very year the Aero Club of East Africa organizes a navigation exercise (Navex) where participants demonstrate their ability to fly and navigate.

Transcription

1 April 2012 Mini Navex, March Nanyuki E very year the Aero Club of East Africa organizes a navigation exercise (Navex) where participants demonstrate their ability to fly and navigate. start. A long wait now faced us. The total distance of the route chosen was 185 nautical miles, with the fastest aeroplane taking about 1h30 and the slowest about 2h20. Aero Club of East Africa Our main sponsor, Kenya Airways, gives their full support to the event, but, due to a serious lack of entries, we decided to postpone their sponsorship for an event to be held later this year, most probably in October. Nevertheless, it was decided to go ahead with the exercise and we headed off The route flown started over the little town of Naro Moru heading south towards Nairobi, passing abeam Nyeri with a right turn heading west a few minutes later. A transit to the north of Limuru brought them on the southern edge of AERO NEWS THE PAPER AEROPLANE OF THE AERO CLUB OF EAST AFRICA AERO CLUB NEWS Plotting begins, Colin & Rory to Nanyuki, the start and finish point of the route. Thanks to the great support of Tropic Air management and staff in making the event possible, the organisation went very smoothly. Everyone met up at Barney s in the afternoon of Friday 9th March where participants were given a briefing, including: safety, radio procedures and terrain awareness. After that, the maps were issued and the plotting started. There was lots of moaning, as circular navigation was introduced in various sectors - not an easy task to say the least! Following a small celebration for Dean Hardisty s birthday, we all moved to Nanyuki Sports Club for a quiet evening and some final plotting by a few fellow aviators. Departure went as scheduled, with a little aerobatics performed by Chris en route to the IN THIS ISSUE Deans secret lego fix! The route (in green) Lake Naivasha, where a circular navigation was to be flown around the Oserian area. From there, a heading north took them towards Nakuru and before Lake Bogoria, a north easterly track was selected to overfly the northern edge of Nyahururu town. Minutes later, a right turn to the south east where our new exercise was introduced. It consisted of two semi-circles based on a 20 Kenya Shillings coin. The first was to the left followed immediately by another one to the right. I have to admit that this was a tough one! We used old UTM maps and in those days, landmarks were present. However, the area now is apparently bare of any ground references. Apologies to all! At the end of this cruel task finishing to the south west of Ol Pejeta, a straight line took them back to Naro Moru, where a climb to 2,000 ft AGL was required for the PFL. The following day, departure was planned at 10:00 Local Time after a thorough aircraft screening when all the GPSs were confiscated and fuel tanks measured. This was done in millilitres and competitors had to give us their prediction of remaining fuel in the same value. Again, lots of moaning and groaning from some candidates... Julie Gill, with her police hat on, did an excellent job of checking all licences and paperwork required before the exercise. An additional challenge was given and Carole Irwin kindly gave our participants some surprise bags with the instruction to open only in flight! At 09:52, Chris and Patrick in 5Y-BTE taxied out to be over Naro Moru at exactly 10:00. Hans and Hermann in 5Y-MVK were off second at 10:05, followed by Rory and Colin in 5Y-BYJ at 10:10 and finally Alex and Dean in 5Y-BUU at 10:20, as they had chosen the same speed of BYJ. Mini Navex, March Nanyuki The Wild Horse From the Kitchen Club skydivers hit Diani Beach Flying adventures in 5Y-COR A note from the committee

2 Meantime, the organisers next task was to set up a line across the runway with 5 meter markers either side for the Precision Landing exercise. At around 11:30, BTE, or the beast, appeared in a hazy sky and proceeded overhead at 2,000 ft AGL to begin her PFL. An interesting manoeuvre performed by the skipper with a high 360º on final ended up beyond the line. Maybe more practice before the next event. MVK was next with a very smooth landing in this gorgeous C182 RG but which unfortunately was too far before the line. It was now Rory and Colin s turn to demonstrate their piloting skills. A good start but for some unknown reason, BYJ ended up too short and a fairly hard landing followed! As Colin later commented: I m glad we had a reinforced undercarriage on this aircraft...! Finally, the long awaited BUU pitched up and was the closest to the line. Well done