By Andre Venter
Silver Creek Gorge Estate is a beautiful aviation estate boasting a 1200m recently resurfaced tar runway that is 10m wide it is more than long enough to comfortably handle larger aircraft. The gorgeous estate is nestled in the foothills of the Magaliesberg 2 Nm east of Buffelspoort Dam.
I was invited to join the guys from Aircraft Inc who flew from Krugersdorp in their two stunning Navions, while we were preparing to take off I noticed at least five aircraft departing Krugersdorp for Silver Creek. The members of KFC always make an effort to support fly-ins no matter where they are held.
I joined Ryno Coetzer in the lead Navion with Steve George on our wing-tip when we arrived at Silver Creek we were given permission to do a runway inspection in formation with smoke to the delight of all on the ground.
When we arrived we realised that some pilots had arrived the day before and had spent the night camping under the wing of their aircraft. The previous evening had been rather cold which was rather unexpected. So, needless to say, the intrepid campers were in search of some steaming hot coffee to shake off the night's chill. It seems that the fuel price increases of late dominated the conversation between the festive music supplied by Dr Frank Persson the EAA’s own Flying Doctor Musician.
Arjan Schaap, a Silver Creek Resident, was as always on hand to meet and greet all the visitors as they made their way from the parking to the clubhouse. Over 80 aircraft made their way to Silver Creek for the famed pancakes keeping the team very busy throughout the morning. Pancakes were turned out by the hundreds, each person was allocated a token which gave you Three pancakes with a filling of your choice, and what a choice there was. All tastes were catered for from scrumptious savoury fillings to a selection of goodies for those with a sweet tooth.
Century 21 had set up a stall outside the clubhouse, they are the agents for the properties still available at Silver creek, a show house was also prepared for anyone that showed interest. Harties Radio Station supplied the background music for the day.
Nigel Musgrave took care of all the safety aspects for the day from his temporary tower located on the highest point at the midpoint of the runway. He was assisted by Rodger and Dean who took control of parking the many visiting aircraft.
The Orion Cub made its first appearance at a Fly-in and great interest was shown. Dale de Klerk had flown it in, he is so impressed with this aircraft that Kevin Hopper has to hide the keys from him.
We left at about 11.30 am as Ryno had a surprise visit planned over the Noordhevil Hoer Skool, with smoke on go, for their function which attracted 14000 people. We then proceeded home to FAKR and greeted the locals with a fly-by to then land on the grass runway close to the Hangers
