Microlighters

Dear organisers of the Numbi Thing,

Yeah, I want to add my thanks to the organisers as well.

Great weekend.

Put lots of names to faces I had heard. Most of them exceedingly grotesque but I suppose allowance must be made for the trip down there which involved extreme turbulence, abject fear and limited opportunities for a leak all of which will take took their toll - and the situation is not improved by the fact that we spend hours at a time sun, wind and extreme cold, in conditions that the food industry simulate in order to create freeze dried food and prunes. I use Oil of Olay mixed with two stroke which is why I look so good.

Fortunately I did not take part in any of the competitions and so some of the lesser qualified pilots were able to recieve some acknowledgement for their flying abilities. (Oh, the bog roll cut? - well that was not fair because the the guy that won it (Mr. G Raubenheimer esq. from an unmanned airfield in the north) knew the organisers and was allowed to look at his bog roll before he threw it out which felloniuos breach of ICAO rules.

Also I really enjoyed the camping. On the ground. In the orchard, the one where you all had post flight urinations. In my two foot high collapseable tent. With the emphasis on collapsible. Which is only 5 feet long. So waking up when some pevert started his engine at 5 am was a pleasure and not a problem. And the communal showers were also very nice - the athletes foot will cure itself once the foot falls off. And the skylight I accidentally put into the roof of my tent with the candle whilst trying to burn off a the wasp nest, is actually quite lekker and I wont be fixing it.

The hotel food (to which, as I was informed by some non-pilot-hotel-employee, I was not entitled to as I was not a paying guest) was good. One had to make a certain effort to reach the buffet before Mr. Grootman Esq. from Springs, but that fortunately served to shake off the stiffness I aquired from lying on a baobab root the previous night. ( by way of preliminary response to spontaneous observations - i sleep on my back).

It was also encouraging to see so many white pilots joining the tribal dancing after supper. Compared to Mr. J. Clegg Esq. ( non-pilot) - they did look as if they were shuffling down the garden path in their slippers with a babbelas to pick up the Sunday paper but a few more Numbi's and this should be sorted out.

Flying along the escarpment above Gods Window was a priviledge. THis was mentioned to us frequently on the radio every 10 seconds by Mr. Luppini Esq. (also from Springs) which is why 124.8 is called a frequency. However, between us and the keyboard, I wanna tell you that it made a welcome relief from having to listen to other pilots in the area trying to tell us about their final approach on fields I'd never even heard of. There was also some pathetic helicopter pilot looking for a fire or something - fortunately he was cut short by Mr. Luppini advising us that it was a priviledge to be able to see the tour busses at Gods Window from the air.

Then there was Mr. Culligan Esq. (also from an unregistered airfield) who drifted down there with a souped up Raptor-look-alike trike which was quite interesting. It went quite fast because he stuffed a Rotax 912S in the place of the 582 and also he is quite a light oke. It has winglets on the side to stop the wing from poking holes in any tents which might be parked in the vicinity during fly-inns. And he keeps it clean. This last thing makes me suspicious. One only keeps a plane clean if one wants to sell it and one only wants to sell it is one is not happy with it. My trike is dirty.

I also nipped over the ridge to pay my respects to Messrs Young and Pocock, the renegades in the Barbeton valley - the seat of true unregulated flight. They fly in real bushveld country. It was the only bushveld I saw for the entire trip. Apart from the orchard I was camped in. I was banned from flying over the Kruger Park to look for animals because some inconsiderate schmuck did it before me. And he apparently terrorised some poor sweet crocs in a croc farm on the way. Way to go brother - try landing in a river and see if the crocs give a decomposed aardvarks arse whether you are terrified or not.

My fellow sufferer and thermal spotter on this trip was Mr. R. Gassman Esq. (from Springs) whose philosphy of "every man for himself" was the reason I decided not not to bring a woman on this trip and to sleep in a tent. He has a very fast plane which is a good thing because it enables him to get very far ahead of the pack in order to give us advance warning of any impending thermal induced laxative effect and to ensure that at least one Springs/Panorama pilot is represented in the llimited and restricted parking area.

Then there were Messrs. Macfee and Blythe Esq. who organised the parking, the distribution of clothing and some other fun stuff. The event would not have been the same without them because each has at least one wife and numerous kids and the hotel would NOT have been so fully booked as it was if they had come on their own and shared - not that room availability would have had any affect on my decision to sleep in the blooming wilderness. But the over booked hotel was the reason I was allowed to camp at no charge and the other pilots could get great deals by sub letting their rooms to Ukrainian tour groups. Both Rob and mike have been allowed to use hangar space at Panorama in exchange for their "dem days" story sessions in our new Panorama sanatorium - Fort Macfee - built substantailly by Robs gardener and which is to become a well known drinking hole and rumour factory. Fort Macfee was, I might add, primarily designed as a thermal and wife shelter built to withstand the harshest situations. Pilots in distress are welcome to use the recovery unit and all are welcome to drop in - preferably using the runway but balistic drops are also accomodated by prior arrangement with the CAA. All will be advised of the special opening day offers.

I finally also wish to thank myself for taking time out from my busy schedule and for agreeing to be there and without whose presence there would have been one less person in attendance and things would have gone ahead regardless. Henk and I were quite happy to let the Springs pilots fly along us and are happy to do the same next year. The Springs pilots are a breed unto themselves and I really dont think it is a good idea to encourage them to breed with anyone else.

I rest assure the organisers of next years event that I might well be back.

Duif

David Levy on SAMicro wrote:Then there was Mr. Culligan Esq. who drifted down there with a souped up Raptor-look-alike trike which was quite interesting. It went quite fast because he stuffed a Rotax 912S in the place of the 582 and also he is quite a light oke. It has winglets on the side to stop the wing from poking holes in any tents which might be parked in the vicinity during fly-inns.