Official Practice Day - Saturday

Wake up alarm, shower, light breakfast and out the gate at 07:45. Well pretty much :-)

The Canadian armada headed out to the main competition site and quickly found parking. The guys started assembling planes while Kelly and I scoped out the processing order. Norway was all done so we started right away. Michi was the first one ready so he pulled his competitor number out of the bag and then we picked out the bib from the pile. His planes were then measured and weighed and sticker-ed accordingly. This process was repeated for each of the three remaining pilots.

Bob Skinner assists while Michi selects his numbered marble from the bag.

Bib numbers: Chad -19, Michi - 43, Colin - 58, Ethan - 47

The planes were measure by being placed in a 2 meter square box then weighed (max 5050 grams).

It fits!

Colin's Caelestia is weighed.

Ethan's turn.

Made it through!

The airframe weights with the heaviest batteries are as follows :
Mich A - 4905 B - 4770
Chad A - 4775 B - 4795
Colin A - 4950 B - 4890
Ethan A - 5025 B - 4850

Once the processing was completed we had a team picture taken for the local press.

Team Canada F3A 2013

We then packed up again and headed over to Site #1 for our official practice session. Due to the size of our team we were a bit late but the officials gave us a bit of a break... well a couple minutes anyway.

The primary planes were quickly assembled and Michi went up first. His plane's battery voltages were checked (max is 42.56 Volts). Voltages were as follows: Michi 41.9v, Chad 41.7v, Colin 41.8v, Ethan 41.8v

Noise test was next with the following recordings taken: Michi 90.3, Colin  89.5, Chad 91.8, Ethan 90.5 db (max is 94db)

The French team watch Chad fly his solid P-13 practice round.

Everyone put in their respective practice flights and it was a relief for me to get through the session. The guys did a great job getting ready and I look forward to the start of the contest. We loaded up and after checking out Henley airfield and a stop at home, headed back to the main building to see what was going on. We came across the Japanese team and quickly put our team Interpreter Michi Akimoto (also sometimes pilot) to work making introductions and answered questions for us. He was very happy to meet them!

Canadian and Japanese teams.

Don and Joseph Szczur and Ethan and Colin Chariandy

Team Australia

Opening Ceremonies

Brown out in Henley-on-Klip :-)

We had the chance to also meet Jim Eichenberg's son Dave who lives in Johannesburg. He came out to see the event and cheer on Canada. The support is greatly appreciated. 

We had the opening ceremonies with the various teams marching into the flag square... short speeches, music and we were done! The Team managers had a meeting to have any questions answered and to be given a quick rundown on the field setup. It's a little different than what we would normally see but not a major deal. The landings may be the most entertaining part :-)

The flying schedule will pick up in the morning as it was not ready when we left the site. I will post it as soon as I see it. I do know that Chad goes late morning with Michi, Ethan early afternoon and then later Colin. I should be able to upload at the worlds site directly as they have a huge onsite wireless system bouncing off a satellite :-) That should make Don Atwood and the US fans happy!!!

We headed off for dinner at the Cafe Blue and then back home to prepare for another day tomorrow as our event really gets under way. Couple extra pics below...

CPLR readies his Galactik

 Galactik

Kelly took time to enjoy the World Pipe Band Championships being streamed live.

Practice Day #4 Friday

A quick shower, upload some pictures, breakfast and off we go for another practice session. Our conga line of white vehicles is becoming common place in the area:-)

Patio outside our living room and manager's suite.

The new neighbors are from Canada!

Korea,  Finland and Chinese Taipei beat us to the field today and Canada quickly joined in. Wolfgang Matt came out and put in a round before heading off to processing.  Numerous other teams flew at the field just behind us with Great Britain, Switzerland and China flying.

BTW I forgot to mention this yesterday but Yang Oxai inspected Michi's Axiome + repair. He gave two thumbs up to Jon Harwood's workmanship. A feather in Jon's cap no doubt.

Line up of Oxai Axiomes.

Kelly and I headed over to the main competition site to get our team's registration completed. On arrival we met up with Mark Atwood, Andrew and Tim Jesky and Kevin Young of the USA team. Mark was hungry for an Internet connection as their accommodation has limited capability. I think he said "none". We had a good visit before meeting the officials to complete our registration.

Our team account was balanced and then FAI licenses, anti doping  paperwork,  pilot equipment documents and two Canadian flags were delivered to the officials. This took under 10 minutes.

