2009 Gliding Nats -- Gert Nieuwoudt

I drove down on the Thursday morning (big mistake) when all the Gauteng long weekend holiday makers were on the N3. The day before the event a few of us enjoyed the beautiful flying weather at the Noodsberg club. I stayed over with Johan, Rudi, Chris, Conrad, Evan, Christo, Tia and Victoria at the Castaway guest farm house. Nice dinner made by the Tia and Vici and long stories around a few cold beers made us ready for the next day.

Friday morning started off with winds gusting up to 30km/h. It got a while to get organized at the field but no one was complaining. Most of the time was used to check out the competition and determine whose was the largest. (Dion's prop won this round) The event got off with F5J, RES and 2m rounds with F3K following. By this time we had to change the winch direction already from first setup and clouds moved in followed by mist clouds. A few more slots of F3K was done but F3J launching could not be done safe and flying was cancelled. The AGM was held in good spirit at the country club before we moved off to Wartburg Hoff (What a letdown) for some eisbein. Zimmy was to happy to have us all there as the place was like a spookhuis. We were entertained till late by the Italian and had a lot of good laughs.

Saturday morning promised good weather and we had a great day of flying. There was a few spectacular and painful mishaps. Johan lost his Pike in the sun on a launch and it went in full speed. Allen lost his Supra due to a line tangle. Conrad damaged his model when he tried to land on the other side of the sewerage farm. A tree jumped in front of Little Ryan's model on the way back to the field. I must say the juniors show BIG character flying at this level and performing this well. Lionel tried to destroy his F3K model all weekend but it was repairable every time. All in all the conditions was very challenging and very difficult to read. Most of the day was crosswind launches. We flew the last round of F3K just before sunset. The day was ended by all the tired pilots having a super dinner at the country club.

Sunday morning we were out again early. For the record, myself and Evan was first at the field every morning. Man it is a beautiful venue for gliding. Sunday was probably the best thermal weather of all the days. We had to do cross wind launches but could find lift easily during the morning. The wind picked up later and I think we ended just in time before it became un-flyable again (Evan will disagree).

Lionel. Well maybe I can write a separate chapter about this man. When a model is 5m up in the tree then Lionel will fetch it. When the scores have to be done, then Lionel will calculate. Who is collecting the spots after all has left? Lionel. If there is a major protest, Lionel is in the middle. If you need a 2 man tow, then Lionel will give you that tow all by himself. Who can compete in at least 5 classes (2m, RES, F3J, F5J, F3K and towman) and do a lot of the side organizing and scoring? Lionel! Gee wiz guys have we become so competitive that we only think of ourselves and can't help this man.

A note to Wolfie who is organizing 2010: It is not necessary to plan 8 rounds for 2m, RES, F5J, F3K. Only 6 rounds I think is sufficient. Some pressure to start earlier will also help. Best time of year is a gamble but maybe June the risk is lower for rain. The idea of a class per day also surfaced again with a lot of pros and cons.

I would like to report on the F5J comp in a separate mail when I have more details as the evolution of this class the past 4 years was amazing.

Now why do we do this every year?

Up to this year I was lucky to be able to take home a memento of the Nats for the past 4 years and it makes it real special. Thanks to everyone who made it possible this year and congrats to all the winners.

Cheers

Gert

Vote for committee -- update from Vic de Vries

"Further to my previous posting regarding the national Postal Strike and us voting for a new SAMAA committee. Members to please note the last day for collecting envelopes from the Alberton Post Office for postal voting will be Thursday 1 October 2009. Envelopes received after this date will not be taken into account ".

Kind regards

Vic de Vries (Election Officer)

THE GREAT INDIANA AIRPLANE BLUNDER --Peter Joffe

Who knows how far the course of aviation would have gone by now if only someone had followed the lead of the Johnson boys, who designed a fabulous, streamlined airplane twenty five years too soon?

They are old men now and their hair is white. They speak slowly and let sentences lapse. But they stand straight and walk with honest pride because, as young men, they achieved something extraordinary - and today the world has acknowledged the achievement.

If the world had noticed them at the time, their name, Johnson, would have been emblazoned in aviation history next to Bleriot and Wright and Curtiss and Martin. But the young brothers were isolated in the backwoods of the Middle West and if there had been a conspiracy, events and time could not have been more brutally against them.

Their tragedy, and America’s loss, was a plane twenty five yeas ahead of its time.

Read more.

MHSA 2009 Masters entry form -- Johan Sieling

Entry form is here.

Gliding Postal scores and comments for August 2009 -- John Lightfoot

Scores are here.

Comments are here.

A reminder of the Challenge

Importing "type-approved" 2,4 GHz radio equipment

Liaan van der Merwe posted this information on the SARFY list. It concerns direct import of types of radio equipment that have been approved locally by ICASA:

"...Just for interest sake I actually phoned ICASA and after friendly conversation with gentlemen the following was concluded: if you import for personal use, you can simply ask ICASA to send you letter that the radio is legal to use. (That is if the radio model has been approved already). but if you import to resell, you have to get it re-approved, even if been approved before.

........

There is that grey area of the radio's made before ICASA etc.. but that is different topic all together.

So import it.. phone ICASA, get the nod of approval and fly to you heart's content."

He goes on to say:

"... please just reiterate that this is what was told to me by 1 representative from ICASA via telephone conversation. I am really hoping someone else would phone them as well and confirm or negate these statements"

Time extension for votes for new committee

As Election Officer, I have decided to extend the deadline for voting for a new SAMAA committee to accommodate the number of days that the postal strike will last.

Some members are still waiting delivery of the newsletter and some only received their copy during the last week in August. Very little is being published regarding the strike and we are all in the dark, the media included.

The Election Officer will accept late arrivals and members must please forward their voting forms on arrival of their news letter. The cut –off date will be determined by the number of days the strike is in force.

Kind regards

Vic de Vries (Election Officer).