Microlighters

Lekker saam met Riaan "genavigate" see toe. Saterdag vanaf Aasvoelnes vetrek na Florence Guest house in Chrissiesmeer - wat 'n ongelooflike gasvrye ontvangs van Ane en Nico! Daar oornag en die lug aangedurf na Newcastle - vol stampe en stote. Baie dankie aan Bennie Vorster vir sy hulp met brandstof en aangename geselskap. Daarna Virginia hier kom ons! Dankie Bred vir jou huis, gasvryheid en vroee ontbyt. Die teurgtog na Marble Hall was 'n lekker vinnige "tail wind" vlug, en half een terug by Aasvoelnes.

Dankie aan Riaan van den Heever (EAV) en Willem Kruger (EMJ) met Sky ranger en Gyro (Kanarie). Dit was 'n helse sukses en ondervinding!

Hennie Bester

It all started with viewtopic.php?t=6039 and then viewtopic.php?t=6196[quote]Wow ! The Power or Microlighters!
Me and a buddy decided last night to take a flight, long one, somewhere ?
(Inspired by Rudi) Looked at the weather and decided to go buzz David and Anet's House. A few phone calls, a pm to Bennie and we are off !
Thanks Bennie for the fuel. See you tomorrow if all goes well. We have some 9 hours of flying the next 2.5 days.
Bennie join us tomorrow for a while ...
David keep them cold!

[/quote]

What a way to end 2007!!! This was great fun! I is amazing how helpful and hospitable our fellow aviators are along the way. A big thank you to all: Ane and Nico, Bennie, David & Anet and Bret. Bret, you were a star! Fetching us from the airport, throwing his house open to us, taking us out to dinner, waking us at 04:00 with a cup of coffee and even feeding us before dropping us at the airport. The rest later.

Cheers

Me and Willem decided Friday evening that we want to go fly and after long debate came up with a route. The destination must be the coast. "You do the planning, I will see you tomorrow at the hanger after work." "Ok Willem see you." Try calling mr. Bester but no answer, twice. Finally Bester calls back. "We are leaving in 3 hours time, are you my wingman, navigator or are you watching my house?" Comes 15:00 we are at the hangar. Bester is there and I have a navigator. "Ok guys, wheels up at 16:00 ETA for Florence Guest Farm 17:30." We are air born, it is still hot and we are bouncing along with what looks like a 10mph head wind witch ads another 20 minutes. No problem, we were expecting it and plenty of time before sundown. The way points comes and goes and before we new it was time to land. The wind was still blowing and the windsock talked about 12knot or so wind slightly cross to the runway, no problem, there is plenty of runway. We tied down, refueled with the help of Wilhellem, who was kind enough to drive us the 5km to town. Then we settled down and watched the sun go down. More later.

Cheers '<*>'

:D the pleasure was all mine .it was great to meet fellow wing nuts.
looking forward to your next trip down .
i will open my house to all my fellow wing nuts, who flys down.
Brett Hill

The next morning we made the most of Ane's breakfast before loading up and drying the leading edges. SMS ETA to Bennie and it is off to Newcastle. The wind is already blowing, but the sky is clear and calling. Another hour and a half and there Bennie was waiting beneath the Newcastle smog. Bennie had more than enough fuel for us and wants a flip in the gyro. Sorry Bennie, the coastline is calling, maybe tomorrow. David calls, he is dropping meat bombs at Maritzburg and wants us to drop in. "Sorry Dave, but Maritzburg does not have a coastline. See you tonight." So it is...

We wave to Bennie, taxi onto runway 11, right hand out and heading south. This is a long one, about 2,5 hours to go, but soon we see the coastline creeping up on the GPS screen. "Hey guys it looks like the Mvoti down below, lets follow it to the coast." Soon the moment of truth was there: "Hey Willem witch way?""I cant feel my bum, but this is so much fun!""OK so it is up to the Tugela before we do a 180 and head for Virginia." To soon it was time to call Virginia Tower for instructions. We were having fun but we have been in the air for 2.7 hours since Newcastle and we needed to stretch our legs."Report right downwind 05" Once again the wind was pumping and it took some negotiation to put our lite little aircraft down in the rotors over those bushes....If you have landed at Virginia you will know what I am talking about. Time to tie down again, pay our landing fees and then it was time for that R1000 hamburger......

It is 04:00 and I cant sleep anymore, by the sounds in the house, the rest of the gang is also up and here comes Brett with the coffee! "Bacon and eggs? I wont let you leave with out eating!" Then it is off to the airport. We do what must be done, wave to Brett and its wheels up. Today is going to be a tough one. It is going to be 2.5 hours to Newcastle and another 2.5 home. The route goes up the coast again (Thats what we came for) to the Tugela river mouth, then inland following the river up to Kranskop and then north. At Kranskop we clime above the inversion and it feels like sitting in my armchair at home! Time flies when you are having fun and we touch down at FANC. Bennie arrives and Willem takes him on that promised flip in the gyro. This is it guys, call home and let them know we touch down at 13:00. The countryside slides away beneath us and soon we are back in familiar territory. We hop over Loskopdam and into the valley we know so well. It is hot as hell, like always and the tail wind we had will also help to test our landing skills on our little runway, but there is nothing like experience and we grease them down....
We have mixed feelings, glad to be home and sad that it is over, but man am I tired...

Hi All

Neophron - your pictures looked great.

Bennie, when are you going to get a gyro? :D

Just a few stats about our trip. We flew 10.9 hours from Sat. 16:00 to Mo. 13:00. We used 360L of fuel combined. Made new friends. Made priceless memories and had loads of fun. What is next....?

Thanks again to all. Thank you Hennie for the pix and being our navigator. Thank you Willem for being my wingman. You guyes were GR8 !!!

Cheers' '

Very nice indeed. You guys make me jealous - Looks like you had heaps of fun, thanks for sharing

D

Great adventure.

Could you guys post more details of friendly stops like Florence Guest House at Chrissiesmeer for further reference?

Well done.

Could you guys post more details of friendly stops like Florence Guest House at Chrissiesmeer for further reference?

Well done.

Here are the details:
Ane's cell: 082 804 1771 and 017 847 0051
www.florence.co.za

What a nice place to stay!

Eggbeater wrote:Bennie, when are you going to get a gyro? :D

Eesh check the accidents and incidents topic.

This is the second Gyro that ignites impact after falling from the sky in a year's time


Thank you Willim for the flip, is was awesome and very nice meeting you, Riaan and Hennie. I hope you will pass this way again soon.

Hi Neophron,

Thanks for sharing your trip.

Odd that your picture of loskopdam shows the dam hardly overflowing now. 2 weeks ago it was in full flood when we were there. Seems we had our timing just perfect for our trip.


Kind Regards
Rudi

Hi Hennie & Riaan,

Wow, julle ouens het omtrent ver gevlieg - ek beny julle. Watter gemiddelde spoed het julle min of meer gehandhaaf? Die totale petrolverbruik tussen die twee van julle is uitstekend - julle vlieg seker albei met vierslag enjins.

Eendag pak ek ook so tog aan - ek is net 'n bietje te stadig om saam met 'n groep te gaan. Dankie dat julle hierdie ondervinding met die res van ons hoenders (wat net al in die rondte vlieg ) gedeel het.

Groete,
Henni