Page 52 - World Airnews Magazine May 2021 Edition

NEWS

ZIMBABWE AIR RALLY PLANS

By Wallace Mawire

Organisers of Zimbabwe’s air
rally have reported that they have had an
incredible response with over 30 entries.
According to Chris Sheppard and Marion
Kalweit this will be the 46th air rally and
will be a test of navigational and flying
skills.
Kalweit said the field is full and entries
are now closed.
The format for the Air Rally to take
place in 2 - 8 June will be followed is a set
course given to the teams who will choose
a speed at which they wish to fly.
No GPS or other artificial navigation
aids are allowed to be used except for
the air speed Indicator, artificial horizon,
altimeter and compass.
The aircraft leave the starting point at
two-minute intervals, with the fastest
planes going first. Getting ready for the mini rally this month. No water at the hangers so a quick
rinse for ZU-ICL near Puma; photo courtesty Facebook and Chris Sheppard
“The idea is to fly the course on track,
on time, all the time, it is not a race. It is
all about hitting each marker at the exact And if a competitor feels they are lost and The last air rally was held in 2019 and
plotted time,” according to Sheppard. wishes to return to base using GPS they participants came from Zambia and South
He said that points are deducted if simply call on the radio that they are out Africa although in the past teams from
points (called gates) are missed or passed of the rally and climb to 6000m and fly Switzerland and Malawi also took part.
at incorrect times, either too fast or too directly to the airfield. The Zimbabwe air force usually enters a
slow. Scoring is done digitally using a logger team
The main rally is held over two days and which is placed in each plane before take- The organising committee said that
runs over approximately 250nm/day. off. The loggers are returned to the scorers it awaits direction from the ministry of
health and child care as far as Covid-19
“Slower planes will take longer, faster on completing each day's competition. protocols are concerned. The rally falls
planes quicker. Once flying in the rally Data is retrieved and the scores are directly under Civil Aviation Authority of
participants are not allowed to circle made available as soon as possible to the Zimbabwe (CAAZ).
back or deviate more than 30 degrees off contestants.
course for safety reasons,” he said. The organisers said that the rally route * However before the June rally takes
Competitors are encouraged to fly the this year will take them from Harare to place - a mini rally is to be held on 15 May
rally at 1,000 metres above ground level. Kariba and then on to the Victoria Falls. at the Charles Prince airport in Harare with
the first plane taking off at 9am. Q

NEWS

AN-124 MINING EQUIPMENT

FLIGHT

The flights were chartered by Skyair Chartering and Antonov
said they needed to be completed in a short time frame.
Antonov Airlines has transported 14 pieces of mining The airline made a single technical stop in Algiers, Algeria
equipment, weighing 216 tonnes in total, on two AN-124-100 for the 103 tonne Burkina Faso-bound cargo and two stops in
flights from Istanbul, Turkey to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Casablanca, Morocco and Diass-Thies, Senegal for the journey to
Monrovia, Liberia. Liberia to refuel and provide crew rests.
“These two flights from Turkey to Africa were meticulously Antonov Airlines added that it has seen an increase in charters
planned and both flights were completed with maximum for mining projects since the beginning of the year and just
payloads on each route,” said Eugene Kiva, commercial executive last month completed three flights of equipment weighing 370
at Antonov Airlines. tonnes to Latin America from Australia. Q

World Airnews | May Extra 2021
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