Last Flight of 2011

Cheers to 2011

Umhlanga lighthouse and beachfront from the air

 It's the last day of 2011 and the last flight of ZDL before the New Year. And what a year it has been.. started flying lessons at the end of May, got my NPL licence during September and took delivery of our brand new Sling!!! I've clocked nearly 100 hours and 40 since getting my licence in the Red Rocket.

Today the clouds had settled over Alverstone so the passage through to join my mates at Light Flight diminished, so I decided to take a short last flight up the coast (which was clear), wave hello to the Control Tower at King Shaka International, and do a turn-about at Ballito returning for another perfect lading at Virginia. Goodbye 2011. 2012 is going to see us do a trip to Johannesburg for the Red Rocket's 100 hour service as well as a trip to Cape Town to visit my son Mark, stopping off probably at Plettenburg Bay, Stellenbosch and maybe Saldhana Bay.

Marc the "troll" Trollip tries out ZDL over Table Mountain, Cato Ridge, on a quick jaunt out of Light Flight on  Friday.

Christmas Sky

The wind was blowing... what's happening to our weather?.. some 20knts, but it was straight down the unmanned runway at Virginia (it being Boxing Day public holiday) so we decided to take-off, fly to Alverstone (the big radio and tv mast) and see what it was like before attempting a landing on the airstrip next to the tower.. the runway leads straight to my aunt's house across the road where we were scheduled to have a family lunch. The wind was calmer there so I decided we would make the landing. A bit scary with the approach being a cliff-face and the rough grass runway leading away from the cliff to the road. But the landing was perfect, as was the lunch, the take-off and the landing into a 25knt headwind at Virginia. On the last leg home the wind was up to a 30knt headwind and the groundspeed was only 55knts at some points.  Great outing and new experience at Alverstone. Llewellyn was chewing his nails in the seat next to me!!

Boxing Day lunch with the Galways and Andersons at Alverstone

Sling WRJ visits Durban

It's a Santa Sling/Sleigh!!

Flying back from Cato Ridge in our Christmas hats today, we were being tailed by Warren in his Sling WRJ flying in from Johannesburg for some days in Durban in the sun and then to Knysna. Welcome to Durban Warren.. always great to meet other Sling owners. Hope to do some flying with you.

Airborne - first photos

Thanks Marc.. these are the first photos we have of the Red Rocket airborne.. taken on our jaunt to Himeville (see story below). The pics were taken just as we had crossed over the Bulwer mountains on the way back to Light Flight via Richmond after breakfast.

Blue sky, will fly!

It was a lovely Saturday morning, there were patches of cloud and some wind, but had an awesome flight to Himeville where we met up with the pilots of two other Light Flight planes for breakfast at Moorcroft Manor. Superb, and thanks to Mario for fetching us and returning us to our planes. Attempted a hectic cross-wind landing at Light Flight on the way home but aborted it and preferred my perfect landings at Homeville and Richmond and lastly home at Virginia. Not sure how much longer Virginia will be "home" for the Red Rocket as we are considering putting up our own hanger possibly at Light Flight.

Getting what you pay for?

One wonders how well the fuel bowsers are calibrated. Here is a pic of my measured container showing 2 litres less fuel given by the petrol station when the bowser showed 25l and charged for 25 when giving 23 - that's a 10% loss. Going to phone the calibration company to complain.

Light Flighters take to the coast

My friend Marc in the Yellow Submarine and two other planes from Light Flight converged on Margate early this morning for breakfast and some great flying in convoy back down the coast.

Taking my kids in the Red Rocket

My daughter Kate-Lynn joins me in the cockpit 

Goodbye cruel world.. into the blue we go! - my son Mark

Crazy-Ace Dain can fly the Red Rocket

 I took turns this morning taking my budding pilot kids and mates up into the skies over Durban. The wind was picking up to 22 knots by the time I did the last flight, so a couple of the landings were a bit bumpy, but what a first experience for the brats.

