By Andre Venter
The EAA Stalwart Karl Jensen, as in December, decided to organise an impromptu fly-in on the spur of the moment, Brakpan Airfield was approached and was more than willing to host members for breakfast. Breakfast was ready for the visitors from 8:00 and a steady stream of visitors started arriving.
South Africa’s aviation guardian angel, Santjie White was on hand to welcome all the visitors. Santjie was also very eager to show off the latest office space made available by Brakpan Airfield both African Sky Aviation and Bird Aviation have already taken up residence. In total twenty-five aircraft made their way to Brakpan for breakfast, one of the first to arrive was Peter and Paul Lastrucci in his stunning Piper Cruiser, they were a tad early for breakfast and decided to visit Gordon Dyne's “Man Cave” for a quick coffee. Many of the other pilots followed his example and this led to a steady stream of visitors throughout the morning.
The visitors spent the morning chatting about things that affect general aviation including the latest airfield rating system that the CAA is introducing, needless to say, this is causing some unhappiness amongst the general aviation community.
Some entertainment was supplied by a banner tow company that launched a banner that was towed by a Super Cub
The visitors started leaving at about 11:00, these impromptu fly-ins are becoming rather popular and I hope to see them continue, there are countless airfields in Gauteng, Limpopo, Northwest and Northern Free State that I’m sure would be willing to welcome a few visitors on any Saturday morning.
