Lowveld - NUMBI 7 - 10 August 2009

[Asterix]

Ja, ja,ja ons sal onthou - en "by the way" dankie vir jou aanbod. Sal regmaak met jou daar by Numbi! En antwoord asb nou my vraag: HOE GAAN DIT MET DIE ROOI RAPTOR??

[Blue Max]

Hi Paul, Ek hoop jy lees die voor jy Numbie toe kom...Ek kry nerens in Marble Hall en Grobbies Chainsaw 2stroke oil van Castrol nie..Ek sal teen die tyd as ek in Numbie kom daarvan benodig,,Ek het vir Mervin ook gevra maar weet hy is n besige ou, so tussen julle twee bring vir ons 'mix' saam...Dankie.

[JFK]

JFK Is in for this trip from Witbank and will see you guys at Belfast

[Bugwar]

Ja, ja,ja ons sal onthou - en "by the way" dankie vir jou aanbod. Sal regmaak met jou daar by Numbi! En antwoord asb nou my vraag: HOE GAAN DIT MET DIE ROOI RAPTOR??

Boude en blaaie

[JFK]

So we fly tomorrow

Fueled and packed ready to launch into the unknown

[Blue Max]

Had a great flight from farm near Groblersdal this morning. Weather was perfect..111nm in 3 hrs flying time. See you 2 mor..Phone me on cell 0825596115 if you want to know more about weather tomorrow before take-off. See you later and enjoy.

[JFK]

Thanks to all for the help and most of all to Mervin for the assistance with my problem will see ya all soon.

Thanks for a great weekend

[JCH]

Thanks to a lot of people who made this weekend an unforgettable experience.
Mervin Reynolds for arranging the event and planning the routes.
Paul de Kock for playing "Ground Crew" by getting fuel at Numbi and the outlandings.
Johan Meyer for the flights in his beautiful Zlin Savage - without his assistance I would not have been able to get to the event.
Lukas and Sanchia for taking me as passenger in their trikes.

This event urges me to turn my 9 hours training into a license as soon as possible.

Next year I will definitely be part of this event as Owner-Pilot.

If anyone wants to see some pictures of the weekend please contact me for info.
I've uploaded the pictures on Facebook.

[Heinrich Bester]

What a great experience.

To everybody involved, thank you very much. Mervin took me up on Friday (first time in a microlight) and we saw LION, a sick BUFFALO, ELEPHANT, HIPPO, RHINO and WATERBUCK in a matter of half an hour. 4 of the BIG 5 (Is this the norm?) and I am sure we flew over a LEOPARD.

Thank you again.

Forgot to mention the GIRAFFE kill (close to the lion).

[Blue Max]

Heinrich, ons sal jou makliker glo as jy n paar foto,s plaas... want dit klink te goed om waar te wees... ennnnn plaas sommer n paar van die ander mooi fotos wat jy geneem het...

[Dirk van Dort]

Hi Paul,

I would like you to post a report on your experience on your return trip to Marble Hall from Lydenburg, and the lesson learnt from that......It may just help somebody else and prevent a nasty..... don't be shy, we can all learn from others experiences. Congratulations on the way you handled the problem, and we all are glad you are o.k.
Thank you for calling in at Lydenburg. it was great to meet you, and if i must say it again, you have guts to fly that distance so soon after gaining your wings, just goes to show, it is never to late, and the young okes can take heart from us oldies learning to fly late in life.
Do make that post..
Cheers,
Dirk
Bantam ZU-EZI

[Heinrich Bester]

Herewith some picks for the non believers.

Giraffe kill

DSC00907.JPG (36.57 KiB) Viewed 5135 times

Rhino

DSC00901.JPG (36.31 KiB) Viewed 5127 times

Lion

DSC00919.JPG (36.97 KiB) Viewed 5127 times

Elephant

DSC00924.JPG (35.63 KiB) Viewed 5137 times

If you want to see other picks, just search me on facebook and view the "Flying" picks.

Cheers

[Blue Max]

Hi Dirk, oor wat gebeur het met my en die aerie met my terug vlug gaan ek volledig oor verslag doen sodra ek kommentaar kry van Jenja wanneer hy die vlerk en 'hanging point assembly'sowel as die 'keel tube' ondersoek en herstel het.. Die aerie is op die oomblik by hom..
Intussen ontvang my dank vir die hulp en vriendelikheid met my landing by julle..

[Blue Max]

This is what happened...Before taking off at Numbie I did a pre flight check. In total 8 bolts with safety rings on my aerie. All in place. It was a smooth flight from Hazyview to Lydenburg and at average speed of 40 to 45 knts.
I landed at Lydenburg, had coffee with local microlighters, refuel, got into the aerie and took off..I DID NOT CHECK NOTHING except fuel level..
Shortly after take-off I notice my air speed and my ground speed is very low and both be-ing more or less the same...sometimes as low as under 30 knts. I start pulling the bar and both air and ground speed then increased. I also became aware of the controle bar not having a position of 'hands free' and wanting to go and rest against the profile tube. In order to get the aerie to fly faster i had to constantly pull the bar..I mean PULL THE BAR very hard to obtain 40 knts.
At first I thought it is a kind of wind phenonomen which i have not experience before then after a while I thought my flying needs to be improved as I am starting to loose my skills..
Progressively I was flying with more difficulty..It became difficult to maintain a straight line and also to counter thermals..I balltled on and realize that I wont be able to reach the farm when eventually Raasblaar landingstrip appeared in the distance. By now I was very tired and started to make noises like you hear at wimbledon.
Because of game on the landingstrip I had to fly a circuit which was very difficult as the aerie was progressively flying worse...
I landed safely but not satisfactory and was still thinking what a shit pilot I am to ballte that mutch to fly the aerie...I tied the aerie down and went to the bar to have a double..From there I phoned Johan vd Berg at Groblersdal and he suggested that we check the hanging block...On his arrival we went back to the aerie and found that the rear bolt with the safety ring was missing..
Presantly the aerie is at Jenna,s place for a thorough check-up and minor repairs..Jenna explains that it is not possable for the bolt to come loose while flying and that it can only happen when the aerie shudders or vibrates for example when landing or taking- off or taxeiing on a not so smooth runway....I have learned my lesson...And that bolt is lying somewhere on the runway at Lydenburg!!!!!

[Dirk van Dort]

Well done Paul,

ons locals sal vanmiddag by die vliegveld wees, ons sal ,n lyn vorm en die aanloopbaan nagaan, hoop ons vind jou bolt...
weereens, ons is bly dat jy die vlug oorleef het,
groete,
Dirk
Bantam ZU-EZI