What a lekker little breakfast fly in and gathering
08.11.2024
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ETD 07.15 Captain Karl said when on Friday I asked him when I should meet him at Fly Inn for our 26 minutes short hop to Brits in the North West for another of Chapter 322's regular fly aways.
Unlike most EAA Chapter's 322 does not have a home base but consists of members from all over SA. This effectively mean that each fly in is just that, a fly away from your home field to fly in to another, the event, airfield. Unless of course your home field is the destinations of the fly in. Theoretically what you should then do is take-off, do a circuit and voila you have flown in!
Living close to the Gillooly's interchange on the border between Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni I woke up at 05.00 and it was raining buckets. I checked my messages and as I had no message from Karl I leisurely showered and got dressed and at 06.30 made my way in the still pouring rain to Fly Inn Estates forty-three kilometres away.
The rain stopped just as I left the N1 north of OR Tambo International. When I turned off from the Bapsfontein road onto the dirt road to the estate I left a cloud of dust behind me. Karl was already there and so was Andre Swanepoel who was the lucky winner of the EAA's Mach draw of a free trip to AirVenture 2024 compliments of Neil Bowden of AirAdventure Tours.
The clouds were still low so we had coffee and well, talked about flying and Oshkosh and more flying. It was Andre's first visit and Karl has been eight times and this year was my tenth.
Karl phoned Waterkloof ATC who said that if we feel comfortable, they will allow us to fly. Needless to say, we did feel comfortable. The clouds had lifted and the air was clear and we had one of the smoothest flights for a long time.
I was worried when I saw only one more aircraft on the apron but when we stepped into the Flying Saucer there they were, a long communal table with EAA stalwarts who drove in and were enjoying Brits's famous fare. Hello's said, hugs exchanged, we joined them. It was then that I again realised how wonderful it is to be a member of the EAA. A nicer more dedicated group of passionate aviators and junkies would be hard to find.
A few more who had waited at their home fields for the weather to improve soon arrived. The breakfast over, the weather by then was perfect, almost everybody was soon meeting the new arrivals.
Worldwide the EAA has more than Access to nearly 900 chapters and 600,000 members worldwide. If you are not already a member join! You will never regret it!
