Moods are strange things, specially when you are a moody kinda' guy..
Getting up at 3.34am, to go and charter unknown skies, is a real challenge.....I rose to it
Brrrr! it's cold
The last sandstone outcrop...flat-lands all the way now
long shadows, my early morning halo on the rock face
The long, early morning shadows, my halo on a hill-side, and the last sandstone out-crop, these, and many other thoughts and sights were just continually flooding my senses. The Free-state flats awaited me....after the mountains I had come through, I looked forward to the vastness which lay out there..........
sit back, relax, enjoy the view
I once hired a PA28-140 from a fellow down near P.E. when I was studying Agriculture at Grootfontein College in Middelburg(Cape). I hitched a ride down with a fellow student, who lived in P.E., on a Friday afternoon, and flew the plane back to Middelburg. I kept it for 3 weeks, and flew it back late one Sunday afternoon.........I remembered that flight now, that vast emptiness of the Karroo sky, that stark beauty of loneliness...Not a single voice on 124.8 for the entire flight! (It is still like that out here)
I skirted Bloemfontein to the South, clearing with Bloem approach that there was no traffic in the Military Low Level GFA....."and remain out of controlled airspace..." "No problem" I said, "I am at 200feet AGL"......silence...."confirm below 500feet AGL" "yebo!" I say...
Thank goodness for GPS, because I could have sworn I was heading North......But there Koffiefontein was, on my nose, exactly where the GPS said it would be. I orbited over town to get the attention of my arranged 'ride' into town for breakfast and petrol........It worked. Everyone in town knew I was there........
Koffiefontein - it really does exist....
Koffiefontein - morning rush hour.
Waiting the midday out - Koffiefontein
What a lovely airfield, with a hangar and parking facilities.......used to be used when De-Beers/Anglo owned and operated the diamond mine....now derelict, but fortunately (unlike the atrocious state of small town airfields which have been left to go to ruin by the councils- a deplorable state which I feel needs Aero-Club initiated intervention), still maintained..
I was treated to great hospitality by the mine.....thanks guys.....a tour of the mine-owned Game Farm, the recreational lake..
Wind and thermals had picked up, so I made the decision to wait the day out in the hangar.
Left for Prieska at 3.30pm, into a vast, empty, void..........
4pm, and the dust devils are still cajoling........
We're all travellers.....them going East, while I claw my way West...
Crop circles, fed by the Orange River
About 25miles outside of Koffiefontein I copy a transmission from a Cessna Caravan, at 200feet AGL, West of Koffiefontein. "Geez", I say out aloud to myself!!! "hey! last transmission West of Koffiefontein, this is ZU-TUG, I am also West of Koffiefontein, at 100 feet AGL......" I think he was really surprised to get a response at all, let alone a response from a microlight which was even lower than him
Abeam Hopetown, I glance at my transfer 25lt tank on the back seat, and I notice that NO FUEL HAS TRANSFERRED!!!! Shait!!!! Quick, reach around, feel the pump is working! Yes, but it is beating hard, which means it is sucking air. Quick, dammit! select another tank! Look for emergency landing while you're at it! Damm! this tank also sucking air, next tank, there's a town 10km's to my left, immediately head there, must be an airfield, check roads, keep feeling pump .......Whew, 3rd transfer tank is working.....she's pumping.........Jeez! that was close. I calculated that I was down to about 1/2 litre in my main tank when I realised that I was not transferring!!! aish! Anyway, found the Hopetown airfield (and it is one of those whose mayor is going to get a reprimanding letter from me in the new year - see photo 'in the nick of time' -. That is what is left of what was a lovely town airfield!!! Infrastructure going to ruin!!), and landed safely. Sorted out the problem, stayed on the ground until I had filled my main tank............could'nt turn, so pushed back 100m..........
In the nick of time....What's left of the Hopetown Airfield
Dreamily wandered into the western sky.......absolutely no landmarks to get a fix.......afternoon hazy sky.......had no option but to trust GPS.........
Westward, ever westwards.
Looking back........
Orange River came into view...........Prieska came into view........"Yes! Yes! Yessssss!" Dam, it felt good.........
Yes! Yes! Prieska..
Prieska - the Orange River
Another low level orbit over town to let the locals know I had arrived.
A safe landing......the usual fond kiss to the left cheek of my mistress...a pat on the wing......I'm sure she hears me.......
Prieska - Airfield
Thanks for sharing my journey.......
