By Andre Venter
Saturday morning looked rather grim weather-wise but I decided to make the trip to Silver Creek Gorge Estate with the hope that the low cloud would lift as the morning went on. On my arrival at the estate, I noticed twenty-five odd aircraft that had arrived the previous day and spent the night. An outdoor movie night was arranged for Friday night and it definitely seemed like it was a great success.
It was a rather cool morning and the early risers were mulling around in search of a hot cup of coffee. Wayne Langford of 'Coffee On The Move' was available to take care of any caffeine needs. Wayne is a Silver Creek Resident and supports all Silver Creeks events. While the coffee was being enjoyed by some others made their way to the pristine ablutions that are situated at the Silver Creek Clubhouse for a warm shower.
The weather started to clear and the “day visitors” started to arrive in numbers mostly from the many airfields around Gauteng and the North-West province. Approximately 50 aircraft visited over the two exciting days that excludes the 6 helicopters that made their way to the stunning bushveld airfield situated very close to the Buffelspoort Dam.
The undisputed hero of the day was “The Pancake Man”, Stephan Terblanche who once again brought along his pancake contraption that has the ability to produce 300 pancakes per hour in his skilful hands. The Silver Creek residents pulled out all the stops with the fillings, with just about anything one could conceive on a pancake made available. By the end of the day, Stephan and his team had served up almost 1500 delicious pancakes.
Nigel Musgrave, the Safety Officer for the day had set up a look-out tower on the bottom half of the runway, due to the danger of wildlife crossing the runway, there is an abundance of wildlife on the Estate.
Derek Hopkins left the airfield to collect a very special guest, Arnie Quast, the President of EAA chapter 932 based in Illinois USA. He was in South Africa on one of the first United Airlines flights and would be flying the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner back to the States later in the week. He was welcomed by Neil Bowden chairman of the local EAA Chapter 322.
Most of the pilots decided to depart relatively early as the weather was still looking a bit threatening with high winds and the possibility of some deterioration later in the day.
Once again the good people at Silver Creek Gorge Estate made this a day to remember and everyone that attended had made a mental note to return next year for another pancake day in the bush.
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