The Africa Cup 2019 - Hotel Numbi - Hazyview

By Brett Hickman





The Africa Cup is the longest running and oldest Microlight Event in South Africa. It started on 10 June 1987 and is held each year around 24th September (Heritage Day) at the Hotel Numbi in Hazyview, a stone's throw from the world-famous Kruger National Park.







Pilots of all disciplines are invited to join each year from novice to seasoned veterans. There are no entry fees for the competition and we cater specifically for the Rookies in an effort to encourage the sport of recreational flying in South Africa.







It started as a microlight competition and over the years many other different recreational aircraft have taken part. This year saw the arrival of eleven microlights, four light sport aircraft and two gyrocopters. In the evening the traditional initiation of the new pilots took place with them having to do a barrel roll!!





The competition consisted of a navigation task in the morning and runway tasks in the afternoon. The navigation task took the form of the aircraft needing to fly a route from Numbi to God's Window, Graskop, Sabie and back to Numbi. The pilots had to identify two markings at a junction near God's Window and Sabie Airfield and perform a touch and go spot landing at Graskop.



The runway tasks consisted of a timed circuit, spot landings, a flour bomb drop and a ribbon cutting (bogroll) exercise. All the competitors did really well with one aircraft managing to get the toilet roll stuck on his wingtip. There were also some entertaining spot landings which kept the crowd of onlookers entertained!!





The prizegiving took place in the evening and true to Africa Cup tradition it was a fancy-dress function with the theme being "S". Everyone made a great effort and we had a diverse range of costumes like Skollie, Spook, a Shower, a Springbok, Superman, Sailors, Spongebob, Santa, Homer Simpson and a Shaik.





Fines and booby prizes were handed out with Rob Mcfie presiding over the official prizegiving. We were honoured to present the trophies for the following categories to the deserved winners:

Airmanship: Andre van Zyl - Gyrocopter
Navigation: Willie van Der Merwe - Microlight
Spot Landings: Paul van Schalkwyk - Microlight
Flour Bombing: Wian Lamprecht - Microlight
Ribbon Cutting (Bogroll Boss): Andre van Zyl - Gyrocopter
Circuit Master: Wian Lamprecht - Microlight
Rookie 1st : JJ Cronje - Microlight
Rookie 2nd : Andries Kruger - Microlight
Rookie 3rd: Johan Duvenhage - Microlight

Africa Cup 1st: Paul van Schalkwyk - Microlight
Africa Cup 2nd: Willie van der Merwe - Microlight
Africa Cup 3rd: Wian Lamprecht - Microlight





Once again it was a good Africa Cup. I'd like to thank all the competitors for taking part and displaying outstanding flying skills. Thanks also to Hotel Numbi for hosting us, buying the take home trophies and supplying two free weekends to the winners. Finally a huge thanks to Misasa for providing funds, providing the ambulance and arranging all the legalities to make the event happen. Thank you.

I look forward to seeing many new faces at Africa Cup 2020.



MISASA
Events 2019
MISASA








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