We received a bag of goodies for each team member plus a foamy kit for each pilot.  I also checked on the location and access for processing and the time of the Manager's meeting this evening. It will take place at the main competition site ar Midvaal Raceway at 18:30.  This is very convenient as its 13 minutes from our accommodations :-)

The teams cleared out and we owned the flight line :-) This is the byproduct of processing day... even though we flew with other teams we still got lots of flights and in this case, had the place to our selves. We took the opportunity to practice with a bib on for our new guys. This helps acclimatize the pilot to official flight garb as you never fly with a bib normally.

Ethan wears the bib in practice. One less "new" thing for him. Michi also donned my old Muncie bib.

As a team we also practiced start up and sound check procedures along with plane swaps due to simulated mechanical/electrical issues.  It's important to have a backup plan in case things go south with your primary airframe... a quick transition to the backup airframe is essential. It went well.

The Colombian, Venezuelan and Spanish teams all arrived and joined us at the south flight line.  Korea and Lichtenstein also returned shortly thereafter.

Spain's Juan Rombaut was nearing the end of his flight when a large gust hit the pit area. Unfortunately the Xurama bipe of Colombia's Frederico Hinestrosa caught the gust and was flipped over, narrowly missing Wolfgang's Oxai Citrin.  The plane suffered some damage with a broken motor mount, minor vertical fin damage and unknown fuse damage. We believe it is repairable and the Colombian team quickly packed up and headed for a hobby store for supplies to make repairs. As we knew Bob's Hobbies had good stock and were very close by, we gave them directions and they sped off.  "Tell them Canada sent you!" were our last words. We wish them every success!

Frederico's Xurama just before it was flpped by a gust.

Carlo Silva's Xurama

Pretty much everyone left so we finished off our flights and then had the opportunity to see Gerhard Mayr fly his Trigantic Tri-winged plane. This is one deep fused plane and the tri-wing is definitely an eye catcher. In traditional Gerhard style he was very slow paced but the plane seemed to handle the light winds without much difficulty. The plane presents ok but the snaps are a departure from the norm for sure. I can see the age old questions returning already :-)

The Trigantic fits in a van with wings on! This save a ton of assembly time I am sure.

That is one deep fuse on this plane.

23 inch prop needs lots of clearance.

We packed up and headed back to the Village Manor House in Henley-on-Klip... a whopping seven minute drive:-) I asked Will to join me at the Event Center as the manager's meeting was on tonight.
We drove down to the site and quickly discovered that I didn't get the message.... the date and time was printed in error :-( it was now planned to be after the opening ceremonies on Saturday. ARGHH Ok back towards Henley and a stop at the local Henley Arms for dinner. The rest of the team soon arrived and we enjoyed a great meal while meeting some of the "locals". A very friendly bunch I might add.

Back at the Manor House we did some surfing and blogging then headed to bed.  Processing day tomorrow at 08:30 so it's an early up for us.

Practice Day #3 Thursday

The routine continues...like ground hog day! :-) Shower, breakfast at the guest house,  load up and convoy out the gate.

A little humor... About 4 am an alarm was heard way off in the distance... Michi, ever worried about his safety, immediately thought that someone was breaking into their van. He got dressed and woke Will up. Now Will is out cold in deep slumber. He wakes up and, after getting one shoe on suddenly stops, looks at Michi and says "We don't have an alarm in our Van" and went back to his room and shut the door. We think Michi went back to bed as well but we are not sure.

Today we stopped at Bob's Hobbies for introductions and to pick up some Velcro for the new packs.  Bob was very happy to meet the team and Kelly loved the two little dogs that roam the premises. After a short visit we were on our way. Numerous teams were already in action at the practice site with Korea, China, Finland, Chinese Taipei all hard at it and our team quickly joined in.

Numerous other teams arrived with Brazil, Russia and Switzerland also looking for a site. The Swiss and Russian teams both moved to the flying site just behind our flight line.

Chad speaks with Yang about the Axiome and the design changes for his "next" airframe.

Kelly, Agnes and I headed over to Team USA's guest house. Kelly took on the driving duties and did a great job! We met up with Bernhardt at the Plaaskombuis Country Estates guest  house and exchanged a "special" prop for some Thunder Power batteries that came with the US shipment.