Brad says he prefers playing guitar

Brunch in the Economy Lounge at Virginia with the brats



Durban from the air



Margate coastal run

Llewellyn is trying his hand at straight and level

The Bluff from above

 After the heavy rains we have had in Durban we had to take to the blue sky this morning and did a breakfast dash to Margate. 2 beautiful landings and I assisted Llewellyn with his first take-off from Margate and he flew most of the way back. By the time he starts his licence next year, he should already be able to fly the plane.

There and back to see how far it is...

Where did this cloud jump from?

 Been battling to find a gap in the 2 week rain we have had in Durban, but with a bit of coaxing from Brad this morning we took to the skies for a quick jaunt up the coast and then inland to Light Flight. There were some puffy clouds jumping at as as you can see from the first pic. Then we cruised over Nagle Dam, flew over table Mountain and landed at Light Flight for coffee. I hope Geoff appreciated the R100 I put in his account for coffee.. should buy a new jar of Nescafe.. we then joined back at the coast and met up with Noel who was on a cross-country flight inVWE from Margate back up the coast and to Light Flight.

Sling surprize

It's been shitty weather in Durban for 10 days so in desperation I took a drive up to Cato Ridge today to have a look at the surrounding airfields .. looking for a new home for our Sling next year away from the corrosion of the Virginia sea spray.. after driving through mist, the weather had cleared slightly at Light Flight and Ivor was taxying Sling ZU IAJ, so I hopped in for a few low circuits and some landings at Emoyeni.... welcome Sunday relief.

Nothing beats the coast

 Brad (left) joined me this murky Saturday morning and we ended up just past Margate along the south coast as the skies cleared, enjoying breakfast at Margate, sighting nearly a dozen whales below us, a few clouds around us and learning a few new tricks in my red rocket.

Doing a 90deg wingover

Got to cover my lips when the sun comes out

Into the Blue

Great view of Durban's World Cup Football Stadium

 Wednesday proved to be the first of blue skies after a week of rain and mist... and was good for an early morning breakfast run to Pietermaritzburg.. cute little airport with a nice coffee shop. The clear skies and a routing over the city, also gave us a chance to see Durban city from above and home somewhere down there.

Home is about the middle of this photo above Greyville Race Course

Sling Family coming together

Andrew Pitman from The Airplane Factory is helping me join the dots collecting pics of each of the Sling airplanes built or being built at the moment. I have created a special page on my blog for The Sling family here. If you own or are building one, mail me some pics to add to the album. This magic shot is of Marc Gregson's Sling. James did a barrel or aileron roll in my Sling when I went to Tedderfield to take delivery and I was amazed at how sleek and smooth the Sling handles these types of manouvres, although the Sling does not yet have an aerobatic rating.

Not much weather-wise

Was pretty shitty weather in Durban this past week so I didn't get much more to do that sit in the red rocket, although I did go for a short flight down the coast before the gathering clouds drove me back. In anticipation of a weekend away next week perhaps flying to Fredenheim, we drove to Ballito and met up with my old friend Paul Lintott who runs Air Magic and makes a range of microlight headsets and helmets at his factory here as well as chocks and tie-downs for aircraft, so I'm now equipped and ready for the weekend away.

First passenger to fly licenced

My National Pilots Licence was issued in Johannesburg yesterday and picking it up from the courier this morning, and despite the less than perfect weather, it was up into the sky with my first passenger as a licenced pilot. I was confident, despite the scattered low clouds lurking around and the 15kt crosswind at Virginia Airport...

So up we went on a short flight to Coopers Lighthouse and back, passing a few clouds which disappeared below us as we climbed. It was soon all over and we were back safely on the ground. Llewellyn was a little apprehensive but I felt relaxed and calm and went through all of my pre-flight, en-route and landing checks like routine and I think befuddled Llewellyn with the ATC speak out and back to 120,6!

Great feeling. I'm free as a bird!

First day with my licence

 Today was a great day as I took to the air solo for the first time as a licenced NPL pilot. I took it easy with a short trip to Light Flight to welcome Ivor and Jack's new Sling to Durban. In the photos the new owners show off their respective planes and the silver bullet and red rocket nose each other.