Enews 31 August 2007
==================
AGM 5 September
Sponsors/help needed for end of year function
Courses
ATP ground school

Fly Ins

Vredendal Fly in report back
Lessons learned at Vredendal
Resources for pilots
Aviation History
Out and about

Classifieds

==================

Dates to diarise

5 September - CTFC AGM

20 October - International day of the Air Traffic Controller/ATC flip day round 2

9-11 November - TFDC Fly-In, AFB Overberg www.flyin.org.za

==================
CTFC AGM Wed 5 Sept 18:00 for 18:30

You will all have received nomination forms by email, so if there is someone you wish to nominate to serve on the committee, please complete the form and email to Beverly (info@capetownflyingclub.co.za). If you did not get a form and wish to nominate someone, email Bev.

A reminder: Only fully paid up members can be nominated, and only fully paid up members may attend and vote at the AGM.

==================
End of year function

Vossie is busy organising the end of year function, and needs our help with the donation of prizes and sponsorships towards the cost of the event.
If you can help, or would like to be involved in the organising, drop Vossie an email on : geminimotors@telkomsa.net


Donated prizes so far:

Generously donated by Hein de Waal (General Manager: Kagga Kamma)

A weekend for 2 at Kagga Kamma in our lodge including accommodation, breakfast and guided excursions (game drive, sundowner trip, bushman paintings tour, stargazing).
www.kaggakamma.co.za

==================
Courses

ATP Evening Courses at CTFC -> Debby Mann

There will be an ATP evening course starting at the club on 15th October till 30 November 2007.
Price including Avex Notes R8000.00. Excluding notes R6000.00.

If you are interested, please contact Debby Mann on shenebix@kingsley.co.za

==================
Vredendal Fly In

Vredendal Fly In Report Back --> David Wilson

This past weekend was the Vredendal Fly-In. Not knowing what to expect, as this would be our first Fly-In, myself (David Wilson), Justin Visser and Francois Cloeté booked out KBK for the weekend.

As the days got closer we were all waiting in anticipation for the Friday. We had planned to camp by the plane and stay for the duration of the weekend, Friday to Sunday. Checking Weather SA almost every hour we wanted to make sure that our weekend wasn't going to be spoilt by the rain. Luckily the weather was going to be good for the Friday & Saturday but Sunday was predicted to be foggy and rainy.

On Friday morning I did the rest of the shopping that needed to be done to buy our food and supplies. We arrived at the flying club well in advance to pack and prepare the plane. The cloud was a bit low but the zone was still VMC. We waited a while for the weather to improve until we were certain that the cloud wasn't going to disrupt our flight. We filed the flight plan and departed FACT at 14:00 with myself flying the plane.

We were routed to Kenilworth and then cleared north over Ysterplaat. We passed the D200 and it was clear up to Yzerfontein. We were flying at FL035 just under the cloud base. Approaching Langebaan lagoon we had to descend to 1500ft to remain away from the cloud. After passing FASD we routed North Easterly to join the coast. We passed through the brief downpour of rain and joined the coast to route all the way up to Lamberts Bay, remaining under VFR conditions the whole time. At Lamberts Bay we headed inland and followed the highway all the way to Vredendal. We found the airfield with ease, thanks to the GPS and began our descent to join the circuit. We landed in a very strong left crosswind and were guided to our parking bay by the officials.

Vredendal early on Saturday. Over 100 aircraft took part in this event. Picture: Jaco van Zyl






















After we had completed unpacking the plane and pitching the tent it was late afternoon. We then tried to find a place we would could braai our food. Luckily I had been in contact with the organizer of the event so he knew that we would need a place to braai. We took the steel drum back to camp and placed it behind and well away from the aircraft. As the sun started to set the temperature started to drop drastically. We had dinner and then spent the rest of the evening huddled around the fire to keep warm. We then decided to call it a night at 23:30.

The campsite. Picture: Justin Visser




















I woke up at 04:00, as it was so cold, to find Justin and Francois wide awake as well. With four layers of clothing, a sleeping bag, inside a tent we had all suffered from the cold. We got up at about 05:00 to make some HOT coffee and checked the temperature gauge in the plane. It was 1°c. We then waited in anticipation for the sun to rise, while constantly making more coffee to keep us warm. When the sun did rise, it was great. We had breakfast, more coffee and were able to take some great photos.

By this time many aircraft were now landing to get in before the zone was closed for the air show. We were then joined by Gareth Pinnock and Chantal van Steijn in PMY and Jaco van Zyl and student in KSS. Just before :00 the air show started with the Silver Falcons. The day was spent admiring some of the performances at the show, slowly packing away camp and recovering in the sun from the night before.



KSS in parking bay Bravo 112 Picture: Jaco van Zyl
























The horde from the ground. Pitcure: Chantal van Steijn



















The Oryx demonstrating some fire fighting skills. Picture: Jaco van Zyl

































The Harvard in US Navy colours. Picture: Gareth Pinnock




















We decided that we were going to leave on the Saturday as the weather in Cape Town on Sunday wasn't looking good. At 14:00, the air show stopped for an hour to allow planes to arrive and depart. We departed at 14:40 with Justin flying us home. It was a bumpy ride home due to a tailwind. We also were able to fly back along the coast seeing many whales and some great sights.

G Pinnock departing. Picture: Stuart Soden




















All the planning we had done was definitely worth being up at Vredendal for the two days, being surrounded by all types of aircraft and people who are passionate about flying was truly a great experience. This also being our first Fly-In, we arrived with little knowledge of what to expect, but by the time we had departed, we had already started planning our next trip to the Overberg Fly-In on the way home.

