Michelle was the successful bidder for the Yak flight at CTFC's end of year social. Thanks to Dale Humby for sponsoring the flight!
Yakking over Franschoek -- Michelle Joffe, pictures Frank Moody
A flip on the Yak was definitely high up on my list of “100 things to do before you die”, so I was very happy to outbid any competitor at the year end party for a flip in the Yak with Dale “sorry, how old did you say you are” Humby.
So, on Saturday, 25 November I drove to Fisantekraal (yes, you can actually drive there!), with
my photographers / aviation paparazzi, Frank “Hank” Moody and my cousin Shaun, in tow. We found Dale at the aircraft where he was engaging in his mammoth Yak preflight, a process affectionately known by Yak pilots as “Yak husbandry” and for obvious reasons! For instance, the propeller has to be turned at least 36 times in order to get the overflow oil to drip out of the plane before start up. Easier said than done….I had a few attempts at this, but let me tell you, for a dame such as myself, this is pretty hard work. Dale has clearly mastered the technique and he and the other boys had a good chuckle watching me struggle to get 2 rotations in! Then he slapped her under the wings and under the fuselage, quite vigorously, just to make sure that there were no loose objects hanging around inside…I told you they call this preflighting “husbandry”!
After refueling, Dale geared me up in the Yak attire, consisting of a very 1940’s style headset with cap and a somewhat smelly old parachute, which he assured me was still in working order –
I guess it’s one of those “trial and error” chutes? Dale gave me the full passenger briefing and strapped me in tight, so there was no turning back – especially after he had told me how he had taken his 78 year old granny for a flight the previous week! Impressive, but I think that may have been part of the marketing blurb!! With a big “whumpf” and smoke all around, Dale started her up and off we taxied to the runway.
After the run ups, we lined up on runway 23, canopy closed, and off we went, rotating at wh
felt like 200km / hr (god bless the Russians, they work in kilometers!). We did a steep turn out to the left and headed off for the beautiful valley of Franschhoek where Dale would show off his aviation prowess at 6000 feet. Dale let me take the controls and climb from 1500 to our desired altitude. Due to the length of the aircraft, he told me to climb in an S shape so that I could have a better view of what lay ahead of us. Once over the valley, the fun began. Now I can’t quite remember the exact sequence of events, altitude does this to my brain, but what I do recall is that I got to see Fratanschoek and Cape Town from some very odd angles. We looped, we barreled, we Cubaned, we tangoed, we climbed at 90 degrees, we took our bodies to obscenely unnatural g’s, we dived, we climbed some more, I was shouting out obscenities about Dale’s mother’s cat in Afrikaans (I don’t even know his mother and I really wouldn’t know if she even has a cat?)……and then….we flew inverted! That was just unbelievable!
With my knees dangling next to my cheeks, Dale gently tried to persuade me to take the controls, but it just wasn’t going to happen! I was too busy savoring the moment and observing the carcass of some unfortunate insect, which probably couldn’t handle the g force and now ended up on the canopy of the aircraft! The world looks a very different place when you are upside down and I can highly recommend this angle of attack if you’re up (or is that down?) to it!
After some serious acrobatics we flew low level and tracked the contours of the Breede River, canopy open of course, and Dale gave me the controls once again for a low level flight over the farmlands.
Dale is an incredibly talented young pilot and it was a real privilege to fly with him. He is clearly passionate about what he does and I can highly recommend this experience to everyone, aviator or not! Would I do it again? Heck, YES!!!! And don’t worry, my list of 100 things to do before I die is actually endless!!
Yakking over Franschoek -- Michelle Joffe, pictures Frank Moody
A flip on the Yak was definitely high up on my list of “100 things to do before you die”, so I was very happy to outbid any competitor at the year end party for a flip in the Yak with Dale “sorry, how old did you say you are” Humby.
So, on Saturday, 25 November I drove to Fisantekraal (yes, you can actually drive there!), with
my photographers / aviation paparazzi, Frank “Hank” Moody and my cousin Shaun, in tow. We found Dale at the aircraft where he was engaging in his mammoth Yak preflight, a process affectionately known by Yak pilots as “Yak husbandry” and for obvious reasons! For instance, the propeller has to be turned at least 36 times in order to get the overflow oil to drip out of the plane before start up. Easier said than done….I had a few attempts at this, but let me tell you, for a dame such as myself, this is pretty hard work. Dale has clearly mastered the technique and he and the other boys had a good chuckle watching me struggle to get 2 rotations in! Then he slapped her under the wings and under the fuselage, quite vigorously, just to make sure that there were no loose objects hanging around inside…I told you they call this preflighting “husbandry”!After refueling, Dale geared me up in the Yak attire, consisting of a very 1940’s style headset with cap and a somewhat smelly old parachute, which he assured me was still in working order –
I guess it’s one of those “trial and error” chutes? Dale gave me the full passenger briefing and strapped me in tight, so there was no turning back – especially after he had told me how he had taken his 78 year old granny for a flight the previous week! Impressive, but I think that may have been part of the marketing blurb!! With a big “whumpf” and smoke all around, Dale started her up and off we taxied to the runway.After the run ups, we lined up on runway 23, canopy closed, and off we went, rotating at wh
felt like 200km / hr (god bless the Russians, they work in kilometers!). We did a steep turn out to the left and headed off for the beautiful valley of Franschhoek where Dale would show off his aviation prowess at 6000 feet. Dale let me take the controls and climb from 1500 to our desired altitude. Due to the length of the aircraft, he told me to climb in an S shape so that I could have a better view of what lay ahead of us. Once over the valley, the fun began. Now I can’t quite remember the exact sequence of events, altitude does this to my brain, but what I do recall is that I got to see Fratanschoek and Cape Town from some very odd angles. We looped, we barreled, we Cubaned, we tangoed, we climbed at 90 degrees, we took our bodies to obscenely unnatural g’s, we dived, we climbed some more, I was shouting out obscenities about Dale’s mother’s cat in Afrikaans (I don’t even know his mother and I really wouldn’t know if she even has a cat?)……and then….we flew inverted! That was just unbelievable!With my knees dangling next to my cheeks, Dale gently tried to persuade me to take the controls, but it just wasn’t going to happen! I was too busy savoring the moment and observing the carcass of some unfortunate insect, which probably couldn’t handle the g force and now ended up on the canopy of the aircraft! The world looks a very different place when you are upside down and I can highly recommend this angle of attack if you’re up (or is that down?) to it!
After some serious acrobatics we flew low level and tracked the contours of the Breede River, canopy open of course, and Dale gave me the controls once again for a low level flight over the farmlands.
Dale is an incredibly talented young pilot and it was a real privilege to fly with him. He is clearly passionate about what he does and I can highly recommend this experience to everyone, aviator or not! Would I do it again? Heck, YES!!!! And don’t worry, my list of 100 things to do before I die is actually endless!!
posted by Cape Town Flying Club at 7:04 AM
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