Standard Bank Golf Day winner

I sponsored two prizes in this year's Standard Bank Golf Day as Mc Naught and Company's contribution to the day and yesterday I took up Ranil for a complimentary flip over Durban. Ranil won the closest to the pin prize on hole 2 and has never flown in a small plane before.

 

Ranil was pretty calm and relaxed and enjoyed spectacular views on the clear, windless day as we zoomed over the city and to Queensburgh, then down to the old Durban airport, out to sea and back to Virginia.

 

To Margate for breakfast

A stunning view of the Bluff as we rounded the harbour entrance taking advantage of the glorious summer sunshine to have breakfast in Margate this morning.

View of the Durban Stadium on take-off from Virginia

My son Mark has a holiday job for engineering experience as part of his 3rd year curriculum, working at the coal terminal at Durban Harbour.... seen here in this pic from over the Bluff.

The bridge across to the Wild Coast Sun



We had a great tailwind to Margate but then of course a headwind back - the flight there only 35 mins, the flight back 50 mins

Great breakfast and coffee at Margate airport before heading back.

 

Into the blue for Christmas

Our office Christmas lunch today was the opportunity to show our Sling 2 to the staff and selected clients... and they are hooked!

The sky was clear for the first time in weeks and we managed a short flip to the Bluff Lighthouse and back. At one stage both Mark and I, partners in the firm flew together.. not a good idea putting all your eggs in one basket, but I delivered all staff safely back to Virginia after a brief but fun flight.
 

Back into the night sky

It's been hard to find a clear day or night for flying in Durban over the past month, but last night was perfect. I am trying to complete my night rating and we managed to get 1,6 hours over an incredible almost full-moon lit Durban city and harbour. We practised VOR techniques to the old Durban International airport and the reciprocal as well as rate 1 level, descending and ascending turns to instructor Warrens's stopwatch. The Virginia ATC closes at 7pm, so we also managed a few free touch and gos. The wind was calm although the air was a bit trashy near the threshhold and for some reason each time we got within 50 feet of the ground the windshield fogged up slightly then cleared again. The red cabin lights of the Sling were supplemented by our red headlamps to improve readability of the cockpit instruments.

 

Fredenheim and Leopard Rock

ZDL visits Light Flight, Cato Ridge

Flying over the sea from Durban down the coast

5 Planes and their crew fly in to Leopard Rock for breakfast

With the beautiful weather on Saturday 5 planes took off from Light Flight and Virginia and we met up at Fredenheim, a private airfield on the edge of the Oribi Gorge where the airfield owner dropped us ff at Lepard Rock for breakfast. Oribi is about an hour's flight south of Durban, just inland from the coast. We followed the coastline until Hibberdene and then cut inland to Fredenheim.

 

The Oribi views are breathtaking and we all took some chances perching on the edge of the rock after a scrumptious breakfast. We finished off the morning flying with a stop-over (and bumpy landing on 19) at Light Flight before returning to Viginia.

Here's a link to the full set of ZDL photos.. first red, then white.
 

 

 

Back in the air

On the ground at Light Flight

Umlaas Road area from the air

Sling visit to Light Flight



Durban from the Bluff

It is great to be back in the air and this weekend the weather let up enough to enjoy a flight down the coast on Saturday and around the Camperdown area on Sunday.

 

It looks like the flight school where I did my training may be relocating due to a sale of the airfield so alternatives for landing and hangarage are still being sought in the Camperdown area.

 

ZDL is home at last

Mike Blyth congratulates Dave on arrival at Virginia

My perfect landing

Mike Blyth, partner of The Airplane Factory, maker of the Sling airplane, and around-the-world celebrity, congratulates Dave Mc Naught taking delivery of the remodelled ZDL this week.

 

ZDL has been fully dismantled, treated with anti-corrosion protection, rebuilt and resprayed, and now sports rainbow stripes. It's been a 3-month process and co-owner Llewellyn and I are delighted to be able to get back into the air again. We also made a few improvements in line with the new-spec Slings now coming off the production line. This includes a 4-position flap selector, new interior panneling and pockets and fine-tuning of the efis on-board computer instruments. Thanks guys for the great job!

 

Home at last at Virginia airport

Back in the captain's seat!

Llewellyn wears matching colours in our first flight together in the cockpit of the new ZDL

Rich new colour scheme

My second flight over Durban harbour in the new ZDL

 

Celebrating the arrival home of ZDL as well as the maiden flight of Marc and Lee's Sling SAA are Dave, our instructor Brad, Marc, Lee and Llewellyn

 You can see more of the before and after photos in full on our Facebook group here.

 

Finishing touches

The CAA re-registration is sorted and the decals applied... final touches being done and Mike Blyth will be flying ZDL to us at Virginia tomorrow.

 

It's been a long haul but our newly renamed Dragon Warrior is coming home.

 

ZDL ready?

It's been a slog waiting for our plane and departure to Jhb today to fetch was also not without drama. Looks like the ATF was forgotten and with the plane being taken apart CAA view it as a rebuild and need proving flights and time and a new Authority to Fly to be issued.. so waiting at Lanseria for Mike to kindly fetch me then will assess where we stand and wait it out if need be for the paperwork to catch up. Not leaving Jhb wihtout ZDL this time.. been 3 false starts so far and 2 1/2 months. Hopefully all worth the wait and our plane will be brand new again.

Watch this space.
 

ZDL make-over

 We visited The Airplane Factory to check progress on the anti-corrosion treatment to our plane.. in fact we were supposed to take re-delivery today... but as you can see from the pics, the plane was not yet ready... in fact we're wingless. Anyhow, the job is looking good and the Airplane guys are working flat out on the number of planes they are churning out to keep everyone happy. We also took the oppotunity of writing our names on the metalwork under the seats. Other modifications include improvements to the seats to bring them more into line with the new spec seats,  a new firewall to prevent hot-air leakage into the cabin, sealing of the canopy and a new paint-job.

We also had a look at several other Slings in the making, including ZU-SAA of our friends Lee and Marc who are hoping to take delivery of Sling # 93 at the end of October.

Co-incidentally our visit now on the 15th September 2012 is the date to the day on which we took first delivery of ZDL one year ago!

 

Awards evening

Ayre's Chief Flying Instructor Keith congratulates Dave on his PPL

Ayre Instructor's Larry and Warren, with PPL students Marc, Llewellyn and Brad

Birthday fun with my daughter Kate-Lynn and Llewellyn

 

Ayre Aviation's first Awards evening was held last night on my birthday, so it was a fitting celebration as I received my PPL Certificate and wings. I have "recruited" 3 more students for Ayre -  seen in the photos are my NPL Instructor Brad who has also just done his conversion to PPL in the school's Sling, Marc who is busy with his PPL conversion while he is waiting for his Sling on order to be completed, and Llewellyn who is doing his ab initio PPL training with Ayre.

 

Make-over

 

While our plane gets it's anti-corrosion treatment and respray we have been trying to decide on the new colours and design. The dragon theme looks like how it's going to be with a new name Dragon Warrior or Rainbow Dragon. The Airplane Factory are working with a company that does car "wrapping" - wrap around decals that can transform a plain car, aircraft, boat etc, into a splash of colour, and if you get tired of it, you can simly peel it off and change theme again. So the tail will carry stripes with a rainbow colour-scheme and we are working on a dragon head and body for the front of the plane which we will have to get drawn - possibly by a tattoo or graphic artist - and then reproduced in sticker form or maybe sprayed on. So the Red Rocket is no more. Enter the Dragon!