--------------------

Lessons learned in Vredendal --> Linda Hodgkinson

1. Always take a passenger – you never know when you will need some cheap manual labour to help push the aircraft.

2. Always take a tow iron. Even if you stare at it the morning before you leave and think you won’t need it. You will. And then you probably don’t need the passenger after all.

3. Never open the filler caps until the second before you are ready to put in the fuel. You never know when some eejit is going to start up his aircraft right next to the fuel bay on a sandy taxiway.

4. Never leave the cockpit open – even for one second. Selfsame eejit will blow the whole cockpit full of fine sand before you can get to it to close it.

5.Always take LOTS of cash for fuel – at R12 a litre in Vredendal it hurts!

6. Always make sure you are smiling prettily even when you are concentrating on flying or taxiing your machine – you never know when your pic might appear on Avcom.

==================
Resources for pilots

For people looking to train on glass cockpits --> Russel Wolson
http://www.aero-tv.net/index.cfm?do=app.bestView&videoid=7811ac5b-95cf-4042-a266-04f15baffbfc

Great safety magazine --> G Pinnock
http://www.overtheairwaves.com

==================
Aviation History --> Danny Buitendag

In August....

1783
Jacques Alexandre César Charles flies the first balloon filled with gas rather than fire-heated air using hydrogen produced by pouring 489 lbs. of sulfuric acid on 1,000 lbs. of iron. The balloon has a diameter of 12 ft.

1871
Orville Wright is born in Dayton, Ohio. He is co-inventor, with his brother Wilbur, of the first aeroplane to achieve powered, sustained, and controlled flight and the first fully practical powered aeroplane. Orville piloted the famous first flight at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina after winning a coin flip against his brother.

1908
Wilbur Wright makes the first flight using stick controls near Le Mans, France. The flight lasts 1 minute and 45 seconds.

1909
The first flying machine purchased and put into service by a government is the Wright Flyer. The US Army accepts its first airplane and pays the Wrights $25,000, plus a $5,000 bonus, because the machine exceeded the speed requirement of 40 mph.

1910
Radio is first used to send messages between the ground and an aeroplane when James McCurdy both sends and receives messages from a Curtiss biplane at Sheepshead, New York, using an H.M. Horton wireless set.

1910
The first aircraft tricycle landing gear is installed on the US Army’s Wright airplane.

1910
The first U.S. Army experiments with firing a rifle from an aeroplane takes place when Lt. Jacob Earl Fickel conducts firing trials from a Curtiss biplane piloted by Curtiss himself.

1912
Englishman Francis K. McClean becomes the first pilot to fly under bridges spanning the Thames River when he takes off from Harty Ferry, Eastchurch in his Short S. 33 biplane.

1913
American inventor Lawrence B. Sperry successfully demonstrates the first gyroscopic automatic stabilizing device for powered airplanes when Lt. Patrick N. L. Bellinger pilots a U.S. Navy flying boat designated C-2 and relinquishes full control to the autopilot.

1913
Lieutenant Petr Nesterov of the Russian Army in Kiev performs the first loop-the-loop. The complete circle and other intentional acrobatic stunts prove to be valuable experience for the wartime pilots during aerial battles.

1921
Lieutenant John A. Macready of the U.S. Army Air Corps finds a new use for aeroplanes when he sprays a patch of ground infested with caterpillars. This practice becomes known as crop dusting.

1923
The first use of electric beacons mounted on the ground to provide sight direction for night flying is made in the United States.

1933
Air France, France’s national airline, is formed.

1946
President Harry Truman signs a bill authorizing an appropriation of $50,000 to establish a National Air Museum in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The small museum eventually becomes the National Air and Space Museum - the most visited museum in the world.

1959
President Eisenhower replaces his aeroplane with a jet, a USAF VC-137A, which is a modified Boeing 707-120 jet-airliner. The switch allows the President to cut his travel time in half. Three were ordered. The picture is of a VC-137C.

1960
Captain Joe Kittinger jumps from a gondola, suspended from a balloon, 102,800 feet to the ground using a parachute. He breaks the records for greatest altitude from which a parachute descent had been made and the longest delayed parachute jump.

From www.centinnialofflight.gov

==================

Out and About

Benedict Poulter recently built some cross country time in PMY around Namibia. These are a selection of the scenery.
All pictures taken by Neil Hermann

The eye of the dune

















Moonscape
















Abandoned mines















The great divide
















==================
Classifieds

Instructors needed in Botswana
African Planes Flight Training Centre is a newly established flight school situated in the heart of Maun (an up and coming tourist town known as the gateway to the Okavango Delta in Northern Botswana)

We are looking to employ an instructor urgently!

The range of courses we offer includes:

PPL Training
CPL Training
C206 Conversion Courses
GA-8 Airvan Training
Instrument Rating Courses
Caravan Conversion Courses

We have our own Cessna 172 and a Cessna 206. For conversions and training on the Airvan and Caravan we utilise planes from Mack Air www.mackair.co.bw and other charter companies based here in Maun.

Also a new simulator for IF training has just been installed.

If you are a newly qualified student with an instructors rating looking for a position in an exotic place such as Botswana, where flying over the
breath taking Delta is routine, then please get in contact.
We need someone with lots of energy and enthusiasm who can take the initiative and who has a passion for flying!

We look forward to hearing from you now!

If you would like further information please contact Sandrine or Helen: africanplanes@dynabye.bw

Many thanks,
African Planes Team

==================