AFRICAN BUSH PILOTS FLY-IN 2010

[CC]

2010 AFRICAN BUSH PILOTS FLY-IN
3-5 September 2010
Barberton Airfield

The only genuine Bush Pilots event in Africa!
The most exciting, action packed and exhilarating Fly-In event in the Southern Hemisphere!

This year the focus will be on entertainment and social atmosphere.

Camping next to your aircraft. All types of aircraft welcome.

Competitions: Short take-off & Landing, Spot landing, Flour bombing, toilet roll cutting. (Separate competitions for light & microlight aircraft).
Air Race.
Advanced flying workshop and demonstrations. (Incorporating bush, mountain, stunt and formation flying techniques.)
Skills and proficiency tests and exercises.
Skydiving displays and tandem skydives.
Pyrotechnics Special Effects & Fire Bombing display.
Nightly entertainment in the "Bush Pilots Pub" with Laser Show and high Impact Fireworks Display.
Food and drinks on sale.

Extreme Fun, Action, Excitement and Adrenaline! There is absolutely NO other similar event anywhere in Southern Africa. The success of previous years events was mainly due to the fun, exciting, rustic and unofficious atmosphere. We encourage all pilots to actively participate in this fun and exciting event. Pilots are also openly invited to come and show off their skills and toys.

Free exhibit space and registration fee's to all mission pilots, medivac pilots and their aircraft.

Anyone interested in attending, participating or exhibiting to send in a registration form/email to us at info@bushair.co.za / Fax: 086 658 6903. We have limited space available and need to know how many aircraft and vehicles are coming so as to prepare sufficient parking, camping space, ablution and food etc.

RIGHT OF ADMISSION RESERVED. NO ANIMALS/PETS ALLOWED! This post may be be updated / edited from time to time.

More info here: http://www.bushair.co.za/fly-in.htm

Freq: 120.2 Call "Barberton Tower" 5nm inbound.

[KFA]

Howzit CC, We will be there with our planes this year. See you then

[Goose]

RIGHT OF ADMISSION RESERVED. NO ANIMALS ALLOWED!

KFA lyk vir my julle het n probleem

Ek is reg vir die fly-inn sien julle daar saterdag en sondag

[KFA]

Lekke man, Hippo was net 'n "warm up" vir al die fly-inns wat ons gaan bywoon van nou af. Sien jou daar

[hugo]

Are there any trikers from Gauteng that would be interested in joining me to fly down to baberton

[Rudix]

This is an event not to be missed!

Weather permitting the plan is to leave early Friday morning for a leisurely flight down to CC's, maybe including a stop along the way on some mountain strip.

Will be returning Sunday morning.

Memories of last years event....







Looking forward to seeing everyone again!
Fly safe,
Rudi

[Blue Max]

Ek is besig om opgewonde te raak..

Are there any trikers from Gauteng that would be interested in joining me to fly down to baberton

Hugo, ek mag belangstel..

[hugo]

hi Blue Max

jammer mar my planne het so bietjie verander ek en Hannes (JCH) vlieg vrydag oggend van rhino af met die jabbi. as die planne dalk verander sal ek jou n skree gee.

groete
hugo

[Massimo]

Weather and all else permitting ill be there.

[Goose]

Weather and all else permitting ill be there.

Weather looking good

[Goose]

Thanx to all for a grate fly-in

[Rudix]

Chapter 1, getting there...

What a great fly-in!

Thanks to CC. PJL, Agent and everyone else who helped to make this event so special!

We had lots of fun and some real interesting flying My total for the weekend was over 10 hours. The trip there was interesting to say the least, after a late departure (into a nice headwind) at Rhino on Friday morning due to fog we managed to get as far as the mountains, there were thick clouds covering the whole range as far as we could see, the decision was made to land at Carolina and wait for the clouds to lift.



To say the Carolina runway is a bit rough would be a SLIGHT understatement Anyway we made it down safe and decided we might as well have something to eat while we wait.



Here we are at Carolina having a bite, keeping an eye on the mountains the whole time. While we were waiting we were getting info from guys on the ground and on the way, Agent gave us running commentary as he was driving there and Wackhead gave us info from Pyramid side. Along the way I had a few calls from pilots behind me like Martiens asking what the weather looked like where we were.

Eventually Wackhead told us that he could see the mountains from his side so the call was made to go. It was still cloudy but by going north first and relatively low flying around the peaks and some clouds we managed to get through. Along the way I marked every little strip in the mountains in case a quick turnaround was needed. It was a relieve to finally see the ground drop ahead so we could start descending, the sight of CC's strip sure was welcome!



On the ground and pitching camp, as always there was already a great vibe with the pilots saying hi to old friends and swapping stories of the trip there, food and drinks were available and everyone was in the mood for fun. Phones kept on ringing as approaching pilots wanted to know what conditions were like and where we managed to get through the mountains. There was solid cloud cover over the Barberton valley but there were gaps where you could get through the mountains.



Solid cloud cover.

Next chapter, the event.....

[Rudix]

Chapter two, Friday at the Bush Pilots Fly-in



Soon more planes were arriving, here the famous “Animal” is looking for a spot to park, that radial sure sounds good!



Wackhead's Storch, look at the clouds!



Martiens landed, the Tiger had a fun trip.





Do I have to say anything?

Lots of planes arrived during the day but the clouds were still covering the mountains so many pilots were waiting for Saturday morning to try and fly in, the local (PJL) prediction said the clouds would be gone by around 10am, turned out he we right almost to the minute!





As soon as it was dark we had a nice fire going, everyone was in a good mood and the stories (and some other things) were flowing!



Tiger in the dark!





Camp site at night, it was nice and warm.

Next, Saturday, the main event!

[Massimo]

Yebo yes thanks all for a great weekend
It was a fantastic weekend with a great turnout. Its always impressive to see such a long runway filled with planes most of the way down.
As per normal we had headwinds getting there and coming back! The fun part was skirting down the escarpment with the clouds above us, like Rudi says it was a great relief to see the mountains drop down to the valley and enter the bowl.

[Rudix]

Chapter three, Saturday's main event

Saturday dawned cloudy but with the hope of it lifting soon, not everyone was feeling so well after “the night before”!



A cloudy dawn at CC's



Early morning coffee made Bush Pilot's style, thanks Old number 7!



We decided to have an early flight, first we visited Pyramid since the clouds were a bit low still to fly into the surrounding mountains.



At Pyramid we were greeted by the resident pig, most of the pilots staying over there were still asleep

From Pyramid we had a nice flight towards Barberton and into the mountains since the clouds were starting to scatter.



Once back at CC's we found the place buzzing with planes arriving and everyone wanting to do a bit of flying. The ATC guy (thanks!) was kept BUSY!



Some people know how to camp!



Soon the parking areas were filling up.



PJL doing his thing.

Planes were still arriving while others left for flights around the valley, we had toilet roll cut, flour bomb and spot landing contests during the day. The sky was now clear and it was nice and hot.



Guess who's plane was the favorite one to find shade under?

Soon it was time for CC's famous wall of fire bombing run display.



Martiens scored a direct hit! As always it was impressive!



Martiens inspecting the damage he did!





The explosion started a nice fire, here a water bomber is making sure the fire does not spread.

After the show lots of planes took off for some flying, again the ATC was kept very busy ensuring everything was done safely.

I had a nice trip into the mountains towards Malelane, by the time I got back it was almost dusk and the runway was a hive of activity again with returning planes.

All to soon it was dark and the flying was done.

We had a nice party and prize giving Saturday evening, Agent organized some great prized with just about everyone getting something in the end, thanks Uncle Agent!

Next Chapter, the return home.....