I originally thought we would do this in one leg but the relative shortness of the runway and somewhat variable winds convinced me to take off light for George, a relatively short distance away and then refuel for the major sector to Polokwane.
We arrived at Stellenbosch at 8 am. This gave us an hour to extract Juliet Bravo from the hangar she was in, return another aircraft to the hanger, lock it up, load the baggage, preflight the aircraft and get airborne. We just about managed it.
Cloud was broken in the Stellenbosch area and we climbed up to FL75 for the short VFR flight to George. As we went eastwards, the cloud steadily broke up and was FEW by the time we arrived. A busy training field so we were held for a short while for outgoing traffic before landing and refuelling using my BP card.
Then a long sector to Polokwane with rather more of a headwind than forecast. We climbed to FL110 to find smooth air but as we progressed inland, TCU steadily built with bases just above our level so the ride became rather choppy for the rest of the way. Around Bloemfontein, there were scattered thunderstorms and numerous requests from CAT for weather deviations.
The ride became smoother as we passed Jo’burg and Pretoria and we landed off a straight in approach in hot and dry conditions, refuelled and parked the aircraft for the night.
We had heard nothing from our agent (GASE) about overflight/landing clearances for the next leg of the flight. Apparently their internet broke down over the weekend; we wait to see what happens next.
Stellenbosch to George: 177 nm in 1 hr 20 min
George to Polokwane: 738 nm in 5hr 10 min