September 2020

FlightCm African Aviation

Edition 143 | SEPTEMBER 2020 Cover: SANSA

SANSA GETS MAJOR FUNDING FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS

NICO BEZUIDENHOUT – why is he leaving Mango?

SAAF – NOT

COPING WITH PARTS INVENTORY MIKE GOUGH: HOW HE IS COPING WITH SAA United States Dollars $3.50 | South African Rands R39.50 | Kenyan Shillings KES 300.00 | Nigerian Naira NGN600.00 1 PRICE:FlightCom Magazine

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Ed's note...

SEPTEMBER 2020 Edition 143 Bush Pilot - Hugh Pryor Airlines - Mike Gough

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12 Industry Update

19 Cape Town Airport Update 20 Defence - Darren Olivier 22 Savage Barn Find in Uganda 26 Alpi Flight School Listing 30 AME Directory 31 AEP AMO Listing 32 Nico Bezuidenhout leaves Mango 34 Back Pages 37 Atlas Oil Charter Directory 39 Companies - SANSA

C

IVIL aviation regulators across Africa are also in crisis. However, the old aphorism has it that in every crisis there is an opportunity. The Covid-19 pandemic may have the unexpected benefit of cutting out much of the bloat that creeps into aviation regulators.

Even the most tightly run private airlines grow fat over time and that is with the imperative of a profit focussed bottom line. Civil Aviation regulators face no such imperatives and grow bloated as middle managers build empires to do less work themselves. The Covid pandemic may therefore turn out to be the much-needed bitter pill needed to slim them down.

The South African CAA is a case in point. It gets by far the largest part of its income from passenger safety charges, which have all but dried up with the cessation of flying. In a rare but welcome display of transparency, the SACAA has shared its financial predicament with the industry.

The SACAA considered three scenarios for the current financial year. These scenarios give us all a useful insight into how long it may take the broader industry to recover from the Covid disaster.

The optimistic scenario envisages the lockdown lasting for five months with a drop in passenger numbers by 77% for the year when compared to the previous financial year. In this scenario the SACAA will have sufficient cash reserves to sustain itself for approximately ten months before a government bailout is needed.

The reality though is that this optimistic scenario is probably too optimistic., In

its regular briefings, IATA now says it is expecting passenger numbers to return to 50% of previous levels over a period of 12 – 18 months. So the CAA is going to have to drastically cut its cloth to suit the post Covid-19 ‘new normal’.

SACAA is not only suffering from excess staff but its fat salaries have been a cause for considerable criticism. So it is good to see that salary increases and performance bonuses have been put on hold.

Other steps to be taken must include deferring capital expenditure, particularly the purchase of a new Flight Inspection Unit aircraft. It is worth noting that the SACAA has yet again embarrassed itself due to its poor management of the crisis of landing and navigation aid calibration.

It knew full well that it had six months to hire a replacement calibration aircraft, yet it dropped the ball and most of South Africa’s instrument landing systems went out of certification. Alarmists took the opportunity to whip up a hysterical overreaction in the general media.

The bottom line is that the SACAA needs to do better. Hopefully the reality check caused by the Covid crisis will cause the regulator’s ‘jobsworth’ middle managers to take a little more responsibility to do their jobs effectively and timeously.

Guy Leitch

Publisher Flyer and Aviation Publications cc Managing Editor Guy Leitch guy@flightcommag.com

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BUSH PILOT HUGH PRYOR

Papagai

Many years ago, in the early sixties, I did two years’ service in the mandated Australian territory of New Guinea. In those days it was a strictly Colonial set up. Most of the local population didn’t need a ‘dress sense’ because they didn’t have much dress. ‘Locals’ were not allowed to walk on the side-walks and the police wore ‘Lap-laps’, a kind of wrap-around, dark blue cotton kilt. If you wanted to find out what old fashioned ‘colonialism’ was all about, then New Guinea was where you went.

I

was based at a place called Simbai, up in the Schroeder Mountains, on the border between the Madang and Western Highland districts.

Although I was still ten years away from becoming a pilot, it was at Simbai that I first became infected with the Avio-virus. The origin of my infection was a wild sulphur-crested cockatoo whom I addressed as ‘Papagai’, that being the word for Parrot in Pidjin, the local language.

Papagai adopted me very soon after my arrival and she took up residence in the apex of the thatched roof of my timber and bamboo house. I was considered to be especially ‘blessed’ among the locals by the fact that she had chosen me on whom to bestow her favours. Apparently, according to local legend, the sulphur crested cockatoo was given to the world by the sun. The ‘hi-viz yellow’ crest flying proudly above the purest pristine-white plumage was to remind the humble humans down below how gloriously the sun danced above the white clouds.

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The strange thing was that Papagai had never been seen before in our area. She just appeared out of the forest and adopted me the very day that I arrived. She was not a domesticated pet. She had certainly never seen a white man before, because they had only arrived in Simbai about four years before I got there, but there was something about me that she found absolutely fascinating and I found her attentions to be delightfully welcome in those totally unfamiliar stone-age surroundings.

