Gripen to break sound barrier at Langebaan Airshow

Langebaan Airshow -By Jarryd Sinovich **Please register on our site to leave your comments!

See it - Hear it - Feel it — See it – Hear it – Feel it

Gripen to go supersonic at Langebaan Airshow 2017

The Langebaan Airshow 2017 does not carry the theme “See it, Hear it and Feel it” without reason, if all goes according to plan a SAAF Gripen set to break the sound barrier at this Amazing and well organized airshow, Something that is overdue in the Western Cape for many years! This Show celebrates the 50^th Birthday of the South African Air Force’s Silver Falcons Aerobatic Team! #seeithearitfeelit

The Aviation Central Formation, Gripen and Falcons

The sound barrier or sonic barrier is a popular term for the sudden increase in aerodynamic drag and other effects experienced by an aircraft or other object when it approaches supersonic speed. Aircraft first began to be able to reach close to supersonic speed an these effects were seen as constituting a barrier making supersonic speed very difficult or impossible.

Gripen near the point of breaking the sound barrier

This will be the first time the Gripen will be breaking the sound barrier in front of the South African public at an airshow all in conjunction with the Silver Falcons Aerobatic Teams 50th Anniversary airshow being held at AFB Langebaanweg airshow on the 9 December.

This is the first airshow in the Western Cape since 2015. We are certain the crowds are in for a treat with an crowd favorite the proudly South African made Rooivalk will also be on display.The Rooivalks are based at 16 Squadron Air force base Bloemfontein.

The Organizers got given 7 Gripens and 4 Hawks, this airshow should not be missed and we have not been given an indication on how many will be Static, Backup and Flying. (Please note that this can change as per decisions by SAAF HQ)

A list of other Aircraft to attend this Airshow:

To view full program click here

SAAF

Denel Rooivalk
Pilatus PC-7 Mk II Silver Falcons
Pilatus PC-7 Mk II
Atlas Oryx
Westland Super Lynx
Agusta A109
Bae Hawk MK120
Saab Jas 39C/D Gripen
Cessna C208
Casa C212
Douglas C-47TP
Lockheed C-130BZ

Civilian
Harvard, Puma Flying Lions
RV7, RV8, RV9, Raptors
Aero L-39 Albatros
Extra 300, Nashua
Boeing 737-800, Mango
Slick 540, Neville Ferreira
Atlas Impala Mk1
Radio-Controlled Aircraft, AMSRCC
Cirrus And Extra 300, Team Extreme
Antonov An-2, Little Annie
Huey, AT-802 And Cessna C206, WOF
Diamond DV20 Katana, CTFTC
Eurocopter EC145, AMS
Skydiving, Mother City Skydiving

Static displays of aircraft and classic cars ‎

Aviation Central‘s Flippie and Jarryd will be attending this show!

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Large Scale Aerobatic Champs Howick 4th & 5th November 2017

Large Scale Aerobatic this weekend was at the Howick Model Flying Club which is situated in the Natal Midlands, just off the R617 Rd in the town of Howick,the town is more commonly known for Howick falls and for the Midmar Mile held at Midmar dam during the year.HMFC is an RC club flying everything from electric to gas,gliders,helicopters and aircraft. A radio controlled aircraft is a small flying machine that is controlled remotely by an operator on the ground using a hand-held transmitter .

On the weekend of the 4th & 5th of November saw the Large scale Aerobatics Championships held at the field, with some great weather and an awesome atmosphere between spectators, pilots and the organizers. Rc aerobatic aircraft ranging from 30cc to the bigger 150cc models were put through their aerobatic paces. There were category’s the pilots fall under that being the Freestyle up to the Advanced category’s the pilots flew.

It was fantastic to watch and be part of CMC Hobbies which are based nearby in the town of Hilton, who offer a great spread of Rc hobbies to the South African public. To the private generous individuals and LSA South Africa who were present, the clubs chairman Clive and his team of organizers on a safe a successful event.

