PARYS RV REVOLUTION 1 MARCH 2014 By Willie Bodenstein "Flying a RV is as much fun as flying a Spitfire or a Mustang" And that comes from the man who has flown them all, Scully Levin. The second RV Revolution took place at Parys on 1 March and this time beside the Pylon Time Trials, it included a formation flying competition. This is the first civilian competition of its kind in South Africa and is only the beginning of this exciting competition format. More than thirty RV's were expected to attend the event and as a finale a mass formation sun set flight along the Vaal River was planned. Unfortunately the weather gods had different plans and from early morning it was clear that inclement weather was going to be the order of the day. This off course also prevented many participants form flying to Parys. None the less, 15 RV's and a handful of other types arrived. Some, fearing worse weather made their way home whilst 10 RV's entered the Time Trials. The short course, 1.8 miles was flown which provided some exciting action. The Time Trials results: 1 T Warner, RV7, 169.95 knots, 314.75 kmh 2 T Davies, RV7, 162.26 knots, 330.50 kmh 3 N Murray, RV8, 161.19 knots, 298.52 kmh 4 N Terblanche, RV4, 158.42 knots, 293.39 kmh 5 J Hanekom, RV10, 156.31 knots, 289.48 kmh 6 W Goodrich, RV7, 154.83 knots, 287.02 kmh 7 C Botha, RV7, 153.83 knots, 284.90 kmh 8 J Hatting, RV6, 145.59 knots, 269.63 kmh 9 F Jooste, RV9, 138.38 knots, 256.28 kmh 10 N Jackson, RV7, Did not qualify. Intermittent rain delayed proceedings and due to a concern of more rain approaching a few participants departed and six remained to compete in the formation flying event. Some teams alternated the leadership positions through their sequence to demonstrate both leader and follower skills. The sequence was flown in an anti-clockwise direction and pilots had to demonstrate echelon, vic, line abreast and line astern formation flying. No formation flight will be complete without a proper break and each team completed their sequence with a 4G break right in front of the spectators. At the end of the formation competition, Scully Levin critiqued and rated each team and provided valuable tips and guidance to improve their formation flying skills. As competitors gain more experience, the competition format will be adjusted to include turns in both directions and the difficulty of the format will become more challenging. Scully Levin Frank King, Cliff Lotter & Trevor Warner Trevor Davis, Wally Goodrich & Conrad Botha This was truly an exciting event and with Scully Levin at the helm with Trevor Warner and Cliff Lotter in support, it was well planned, briefed and safely execute. Air traffic control was performed by Dirk van Rhyn from Rand airport, Tyrone Appel from Lanseria and Rouvierre Roux from Kimberly. We can't wait for the next one!!!!

Events 2014

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