Lake Eland Fly-in

Dad Dave and daughter Kate-Lynn prepare to zip across the Oribi Gorge

Marc and I flew while Llewellyn and Lee drove with the kids

Llewellyn gets ready for the Wild Coast Navigation exercise

James (centre) and Andrew (left) from The Airplane Factory

Chatting around Red Rocket ZDL at Port St Johns

The amanzing Port St John's airfield atop the mountain

The Lake Eland Fly-In at Oribi Gorge this weekend took us on a navigation exercise along the wild coast to Port St Johns and back on a course to Lake Eland and Fredenheim where we landed and left our planes for 2 nights.

In addition we did a spot landing competition power on and power off gliding, did the incredible zipline across the Oribi Gorge down 15 ziplines spanning the gorge and lake.

James and his brother Andrew from The Airplane Factory came down in the Sling 4 and James treated us to a spell-binding recount of his pioneering trip around the world in the prototype Sling 4.

What a superb venue for the fly-in and thanks to brothers Billy and Wes who took delivery of the first Sling with the fuel injected 912 IS Rotax engine the same weekend.

A day for blue sky

Our beauty at Virginia before the flight

Stunning jet at Pmb airport

Durban Stadium.. awesome from the air

In flight

Today was the perfect day to get into the air early .. smooth air, calm and warm and sunny. So we made it to Light Flight for coffee, and on to Pietermaritzburg so Llew could get the feel of some touch and goes, then on to Richmond and back to Durban. 2 1/2 hours, great experience for Llew who only has 5 hours of his own doing his PPL in our plane and although I only have 140 or so hours, I feel that the experience in the air with me will help reduce his instruction (paid) hours.

Pietermaritzburg for the Comrades

Taking to the skies again

May/June weather in Durban is awesome.. not too hot and clear skies.. so we made the best of it with a flight to Pietermaritzburg while Llewellyn drove his sister up by car to join her husband for the Comrades Marathon downrun back to Durban tomorrow. Marc joined me as he has sold his Savannah plane (the same one that joined us on our trip to the Cape) and he has ordered a new Sling. Llew then picked us up at the Pietermaritzburg airport and we all had lunch in Pmb before flying back to Durban. Good luck for the run tomorrow guys!

Dave and Marc at Pietermaritzburg Airport

Durban comes into view on the way home