Normally speaking, if we have a pet dog we like to teach it how to communicate with us...We say “Puppy come!” or “Puppy Sit!” or “Puppy Don’t Crap In Here!”, but with Papagai it was the other way round.

She would perch on my bedpost and start chattering away and preening herself, as if to say, “You humans must be stupid! You don’t even know how to fly!”

Then, chattering away and preening all the time, she would show me how her ‘aileron’ feathers and her ‘flaps’ and ‘speed brake’ feathers worked. Then she would move on to her cleverly synchronised

‘elevator/rudder’ feathers, down the backend.

Then, having shown me what all the bits and pieces did, she would perform a spectacular vertical climb straight up to her nest, in the roof, where she chattered, to catch my attention, before swooping down for a faultless short-field landing on my shoulder, as if to demonstrate the extraordinary sophistication of her sturdy and fully retractable undercarriage.

Some months later, Papagai got married and had two delightful little ‘sprogs’. Her husband didn’t come into the house very much, preferring to keep a watch for any unwanted visitors.

I had the immense pleasure of watching the new arrivals taking their first ‘solos’. The house was ideal for their first experimental flips, because there was lots of woven bamboo and sticks for them to grab hold of if they got the landings a bit skew during their work-up for operations in the outside world.

When they had built up enough courage to venture outside, Dad flew top-cover over the roof to make sure that no uninvited marauders could take advantage of the little learners. You would be mistaken for thinking that a fluffy little cockatoo would be no match for a determined hawk, but I would draw your attention to the extraordinary agility it has in flight, especially as it is armed with razor sharp talons and a beak which can quite easily take a person’s finger off.

I left New Guinea a couple of years later and I heard that Papagai and the family had returned to the surrounding forests, when I went back to the UK. But that is definitely where I caught the aviation bug, thank you Papagai! 

AIRLINES MIKE GOUGH

TREADING WATER We just need to keep treading water until the forecast pilot shortage becomes a reality.

Life has an uncanny ability to remind one exactly who is calling the shots in the bigger scheme of things. Although 2019 was a little rough around the edges, I don’t think anyone in the aviation industry saw the massive fallout of 2020 coming.

T

HE fragility of the commercial aviation industry has been resoundingly demonstrated – with, of course a huge amount of hype, misand disinformation, along with a healthy dose of downright opportunism on several fronts.

I am obliged to express my dismay at the pandemic and sympathise with those who are afflicted or bereaved from this virus. Having said that, one’s sympathy capacity would be exhausted daily should we have to commiserate with every source of human mortality that has global statistics on daily lives lost.

The reach of social media made it

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through to my home office during the initial lockdown period, where I became a regular observer and occasional contributor on various platforms. What this exposure amply demonstrated to me is the level of herd stupidity that exists out there.

indefensible. As for the conspiracies….

The end of March saw me preparing my hangar at Lanseria for an anticipated 21-day period of inactivity. Aircraft were neatly parked, batteries disconnected, and pitot covers in place. I elected to remove

It most certainly is the emptiest drums that make the most noise It most certainly is the emptiest drums that make the most noise, whether it be the pandemic, local politics, American politics or the bizarre indignation of rights groups attempting to defend the absolute

most computer equipment from a theft perspective and ensured CCTV cameras were operative. Lanseria has a reputation for air-side pilfering, of which, in twelve years, I have not encountered first hand.

Due to the abrupt imposition of the initial Level Five restrictions, very few of my 80-odd foreign students could return home. This proved to be an inadvertent stroke of luck for my school as well as the students involved, as the few who did go home are now unable to (currently) return.

As we all frustratingly know, the lockdown has been handled in a socialist and secretive fashion, with irrational and bewildering regulations, promulgated outside of any form of Parliamentary oversight.

I was trying to explain to a prospective UK client that Woollies’ roast chicken was outlawed. He still doesn’t believe me, and it illustrates how far ideologically our cultures and mentalities are apart.

The 21 days ‘had’ to be extended as our government’s version of the Politburo began realising their opportunity to be illegitimately in complete control of all things legal and illegal. Two weeks’ into the 21 days, I discovered that due to the incredibly poorly drafted ‘regulations’, I could legally continue operating my AMO

This devious disease must have fallen for this brilliant strategy, as we kept going with scheduled maintenance as well as some long-term projects that needed a little down-time to complete, without a visit from the Grim Reaper.

basis. I wasn’t quite up to the challenge of sneaking a quick photo of the full riot gear-equipped guy complete with automatic firearm standing in my office, accepting my offered bottle of hand sanitizer…

I found locking all the doors once

I cannot see this technology making a serious dent on future business travel We were, however, visited almost daily by the Lanseria based South African Police Service (SAPS) as they were both suddenly lonely and bored with the total cessation of all airport activity, as well as curious as to what was happening at Hangar 30.