I wanted to visit the Riverside Sun Resort (site of the managers meeting, welcome cocktail party and  banquet) in daylight hours so we headed over to the three rivers area. The route was longer than I thought it would be but we eventually found it. Had a quick look around and then used the GPS for the fastest route back to the flying site.  Ah technology!

Kelly and Agnes enjoy the early morning sun. By 10 o'clock the jackets were off!

Back at the field the guys were hard at it and we had a nice lunch on site with food we had brought.  Yes we have a red & white cooler!  Kelly and Agnes headed to the mall and local shops for a look see and to pick up some dinner for the team.

Yang with the Asyuler

We continued to practice and had the pleasure of flying with Wolfgang Matt who stopped in for a round with his Oxai Citrin. Lots of onlookers watched his flight.

Michi made some C/G changes and was doing some trim flights. Winds were gusty so he will leave the fine tuning to the calmer morning.

Michi does some radio work.

Team Canada's common living room and dinning room.

We are having a team Braai (BBQ) tonight at our Manor House. They have a big BBQ and we know how to use it!! It was a pot luck kind of deal with all sorts of meats thrown on. Potatoes and Maize with Pap Sauce... very good

It's BBQ night at the Team Canada Manor House.

Dave mans the grill. 

Dinner! Can you spot Chad?

Practice Day #2 Wednesday

The team is slowly getting use to the time change so everyone managed to make breakfast this morning. Our routine is starting to set in and we were soon off to the flying field en mass. A quick stop for lip balm (bought out the store LOL) and we were set. 

Michi knows how to recycle!

Planes going together.

Shlomi and Masayo were there along with Finland's Lassi Nurila.  Several other teams arrived during the morning with Korea and Chinese Taipei.

Austria's Gerhard Mayer and his dad arrived and scouted out the flying site although they did not stay. Not sure if teams are reluctant to spend the landing fee of 50 Rand per pilot?

We also heard through the Italian junior Mazzuccheli lost his "B" plane due to shipping damage. Reports indicate it was damaged beyond repair.

Michi's charge station in action.

Flight Line.

Agnes catches the action.

Team Photo Practice :-)

We headed back to the Village Guest House and decide to do a shopping trip and scout out the area. Kelly, Agnes, Chad and myself went to the local Pick & Pay and got more water, food supplies and some firewood for our fireplace (Still cool in the evening). After that we cruised down to the US Team's accommodation as they have some batteries for us. They were not back from practice yet but we made arrangements to pick them up in the morning.

We went by the Worlds flying site and had a look around and a short visit with some of the staff. Looks like they are well prepared for the event.

Back home for dinner and a nice visit afterwards. Lots of shop talk with the guys as the gals stared at their I-pads with glazed over eyes. :-)

Off to the rack.

Practice Day #1 Tuesday

Up early for a 07:15 breakfast call. Several people slept in and missed a great start to the day with hot & cold cereals, juices, coffee and a hot plate of eggs, bacon, tomato, mushrooms and toast.. all very tasty.  It's cold this am with about a 4C temp... it will warm up though.

Nice art work in the Manor House.

 Adele, the Chef, was kind enough to show Will and I the local Hobby Shop where we met the proprietor Bob Lloyd. Had a nice chat about access to the local field and the protocols required to fly there. Bob explained the field situation and we came to an arrangement for the team's use.  All good!

We then headed over to the practice site as it is very close to the hobby store and our accommodations for that matter. It was empty of flyers with only a lone security/operator Lawrence holding down the fort. We met and then said we would be back.

Will and I had a quick look around the facility and then headed back to the VGH. We rallied the guys and in short order were on our way to our first practice. The guys were pretty excited and soon had the planes up in the light NW winds. We also met Team Israel's flyer Shlomi Chester and his helper Masayo (who was also Japanese).

Practice facilities

Chariandy's planes get ready for the first flights SA.

Will and Shlomi talk props

Michi is ready!

All eyes on Chad as he set the pace with the first Team Canada practice flight.

Our team interpreter at work.... well actually she is fluent in English.

Everyone flew and the winds pick up to at least 30+ k giving everyone a chance to not only test prop combinations, but tweak expos as the planes were all too crisp in the thin air. We need a better day for trimming. Agnes and I headed back to pick up Kelly and head into Vereeniging to pick up some chairs and supplies (Cooler) at the Game store. It was like a Walmart in our country... with checkers at the door like Costco :-)

Mission complete we headed for the Midvaal Raceway to see the main Worlds site.  Not a lot going on so we headed back to the practice site and then home to VGH. The guys had just arrived and we decided to head back a short drive to the Henley Arms for dinner. This is very close to the Oprah's girls school. The food and service was very good and we enjoyed the ambiance...  nice fire etc.

