SeaPlane landings

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Now that the dust has settled on our Africa tour and my flight school office is finished and the CAA inspection complete, I can turn my attention again to the lessons on flying a seaplane I need to finish before going to the States next month to gain my seaplane rating.

The fig. alongside demonstrates a crosswind landing which is described in the study material as follows:

Another technique used to compensate for crosswinds (preferred by many seaplane pilots) is the downwind arc method. Seaplanes need not follow a straight path during landing, and by choosing a curved path, the pilot can create a sideward force (centrifugal force) to offset the crosswind force. This is done by steering the seaplane in a downwind arc as shown in the figure. During the approach, the pilot merely plans a curved landing path and follows this path to produce sufficient centrifugal force to counter the wind force. During the landing run, the pilot can adjust the amount of centrifugal force by varying rudder pressure to increase or decrease the rate of turn.

This technique allows the pilot to compensate for a changing wind force during the water run. Interesting stuff!! It's going to be challenging. 

At this stage it looks as though I will be doing the training on Lake Havasu which is an inland lake on the Colorado River on the border of California and Arizona, not too far from Long Beach, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada and the Grand Canyon also in Arizona.

Madagascar 2015

Sling Madagascar Tour 2015 will be our next adventure with The Airplane Factory, crossing the Mozambique channel probably from Vilanculos, Mozambique to Toliara, southern Madagascar and then routing northwards for Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar. September (next year provisionally) seems the best month to visit with lower rainfall and cooler temperatures.. 

There are plenty of airfields and good weather this time of the year.

What you guys think? James from The Airplane Factory is keen to join us and make this an official tour.

Baobab trees in Madagascar

The route from either Inhambane or Vilanculos, Mozambique could take one over Europa Island in the Mozambique channel landing at either Toliara Airport in southern Madagascar, or Morombe Airport slightly north of that.

Toliara Airport (green plane) is west of Vilanculos (Mozambique) - it is a narrower part of the ocean gap between Africa and Madagascar but not the narrowest. To close the gap one would have to travel much further north which would be too far to travel for the sake of a narrower gap and the weather is better in the south, away from the tropical storms of the north.

Lemurs on Madagascar island. 

 Madagascar is an island running north to south crossing several lines of lattitude and therefore experiencing different weather zones from the more tropical in the north to the drier regions of the south. The east coast is exposed to the open ocean and the weather can be more wild with cyclones on the rainy seasons, whilst the west coast is sheltered in the Mozambique channel and experiences milder weather. In the middle in the upper half of the country are the highlands and rainforest with one of the world's most divers animal life. 

Dr Livingstone I Presume? - day 6 at the top of the Falls

Dr David Livingstone first caught sight of the Victoria Falls in 1855 from a spot commemorated on Livingstone Island named after him and a visit to this spot and a swim in the Zambezi River at the top of the Falls was now compulsory.

We again crossed the bridge from Zimbabwe to Zambia and caught a taxi to the Royal Livingstone Hotel where tours to Livingstone Island were arranged. This involved heading to the top of the Falls along the Zambezi River in a small power-boat, dancing in the spray at the top of the Falls and swimming in Angels Pool at the very edge. The black local staff who helped us climb safely over the rocks and swim in the current that was sweeping over the Falls were nimble and experts with our cellphone cameras. They carried our various phones through the water in an anorack and had no problem operating Samsungs, sophisticated Canon cameras and iPhones taking snaps and video clips while we frolicked dangerously close to the edge. This was followed by a scruptious meal and cocktails under a colonial looking tent whilst the rain/spray filtered down around us.

Beautiful lounger on the view deck of the hotel alongside the Zambezi

So what if the engines failed now, would we be swept along and over?

We arrive on Livingstone Island in the middle of Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River

Ek was daar - at the top of the mighty Victoria Falls

The spot where Dr David Livingston was said to have first viewed Victoria Falls

The current of the Zambezi was quite strong tugging us towards the Falls and we held on to each other for safety

Looks like a spare hand floating down the river over the Falls

Lee's images showing the spot where we swam

We'll drink to that!