To say the airport was a ghost town would have been an understatement, and I’m sure all the long-term resident ghosts

we were in was the most effective way of being left alone, as they gave up after five minutes of banging on the door. So, we limped along, resigning ourselves to more of the same when the initial lockdown was inevitably extended.

Our students in our accommodation provided us all with lessons in Google Classroom, Zoom and Teams. All I can

(of which there are a few) must have felt comfortably at ease.

The SAPS, however, had varying interpretations of the so-called regulations, and while grudgingly accepting my homeprinted permits, they made a point of harassing me and my staff on a regular

say about these various platforms is that they are absolutely no substitute for actual face-to-face, whether it be classroom time or meetings. I cannot see this technology making a serious dent on future business travel as it completely takes away the gravitas of any serious interaction.

Airports are empty but can video conferencing ever replace the face-to-face experience?

(Approved Maintenance Organisation) as an essential service. LOL. Of course, I duly printed out the CIPC certificates, access permits and various other non- sensical documents that our powers-that-be deemed to be essential to confuse and ward off the virus.

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AIRLINES MIKE GOUGH Which brings me to the burning question.

When will air travel demand get back to normal? Will we have to accept the socalled ‘new’ normal of a post-Covid airline landscape, of which no-one actually can offer a rational description?

We are all simply guessing as to the rate that the industry will get back to some form of what it used to be.

IATA has done their usual statistical forecasts and updated their figures regularly.

If there is someone’s crystal ball-gazing to take with any seriousness, it should be theirs.

In a nutshell, Revenue Passenger Kilometres, or RPKs, is but one of the many units that clever airline types use to measure various aspects of the performance of airlines globally.

It is obviously

a mere four months away.

We are set to exceed pre-Covid levels of RPKs by the end of 2022. This, I must point out, is the downward revised estimates.

Mr. Pearce creates a neat bar-graph comparing various governments around the world as to what percentage of domestic GDP the economic interventions have totalled.

Unsurprisingly, South Africa is stone last with around 1% - compared to Germany’s 35% at the top. At least, I suppose we make it onto the chart in the first place, and we are the only African nation there.

Where does all this leave us, the formally pampered and much coveted air crew? Well, that pampering and coveting is very much a thing of the past, and the majority of us have not received an airline salary since April.

Not one of the incentive schemes for ‘cadet’ training by the US majors has been cancelled. important to use a metric that reflects both airline and passenger activity. No point in flying around empty seats, which would be Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs). The former is essentially “bums in seats”.

Thus, IATA postulates that by December 2021 (around 16 months from now), we will be around 80% of preCovid levels of RPKs, although with an interestingly shorter average trip time. This indicates that passengers will opt for less Ultra Long Range flying and make trips with shorter ‘hops’. This equates to more flights to do the same job, and with logical inference, requiring more crew for the same pre-Covid level.

IATA’s chief economist, Brian Pearce, also forecasts that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will leap ahead of the 2019 levels at an impressive rate, ahead of the RPK forecast by some distance. This, he attributes to global governmental intervention in the economy. Global GDP levels will exceed the 2019 threshold by the end of this year –

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One of the methods of getting rid of pilots has been incentivising, and in some cases, forcing early retirement of the over58s. We were previously looking down the barrel of a massive spike in retirements by 2024. FAA figures indicated that 42% of the US ATP workforce would have retired by that year.

So all we have done is move this forward significantly. Allow me to use my bad mathematics to mangle the statistical forecast. Let’s assume that we now have a higher percentage (due to the lower age of 58) entering retirement as I write this. In 16 months’ time, we might only see 20% of these people electing to return to the industry that shoved them out without too much compassion.

Thus, we are back to 80% of capacity, making many more flights daily, with 30% less crew available. And then two years later, that 20% starts dwindling due to the original retirement train smash.

That so-called pilot shortage has only

been momentarily delayed, and it will hit the industry with a vengeance in the near future. We all just need a means of treading water for a while. Interestingly, not one of the incentive schemes for ‘cadet’ training by the US majors has been cancelled.

United’s program, which selects suitable screened non-pilots, and then places them on the payroll while being trained, has been slowed down somewhat. Their own forecasts indicate the problem has only been delayed by Covid, and not eliminated by any means.

If I look at my own situation at my flight school at Lanseria, I have to raise an eyebrow in some disbelief at the resilience of the abinitio market. The first month of us being allowed to resume flight training saw our record month since we opened doors twelve years ago – just short of a thousand flight hours completed. July was similar. August will be slower as we deal with the seasonal changes and generally stronger winds.

I have a considerable contingent of eager students waiting overseas for our borders to open, and am taking enquiries on a daily basis, the likes of which I have never seen.

Am I being the silver-tongued salesman when I talk up the prospects for new pilots to be entering the training industry under the current conditions? To a certain extent, yes, although looking at the data above, where will we be in three years’ time if we shut off the training ‘pipeline’ now? Probably in very deep trouble, crew-wise.

