Orient fly-in

On the 23rd of September 2017 The Maglies Gliding Club hosted the Orient fly-in which saw a number of aircraft flying in from airfields from around the Gauteng area, ranging from a trike to a Boeing Stearman flown by Adam Pucjlowski and Daniel Perry.

Another rare Bi-Plane that flew in for the event was a Classic Waco which is resident at the nearby Hekpoort Airfield. Staying with the radials Jonty Esser made a brief appearance in his Kitty Hawk based Yak 52.

Pilots were welcomed with a free delicious breakfast at the local club house, coffee and fruit juice just not to mention the great hospitality offered to visiting pilots and the general public.

Unfortunately, the day started with a serious incident involving a microlight colliding with a hanger near the runway in use. The pilot was lucky to escape with serious injuries and was airlifted to hospital. Very special thanks must go to the paramedics and everyone else that assisted on scene and Santjie White who didn't hesitate when called upon for assistance. We wish Etienne a full and speedy recovery.

Magalies Gliding Club is situated approximately 50km west-northwest of central Johannesburg and 65km southwest of central Pretoria. (Radio 123.4 Mhz).The Club has around 200 members and a summer weekend will typically see between 100 and 150 Launches

Flights of 300 km are regularly achieved and some of our competition pilots have achieved 500, 750 and even 1000km flights from Orient. Orient is very fortunate to enjoy some of the best thermal soaring conditions in the world, and most flying days produce powerful thermals of between one and five meters per second climbs to as high as 18000 feet AMSL.

Orient airfield lies at 5100 feet above mean sea level with two parallel 1500m long grass strips laid out 18-36, a cross runway of 700m (11-29) and an emergency strip of 500m.

A short strip, parallel and to the east of the two main 18-36 runways, (36RR) is used exclusively for winch launching and all glider circuits are conducted to the west of the field, while power circuits should be to the east.

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.