Alex, I can see being an Instructor helped you on this one. Good job Captain! Our little surprise bags came into action when we saw our aviators exiting their machines wearing mini-skirts and lipstick! The award for this fancy dress exercise definitely went to Chris and Patrick, especially considering the size of their cockpit, followed closely by Alex and Dean. Well done guys and thanks for the effort! Patrick & Chris Hans & Hermann Our brave aviators were then given an Aviation Quiz consisting of 20 questions covering history and technical aspects. Julie and I now had to dip the tanks and collect the GPS trackers. Chris started collating all the data from the trackers and eventually, we ended up with a very good representation of our participants flight path on Google Map. Sacre bleu gentlemen, some interesting drawing! Eric Boullay Eric, Alex & Dean After a few drinks to remove the dust, we headed back to the Sports Club to work on all the results. Prize giving was at 19:00 with a projector showing everyone s route, followed by a delicious curry dinner. So, the final results were as follows: 1st - Rory McGuinness and Colin Davies in 5Y- BYJ 2nd - Alex Galley and Dean Hardisty in 5Y-BUU 3rd - Chris Hardisty and Patrick Irwin in 5Y-BTE 4th Hans Zust and Hermann Winter in 5Y-MVK Aero Club Alex Pretty in pink Eric, Patrick & Chris The Fokarwe award also went to Rory and Colin for their inability to fly two consecutive semi-circulars! Luckily for them this exercise was considered as a dead leg and so not part of the Navex. Tired but happy, we all went to bed very late after a lovely evening spent together celebrating and winding down after the event. 2

3 There is always support Rory & Colin Sunday morning, amidst the hangovers, was dedicated to golf for some of us and then we all wended our way back to Nairobi. Well this is it from my side, I had a great time organising it but wish that we had more interest from other fellow pilots. The next one is planned around October over a three days period, possibly starting in Tsavo and finishing in Malindi. A very special thank you to Jamie Roberts, Rick Stewart, Patrick Irwin and all the staff at Tropic Air for their assistance. Thanks to Carole Irwin for spending time at mitumba getting the sexy skirts for our competitors and to Hellen Boullay of Dragonfly Designs for the tailor maid T shirts for the competitors. Finally thanks to all of our committee members, Anthea and members who helped me make this event possible - you guys were fantastic! Eric Boullay Committee Member, ACEA The Wild Horse the middle of his knees with long socks pulled up to just below the knees, with a pair of takkies on his feet. A short sleeved shooting jacket with a red polka dot handkerchief completed his dress code. Sandy was quite bald on top, but tried to disguise the fact by growing his hair long on one side of his head and arranging it on top of his head to cover the bare areas. Sandy was afflicted with a stutter not too bad but it was there. Sandy a confirmed bachelor was retired from the Civil Service and was employed by the Tanzanian National Parks or maybe the Serengeti Research Institute. He was then in his late 40s or early 50s I should think. Anyway, Sandy arrived in his Cessna 150 for some maintenance and Bill, myself and Bosky got engaged in conversation with Sandy and he told us n the late 60s or early 70s I can t remember which, I I was working for Z. Boskovic Air Charters as an aircraft mechanic I may have been the Deputy Chief Engineer by then under Bill Bremner the big, larger than life Scottish Chief Engineer with his blue, blue eyes and wavey silver hair and fabulous Scottish accent. The powers that be in Wild Life in Tanzania decided Sandy should be checked out to fly a Cessna 180 as part of his duties. Sandy was not a natural by any stretch of the imagination he trembled when he flew so he was a bit dismayed to say the least to be told he had to fly a tail dragger and voiced his concern. The powers that be were adamant. He had to fly the Cessna 180. At Bosky s we also maintained other people s private owned aircraft, one of which was a straight tailed 1960 model Cessna 150 registration 5Y-KRJ which was owned by the rather eccentric well known British Ex-Provincial Commissioner Sandy Field. So someone checked him out and deemed him competent to fly the Cessna 180. Shortly thereafter Sandy was operational in the 235 horsepower 4 seater tail dragger. A whole different story to flying his tricycle gear 100 horse power 2 seater Cessna 150. Sandy was definitely from the old school (posh school too!). He had the Queen s English and was fluent in Kiswahili but spoken with a very posh British accent. He always wore large empire building shorts which stretched from just below his nipples to He was transporting 3 game rangers from one place to another, (the details of which I cannot recall), but the destination was a bush strip. So there they were coming in to land, Sandy sitting on a pile 3 Aero Club

