Christmas spirit

Great to have ZDL back in Durban and to see the sun shining again.. wow, 2 days in a row. So a flight "around the cabbage patch" was in order just to show a prospective Sling purchaser how beautifully the plane flies. And of course a chance to show some Christmas spirit with our hats.

 

ZDL has been sitting in Louis' hangar in Cato Ridge in the place of his plane as the next flight was going to be to Tedderfield in Johannesburg to fetch his plane back from it's 25-hour service. A month has gone by and with the shitty weather en route it has been impossible to go sooner. Yesterday we managed the trip, starting out on a misty morning with the clouds hanging over Pietermaritzburg in the hollow. After skirting the clouds and getting over the ridge, the sky was relatively clear and we made it to Jhb and back in a morning.

 

The clouds hang over Petermaritzburg as we picked a route to skirt them

8500 ft passing the craggy koppies half way

Estcourt and Wagendrift dam on the way home

Getting a bit hot as the morning sun burns down

A quick glimpse at the Sling 4 in production at The Airplane Factory

The familiar sight of Durban's Bluff at the reporting point near home, with the harbour and city in the distance

We left at 6.30am in ZDL taking Louis to Johannesburg, picked up his plane and flew home in our respective Slings completing the round trip by 12noon.

Goodbye to a dear father

The modern father of our nation and South Africa's favourite President died at the age of 95 last night on the 5th December 2013.

Nelson Mandela will be remembered as a world Statesman who brought unity to South Africa and peace to this part of Africa and a man loved by everyone.

CNN sets out well his life history and the passage to a peaceful transition from the National Party government pre-1994 to the democratic elections and the inauguration of our first black President under the new negotiated Constitution of the Republic. The Constitution introduced a Bill of Rights and widespread new freedoms for all citizens, regardless of race or gender. We salute you dear father and thank you for your gift to us all. May you Rest in Peace.

President Nelson Mandela

Awesome new beginning

I'm back in business with ZDL now home. Thanks to The Airplane Factory, Gareth, Andrew, Daniel and probably Lyle who all had a hand in re-wiring our plane, fixing the fuel-tank leak and respraying parts where corrosion was evident, as well as a host of other adjustments and upgrade of my dash and efis software. You guys did a great job and I'm very proud of you!

 

Louis and I took off this morning as early as we could get out of bed and up to Light Flight where Sling JAL is hangared so that we could leave JAL for it's 25 hour service and minor delivery adjustments in Johannesburg, and fetch ZDL flying back to Durban together in my plane. The sky was beautiful with a few patches where the morning mist had not yet lifted and the sky all the way to Johannesburg for the 2 1/2 hour flight was as smooth as a baby's bum. I've never had such a smooth flight to Jhb.

 

Camperdown from the air as we took off from Light Flight

 

The route to Johannesburg over the escarpment - some clouds to the right but clear ahead

The "koppies" just below around the Harrismith area

 

Once in Johannesburg Gareth went over a few of the adjustments and re-wiring done and I managed a look-around the factory - 2 of the new Sling 4-seaters were flown for the first time yesterday and a few other Slings were in production that I could see with more spread around the factory in various stages of assembly and painting.

 

Re-united with our Sling ZDL

Gareth, Production Manager at The Airplane Factory, chats to Louis about the 25 hour service due now on his new Sling JAL. We hope to return to Tedderfield next week to fetch it and then fly back in our respective planes.

Louis inspects the new Sling 4 as well as Sling 4 OMG below that took their maiden test flights yesterday. The Airplane Factory reports orders for the 4-seater of 20 at present, the first of which was delivered recently.

Got the Sling decals back on our plane ZDL, although Gareth forgot the dot on the i

 

 

The clouds were starting to gather on the route back to Durban - windguru said it would cloud over by 2pm, hence the need to fly there and back all in a morning, getting home by 12.