Cocktails all round in the dining tent on Livingstone Island

The boat ride back from the top of the Falls

Even  more drinks in Livingstone town after our epic day

Crossing the Bridge from Zambia back into Zimbabwe - as long as you had your passport with you this was free and easy to do for Southern African citizens.

Warthogs wondering around the gardens

The beers were all good on our trip and cost between 18BWP (about R25 in Botswana) to USD$3 in Zimbabwe and a little less in Zambia

The view of the Bridge from the Victoria Falls Hotel where we re-convened with the group of Sling owners for sundowners before heading off to supper elsewhere.

Earlier crazy excitement: Bridge Swing

What I didn't tell you earlier was that the day started off before our venture to the top of the Falls with a daring proposal that we all club in for a Swing or Bungee from the Vic Falls bridge. I wasn't keen to jump or swing but it was agreed that we would all club in for the R1500 ticket and if the person drawn out the hat didn't want to jump, he could nominate another. Of course my name came out of the hat and I was definitely not going to do it, so Blane got my nomination. He in turn demanded that James join him, so here they are doing the leap of faith.

Sandy draws my name out of the packet of names James was holding

James and Blane link together for a joint swing from the bridge over the Zambezi, James making sure his balls don't get lacerated by the rope as it suddenly jerks tight.

One small step for man...

They ended up dangling just above the water in the 90m drop

Excellent photo by Cobus of the two dangling at the end of the rope

I owed James and Blane a drink after letting them do the deed on my behalf

The Zambian Royal Livingstone Hotel

The Royal Livingstone Hotel on the Zambian side of the Falls is the key to getting to the top of the Falls and is situated on the banks of the Zambezi River a short boat ride away from the edge.

The spray from the Falls in view from their cocktail deck

The Livingstone dining room at the hotel which was voted the 7th best hotel restaurant in the world

Vic Falls - day 5 Sling Africa Tour 2014

The Victoria Falls are spectacular and we saw them in the wet season which means that flying there was more tricky with clouds and rain, but the water level was high and the water thundered over the Falls sending a spray cloud up to over 1 600 ft into the air.

Our view of the 1,7km stretch of the Falls along the trail on the Zimbabwe side was amazing..

Incredible rainbows everywhere in the afternoon sun. The second rainbow is actually a mirror image/reflection of the brighter one against the mist and spray.

We all got totally soaked through shortly after this as we entered the spray zone from the Falls

James and I were ignoring the "Don't climb on the statue" signs because we wanted to be up there with Dr David Livingstone whose epic adventures in Africa first brought the wonder of the Falls to Europeans.

In some parts the spray was like a heavy rainshower and although we put our passports in plastic bags we were totally drenched and burning in the sun at the same time.

At the end of the 1,7km rainforest trail along the Falls you come across the Victoria Falls Bridge which divides Zimbabwe from Zambia. The bridge was opened in 1905.

In Victoria Falls on the 17th March - it was St Patrick's Day so we decided to sport our best green shirts for the occasion... not that there was any evidence of a St Paddy's day party anywhere, so we made our own.. cocktails on the veranda of the famous and exquisite colonial hotel.  In the photo are Cornel, Cobus, Marc, Llewellyn and myself.

The Falls Bridge forms the backdrop for the Hotel

The Victoria Falls Hotel

The view of the bridge from the front lawns of the hotel

Pretty decent long island iced tea with scones, jam and cream and cake selection

After cocktails we did the bridge walk to find out what was involved in getting to the Zambia side. We exited Zimbabwe and got drenched from the spray heading towards the bridge and then turned back as the restaurant in no-man's land in the middle was closed. We decided to adventure further on our last day.

The sun goes down on our first night in Zimbabwe as we stand on the bridge before returning to our hotel for dinner

Hitching a ride with the locals

Taxis were big business in Victoria Falls as the heat of the day dissuaded most people from walking too far. A taxi ride was seldom less than USD$5 - 10, which we shared or had to hire 2 taxis until we discovered a 6-seater taxi we used more frequently afterwards. Here we hitched a ride back to our hotel (also costing USD5$ mind you!)

The currency in Zimbabwe is the US Dollar since the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar a few years back. Street vendors still sell the old notes and I bought a few that go into Trillions of Dollars. Life must have been impossible then with food scare and inflation rampant.