4 of cushions he was not very tall. The three game rangers, very smart in their uniforms and big, army issue boots and with their 303 rifles gripped between their knees. Then to three enthralled listeners Sandy re-counted: - IIIIII ccccome in to lllland and sssstruck the ground rather fffforcibly. The infernal mmmachine bbbbounded bbback in to the air. Tttthe aircraft tttthen became llllike a Wwwwild Horse! Iiiit took the bbbbit between its tttteeth and there wwwwasn t a tttthing I could do! There wwwas as a tttterrible crashing and bbbanging. I saw the sssky and then ttttrees and dddust everywhere and then SSSilence! The aircraft had come to rest lying on its side with one wing pointing straight into the sky and the other at 90 lying along the ground. Where upon the 3 game rangers did not stand in ceremony instead they stood on Sandy and squashed him flat into the now bottom of the aircraft with their big army boots as they made a hasty exit. Luckily there was no fire as it took Sandy some considerable time to crawl battered and bruised from the wreck with his long hair piece relocated over one ear. At this time Bill and I were holding each other up with helpless laughter and Bosky standing there completely puzzled with a frown on his face wondering what we had found so funny. I have to give it to Sandy. He is one of the only pilots who didn t blame something or someone else for the accident. He bogged up big time and admitted it. Sandy finally cashed in his chips when he flew into the forests on Mt. Kenya in bad weather. The wreck was not found for a long time and not much of Sandy was left to recover. Rumour has it that all they could find is that long piece of hair that Sandy used to hide his bald patch. Sandy, opened his eyes and thought Mmy God wwwe re still alive! Then I thought FFFFIRE! So I said TTToka toka ama wwwewe taccchoma! From the Kitchen T ara and I would like to thank you for making us feel so welcome at the Aero Club. It has been an interesting and rewarding experience reopening the restaurant, deck, poolside, bar and garden areas. We would like to thank the Committee for their support since we have arrived and appreciate their having agreed to our requests to replace the kitchen sinks, add an extractor fan in the restaurant and other kitchen improvements. So they put that long piece of hair in a coffin as Sandy s earthly remains and gave it a proper church funeral service and put it in a grave with a head marker in Nanyuki cemetery. Story told by Colin Davies SUNDAY MAY 13TH WITH THE MOJO BAND FROM 1.00PM ONWARDS, In the past six months we have brought about quite a few changes. We have opened our doors to non-members between 6.00 am and 6.00pm to increase the revenue for both the restaurant and the club. We continue to develop our core menu that includes burgers, sandwiches and salads as well as offering a selection of 12 Weekly Specials and a Dish of the Day on week days. We ve added a new breakfast bar and our Eggs Benedict are selling like hot muffins! We are offering special deals on hall hire for functions and have catered a few over the past few months, including evening cocktail parties around the pool. We look forward to hosting more functions in the months to come. Our regular Sunday Jazz Lunches have proved to be a great success, the next one being on: We plan to hold more of these this year. We ve also been busy providing pilot packed lunches and other airline food services. We will soon be providing a delivery service of soups, salads, sandwiches and pies in the Wilson Airport area. Why not give us a try and call or us to find out more details on or sales@ creativekitchen.co.ke Aero Club 4 For the Members, we have developed a special Members Bar Biting Menu that is available in the bar daily. We re making use of the bar barrels with new table tops that will be placed around the Members bar, deck and pool areas. These will make eating and drinking in these areas much more comfortable for members. We held our first Koroga night around the pool, which was well attended and are looking forward to holding these on a monthly basis. These will be a time to introduce potential members to the Club and to get together with the existing members. Once again we would like to thank the Club and its members for the welcome you have extended to us and we would like to wish Benoit all the best in his new role as Chairman. Neil and Tara

