Sport Aerobatic Club Training Camp - Kitty Hawk Aerodrome
by Russell Dixon-Paver
17.08.2024
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Even with the cancellation the Airshow at Rustenburg at short notice, it was still a busy day for aviation events. Some pilots were committed to these other events and could not attend.
Everyone was most friendly and welcoming, in particular, Warren Eva - SAC Chairman and Gary Glasson went out of their way to make me feel welcome and explained many of the details of the SAC activities and answered my sometimes-dumb questions, as I had not attended one of their events before.
The restaurant, now again ably managed by Lynette Breytenbach, with her team, was busy from early on, and provided coffee while the kitchen came on stream with delicious breakfasts. There were many visitors, including a group of motorcyclists and young families.
The Kitty Hawk site was well turned out, as always, and the roses had already been pruned and were already anticipating spring.
A beautiful clear late winter day, starting with no wind and later some variable wind from the North, made for excellent conditions for a well-attended training camp day. A workshop for newcomers and those wishing to improve their knowledge and skills had been held on the previous Friday, with Trevor Warner doing the honours.
The dedication to improving and developing the sport was evidenced by commitment of various senior pilots and judges flying or driving in, some from far afield, to participate, do training, aircraft testing, critique/coaching and judging. SAC Vice-Chairman Ingmar Bezuidenhout flew in from Phalaborwa to participate and then back in the afternoon - 1.5 hours flying time each way. Johnnie Smith flew in from Hoedspruit for the formal judging and also flew back in the afternoon - 1 hour each way.
Ingmar's Zlin 50 after arrival in the morning and his departure in the afternoon.
A safety and slot scheduling briefing were held by Warren Eva and Dawie Pretorius, the aerodrome manager, to start the day's proceedings and some adjustments to the initial sequence of slot allocations was made. Nigel Musgrave was on hand to keep an eye on safety aspects. A limited altitude informal box had to be applied as ATNS would not approve the requested box, due to workload restrictions.
Judging was well represented by ladies, who all got involved through association with former chief judges or aviation families. They explained that they first started by “scribing” for qualified judges and then progressed to being assessed against standards to become qualified judges themselves. Each maneuver is scored and then a weighting (depending on difficulty) is applied by a formula in their system to arrive at a final overall score for the linked sequence. Sometimes a pilot could get away with something that the judges could not see, but almost invariably that would impact on the rest of the sequence.
The SAC gazebo and table set up and ready for the day and Tayla Kae (TK) Nicholson, Maritza Boswel and Nadine Brooker watch the early action in the “limited” box.
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To promote the development of the sport, a consortium owning a Yak 52 with 10 members had been established. The rules are that the aircraft is only to be used for practicing, competitions and ferrying to and from training or competitions. This had been very successful and a second similar arrangement is being considered, possibly in a different part of the country.
There were two training and coaching sessions - one in the morning and one in the afternoon, where either an instructor flew with an aspiring aerobatic pilot, or an experienced pilot called by radio to the pilot flying, critiquing each maneuver in the chosen sequence and advising how it could be improved. Warren and Trevor flew with various less experienced pilots and Gary Glasson or Eugene du Preez observed from the ground. Jason Beamish also flew with Quintin Taylor in the morning to test some potential issues with the Extra 300L and then assist with some coaching. Most pilots flew two slots with some flying three or more.
Due to the distance and heights of the aircraft away from the clubhouse, photographing the sequences was very challenging and only a few of the better results are shown. Takeoffs and/or landings of most participants were photographed at least once.
Ian Beaton takes off in the first slot of the morning.
Quentin Taylor and Jason Beamish set sail for their testing and coaching in the second slot, then landing.
Gary explains some elevator principles to Heinrich, Eugene critiquing someone flying a sequence by radio, and everyone learning by observing.
Harry Kessel in his Gamebird going through his sequence and then landing.
Darryl Beira and Trevor Warner take off and later land for their coaching in slot five.
Pierre du Plooy in his Giles 202 takes off for his sequence in slot six.
Dean Houghton and Warren take off in the Yak 52 for their slot seven coaching.
Jason and TK take off to return to Coves.
Gary puts his DR 107 through it's paces while being critiqued from the ground by radio.
A formation assessment was also flown with Warren leading in the Yak 55 with Ingmar in his Zlin 50 and Quentin Taylor in his Extra 300L in formation.
Formation aircraft taking off, in formation flight just before the final break for separation to land and taxiing back after landing.
Mitch Wright set out to attain the Graduate class in the Yak 52. He easily achieved the minimum standard of 70% and so became a new Graduate class competitor, with Johnnie Smith, Maritza Boswel and Nadine Brooker doing the scoring and flying carefully observed by the senior class pilots present. The class progression is Graduate, Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced and Unlimited, so he has plenty to aspire to. Gary explained how sequences were constructed in the various class levels with “known” and “free” figures and how there were elements of strategy in choosing unknown items in the higher levels to play to one's own strengths and/or against other competitor's weaker areas.
Johnnie, Maritza and Nadine scored the judging and Mitch Wright on takeoff and posing in the Yak 52 after achieving his Graduate class.
After the formal camp schedule was completed, the senior pilots flew to keep their practice up and critiqued each other's flying, sometimes calling for “unknown” exercises in real time and then commenting on success and possible ways to improve performance.
Gary, Eugene and Warren doing what they do best.
There was a veld fire on the South Western end of the runway in the afternoon and Dawie made a number of trips with his bakkie and tanker before it was brought under control. In the current extremely dry conditions and long grass an uncontrolled fire left could easily be devastating. Well done, Dawie!
There was certainly a vibrant atmosphere of healthy competition, where everyone is willing to share their experience, be critiqued and learn. A great day out amongst a passionate group committing aerobatic aviation!
