Page 60 - World Airnews Magazine March 2020 Edition

SPEED
RALLY

THE PILOT INSURE WITBANK

SPEED NAVIGATION RALLY

By Rob Jonkers. Photos by Willie Bodenstein and Rob Jonkers

CHRISTIAN DU PLESSIS GIVES THE HARVARD CREW JACK COETZER
– PILOT AND JOHN SAYERS – NAVIGATOR THEIR SIGNAL TO GO

from Springs and first time entry from Rhino many turn points, distance, departure and

Park LST or Light Sport Aviation Training. arrivals protocol, and also how the scoring
he first of the Pilot Insure Speed The Grand Prix event is the second event system worked in terms of penalties as well

TRallies for 2020 was held at Wit- in this Season 2, and is proving very popular. as the expected weather conditions.

bank. The route for this weekend was planned Then it was onto the briefing on steroids

The event was successfully organised by at 146nm, had 10 turning points, and for with race master Le Roux who introduced
SAPFA and hosted by the Witbank Aeronau- added spectator value now included a all the teams to come up to the stage with a

tical Association who went out of their way crossover - where the course was an- theme song and receive their race stickers.

to make this a memorable event. ti-clockwise, to cross over the airfield and Then it was lamb on the spit meal provided

Planning began in November 2019 with then clockwise to return from the east. The by the host club before everyone retired

a reconnaissance to Witbank to review the crossover was planned to have the first of for the evening.

logistics for the weekend. With the first the slower aircraft already passing over Saturday morning dawned with perfect

event of the season at Springs behind us, while a number of the faster aircraft were flying conditions but as the morning wore

the SAPFA team and competitors held a still waiting to take-off. on the wind started to pick up from the

further debrief to review options on fur- The route in the first portion was mostly south east. This favoured Rwy 22, except

ther improvements. to the north and west, with the second por- the planned runway to be used was 04, as

Most notably to look at the scoring of tion towards the scenic north-east and then the cross-over was at the threshold of 04.

navigation accuracy which is now nor- back around Middelburg and some not so The briefing began at 07h00 am and

malised to ensure slow or fast aircraft scenic coal fields and flatter landscapes. was concluded at around 8. Thereafter

types have equal chance in scoring for The weather on Friday started out well everyone dispersed, parked their aircraft

navigation accuracy. with the forecast not predicting any rain. and prepared for the scrutineers and
Another change is that scores are counted There were plenty of thermals about. Flight refuellers. The wind remained stuck in the

for both navigation and handicap whereas testing was carried out all day with Mark south easterly direction and had increased

before if you won in the handicap class Clulow and Sean Cronin. in strength. The question organisers faced

in the first three places, the scores were The Friday afternoon initial briefing then was whether to delay the start to a

excluded in the accuracy class. started at 18h30 with David le Roux being little later to allow the wind
Entries for Witbank were 34, with four the new race master. He introduced Rob to

GPS class competitors and eight more in the Jonkers to the stage and Rob provided a swing more to the predicted

Grand Prix part of the event. There were briefing on what to expect for the next north easterly direction. A To page 60
two schools taking part, the Mach 1 school day in terms of the planned route, how quick phone call to our
World Airnews | March 2020 World Airnews | March 2020
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