Long weekend

 Beautiful long weekend for flying. My partner and co-owner of our Sling, Llewellyn, is due to do his pilot's licence flight test today, so we did a flight to the General Flying training area yesterday to run through the procedures on the skills test and let him practice the manouvres.

I also started a new student off on his quest for a National Pilot's licence and we did some of the preliminary exercises in the GFA.

Durban's Bluff and harbour from the wingtips of our Sling ZDL

Dave and Llewellyn (right) in ZDL

Passing our World Cup Football Stadium along the Durban beachfront

The Bluff, where I used to live and where my Bluff office is situated

Student Gordon flying with Dave

Doing my Taildragger conversion training

Incredible day flying yesteday.. the air was clean and clear and you could see forever. Our Instructor Larry Van Der Merwe took to the skyye with me in our Taildragger MSC for my conversion training and we flew out to Cato Ridge and Pietermaritzburg for some cheaper circuits landing this beauty. You can do your conversion too at Durban Skyye Flight School - for both PPL and NPL pilots.

Instructor Larry (left) and Dave ready for some conversion training on our flight school Taildragger MSC

Durban looking beautiful as we flew in from Cato Ridge in the west

Larry with MSC in Pietermaritzburg - beautiful little airport and an ideal lunch stop if you are in the area - the coffee shop opens when the Link airline plane is due to arrive

MSC looking proud on the Pietermaritburg apron

Dave and Larry posing before flying back

All smiles from Larry as we head back to Durban

Durban's Bluff, the harbour and  city as we pass the compulsory reporting point at Cooper's Lighthouse

We head to the harbour entrance which is the second reporting point as we enter the Virginia Airport airspace

Rounding the harbour mouth we have now left uncontrolled airspace and the beautiful view back to the Bluff reveals itself. I used to be the City Councillor for the Fynnland ward and this view basically takes in my ward.. from the harbour side through the Fynnland suburb to Beacon Road.

A view of Vetch's pier - suitable landing space for our Seaplane when we get it up and running

Friends re-united

It is great to find an old number, give it a ring and reconnect with friends from the past. Rich and Rosanne were friends before I got married ie more than 25 years ago.. Richard I had met in the army on a border camp to the Angola border somewhere inbetween my years at Varsity.

 

He then went on to farm sugarcane down the south coast and once I had qualified I did a number of his farm title deed registrations. Their daughter Jenna is now married to the son of an airfield owner at Fredenheim near Margate. So we took a flight down to Fredenheim where Rich and Rosanne met us and we enjoyed a breakfast at the nearby Leopards Rock Cafe.

 

Wonderful re-connection!!

 

Red Rocket rocks!

Cockpit view of the Red Rocket as we head out from Virginia with the Bluff and the harbour coming into view. The cockpit sports dual controls and twin MGL Odyssey Voyager glass efis on-board computers.. note the Bluff and harbour depicted on the gps. The red handle in the middle is the emergency parachute mechanism that shoots a parachute out by rocket blast in the event of deployment.

The blue knob handles the constant speed/variable pitch propellor and pressing F1, then 2 activates the auto-pilot, useful if you need to have that cup of coffee or are "temporarily uncertain of one's position" aka lost ha ha.