Locals take to the sky
Members of the Brakpan Flying Club are ready to take to the air.
Brakpan Flying Club members will take part in the fourth Race of Champions from August 9 to 11.
Ryan Beeton and his navigator Paul Quick will be flying in Ryan’s Van’s RV 7 at the championships which will take place at Ulundi’s Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Airport in KwaZulu-Natal.
The event puts lightweight aircraft up against each other with a maximum take-off weight of 7 500kg, a minimum handicap speed of 100 knots (the equivalent of 185 km/h) in level flight at sea level and an endurance to cover at least 400 nautical miles (644km).
“This race is a challenge but one nice thing about it is the navigation is without a GPS, which makes it more difficult yet fun to fly,” said Ryan.
“They give each entrant maps and co-ordinates for you to plot it yourself.”
Ryan explained that there will be between six and 10 check points and although the starting and finish points are at the airport, the logger they put in the aircraft will track your flying.
“When you land again they superimpose the tracks that you’ve just flown, to the track you were supposed to have flown and each check is marked off a blueprint,” he added.
“Basically they check if each aeroplane had gone around every single blue element of navigation but they focus more on the race than the navigation.
“I entered for the comradely and fun, but also the challenge because it is once a year only in South Africa.”
Although this is the first time Ryan has entered in this SA unlimited race where anyone can enter, he looks forward to the challenge.
Based on a handicap system all the claims of the aircraft motor are the same size.
“So for instance if your handicap is 150 the course distance is 300 miles (480km) which you should be able to finish in 2 hours,” said Ryan.
Paul Quick is an ex SAA training captain and has 34 000 hours under his belt.
“We have been flying together in Benoni for two years where we practiced every single week.”
Pilots from across Southern Africa will navigate and race their way to the finish line.
With only 100 positions available on the runway, it is essential that pilots fly their aircraft better than their competitors in this tough two-day handicap race, however, there are limits on just how fast a pilot’s aircraft is allowed to go in the Race of Champions.