This cloud was awesome. With them gathering, and the temperature rising to 30 deg c, the air en-route back was a bit more turbulent, but nothing like the horrendous flight we had to Jhb not too long ago through the storm clouds.

en-route Louis (left) and I in the pilot seat getting the feel of the re-wired and sorted ZDL. We flew flight level FL085 to Jhb and FL075 back using the ENO rule.. even flight levels flying on a heading between 180 - 359 deg, and odd flight levels for headings between 0 and 179 deg. Flights are further separated by 500 feet for those flying VFR (Visual Flight Rules - in sight of the ground) and IFR flights (Instrument Flight Rules, for those rated to fly in clouds). In this way the risk of mid-air collisions between planes can be reduced by changing the levels at which planes fly depending on the type of flight and direction headed. We also had approved routings from the Johannesburg East (KZN) and Johannesburg South (Gauteng) Flight Information Sectors, so we were on their radars for most of the flight there and back. To do this they give you a squawk code (like 4507) which you dial into your aircraft transponder and this sends a unique signal back to the air taffic guys who are able to spot you on their radar like commercial airliners. Other general aviation flights use a squawk code of 2000 which enables them to be seen, but does not identify which plane it is. Useful little gadget. We were on the ground home by noon.

 

Dry spell

 When our trip to Jhb was cancelled, we turned back and Louis and I in his Sling JAL did a consolatory flight to and touch-and-go at Pietermaritzburg instead from his home base at Cato Ridge
 

This is a nearby airfield we have been looking at with a view to renovating it and possibly building a hangar with the owner's permission to base our 2 Slings at, away from the coastal air.

It's been a bit of a dry spell. ZDL is up at The Airplane Factory in Tedderfield. As indicated in earlier posts, we have had an unresolved electrical fault which mysteriously gobbles up our power and blows the regulator which has been fixed twice. We asked the factory to give the electrics a thorough checking over and after investigating everything for a week, it has been decided to rewire the plane. It may also have something to do with the MGL Avioguard we had fitted after the last failure. It is an electronic device intended to ensure that smoothed power is supplied to the sensitive avionics at all times, even if there is a dip or surge in the current. The wiring diagram for this new product from MGL seems to have caused some difficulties and had to be re-checked with MGL. Feels like we are being guineapigs here.

The Airplane Factory have been marvelous and are leaving no stone unturned in getting the problems sorted out and a decision was taken to disconnect everything and re-wire the plane from scratch using the most-up-to-date wiring harnesses developed by the factory.

In the meantime I am in Durban and the plane has been in Johannesburg for 3 weeks now. We were on our way to fetch the plane on Wednesday and had to turn back when the factory phoned to say that ZDL was not going to be ready. Looking forward to getting back in the air next week.

Tedderfield smorgasboard

We waited 10 days for Durban's weather to "clear" before we could make the trip to Johannesburg over the escarpment to fetch Louis' new Sling ZU-JAL. The wind was totally trashy the whole trip there and back and we were bumped and bucked around the clouds which WindGuru said would have cleared by 10am around the halfway mark over the Berg escarpment but the only solution was to fly higher up to 8500ft where the air became a little smoother. As soon as we were over the Berg we scooted along at low level as the smoke from fires was also causing visibility problems. For the journey back the clouds had cleared some but there were at least 10 huge veld fires burning and the smoke was so thick it was almost as if we were flying in cloud with the visibility reduced. Not the best weather for 5 hours in the air there and back.

 

 

Louis and I very proud of his new fuel injected Sling 912 Is

I dropped off ZDL with The Airplane Factory to have the wiring on the new AvioGuard checked out as this is still an unresolved problem and then flew back with Louis in his new plane after taking delivery.



The Airplane Factory's Andrew hands over JAL to Louis

 I told Louis that he now has a Japanese plane after the Japan Airlines logo, but he insists that JAL stands for the initials of his wife Jeanette, sons Andre and Armand and himself Louis. I am not so sure he doesn't have a JAP plane.

