Day 2 flight from PE to Durban

We set off on our second day of flying after the mist hanging over the plateau and river had burned off around 9.30am only. I phoned the PE Met office and they re-assured me that the mist was inland only and the coast was clear. When we arrived after a hearty breakfast we couldn't even see half way down the runway and while we waited for it to clear we walked the length of the runway to check for animals - wildebees and buck roam freely there.

Taking off there was a bit of mist swirling around but by 100ft off the ground the air was clear and crisp and we were on our way to Durban heading for the coast.

Unlike my home Sling ZDL which has an autopilot, the Flight School plane is not equipped with one so on a long journey with mapwork and multiple airspace and frequency changes to deal with, a co-pilot is almost mandatory.. thanks Louis for flying to Cape Town to join me on the trip and help fly our "Yankee" home.

Above the mist/clouds hanging over the rivers, the sky was relatively free of cloud, the temperature nice and fresh as 14c deg and the mountains behind us as we took off from Hitgeheim, near Addo in the Port Elizabeth area. We were keeping a lookout for elephants, but did see some giraffe and buck.

We reached the coastline at Port Alfred

Westbank Cemetrary East London shares the spotlight of the lighthouse.. I have been there at night where the eerie beam from the lighthouse sweeps over the gravestones casting shadows under the full moon which rises up over the Indian Ocean. One of my "haunts" with a gravesite of a special guy.

East London Harbour as we bypased the Airport in the East London TMA airspace, reporting at several points along the coast to the airtraffic controller at the airport.

The "hole-in-the-wall" along the Wild Coast - we came down low over the waves to get a peep through the hole

The coastline of the Wild Coast on the east coast of South Africa - famous for shipwrecks and giving mariners a tough time

One of my favourite landing spots - Port St Johns runway which sits on top of the mountain to the left. This time we bypassed the runway as we hurried along the coast, the photo taken from the river mouth as clouds swirled over the mountain-tops to our left.

Port St Johns, showing the fall from the airfield to the river and the town below.

As quickly as the clouds positioned themselves over the mountains they were gone again

The Wild Coast Sun to the left with the bridge that took you over to the Transkei, once an independent country, and famous for it's casino

A welcome sight as we round the Bluff and see Durban Harbour with our new home for FYA "Yankee" at Virginia Airport alongside the shore stretching out in the photo

Safe on the ground at Virginia Airport (Louis left, Dave right) after logging 11 hours of flying to get Yankee to Durban Skyye Flight School, my NPL and microlight Flight School in the city

See my aviation blog - Do Eagles Dare - for more great aviation stories and our Africa safaris