Our Daughter married a South African Robert Terblanche in Phalaborwa - hot - (And a fine lad he is). We have a Grandson with SA,English and Irish blood in his veins and he is also a fine young lad and a good example of the union between SA,English and Irish. Mum and Dad are retiring to Phalaborwa - hot - to be with our family so that must make us SA if only a little bit, ja?? Â

Now for something of a rather more serious nature. I am unable to remove from my mind the dreadful accident that our brother Andre and others have suffered recently. May you all recover soon from your trauma's and live a long prosperous life. This morning, I received a pm from a Triker about a totally unrelated subject to this and he mentioned in his pm that the recent accidents especially one in particular, has resulted in him losing his nerve but he did add I have to say, that he will fly again. To admit too losing one's nerve, even more so to a stranger, take's a strength of character that is courageous in it's own way. This man of fibre, this 'Flyer' with 200 + hours will do what he said, he will fly again, but I would like to see him return to enjoy his most exhilarating pastime as I would - safer.
I have no experience yet of flying a Trike but will soon be taught how by Deon Kraidy at the leading Edge Flight School Hoespruit (Couldn't resits it - Sooooorrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeee), however. It seems to me that once you take off, the only real problem you have to worry about next is coming down again safely. Training takes care of most incidences but it's the accidents that cause the pain and most of them are on the ground. We all make mistakes, even the most experienced flyers, as has been recently and sadly highlighted. What we need to do is find a way of minimising the damage when a mistake is made and the object we need to concentrate on is the PROP, the most dangerous part of the plane, apart from the pilot.
I am not a techno person and if I make an utter fool of myself on this topic then so be it. If however, I can make something happen that will save lives or avoid destroying them, then I do not mind being made a fool of and you take the @iss because I will laugh with you.When I drive my car, I open the door, climb in and shut the door. Put gear stick in neutral, hand brake on, depress the clutch and start engine. Wait a few moments to warm up engine, depress clutch, select gear and drive away. Why can't we do that with a TRIKE?????
Warm up the engine. Seat the pax etc etc all without that murderous blade spinning ready to catch the unwary. Runaway?? Shouldn't happen now but depress the clutch, disengage the prop from the drive instantly. Going to have an unavoidable bad landing?? Depress the clutch on touching terra firma. The prop is our nemesis. There must be a way of controlling it. Tell me you techno guy's, why is a disengaging clutch on an aircraft engine not possible to do?
Just a thought - Safety first
Alles van die beste  Â
