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Flying with a purpose

Posted on July 27, 2021July 27, 2021 by Mike Blackburn

Look, I’m all in favour of boring holes in the sky for the sake of flying. There’s nothing wrong with flying with no particular purpose in mind, flying for proficiency, practicing holds and tracking radials, stalling, steep turns, power off 180s etc. But occasionally we get to fly for something bigger, more important. Sadly, this…

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Aircraft Ownership, flying, General

President’s Trophy Air Race

Posted on June 1, 2021June 9, 2021 by Mike Blackburn

Previously known as the Governer General’s Air Race, the State President’s Air Race and now the President’s Trophy, this event is one of the oldest air races in the world. It has gone through a number of iterations and alterations over the years but has run, more or less uninterrupted, for almost 75years. As a…

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Sport Flying

Game lodging

Posted on April 23, 2021 by Mike Blackburn

Despite having had the aeroplane for some years now, we have not, until now, used it to actually go on holiday. Our April holiday plans were extensively disrupted by the different (and constantly changing) kids’ term dates. My son also insisted on going to his residential community service camp (who are we to stand in…

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Uncategorized

Back to Cape Town

Posted on March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 by Mike Blackburn

About 2 and a bit years ago I took myself and my new(to me) Sling down to Cape Town. This was the last time I had been able to do a big cross country flight so I was quite pleased when the opportunity presented itself for another tax deductible flying trip to the Mother City….

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Cross Country, flying

The Night Life – Nov 2020

Posted on March 24, 2021 by Mike Blackburn

I was very keen to get my night rating. So keen, in fact that I went straight from my PPL into night training. There was a lot to be said for the night rating – extra hours of sim time, extra instrument time, and the joy of flying at night where it is generally smooth…

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circuits, flying, Night rating

After the rains

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Mike Blackburn

For the last 2 weeks the weather has not been conducive to flying. A tropical cyclone passed to the north of us and it seems to have set up a pattern where tons of warm moist air is being driven down from the ICTZ, bringing with it bouts of torrential rain and the odd embedded…

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flying

Learning to land?

Posted on November 4, 2020 by Mike Blackburn

There are only three tricks to a perfect landing. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are. It was in pursuit of these that I found myself 500ft over the threshold of Runway 36 at Brakpan Airfield (FABB), power off, flaps down and in an aggressive sideslip. Too low… damn it… 100ft up, still 1000ft short of…

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Flight training, flying, Sport Flying

Near misses and breakfasts

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Mike Blackburn

It’s been quite a long time since all 4 of us flew anywhere. Mostly this has been because of scheduling issues and the requirement that flying be limited to essential crew only (good grief – every single post seems to start with a COVID lockdown reference). Groblersdal flying club hosted their annual breakfast flyin on…

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Family, flying

Turbulent times

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Mike Blackburn

It seems that I am going to log a decent month’s worth of flying in September. We are making the most of the lack of restrictions and enjoying the freedom of being able to travel anywhere we want. Date Aircraft Route Flight Time Total Time 19 September2020 ZU-IBM FAGM(Rand) – FASY(Baragwanath) – Florence Guest Farm…

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flying, General

Racing again

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Mike Blackburn

After a successful navigation rally held some weeks ago the groundwork was laid for the resumption of Speed Rally flying. The season has been completely disrupted by the COVID pandemic with the second and third races being cancelled. There was much excitement when it seemed that we could continue with two further events this year….

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flying, Sport Flying
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