About a year ago I went to the airfield for a flip, on one not so fine afternoon. As I arrived the weather turned BAD, with a storm of note brewing. I decided to do some maintenance inside the hanger as freaking Katrina was blowing outside - The hanger doors shook violently in the wind when I heard a strange sound, like an airy overhead. Surely this could not be, no plane - Not even a twin blik would be able to fly in the conditions that day - I ran out and could hardly see anything because of wind blowing dust and grass in my eyes but I eventually made out the silhouette of.........a TRIKE flying I started preparing myself to phone the paramedics and softly uttered a prayer.
By this time Dale from FAAP was on the radio talking to the pilot in distress and there were a couple of people gathering shouting - Oh no!!
The pilot tried to land on runway 21 but the rotor from the Magalies mountain was so bad that he just could not put her down and he went round again. At one stage it actually looked like he was flying backwards in the now even stronger wind
By this time Dale advised the pilot to revert to Brits airfield where landing would be easier without mountain rotor - If it were me in those conditions I would have chosen the softest piece of grass and crash landed - I would have done anything to make the nightmare stop, but this pilot calmly listened to Dale and turned towards Brits - We did not hear anything thereafter...
Couple of weeks later I happened to speak to Mr Stray-dog - I asked him "So wanneer kom kuier jy by ons" - He answered "Ek was nou die dag daar, ek het jou nie gesien nie maar ek kon inelkgeval nie daar land nie, wind het so BIETJIE gewaai" Yip - The pilot that flew in that 50-year storm was our friend who wears weird Tazzmanian devil underwear