The Flying Fish

This year I decided to make my way to the annual Navy Festival on Friday, instead of Saturday or Sunday, in the hopes that I would avoid the masses. And avoid them I did. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to avoid the rain. Rain drops keep falling on my head... Murphy, you are cruel. A meeting I attended in the morning meant that I only arrived in Simons Town after 11am, and I was hunting for parking as the Lynx did its display. Parking spot found, I set off to see what there was to see... at the sea. . . After an hour of standing on the German Frigate, F214 Lübeck (a BREMEN-class Frigate apparently), while waiting for a South African submarine to demonstrate a dive in the harbour, I was pretty much soaked to the bone. My camera got a wash, and had I brought some soap with, I could’ve had a wash too. I later found out there was a covered spot on the Lübeck that I could’ve stood under, instead of being rained on. Too late now. The submarine dive was hardly spectacula...

On Saturday 18 February, I finally did my Grade III Flight Instructor Test. And passed! Months and months of hard work, trying to cram in studying, writing a newsletter, and re-doing a website, have finally paid off. Now let's hope the CAA gives me my papers!

What better way to start the year, than by flying a PC-12 to Bushmans Kloof (near Clanwilliam). I don’t have much time to write blog posts these days, so this one is going to have more photos than writing. In short, I got to fly in the right seat on a charter to Bushmans Kloof, and we spent a day and a half, and a night there. We were treated to excellent food and a stunning view. The staff were incredibly friendly and professional, and I felt like I was on holiday. There was a long line of aircraft waiting to get airborne in the rather dreary weather * The 'terminal' at Bushmans Kloof * One of at least 3 pools * The view from the 'stoep' * A river no more than 50m from the cottages * A large deck with a 'kitchen' area (braai and wood oven), and fire area, nestled in the mountains, was the venue for a traditional South African dinner. * The dam outside some of the cottages. * Heading back to the airfield (it's about 20 mi...

Friday, 30 December A few weeks ago, I started doing aerotowing, or 'tugging', at the Cape Gliding Club in Worcester. I fly a 180hp Super Cub, and it's my job to pull the glider along behind me, until we find an area with plenty of lift, so that they can go and do their soaring thing. While it's intense flying, it doesn't last for very long, because each tow is about 15 minutes, with about 5 minutes spent on the ground while preparing for the next two (so call it a total of 20 minutes per glider). I've done 14 tows so far, and I've gained less than 4 hours. But this type of flying teaches you a lot. Today was a bit of a slow day; the weather wasn't playing ball so we had to postpone the flying for a few hours, and there were only 4 tows planned. While waiting for the weather to improve, I drove around Worcester in search of a McDonald's. Worcester reminds me of Stellenbosch, only, the streets are wider, there are less trees, and everyone seems ...

Thursday, 15 December For the first time in 3 years, I remembered the Working on Fire ‘display’ held at Fisantekraal Airfield at the start of every fire season in the Cape. This is when all the aircraft and pilots come together to put on a little show (normally for VIP’s) demonstrating their fire fighting capabilities. When I arrived at Fisantekraal all I could see were pilots in their yellow and blue flight suits. I wandered around a bit, chatted to some of the pilots, and then made my way to a gleaming Ayres Turbo Thrush. This was the first time I’d ever seen one ‘in the flesh’ (I was going to say metal, but, it’s made of both metal and fabric...). Beautiful. While everyone was milling around waiting for the demonstration, I made my way up the tower. It was erected a while ago for a film shoot, and never taken down. Many months have passed and the paint has faded, and the wood is starting to look a little tired. Needless to say I didn’t feel too comfortable standing on the th...

This year, those of us in the Cape had a rather dull airshow season. In fact, the only two were the one at Swellendam, and the one at Stellenbosch, and they could hardly be called airshows (more like fly-ins). So when the time for Wings and Wheels rolled around, I was quite excited. The show was on 9 and 10 December (Friday and Saturday), which is unusual; it's normally on Saturday and Sunday. I opted to go on the Friday, because I figured there would be less traffic and less people. Despite leaving at 0600, I still ended up sitting in traffic for over an hour. But I still arrived before 0800, and I was greeted with loads of parking space, and not a single queue for tickets. In fact, the place was empty. And it remained that way for pretty much the whole day. Because it was a Wings and Wheels show, there were aircraft and cars. Unfortunately, there were more cars than aircraft, and the line-up of aircraft wasn't that great; Dakota, 110 Squadron (Premier 1 and Bar...