Upcoming event – SAC National Aerobatic Championships

This year, Wings Park in East London will host the Sport Aerobatic Club of South Africa SAC Nationals on the 15^th and 19^th June.

Last year the 14 member committee of SAC made the decision to host the Nationals at Wings Park.

“We aim to alternate Nationals between a high elevation venue and a low elevation venue (preferably coastal),” wrote Mike Stark in AVCOM last year.

This decision was not taken lightly and was also spurred on by the COVID pandemic which has seen many events and airshows cancelled in the previous two years.

Each of the classes have flying sequences consisting of various display figures with various difficulties, where pilots are judged on the accuracy and difficulty of the manoeuvres in the particular class.

Competition aerobatics is divided up into different class levels, depending on your skills, experience and type of aircraft:

• Sportsman Class
• Intermediate Class
• Advanced Class
• Unlimited Class

In South Africa, we have two other classes:

• Freestyle Class
• RV Class

In 2020, the event was held at Tempe with Nigel Hopkins winning the Unlimited Class in his Extra 330SC with a score of 80,108%. Barrie Eeles came in second.

In 2021, the competition took place in Phalaborwa, and Patrick Davidson won with the top score of 82,312%. Second place was stalwart Nigel Hopkins followed by Barrie in third place.