Introduction

Every year I try to take a gliding vacation and in 2005 I visited South Africa for the first time and just fell in love with flying here. This is my 7th trip and, like earlier years, I will try to send on daily “reports” to friends back home.  These daily reports really began as emails to my son Dan (who now flies an ASW-20 out of Boulder) but some more people have enjoyed reading them so they are getting a little more developed. In South Africa I fly out of an operation called “Soaring Safaries” in New Tempe, which is just North of Bloemfontein the capitol of Free State Province. They have a web site you can visit at http://www.soaring-safaris.com/.

Roy

The operation is  sort of an advanced glider cross country camp where you can rent (or “hire” as they say here) a modern well instrumented glider and are expected to push it to its (or your) limits. Typical daily flights here run 300 to 600 km and there have been several 1000 km flights done here. Some of the gliders belong to the operation and others are shipped here in containers from England and sometimes other countries. All are available for rent.  The operation is also supported by outstanding meteorological support and full crew and minor repair support. There are national contest quality pilot briefings every morning.  The head of the operation is Dick Bradley who is a 7 time South African National Champion and well known in the international gliding community.

Most of the participants are from Europe with about 2/3 from the UK. They are lucky that they can get here with minimal jet lag. There  is a motley assortment of French, Danes, Spaniards and a few others. The Germans tend to go to the operation at Gariep Dam for some reason,  and I am usually the only American here. It’s not really a good place for beginning to learn cross country flying ( airports are very sparse and any land out is likely to be in a farm) – but it is not uncommon to have people do their first 500km flights here.  It’s also not uncommon to have members of several European gliding teams show up to fly or to find out that the guy you are sharing a thermal with is the National Champion from his home country.  There are some interesting differences in the gliding “culture” here compared to back home – the most challenging of which may be the presumptive tow height of 1500′ (500m)  which – with the usual full load of water ballast –  really gets your attention at the beginning of each flight.

Another unique feature here is the issue of controlled airspace around Bloemfontein. In the image below our airport is in the point of the “pie slice” in the middle area. Return flights from north, west or south have to avoid  all of the controlled areas – which can be maddening when you are low in a glider or racing a thunderstorm home. It is mandatory to turn in a flight log each day and airspace violations are taken very seriously as they threaten the entire gliding operation.  It’s hard to understand the point of all of the controlled space as Bloemfontein isn’t much bigger than Manchester NH or Worcester MA and it’s rare that you even see another airplane out on course. Still, it’s a minor problem that we all work around.  The soaring conditions here are among the best in the world – it’s a great place to fly gliders.

This year I will again be flying “Hotel Sierra” which is a Nimbus 3 nearly identical to my old one that I sold in ’08 – which adds a certain comfort level to my flying out here.  She is a 24.5 meter open class ship in excellent condition.  I confess however, to ZERO comfort level driving little cars on the left side of the road – and for me the cliche that we tell our friends is very true that “Driving to the airport is a lot more dangerous than flying”.

The terrain here is high plateau (around 4500′ msl) sparsely populated with low crops and sandy dry red soil. One sees the occasional center pivot irrigation systems that look like large green “dots” on the ground – just as back home. There are also large flat “salt pans” that look like cement lakes ( you can land in them but they have high edges and it’s hard to get out). The area can be pretty desolate –  especially south down toward the other large gliding center at Gariep Dam (which tends to be more motor glider oriented). The conditions are not unlike West Texas and Eastern New Mexico – with a fairly constant wind. Thermal height bands run very high and all gliders are equipped with oxygen. Controlled airspace in South Africa is carried a bit to the extreme but some airspace violations are “winked at” while others are taken VERY seriously. It takes a while to know what is what. (Actually a lot of regulations in South Africa are like that). Altitude restricted airspace is 14500′ near some urban areas and 22000′ outside. Thermals up to 16-18k (12-14k AGL) are quite common.  So are thunderstorms!

Note: Roy has provided a copy of his blog from this fabulous trip and we will publish it in a series of posts.Ed.

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