Tag Archives: SAAF Museum Airshow

Grand Central Fun Rally 2019

Grand Central Fun Rally – 14 Sep 2019 by Rob Jonkers

This year’s SAPFA Fun navigation rally had its challenges in getting off the ground, the date initially set for the 7th September, where two other events entered the fray, that being the Children’s Flight and the SAAF Museum Airshow, and then the weather conspired to also be against us with fould weather on both the Friday and the Saturday.

In any event the date was moved by a week to the 14th September which coincided with the RV day and the Tedderfield Sling Fly-in, it seems everybody was getting into the spring feeling to hold events…. This Fun rally event is run in conjunction with Superior Pilot Services (SPS) who provide the facilities and sponsor a great breakfast at the Harvard, and an opportunity to allow their students to get to grips with rally flying.

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The teams busy plotting the course from the task sheets

For a number of years now Rob Jonkers planned and plotted the course for this event, catering for Open class and a Fun class, where the fun class introduces newbies to the sport. Entrants were planned to be around ten crews, with four from SPS and six from other airfields, and with the Protea teams still in Portugal having just completed the ANR World Championships were not available to take part. Eventually on the day only four teams could take part, thus it was a small field, with two in fun class and two in the Open class.

Most competitors arrived by 8.00 on Saturday morning to first enjoy the Harvard breakfast, thereafter briefing and plotting. The weather forecast looked promising with clear skies with 10+ kts wind later in the morning, which proved to become somewhat blustery closer to midday.

The route was planned to go out north, into familiar territory for the competitors as most of the legs were in their GF backyard. The start and finish points were just north of the N14 in the narrow Special Rules corridor between the Waterkloof & Lanseria airspace, and from there the route went out over the Hartebeespoort dam, across the Magalies ridge and into the scenic Crocodile river valley, then east across to Soshanguve and back across the ridge to the finish.

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Matthew French & Mike Blackburn plotting their course

From the GPS logger plot results, it could be seen the teams were struggling to slow down enough on the eastern & southern legs with many zig-zags being evident to counter the stronger wind at altitude.

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The Apron of Grand Central with competitor aircraft

There was one photo per leg that needed to be recognized, some of them were at least spotted by the crews, including a bonus photo which was one of those irresistible features (Stadium) that had to be found somewhere along the route, and which many crews did find in Attridgeville on the last leg.

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Approaching the Crocodile Valley – Landscape still wintery

After all the scores were tallied, first in Fun class was Matthew French with navigator Michael Blackburn in their very fast Mooney, second was father and son Jan and Max Coetzee in a C182. In this class the navigation accuracy allows 15 seconds at each gate before penalties are applied, one penalty per second.

In Open class in first place was Nick Christodoulou with navigator Andre Kluyts in a C172, and for this event a Route Planner class…. Rob Jonkers with his trusty navigator Martin Meyer in a C182, and being the route planner was expected to return with a perfect zero, but could not find the all the photos…., memory not that good it seems. In this class the navigation accuracy allows 2 seconds at each gate before penalties are applied, three penalties per second.

The navigation tracks – all seems fine until the eastern & southern legs

This event was for sure enjoyed by all, getting an understanding of flying with more precision, especially in the slower flight regime, and having to deal with wind variation. Many thanks extended to SPS for making all the arrangements with Grand Central Management, and for the fantastic breakfast and for Franz Smit and Ashley Loynes for joining at the start and providing the teams with much needed water refreshments.

Aviation Events Calendar Orders

2019 Aviation Events Calendar

Aviation Central Logo

With

master power technologies

  And

Vertex Automation

We have launched our 1st ever physical Aviation Events calendar for the year 2019. This being the 1st ever printed calendar for us, but definitely not the last. The cost per Calendar is R100 (ZAR) and courier cost R50 if within South Africa. Maximum of 5 calendars can be sent via one shipment (R50). On the Bottom of this page you will see a preview of all the pages on the calendar. The Calendar consists of 13 photos taken during the 2017 & 2018 season with the Stunning Mustang Sally owned by the Amazing gentleman by the name of Menno Parsons. Menno is truly a guy with many talents, successful businessman and has a heart of gold! Click here to view our online calendar!

How to order your Calendar(s)

Courier

Courier will be done with PEP stores PAXI serves and you will have to collect from your nearest PEP store. We selected the PEP PAXI option as to keep cost down. PEP PAXI was the cheapest option to get your calendar to you.  Please make sure you have enter full address information (To locate your nearest PEP store). If possible get the PAXI code form your nearest PEP or online, this will assist us, but is not a requirement. To read more on PAXI or to get your PAXI code online goto  https://www.paxi.co.za

*PAXI codethe code of your local PEP stores where your calender will be sent to.


Choose how many calendars do you need, Maximum of 5 per order, however more than one order can be placed. Do an EFT payment to the Bank account below and then complete the order form below and attaching your Payment proof.  The Costing table below can be used as an guide.  1st Shipment will be done 5th January 2019 and then every Saturday with new orders that came in the week.

Collection

We will be having collection points in Pretoria North, Centurion, Durban, Rand Airport and Swartkop AFB (2nd Feb only) . If you opt for this you will not need to pay courier cost. Please take note of the rules on this option. Shipments will be made to these points on 11th Jan, 19th Jan and 2nd Feb 2019. If you place an order the shipment will be send to the collection point on the next shipment date after your order has been received (11th Jan, 19th Jan and 2nd Feb) After it has arrived at the collection point, we will contact you with the details on collection once they are ready for collection.

Choose how many calendars do you need, Maximum of 5 per order, however more than one order can be placed. Do an EFT payment to the Bank account below and then complete the order form below and attaching your Payment. The Costing table below can be used as a guide.

If we have stock left, We will be at Swartkop AFB 02 Feb 2019 for cash sales

Limited stock available, this order form will be closed once we are sold-out

Cost Per CalendarNumber of calendarsCourier costTotal
R100.001R50.00R150.00
R100.002R50.00R250.00
R100.003R50.00R350.00
R100.004R50.00R450.00
R100.005R50.00R550.00
R100.001CollectR100.00
R100.002CollectR200.00
R100.003CollectR300.00
R100.004CollectR400.00
R100.005CollectR500.00

For Bulk orders or any other questions please use WhatsApp number 081 392 1823 (text only) to get in contact with us.

Order form continues below Advert

Team Aviation Central proudly use Canon Cameras


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**Now the T&C’s**

  1. Calendar was printed with dates known as at 22 November 2018
  2. We cannot be responsible for any incorrect dates
  3. We cannot be responsible for any date changes
  4. Events can be Added, Removed or be Moved at any time
  5. 1st Shipment will be done 11th January 2019 and then every Saturday with new orders that came in the week.
  6. Courier option, 7-9 business days after shipment date.
  7. Courier option, We will WhatsApp you the information once your Calendar is ready to collect form your Nearest PEP store
  8. Collection option, We will WhatsApp  you contact details on the collection point.
  9. For inquiries send a WhatsApp ONLY to 081 392 1823 or email admin[at]aviationcentral.co.za
  10. Be sure to check out our online calendar for updates during 2019

Banking information to use for the EFT payment

Bank FNB
EVENTS AVIATION NEWS (PTY) LTD
Account Number 62792754519
FNB Universal Branch Code 250655

Order form

Complete only once EFT payment has been made


    CourierCollect DurbanCollect CenturionCollect Pretoria NorthCollect Rand AirportCollect Swartkop AFB(02 FEB only)




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