Plettenberg Bay and Knysna

We were stranded in Plettenberg Bay after rain and lowering clouds and mist thwarted our attempt to get to Agulhas. Marc in ETD and I in ZDL made a dash for the coast in rain and mist and were both able to land at the Plettenberg Bay airfield where we hangered the planes for 2 nights to wait out the weather. We stayed in Plett for one night, then drove to Knysna for the 2nd night... highly recommended are the Waterfront apartments - we rented one for the night and enjoyed the best sushi I have ever eaten, along with copious Marguaritas, shooters and drinks - at 34 South deg on the Waterfront... sushi crumbed and deep fried.. yum!!

Lee happy to be on terra firma and enjoying Knysna

The magnificent Knysna Heads from the air

Bay View Hotel in Plettenberg Bay

Plett is essentially a holiday town and a bit quiet this time of year

Nothing a cocktail can't fix at the Plett beachfront

Marc and Lee in front of the famous Beacon Island Hotel

Enjoying a bite in Knysna at famous bakery Ile de Pain

Waterfront apartment in Knysna - managed to do some washing

Captains and coke fix everything a cocktail may not :-)

Friends forever and great aviators

Knysna apartments

Knysna was due to be inundated with gay tourists the week after we left.. for the Knysna Pink Lourie Festival

Journey to southernmost Africa

The journey begins...

Catching the sunrise as we set off from Durban

Landing on the Port St Johns mountain for the views

We fell into a donga while taxing at Wings Park, East London

Lunch snack arriving at Hopefield PE ofr our first night

I went to catch mommy hen and as she got up chicks came running out

In the air again day 2

Over huge mountain peaks to cross to the coast

Crossing the coastline in rain at Knysna to divert to Plettenberg Bay

Each day on this incredible journey has been breathtaking. At first it didn't seem like our little aeroplanes could possibly climb up above cloud level to 7000 ft and then just scrape over the mountain tops. Possible landing places disappeared and then there were only rocky outcrops and peaks beyond rescue if we needed up. But up and on we chugged and have been discovering amazing little towns in the middle of nowhere.. Joubertina, high in the rockies, just before we plunged back down again through the clouds into mist and rain and had to make an emergency diversion to Plettenberg Bay.

The journey so far has taken us to Port St Johns, Wings Park (near East London where wee had a mishap with the front wheel spat), then Hitgeheim near PE for our first night stop, then over the rockies to Plettenberg Bay for night two. A drive by car to Knysna for night 3 as we waited the rain out. Then on to Mossel Bay for fuel and breakfast and trhough to Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa for night 4. Incredible viewsalong the coastline. Has a good laugh as most of the tourists stood at the sign that said "Southernmost tip of Africa", then I walked some more south clambering over the rocks and actually put my hand into the Indian/Atlantic Ocean a good 20m further south than them ha ha. The next morning in clear weather we set off for Stellenbosch and Table Mountain.. watch this space.

Checking those expiry dates

We're off on our epic trip to Cape Town and up the west coast this Friday. Wow, it's going to be quite hectic - 20 hours in the air at least.

Anyways, I realised as I made copies of my whole aircraft authorities and licences, that there are expiry dates that one needs to watch and renew timeously.

I have therefore created a handly expiry checklist to enable me to track the dates. I have loaded it to my public skydrive, so please feel free to download it and use it if you think it may also be useful. I have also loaded one in exel format so if you want to edit it, that is also possible.

Here is the Skydrive link for the download.

Doing it in the Red Rocket!

You gotta see this.. over we go. Great trick with James in ZDL at Tedderfield.

Tedderfield to Durban at FL095

We flew to Johannesburg today with Kulula to fetch our plane and bring ZDL back to Durban. 3 firsts - 1. I collected my PPL licence issued by the CAA and flew for the first time with my new licence 2. We requested a flight level from Johannesburg Information and flew Flight Level 095 under radar to Greytown - never been so hight in our plane, over 7000ft above the ground and 9500 altitude!! 3. Had a flip with James in the Sling 4, doing an aeleron roll with James and again in our Red Rocket. THE WAY TO GO!!

Full steam ahead for the Cape trip

Aerial view of Table Mountain

Maps, flight planning software, frequencies and airfield directory and route planning

It's been a mad Easter weekend doing some planning for our Cape Town trip with our friends in their Savannah. Our plane is a bit faster so we'll have to be on a go-slow so that we can keep up with each other. The plan has gelled into a trip on the first day (Fri 20 April) to Hitgeheim in the Addo Elephant Park area via Port St Johns and Wings Park, East London. The second day see us head towards Cape Agulhas where we will stay for the weekend, then Stellenbosch and some flying around Table Mountain; then it's off to Saldalha Bay and inland to Sutherland where South Africa's large telescope is sited (SALT). From there we head back to the coast for a return trip to Durban via Mossel Bay and Port Alfred... 10 days in all!!

