PLANE TALK - JIM DAVIS
WHAT A BUSINESS SWELLENDAM. I would like to report that my little flying school in George was expanding, and so it was. But not because it had so much business, but rather because it had so little. I’M INCLINED TO IGNORE the economics of running a flight school. Fuel was dirt-cheap, maintenance was minimal because my Cherokee was brand-new, and the thought of putting money aside for engine overhauls didn’t enter my mind. Here’s the sort of stupid thing I would do. I flew west for one hour and 15 minutes to the pretty little town of Swellendam. This was in order to do two hours of instruction in Tiger Moth ZS-DND, and one hour in a delightful little Piper Cruiser, ZS-BHZ. Total income for the venture was R12. And my expenses were two and a half hours of Cherokee flying and two days of my time. Okay in those days the Rand was slightly stronger than the US Dollar – but it still didn’t make any business sense. Financially I was going backwards.
some aerobatic training. As soon as we got off the ground I became suspicious of the aircraft. All Tigers rattle and shake, but this one had taken the vibration to a new level. It was as if there was someone under the cowl beating the engine with a four pound hammer. I told Eddie to do a tight circuit and put us back on the ground before something broke. “Don’t worry” Eddie shouted into the Gosport, “it’s always like this.” “Not while I’m in it – isn’t” I bellowed. So we shuddered round the field, plopped down on the stony uphill runway and taxied back to the hangar while Eddie complained about people who imagined noises in airworthy aeroplanes.
Not w hile I’ m in it
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Both the Tiger and the Cruiser had interesting lessons for me.
Of course the clattering stopped when the engine did. This left me in a rather silly position. We opened the cowlings and peered at Mr de Havilland’s black, oily lump of pig-iron, but of course there was no clue as to where the clatter had come from.
Edwin Sands was The Main Man of the Swellendam Flying Club and I was there to do some Tiger flying with him, and then to give him
A couple of other club members wandered over and formed a small Afrikaans-speaking focus group, with each member trying to simulate the
June 2021