Those who are completing their Commercial Pilots licence now will still need some form of activity to boost their logbook totals. Flight instruction is the only method I can offer the industry, and due to its apparent lack of fear for the future, there are plenty of candidates to train. So far, it looks very self-sustaining.

Those who commence training before the end of this year, will need at least three or four years before they are of any use to the airline industry, and by then, we will have a massively different dynamic in play to what we appear to be mired with at present.

What was that saying about the future being so bright, we need Ray-Bans…? 

Companies G uy L eitch

SANSA

SET TO GROW BIG The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the greatest crisis ever faced by commercial aviation.

However, the space sector is rising above this crisis, both literally and figuratively. In a rare break of good news, the South African government has shown admirable commitment to the future by committing large scale funding for the continued development of South Africa’s space capability.

ABOVE: SANSA success as a development agency has been rewarded with a massive R4.47 billion fund allocation.

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I

NTERNATIONALLY, space is now seen as the aerospace industry’s fastest-growing opportunity, with a combined $10 billion pipeline of long-term opportunities and several large proposals awaiting responses that total around $1 billion in the near term.

The USA has led a massive surge in space investment, from the new U.S. Space Force to a NASA mission to return Americans to the Moon in the coming years. Significantly, there is a commercial race to establish low Earth orbit (LEO) communication and Earth observation services.

This ‘return to space’ has not gone unnoticed by the South African government which has included the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) - an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), in its Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium (SIDS).

THE SIDS FUNDING In July 2020 the integrity of SANSA and its achievements were recognised by the South African government and partner investors who have approved a substantial R4.47 billion in additional funding for the next three years. This will enable the agency to undertake hugely exciting new projects that will have demonstrable long-term benefits for not just South Africa, but the rest of Africa, and indeed mankind.

At the beginning of 2020 SANSA submitted a proposal to the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium (SIDS).

The SIDS is an intervention, introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, to focus investments in infrastructure as part of South Africa’s economic recovery plan. Under the SIDS process,

SANSA proposed a Space Infrastructure Hub. More than 270 projects were submitted for consideration. Of these, 55 projects were classified as bankable (i.e. shovel ready) and of these 55 projects, five were considered high priority for the country in terms of the associated impact that was expected.

It is to SANSA’s great credit that its pitch for a Space Infrastructure Hub was considered as part of the top five projects.

The total value of the SANSA pitch was R4.47 billion of blended financing which consists of parliamentary grants, debt and equity financing, committed over three years.

SANSA’s concept of a Space Infrastructure Hub is based on its concept of the space value chain. This chain includes 1) satellite builds (Earth observation and science missions), 2) a new ground segment, 3) an expanded data segment and a new data visualisation centre, 4) activation of the satellite based augmentation system over Southern Africa that was piloted a few years ago, 5) the development of products and services for use across all spheres of government, 6) human capital development and training.

The Space Infrastructure Hub also includes other projects for which separate ring-fenced funding has already been secured, namely: • Upgrade of SANSA’s Houwteq Facility – R75 million • Establishment of a Concurrent Engineering Design Facility – R25 million • Establishment of a new Space Weather Centre – R90 million • Establishment of an Earth Observation Data Cube facility – R12.5 million • A Research, Development and Innovation Fund for the development of products and services – R60 million.

A concerted team effort was put into securing these investment streams. To make maximum use of the opportunity they have been given, SANSA’s CEO Dr Val Munsami says, “significant emphasis will now need to be expended in repositioning/ reshaping the organisation to deliver on these exciting projects, which will require us to work seamlessly. Once we deliver on the promised value proposition, this will mean certain investments over the longterm, which will bolster the space sector's financial sustainability into the foreseeable future. This requires an ‘all hands-on deck’

team effort.”

This new phase for SANSA took a further step forward on 24 July when a Government Notice was issued that designated a number of Strategic Infrastructure Projects (SIPS), which forms part of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Committee (PICC). The Space Infrastructure Hub proposal that was submitted by SANSA is declared as SIP 22 which implies that space infrastructure is now seen as a national priority, and is viewed in a similar footing, for example, as the Square Kilometre Array Project (SIP 16).

The Head of Investment and Infrastructure within the Presidency, Dr Ramokgopa, confirmed that the Space Infrastructure Hub will be receiving R4.47

Telecommunications Satellite for South Africa through the SIDS process.

THE SPACE VALUE CHAIN The basis for this large funding allocation to SANSA is that space technology, products and services contributes to sustainable development and provides many benefits to the country.

SANSA points out that of late, there has been an increasing appreciation of the value proposition of space applications. Spacederived services, such as Earth observation, satellite communications, navigation and space exploration, are increasingly being used to inform policy choices relating to political, social, economic and environmental challenges.

A benefit for not just South Africa, but the rest of Africa, and indeed mankind. billion worth of funding and that these funds are already secured from investment institutions and are ready to be deployed, subject to final checks and balances.