5 Club Skydivers hit Diani Beach A t the beginning of March, the Kenya Skydivers again congregated at Flamboyant Hotel, Diani, for their traditional Beach Boogie held twice yearly since 1988 by the Aero Club s affiliate, the Kenya Skydivers Club. Some twenty jumpers from Kenya, Germany, England and Australia attended, making a total of 340 jumps during the week-long session. No accidents occurred and only one parachute malfunction was recorded after the main canopy of Andy Valentin (Germany) failed to open completely. Andy performed a routine cutaway procedure by releasing the bad parachute and opening his reserve for an uneventful landing on the beach in front of the hotel. His canopy landed near the reef. Fortunately it was recovered by friendly fishermen within a few minutes, to undergo a serious wash in sweet water. The manifest ran smoothly under the control of ACEA member, Brigitte Janzen, who asserted herself with alacrity and gusto. Always displaying a smile, but also gripped by fierce determination, she failed to tolerate any nonsense from unruly jumpers who tried to double-manifest or who dilly-dallied whilst the vehicle was waiting to take them to Ukunda Airstrip. Meanwhile, all parachutes were packed by perennial Packing Champion, Philip Bulemi. With the knowledge that he enjoyed full job security, Philip (a Skydiver!) again rose to the occasion and performed miracles by untangling, folding, twisting, pushing and pulling two hundred square feet of nylon and kilometres of shroud lines into the ever-so-tight parachute containers dozens of times each day in the 35 degree heat. His superhuman efforts were singularly matched by Stephen Were Radido, the driver of the Club s vehicle who dodged potholes with acrobatic skill and safely transported the skydivers in the most dangerous part of their jump the trip to the airport! The aircraft was again operated by Harro Trempenau who flew some 7-9 loads daily out of Ukunda Airstrip without any mechanical problems and enjoying excellent co-operation from ATC at Mombasa Airport. Aside from a few holds for commercial flights to or from Zanzibar and a few incidences of positive vector control, no disruptions to flight operations were recorded. The aircraft, 5Y-HVT, a veteran of some 43 beach boogies at Malindi and Diani, behaved impeccably and ran like a sewing machine. Aside from a couple of quarts of oil, only fuel was added after every two loads, and the aircraft reached its target altitude of feet every time within 20 minutes, carrying 5 meat bombs chomping at the bits. At that level, the happy jumpers exited Victor Tango over the beach for a fifty second freefall, followed by a three to four minute ride under their open parachutes. Over 20 newcomers were also introduced to the thrill of skydiving, by laying their life on the line in a tandem jump, a skydive in which a skilled instructor straps the newbie to his harness and lets him or her accompany him in a freefall parachute ride. This way, the thrill seekers, tightly harnessed to Tandem Instructors Bob Weyn (ACEA Member) and Andy Valentin, were able to experience the Sport of the Space Age over the most beautiful drop zone in the World Diani Beach, Kenya. Of note was the first jump of Aero Club member, Captain Martin Ririani, the Chief Pilot and Instructor of Kenya School of Flying. Skydiving had always been on his Bucket List the things he wants to do in his life before he kicks the bucket. Martin was absolutely fascinated by the unusual feeling of plummeting towards the ground at mph, strapped to the belly of Andy who is a 5 feet three inches individual with a big heart and fantastic instructional skills. As a pilot with some hours, who had always taught his thousands of students to fasten their seatbelts, it was indeed against the grain for Martin to sit unattached beside an open aircraft door during the climb to jump altitude. The video of his jump will be watched for years to come by his students, friends, grandchildren and even their children. Tandem over Diani Captain Ririani in unfamiliar territory 5 Aero Club

