Barberton Valley flying field 9 to 12 August 2007
Last year (2006) I heard great reports
from the people visiting CC Pocock's Bush Pilots Fly-in at the
Barberton Valley flying field. CC runs a bush pilots school from the
field and is legendary for his bush flying ability and exploits. Since
I was still busy with my flight training I could only listen and dream
but I promised myself that in 2007 I would be there !
Well, the long weekend (9-12 August) finally arrived. Weeks before the fly-in I started preparing, making lists of what to take and what to check on the plane. I decided to fly there with the Rans S12 as it has more space and is a better short field plane than the Streak Shadow. Since I trained on the Rans I was also a lot more comfortable flying it.
The Plane was given a complete service, filters replaced and cleaned, new spark plugs installed and I even installed a new GPS, leaving the old one as backup. Routes were planned with alternatives and availability of fuel taken into account. Initially we were going to be 3 planes flying in loose formation, a few days before departure one of the 3 planes was sold and the pilot decided to rather drive to the fly-in so 2 planes were left. The Rans S12 and the Marabou Stork (A 75% scale model of a Fiesler Storch) flown by my friend Rod.
Since we both hangar at Petit it was easy to plan an early departure. With sunrise at 06h35 this time of the year we decided on a 06h20 departure giving us enough light and making the most of the nice smooth early morning flying conditions. We planned to fly direct from Petit to Carolina where we wanted to stop at a farm with a runway for breakfast, coffee and a leg stretch. The farm belongs to Fred Sturgess who is also a keen pilot and runs a nice lodge. We also wanted the option of getting fuel if our consumption was a bit high due to headwinds.
Well, the long weekend (9-12 August) finally arrived. Weeks before the fly-in I started preparing, making lists of what to take and what to check on the plane. I decided to fly there with the Rans S12 as it has more space and is a better short field plane than the Streak Shadow. Since I trained on the Rans I was also a lot more comfortable flying it.
The Plane was given a complete service, filters replaced and cleaned, new spark plugs installed and I even installed a new GPS, leaving the old one as backup. Routes were planned with alternatives and availability of fuel taken into account. Initially we were going to be 3 planes flying in loose formation, a few days before departure one of the 3 planes was sold and the pilot decided to rather drive to the fly-in so 2 planes were left. The Rans S12 and the Marabou Stork (A 75% scale model of a Fiesler Storch) flown by my friend Rod.
Since we both hangar at Petit it was easy to plan an early departure. With sunrise at 06h35 this time of the year we decided on a 06h20 departure giving us enough light and making the most of the nice smooth early morning flying conditions. We planned to fly direct from Petit to Carolina where we wanted to stop at a farm with a runway for breakfast, coffee and a leg stretch. The farm belongs to Fred Sturgess who is also a keen pilot and runs a nice lodge. We also wanted the option of getting fuel if our consumption was a bit high due to headwinds.
Early morning departure, the sun is still below the horizon with conditions great, the air is smooth with about a 6 mph tailwind.
The sun is now above the horizon and all is well BUT the bit of fog building up does not bode well as we were worried that we might encounter more and might not be able to cross the mountains safely.
A power station at Kompow, does not look like it is in operation.
Now this is trouble ! Visual flight rules does not allow us to fly if you cannot see the ground, if you should have an emergency you need to be able to see the ground to find a place to land ! There were still a few open spots so all was not lost, yet....
Some great views were visible through gaps in the fog, these dams were also close to a power station.
This power station is operational !
More fog, I had the option at this point
to turn back,
maybe fly to a place like Middelburg that was not to far off track and
hope it is open and wait till later in the day when the fog had burned
off, or climb higher so that I could glide further in case of trouble
to
one of the open spots still visible. I opted to climb higher, up to
about 8700 feet, this turned out to be a good decision.
Made it to Fred's place !
Just before Carolina the fog
started clearing, time for a bite to eat and a leg stretch. I decided
not to take on fuel as I still had plenty left, Rod took on 25l as his
plane's consumption is quite a bit higher than mine. The breakfast was
great and Fred showed us around, he has a great place ! When we wanted
to leave we started up and taxied to the end of the runway, Rod took
off (He struggled to catch up to me on the first leg when I took of
first.) When I wanted to enter the runway I found out that I had a flat
tyre ! Not good ! Rod landed again, I took the wheel off with his help
and replaced
the tube with a spare I had with me. I was VERY glad I brought the
spare and the right tools !
On the way again, this runway,
called "Lakeside" is in the foothills of the mountains, will have to
return sometime and land !
Crossing the
mountains turned out to be no
problem at all, the air was clear and not very bumpy, the wind was up
to about 10mph at this stage. Once over the mountains it was a LONG
descend down to the valley. I crossed the mountains at 8500 feet and
the
Barberton Valley runway is at about 2300 feet ! Visibility in the
valley
was not great due to all the fires they have had recently, thus no
photos of the approach, I was rather worried about finding the bush
strip in the low visibility but it turned out to be no problem due to a
good map and Garmin.
Landed safely at Barberton Valley !
