By Garth Calitz
Photos by Garth Calitz and Esias Riecket
To describe the 2025 Aero Club Airweek as successful would be a massive understatement. The weekend was amazing, with members from almost every section of the Aero Club represented in force.
I arrived at Middelburg Airfield on Friday at about midday and was pleasantly surprised to see many aircraft already on the ground with their tents already erected and ready for an enjoyable weekend. Since we were dumped into the chaos of Covid lockdowns in 2020 there seemed to be a mind shift, the large majority of people stopped staying over but rather just flew in for the Saturday and made their way home after breakfast and a bit of chatter. This trend seems to be disappearing and the people are once again staying over for the entire weekend.
Friday afternoon was a hive of activity with talks going on from 1:00 pm onwards in the main hangar, kindly made available by Richardt and Irene Lovett, first up was a talk by Pallavee Appigadoo, explaining his Garmin Journey on behalf of Centenary Avionics. This was followed by a very interesting talk by Megan Stevenson on Skill fade and proficiency, Tayla Puzey then took the for as review of the EAA Young Aviators' achievements in 2024.
While the talks were going on in the main hangar there were workshops ongoing in the “workshop hangar” Peter Lastrucci shared his vast knowledge of tightening locking wire he was later joined by the ever-entertaining Niren Chitoki explaining how to correctly change the oil on a Rotax engine. At 4:00 pm attention shifted to a STOL Competition on the runway, this did make for some interesting air traffic liaison as there were still many aircraft arriving. Linda Sollars finished off the day talks with a very entertaining talk on how her decision to build a Sling High Wing shaped her flying. Everyone then enjoyed a Braai and lots of banter with old and new friends.
Saturday morning arrived and long before dawn the airfield was already active with many pilots taking advantage of the beautiful weather to go out and explore the area. Members of the Balloon and Airship Federation of South Africa (BAFSA) took to the air in their Balloons and slowly drifted to the field on the very light breeze while members of the South African Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (SAHPA) buzzed around them with their Powered Para-gliders. Most of the Para-glider pilots make their way to the Bambi Hotel area after Airweek for some purist paragliding without engines.
The morning talks were kicked off by Watson Mahlangu of the CAA followed by Salome from the Aero Club who explained the Aero Assist programme, which assists paid up members in streamlining their paperwork at the CAA. Dean Polley from SSASS delivered an informative presentation on what solutions are available for the new ADS-B legislation.
Andrew Pitman took everyone on a journey through the very successful history of Sling Aircraft and also shared some of their future plans. Following Andrew, Bertus Janse van Rensburg from Absolute Aviation explained the ins and outs of electric flight in the very popular Pipistrel Velis Electro. The morning talks were closed off by a rundown of Rotax fuel-injected engines by Niren Chitoki from Comet Aviation Supplies.
While the talks were ongoing there were two very interesting workshops taking place in the workshop hangar, Braam Hechter explained the Approved Persons's authority and limitations and he was followed by Weidie Voster demonstrating the dreaded carburettor settings on Rotax Engines. That pretty much brought to a close the formalities for the weekend.
All attention then turned to the 2025 Middelburg Airshow which was kicked off with the customary emergency services cavalcade down the runway. As soon as the rotor was shut down two skydivers slowly drifted down the display line, Steve Bartels was joined by Gilly Muller flying the national flag.
The air was then filled with the sound of Pratt & Whitney Radial engines with the Puma Energy Flying Lions, Ellis Levin has taken over the lead from his father, Scully, he was joined by Arnie Meneghelli, Sean Thackwray and Andrew Blackwood-Murray in a magnificent display of formation flying.
Dr. André Coetzee the CEO of Henley Air put one of their many Bell 222 air ambulances through its paces. Henley Air have become the largest operators of the legendary Bell 222 in the world. Once André had returned the 222 to its flipping duties Grant Timms and Ryan Briggs took to the air in de Havilland Chipmunks, these post-war trainers have become a favourite amongst fans of prop-driven warbirds.
In a first at any airshow in the world we were treated to a Sling formation expertly flown by Riaan Denner and Jason Adrian in a Sling High Wing and a Sling TSI, while they were performing Andrew Pitman offered the ever-growing crowd a bit of an insight into what Sling Aircraft are all about.
Warren Eva in a Yak 55 was joined by Ingmar Bezuidenhout in a Yak 52 for an Eastern block formation aerobatics display, both Warren and Ingmar are very active competition aerobatic pilots and try and make it to every competition around South Africa.
Ivan and Jandré van der Schaar then performed a display that is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world, Ivan flies his Boeing Stearman and is joined in the air by his son's Extra 300 large-scale RC aerobatic aircraft. The amount of trust and skill to pull off this remarkable formation is nothing short of amazing.
In yet another first, or a return, everyone was treated to a four-ship North American Navion display, the last time this was seen was over 30 years ago. Jason Beamish led the formation and was joined by the father-and-son team of Steve and Mike George and Ryno Coetzer.