Dinner at the Henley Arms

Back home we found out that Michi's bag was delivered to the Manor House. He was very happy and almost like a kid in a candy store..... or in this case, a man with fresh underwear!!

We lounged around the Manor House for the next couple hours and also made contact with the US team that have some batteries for us. We will meet up sometime tomorrow. That's about it until next update. Good night form South Africa.

We made it... almost!

Touched down in Johannesburg at 0642 local time. A gorgeous sunrise greeted us on approach to the airport.

It took a while to unload the plane as it was pretty full. Off through Immigration and Customs then to the baggage carousel... no planes as we expected. Michi's bag was also missing. The next flight in was in just under two hours so we waited until it arrived.

Planes arrived at 09:40 local and we headed for the car rental kiosks... no Michi bag but it will be delivered Tuesday afternoon!

We had planned to travel together but the vans were parked on a different floor so Kelly and I head out on our own with the Tomtom guiding us. Chad and Will both had GPS's as well and I gave Colin written directions in case they got seperated.

The drive out to Henley was straight forward and after a bit of searching we found our accommodation. The Village Guest House (VGH) is a nice bed & breakfast that also has the Manor House on the adjacent property. This has individual rooms along with kitchen facilities and common area.

We headed out and after a bit of searching around found the Cafe Blue that was recommended by Adele our Chef  at the VGH. It was very good and a nice lunch. Following lunch several pilots headed back to assemble planes while we took a trip to the local Pick & Pay Store. Collectively we grabbed some stuff for the fridge and some lunch making supplies, water etc.

Plane assembly was going at full tilt and then it was off to Dinner at the VGH. I had arrange to have a team meal as the long trip was starting to take it's toll. Dinner was very good and then it was lights out for everyone.

At JNB Airport with... no planes!

Thank heavens the next flight was 2 hours. Planes arrived!

Kelly works Security Detail

One part of the Village Guest House.

Chad puts his planes together.

Michi in assembly mode as well.

London onward.

August 11th - We met up with follow team members Agnes & Chad Northeast, Michi Akimoto and Will Gross at the Heathrow Airport. They looked pretty bagged but we were able to carry on a conversation:-)

Michi had slept on a bench during the London layover  and was pretty quiet.  We headed down to the Gate 33 area in anticipation of loading.

Along came Colin and Ethan after a 30 minute stop at security. Seems the battery packs he was carrying caused a bit of concern but eventually  he was allowed on his way  once he explained the details etc.

Michi, Chad and Will at the departure gate.

We started loading the plane and then about half way through , several names  were called out. Our team members names if fact! Turns out that the plane taking  us down, an Airbus A340-600 could not accommodate any of the planes.

Remain calm!!

A bit strange as these boxes have been on many planes all around the world. They apologized and said they would follow us on the next flight departing in two hours time. In fact she guaranteed it :-)

Not a big deal as we will be able to square away our rental vehicles and also get the phone SIM cards. Not sure about claiming them just yet but it will all work out.

We finally took off at 19:30 local time and prepared for the 11 hour flight down. The distance shows 3554 miles to Johannesburg.

Sound of cruising jet over France, the Mediterranean, North Africa.... 

3554 miles to JNB

Packing the gear.

Well the time has come to start getting the gear packed up and ready for the flight to JNB. All the team members are going through a similar process across the country. Making a list and carefully boxing up planes and equipment. Oh and don't forget clothes! I see lots of Facebook post from other teams as well.

 Michi Akimoto has his Axiome almost ready.

Chad Northeast's garage as he starts breaking down his planes.

Chad's planes going in their boxes.

Planes packed and the hardware gets confirmed, sorted and packed.

Just testing things out in anticipation of this blogs future use as the "go to" source for team information and updates :-)

Both Chad Northeast and Michi Akimoto were in action in Cloverdale, BC this past weekend. Also in attendance was helper Will Gross from Red Deer, Alberta as well as helper Kelly Reaville and the myself from Brentwood Bay, BC.

Out East in Ontario, the Oakville /Milton Precision Aerobatics event was held with both Colin and Ethan Chariandy in attendance.  The competition time is very important as we start to prepare for the trip. More updates to follow.