And
50th Anniversary Celebrations
23 to 26 October 2024
Report and photos by Ricky Fouché
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From the 18th the Oudtshoorn airport came alive with the sound of roaring engines and an influx of a number of aerobatic aircraft. The event was hosted by the Oudtshoorn Aero Club in conjunction with the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA). The latter provided hangar, conference, ablution and lounge facilities to the Sport Aerobatic Club (SAC) and the former provided bar and dining facilities.
The contestants would vie for the silverware and the prestige of becoming national champions in their various categories. The trophies, up for grabs, were for RV, Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced and Unlimited classes. Eventually the number of contestants taking part were fifteen which was slightly down from the 2023 competition. It takes a huge team effort to ensure that everything is in place.
Pilots, judges, scribes, ground crew, assistants, community support and sponsors all form part of the whole and all plays a key role in making it all happen.
The Honourable Johan Alers, mayor of Oudtshoorn, attended the first briefing session on Wednesday 23rd and gave a short but heartfelt speech in which he affirmed the support of the whole Oudtshoorn community. Local news reporter, Lindi Brill, from Die Hoorn newspaper was also present and published a very supportive article in the Thursday edition of the paper.
A thorough briefing was held before the start of every competition day. Topics such as runway in use, weather predictions, flight order and various other safety issues were discussed and finalised. Briefings were done by Contest Director Annie Boon, Chief Judge Quintin Hawthorne and ATC JP Pieterse.
The SAC community is very tightknit one and everyone always supports each other. Whenever they can they will aide a fellow aviator by coaching him, making him feel at ease and even assisting when a hand is needed. As competitions are few and, reasonably far between, the group would grab every opportunity to catch up on all the happenings since the last competition.
The pilots fly a known and a number of unknown programs. In this event all fifteen pilots flew their unknowns. The RV and Sportsman classes only flew two unknowns and the Intermediate, Advanced and Unlimited classes each flew three unknown programs. The pilots in each class get together and submit a number of manoeuvres which then gets combined in to a flyable sequence.
These programs then have to be made available to the pilots at least twelve hours before they fly them. They do not get to practice the unknown programs and only get one chance to fly them. To commit these programs to memory you would often see the pilots walking through their sequences in what I call a “Duck Walk”. Some do it so well that they sometimes get an additional prize for that but more about that later.
A variety of aircraft was used in this year's competition. There were two Zlin 50's (ZS-WWK and ZS-WSZ), two Extra 300L's (N30PZ and ZS-OLR) a Yak 52 (ZU-BSK}, Yak 55 (ZU-DYD), Sbach XA42 (ZS-XAA), Gamebird GB1 (N96SD), Extra 330SC (ZS-XBE), Slick 540 (ZU-TNT) and an RV 8 (ZU-DLZ). Four of these aircraft were shared by two pilots each.
Most of the aircraft were housed, overnight, in the TFASA hanger but the two Yaks were parked outside amongst other company.
Always at the ready with medical assistance was the AMS Augusta Westland 119 and their team of highly qualified paramedics.
On the judging line during the four days of competition flying were six highly experienced judges. Leading the team was Chief Judge Quitin Hawthorne with Mike Stark, Johnnie Smith, Nadine Brooker, TK Nicholson and Maritza Boswell making up the rest of the judging panel. Assisting the judges were Tertia Smith, Charlotte Stark and Gregory Clegg. Main man with hands on everything shady, seating, refreshing and of course Fire Man was Gary Du Randt.
Annie Boone was Big boss, Contest Director and program caller. Natalie Stark compiled all the scores in her capacity as Scoring Director. Mark Hensman was runaround advice supplier, aircraft mechanic and display pilot.
The Awards Gala Dinner was held at the Cango Caves in the “Spekboom Restaurant”. We were all transported to the venue in two Sprinter busses which allowed everyone to have a very relaxing evening. Upon arrival we prepared the awards table while the others gathered in the foyer and conversed over anything but mainly aerobatics related.
We were then all taken in to the first large chamber of the caves where we were entertained by the tour guide with a stunning vocal demonstration of the acoustic properties of the cave. Once more we were allowed to mingle and stroll through the cavern and take pictures.
Then it became time to get down to the business at hand. Master of Ceremonies and also current SAC Chairman, Warren Eva started of proceedings by welcoming all to this very historic event. This being the 50th anniversary of the Sport Aerobatic Club of South Africa, and also the main aerobatic event of the year, it was bound to be an epic event.