Invoking many memories and emotions in all the guys who spent time in the Angolan Bush War, Grant Timms masterfully displayed an Aermacchi AM.3 better known in South Africa as a Bosbok. Grant threw the veteran warbird around the sky showing just how manoeuvrable the aircraft really is.
Members of the South African Model Aircraft Association (SAMAA) kept the crowd entertained with a variety of RC aircraft including the perfect-scale Royal Saudi Air Force Hawk Mk.165 Advanced Jet Trainer, anyone mistaking this model for the real thing will be forgiven as it looks just like the real thing while in the sky.
André van Zyl then took to the air in his Italian-built Magni Gyro, André does things with this rather small odd-looking aircraft that just don’t seem possible. He was then joined by SAAF legend Juba Joubert in an Alouette III the two of them then did a few formation passes before André broke off to land. Juba then displayed just what this SAAF retired utility helicopter is capable of.
Jason Beamish took to the air as soon as Juba vacated the box in his Extra 330 LX, Jason displayed the unbelievable gyroscopic manoeuvres this world-beating aerobatic aircraft is capable of in the right hands. The pace drastically slowed down when Sean Cronin displayed why the locally built Bat Hawk has become a favourite amongst nature conservation organisations all over Africa.
All the jet lovers got their fix when Grant Timms entered the airspace in Richardt Lovett’s beautiful Aero L-29 Delfin fighter trainer, this is arguably the best-looking L-29 in the world.
This Airshow delivered yet another first when Jason Beamish and Richard Nicholson took off in a duo of Pipistrels, one was the standard Pipistrel Explorer and the other the all electric new Pipistrel Velis Electro. Jason led the display in the Velis Electro, I personally feel that this was the best display of the show.
Vietnam movies were suddenly brought to memory when Jan Botma entered the display box in his beautiful Bell UH-1 Huey he was joined by Juba Joubert in an Alouette III. The Huey has been expertly restored and painted in the German search and rescue.
Mike George and Ryno Coetzer returned to the air for a two-ship Navion formation but sadly they had to keep their display rather far from the crowd in order to accommodate the many aircraft that had to depart and reach their home bases before nightfall.
Everyone thought this was the end of the show but then suddenly the locally designed and built Orion Cub was “stolen”, it sped down the taxiway and got airborne, flying around very uncoordinated before attempting to land a few landings finally getting it right. Once on the ground, it was revealed that the “offending” pilot was none other than Jason Beamish, this brought the airshow to a close.
While the public was leaving the rest of the people made their way to their accommodation to get ready for the awards dinner which would later be held in the main hangar.
As always when the Richardt and Irene Lovett are involved, the dinner was top tier. The EAA have recently started incorporating their convention with the Aero Club Airweek and the evening was kicked off with the EAA aircraft judging awards.
The EAA awards were:
Best Vintage Aircraft went to Hennie Delport for his Piper J3F Cub
Best Warbird went to Susan Prinsloo for her DeHavilland DH 82 Tiger Moth
Best Homebuilt was awarded to Paul Marskell for his Bearhawk Bravo 4
Best Tube and Fabric Aircraft went to Eugene Couzyn for his Piper PA 20 Pacer
Best Aircraft Restoration was judged to be the AM 3 Bosbok of Sylvester de Beer
Most Authentic Aircraft Award was given to Ryan Briggs for his DeHavilland Chipmunk
John and Chris Shaw were adjudged EAA Grand Champion and overall winner for 2025 for their Vans RV 9A
Dale de Klerk won the STOL competition with the amazing Orion Cub
Hans de Beer outclassed everyone in the CLECO competition he managed to fit 10 CLECOs in only 29.04 seconds
Richard Moore received an award for the longest distance travelled to get to the convention he made the trip from Port Elizabeth in his Cessna 182
The Aero Club then followed with their fun awards:
The Piping Hot Award went to Alan Turner for the Hottest Air Balloon
The Aerial Antics Award was awarded to Michiel du Plessis for the Best Aerobatic Display
The So Fly Award for the best Model Aircraft went to Steve Joubert for his perfect scale BAE Hawk
The Jumping Frog Award went to Robbie Hendricks for the best Gyroplane
The Mischievous Jumper Award was presented to Gilly Muller for her parachute jump at the airshow
The Mosquito Award for the best microlight was awarded to Robert Gassman for his Air Creation TANARG
The Find My Way Award was awarded to JJ le Grange and Ian Wilde for winning the SAPFA Fun Rally
The Most Enthusiastic Visitor was adjudged to be the one and only Karl Jensen
After the awards everyone spent the rest of the evening catching up with old friends and of course making new friends, and of course a few adult beverages.
Thanks must go to everyone who put in time and effort to make this Airweek a very memorable one. Nigel Musgrave deserves a special mention for the hours and hours of work that he puts in to make these events happen, along with his team of “ATC Liaisons” did a magnificent job keeping the airspace safe throughout the weekend. The dynamic Lovett duo and their team from Middelburg Aero Club once again went above and beyond to make the Airweek wonderful for every visitor.
We are already looking forward to the 2026 version and hopefully, all records will be broken once again.
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