A key step in the way forward is that SANSA will now be working with the Presidency, DSI and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), as well as Sentech to secure a

Daily weather forecasts, instantaneous worldwide communications, navigation systems, and a constant ability to record high-resolution images are all examples of space technologies that we have come to rely upon. Even basic commodities, such as food and energy resources, are facilitated by space-based technology. All these benefits enable us to enjoy a convenient lifestyle

SANSA's Value Proposition.

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which is supported by the instant access to information and spacebased applications, such as the global positioning system (GPS) and global television coverage.

Of specific interest is that rapid response mechanisms to disasters and climate change are only possible through satellitebased information. Having this technical know-how and capacity to participate effectively in space-related activities is essential to any nation’s long term growth if it is not to become dependent on others as a consumer of space products and services.

For South Africa, building an indigenous space capability that will fully service the needs of the country is at the centre of these developments. The business case positions space data as a service for sustainable development, especially addressing government’s national priorities, and also for commercial usage, such as in the insurance and banking industries.

SATELLITES Depending on their mission, satellites have different orbits.

Weather and communication satellites are placed in Geostationary Earth Orbits (GEO) at an altitude of 36,000km above the equator, from which they have a constant gaze on the same hemisphere of the Earth. These satellites complete one orbit around the Earth every

24 hours. Other satellites are placed in Low Earth Orbits (LEO), which complete on average one orbit around the Earth every 100 minutes. Because the Earth rotates in the plane of the orbit, such a satellite eventually covers the whole Earth. Such orbits are used for remote sensing, navigation and positioning, and space exploration applications.

Satellites are the key part of the concept of a space data value chain, which is the chain of activities for transforming inputs into outputs/outcomes that end-users value.

The space data value chains comprise of the following elements: 1: Satellites - are built to perform a specific mission in an efficient, cost effective manner. A satellite can be conceptually divided into two basic parts: a) T he payload – is the part of the satellite that actually performs the mission. b) The bus – provides all the “housekeeping” functions necessary to make the payload work.

2: Ground Station – the Earth-based point of communication with the satellite and launch platforms for control and retrieving user data. Elements of the ground station include: • Antennae systems, • Radio frequency equipment,

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• Mission data recovery equipment, • Data user interface, • Telemetry, tracking and command equipment, • Station control centre.

3: High Performance Computing Platform – transforming raw satellite data into usable information requires high performance computing hardware and software, which forms the core element of the space data value chain. Such a platform will be used to: • Store satellite imagery data • Process the imagery data into usable information • Access a cloud platform and a user interface, where developers and users can converge without the need for significant infrastructure investments on their part.

Building an indigenous space capability that would fully service the needs of the country 4: Space Industry – comprises an important part of the conversion process of the space data value chain, where data and information is transformed into services and products that can be used by end users. There are two key activities that will be undertaken: • The design, creation, and delivery of products and services • The marketing and the post-delivery service.

5: Products and Services – value is delivered to end users by employing best practices in developing new and advanced applications to support their respective requirements. Such applications must have specific attributes, namely: • Be relevant to end user needs by addressing a very specific challenge • Be delivered in a timely and appropriate manner • Be packaged in a way that is easy to use.

6: Government – this is the primary user of space products and services in the quest to improve the quality of life of its citizens. In particular, government will use these product and services: • As a tool for evidence-based decision making • To monitor and evaluate the impact of specific policy choices • As a service delivery offering for the public good of its citizens.

7: Private Sector – space products and services have significant commercial value and form the biggest revenue component of the space data value chain. Industries in the private sector that require space products and services include: aviation, communications, energy, mining, agriculture, insurance, construction and banking. 

The SANSA Space Weather Regional Warning Centre monitors solar activity.

Space Weather can impact power grids, aviation, communication and navigation systems.

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THE BENEFITS OF SATELLITES FOR AFRICA

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ARTH observation/remote sensing satellites gather information about the nature and condition of Earth’s land, sea and atmosphere. The satellites receive electromagnetic emissions in various spectral bands that show objects, which are visible, such as clouds, hills, lakes and many other features. These instruments can detect an object’s temperature and composition, the wind’s direction and speed and environmental conditions, such as erosion, fires, and pollution.

Below is a selection of specific examples of the benefits of remote sensing: 1. IMPROVING HARVEST YIELDS In countries where the failure of a harvest may mean the difference between surplus and starvation, satellites have helped planners manage scarce resources and head off potential disasters before insects or other blights could wipe out an entire crop.

For example, near the fringes of the Sahara Desert, scientists used satellite images to predict where locust swarms are breeding, thus saving large areas of cropland.

2. M ONITORING SCARCE RESOURCES Remote sensing satellites can also help manage scarce resources by showing, for example, the best places to drill for water or oil. They have also become a formidable weapon against the destruction of the environment, because they can monitor large areas to assess the spread of pollution and other damages.