Aviation Central looks forward to visiting the club again soon ,hopefully with more members, who can also taste the world of Rc flying in Natal. Thanks to all who were not mentioned we gladly appreciated your hard work being placed in this sport. To all the participants well done on your achievements. If you need any info on this Club or future events, please contact Clive on 0735007177 or clive@cmchobbies.co.za

View photos from the Gauteng Large Scale Aerobatic Champs

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Advertising opportunity for Aviation Events

We are excited to announce that we will be making out Facebook cover image space available for organisers to promote their event on Aviation Central.
Aviation Central (AC) is a Facebook page that mainly focus on the promotion of Airshows, Air Races, Fly-ins and Radio Control events in South Africa and some of our neighbouring countries.
We endeavour to bring as much news and updates to our 27 000 and growing supporters, and our page attracts over 19 000 unique Facebook users daily.
AC has the most likes, followers, and page views on Facebook than any other active aviation related Facebook pages (including magazines) in Southern Africa, with the exception of airlines.
Our target audience is mostly the non-aviation professional who don’t always have time to search for events, and who brings their friends or family to airshows for the day and the plane spotters standing behind high airports walls to catch a glimpse of arriving and departing aircraft or just the guy looking up into the sky each time a plane goes by.
Over the years we have also build up relationships with event organisers and the countries display pilots and keep up with their every move.
With our ever-growing audience, we want to keep them informed about events as we receive information, therefore we require show and event organisers to keep up updated with calendars, posters, and any other news and highlights of upcoming events.
In order for us to help you promote and report on your event, we also have costs to cover so we decided to make our Cover image space available at a small cost.
The cover image is a prime spot on any Facebook page and it’s available for rent to organizers of aviation events ONLY.
The rest of our event promoting, all remains as is and FREE.

The cost will be linked to peak airshow season, mid and low seasons.

To see for yourself go to www.facebook.com/AviationSA
Below is an example what the page would like with the Langebaan show poster.
Our Cover image can be yours. Each day is from 7am till the next day 7am and is on a first-come-first-serve base!

Some quick facts form Facebook statistics on Aviation Central – September 2018

Number of people who saw any of our Page posts (unique users) 289253
Number of people who saw Page posts in news feed or ticker, or on our Page’s timeline (unique users) 22137
Number of impressions that came from all of our posts (total count) 2130149
Number of times users saw posts via stories published by their friends (total count) 2935248
Daily: Number of people who have seen any content associated with our Page (unique users) 38624

For more information please email Lettie at admin@aviationcentral.co.za

Regards
Flippie van Emmenis
Team Lead and Owner
Aviation Central
0812704430

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Radial Breakfast Fly inn 2017-11-11

Brakpan airfield situated in the south east rand is home to the Brakpan aero club which was established in 1953.The field is 17km from from Or Tambo International airport and is in the middle of many sounding metros.The new renovated club house a favorite for its new lounge, pub ,braai and pool facilities.

On the 11th of November saw the Radial Breakfast Fly, many aircraft flew in from around Johannesburg area. While many aircraft that are based at the field were out and about, allowing the public and visiting public to admire their aircraft.

Photo Bennie Henning
The field is home to a rare warbird that will hopefully be gracing the skies of South Africa one day, a sky raider which is being rebuilt to flying condition. The project has so much interesting information to view and was a definite had to view on the day.

The event was planned by Ivan and Sonica Van Der Schaar,They have recently just become new residents at the field after being based at Petit for quite some time. Ivan is a airshow regular which he displays his Boeing Stearman and Pitts S2A.They have also recently purchased the airfields B&B.We look forward staying over a night or two soon.
Some interesting aircraft flew in on the day including the only one of its example flying in South Africa, the PAC MFI-17 Mushshak which is a Pakistan built training aircraft, flown in by Jon Marc Hill and owner Hilton Wolf.

Resident Gordyne Dyne flew his Nanchang CJ-6A,very similar to the Russian built yak52,where 2 examples were present on the day.

The theme being a radial fly inn, the day saw three Boeing Stearmans at the field including Ivan Van Der Schaars machine. The other two examples flew in from the near by Fly Inn Estate.A lone Waco flown in by Nico van Staden from the Hekpoort Valley airfield near Brits was a great surprise.

The Fly inn was a great success and a great turnout. We salute you Ivan and Sonica and the Brakpan Aero Club. We look forward to many more great events at the Brakpan Airfield in the future.

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SAAF Museum Flying Day 2017-11-04

SAAF Museum Flying Day November 2017 by Jarryd Sinovich

Air force Base Swartkops is one of the oldest air force bases in the world and is home to the South African Air force Museum, which houses a number of flying and static exhibits which are on view to the public.The base was established in April 1921 after a private farm named Zwartkop was acquired by the Government.