The fuel economy of the fuel injected Rotax engine was evident on the way back as the 100hp engine sipped only 14 litres of 95 unleaded petrol per hour. This means we used about 35 litres or R450 for the 2 1/2 hour flight home @ 100 knots compared to about 18-20 litres for the carburettor version.
 

New plane being built at The Airplane Factory ZU-BLK

FTY in for maintenance

FYM at The Airplane Factory in for maintnenance

Aviation Direct's Sling MCA visiting the factory



A new Sling in production at the Factory

There were several Sling 4 in different stages of production at the Factory

The Sling 4-seater is distinguished by the slightly longer fuselage and the luggage hatch just behind the wing in this plane being assembled at the Factory

Louis' Sling JAL is the first to be fitted with the new MGL iEFIS - the largest touchscreen efis now available from MGL, our own homegrown international avionics company based in Cape Town. Congrats to Rainier from MGL for this superior product. It took a little getting used to on our maiden flight home, but it has several advanced features and marks a huge improvement over the MGL Voyager we have in ZDL.

 

2014 trip to Vic Falls

For those getting itchy feet, The Airplane Factory and Sling owners are planning a trip to Botswana and Vic Falls in March next year. I hear full moon is the time to catch a "moonbow" as the light from the moon refracts through the mist from the mighty Zambesi river as it flows over the falls.

So dates and airfields are still being discussed - any input would be great - and the idea is to all meet at The Airplane Factory, possibly mid-March 2014 and then go in a group up into Botswana, the Okavango Delta and on to Victoria Falls. The trip will be about 6 nights, or for those joining from Cape Town or Durban add a night or two.

So pencil in a big circle over March for those planning trips in the first part of next year and join us. More details will follow as to who from The Airplane Factory will be leading the expedition and the route and costs involved.

I know you guys from The Airplane Factory USA are coming out to South Africa next year, so maybe you'll fit this into your schedule and come join us.

emails to Dave slingfans@gmail.com

## It looks like our first stop will be Nguma Lodge in the Okavango Delta with a 1000m fully licensed airfield. Accommodation with an airstrip is quite difficult to find unless you are in the R5000 per night bracket. However this camp offers campsites for R145 per person per night for those who want to camp and bring a tent, to R1000 per unit (sleeps 2) per night for a tented chalet, or R1500 per person per night for the Lodge - so there are pricing options to suit everyone. The idea is to stay for 2 nights and explore the Okavango, then fly on to Vic Falls for 2 nights where we are looking at accommodation options, then stay one or 2 more nights in Botswana en route back to Johannesburg. ##

Sea Plane rating 2014

I have always wanted to fly a sea plane, so it's on the cards to get my SA Pilot's licence accredited in America and do a sea plane rating there. There are a couple of venues that do this - in Florida and Alaska over 2 days of flying from lake to lake, so I am working on putting together a flying holiday to the States next year instead of visiting some random cities. Will reveal more as the plans unfold and I do some more research.

Golf Day Winner

Standard Bank's annual golf-day was a chance for me to give away a complimentary flight. The hard part was pinning down a suitable time to fly with the weather very changeable over the past two weeks. I had arranged Saturday (beautiful morning) but by the time Leroy could get to me, the clouds had rolled in and by the time we were ready for take-off Virginia declared the Airport IMC with the cloud base at 1000 ft. I asked very nicely though and the best the Air Traffic Controller could give me was a special VFR flight to the Harbour entrance and back (not leaving his controlled space, otherwise I would have to go and land somewhere else). Leroy had never flown in any plane before and I was conscious of some previous Avcomer's advice that nervous passengers should cross their legs and sit on their hands to prevent interference with the controls. Anyway Leroy did fine and said it was not as scary as he had imagined.

 

Mc Naught and Company, by the way, is my legal practice specialising in Conveyancing. So the next time you buy or sell a house or any property in South Africa, make sure you put my name down as the Conveyancers and it will be my pleasure to be of service. My contact number for future purpose is 083-7033329. Dave Mc Naught