full dam and rivers and streams bursting their banks and green fields from horizon to horizon were a welcome sight.  The return journey was almost a straight line back to Rand, with only one crew mistakenly grazing the fringes of OT airspace, in their effort to find Rand Airport’s runway.  Two teams flew helicopters, one of them, manned by Jason Stimson and William Levene, achieving a respectable fourth place.

 

Teams consisting of pilots and navigators who both have their colours flew in the Unlimited category.  For the first time, another category was introduced, being the Advanced category, consisting of one Fun Rally pilot and one pilot who has earned their colours either as a navigator or as a pilot.  The Protea team are trying to encourage keen pilots and navigators to participate in Nationals, and flying with them in order to share their skills.  Jonty Esser, who scored a perfect 0 was the only participant in the Precision category, where only a pilot takes part.   The other teams flew in the Fun Rally category.

 

Protea  navigator Mary de Klerk and Karl Jensen, who have flown this rally for the last few years, earned first place in this new category.   Newcomers to rally, Willem Greyling and Gavin Lundie won the prestigious Rand Airport Challenge trophy in the Fun Rally section, beating the other 10 teams.

 

The Fun Rally section was hotly contested, and the five top places were:

Pilot Navigator Aircraft Points
1 Willem Greyling Gavin Lundie Savannah S 116
2 Milan Daniz Caroline Koll Sling TC 07 215
3 Mike Heffil Marc Backo Evektor Harmony 219
4 Jason Stimson William Levene Robinson 44 303
5 Nick Christodoulou Andre Kluyts Cessna 172 397

 

 

The Advanced Class results were as follows:

Pilot Navigator Aircraft Points
1 Karl Jensen Mary de Klerk Cessna 170 93
2 Pierre Dippenaar Martin Meyer Cessna 182 212
3 Leon Bouttell Cally Eckard Sportstar 568

 

The Precision section:

Pilot Aircraft Points
1 Jonty Esser Citabria 0

 

And the Unlimited category:

Pilot Navigator Aircraft Points
1 Hans Schwebel Ron Stirk Cessna 150 72
2 Rob Jonkers Martin Meyer Cessna 182 81

 

The very popular Virginia Fun Rally has been postponed.  Please keep your eyes peeled for the new date.  The next event is the Precisions National Championships, with a Fun Rally on the Saturday, venue and date to be announced.    Three Training Camps will be held leading up to Nationals.  Please watch the SAPFA website for updated information.

Full Results Below:

Rand Airport Challenge
11-Feb-17
Rand Airport
Red
RESULTS
POSITION FILE Pilot Name Navigator Name COUNTRY Aircraft Registration Entry Category NAV ALT. TRACK OBS LANDINGS OTHER TOTAL
1 16 Willem Greyling Gavin Lundie 0 ZU-FXZ Fun 26 0 60 30 0 0 116
2 6 Milan Daniz Caroline Koll 0 ZU-SLF Fun 115 0 0 100 0 0 215
3 7 Mike Heffil Marc Backo 0 ZU-FWS Fun 49 0 0 170 0 0 219
4 3 Jason Stimson William Levene 0 ZS-ALC Fun 253 0 0 50 0 0 303
5 13 Nick Christodoulou Andre Kluyts 0 ZS-SYA Fun 307 0 0 90 0 0 397
6 15 Luis Ramos Peter Bland 0 ZU-FGV Fun 314 0 0 195 0 0 509
7 8 Roy Gregson Colin De Pavia 0 ZS-CET Fun 355 0 60 170 0 0 585
8 4 Marc Krauss Tarryn Adendorff 0 ZS LON Fun 473 0 60 170 0 0 703
9 9 Alastair Matthews Nicole Matthews 0 ZS CBB Fun 414 0 240 145 0 0 799
10 5 Mark Jackson Edzard Verseput 0 ZU-IIT Fun 567 0 120 135 0 0 822
11 2 Abhijit Kang Aliki Capatos 0 ZS-RML Fun 780 0 300 180 0 0 1260
ADVANCED
1 10 Karl Jensen Mary de Klerk 0 ZU-VAL Advanced 93 0 0 0 0 0 93
2 1 Pierre Dippenaar Martin Meyer 0 ZS-IVC Advanced 132 0 0 80 0 0 212
3 14 Leon Boutell Cally Eckard 0 ZU-FBJ Advanced 368 0 200 0 0 0 568
PRECISION
1 12 Jonty Esser 0 0 ZS-MYH Unlimited 12 0 0 0 0 0 12
UNLIMITED
1 11 Hans Schwebel Ron Stirk 0 ZS-IWD Unlimited 72 0 0 0 0 0 72
2 17 Rob Jonkers Martin Meyer 0 ZS-IVC Unlimited 66 0 0 15 0 0 81

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank You.

Frank Eckard
Chairman
South African Power Flying Association (SAPFA)

 

19 November 2016

By Cally Eckard

Eight teams participated in this rally, four of them first-timers, who now describe themselves as hooked on the sport.  Roger Bizzoli organised the event, and made sure the competitors and spectators were well supplied with breakfast and coffee.

Competitors

The weather was overcast with high cloud, so the competition was postponed by an hour, so organiser Frank Eckard took the opportunity to explain some of the finer points of rally flying while we waited for the weather to lift.

The route included a sizeable stretch of the Vaal River, and the teams had to follow the course of the river before turning back to the airfield.  However, one team inadvertently crossed the river without noticing it, and were only alerted to this fact once they spotted Letaba Power Station.  Another crew saw the Start Point, but chose the wrong heading and managed to miss crossing the Start Line altogether, but got back on course immediately and found all of the other turnpoints.

The crews managed to find most of the photographs, which is quite an admirable feat for people new to this sport.  In fact, father-and-son team Arthur and Graeme de Kock found all the photographs and plotted them all accurately, receiving the top score of 0.

Six teams took part in the Fun Rally, and Ron Stirk took part in the Open Precision category, and Thys van der Merwe and his navigator Keaton Perkins took part in the Open Rally category.

Chairman Dave Gill during the prize giving explained that Bob Hay was a long-standing member of Johannesburg Light Plane Club, situated at Baragwanath Airfield.  Although not an instructor, he was the go-to person for any pilot who had any queries or needed advice regarding flying and aerodynamics.  He was also three times South African Aerobatics Pilot.

Prizes were handed out by Dave Gill and Frank Eckard.  Arthur and Graeme de Kock are now the proud winners of the Bob Hay Memorial Trophy.

Winners Arthur de Kock and Graeme de Kock

The results were as follows:

The Fun Rally section :

POSITION PILOT NAVIGATOR
1 Arthur de Kock Graeme de Kock
2 Nick Christodoulou Andre Kluyts
3 Matthew French Jacques de Villiers

 

Winner in the Open Class – Ron Stirk

 

The Open Class results were as follows:

POSITION PILOT NAVIGATOR
1 Ron Stirk
2 Thys van der Merwe Keaton Perkins

 

That ends our rally program for this year.

Top Teams

The next Fun Rally is the Rand Airport Challenge on Saturday 28 January.  All welcome.  Please enter online.