The base is the second oldest air force base in the world and the oldest operational base in the world. It is also home to other squadron mainly 17 squadron which operate Oryx and A109 helicopters.

On the 5 November the museum hosted their monthly flying day with a number of their aircraft flying. It was also a day for pilots to keep current on certain types of aircraft. The day had a special occasion for former chief flying instructor from the Central Flying School at Langebaanweg Gerrie Pretoruis,who went solo on the museums Cessna 185.

The friends of the Museum who do a great job of restoring and other great work for the museum, and not to mention the spitfire restoration project were present,as well as the Harvard Club who gave flips to the public.

We look forward to the last flying day of the year next month.

KEEP THEM UP WHERE THEY BELONG.

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Airshow of the Year 2017

Aviation Central’s Flippie Van Emmenis and Lettie van Emmenis got invited to attend the 2017 The Aero Club of South Africa Gala awards dinner held at Air Force Base Swartkop 04 November 2017.

We will be doing two posts on this prestige event, one focusing on the Airshow side of things and a 2nd focusing on the full event.

Lt. Col. Francois Hanekom From SAAF got the DON TILLEY “Safety in Aviation” Award for his roll in Aviation Safety at Airshows 2017, He was involved on the safety side of things at a few airshows during 2017 in South Africa and Botswana. He was also the Airboss for the SAAF Museum Airshow 2017. Well deserved award!

2017 Had a number of good shows and the decision was tuff according the Editor of African Pilot, Athol Terence Franz

3rd Place went to Lowveld Air Show hosted by Kishugu. The 2017 Airshow season was not easygoing for the team at Kishugu as the show had to be moved after a tropical storm was moving in and was on its strongest on show day. The team made an good call to move the show to an later date. What a show it was! Well-done to the team at Lowveld Air Show 2017.

2nd Place went to one of my favors for the 2017 (and 2016) year.

The Middelburg Airshow 2017 hosted by the Middelburg Aero Club. The team had no SAAF and many other Stars on the Airshow circuit in South Africa was also not able to attend, yet they pulled-off and fantastic show! Middelburg Aero Club will also host The Aero Club of South Africa Air Week 9-11 March in 2018, keep an eye on Aviation Central and other Media for more information on this! Wayne van Rooyen said this will be the best and biggest event of its kind South Africa has ever seen!

The Winner of the 2017 Airshow of the year award goes to Adrenaline Show 2017

Christian Maiorana, Chris Briers, Mark Mansfield and all the Rest! Well done guys, and as Athol said, you set the bar so high, you will have to go to all extream to get the 2018 award. What made them pull to the top was the well timed end to the show on the Saturday evening

Brian Emmenis CAPITAL SOUNDS, Francois Hanekom SAAF, Rikus Erasmus chairman of Air Show South Africa – ASSA and myself, Flippie Van Emmenis Aviation Central. Also on our table we had Brian’s Lovely wife Beverley Emmenis, Athol Terence Franz from African Pilot, Christine Brits and my Stunning Wife Lettie van Emmenis

Black Hawk arrived in South Africa

History was made for Africa when the first ever Black Hawk arrived in South Africa, Mbombela last week, making it only the second one in history to enter civilian service outside the United States.

Mark Jackson, owner of locally based company, @Leading Edge Aviation at Nelspruit Airfield, took delivery of a Sikorsky UH-60A or “Black Hawk” after it was safely delivered by Van Wettens Breakdowns Services.

Mark, who flies for Kishugu Aviation, was beaming with excitement as his new helicopter was safely set down on South African soil from the truck.

The process of acquiring this US Army Special Forces aircraft began in August 2016 when Mark bought the Black Hawk and started the long process of importing it to South Africa.

Jackson’s son, Pieter, and fellow pilot Tosh Ross underwent specialised flight training in Montana, USA last year to learn to fly this machine. Their instructor will now be visiting Nelspruit Airfield in December to continue their training with Mark this time. Kishugu Aviation will make use of these specialized skilled pilots and aircraft to ensure aerial firefighting is done even more effectively in South Africa.

The Black Hawk finally arrived at Durban Port on Sunday, 01 October 2017, where it was carefully loaded by Van Wettens. Then started the long journey through rain and mist, when it finally arrived safely at its new home on Friday, 06 October 2017.

The Black Hawk has a very modern design to it, with many few safety features and it is still being built in the USA.

This 1980 Black Hawk will now be assembled and painted at Leading Edge Aviation, with the end result in mind of using it in the Working on Fire aerial firefighting fleet.

