The Flying Fish

On Saturday, 26 February, I attended the Riverdance show at the Grand Arena in Grand West. I’ve always been a big fan of tap-dancing, so I was really looking forward to it. The Grand Arena is, well, grand. It can hold about 5000 people, and we had seats in the middle level, to the right of the stage. While a reasonable distance from the stage, you still have a good view, and they have screens on either side of the stage so you don’t miss out on much. The Grand West staff was very efficient, which was pleasant, and we were seated in no time. Unfortunately the show wasn’t as great as I was expecting it to be. It turned out to be song and dance, with bits of tap in-between. I thought it would mostly be tap. The music was excellent, and the drummer was absolutely amazing! He had at least two drum-kits as well as chimes and a huge array of cymbals and shakers, and who knows what else. He alternated between the instruments with ease and grace. The sound was also great; crisp and clear. At f...

The "RV-smile" is the goofy grin/smile that remains on your face for several days after flying in an RV... Yesterday I was planning on going on a flight through the Franschoek Valley to Theewaterskloof Dam in the Cubby, but when I got to the plane I saw that the left tire was in the process of going flat (thorns are evil and puncture fix doesn't always work). So that plan flew out the window. But, there was a seat open on an RV-8, so I went flying in that instead. Doing some aerobatics and formation flying makes up for the fact that I can't log the hours. And the formation flying, wow! It's amazing seeing another aircraft that close to you, with the mountains forming the perfect backdrop. We flew in formation to the Franschoek Valley, and then split up. We did some aerobatics while the people in the other aircraft watched, and then they did aerobatics while we watched. Watching aerobatics from the ground is amazing, but watching them from the air is breathtaking! ...

The results are out; I passed Flight Planning and ATG, so I’m ecstatic! Only 4 more subjects and another 100hrs left. Time to hit the books... hard; Navigation and Meteorolgy are next. It's also time to get my x-country hours up. On Sunday I did some circuits at Fisantekraal, then went back to Stellenbosch only to be greeted with a 90 degree x-wind. But somehow I managed to put her down without a problem. Yesterday I made my way along to mountains to Tulbagh and Porterville. Two little towns in the middle of nowhere, but the flight was good and I can add another 2 hours to the logbook. And today, well... that deserves its own post :)

It’s not easy to describe the iconic sound of a Huey, but I thought that Nelson DeMille’s description of them going “Wap, wap, wap” fitted the bill. Today a dream came true; I finally got to go for a flight in the iconic UH-1H Huey. I’ve been waiting for this for two years, so it just goes to show that good things do come to those that wait. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to sit up front; so I sat towards the back, facing sideways. With the doors wide open, it meant I could get some amazing photographs. After a quick safety briefing, we piled in, and got strapped in. The pilot said “You are flying in a legend.” Then one of the pax said “Are we leaving the doors open?” “Yes.” “And we don’t have to turn our cell phones off?” “Yes.” “This IS a legend!” I couldn’t help but laugh. After that exchange, we started up. Wow! It was completely different to the Eurocopter. It’s loud, and you shake and wobble in your seat as the main rotor picks up speed. As the rotor begins to turn faster, the wobbl...

I wish I could say that I'm writing this from Namibia, but unfortunately I'm not. After waiting for months to go on my trip, I was told that the flight had been overbooked. Guess who didn't get a seat. . . So, I'll try again next week. And if that doesn't work out, then it's safe to say that I won't be going to Namibia any time soon. On Tuesday, a PC-12 crashed in Plett, killing all (9) on board. The aviation forums are filled with speculations (naturally). Many have said that it is only human nature to speculate, ask questions, form opinions, etc. and I agree. However, while I'm also bursting with questions, I'm going to keep them to myself, because quite frankly, I feel that it is not my place to ask them (partly due to lack of knowledge and experience). There are a lot of "IF's" and "MAYBE's" going around. Will we ever know what really happened? Who knows. To the crew and passengers on board that flight, may you Rest in...

Well, "wannabe flight attendants" is more correct. Monday morning, the day of my ATG (Aircraft Technical and General) exam. About 10 minutes before we received our exam papers, the exam room was invaded by at least 12 flight attendant hopefuls that were writing their exams with us. I think they arrived on a bus, because they all randomly appeared at the same time. Unfortunately some found the task of finding the desk with their name on it to be far too challenging, and resorted to wandering around the room (which isn't that big) looking lost. Hmmm, lets hope they know where to find the exits on the aircraft they might end up working on... Wednesday morning (aka today). Flight Planning exam. I'm tired; I only fell asleep at 0230 this morning. I think it's because I only had dessert for supper (melon and ice-cream, yum), so it was my body's way of punishing me for not eating a real meal. But anyway, I arrived an hour early and sat in the car jamming to Alanis Mo...

Wednesday, 2 February It's evening. I finally got to see and hear my beloved Huey start up and take-off. Beautiful. I also got to see the Dromader's taking off while weighed down with about 1000 litres of water. Stunning. Now, what could make my evening better? Listening to the Huey landing while the Dromader's circle overhead. The 'wap wap wap' of the Huey combined with the drone of the Dromader's sent shivers down my spine. Unfortunately I didn't watch them come back as I was sitting in ATG lectures (I almost ran out of the room, camera in hand, when I heard the Huey approaching. Almost.) Thursday, 3 February Another extremely hot day. Yesterday was in the 40ies, today was pretty much the same. But clouds have been building and a storm is near. About 10 minutes before the storm hit I heard the characteristic whine of a turbine starting up; the Huey had been called to a fire. Lightning was crackling around, but the pilot went off (it was a smooth lift-off, ...

Every now and then I find myself really wanting to learn. This morning I was flying in a Super Cub and as I looked at its (few) instruments, I found myself thinking "It'd be really cool to learn about how all these things work." But just last month I was contemplating burning my Instruments notes. And this afternoon I was studying while periodically gazing at my Huey (yes, mine ), and I felt the sudden urge to run to the Flight Shop, grab the book on helicopter principles of flight, and learn about how those things fly. And this evening I attended a PPL ATG (Aircraft Technical and General) lecture in order to brush up on some of the stuff seeing as I'm writing the comm version of it next week Monday. Surprisingly, I found it interesting. The 2.5hr lecture seemed to fly by, and I found it to be a real confidence booster when I could answer questions, and sometimes even explain things to the people around me. I don't, however, have any interest in studying the 29 p...