NAMPO - A Fly-in With A Difference
By Lourens O'Brien
Grain SA`s NAMPO Harvest Day Show, the largest agricultural show in the southern hemisphere takes place annually at NAMPO Park near Bothaville in the Free State. The 2012 show was held from 15 May to 18 May and over the four days more than 350 aircraft of all shapes, sizes and ages brought a large number of visitors to the show.
The 1200m long grass covered NAMPO Park landing strip provides landing and parking facilities for the visiting aircraft and is situated less than 600m from the show area. Air traffic control was provided by Rob Purkiss from SACAA and Cliff Lotter managed all the activities on the landing strip.
The good weather that prevailed over the four days made flying and photographing the wide variety of visiting aircraft a pleasure. Aircraft that utilized the landing strip during the show included amongst others a Windlass Aquilla, Super King Air, Cessna 402, Pilatus PC-12, PAC 750, Bell 407, Bell 206, Flysynthesis Stork, Scheibe Falke, Ekolot Junior, Piper Colt and many, many more. At no other flying event in the RSA will such a variety of aircraft be seen in a single day.
On the Thursday there were more than 120 arrivals, more than 60 aircraft arriving between 08:00 and 10:00, Rob Purkiss must be congratulated for expertly controlling the arrival and departure of the many aircraft with very different performance envelops as well as directing the parking of these aircraft within the limited space available.
The 1200m long grass covered NAMPO Park landing strip provides landing and parking facilities for the visiting aircraft and is situated less than 600m from the show area. Air traffic control was provided by Rob Purkiss from SACAA and Cliff Lotter managed all the activities on the landing strip.
The good weather that prevailed over the four days made flying and photographing the wide variety of visiting aircraft a pleasure. Aircraft that utilized the landing strip during the show included amongst others a Windlass Aquilla, Super King Air, Cessna 402, Pilatus PC-12, PAC 750, Bell 407, Bell 206, Flysynthesis Stork, Scheibe Falke, Ekolot Junior, Piper Colt and many, many more. At no other flying event in the RSA will such a variety of aircraft be seen in a single day.
On the Thursday there were more than 120 arrivals, more than 60 aircraft arriving between 08:00 and 10:00, Rob Purkiss must be congratulated for expertly controlling the arrival and departure of the many aircraft with very different performance envelops as well as directing the parking of these aircraft within the limited space available.
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