Fisantekraal Airfield

Fisantekraal Airfield
Fisantekraal Airfield as viewed from the North and 1600ft AGL
IATA: none – ICAO: FAFK
Summary
Airport type	Private
Owner	Jangen Air Investments
Operator	Private
Serves	Durbanville and surrounds
Location	13km NE of Durbanville, on Lichtenburg Road
Elevation AMSL	400 ft / 122 m
Coordinates	33°46′10″S 18°44′00″E / 33.76944°S 18.73333°E / -33.76944; 18.73333Coordinates: 33°46′10″S 18°44′00″E / 33.76944°S 18.73333°E / -33.76944; 18.73333
Website	Sky Messaging CTFTC Aerosport
Map
Fisantekraal Airfield Location within the Western Cape
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 900 2,952 Concrete[1] 14/32 700 2,296 Concrete[2]
Lights are available on request from CTFTC. The Cape Talk Radio AM transmission mast is located 5nm N of FAFK on frequency 567KHz, as well as 828KHz Magic Radio 8nm NNE of the field. Both of these provide ADF/NDB training.

Fisantekraal Airfield is an ex-South African Air Force airfield built circa 1943, and used to operate Lockheed Ventura bombers. It is located approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of Durbanville It has been in private ownership since 1993. The ICAO reference code for Fisantekraal is FAFK.

Fisantekraal Airfield serves as a general flying airfield, and is a favourite for flight training in the Cape Town area. Most of the fixed wing and helicopter schools, and Air Mercy Services' Pilatus PC-12 from Cape Town International (FACT) and Morningstar airfield (Morningstar Flight Academy) also visit Fisantekraal for circuit and emergency training. Private and company aircraft sometimes pick up or drop passengers at Fisantekraal. The largest aircraft to recently land at FAFK was a Douglas DC-3 of Lush Aviation. Quite a few advertisements and movies have also been filmed on location at FAFK.

History

Located on a 150 ha site it was built for use by the South African Air Force, circa 1943. Originally, there were four runways. Only two are still in use: RWY23/05 and RWY14/32.^[3] The old taxiways and other runways are no longer used, but are still visible from overhead. The airfield was transferred to the local municipality sometime in the 1960s, and it was sold to a private owner in 1993.

Aerodrome and airspace information

Fisantekraal airspace is uncontrolled Class G and has a 5 nm radius with its own radio frequency of 131.1 MHz, callsign Fisantekraal Traffic.^[4] Joining altitude is restricted to 2000 ft AMSL by the Cape Town TMA sector A that is above Fisantekraal. There is also the Cape Town CTR that is to the southwest of the field approximately 3.5 nm.

Circuits are all flown at 1200 ft AMSL for fixed wing and helicopters, and 900 ft AMSL for microlights, and all turns are made to the left. The circuit is restricted to a 2.5 nm radius from the center of the airfield.^[5]

Avgas 100LL fuel and W100 oil is available.^[6]

Other information

Magnetic variation is approx 23° W near Fisantekraal. There are tall mountain ranges to the southeast of the field extending to 6600ft AMSL. The predominant wind in summer is SE and winter NW. Summer can reach to 40°C at FAFK giving a density altitude max of about 3200 ft. The general flying areas nearby are the FAD200 to the northwest on 124.4 MHz within 10 minutes flying, and FAD69 to the north on 124.2Mhz within five minutes flying.^[7]

Operators

• Aerosport Flight Training provide Private and Night rating training, Microlight and Gyrocopter training, and also has a non-type-certified aircraft maintenance organization ^[8]
• Cape Town Flight Training Center provides Private, Night, Instrument and Commercial flight training^[9]
• Sky Messaging provides banner aerotow services ^[10]
• Working on Fire organisation used to have a summer base at Fisantekraal, but this has recently been closed.^[11]

References