6 The Kenya Skydivers Club also gained two additional members. Randy Rover from Mombasa and Dr. Raj Dodia from Nairobi both passed the Club s Accelerated Freefall Course (AFF) with flying colours, taking only 8 jumps each to meet all the requirements of the programme. Joseph Runo Macharia of Lodwar also passed the course and is now a fully qualified member of the Kenyan skydiving fraternity. The 2012 March Beach Boogie was an especially memorable event because the weather, sometimes dodgy at this time of year, left nothing to be desired. Blue skies from dawn to dusk made life easy for the organizers and this took away pressure from the tight student training programme, allowing plenty of time for parties in the pool and at nearby Forty Thieves Beach Bar. Our host, Tracy Barbour again delivered the goods by having unlimited and luxuriant amounts of everybody s favourite beverages in stock and always offering the most delicious seafood to hungry punters. No requests, no matter how big, were left unattended by Tracy and her Lodge Manager, Nancy, and we are almost fully booked for the next Beach Boogie at Flamboyant Hotel, from November Mark your Calendars and plan to take the AFF Course or make a Tandem Jump at the Kenya Skydivers Beach Boogie. You won t regret it! Harro Trempenau, By Cor Roest T hose of you familiar with this occasional column will be aware of my informal mission to climb Africa s ten highest peaks by the time I get to fifty. Well, this year it was the turn of Mt Elgon on the Kenya-Uganda border, Number 8 on the list of Africa s highest peaks. Having grown up in the foothills of this mountain, I was fairly familiar with it and have been up it several times, but never actually to the summit just across on the Ugandan side of the border. My faithful climbing partners, Chris and Justin, and I agreed on a weekend in mid-march and promised to organize our wives and children around it. Many readers will be familiar with the delicate nature of negotiating a pink ticket for a boys weekend. Never easy. The plan called for flying to Tony Mills s air strip on Lokitela Farm between Endebess and Saboti in the Trans Nzoia on a Thursday afternoon before dark. This would place us close to the mountain s base so that we could have a reasonable attempt at hiking to the crater rim on the Friday and the summit on Saturday. Thursday afternoon found us rushing to Orly to jump into my 182 for the flight to the Trans Nzoia. The ever reliable ground team at Orly had placed the plane on the apron and we were good to go after a brief pre-flight (those pilots who haven t yet discovered Orly Air Park should fly there and have a look!). The flying weather to the north-west was fairly hazy but at least there were no storms to contend with over the high ground. The controller in the Eldoret Tower allowed us to transit his zone and very soon we were looking out for Lokitela. Ours would be the third ever landing there! The grass strip at Lokitela was put in by Tony Mills on his farm after the 2007 election when he found himself cut off from the rest of country by all the post-election violence. It is 1,100m long and aligned 08/26 at 6,000 feet amsl so perfectly fine for Chairman, Kenya Skydivers Club Flying adventures in 5Y-COR: Wagagai or bust most light aircraft. And there s even a windsock now. By prior arrangement, Tony will have the grass cut for you and the red carpet laid out. Once on the ground we taxied to the guest house (literally!) and joined Tony and Adrienne for a cup of tea on the lawn! On Friday morning Tony drove us to the road head of the Kimilili track via the KWS outpost at Kapsokwony. This track passes through Chepkitale Forest Reserve and numerous loggers were busy hauling out logs on the way up. Finally, after 4 hours or so, we could go no further at approx 12,000 feet. It was time to stick our very heavy rucksacks on and start hiking. We agreed to meet Tony at the ruined Austrian Hut lower down at 10.00am on Sunday and headed off up the mountain. Sticking to the ridge we were on, we eventually came to Lower Elgon Tarn two and a half hours later. This delightful little mountain lake is one of Kenya s best kept secrets. It s hidden away in a kind of bowl at 13,500 feet just below Lower Elgon Peak, the highest point on the Kenyan side of Mt Elgon at 14,110. The tarn is an excellent spot for a campsite although there were very few signs that any other humans had been up there recently. We did see elephant prints though! Having erected our rather flimsy non-mountain tent, Chris and I headed up Lower Elgon itself before dinner to take in the fantastic views towards Eldoret and Kakamega. We could also see into the Caldera towards the Ugandan side where there had clearly been very extensive moorland fires. Back at our campsite it was time for soup and pasta as the sun set and the temperature plummeted. Saturday morning was another clear blue day on the mountain and called for plenty of sunscreen all round. We set off with our day packs and made sure to stick to the high ground around Aero Club 6

