Skip to content
Menu
Flying Gas
  • Home
  • Airport Map
    • Competition flying again
  • About
  • Contact
  • ZU-IBM
Flying Gas

Taking Miss Daisy to Springs

Posted on December 4, 2018December 10, 2018 by Mike Blackburn

I have been looking for an opportunity to take some family members flying in ZU-IBM. There is a heck of a lot going on at the moment with year end functions, prize-givings, concerts and the like and there simply isn’t a lot of time. When the Springs airport fly-in came up though we decided to make a morning of it. Some family members preferred their beds to an early flight so it was only myself and my son braving the trip to the East Rand. 

I tend to overthink trips to unfamiliar airspace. I’ve only been east of OR Tambo Johannesburg International Airport (FAOR) once and that was a long way wide of the airspace doing my night Nav exercise – this route would call for a very close skirting of the airspace around this large international airport. 

Undaunted though we planned to route from Tedderfield to Springs via Suikerbosrand Nature reserve (incidentally I have not been there since I was about 12y old) – I thought it would give me a chance to do some radial intercepts onto the HGV VOR using the “virtual VOR” feature on my MGL iEFIS – it creates radials based on the GPS position, so one can navigate using VORs without having a Nav radio per se (this will have to be fixed if I’m ever going to use this aircraft for IFR though)

Routing from Tedderfield to Springs giving the Buffer zone a wide berth

Saturday morning’s weather was fairly typical for a Saturday morning at this time of year – beautiful at 04h45, and overcast by 06h30. Fortunately the stuff was thin, was clearing from the east (good news since this was the direction of flight) and it looked like a good day to commit aviation. 

DateAircraftRouteDistanceTime(hrs)Total(hrs)
24 November 2018ZU-IBM
(SLG4)
FATA –
FASI
38nm0.7113.7

I try to involve my kids in the preflight process as I think that the more eyes there are scanning the aircraft, the greater the chance of picking up something – but we both had to stop and gawk as a flight of 4 motor gliders taxied past and departed to Springs – they’re quite elegant and looked like they had some pretty impressive initial climb performance. 

In Cruise Selfie 

Then it was time to set sail – in the video below one can see the smile on my son’s face as we accelerated down Runway 29. The routing was easier than I imagined it would be – and much quicker too – by road Springs is a good 90min drive – took us about 24min all told.  Being total newbies to the fly-in scene we were impressed by the number of aircraft joining the pattern from all directions – generally professional piloting meant that we were able to build some good situational awareness and no surprises appeared (apart from the unexpectedly strong crosswind on the downwind leg)!

There is a bit of pressure landing at a busy field when you know everyone is watching your landing – fortunately we didn’t need a broom to taxi the aircraft off the runway so we retained some credibility. Which I lost for us by asking where we could park…. “Um… in any open spot?” So we pulled up next to a very pretty RV8 (ZU-RVA) and shut down. 

Scott with IBM on the flight line at Springs – Check out that sexy RV8…

Then it was time to wander around and have a look at the aircraft – there was a good representation of general aviation in SA – everything from a Trike to a Cherokee 140, to C210 on the type certified side and lots of Vans Aircraft (Mostly RV7A’s with a spattering of RV-6/a’s and two RV-10’s – not to forget the aforementioned RV-8), A couple of Slings, Jabirus and some Kitfox aircraft on the NTCA side. A Robbie R44 and an Alo II kept the motor gliders company too. 

ZS-CNY Cessna C210
Polaris LSA
FASI_ZULSA_241118
“Sport” cruiser

FASI_ZUMTB_241118
Vans Aircraft RV-10 ZU-MTB 
FASI_ZSOZI_241118
Citabria ZS-OZI

Sadly we were not taking part in the navigation rally and we didn’t have time to stay and watch the departing traffic so it was back to Tedderfield for us.

DateAircraftRouteDistanceTimeTotal
24 November 2018ZU-IBM 
(SLG4)
FASI – FASY
– FATA
551114.7

We wanted to stay well clear of the busy corridor between springs and Rand Airport so I decided to head south until passing over Heidelberg airport and then route for Baragwanath (FASY) airport – which is to be the new home of ZU-IBM for a touch and go before returning to Tedderfield. 

As we were doing run ups at the hold for RWY 03 at Springs there was some commotion on the airport frequency – apparently one of the motor gliders based at Springs had had an engine problem on departure from the grass runway and had completed a safe off field landing – I guess this is bread-and-butter stuff for glider pilots?

We had an uneventful trip back to Tedderfield- did one (average) touch and go at BaraG and then perhaps my best landing to date in the Sling at Tedderfield. I discovered an unexpected advantage of having my son with me – he could hop out and open the hangar, avoiding a shut down and hot start ! – Kids have their uses sometimes… 

We’ll be looking for more fly-ins to attend in future.

