Another Holiday Adventure

[Thatchman]

From Queenstown to EL was about a 1h20 min flight. The weather was perfect the whole way and we absorbed all the views along the way.

When the sea came into view it was quite a moment. After 7 hours of flying, we had made it.

We headed for the Kwelega area. We had arranged to land and keep the trikes at Robertsvale airfield which belongs to John Waterson who makes the Savanna fixed wing.

I just had to go fly over the sea first though and the feeling as we past over the waves was fantastic. We messed around there for a while and headed up the Gonubie river for Robertsvale. 400m strip where we landed to meet my mate who was picking us up.

I took him for a scenic 15 minute flight before landing again to secure the trikes.

Well, we are here. Will braai with the family and mates today before heading up along the coast to Margate tomorrow......weather permitting.

[Gaylord Focker]

dreaming about Diahorea

[Thatchman]

We sat last night looking at the weather forecast for todays flight from East London to Margate. We were all looking forward to flying up along the coast. The wx forecast did not look good. 34km NE wind and drizzle expected. We decided to remain positive and set the alarm for 3h30. We wanted a 5am take-off.

The alarm went off and blah blah we were airborne at 5h20am. The wx did not look too bad in EL. A light wind already but pretty miserable looking skies. No rain and no thunderstorms but just overcast.

Flying up the coast was everything we expected. We got past Kei Mouth before the visibility deteriorated and the drizzle started. I was quite chuffed when straydog said he needed a leak and we put down at Mazeppa Bay. Some cows came over to inspect the GT’s, licked my trike and drifted off.

We took off again not sure what we were flying into as it did not look good. We hugged the shore with the visibility varying from 5 to 10 km and drizzle from time to time. We had a strong 20 mph headwind but fairly smooth flying just off the shore.

Seeing all my old Eastern Cape bred visiting spots from the air was amazing. Hole in the wall, Morgan bay, Coffee Bay, Presleys, just to mention a few. The wx at this stage looked far worse than it was. It must rate as my most enjoyable flight yet up to Port Grosvenor.

We decided to land at Port Grosvenor to transfer fuel and bum some coffee from the holiday shacks. The runway there is not easy. It firstly slopes to the side so you are landing at an angle as it is on the side of the hill. It is also not flat and was muddy and wet in parts. The 20mph wind just added a bit more but at least it was fairly consistent and straight down the runway.

We landed safely about four hours after leaving EL, met some friendly holiday makers who kindly gave us coffee and porridge. We had to oblige a few flips before getting into the air again.

Will post the rest of the journey to Margate tomorrow including Margate ATC wanting to know if we have IFR rating

[alwyn]

Your 450 looks great , How does it flies ...

[Thatchman]

Alwyn, it flies great. the more I fly it the more I appreciate it.

Some more pics. please note that any pics that look like we were where we should not have been where photoshopped........and elec fuel pumps were on.

[Thatchman]

So we left Port Grosvenor at about 11 o clock. The wind was blowing harder now and once we got airborne the weather started to look a bit bleak in terms of what we were heading into.

After about 10 minutes we hit rain again. I had never appreciated the windscreen of the GT as much until then. It took the brunt of the rain and the only thing I had to do was wipe my visor every now and again.

At times the visibility dropped to about 500m and we had to get closer together so we knew where each other was at all times. After about 5 minutes it improved and we could enjoy the coast again.

Having not flown at the sea before, I particularly enjoyed the low flying over the deserted long stretches of beach we found along the way.

I had an awesome sighting of a whale with a calf as well as another unusual sight of four Rhinos. Gaylord and I were flying alongside each other about 300 ft AGL just landside of high cliffs somewhere just South of the Coffee Bay area.
There was a piece of land that protruded out towards the sea almost like one of the Knysna heads. Right on top and close to the edge were 4 huge rhinos, laying next to each other as if they were gazing out to sea and appreciating the view. Unfortunately I did not get a pic as we were getting a bit wet at the time.