7 the crater rim. After just under 4 hours we finally made it to Wagagai summit at 14,178 feet (4,321 amsl). Justin, uniquely, had now made it to Wagagai from both the Kenyan and Ugandan sides of the mountain. For me, I had been dreaming of making it to the top of Mt Elgon since I was a boy. It was very satisfying to have finally made it. After a leisurely picnic lunch of cheese and biscuits at the top we returned to our campsite by the tarn, this time routing via the path in the crater as recommended by the Mountain Club of Kenya. En route it was quite shocking to see how extensive the fires on Mt Elgon have been. It had clearly been bone dry for weeks. We all know about the fires on Mt Kenya and the Aberdares but Mt Elgon has obviously been forgotten. Sunday morning we got up early and broke camp, keen not to miss our rendezvous with Tony. It was still four hours drive from the ruined Austrian Hut back to his farm and then we had to fly back to Nairobi (2 hours) and land an hour before sunset (my own personal minimum). I had an early morning flight to Johannesburg to catch on the Monday morning so being late was not an option. We made it to the RV at 9.40am feeling rather pleased with ourselves. Little did we know that further down the mountain, the local loggers had decided to chop down 20 trees across the one and only access road, and that Tony was stranded on the other side unable to reach us! This is where a satellite phone would have been handier than our normal mobile phones as there was no signal up the mountain. We had little choice but to put our boots back on and continue walking down the mountain. 2km down the track we met Tony coming up. He had been on the road for five hours and by all accounts deserved a medal. Luckily for us, Tony had a local guide who showed him a detour through various shambas around the felled logs. With his F satnav he was able to record this route and retrace it on the way down. Having done the Rhino Charge, I can confirm that Tony would be very competitive in that event. Back on Lokitela Farm we shaved, showered and prepared to fly back to Orly. We were somewhat lighter for the return flight having eaten all our food and burnt 90 odd litres of avgas. The take off run with the Sportsman STOL on my 182 was no more than 500m and we accelerated in ground effect and then headed toward Eldoret. Our track took us between Eldoret town and the international airport, then over Timboroa, Molo, Njoro and Ndabibi. Once past Mt Suswa I requested a squawk code from Nairobi Radar on for the approach to Orly. This is highly recommended for those flying behind the Ngong Hills as twice now Radar has alerted me of traffic heading into Wilson from Magadi and/or Shompole. There is nothing more attention grabbing than being told a (hitherto silent) Cessna Caravan is about to cross your path at your altitude.. On the ground at Orly at 5.30pm, we unloaded our gear and parked the plane. Then it was back to town via the atrocious pipeline road for tea and medals. Next up in 2013: Peak number five, Mt Meru. A note from the Committee ollowing complaints from some members concerning usage of various Club facilities by non-members, your committee wishes to draw to the attention of members certain regulations contained in our Memorandum & Articles of Association and in our Bye-laws. Members are reminded that their guests must be signed in before they are permitted into the members areas of the Club. If any person who is not a member arrives at the Club, then that person may only use the restaurant areas. They may not enter the members bar, use the swimming pool, the paved area surrounding the swimming pool or the lounge. It is not sufficient for the guest to advise our staff that the relevant member is due to arrive at any moment. This rule applies not only to friends but all family members over the age of 18 years who are not members of the Club. The Committee has decided that should there be any abuse of this rule, the member concerned will face appropriate action. Members are also reminded that by law no children under the age of 18 years are permitted in the bar area at any time. This includes passage through the members bar to and from the swimming pool area. Any violation of this law will warrant disciplinary notice. For the sake of clarity, members should note that the arrangement with our caterer provides that meals to nonmembers are available only between the hours of 6.00 am and 6.00 pm and can only be served to them in the restaurant, the adjoining deck area and the garden. Members can, of course, also take their meals around the swimming pool, in the members bar as well as those areas mentioned above. 7 Aero Club

8 The Aviators Welcome to the Club David William D souza Irene Maina James R.M. Murray John Richard Sutton Luke Fraser Nightingale Michael Nicholas Seton Njue Mugo Pascal Olle Salman Khan Shaun Miller Thomas Otto THE PAPER AEROPLANE OF THE AERO CLUB OF EAST AFRICA P.O. Box 40813, Nairobi 00100, Kenya Phone: , /3 Fax: manager@aeroclubea.com or bookings@aeroclubea.com website: