Rally Flying

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The sport of Air Rally Flying is a two crew operation, with a pilot and navigator. The emphasis here is on accurate plotting and observation. The penalties are weighted accordingly. The navigator is given a sealed envelope 15 to 30 minutes prior to take off. The envelope contains clues for each turning point on the route. The navigator has to pin-point the turning points on the map based on these clues and in order to compute the track for the pilot to fly. This is often completed in the air and is a real challenge for the crew. A word of warning here, if you are a husband and wife team you might not be when you land!! The pilot also has photographs to find and record the position of these on a special sheet. Photographs for the turning points are also supplied. These photographs may or may not be accurate, so giving you a true/false situation to contend with at each turning point.

A GPS logger is placed into the aircraft for the flight. This enables the organisers to get a detailed printout of the actual track of the participant, as well as split second timings at turning points.

Then just as you thought that this was getting a bit hectic there may be an away landing to contend with as well as a return landing that will count for points. Timing is a critical aspect of the flight with most turning points being timed and again accuracy to the second is required. Well that sums up Rally Flying, if you can do all this it can only help improve your flying skills.

History of Precision and Rally Flying

The concept of Precision and Rally flying started in the Scandinavian countries between the two world wars. The object was to create a set of skills that combined hunting, flying and cross country skiing.Sample logger track So imagine flying to some remote location, landing in the mountains, skiing to a likely spot, shooting some target (animals or enemy) and then flying off to the next spot, to repeat the exercise. This sounded like a good idea at the time and for a few years the concept caught on with the Scandinavian countries, with regular competitions being held.

After the second world war more countries became interested in the concept and over a period of years a set of rules was drawn up that separated out the flying aspects only. Later two disciplines evolved, those of Precision and Rally Flying. The main difference between the two is that Precision Flying is a solo effort by a single pilot while Rally Flying is a two crew operation.

For many years the Scandinavians dominated the sports, but as acceptance was gained and the sports grew in popularity the former eastern block countries came to dominate the scene. Now with the economic changes sweeping Europe, the sports are pretty much open to everyone. The Southern Hemisphere countries are coming into their own and are starting to represent a serious threat to our cousins up north. World Championships are held on a bi-annual basis.

Rally Flying Tips

Basic Rally flying tips

For those new to the sport of rally flying here are some useful tips

First a brief rundown of the competition format as it applies to Sportsman Class. A rally is not a race. You are required in a rally to navigate very accurately over several short legs and keep on time based on your own nominated speed. That's it in a nutshell. Now to prove your skills you will be timed at certain of the points that you have to fly to and you will also have to demonstrate that you have found the point. The latter is done in two ways. Firstly there may be a marker at the point. This marker consists of white strips in the form of a letter of the alphabet. Only certain letters are used.

ZS-LIA

Secondly and even more important you will have to identify a photograph of the check point. These will be given to you before take off and will have the check point numbers on them. The trick is that the photo may be true or it may be false. You have to find the check point and then state on your answer sheet whether the photo you were given is really of the check point or not. Note that you get double penalties if you answer wrongly, so guessing is discouraged. Not sure, then rather don't answer.

You will be given the route 15 to 30 minutes before take off. In the beginners class it will be drawn on the map, so you will only have to mark in your headings and times. The time you have to be at each check point is also given to you on a separate sheet and will be based on your true airspeed possibly adjusted for any strong winds on the day. Now you will understand that it is better to nominate a slower speed then you would normally fly. A fair speed for a C172 for example might be 80kts. There is the advantage of having more time to navigate and to identify features en route. Just don't make it too slow that you can not fly slow enough with a tail wind. Top experienced competitors sometimes nominate between 70 and 75 kts. If you are flying a high performance aircraft such as a Bonanza one would have to choose the slowest safe cruise speed. A rally is more difficult to fly at speeds of 100kts and more.