Anyway Gaylord calls the tower at Margate. This was his leg to plan. (fuel, prior approval for micro’s to land at Margate, accommodation etc). Margate did not know we were coming. The Focker thought that “Margate we are on finals” is the same as obtaining prior approval.
So he gives the ATC a call about 15 miles out. We get crapped out for flying in these conditions. “ do you have IFR ratings” the ATC asks to which Gaylord replies, “but we can see fine”. It sounded a bit like Achmed the terrorist. We tell him that we can see about 10 miles. What we did not know was that at Margate Viz was about 1 mile max.

He asks us to report at San lamer. Now there is a Cessna 210 inbound from Port Edward to Margate at 500 ft . The ATC tells him to keep a lookout for us. We are also at 500 ft as he well knows. I request permission to decend to 300 ft so as not to get a Cessna 210 up the naught. The ATC instructs us to remain at 500ft and tells the Cessna to divert to Virginia due to poor Visibility.

We are 1 mile out and still cannot see the runway. Instructed to come in straight on finals on runway 04, I am at the back slightly above straydog and am momentarily losing sight of him not 200m away.
We decend and suddenly the runway comes into view. The ATC sees us and having extracted registrations for landing order brings us in. He directed the Focker and straydog to the end of the runway I suppose so I so not fly up there arse and I put it down in front of the terminal. I request permission to taxi in and ask for fueling and parking instructions.
He asks if we have accommodation to stay over to which I reply “not yet” (thanks Focker). He gives directions and instructs us to report to him in the tower once we are tied down (oh cool).

We fuel up and taxi all the way down near the Margate light aircraft flying club and tie down. There are a lot of people and cars at the club. Gaylord has suddenly remembered that tailspin is on holiday in Margate. He phones him and invites us over to stay. Tailspin was in Durbs though and will pick us up in 2 hours. We landed at about 12 o clock, just over 6 hours after leaving EL.

We look like drowned rats and I suggest that we go have a beer at the club before reporting to the tower for our lecture. We pull in at the club and there are about 150 or more people in there having there xmas party. There were very friendly and invite us in for a beer. 30 minutes later the fuel attendant arrives and says the ATC wants to know where we are? Oh f#$k.

So up we go to meet Dup the ATC. Straydog turns on the charm and in two minutes we are all buddies. “You went from Jhb to EL, to here and tomorrow back to Jhb, are you f#$@$ing mad? “No we are having fun we reply standing there in our half off flight suites sopping wet with our Xmas hats from the xmas party that we were going back to. He shakes his head, takes our cash for the fuel, landing fees and overnight parking and wishes us well. Nice bloke Dup.

So we go back to the party. They feed us, make us feel at home and we settle in and wait for tailspin.

So here we are in Margate. The wx looks kak for Mondays flight back to Jhb so looks like we will be staying over. Tailspin says we can stay as long as we want (Thanks Gav, you saves fockers arse, who is now pretending his route was well planned as it all worked out)

Cheers for now. Will post some more pics.

[Thatchman]

Some picks of waterfalls flowing into the sea.

[Thatchman]

Pics of our arival at Margate and the xmas party we invited ourselves to.

You gotta love aviators. The friendliness, help and hospitality that we have experienced from fellow aviators is unbelievable.

F#$@#@$@$k I love flying.

[Boer]

I hear at Mazzeppa the local car(trike)wash is so rough it will take the paint off to undercoat eh! uddercoat.

Good Luck for tommorow

[tsotsi]

Hi Thatchman and company

Are all of you flying Gti's? If you have pics of Mazeppa Bay please post them. The last time I was there is about 20 yesrs ago and will be interesting to see. Looks like a very nice trip, enjoy!

[afskies scribe]

What an adventure just gotta love these guys but you need to sling the fuel can underneath & clear one backseat for me

[Big-D]

Awesome stuff

Great photo's, thanks for sharing

D

[grostek]

Awesome pics and report Guys,

How about a new sticker for the flying suits.....