Family, flying

1 thought on “Taking Miss Daisy to Springs”

  1. Pingback: Secunda Speed Rally 2019 – Day 1 – Flying Gas

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Places I’ve Landed

blackburnmike

The @flyinglionsaerobaticteam departing FAGM for t The @flyinglionsaerobaticteam departing FAGM for the Stellenbosch Airshow this weekend. Sound up!!

#harvard #t6 #radials #rand #fagm #generalaviation
First aerie out of Rand this morning. sublime atmo First aerie out of Rand this morning. sublime atmosphere for some practice manoeuvres. #sling4 #sling #slingaircraft #zuibm #mikemoment #flying #morning #generalaviation #fagm #ppl

Nice to meet @groundeffectfilms finally too!
The Saint John’s College Big Band performing “ The Saint John’s College Big Band performing “Turn the Beat Around” featuring Scott Blackburn on bass and Thomas Kruger on Drums 

#bigband #saintjohnscollege
just some condensation and the rotation of the ear just some condensation and the rotation of the earth.
short field takeoff from Glenvista airfield. 135m short field takeoff from Glenvista airfield. 135m give or take a metre. yes, it’s not proper short field technique but given the guys refilling a crop duster behind me i thought it would be rude to not do a rolling takeoff. 

#sling4 #missdaisy #zuibm #flying #mikemoment #generalaviation #sling
anyone else do this? can never remember the altitu anyone else do this? can never remember the altitude of the landing field so i write it on the window in whiteboard marker. #tips #flying #zuibm #mikemoment #aviation #memory
oh hai guys! #harvards #formation #flyinglions #ra oh hai guys!
#harvards #formation #flyinglions #rand #fagm #flying #sling #zuibm
one town, two airfields. Any guesses which town? one town, two airfields. Any guesses which town? 

#sling #sling4 #zuibm #flying #generalaviation
something something a mile of runway …… DA of something something a mile of runway …… DA of 4500 feet and i was airborne by the end of the concrete. 
#glenside #drakensberg #sling #flying #aviation
lovely morning for it…. #parktowngirls #diving lovely morning for it…. #parktowngirls #diving
popped past Panorama today on my ‘dust off the s popped past Panorama today on my ‘dust off the skills’ flight. great toastie, nice grass runway… what’s not to like? love it when the weather and work gods get the alignment right…

 #sling #sling4 #zuibm #aviator #flying #saflyers #southafricanaviation #grassstripsaremorefun
everyone is doing it this week - thought it would everyone is doing it this week - thought it would be rude not to - The Vaal dam with many (4) sluice gates open. first time in this year that the weather and my schedule have coincided…. 

#flying #southafricanaviation #sling4 #slingaircraft #zuibm #mikemoment #missdaisy #vaaldam #flyingeyessa #flyingeyes
great end of year flight out to @bonabonagamelodge great end of year flight out to @bonabonagamelodge with @sjr.briggs today. fought the wind there but miraculously got the benefits on the way back. solid 152Kts over the ground at FL95. 

✈️
#aviation #sling4 #slingaircraft #missdaisy #zuibm #flying #flyrotax #rotax914
Now loading- last flight of 2021. #sling4 #slinga Now loading- last flight of 2021. 
#sling4 #slingaircraft #flyrotax #missdaisy #flying #generalaviation #randairport #fagm #flyingeyes
epic storm here last night - if i was flying and i epic storm here last night - if i was flying and i’d looked at this radar image i’d be somewhat upset. why is the wx radar service so poor??
#kasouga #storm #epicsky #cloudporn
#lestweforget🌹 #lestweforget🌹
First flight behind my @flyingeyessa Kestrels. ver First flight behind my @flyingeyessa Kestrels. very impressed. nice to have proper noise cancelling seals now. 
#sling4 #sling #slingaircraft #flying #joburg #southafricanaviation #zuibm #flyingeyes #generalaviation
Hangar 9 flyers outing to Zebula. #sling #flying # Hangar 9 flyers outing to Zebula. #sling #flying #sling4 #zebula #southafricanaviation #zuibm
Preflight…. spot the Rotax thing i do? #flyrotax Preflight…. spot the Rotax thing i do? #flyrotax #sling4 #fagm #zuibm #flying
trying to blend in at Lanseria. went to fly IF pra trying to blend in at Lanseria. went to fly IF practice with a mate in an SR22.. #sling #sling4 #flying #cirrus #sr22 #lanseria #fala #southafricanaviation #whyaretherunwayssowide
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

  • July 2021 (1)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • April 2021 (1)
  • March 2021 (2)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • November 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (3)
  • August 2020 (3)
  • July 2020 (2)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (2)
  • November 2019 (2)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (5)
  • August 2019 (3)
  • July 2019 (3)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (3)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (2)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (1)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • November 2017 (3)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (6)
  • June 2017 (4)
©2022 Flying Gas | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes