The Flying Fish

So, “World Cup Fever” is here (apparently)… I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling it. The sound of vuvuzela’s is annoying, the hawkers at robots are annoying, the need for a SSC and FAC to go do circuits is annoying, and I find soccer plain boring. No photographers are allowed on the active side of Stellenbosch airfield. I honestly don’t know why; what’s the difference between standing on the one side of the fence and taking photos, and standing on the other side of the fence taking photos? Not much except for angle and distance. Or one could just stand on the balcony and get a nice view of pretty much the whole airfield. Just do go on ‘that’ side of the fence, or the cops WILL have a word with you. I know this from experience. Four words come to mind: “Stupid World Cup Restrictions”. I’m on holiday now, and I’m supposed to be doing all this assigned holiday school work. Needless to say I went to the library and picked up a couple of books (ok, 7), and I’m working my way through ...

Tuesday, 1 June Today was quite a big day for me. I wrote my final mid-year exam paper this morning, and I go on holiday next week. Needless to say I’m excited! Not only did I complete my exams, but I’ve also completed my Cessna 152 conversion. It’s only taken me a few months! Thinking back on today, it feels like the events happened weeks ago. It’s got that surreal feeling. I’m sure you’ve experienced something like it at least once before. I was tired. Writing a 3 hour chemistry exam isn’t fun, especially for someone who detests chem as much as I do. After some lunch and a power nap, I headed off to the airfield for my long-awaited C152 flight. It felt so weird having to fill in the authorization sheets; the last time I had to do that was in December. How time flies. Paperwork done, I headed to trusty ZS-LSN and did a pre-flight. I remembered everything, surprisingly enough. Then my instructor told me to climb in and get comfortable while he went to grab his headset. Checklist in han...

29 May 2010 First of all; THE CUBBY IS BACK IN ACTION!!! Yesterday, she took to the sky after almost 2 months of being stuck on the ground. Yes, I’m extremely happy. And today, I got to fly my beautiful baby, so you can just imagine the grin on my face. * Reach for a Dream is an organization that helps children that have been diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses fulfill their dreams. For the past couple of years (except for 2009), Stellenbosch Flying Club has hosted a day where some of these kids are given the opportunity to go for a short flight. The members of SFC graciously donate their time and aircraft for these flights, and KFC provides meals for the kids. In the past (2007 and 2008) I helped out as ground crew, but this year I was given the privilege of flying some of these kids. It was an amazing experience! The morning was bright and cold. The sky clear, and there wasn’t a breath of wind. After a short briefing about how things would work, I took the Cubby out and did a f...

Sunday, 16 May It was another early start. Normally I’d complain profusely about having to wake up at 0630 on a Sunday (or any other day for that matter), but today was different. See, I don’t mind waking up at the crack of dawn if it means I get to go flying… 3 words: Cessna Citation Mustang. ZS-YES, the new toy on the block, brand spanking new, and the reason for having to wake up early. What do they say about dynamite coming in small packages? Able to carry 4 pax and 2 pilots, she’s not as big as the PC-12, but she’s sleek, sexy and fast! Slipping into the right seat is a breeze; there aren’t any over-head panels for you to scrape your head on, and you don’t have to worry about accidentally kicking the throttle levers because a genius at Cessna left a gap between the seat and the center console so you can just slide your legs in and easily get seated comfortably. All glass and ample leg room Once seated, you feel like you’re in a sports car. This, in my opinion, isn’t that great. Th...

So it’s been over a month since I last flew the Cubby. I could’ve flown at least another 6 hours this last week, upping my total hours to 70 (not that much, but still; every bit counts!) Sadly, it’s still going to be a while until I can fly the yellow beast again. However, on Saturday (1 May), I was offered a flight. Itching to be airborne again, I accepted the offer and before I knew it, I was gingerly lifting myself into a piece of Tupperware. Yup, I was going for a flight in ZU-IOO, a Jabiru. As I settled myself into the seat I found that, while comfortable, it just didn’t feel right; my feet were practically on top of each other, the brakes are operated by hand and situated on the stick which is between the two occupants. But I wasn’t complaining; I’d been wanting to fly in a Jabiru for a while now. I had a quick look around the cockpit to try and familiarize myself with the instruments. Nice and basic; good, that’s what I like. ‘Familiarization’ complete, I hunted for a spot to r...

Can't believe how long ago it was when I did that X-country! Not much has been happening on the flying-side of things. But a fair amount has been going on in general: School is on the go once again, and I'm already counting down the days until the June holidays! I can't wait until I'm free next year :D I haven't flown for over 3 weeks now; I wasn't feeling happy with the aircraft, so I decided to cut back on the flying until I could have everything checked out. And now she's in the process of having her MPI done. It's been about a week and a half since we started, and I doubt we'll be finished by next weekend. Needless to say I'm itching to take to the sky once again! I've been doing a lot of thinking about this whole CPL business. I wanted to start asap, but a few people have advised me against doing so, saying I must focus on my Matric year. At first I disagreed with them, but now I'm beginning to realise that it will be difficult to ju...

Apologies for the length, lack of photos, poor grammar and typos. 12 March, Friday I had been sitting at home, feeling down because I hadn’t found anyone to be my navigator for a Cryptic X-Country on Saturday. While drowning my sorrows in music, I got a phone call from a chap that said he’d be my navigator. A smile lit up my face and I raced around grabbing maps, rulers and pencils; the briefing was in 30 minutes. So far, there were 7 teams taking part. Without the help of my navigator, I’d still be sitting trying to figure out the clues. But thanks to him, we (he) had figured out the clues within no time and we received all the necessary thingies (another map, more things for us to solve and a plastic bag for the goodies that we had to find at each spot). I had a number of worries; - This would be the first time I would be flying with someone other than my dad or instructor. - My navigator had never flown in the Cubby before, and I thought that, because of his height, he wouldn’t be a...