Microlighters

Louis van Wyk at Fisantekraal mentioned that the SAGPA AGM was going to be held in the Cape this year!

I have searched the SAGPA site and googled SAGPA AGM with no luck.

May we be enlightened as to when/where? I am sure the Gyro fraternity in the Cape would welcome the AGM here and we will do our best to make it a huge success.

Please let us know?

Rgds

Len

Gyronauts,

The venue and accommodation details for the annual SAGPA conference and AGM has been finalised. In keeping with the tradition to visit different parts of the country, this year’s AGM will be held in the Western Cape.

Venue

The venue for this year’s AGM is Devonvale Golf and Wine Estate outside Stellenbosch - http://www.devonvale.co.za/ourlocation.html. Devonvale is a 100-hectare estate and wine farm, situated 5km outside Stellenbosch. The estate consists of a golf clubhouse, conference facilities, a function hall and a country lodge. Devonvale is located about 15km by road from Fisantekraal Airfield.

Flying in

Pilots that are interested in flying in can land at Fisantekraal Airfield. Transport has been arranged to and from Devonvale estate. Hangarage and secure parking on a first-come, first-served basis have been arranged c/o fellow gyronaut and gyroplane instructor, Louis van Wyk at Aerosport flying school. Please contact Louis ASAP to ensure that your gyro is catered for. Fuel will be available, and we will once again as in previous year attempt to secure some form of fuel sponsorship for attending pilots.

I would like to urge pilots from different parts of the country to use this as an opportunity to do a bit of cross-country flying to a fantastic part of our beautiful country and spend a couple of days getting there and back, should your time allow for it.

Webcast

Also in a first for this year the actual AGM event will be broadcast via a webcast from the venue, in order to allow members that are not able to attend the actual event, to be part of the proceedings. Details of the webcast address and connection details will be made available a little closer to the event.

Agenda

Friday 10 October 2008
06:00 – 17h00 Arrival and check-in at Devonvale Estate
18:00 – Dinner

Saturday 11 October 2008

07:00 - 09:00 Breakfast

09:00 – 12:00 AGM

12:00 – 12:30 Break

12:30 – 13:30 Speaker - Greg Roberts - Keeping an eye on big brother.

Greg has a fascinating astronomical pastime; He tracks military- and spy-satellites using telescopes, CCDs and computers. Those of you that read the Popular Mechanics magazine may recall the article of a couple of months ago in which Greg featured. At this year event, he will treat us to a interesting talk on this fascinating endeavour.

13:30 - Conference close and Lunch

Saturday Afternoon and Sunday

Optional free flying in the Western Cape area with local gyroplane pilots and return to home bases.

I would once again like to urge all members to use this opportunity to plan a trip away from your home airfield for a get-together with fellow pilots.

Bookings for accommodation can be made at 021-8652080. This is the main reception at Devonvale Lodge. When making the booking, please mention that you are attending the SAGPA conference and AGM on the 10th and 11th of October to qualify for the conference discount.

Airfield details and frequencies

The airfield co-ordinates for Fisantekraal (FAFK) is Lat/Long: S33 46 08/E018 44 30. The airfield traffic frequency is 131.1.

Cape Town Special Rules East frequency is 124.8 MHz

The following notes are from the latest version of Easyplan:

All TFC to APP AF at 2000ft ALT. - Radio call must be made at 5nm inbound on 131.1MHz. - Join o/head at 2000ft to join LH pattern for either rwy 05/23 or 14/32. - Radio when o/head the AF at 2000ft to ADV TFC of further intentions. - Descend on ""dead side". "Radio mast 4.2nm NNE 115ft high, elev. 226ft".

I would advise all visiting pilots to contact Louis van Wyk before flying in for local rules and conditions.

If you need any more information or have any other queries, please contact me at info@sagpa.co.za. Looking forward to see you there.

Regards,

Johan Meyer
Chairman,
South African Gyroplane Association

Thats fantastic news Johan! Its going to be our pleasure to welcome you to Paradise!

If there is anything I can do to assist with arrangements, transport, tours, please let me know, my softness and I are more than willing to help.

I hope we can encourage a lot of Gyronauts from around the country to come down. If we can get 10 Gyro's together at short notice at Fisantekraal for an impromptu get together as we have, then imagine how wonderful it would be to have 30 or 40 here!?

I for one am really looking forward to it!

I'm going to miss out as I'll be out of the country over those dates!!!

I am planning to fly my gyro from Kittyhawk to Cape Town leaving on Thursday 9th Oct, stopping over at either the Gariep Dam or at Beaufort West. I am moving to Cape Town, and will therefore not be flying back to Jnb after the AGM.

Is anyone else planning to fly down?

Glen convince that "Sleg" brother of mine Condor , to fly with you . He needs to come visit the most beautiful place in the world

Gerrit, are you keen?

Another gyro in the Fairest Cape - welcome Glen! Where will you be hangaring?

I've managed to secure a hangar to share (with a Jabiru) at Stellenbosch. We are buying in Somerset West, so Stellies will be very convenient.

Are the gyro and microlight guys quite active, and are there places to fly to for breakfast in your part of the world?

Sorry to lose you to the fairest, but with your kind of flying you're gonna really enjoy your MT over there.

My sister stays in Somerset and we visit often, so I will be working on you for a sightseeing flight sometime.

P.S. When you intend moving ?

Ldel,

By the way, I still have a copy of the newspaper airticle from the Meyerton Ster from the the fly-in into the Meyerton model airfield club, if you still want it.

Will be moving at the end of September. Should be awesome flying around the Cape!

Kind regards
Glenn

YAY! Thats good news Glen! I look forward to meeting you and flying with you.
We're building a nice group of enthusiastic Gyro pilots here in the fairest and you will be most welcome!

Kind regards

Len
Morningstar

All GYRONAUTS remember the SAGPA meeting in the CAPE.

Will the Cape Gyronauts be giving us a Display?

We will be flying with Mango from KZN, the weather is to unpredictable for such a long stretch.

I dont have a display rating

Look forward to meeting all the other like minded Gyronauts

Rgds

Len

Hi Glenn

Wlecome to the Western Cape! There is plenty of Gyro activity from Vredendal, down to Saldahna, past Paarl, Malmesbury and Fisantekraal, down to Gansbaai (where there are three of us!) and on to Mosselbay! You won't get bored flying to all these venues and I am sure you will meet most of the guys at the AGM. Look forward to meeting you.

Kind regards

Nick