Marc has been working on the Durban to Port Elizabeth leg and we have worked on the PE to Agulhas leg and next week will work on the remaining legs.

Already quite hectic is the Port Elizabeth Special Rules area, the George Special Rules area as well as the restricted areas around Overberg military area and the Overberg control zone (CTR) which we need to fly through to get to Agulhas.

Here are some of the places we will be visiting...

http://vimeo.com/4697586 Port St Johns


Hopefield Country House


Villa @ Cape Agulhas  http://www.villacapeagulhas.co.za/

Agulhas - the southernmost tip of Africa


Stellenbosch - Cape Winelands


Table Mountain - flying around the mother city


Saldanha Bay


Sutherland, home of SALT and stargazing


Port Alfred


Wild Coast

Landing at King Shaka International in Boeing 737-800

Cockpit view of the trip from OR Tambo to Durban in a Boeing 737-800.

Having just passed my PPL exams and only 100 flying hours, it was an incredible experience to join the Kulula crew in the Boeing 737 we flew in back to Durban on Thursday. We had just delivered our Sling back to The Airplane Factory for it's 100 hour service and some adjustments and had to fly the commercial route back to Durban. Thanks guys for making my day!! Almost incredible how this huge machine stays in the air.. everything seemed like in slow motion.

Follow the link here for the YouTube video clip of our landing at King Shaka International in Durban.

Over we go....

James takes Llewellyn for a flip (literally) - watch the short video clip of the aileron roll in ZDL. Click on the link.

Visit to The Airplane Factory

Llewellyn and Dave fly Red Rocket ZDL up to Johannesburg

ZDL's Dave with James Pitman of The Airplane Factory while maintenance guy Daniel looks agog at the list of repairs, maintenance and improvements we presented him with. Daniel promised us top service though and was more than happy to tackle the job.

James and Nicci arrived to pay a visit in IFR

James took Lllewellyn for 3 barrel rolls - wow, this plane really can do it!

Daniel takles some finishing work on the factory's newest Sling off the production line

The mountains around van Reenen's Pass on the way up from Durban

What a way to spend the public holiday on Wednesday. We were up early and off in the Red Rocket on our forst adventure together beyond the neighbouring airfields. We were soon feeling confident of the routing, the frequencies and able to take in the magnificent scenery as we winged our way from Virginia to Tedderfield. The guys at The Airplane Factory were hard at work on the holiday and it was great to see the machinery swining into place getting new Slings out to happy customers and keeping older customers equally enthralled. What incredible enthusiasm and passion from everyone we encountered at the factory. Keep this up guys. It is amazing to hear that Sling # 82 and possibly # 83 has been sold.!!!

And over we go...

Just a quick posting of the pic taken by Andrew from The Airplane Factory as James takes Llewellyn for a flip roll in our Red Rocket. You must see the video clip of the world spinning. Will post more pics of the crew and the video on YouTube when I get home tomorrow.

PPL Flight Test passed!!!



Final Flight Test today with Chief Flying Instructor Keith Charlesworth

Instrument flying under the "foggles" with Instructor Kyle

Beautiful clear day and view over KZN inland

I did my final lesson under "foggles" today completing my 15 hours of additional training to convert my NPL licence to PPL. This gives me the flexibility of flying a slightly heavier aeroplane, including the Sling with the additional fuel tank connected. The additional fuel tank pushes the Sling from a 600km to a 700kg mauw weight plane requiring the higher licence. The "foggles" were required for 5 hours of simulated cloud flying with reference to instruments only, a requirement for training PPL pilots.

The flight test with the Chief Flying Officer of Ayre Aviation Centre in Durban went smoothly and took a total of 2,8 hours. This included filing a flight plan and doing a dual cross country all of which too up my whole day from 8am to 4pm today.

Fuel Shortage

I am still puzzled (see Dec story) by the short-delivery of fuel from the petrol stations where I get my mogas (95 unleaded car petrol from the same stations you fill up your car) for my aeroplane. Not getting any consistent quantity of fuel in my container, I brought it inside to check my measurements with a measuring jug. This proved that my original lines on the petrol container were more or less correct and that I am being short-changed when I refill the container.

The exception was Saturday when my container was again fiulled up to the line... it almost seems that the measuring device the petrol stations use depends on the weather or air pressure, so that when the QNH is lower you get more fuel? Is this possible? How do the petrol station's bowser dispensers work and does air pressure affect the accuracy of these?

I have asked Wendy Knowler of East Coast Radio's Consumer Watch to investigate, as at R11 a litre, a 2l shortage on every 25l fuel sold means about R25 per car tankful of petrol consumers are being overcharged nationwide (when the weather is good?) Does the sunny-day filling up of your tank subsidise those who fill up on a rainy day?