Snake formation team

[vernon11]

Hey Bryan,
what have you got brewing in that old brain of yours?

[HENNING JOHAN]

We stopped flying as a team because of several reasons; bureaucracy from ASSA, RAASA and the CAA being a big part of that. Our pyrotechnics were also a headache for the organisers as we would often start fires on the ground! On those grounds it was a fair comment that they did not want us to use pyrotechnics- however, our dusk show depended on them and we were getting it right not to start fires, and we had started using exhaust smoke instead of the chemical smoke that we had.

CAA and RAASA wanted us to get modification approval for our pyrotechnics and attachments. My opinion was that the only approval required was from the guy whose arse was on the seat. We did test our attachments very carefully and in a step by step fashion and I could not imagine how someone who had never done that themselves would 'approve' these things. I could imagine chasing hours and hours of paper in getting this approved- maybe I was wrong but I had had enough by then.

Another reason was 'gatvolness'! Getting ready for a show and getting to and from shows was a real shlepp sometimes. Virginia was a case in point; de-rig and pack the aircraft onto a trailer on a Thursday afternoon/ evening; drive to Virginia on the Friday; unload and re-rig on Friday night; fly two shows per day on Saturday and Sunday; de-rig and pack onto the trailers on Sunday afternoon; drive back to JHB on Monday; off-load and re-rig later.... When the Virginia organisers told me that R16K was too much for all of that (for 4 aircraft!) that was the proverbial straw on the camels back. We didn't try to make lots of money on the displays- all we wanted to do was cover our direct costs, and we were prepared to 'sponsor' the whole thing a bit (because it was fun) but when you are flying 5-8 shows a season it all starts mounting up...

I would think that to get a display rating for trikes now you would need to get rated by someone presently in the airshow scene and perhaps I would also be able to carry some weight in getting that display rating approved- we did learn a heck of a lot in the 5 years that we flew displays.

I have not been flying for a while now as I have been pursuing adventure sports- its fantastic to be able to put your kayak onto a river, paddle for a whole day and no one asks you for any paperwork whatsoever. I'm slowly getting back into flying but that took a bit of a blow at the beginning of the year when Rob McFie's P-51 Mustang, which I had worked on for 3 years, crashed on its second flight.

Bryan, if you would like to try a few things out and need some advice and pointers send me a PM and I'll tell whatever I know.

Jay

Thanks Jay for putting colour to the picture.That's the thing in S.A.Try something new and somebody is going to shoot it down.Who will give you a rating in ASA?They all flying 3 axis.

[bryan]

Hey Vernon not so much of thd "old" there. You know we always pushing bohndaries. We could do with some technical expertise down here. So do come visit soon. This being a public forum I am not too keen to tell everything we try. We do try to be very careful with whatever we try.. At the moment fitting navigation lights to trike same as ones used on Jabiru (LED) going to look awesome at dusk.

[John Boucher]

Well there you have it Bryan... Jay said it himself

[bryan]

Thanks guys for your comments. If it were not for guys like Jay and others we would still be trying to get our broomsticks off the ground. Hope when and if i get gatvol some other person will take up some of the challenges facing us. At the moment just trying to eat an elephant one spoon at a time. The Formation thing is purely for fun over the home circuit on good evenings. We seem to get quite a few this time of the year. Three trikes in formation and more when we a lot more confident could look awesome.
The attempt to investigate all the hoops to jump through for our other project is very slow and not many supporters to get things done BUT slowly getting house in order.Perhaps my grandchildren will be able to fly at night in a trike on a moonlight night.
Regards
Bryan

[John Boucher]

Bryan

There is a bit of a difference between "formo flying" & "flat display" stuff and then full on display maneuvers. You mentioned EAA are having their get together at Wings Park soon. Why not have a lekker chat with Jeff Earle iro the mentorship prog that is done at special air events or alternatively when he possibly attends the Hello Winter tour down in your valley.

Also have a chat with Len Klopper that I has compiled a comprehensive brief for formo flying.

Just a thought or two...

[bryan]

Will do . Thanks for info
Regards

[Porra]

Hey Johan, Elio is here with me! he lives about 60 kms from me and both of us are not flying here YET!

[HENNING JOHAN]

Hallo Porra!So why aren't you flying?Great to hear from you!