The members of Krugersdorp Flying Club must have woken with heavy hearts on Saturday morning when they saw the nasty weather that had moved in over Gauteng. The weather however didn’t deter the headstrong pilots from making the trip to Krugersdorp. I was fortunate to be invited to fly in with Derek Hopkins in his beautiful RV-8.
When we arrived at Eagles Creek the clouds were pretty low but safely flyable, the wind, however, did make things pretty bumpy. The wind at Krugersdorp was, fortunately, straight down runway 06 so it didn’t pose too much of a problem to anyone flying in for the day.
Members of EAA chapter 322 were at the ready with welcome pancakes Marie Reddy and her assistant Gladys keep a steady flow of pancakes throughout the morning, that is until they ran out of raw ingredients. The good folk from Krugersdorp Flying Club had made sure that there was a delicious cup of coffee available from a local vendor. Later on in the day the pancakes and coffee gave way to biltong and liquid refreshment for the brown bottles for those who didn’t have to fly home again.
The turnout was very good despite the nasty wind and cloudy conditions, aircraft made their way from all over Gauteng and a few from even further away. Peter Lea and his brother-in-law Peter came all the way from Barberton in Mpumalanga in his beautiful RV-10, Peter is becoming quite the regular at fly-ins held in Gauteng since the all to stringent lock-down rules were relaxed.
A local radio station, Vibez Live, were invited to broadcast their Morning show from Krugersdorp Airfield, their good music and interviews of prominent aviation personalities kept everyone entertained throughout the morning and hopefully a few of their listeners were inspired to join the wonderful world of aviation.
The excitement levels kicked up a notch or two when the Flying Lions reported that they were 5 minutes out, unfortunately, they were limited to a flat display due to the weather. The display was however enjoyed by the airshow starved public. Scully, Sean, Arnie and Ellis then landed and joined the crowd for a cup of coffee and a pancake. Scully was interviewed by the Vibez Live presenter before they once again returned to Rand Airport.
With major thundershowers predicted for the afternoon, the visitors didn’t stick around too long, which must have come as a relief to the CAA members, Piet Fourie and Mothiba Kanyane that came along to enjoy the day with everyone while keeping an eye on proceedings.
Thanks must go to all the KFC members for once again making the visit to Jack Taylor Airfield memorable, hopefully, they will buck the trend at the next event and actually have good weather, which rarely happens at Krugersdorp, as soon as a date is set the weather seems to try everything to interfere with the event.
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