West Coast Air Carnival - Vredendal
Date: 25 August 2007
Vredendal: where is that and how big a fly-in could this be? Would it be worth the 550km drive from Cape Town?
Report by Greg Pullin
Organised by the Vredendal Flying Club, the air carnival / fly-in developed into a mini air show for the crowd of a few thousand which attended. Held at the old airfield (yes, Vredendal has two!), over 100 aircraft were present, which included the local micro- and ultralights There need to be more of these fly-ins all over the country to take aviation to the people and interest the youth in opportunities and careers in aviation.
What a glorious day, the weather was perfect, the flying varied and interesting, good commentary by Brian Emmenis of Capital Sounds, and others; good food reasonably priced, plenty of spectator space and a relaxed country atmosphere. One of the most impressive features was that chairs were provided: you helped yourself from a huge pile: what an excellent idea.
So why an article like this on the unofficial SAAF website? The answer is simple: current and ex-SAAF aircraft.
This was an excellent opportunity for the SAAF to show the flag in the country districts and promote the SAAF as a career opportunity to the locals. Current SAAF aircraft were:
The Silver Falcon Team in their four Pilatus Astras which gave two immaculate displays. Cessna Caravan 3012 which did a couple of skydiver drops by teams from the Special Forces, members of the SAPS Task Force, and the Golden Eagles.
Oryx 1236 flown by Major Willie Burger from 22 Squadron which did a fire suppression drop with its Bambi bucket and performed simulated air-sea rescue by winching a crew member on and off the back of a bakkie.
There is widespread interest amongst enthusiasts as to what happens to SAAF aircraft when they are disposed of. Ex-SAAF aircraft there were:
- Harvard ZU-AZW 7650 which flew.
- Albatros ZS-NJZ which flew.
- Albatros ZS-NJS on static display.
- Bosbok ZU-ACP 930 in its original grey colour scheme, static during the fly-in, but flew out in the late afternoon.
- Bosbok ZU-ADI 953 in its green and brown camouflage, which did several flying displays.
- Cessna 185 ZS-LOU which flew.
Thunder City founder and owner, Mike Beachy Head arrived in his immaculate Puma ZU-PUM.
On the civil side, there were plenty of light aircraft, autogiros, helicopters and home-builts. Many aircraft flew in from surrounding airfields for the day. Star appearance was the graceful Thunder City Hawker Hunter ZU-AUJ flown by Ian Pringle which gave an impressive display. One of my favourites was the unique Rutan Vari-eez ZS-VFA: a very interesting shape in the sky. The Sport Cruiser ZU-LSA, which was introduced to the South African market earlier this year, was displayed by Ian Puntis. There was also an aerobatics display in a Decathlon ZS-CCG. Cessna Caravan ZS-MVY flew and was then on static display.
From a photographic point of view, there were marvellous photographic opportunities with spectator space close to the active runway and access to parked aircraft on the cross-runway.
The whole event was well organized by Andre de Waal, Rikus Erasmus and their teams. Was the drive worth it? Definitely! I look forward to next year.