3. M ONITORING SPACE WEATHER SANSA has been chosen by ICAO as one of two regional space weather centres to provide space weather services, including solar storm forecasts and warnings, to the global aviation sector. There are only five such centres in the world. The Space Science programme hosts the only Space Weather Warning Centre in Africa, providing early warnings and forecasts on space weather activity for public and private sector clients.

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This helps protect satellite technology, as well as communication and navigation systems in aviation and defence.

4. TOPOGRAPHIC MAPPING Remote sensing technology has also helped mapmakers produce maps in a fraction of the time it would take using laborious ground or aerial surveys. This enables city planners to keep up with urban sprawl and provides key information in safety and security missions. In addition, such information is vital for disaster management where specific risk areas, such as flood and fire zones, can be ascertained from digital terrain maps.

The Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium has been key to mobilising funding for SANSA.

5. MONITORING GLOBAL CHANGE Because remote sensing satellites cover the whole globe, they are important for the study of largescale phenomena like ocean circulations, climate change, desertification and deforestation.

Satellites pass over the same areas many times, making it possible to monitor environmental change caused by human activity and natural processes. Because data are collected in a consistent manner, satellites can reveal subtle changes over time that might otherwise remain undetected. For example, the well-known “ozone hole” over Antarctica and the phenomena of atmospheric ozone depletion was discovered using satellites.

6. SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS APPLICATIONS Satellite communications is a key enabler for developing countries to participate in the build-up of the global

information infrastructure.

Wireless systems are the most cost-effective way to develop or upgrade telecommunications networks in areas where user density is lower than 200 subscribers per square kilometre. Such wireless systems can be installed 5-10 times faster and at a 50% lower cost than landline networks.

Included below is a selection of specific examples of the benefits of satellite communications applications: a) Tele-education and training Technologies for education and

training, in particular distant education and multimedia, may be instrumental in meeting the needs of countries that have to train and integrate a large number of workers in widely dispersed and under-equipped areas. This allows for a constant renewal of skills without being geographically limited by Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. b) Telemedicine Many countries have to cope with

large-scale disease outbreaks and telemedicine may help to meet these challenges by improving the organisation and management of health care. Databases may be linked through networks to monitor the development of diseases, provide access to medical expertise through tele-consultation and support remote medical assistance. In this regard, satellite communications contributes to preparing and implementing health policies. c) Weather forecasting National weather forecasts begin with a current satellite view of Earth which show the direction of clouds and storms.

Further, by providing farmers with valuable climatic data, this technology has improved food production and crop management. d) N avigation and Positioning Applications GPS technology allows the calculation of positions on Earth to within one metre. With augmentations, satellite navigation can provide measurements down to centimetre levels. 

ABOUT SANSA: SANSA was created ten years ago, but South Africa’s involvement with space research and activities began much earlier.

S

ANSA, an entity of the DSI, focuses on space science, engineering and technology that can promote development, build human capital and provide important national services. Much of this work involves monitoring the Earth and our surrounding environment, and using the collected data to ensure that navigation, communication technology and weather forecasting services function as intended.

SANSA oversees the following programmes: The Earth Observation programme, the Space Operations programme (formerly the Satellite Application Centre at Hartebeesthoek near Lanseria); and the Space Science programme (former Hermanus Magnetic Observatory in Hermanus); as well as a newly established Space Engineering programme.

1.

Earth Observation collects, processes, archives and disseminates Earth observation data (principally from satellites) to support policy-making, decision-making, economic growth and sustainable development in South Africa. Socioeconomic benefits include environmental and resource management, disaster management and health information. This is used for human capital development and science advancement in geo-informatics, image and data processing, and remote sensing.

2. Space Engineering develops, builds and tests systems and sub-systems for satellites. The aim is to develop and launch South Africa’s own satellites, while growing the human and technological capacity for satellite development, and supporting a native South African satellite industry.

3.

Space Operations provides state-of-the-art and globally competitive ground station facilities and services for global launch activities. This includes satellite tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C), launch support, in-orbit testing, mission control and space navigation. The programme also conducts applied research, development and innovation in space operations and human development in this sector.

4.

Space Science operates a wide range of infrastructure across southern Africa and in Antarctica, all dedicated to studying the Earth’s magnetic field, the Sun and the nearearth space environment. SANSA maintains several space science and space weather projects in Antarctica, as well as on Marion and Gough Islands, providing valuable space science data for national and international research.

CONCLUSION A R4.47 billion investment in space may seem strange when compared to the needs of those struggling for basic service delivery on the ground. However, it has been well shown that the benefits arising from the mobilisation of such funds by government through its exciting and innovative SIDS programme will pay off many times over in terms of the long-term benefits of such investment. For this reason, private sector funders also recognise the importance of such investment and are willing to invest in partnership with government. 

The only satellite engineering capability in Africa

SANSA has numerous core competencies which are key components of the Space value chain.

What is the Space Infrastructure Hub for National Development?

In recognition of its macro-economic impact in the Digital sector, the Space Infrastructure Hub has been awarded a budget approval for R4.47 billion over three years.

