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Margate Airshow 2007 EAA Weekend |
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Written by Charles Hugo - IPMS SA Media Group
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Saturday, 05 May 2007 |
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Page 4 of 5
Almost an expensive disaster  A very happy RC pilot | A local Radio Control pilot displayed his jet powered RC McDonnell Goshawk (navalised version of the BAe Hawk). During one of the manoeuvres one of the tailplanes came adrift but with lightning fast reactions from the RC pilot, who initially was going to steer the aircraft away from the crowd discovered he had sufficient authority to safely recover his aircraft to the runway. Exceptional piloting skills and reaction time, and maybe a bit of luck, saw him save his R80,0000.00 masterpiece which will live to fly again. |
Not so lucky  Extra 300 incident | This was followed by a joint display of the Silverton Radiatiors/Avpix Eagles in their Extra 300s and Pierre Gouws in a Yak52. The Extra 300’s are ex Chilean Air Force Halcones display aircraft. |
They broke up into two separate displays with Pierre showing off his capabilities in solo display with the Yak. This was followed by the Extras in a duo display. The wind was reasonably strong at this time and the formation flying skills of Larry Beamish and Nigel Hopkins was impressive with their mirror formation display showing that there may be a rival team to the Mazda Zoom Zooms. Unfortunately though, Larry experienced a landing mishap which saw his Extra 300 being badly damaged. Fortunately though he suffered no injuries other than a hurt ego. This caused the airshow to be paused for around 45 minutes while all the necessary incident report forms and photographs were completed.
Afternoon show
Jeff Earl displayed his modified Comanche for the crowd. This is the aircraft that he flew to the UK in 1999 and has had pressurisation fitted. He likened this aircraft to flying a De Havilland Mosquito. The display was smooth even in the high winds.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 05 May 2007 )
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