ZDL is home at last

Mike Blyth congratulates Dave on arrival at Virginia

My perfect landing

Mike Blyth, partner of The Airplane Factory, maker of the Sling airplane, and around-the-world celebrity, congratulates Dave Mc Naught taking delivery of the remodelled ZDL this week.

 

ZDL has been fully dismantled, treated with anti-corrosion protection, rebuilt and resprayed, and now sports rainbow stripes. It's been a 3-month process and co-owner Llewellyn and I are delighted to be able to get back into the air again. We also made a few improvements in line with the new-spec Slings now coming off the production line. This includes a 4-position flap selector, new interior panneling and pockets and fine-tuning of the efis on-board computer instruments. Thanks guys for the great job!

 

Home at last at Virginia airport

Back in the captain's seat!

Llewellyn wears matching colours in our first flight together in the cockpit of the new ZDL

Rich new colour scheme

My second flight over Durban harbour in the new ZDL

 

Celebrating the arrival home of ZDL as well as the maiden flight of Marc and Lee's Sling SAA are Dave, our instructor Brad, Marc, Lee and Llewellyn

 You can see more of the before and after photos in full on our Facebook group here.

 

Finishing touches

The CAA re-registration is sorted and the decals applied... final touches being done and Mike Blyth will be flying ZDL to us at Virginia tomorrow.

 

It's been a long haul but our newly renamed Dragon Warrior is coming home.

 

ZDL ready?

It's been a slog waiting for our plane and departure to Jhb today to fetch was also not without drama. Looks like the ATF was forgotten and with the plane being taken apart CAA view it as a rebuild and need proving flights and time and a new Authority to Fly to be issued.. so waiting at Lanseria for Mike to kindly fetch me then will assess where we stand and wait it out if need be for the paperwork to catch up. Not leaving Jhb wihtout ZDL this time.. been 3 false starts so far and 2 1/2 months. Hopefully all worth the wait and our plane will be brand new again.

Watch this space.
 

Make-over

 

While our plane gets it's anti-corrosion treatment and respray we have been trying to decide on the new colours and design. The dragon theme looks like how it's going to be with a new name Dragon Warrior or Rainbow Dragon. The Airplane Factory are working with a company that does car "wrapping" - wrap around decals that can transform a plain car, aircraft, boat etc, into a splash of colour, and if you get tired of it, you can simly peel it off and change theme again. So the tail will carry stripes with a rainbow colour-scheme and we are working on a dragon head and body for the front of the plane which we will have to get drawn - possibly by a tattoo or graphic artist - and then reproduced in sticker form or maybe sprayed on. So the Red Rocket is no more. Enter the Dragon!

 

In Pieces..

The photos coming in from The Airplane Factory show our plane in pieces as they give the innards anti-corrosion treatment. Andrew says they are on track to treat, respray the plane and re-assemble, so the red rocket will be white.. with rainbow stripes... watch this space. Thankfully the problem was not as bad as was anticipated, so our plane will soon be like new again. Thanks guys.

Sob, Sob, ZDL in for makeover

So no sooner did I get back from our flight to Winterton in the Red Rocket, it was off to Tedderfield in Johannesburg to return ZDL to The Airplane Factory for anti-corrosion treatment - yes it's bad here by the coast and the factory have decided in the interests of the brand to give their airplanes maximum protection. This means taking ours apart and treating the innards to preserve it's lifespan.. it may even new skins and a complete respray of the plane. It's possible the Red Rocket may be no more and have looked at a new provisional name... Rainbow Warrier. The extent of the respray will depend on what the makers find when they take the skins off.

So it was a journey to Johannesburg for us and a look around the incredible Airplane Factory which is pumping out new Slings, having sold over 105 to date!!! WoW!

Andrew has promised us the plane back in time to fly home after the Sling 100 party mid-September. So it's 6 weeks without wings!!

Marc flies with me to check out progress on his Sling

Mountains en route to Johannesburg

Andrew and director Jean of Th e Airplane Factory with Sling 4

Daniel hard at work putting finishing touches on several Slings

Goodbye Red Rocket

In the back seat of Sling 4 on the way to Lanseria for a Kulula flight home

Sling Director and mad James Pitman waves us goodbye

Johannesburg city in the distance on the way to Lanseria in Sling 4