85 Pilanesberg - Durban

18. Mar 2010

Checking into a hotel in Sun City had not been a plan beforehand – but it was a located a conveniently 8 Km from the Pilanesberg airport. I spent 2 nights in Sun City, and yesterday I had a look around in this mix of a Wet ‘n’Wild and a casino in Vegas style.  And it was not very exiting.

But a shuttle was included in the price of a room. This morning I went to the airport fairly early, to fly to Durban.

I had spent some time to learn about a special feature around Johannesburg. The SRA zones – or Special Rules Areas. Not that the South African aviation authorities publish the AIP on the net, but from Jeppesens Flitestar program, I could see the boundaries of the zones. And I was able to find an article from “African Pilots” about the rules, and the frequencies used for broadcasting positions and altitudes.

But it is difficult when you do not know the area and the names used for reporting positions. VFR flying can be quite more difficult than IFR flying!

But I managed, and South of Johannesburg TMA I climbed to FL 095 directly to Durban, passing lovely green landscapes on my way. My destination airport was Virginia, just a short distance to the North West of the international airport.

But I found out, that there is a special rules area around Durban as well! Something Jeppesen did not inform about in Flitestar – or on the G1000? The result of that was, that I changed frequency to Virginia too soon, and that I arrived on a right base to runway 05 far too close to the airport. But I was sequenced as number 2 for landing, and after getting number one in sight, I could follow him in.

Virginia airport is right next to the beach, with a residential area very close. There is not a lot of space for parking, but after getting fuel, I was given a hand pushing the plane to a parking position on the lawn in front of the terminal building.