A regular part of these evenings is the judges' nominations for fun awards. Among the recipients was Chief Judge Quintin that received a new little handheld radio as he had never ending problems with his radios throughout the competition and was seen throwing one in his bag out of utter desperation. Aldo Naude received a pullover as he neglected to bring one along to the contest and he nearly froze his hiny off. Receiving the pink TuTu of excellence was Ingmar Bezuidenhout, Warren Eva and Quentin Taylor for their outstanding abilities to perform their “Duck Walks” to perfection.
Now it was time for some special tokens of appreciation to some of the people involved behind the scenes and also someone that made a special effort to attend the event without even competing. Among these were Andre Burger master refueler from TFASA, JP Pieterse ATC from TFASA and Machiel Du Plessis SAC member and also pilot of my ride home,
Then it was time for the main prize giving:
Winning the RV Class with a score of 68.846% in his RV 8 ZU-DLZ was Mike Brissenden.
Winning the sportsman class was Aldo Naude in the Leatt sponsored Slick 540 ZU-TNT scoring 81.248%, Second place went to Harry Kassel in his Gamebird GB1 N96SD scoring 78.900%, Third was Mitchell Wright in the Yak 52 ZU-BSK with a score of 71.936% and finally Dean Houghton in fourth also flying the Yak 52 ZU-BSK with a score of 65.923%.
Intermediate class honours were taken by Alewyn Burger in the Zlin 50 ZS-WWK scoring 75.205%, Second was Ingmar Bezuidenhout in the same Zlin 50 with a score of 71.903%, Third place went to Jurie Steyn in his MIS SA sponsored Zlin 50 ZS-WSZ scoring 66.282%, Fourth was Quentin Taylor flying the PCB Pool Beta sponsored Extra 300L N30PZ with a score of 62.888% and bringing up the rear was vocal maestro Roger Deere in his TEESAV Workwear Extra 300 ZS-OLR and scoring 61.654%.
The Advanced class was won by Tristan Eeles in his Reclam sponsored Extra 330SC ZS-XBE with a score of 76.575%, Second was Warren Eva flying his Yak 55 ZU-DYD with 74.379%, Third went to Leigh Le Gonidec in his Sbach XA42 ZS-XAA and in fourth, after withdrawing after his second unknown program, was Markku Torppa also flying the Sbach XA42 with 45.837%
And then for the unlimited and also South African Champion the winner was Barrie Eeles in his Reclam sponsored Extra 330SC ZS-XBE with a score of 75.599%.
As Barrie was the only entrant in the unlimited class, he had to perform better than 65% or else the winner in the Advanced class would be crowned SA Champion. He beat this by more than 10 % and totally deserves the crown of Champion.
Now it was time to cut the cake and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Sport Aerobatic Club of South Africa. The club was formed on the 19th October 1974 to promote aerobatics, aerobatic education and competition at club level.
The first steering committee was held at the home of “Woody” Woods and consisted of Selwyn (Scully) Levin as chairman, Syd Bottom (secretary), Johnny Woods (treasurer), Anne Woods and Roy Bouchier. (Source: Aerobatics, The South African Story, Second Edition, page 23 by Quintin Hawthorne)
Now 50 years on the club is still thriving and growing from strength to strength.
With great leaders and outstanding management, it will continue to grow and new blood will strengthen the organization.
Here is to the next 50 years. May it stay strong.
After a fantastic week with old and new friends it was time to say goodbye to Oudtshoorn and all the friendly people of the region. At 07:20 we took to the skies in ZU-WMW the RV 7 owned by Machiel and brother Wian Du Plessis.
For most that knows me they know that I never travel light and that RV 7 took everything I had. Hats off to a great aircraft.
Thank you to all involved in this event and also to Leon and Petro at Ravenscliff Manor guest house, to Markku Torppa for letting us make use of the Hyundai Staria to get from Cape Town to Oudtshoorn. Everybody at TFASA and also the Oudtshoorn Aero Club. What a great event and venue. Like Arnie said “I will be back”. Thank you to Machiel and lastly The Sport Aerobatic Club of South Africa. Well done on a great competition.
Here are some parting shots of us leaving Oudtshoorn accompanied by Ingmar Bezuidenhout in his beautiful RV 6A and Quentin Taylor in his Extra 300L. Lots of cloud and beautiful mountains.
