Despite cold winds and threatening winter skies, aviation enthusiasts once again gathered at Rosslyn Microflyers for the 14th Kroon Fly-In and Beerfest. While the weather may have kept some aircraft on the ground, those who attended were rewarded with great hospitality, live entertainment, and a spectacular South African skydiving record attempt involving nine ICP Savannah aircraft that left spectators applauding and organisers smiling.
Right from the start Kroon with its out in the country appeal and hospitality, life music and myriad of flea and farmer's market stalls has over the years grown into an event not to missed.
I arrived by road from Johannesburg, just over an hour's drive, all of it on the freeway, and was met by Kevin at the gate that kindly issued me with and armband and directed me the parking area.
Having been cozy in my car it was decidedly cold when I got out, especially with the wind blowing and low rather threatening clouds filling the sky. It soon became clear that the large number of visitors that we had gotten used to would not be arriving. One of the flying visitors was my friend Marius Combrink who flew in from Brits in his Alouette II, another Hans de Beer and his two sons who made the short hop from Wonderboom in the Robinson R44. Some regular fly in visitors made the effort and arrived by road. Piet Meyer swopped his Jabi and came by road and so did Derek and Mo Hopkins.
Winding my way between the numerous food stalls, myriads of knick nacks and other stalls I met with Marius Nel, an old work colleague and friend and one of the organisers and he looked quite upbeat and proud. He had every right to be. There is little one can do about the weather. It is winter after all and the best flying weather, our raining season supposedly being behind us. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas.
Some of the visiting aircraft
They had pulled out all of the stops and fortunately also had a special surprise for all that visited. The surprise on its own made my trip and visit worthwhile and judging by the applause afterwards did it for most of the visitors.
The special rabbit that they pulled out of a hat was in the form of a mass skydive organised by Graham Field of AerialFX. What Graham intend doing was to try to break the unofficial South African record of the most jump ships jumped on one skydive. The current unofficial record is four set by Graham and his team in the early 2000's.
The Skydivers were: 1) Laurel Thatcher (Thatch), 2) Carin Meyer, 3) Peter Annandale (Sharky), 4) Harry Laing, 5) Biela Liebenberg, 6) Denis Howe, 7) Michael Walker (Sparky), 8) Sean Schook (Monkey) and 9) Graham Field.
The pilots were: 1. Jayden Joubert, 2. Dawie du Toit,3. Sarel v d Walt, 4. Jacques Kroon, 5. Johan Snyman, 6. Deon v Heerden, 7. WP Botha, 8. Kevin Wood and 9. Marius Nel.
This they did on Saturday not only breaking it but shattering it when nine skydivers almost simultaneously exited from nine aircraft overhead the field landing within minutes after each other to the applause of the hundreds of visitors.
What makes the attempt so much more interesting is the fact that all the aircraft were ICP Savannahs. Kroon airfield, a relatively small field, houses twelve of the type. That in itself is an SA record. It's very short take-off and landing capabilities as well as the ability to fly low and slow make the Savannah aircraft a popular choice for bush pilots.
The clouds were gathering when I left. The atmosphere I must be honest was not in the least dampened by the weather The people that were there were adamant to have fun. We are hardy people after all. Africa is not for sissies!