T

HIS funding will allow for the development of satellite

infrastructure, satellite-based augmentation systems, earth observation and space science satellites. Domestic access to this type of infrastructure will reduce South Africa’s reliance on other countries for the type of information that these satellites can make available and is expected to reduce the timeframes for collecting necessary data.

The space hub will provide information that may be used to develop targeted responses to the socio-economic and infrastructure challenges South Africa faces. 

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ADVERTORIAL

FLYING HIGH WITH SANSA

A proper compass swing procedure is necessary to determine Its name may suggest that it’s concerned only with matters

how to measure and compensate for the magnetic field

higher than atmosphere-bound aviation, but the South

of the actual aircraft, which will cause a deviation to the

African National Space Agency (SANSA) performs key

compass reading once located in the cockpit, due to the

services for all aircraft and their operators.

proximity of steel or iron components and by the effects of current flowing in nearby electrical circuits.

The Space Agency has been selected by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as one of two regional

A properly conducted compass swing requires a calibrated

centres to provide space weather services, including solar

reference compass, and must be done in a magnetically

storm forecasts and warnings, to the global aviation sector.

clean environment – free of steel structures, underground

This means that every aircraft flying across the continent’s

cables, or equipment that produces magnetic fields – to

airspace will rely on SANSA for space weather information

assure it is free of interference. As a recent grounding of part

as part of its flight planning.

of a local airline’s fleet by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) that stranded thousands of tourists over

“With aviation, we consider four key risk areas:

the holiday season recently showed, accurate compass

communication, navigation, avionics and radiation

swinging performed by qualified technicians is essential.

exposure,” says SANSA MD, Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell. “Highfrequency radio communication, as well as ground and airbased navigation systems, can be affected or knocked out entirely by space weather storms. Delicate electronics can also be damaged and radiation exposure poses a hazard for crew and passengers, particularly on long haul flights.”

Space weather can also have a major knock-on effect on airlines and airports.

SANSA’s facility in Hermanus is the only SACAA accredited facility in South Africa that offers this type of service with the necessary expertise and facilities to perform training in the compass swing procedure on site. SANSA has been presenting training courses on the execution of compass swings to the South African Air Force for more than 20 years and recently hosted a five-day Compass Swing Training Course and a three-day Compass Swing Refresher Course.

Another key competency of SANSA is compass accuracy.

Despite the rise of modern navigation systems such as GPS and radio aids, compasses are still an essential component

The course is presented by SANSA engineers and physicists who have many years of relevant magnetic navigation ground support experience.

of aircraft navigation equipment. Electrical systems may fail, but the Earth’s magnetic field never does. However, it is continuously changing and that requires constant monitoring to determine the degree of compass variation at any specific place.

www.sansa.org.za

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FlightCom Magazine

For more information on these services and courses email: spacesci-info@sansa.org.za

Industry Update Report: Guy Leitch

Comair CEO Wrenelle Stander at an AASA function.

AHRLAC SAVED

In August Paramount Aerospace Industries announced that the Business Rescue Plans for the AHRLAC aircraft are in the final phase of implementation.

I COMAIR – SAVED – FOR NOW

C

OMAIR has managed to secure a R40 million bridging finance loan to enable its business rescue process to continue.

In a letter to employees, Comair CEO Wrenelle Stander says that this will enable the business rescue practitioners to carry out a due diligence on two offers that prospective investors have submitted. Stander said the assessment would inform the publication of the business rescue plan, scheduled to be published on August 28.

The prospective investors are offering up to R1,5bn in the form of debt and equity, including a cash injection. The BRPs previously said one offer was binding, but contained several conditions that needed to be satisfied; while the other was nonbinding and needed further negotiation.

Comair’s business rescue plan was due to be published on July 28, but creditors approved a month-long extension of the publication date to allow the BRPs more time to secure the bridging loan as post-commencement finance and to assess the two investment proposals.

Comair, which remains solvent, has been in voluntary business rescue since May 5 after the COVID-19 crisis prevented it from implementing a turnaround plan. 

N October 2019 Paramount acquired the businesses of the Aerospace Development Corporation (ADC) and its subsidiaries, as well as the assumption of certain liabilities of these entities in accordance with the business rescue plan.

After a battle between the Potgieter family, who launched AHRLAC, and Paramount the business rescue practitioner (BRP) proposed a solution whereby the Potgieter family was bought out of the company.

The newly formed Paramount Aerospace Industries will bring new management to the programme. The state-of-the-art factory at Wonderboom Airport has been operational for several months under Paramount’s control, with manufacturing being ramped up to ensure the timeous delivery of aircraft to customers around the world. Approximately 85% of the original staff of ADC have been retained.

Paramount has provided and facilitated capital for the business rescue processes in the form of both post commencement funding, working capital, capital investment and the assumption of liabilities and loan repayments, in accordance with the provisions of the respective plans. Paramount says that further capital will be injected into the business over the coming months to support both marketing initiatives and manufacturing.