The Rans was the
fourth plane to arrive and I was awarded with a hamper
from Pick and Pay as an early bird ! Down in the valley conditions were
great and it was nice and warm, up to 28C later the day. The total
flight time from Petit to Barberton valley was 2 hours 10 minutes.
This is where we stayed, the place
is called Jock of the Bushveld and is close to the Barberton Valley
flying field.
It was great but
I might opt to camp at the flying field next time, that way you can
enjoy the party more !
I managed to take lots of photos during the day as more planes arrived,
late in the afternoon I went for a local flight, flying to Barberton
and following the mountains around the valley, landed after the sun was
down, as I approached the runway the lights were switched on, what a
nice sight !
Pyramid airfield from above.
The next morning
we went flying
again, I wanted to visit the Pyramid flying field just outside
Nelspruit, to get some fuel and have a look at a friends plane. I had
also heard lots of good things about the flying field and wanted to
investigate it as a future destination.
Parked at Pyramid.
Everything I
heard about Pyramid
was true ! We got a friendly reception, fuel was available and Brian,
the owner, showed us the facilities. What a beautiful clean place, I
will be back. I filled up the Rans, at this point the total flight time
since leaving Petit was 3 hours 45 minutes. I filled the tanks and got
a nice surprise as the Rotax 618 engine (74 HP) only burned 45 liters
up to this point ! Since the Rans carries a total of 105l this left a
nice safety margin on the longer flights.
Back at Barberton Valley.
More planes had
arrived. I
tied the Rans down as I was told there is always a chance of sudden
winds, an upside down plane can ruin the trip !
Time to take some photos and chat to other
pilots !
Martiens arriving in his superb
Tiger Moth, this could have been 70 years ago !
A real collectors plane arrived, a
Beech 18, those wings provided shade for many people during the
weekend. Look at those mountains, they are the ones I had to cross.
Rod doing a fly past in the Stork,
it is very different from the Rans with a 150HP Lycoming engine but the
performance is very similar.
A visiting V tail Bonanza doing a
low flyby, most pilots did low flybys during the fly-in, great for the
photographers present.
CC's house/hangar/pub, imagine
living at your own runway ! There was lots to eat and drink the whole
weekend.
Sunset on the Beech 18, now the
party starts with fires going and drinks flowing, many a tall tale was
told !
Flying west over the mountains.
Ok,
the next morning, time to head home, an early
flight again, when taking off from Barberton Valley the mountains were
covered by cloud but this burned off quickly so crossing was not a
problem. What was a problem was the headwind, up to 37mph at one stage
and right on the nose ! This was going to be a long and bumpy flight.
Sunrise over the mountains.
I was
very busy flying the plane as it was jumping around a bit but I still
had
time for some photos and the views were great, at least the wind blew
most of the smoke away ! This would not be a great place to land in an
emergency but there were lots of dirt roads and little bush landing
strips that would do if the need was great enough.
Ash dump from powerstation.
Once
across the mountains I first
tried climbing to get out of the turbulence, it got better but the
headwind was also worse and progress was SLOW. I then tried dropping
down to about 300 feet above ground level, it was still a bit bumpy but
the wind was less, only about 8mph so I decided to stay down low, I am
sure I woke up a few people along the way ! The photo above is of the
ash/slag dumps close to a power station.
Look at the color of that freshly
plowed field ! Flying low is FUN ! It is also quite safe over these
wide open and flat fields, you can land almost anywhere.
An open coal mine, it is right next
to a power station, see how close to the surface the coal is !
A power station going full blast, this part of the country supplies a
large portion of South Africa's electricity needs, the air is getting
smoggy again,
getting close to Gauteng.
A few sleepy houses just outside Witbank, I
hope
I did not upset anyone ! When you fly this low in a small plane you
often get people on the ground waving at you.
I am not sure what this is, it looks like some refining
process, the photo was taken just outside Witbank towards the south.
Home again ! The Rans next to the hangars at Petit.
The last 40 minutes of the flight was
very bumpy, the landing was in a 35 mph 90 degree cross wind, not fun
! For some reason it is always more windy at Petit than anywhere
else. Flying
back from Barberton Valley, without stopping took 2 hours 43 minutes
due
to the headwind. Fuel consumption was also higher due to higher
throttle settings to combat the wind. On the way to the fly-in I was
flying at about 5600 rpm most of the time, coming back it varied
between 5750 and 5800 rpm.
Other than the flat tyre I had no problems at all, the plane flew well and I had lots of fun and learned a lot as well. Now the only question is, in what direction will the next trip be ?
Other than the flat tyre I had no problems at all, the plane flew well and I had lots of fun and learned a lot as well. Now the only question is, in what direction will the next trip be ?
A map with the downloaded track from the
GPS shown in
yellow. The bottom track is the trip there with the stop at Fred's
place and the top track is the direct route home. Distance flown there
was 178 miles and back was 163 miles, total distance flown including
the
sight seeing was about 435 miles with total elapsed time (including
taxing and run-ups) 6 hours and 57 minutes.
Will I
do it again ? YES ! Won't miss this event, it has a special "vibe" that
you don't find at other meetings.