I was invited to cover the Fly-In Festival Radio Control (R/C) event for Pilots Post last week. I arrived before 9am on the Saturday morning and was greeted at the gate by two friendly personnel. The day was perfect for flying. By then the event had already started and I unfortunately missed some of the early action.
At the R/C clubhouse Bob Skinner welcomed me. A yellow wrist armband and name tag was handed over. With my yellow safety vest, I was ready for the day. The program was run by the clock to keep the spectators entertained the entire day.
The day kept the spectators interacting with paper name plate prizes. First prize was R 1000 if the egg fell closest to the paper plate. Sweetie drops for the younger- and older kids were also a crowd favourite. Both events were done through the day two to three times with perfect logistic control by all parties involved.
The Hawk R/C turbine jet of Steve Joubert was a masterpiece. Total all up weight was 35 kilograms with a 32-kilogram thrust turbine engine. Almost a one-to-one weight and thrust ratio for scale purposes. Waiman Chan Pilatus PC-21 turboprop plane and F-18 turbine jet is the pinnacle of R/C hobby. Focus and helping team are super essential for successful displays.
Dean Grobbelaar from Aerial Concepts 9-year son, Ray, flew a Laser 230 aerobatic R/C plane to my amazement and awe-struck. Great future for him the R/C hobby. Heep an eye on him for sure.
I unfortunately missed the compulsory pilots briefing that all pilots and stand-by pilots had to attend. This meant a well-though program prepared to cover all possibilities in case of technical or hardware issues. Crowd safety was of the highest importance the entire day. The Fly-In Day in photographic sequence started with the scale flying activity and ended with late afternoon solo displays. I captured the day with too many photos to publish all in an online summarised article.
Unfortunately, I could not stay for the bring-and braai event after the most super-oiled organised event that kept to the time slots allocated to each display.
Pilots Post would like to thank and congratulate the organizers of this year's R/C event for their great hospitality and for a very enjoyable and successful R/C Festival Fly-in event. We are already looking forward to the next one next year that will set another new record of competing R/C pilot and spectator attendances. To all the R/C pilots, please mark this event with a big red circle on your aviation calendar for next year.
I started in this hobby 39 years ago and it grew into aviation photography that have been doing for past the 12 years as a freelance photographer for Pilots Post. Today I went back to my roots in aviation and will always be part of my history /life story. I is indeed a privilege to still report to the R/C fraternity.
