Here is the report on the second attempt!
Monday morning dawned bright and clear with hardly any wind at Rhino Park, internet and verbal reports seemed good from KZN so it was all systems go, Eddie and Jabiru ZU-CIA arrived early and we were on our way, initially it was a smooth ride with a slight tailwind that picked up as we went. The smoothness did not last long, as the wind picked up it became very turbulent and we had a real Rodeo ride.....
We managed to get to around 40 miles from Howick but we were faced with a bank of low fog, the decision was made to go back to Ladysmith for breakfast, fuel and advice. The "short" trip back took real long due to the wind that was blowing up to 40 mph at this point! The landing at Ladysmith was "character building" due to the cross wind and severe turbulence. Breakfast was organized and Cornell helped with fuel, thanks! A few calls soon had us assured that we could proceed again.
Green at last! As we approached Howick the wind turned around, into a mild headwind and the temperature dropped nicely!
Short finals at Howick in the Jabbi.
On the ground and relaxing. James arrived just after we did, was great to see a familiar face! Thanks for coming to say Hi James, was nice seeing you again!
Kevin, the ex-owner of the Bushbaby, arrived shortly after that and it was down to business, having a look at the plane, explaining the systems, doing paper work and putting some fuel in the tanks for the return flight. Eddie left with the Jabiru as he wanted to get back to GP asap.
The object of the whole mission, Bushbaby ZU-BSE, my new "other woman"
Soon all was done and everyone left, I said I wanted to leave a bit later, hoping the huge wind around Ladysmith would drop. It was hot at Howick with a gusty wind that was slowly picking up speed. I was planning on leaving at around 4pm but I realized that the wind was picking up and it would not get better. At this stage I was a bit worried, I had a conversion flight in a Bushbaby (Cyril my instructor seemed to think I would be ok but after the ride I just had I was not so sure....) but I had never flown ZU-BSE and I was heading towards what was promising to be a VERY difficult landing at Ladysmith. But, sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do......
Sitting in the shade at Howick watching the plane and the windsock and thinking about my sins.....
One final check, all packed so I fired her up and taxied out, time to get to know the lady (I sure was hoping she was a lady and not a B!tch
)
She took of like a dream and climbed well, all temps and pressures seemed fine so I decide to head out to Ladysmith. I started with a bit of a tailwind but that did not last long, soon it turned into a 40-50mph headwind with some serious turbulence. But the Baby handled the turbulence well, better than the Jabiru so now the only worry was the landing at Ladysmith.....
I even had time for a few photos!
The flight was long due to the headwind, took around 1:20 hours but all to soon it was time for the landing, I was NOT looking forward to that. The wind was around 80 deg across the runway and to make matters worse there was a HUGE veld fire raging right on short finals. But the Lady got me down and it was not even a bad landing, my first landing with her!! I knew we were going to be good friends.....
Parked in front of the hangars where she would sleep the night courtesy of Cornell, he also helped with fuel AGAIN, Thanks!! Look at the windsock in the background!
Pilots and plane rested well, I knew the wind would pick up again in the morning so I made plans for an early departure.
Waiting for enough light to leave. There was only a slight (slight after the day before) breeze but what was worrying was the cloud cover. It was relatively clear overhead but there were thick clouds moving in from the coast. My pre-flight and warm-up was done by torch light!
As soon as it was light enough we were in the air.
Only to be confronted by a fog bank towards GP, I climbed high to look for a way around, I could see it was not as thick towards Newcastle so I headed that way making sure I could see ground within gliding distance all the way. The air was as smooth as silk and there was a slight tailwind, life was good!
With the sun rising behind me I could not stop taking photos!
Soon I could see the other side of the fog bank and I could hop across, now I knew I could take the Lady home.
Leaving the last of the fog behind with the sun rising.
The flight turned into a real pleasure cruise, flying around hills and looking at rivers, I hardly had to touch the stick.
Soon we were over the dry Freestate, with the slight tailwind we were doing above 100 mph most of the time so it looked like it would be a short flight.
Only a little bit of ground fog greeted us close to Rhino Park, nothing to worry about. All too soon the magic flight ended and we were landing at Rhino Park, like the real Lady she is ZU-BSE awarded me with a greaser of a landing. Everything was perfect during the flight, temps low, pressures right and the engine as smooth as can be.
On the ground in front of her new home!
I would like to thank everyone one again who helped me with this "mission", Cornell, Eddie, John, James, Kevin and everyone else who pitched in with support, advice and words of encouragement. I am truly proud to be part of such a wonderful community!
Fly safe everyone and look out for BSE in the sky!
Rudi