An important skill is map reading. This can be picked very quickly by a beginner but it is a good idea to get a 1:250 000 map of the area in which you normally fly and try to recognize the features and navigate a short course purely by following the map. Remember that this is a team sport. The pilot and navigator make up the team but it is important for both members to be able to read a map well to succeed. If you can follow the map the next thing is to try to keep on time at all times. The standard method used by all rally pilots is to mark each minute of time along your track before you begin the flight. By this I mean that you will have a scale representing the distance that you will cover in one minute. For example at 90 kts you would fly 1,5nm's. So let us say your start time was 10:35 then 1.5nms along your track you would put a mark 36 (ie 10:36). Then 37, 38 etc so that at your first check point you should find that the time co-coincides with your ETA. Logger Track 2 Logger Track
You do this all the way around your track. Now while you are flying you just watch your time and compare it to your position over the ground. If you are ahead of time slow down if you are behind you immediately speed up. This way you should be pretty close to being on time when you get to the check point.

From the preceding discussion you will see that it is pretty important to have a clear digital time display somewhere in front of you. Ideally you need a stop watch type instrument that displays time that you can easily fix on the panel in full view of both the pilot and the navigator. Just a tip here. A common mistake is to confuse the hour digits with the minutes, especially when things get tense. You are only concerned with minutes and seconds so it may not be a bad idea to stick something over the hours while you are flying. Oh and another tip. This may seem an obvious one but make sure to always align your track on the map with the direction of flight and keep your thumb or finger on your present position. It is just too easy to look up for a few seconds and then look down and not be able to find your position on the map.

Well I will add more as questions arise. You will find all the experienced rally pilots more than willing to share there insights so please don't hesitate to ask. You will find rally flying exciting and at the same time you will be improving your flying skills. Have fun! We know you will.

Rally Flying Regulations

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

Official Rules and Regulations - Air Rally Flying Championships

The 2010 rules and regulations were approved by the FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC) at the FAI/GAC Meeting, November 2009, in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and apply to events organised after 1 January 2010.

Any person acting on behalf of the FAI or one of its Members is hereby authorized to copy, print, and distribute these documents, subject to the following conditions:

1. The documents may be used for information only and may not be exploited for commercial purposes.
2. Any copy of these documents or portion thereof must include this copyright notice.

Note that any product, process or technology described in the document may be the subject of other Intellectual Property rights reserved by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale or other entities and is not licensed hereunder.

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Rules and Regulations - Air Rally Flying - 2010	246.94 KB
Rules and Regulations - Air Rally Flying - 2009	251.76 KB

South African Rally Flying Trophies

Previous South African National Rally Flying Trophy Winners

Year	SA Rally Champions	Brits Flying Club Trophy 2nd Place	Dorfling Kemp Trophy 3rd Place	Southern Transvaal Trophy 4th Place Trophy	Geoff Henschel Trophy Sportmans Class
2009	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Jonty Esser/ Sandi Goddard	Walter Walle/ Ron Stirk	Rob Kennedy/ W Kritzinger	Kobus Kotze/ Frank Smook
2008	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Adrian Pilling/ Arddyn Moolman	Walter Walle/ Dale Joseph
2007	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Walter Walle/ Dale Joseph	Ernie Alexander/ Mike Ehrman	C Badenhorst/ D Swanepoel
2006	Frank Eckard/ Quentin Taylor	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Jan Hanekom/ Henk Koster	Mike Richmond/ Jeff Richmond
2005	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Frank Eckard/ Quentin Taylor	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Jan Hanekom/ Hugo Stark	P Lamond/ C Siebert
2004	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Ernie Alexander/ Mike Ehrman	Morne du Toit/ Jurie du Toit
2003	Adrian Pilling/ Renier Moolman	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Frank Eckard/ Quentin Taylor	D Warden/ H Meyer
2002	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Frank Eckard/ Quentin Taylor	Ernie Alexander/ G Brink
2001	No event
2000	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Adrian Pilling/ Renier Moolman	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Claude Hardman/ Francious du Toit
1999	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Adrian Pilling/ Renier Moolman	Dick Churley/ Don MacIntyre	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	P Billson/ M Harris
1998	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Adrian Pilling/ Renier Moolman	Geoff Henschel/ Rob Andrew	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	D van Niekerk/ R Bezuidenhout
1997	Adrian Pilling/ Renier Moolman	Hans Schwebel/ Ron Stirk	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk
1996	Nigel Hopkins/ Dale de Klerk	Dick Churley/ Wally Nel	Geoff Henschel/ John Adams	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk
1995	James Craven/ Jake Heese		Dick Churley/ Wally Nel	Dicky Swanepoel/ N Bohm
1994	Frank Eckard/ Martin Hellberg	Barry de Groot/ Mary de Klerk	Geoff Henschel/ Nico Gordon	Nellis Nel/ Dirk Coetzee
1993	John Adams/ Geoff Henschel
1992	James Craven/ Jake Heese
1991	Hannes Roets/ Riaan van Niekerk