Mark says he will be painting the Black Hawk in the colours of Working on Fire to tie in with the rest of the aerial fleet.

“The Black Hawk will complement our firefighting fleet, such as the Huey’s, that we are currently using in firefighting operations. The Black Hawk can reach speeds of up to 300km/h and lift three tons of water per drop, where the Huey’s are currently doing one ton,” says Mark Jackson, one of the most skilled Huey and aerial firefighting pilots in the country.

Read progress update, click here

Information on this Black Hawk:

Aircraft Type: Rotorcraft
Manufacturer: SIKORSKY
Model: UH-60A
Serial:80-23446
Year of Manufacture: 1980
No. Engines: 2
Manufacturer: GE
Type: Turbo-shaft
Model: T700-GE-700
Horsepower: 01561

Polokwane Airshow 2017

Polokwane International Airport, formerly known as Pietersburg International Airport is located 5km north of the city of Polokwane in the Limpopo province. The airport was once a vibrant air force base with a number of fighter jets based there.

The 7th of October saw a welcome return of a Airshow celebrating the National Transport Month initiative. The South African Civil Aviation Authority – SACAA , the Limpopo Provincial Government and @Gateway Airports Authority Limited (GAAL) hosted an airshow and Aviation Awareness Project.

Low cloud and rain was what one could expect first on the program of the day, but with a lot of luck the show went on by 11am the show started with the weather improving by the minute with the show opening with Major Geoffrey ‘Spartan’ Cooper in probably the best vapor gripen display to date in South Africa, at one point the entire aircraft was completely covered in a ball of cloud during hard G turns.

Orient Fly-In 2017

Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport, in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.

The Magalies Gliding Club which is situated 50kim West of Johannesburg, operating out of Orient airfield which has two 1500m grass runway strips.

The club fleet consists of 3 Grob G103 Twin Astir’s, 1 ASK7, 3 Grob G102 Astir CS’s, 1 Jeans Astir, 1 SF25 MotorFalke Motor Glider, 1 Piper Super Cub (180 hp) and a Cessna 182 tow Plane.

The 23rd September saw the annual return of the Orient Fly-In.The day started with a number arrivals of aircraft from various airfields from around the Gauteng area. The aircraft ranging from ultralights to a Boeing Stearman.

It was also a great day to experience the Magalies Gliding club in action as there were a number of glider launches during the course of the day, Orient airfield has some of the best thermal soaring conditions in the world and attracts some of the best gliders pilots from across the world.

The Maglies Gliding Club hosted the event and produced a lovely breakfast for pilots and the visiting public all for free.What great hospitality!

We would like to thank the Magalies Gliding club for the well planned event,especially Sean De Klerk the clubs chairman, Jason Adriaan as ATC and to all involved. We look forward to attending next years event.

If you would like to get involved with gliding please find the details below .

Should you wish to contact Magalies Gliding Club you can phone Carol 011 615 2461 or alternatively send an email to gliderflight@webmail.co.za

South African Airforce Aviation Awareness Day Eldorado Park

On the 1st of September 2017 the South African Air force ‘SAAF’ hosted an aviation awareness day in Eldorado Park in Johannesburg West just near the Johannesburg General

Flying Area and Baragwanth airfield. The event saw a number of learners and residents attending the event at the local sports grounds.

With the proceedings starting at 10am with a formation of four 2 squadron Gripens followed

by a formation of 3 hawk mk120s from 85 combat flying school. At midday the chief of the SAAF Gen Fabian Msimang and Major Geoffrey ‘Spartan’ Cooper arrived in a helicopter formation consisting of a 19 Squadron Agusta A109LUH and a 15 Squadron ‘C’ Flt Bk117.

Gen Msimang addressed the

crowd and the imporatance of the South African Airforce, Major Cooper who grew up in Eldorado Park ‘He said he joined the SAAF as it is the most professional place to be and encouraged the youth to choose the right path’.

The mini Airshow consisted of the Silver Falcons, a Hawk solo display flown by officer commanding of 85 combat flying school Lt Col Craig ‘Shark’ Leeson. Different helicopters which were used in a mini capability demonstration such as a Oryx ,A109 and a bk117.

The SAAF Museum Alouettes 2 and 3 did and aerial ballet and on the conclusion of their display the crowds with treated to a Gripen solo display by Maj Geoffrey