As a season finale it would end with a black-tie gala dinner on a Saturday evening against the standard already set in 2020 ending Season two. Season four events were flown in Witbank, Middelburg, Groblersdal and finally Springs. Groblersdal was a new venue for this season, where SAPFA has been looking at diversifying venues and partnering with clubs to hold these events and we hope to look at other venues again in 2023.
As most will remember, the 2021 season finale also at Springs was rained out but this event had perfect flying conditions with clear summer skies and hot temperatures. In fact, the density altitude was around 8000 feet with wind and turbulence affecting aircraft performance. There were 14 entries for this event due to the scale of economics given the cost of Avgas at around R35/litre SAPFA has been seeing fewer entries than in the past.
The East Rand Flying Club provided its facilities to hold the event and the briefing was held in the new covered Lapa adjacent to the clubhouse. As with Groblersdal, the competition would be arranged over two days, being Saturday and Sunday, with prize giving as an evening function. Arrivals would be on Saturday morning with a start mid-morning (previously a Friday arrival and early morning start) and departures on Sunday.
Race Master David le Roux called for the briefing to start at 10h00, where the teams were introduced and race numbers were handed out. We welcome back the Mach 1 school entry of Manaf Mubarak competing in a Beechcraft Sundowner. Thereafter Iaan Myburgh as the competition director went through the safety and route briefing for the day. After that all the teams prepared their aircraft, scrutineered and were handed out their papers. There was a minor map glitch and the take-off times were moved out by 25 minutes.
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