"I'd rather be Flying and F&%#ing Mad
than
Safe ,Sane and Boring"

Be safe and have fun Guys.

Kind regards,

Gunter Rostek

[Thatchman]

Hi Tsotsi, They are all Quik GT 450's made by P&M Aviation in the UK. PM your email address to me and I will send you pics of Mazeppa.

[Thatchman]

After looking at the forecast we did not even bother setting the alarm to get up early yesterday. I awoke at about 7h30 to rain and pumping wind. The rain stopped and the skies cleared during the day but the wind continued so we spent the day wandering around Margate.

The forecast for today (Tuesday) looked better with no rain but a 30 to 40 knot wind towards the Berg at 5000 to 6000 feet. At least it would be a nice tailwind. The only concern was that the prediction of the cloud base over the escarpment was touch and go.

After getting to sleep at 11 last night, I heard Straydog getting up at 1h30 am and he said he was going to have coffee and a smoke. As last nights pizza was causing some heartburn, I joined him on the patio for coffee and a gavascon. The wind was still blowing and I had visions of another day in Margate.

We had developed this little ritual on the trip. These are the little things that boys do on boys trips as I am sure you know. Straydog and the Focker both smoke and I do not and they would often offer each other a smoke and go off to smoke. So I shat on them for being inconsiderate and not offering me one. So they offered and I took the smoke and refused a light but would sit/stand with them and let the thing hang out my mouth. When they were finished I would stick it behind my ear until we had our next smoke.

So we get back to sleep at 2am and wake up at 4am. Get our shit together and Tailspin (another aviator with a big heart) gives us a ride to the Margate airport. The wind has settled quite a bit (about 10 knots). We do the checks, pack the planes, warm up (a pain with the 912) and are airborne at 05h40.

Some rain was pushing in from the South east with the wind and we just caught a sniff of it. Another 20 minutes and we may have got drenched (again).

This was a longish pull back to Jhb and we were not going to smell too many roses along the way. As we started climbing we picked up the wind from behind and when I looked down at the GPS, I had a ground speed of 110 mph. We were making good time. 1h25 minutes later we were overhead the Ultra City at Estcourt. We had an average ground speed of about 115 mph in a range from 105 to 128.

It was at this point overhead the Ultra City that I recalled the comment that David Daniels made about landing here on more than a 5 knot wind was tricky. I have landed here once in about 10 knots with the wind coming straight over the garage and it was tricky. Fortunately the wind today was from the other direction so we did not get much turbulence but it was wet and muddy in parts. I did the clever thing. I arrived last and let the Focker and Straydog go in first. It was not too bad on the ground and we fuelled up, had coffee and a good breakfast and headed for the escarpment.

The wind was still good for us and as we got nearer, the clouds got more dense and lower. I was not convinced that we would get through. We raced up Van Reunens at 100 mph and cleared the top with about 300 to 500 ft of clear below the cloud base. It got a little bumpy but not too bad so I leaned down, grabbed the camera, fired off a pic behind me then settled back, opened my pocked, got out my bent smoke, hit the PTT and said, “boys lets have a smoke”

The rest of the flight in was a pleasure but for some heavy mist in the South at Panorama where we left the Straydog. We bid him farewell and the Focker and I headed for Rietfontein. Thanks to the tailwind, we made Margate to Panorama in a flying time of 3hrs 45 minutes plus the leisurely stop for breakfast we were in Jhb at 10h40.

It was for me a great moment to call lanseria again for a routing to Rietfontein. It was by far, far, far my biggest ML trip so far with two good mates, great flying and good memories. (except for Fockers diarrhea).

Thanks to all those that provided and helped along the way and I hope you all enjoyed following the trip with us.

Some pics from today will be attached.

So where to next………hmmm.