Great pictures! I suppose also a great adventure.
Is it South Africa or is it other/several countries in Africa?
I flew in South Africa and Botswana. It was an adventure.
A friend came to visit me and he rented a Cessna and flew to the bush airstrip (Motswari) and parked his aircraft. To protect against the hyenas, he protected the aircraft tail section and tires with thorn bushes. However, the hyenas got around it and seemingly liked the plastic sides of the tail section of his plane!
As a result, I bought an electric fence system on solar energy to project my Cessna 210 from wild animals. Thorn bush stuff seemed not enough.
Great!
Seems like it’s Africa season….
Those who are interested in the subject should also check out this. A pilot from Germany has flown to East Africa in small 100hp Jodel, and has only positive things to say. Unfortunately, the text is in German only and in a very weird font. But the pics are great.
In addition, PuF has flown to East Africa in February, too. 15 aircraft, four of which where Avgas users. See here.
AeroPlus wrote:
However, the hyenas got around it and seemingly liked the plastic sides of the tail section of his plane!
Fixed with Duck tape?
Yes, he flew back to Nelspruit with Duck/Duct Tape. The owner was not very happy :-(
A similar thing happened on the PuF trip. A hyena went for the prop of a Malibu (I believe) and damaged it seriously.
It’s clearly not just the tyres and hoses they are going for…
Any soft wood or plastic surface seems to be of interest. So, from now on, I will be installing an electric fence around the aircraft. That seems to work well against hyenas as well as elephants. They move their trunk close to the wire and they sense that is it electrified, so stay away.
They just don’t like the noise of those damn planes???
What causes them to chew like that? They have to know it’s not food!
boscomantico wrote:
A hyena went for the prop of a Malibu (I believe)
With that leading edge it looks like a Jetprop, you wouldn’t repair that with Duct tape!
