Springs airfield and East Rand Flying Club once again invited anyone and everyone that has access to an aircraft to join in their annual Fly-in Breakfast, although the numbers were slightly down on visiting aircraft it was nevertheless a very enjoyable day for all that made it.
The first visitor to arrive was Michael Crause in his Evan's VP1, Michael arrived just before 7:00 and from then there was a steady stream of arrivals from all over Gauteng. As always, the members of the East Rand Flying club went all out with wonderful breakfasts on offer all completely free of charge to visitors.
One very notable aircraft, that is a springs resident, was the Teeny Two belonging to Gavin Edwards sporting SAAF trainer it sort of resembles a mini PC7 Astra currently used by the SAAF for initial training. A Fournier RF-4 one of only five in the country dropped in for a quick breaky and parked next to its big brother the Scheibe Motor Falke.
Student pilots from the local flying school were kind enough to take up duty as marshals for the day, they were rewarded with a hearty breakfast for their efforts. The weather was great early in the morning but as the day went on some thunderstorm activity started brewing to the Southwest which seemed to get the pilots a bit edgy and many of them decided to cut the visit a bit short and get back to their home bases before they were caught by the CB’s.
Two Ryan Navion’s were joined by a Dornier DO27 for a hop form Krugersdorp, the people at Krugersdorp always support all the local fly-ins and always in good numbers. Another Krugersdorp resident, Dave Lister flew in with his Rutan Long-Ez.
Karl Jensen who almost never misses a fly-in anywhere in Gauteng arrived with his stunning Cessna 170 just as the bulk of the aircraft were making their way back home. The only rotar wing to join the party was a beautiful Enstrom 480B which I believe is haggard Grand Central.
During the morning I took a stumble around the hangars at Springs and happened across the treasure trove belonging to Gavin Brown, their private collection of aircraft was absolutely mind-blowing I had no idea that that there was such a rich heritage of vintage aircraft located at Springs.
The hospitality at Springs is always wonderful and this year was no different, thanks again to all the members of East Rand Flying Club for the amazing morning and we hope to see you next year.
A few more visitors
