Krugersdorp Fun Speed Rally - 2022-03-12 By Russell Dixon Paver The weather was excellent for flying and the airfield was looking magnificent. The 26 South Restaurant in the clubhouse with hosts Johan and Wilna was humming and breakfasts and "stasie coffee" soon had everyone ready for the day. Francois Tolmay, Krugersdorp Flying Club Chairman, welcomed everyone and then handed over to Charles Pratley for the pilot's briefing. Nandi Foxcroft was making sure all the entries were recorded and that everyone had a copy of the slot allocations. Charles covered the roll-call and outlined the rally rules, procedures for ATC (to be handled by Steve George) starting slots, cautions, etc. - including that the airfield was still open for other traffic, altitude restrictions, separations, retractable aircraft pilots not to forget gear and to watch out for the resident warthogs - pig-type, not A10's! Possible emergency landing areas were pointed out on the track map. Steve was to fly in the last slot, but by then most people would have completed the rally and the last few were to observe normal radio procedures. Steve George was "tower man" handling ATC and the gents from CAA kept an eye on conformance. First slot entrants get airborne - Ricardo de Bonis in the AirCam, Johann Nel with the Jabiru and Stephan Harman wearing the Pioneer 200. 2nd Slot take-offs - Michael Berg in the smart Beechcraft Sundowner, Reyno Coetzer in the superb red Navion and John Shaw in a Cessna Cardinal, also sporting smart red trim. Th 3rd Slot comprised two aircraft - Dewald Pienaar in a blue-trimmed Cessna 182 and Chris Shaw, also flying the Cessna Cardinal. Some arrivals - Tiger Moth, King Air and Cessna 140. The 4th Slot again had two aircraft - Francois Tolmay in his Beech Bonanza V35B and Heinrich Geldenhys with the Piper Cherokee. The 5th Slot was back to three aircraft - faster jobs! Dieter Bock with the pearlescent Lancair with Louis Fourie and Graham McCarthy each flying Beech Barons. Aircraft in the final slot lined up on the taxiway waiting for Graham McCarthy on approach. The final slot also had 3 aircraft - Andries van Tonder's 600hp Harvard, Steve George's newly restored blue Navion and Trevor Davids' RV 12. Francois Tolmay and Nandi Foxcroft doing the final results calculations. Third place went to Graham McCarthy and the Ratio prize went to Johann Nel. The first and second places were very close and went to Dieter Bock and Louis Fourie respectively. There was a treat for those who stayed a little later for some lunch and avi-social time when Steve and Rayno performed some smoke-on fly-bys. It was so good to see general aviation start emerging from the restrictions of strict covid lockdown and see Krugersdorp Flying Club holding a fun rally again. Everyone had fun while being socially competitive. They are planning another one in August 2022. Pilots Post was honoured to cover this club event and thanks are extended to the Krugersdorp Flying Club for their friendliness and hospitality.

Events 2022

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