Krugersdorp Flying Club - Spot Landing and Airfield Festival

By Russell Dixon-Paver

2022-07-30



Arriving just as the sun rose revealed overcast, cold and slightly windy conditions, but still good for flying. The weather prediction indicated possible severe gusts after 11:00, but fortunately this did not materialise.

In true Krugersdorp Festival fashion, the baristas had the coffee going early, and the excellent 26 South Restaurant standard breakfast hit the right spot to keep pilots, enthusiasts and visitors nourished to cope with the cold, and there was a warm fire going all day in the clubhouse fireplace.


Some of the vendor stands. It was quiet early on due to the cold, but as the day warmed up, more people came to enjoy what was on offer.

There was a good field of 18 entrants, despite the current high fuel price.


Francois Tolmay, club chairman, welcomed entrants and other guests, and Charles Pratley conducted the safety briefing.

Charles Pratley was Safety Officer for the day and led the entrant roll-call and comprehensive Pilot's briefing, emphasising that safety always took priority and the objective was to enjoy the flying activities.

Steve George manned the tower for information purposes and Rob Nilius “herded the cats” to make sure the entrants were ready to takeoff in their slot times.


Steve and Rob receive their appreciation gifts, standing with Francois and Nandi.

The many sponsors were thanked for the generous prizes provided for entrants. All the prize-winners were announced and then, starting from first place, were able to select prizes off the table.


A prize of note was an autographed cap, presented by Brad Binder, who visited the club a few weeks beforehand.


Dale de Klerk flew 5 different aircraft of very different types, here he gets a hand-start for his Cvetkovic CA61, which was more difficult start than normal due to the cold weather.

First slot - takeoffs and landings were on 08:






Landings by Kevin Marsdan in C150 ZS-IFM, Dale de Klerk in Cvetkovic CA61 ZS-UDW and Mario Anderson IBIS Magic GS700 ZU-IBS.

Second slot - takeoffs and landings were on 08:






Landings by Marie Reddy in Ikarus C42 ZS-EEE, Michael Wrathall in PA28 ZS-JLP and Juandre Jansen van Vuuren in IBIS Magic GS700 ZU-IBS.

Third slot - takeoffs and landings were on 26 as the wind direction changed - the tailwind component turned out to make landings from this end quite difficult:






Landings by Dale deKlerk in Ikarus C42 ZS-EEE and Jade Bock in in C150 ZS-IFM. On one of Dale's take-offs, he is shown with the Fire and Rescue, clubhouse and festival stall in the background.

Fourth slot - takeoffs and landings were on 26:






Landings by Pieter Vermeulen in C177 ZS-VAL, John Shaw in C177 ZS-IFY and Dale de Klerk in C150 ZS-IFM.

Slot Five - takeoffs and landings were back on 08 as the wind direction was again more favourable from this end:




Landings by Johann Nel in Jabiru ZS-CNS and Dale de Klerk in IBIS Magic GS700 ZU-IBS.

Slot Six - takeoffs and landings on 08:






Landings by Derek Whitfield in C182 ZS-NVN, Dale de Klerk in Pitts Special S2A ZU-BIL and Chris Shaw in RV9A ZU-SRV.

Slot Seven - takeoffs and landings on 08:






Landings by Dieter Bock in Lancair ZU-DCB and Louis Fourie in Baron 58 ZS-KMZ.

At the end of the landings and while the results were calculated, Steve George and Ryno Coetzer provided a short display with their two Navions.






Navions flying with smoke on in the dramatic cloud backgrounds.

Francois Tolmay thanked Nandi Foxcroft and all those that officiated and supported the event and announced the prize winners.


Overall winner was Dale de Klerk with 7 points.


Second place was a tie between Mario Anderson and Johann Nel with 13 points.
Marie Reddy took third place with 20 points and also took the “greaser landing” award...Chris Shaw was in fourth place with 27 points.
Fifth place was Louis Fourie with 30 points...Kevin Marsdan was in 6th place with 31 points.
Best Student Pilot award went to Juandre Jansen van Vuuren...Derek Whitfield took 7th place with 35 points.
Michael Wrathall, with 37 point was in 8th place...Dieter Bock, here with his daughter, Jade, was in 9th place earning 40 points.
John Shaw was in 10th place with 48 points...Pieter Vermeulen and Jade Bock were tied in 11th place with 50-51 points.

Francois noted that the next Krugersdorp Flying Club event is the Speed Rally on 20th August.

Helivate, who were also a sponsor, were doing helicopter flips in their Alouette III (“The Beast”) from 10:00 and planned until 14:00, but continued later because keen pax were still buying ride tickets.


Helivate helicopter flip heading out to explore the valleys around the Jack Taylor Krugersdorp airfield.

Pilots Post was once again honoured to cover the Krugersdorp Flying Club Spot Landing and Festival. Hospitality and friendliness are hallmarks of this community and thanks are extended to the committee, pilots and club members for a memorable day.
Events 2022







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