By Rugene Frost
Kroon a small airfield on chicken farm just north of the red and white radio mast hosts one of the most enjoyable fly-inns for the LSA and weight shift category aircraft in Pretoria, and this year was no exception.
The club started when the owner Jacques Kroon started to fly
at a small airfield with Dawie Du Toit, his instructor. Jacque’s father, a chicken farmer, gave
Jacques a weight shift aircraft and an open piece of land on which Jacques built
one hanger and cleared a grass runway. Soon after that Dawie moved his flying
school to Kroon airfield. The flying school still exists and offers LSA and weight
shift training. Kroon airfield currently has five hangars and all of thirty
aircraft call it home.
Kroon Fly-inn is known for its good boerie breakfast with
bacon, scrambled eggs, wors, soup, freshly baked bread, pap and sous all for
just R 50.00. The club members all got together at 05h30 to start preparations
for the busy day ahead.
The morning started off slowly with only the local club
members flying. Just after 06h00 the first visiting aircraft arrived, the morning picked up quite
quickly with sixteen weight shift trikes and thirty-seven fixed wing aircraft joining the fun. Not to be outdone the Rotar wing community
was represented by Gyro copters, a Robinson 44 Raven and a Bell 407.
A friendly spot landing competition was organised amongst the pilots which was won by one of the club
members Ben Grundling in his Aquilla ZS-CVX
The day progressed quickly with all the weight shifts flying
out before 09h00 before the air got too unstable. A gaggle of Bathawk and Bantams
flew in and one of them was the first Bathawk equipped with a Rotax 912 engine
Bathawks are normally powered by Camit six-cylinder 125 hp engine.
To everyone’s surprise
a Cessna 210 joined overhead, at first no one thought that the Cessna would land as the runway is a
mere 800m with 150m basically unusable
and obstacles on either side of the runway. The Cessna joined downwind and the
gear came down. At this point excitement grew to see what was going to happen,
before it could really sink in the Cessna was on final approach running it in
at a high power setting and at a high angle of attack. The pilot knew exactly
what he was doing as he touched down at the beginning of the runway and stopped
the aircraft halfway down the runway.
Kroon airfield is certainly one of the most welcoming flying
clubs around with a happy comradery between the club members. Once a month
there is a club braai and in summers they have a sleep over at the airfield all
you need is your caravan or tent and you
are sorted for the night.
The event is very well managed by the club members with
regular safety and preparation meetings well ahead of time. Pierre Van Der Walt
a former weight shift pilot was in charge of all radio communications ensuring
all aircraft got in and out safely. There is also a “follow me” quad bike to
show aircraft to the parking’s area after landing to eliminate confusion.
Marketing was done by Johan Welman but it’s also expected of
all the club members to spread the word.
Well done to Kroon airfield and all its club members for the
yet another successful event.
Please browse through our gallery of this event
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