2008 Rally Flying Championships

Rally results and articles for 2008 and prior years can be found Here

This website is in the precess of conversion. The pages referenced above still need to be converted. Watch this space for the updates.

2009 SA National Rally Championships

Parys 5 – 7 November 2009

By Mary de Klerk

Mary de Klerk & Barry de GrootThe South African National Rally Championships were held from 5 – 7 Nov in Parys. Twelve teams entered, six in the Sportsmans Class and six in the Open Class. The Open Teams consisted of four good old stalwarts being Barry de Groot, Mary de Klerk, Ron Stirk & Walter Walle and four teams made up of guys that have only flown Fun Rallies for a year and who decided that it was time to upgrade to the real thing. They were Jonty Esser and his partner Sandi Goddard, Rob Kennedy and his partner Wikus Kritzinger, and Emmie Oelofse and her partner Andrew Lane.

These 3 new teams were quickly brought up to speed with the Open Class Plotting requirements in a few Classroom sessions held by Mary prior to the event. This training stood them all in very good stead during the competition and all sailed through the plots with ease and confidence.

All Teams were welcomed by Wynn Dedwith and his wife Tacye in their cottage on the Vaal River and in their beautiful home in Parys.

The Competition Director, Frank Eckard, worked tirelessly for weeks to plan and produce the routes with his normal military precision.

Day 1 dawned and brought with it a very challenging route which was not made any easier by the strong westerlies. There was also much murmuring about confusion in the plot because 2 roads were marked N1…..Results after day 1 were:
#1 Barry de Groot Mary de Klerk
#2 Walter Walle Ron Stirk
#3 Jonty Esser Sandi Goddard
#4 Rob Kennedy Wikus Kritzinger
#5 Emmie Oelofse Andrew Lane

Scores were close between the 2nd and the 5th position so the competition screws tightened on Day 2. Again the wind was not on their side. Other challenging factors for some of the teams were the choice of aitcraft. Rob was flying an RV7 and Emmie her Dyn Aero. Neither of these aircraft are suitable for Rally Flying for two reasons - Low wing and Too Fast. Whilst there was nothing they could do to alter the wing structure, they both reduced their speed on Day 2 and both improved their performances enormously.

Day 2 also brought with it some new faces and 6 teams arrived to fly Sportsman's Rally which is in essence exactly the same route as Open Class, but it is pre-plotted on the ground and flown with sequential photos as opposed to random.

The Final Results for the competition were:
OPEN CLASS:
#1 Barry de Groot Mary de Klerk
#2 Jonty Esser Sandi Goddard
#3 Walter Walle Ron Stirk
#4 Rob Kennedy Wikus Kritzinger
#5 Emmie Oelofse Andrew Lane

SPORTSMANS CLASS:
#1 Kobus Kotze Frank Smook
#2 Ralph Hurwitz David Stein
#3 Roger Bazolli Freek Stegman
#4 Corno Badenhorst Ronsard Lazare
#5 Rick Barnardie Esmond Erasmus
#6 John Shaw Chris Shaw

Prize Giving was held in the clubhouse and by 15H00 the last aircraft had flown back to base to avoid the nasty weather that was approaching.

This 2009 SA Rally Flying Championship results will count towards the SA Team selection to attend the World Rally Flying Championships in Slovakia in August 2010. The final selection will take place at the next SA Rally Flying Championships to be held in April 2010.

Emmie Oelofse & Andrew Lane	Competitors	More of the team
Ron and Walter admiring Rob's RV	Jonti Esser & Sandi Goddard	Ralph Hurwitz & David Stein
Rob Kennedy & Wikus Kritzinger	Mary de Klerk & Barry de Groot

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Fun Results	28.5 KB