Newcastle Airshow 2013
Seconds out round number two
(first published in African Pilot)
The highly successful KZN Winter Airtour series started its second season in Newcastle. Around two years ago some visionary aviation minded thinkers found a willing sponsor in the KZN provincial government to bring aviation awareness to the people. Most rural inhabitants of our beautiful country seldom (or have never) seen an aircraft close-up, or even realise the benefits of aviation. This is the background to the KZN Winter Airtour.
2012 saw the first running of 6 airshows at various towns and cities within KZN, some that have never had an airshow before, or had been years since the last show. The success of the events, especially amongst some of the more remote destinations, more than justified the rationale behind the sponsoring and hosting these airshows. Who can forget the passion of the crowd in Ulundi during 2012?
And so on to 2013 and the opening event of the tour was once again held in Newcastle. Organised by Johan Pieters and Christo van der Vyver of Champ Marketing the Newcastle airshow is proving to be very popular. A large crowd turned out in a very fresh and breezy early winter’s morning to be entertained by some of the best aviation display pilots in South Africa and they were not to be disappointed.
Standard Fair
MEC Ms. Nomusa Dube, who was flown into the show by Freedom air from Durban for the show, addressed the crowd welcoming all to the airshow. An honour guard of police officers as well as firefighters were on hand to welcome her as she stepped off the aircraft; she then addressed the crowd welcoming all to the airshow. A local drum majorette squad then strutted their stuff.
The NAC PAC P-750 XSTOL the Atlas Angel acted as the drop-ships for the skydivers as part of the opening of the show. That stiff breeze wreaked havoc though with the skydivers landing very far from the drop target; fortunately they redeemed themselves in the afternoon jump
Darius Briers displayed the PAC P-750 later in the day showing off the aircraft's low-wing design and amazing short field capabilities.
Aviation Hub
Two aviation companies have chosen Newcastle as part of their strategy to broaden aviation within South Africa.
Freedom Air is a new airline that flies between Midrand and Virginia airports via Newcastle. This will be operated 5 days a week. As part of the show they had their Do-228 airliner that performed a display before the symbolic first arrival water shower welcome.
Blue Chip Aviation has also chosen Newcastle as one of their training locations within Kwa-Zulu Natal. The team had 5 Cessna 172/182 aircraft perform a formation display with the pilots being supervised by experienced formation and display pilots.
New display team
A new display on the South African display scene consisting of the duo of Larry Beamish and Charles Urban flying two Extra 300’s in the colours of Triton Express. We trust we will see more from this duo at future events.
An unusual display consisted of the Mazda Zoom-Zoom pair simulating an air-to-air photo-shoot sortie with legendary photo-journalist, John Miller seated in the door of the SA Flyer Cessna 172, flown by Larry Beamish keeping the public informed of the progress of the photo shoot.
Stalwarts
South African airshow regulars were out in full force to support the Newcastle airshow.
Larry Beamish flew the L-29 of , in the past Larry was part of the Sasol Tigers and flew the aircraft
Charles Urban (the other half of the Triton Team) displayed his L-39 Albatross jet superbly.
Glenn Warden, Johan von Solms, Nigel Hopkins and displayed the Goodyear Eagle 4-ship Pitts Specials. This exciting display included a double heart break and some dynamic aerobatic displays by the team. Team principal, Dennis Spence watched from the ground like a hawk over his charges in the air.
Nigel Hopkins with his MX-2, this time without the Cirrus flew his usual high energy display superbly
The car vs plane race consisted of a new Mercedes Benz A-class racing against Brad Bennet in his Mazda-branded Extra, methinks Brad seriously under-estimated this Mercedes and was thoroughly trounced by the car. The new A-class Mercedes is a radical change from the previous staid version and is an extremely young at heart car which appeals to the new generation. After the photo-shoot formation with the Cessna the Mazda Zoom-Zoom duo of Brad Bennets and Ellis Levin performed their high energy display with numerous inverted formations for the Newcastle crowd. Due to various commitments this team does not display often together and the two-ship display is a rare treat for us.
The other granddaddy of airshow display pilots, Scully Levin led Arnie Meneghelli, Steward Lithgow and Ellis Levin, in the two display teams, the Eqstra Flying Lion Harvard team and the Gabriel Pitts team through their routines. Scully, along with Brian Emmenis of Capitol Sounds and Dennis Spence have been on the South African airshow circuit virtually since inception, around 27 years now.
Do not try this at home
CC Pocock returned to the SA airshow display circuit and thrilled the crowd with his extreme flying. CC is a highly skilled pilot and he flew his heavily modified Cessna 172 in seemingly impossible manoeuvres before culminating in his signature Wall of Fire display.
Heavy Metal
The highlight display of the day must be the Boeing 737-200 display flown by Glenn Warden. The crowd thronged the fence to get a good view of this large jet being displayed to perfection by Glenn, his simulated go-around from the low ground on the east had many believing that he had touched down. For many this is the closest they had been to this widely used airliner. Whilst Glenn’s display seemed easy it had taken many hours of simulator time, in conjunction with Dennis Spence, to ensure that this display seemed routine. Well done guys and we rate this as the display of the day.
The KZN government must be congratulated for their vision and continued sponsorship of this airtour. Due to their continued support of aviation and airshows in KZN, hopefully sparks of inspiration are ignited and the passion for flying develops amongst our youth. The dream can be kindled.
