HTL #4 B.E.R.G.

HTL #4 was flown at the B.E.R.G. field on the 1st of June. The field was in great condition, the weather was perfect and Martie provided a really good breakfast for the early birds and monster boeries rolls for lunch.

Some great company and really super challenging flying conditions contributed to a really outstanding day of flying.

Turnout was a little disappointing for such a great day with many of the B.E.R.G. big names not
showing, Mark and Kurt Stockton opting for MTB and Evan having his combi break down on him.

ETB and MMS were well represented and Simon, Ian and Conrad got together to practice for the F3J world championships. Volney and Johan did the towing for the junior team - hope you guys took it easy the rest of the week in recovery - hand towing is tough, especially in those light wind conditions.


Lionel did some damage to his ankle while towing for the MMS team with Johan jr and I notice MMS just reverted to winches for the last rounds.

Rudolph Engelman was our B.E.R.G. single man team and fortunately Tony was around to help with some timing. Charl did a great job of directing the contest (although it would have been nice to have him announce the pilots before each slot to prevent a few confusions, one of which I think resulted in me
slipping from 3rd to 8th place. I really thought I had you beaten at the prizegiving, Piet).

Celeste Rheeders helped with the computer scoring and Trevor Austen showed up and kindly donated a winch to the club. We were also visited by Herman and newcomer Barry Lamb during the contest - hope to see you guys flying in these contests soon.

Below, the MMS team's collection of models and equipment.
Below, some landing techniques: left Simon Tladi and right Paul Carnall, both putting in some good landing scores. Sorry for the poor photo quality - it wasn't a good photo day for me or Martie.


The only serious casualty of the day was Johan Bruwer whose Pike Perfect crashed when it flew over other pilots on landing approach (looked suspiciously like PCM type lockout to me). But Rodney was without doubt the entertainer of the day: on the left in trouble in a not so good position for landing with a few seconds left on the clock and right, yep - in the trees again.

Rodney has managed to put a model into the trees consistently in the last three contests. We don't know yet where the next HTL will be flown, but I sure hope for Rodney's sake that there won't be any trees there! See you all at the next HTL on the 13th of July just after the F3J World Championships in Turkey . . . or maybe on the slope at Volksrust this weekend.


Also, please scroll down a few entries for the pictures from the Nationals. I had reserved the blog space but until now just didn't have time to finish the posting.

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