Akabeko Boutique Hotel Golf Course.

I know I’ve been gone for a while, and maybe you haven’t even noticed I’ve been missing so I thought I’d share a little of what I’ve achieved so far.

You do remember I was off to design and build a 9 hole golf course? Well that’s where I’ve been and still there. A big problem is a lack of internet and cell phone signals, so I have to climb a hill (at my age it feels like a mountain) to do anything on the internet.

       

The design accepted I climbed into the construction. Lydenburg district is well known for rain that can last for weeks, so it was eyes down and go for it while it’s dry.

The setting of the course is breath taking and with spots like this for tee boxes it is not difficult to design a course with character. (I have sworn at myself for some of the holes)

The 9th is a short hole, but has the most perfect view of the club house and chalets.

 

The 8th is one of the par fives and two long shots might just see you on the green, but they will have to be good shots.

The 6th is probably to be considered an intimidating hole, hitting off the tee between the trees with a dog leg left to the green, bunker protected is actually easier than it seems. (If I can play it everyone else should be able to.)

And one last photo of the area, breath taking to say the least….

I am ahead of the construction time line, but the rainy season has just begun so we might just see you more often.

Fairchild Dornier 328-310 328JET.. Kumba Iron Ore aircraft..

The Fairchild Dornier 328-310 328JET belongs to Kumba Iron Ore in Kathu, which is a branch of the very widespread tree of the Anglo American Group.

This aircraft is one of the most fascinating planes I’ve flown in. The Dornier 328 Jet was designed and placed into initial production by the German aerospace firm Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, but in 1996 that firm was acquired by the United States aerospace company Fairchild Aircraft.

The 328JET was therefore the last commercial aircraft to be produced by the former Dornier business before it became insolvent in 2002.

Following Dornier’s insolvency, AvCraft Aviation of Virginia acquired the rights to the 328 program in March 2003, including the 32-seat 328JET and 328 turboprop, 18 328JETs in various stages of assembly, and the development work on the 428JET. After the successful sale of these airplanes, AvCraft negotiated arrangements with suppliers to resume production.

The first newly built 328JET was delivered in 2004. AvCraft also took on the production of these aircraft, due to low profit expectations for its other projects, until it filed for bankruptcy itself in 2005.

The resulting firm was acquired by private equity investors and reformed as M7 Aerospace.

This is a plane with two pilots and one aircrew, 32 to 34 passengers. Two Pratt and Whitney turbofan engines that give the plane a 3 700 km range at a max cruising speed of 405 knots or 750 km/h.

Often the two pilots are woman, I wonder if the sun shields have mirrors on them to adjust their make up…

I must say I do prefer it when they are in the drivers seat… the flight just seems so much smoother…!!

Avro Shackleton,.. da da…a Shackleton to the rescue.

The Avro Shackleton was a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force.

It served in the South African Air Force from 1957 to 1984. The aircraft is named after the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

It was originally used primarily in the anti-submarine warfare and maritime patrol aircraft roles, and was subsequently adapted for airborne early warning, search and rescue.

The aircraft is powered by the slow-revving Rolls-Royce Griffons engines with 13 ft. (4 m)-diameter contra-rotating propellers, which created a distinctive engine noise and added high-tone deafness to the hazards of the pilots. The Griffons were necessary because of the greater weight and drag of the new aircraft they provided great fuel efficiency for the long periods in the denser air at low altitudes that the Shackleton was intended for when hunting submarines – known as "loitering" – possibly several hours at around 500 feet or lower.

The is still one airworthy (SAAF 1722 based at AFB Ysterplaat) but not flying due to a lack of qualified crew members.

SAAF missions were mostly patrols of the sea lanes around the Cape of Good Hope, but some occasionally ranged as far as Antarctica. Most flew around 10,000 hours, with the only operational loss being 1718/"K", which crashed in the Wemmershoek mountain range in poor weather on 8 August 1963 with the loss of all 13 crew.

Although the joke has been applied to several aircraft, the Shackleton has been described as "a hundred thousand rivets flying in close formation."

Here are a few photos of the one on display at the Air Force Museum in Pretoria. …

I love things that fly…..

Yellow Mongoose.. “give us a smile”

Some subjects are more difficult than others…

Cattle Egret and a Good Morning Sunrise..

A few more not so good photos but I enjoy them.. and a sunrise over the dam in the nature reserve…