Life has it's ups and downs...

...It has almost been 2 months since I updated my blog. It took this long mostly due to the fact that the Air Force is living up to its name of "Hurry up and wait"... So many things happened that if I had to type out every last bit of detail then it will take me forever. I will just shortly sum up most of it....


Tuesday, 28 November 2011

After various phone calls to SAAF HQ I was able to establish that Psycomotor and Medical examination will be postponed to February 2011. The reason that they gave me was that they "Did not have accomodation for the passed candidates."


Thursday, 1 December 2011

I received  a phonecall from Maj. Scott Ternent saying that he has to fly with Alan Wight in his Yak 18t from Fisantekraal to Worcester for a validation flight. He will be doing a show at the upcoming Wings and Wheels Airshow to be held at AFB Ysterplaat. I was allowed to join in.


Sunday, 4 December 2011

I arrived at Fisantekraal early in the morning on a sunny, windstill day. Alan showed me how to do some pre flight tests and what you have to do for the Russian beaut to fly properly. After various tests we were ready to set off to Worcester airstrip. We would be accompanied by Martin Venn in his RV-7 as he also has to do a validation flight. We set off to Worcester in Olga, the Yak, with Martin in formation.

 Olga, The Yak18t

Martin flying in Formation

 At the Airfield we had a quick brief of the days' happenings. Martin and Scott will be doing their validation flights and we would sit around and watch them. Jurgen, Martins Navigator, did a few scenic flights in a Piper Cherokee. After he landed he asked me if I wanted to join him for another short scenic flight. We flew over Worcester and watched Scott do his validation flight from the air. It was awesome! This is the only shot I was able to get from inside the Cherokee:

After a amazing day filled with flying we were ready to head home. Just when I thought the day couldn't get any better Martin said that I could fly back with him in his RV7. I strapped myself into the half-parachute-half-seat seat with a big grin on my face. He had a GoPro mounted on the dashboard which took some amazing footage of us flying. Here is some photos and a montage that I made of all my GoPro footage, which includes some flying footage too! Check it out!! ...When I have the time I will make an entire clip with just the flying footage on it.

Strapped into the Parachute-Seat

Flying Inverted - My new favourite rush!

Friday, 9 December 2011

The annual Wings and Wheels airshow were being held at AFB Ysterplaat. They changed the airshow date to a Friday and Saturday as a lot of churches asked if they could maybe move it... The roaring sounds of jets thundering overhead at near supersonic speeds could be quite distracting, you know.

It was a perfect day for flying. A windstill morning with a cloudless sky. It was a bad day to forget your sunblock at home - as we did! There were a lot of cars on static display and a lot of aircraft too! Please excuse the photo quality as my memorycard for my camera is faulty and I might lose all those photos, I am only able to upload the ones I took with my phone.

Old and New Lamborghini

American Muscle - Ford Mustang GT500

 Mirage on static display

 L-39's in "Porche Colours"

 So, so true!

After a very hot day in the sun the wind suddenly picked up and gusted a lot. I unfortunately do not have any photos of the actual flying on my phone but there is some great photos HERE. Just scroll through the pages!

Wednesday, 14 December 2011...

A day where you wish you only slept that one minute longer... Opened the fridge one more time... Petted the dog once more... If only...

I received my GoPro camera in the post the previous day and was eager to get some footage with it! It was rainy outside and the NW wind was forming perfect 4ft barrels at Kleinmond Main Beach! I drove down to the beach to have a look at the waves and they were amazing! As I drove home to fetch my surfing gear... It happened.

A 73-year old lady ran over a 2 way stop street into the driver side of my car, shoving me into a wall. I was allowed to just drive straight, there wasn't even a yield sign. When I saw that she didn't stop I dug my foot into the ground to speed up so that she wont hit me on my door. Luckily she didn't and only got me on the back door. As I hit the wall the passenger side airbags deployed. The same smoke and smell was lingering inside as in our previous car accident. I didn't know which emotion to feel. Anger? Sympathy? I just felt like crying to see my lil car like that... It wasn't even my fault. To make it even worse - they had to write the car off as the chassis bent and the repair costs would be very high ...The lady is still driving around in her Geely... I could just be thankfull that I am not hurt. Not even a stiff neck the next day or anything... Walked away completely unscaved. Heres a photo of where I hit the wall:

Sunday, 25 December 2011

I received my first custom SAAF related clothing! Chloe made me a Silver Falcons shirt with my name on it as a Christmas present... :)

9 January - 18 January 2012

I have been phoning SAAF HQ every single day to find out if they have any updates on the February selections. What I could find out is the following:

There will only be one intake this year and not the usual 2, apparently to save costs.

We were 45 Matrics that passed the Psychometrics last year October.

12 Non Matrics made it all the way through to the Interview.

Up to 35 candidates can be selected for the intake.

It seems like the Psychomotor and Medical testing will be in the week of the 6th of February.

WHEN I pass medicals I would start with Basic Military Training in the end of May.

That is all the information that I have at the moment. I will try to keep this blog updated whenever I receive any new arrangements etc...

...Jaco, Over and out...