Alison Crooks, CEO of Paramount Industrial Holdings stated: “This is great news for the future of the aircraft, for Paramount, for the South African Aerospace industry, as well as for the global aircraft market. Paramount’s decision, more than a decade ago, to fund the development of the AHRLAC aircraft was a matter of national pride and came at a time when the local aerospace industry was searching for a project that would invigorate the sector. Our passion for the country and for innovation is reflected in the direct investment of almost R1 billion into the project. We are grateful that this strategic programme is now secured and that we can focus on a brighter future.” 

The AHRLAC assembly line has restarted at Wonderboom airport.

A Covid-19 Monitor surveys the empty check-in counters at Cape Town International Airport.

CAPE TOWN AIRPORT Coping with Covid-19

WORDS: MIKE RABEC Normally approximately 11 million passengers per year transit through Cape Town International Airport, making it the third largest in Africa. From having processed around 30,000 passengers each day, the airport has been brought to an almost complete standstill.

O

N 23 March South Africa introduced lockdown regulations that grounded almost all aviation activity. After an initial total shutdown, a trickle of movement began when the airlines were permitted to operate repatriation flights to enable foreign residents stranded in South Africa to get home.

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Visiting the airport under the lockdown is an eerie experience. The international departure and arrival halls are deserted, with row after row of check-in counters standing empty. Prior to the lockdown restrictions, the airport was handling as many as 40,000 passengers and 20,000 items of baggage in a day. Uplift of JetA1 dropped from 2.3 million litres per day to almost zero during the Level 5 and 4 lockdown period.

The restrictions have had a calamitous effect on the airport’s revenue. To find out how the airport is coping with the Covid-19 crisis, we spoke to Deon Cloete, Cape Town International Airport’s General Manager.

Cloete says the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) used the past two to three months for developing and implementing new procedures and protocols to minimise the risk to passengers in anticipation of a slow return to flying in Quarter 4 later this year. “The new protocols will require screening for all passengers – on both domestic and international routes.

We have developed these new end-to-end procedures in close collaboration with key industry players i.e. non-ACSA airports such as Lanseria, local and international airlines, government and regulatory bodies. Suffice to say there has been a lot of learning with regular updates and tweaking happening along the way. We also leaned heavily on best practices recommended by the likes of IATA, ICAO and ACI.” While it is still early days we are confident that the new procedures and systems have created the right spaces for safe passenger processing and facilitation.

We will keep a beady eye on innovation and

new technologies that will further improve the effectiveness of passenger health screening, and we will remain current with similar systems being implemented in many airports around the world. These enable us to build our own best practice solutions that will maintain safety standards whilst gradually rebuilding passenger volumes,” Cloete says.

With the slight easing of travel restrictions under Level 3 of Covid-19, domestic flights for people needing to travel for business purposes has been permitted.

These flights operate on the ‘golden triangle’ between Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, and later, flights to Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein were permitted.

The key requirements for an airport to be opened under the lockdown restrictions was that it met the health standards as set out by the Department of Health – particularly with regard to social distancing and prescreening requirements.

Compliance monitoring i.e. health screening by Port Health, the wearing of masks and adhering to social distancing signage and announcements are monitored by way of the full-time deployment of Covid Monitor staff easily recognisable by clearly branded jackets.

The take-up of flights for business purposes has however been disappointing for the domestic carriers, with total demand less than 10% of pre-Covid levels. Within the almost deserted Cape Town airport concourse the flight information boards show barely 10 arrival or departure flights per day.

Cloete says that information technology (I.T.) will play a key role. “Specialised I.T. teams at ACSA are exploring the upgrade of current CCTV systems and technology that potentially can further scan passengers

moving through the airport for any sign of fever or high body temperature. This will be in addition to the current cameras and temperature screening equipment already deployed at all access points into the terminal,” he says.

While it remains important to keep exploring and investigating the best methods of containing Covid, Cloete reiterated that the actual systems deployed to date are already effective in creating and ensuring safe staff operations and passenger processing. A compulsory requirement for passengers departing on domestic flights is to arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before departure for personal screening procedures monitored by Covid Monitor staff positioned at the airport entrances.

“Travellers are required to make full and honest disclosures about their recent whereabouts and whether they have had any exposure or contact with people infected by Covid-19,” Cloete advises.

In June South Africa moved to Level 3 lockdown restrictions which allows limited domestic travel. This has resulted in the airport instituting stringent sanitising and health safety protocols.

Cloete says the, “No Touch principle is being applied, whereby methods have been put in place so that our airport and airline staff have limited contact with passengers or their carry-on baggage.”

At the security checkpoints, boarding passes and travel documents are scanned and checked without physical contact or handling of documents. Using modern methods of issuing boarding passes on-line, tech-savvy passengers are encouraged to adhere to the No Touch method of check-in procedures. For passengers who still need to check baggage, social distancing rules are rigidly enforced. The manned check-in

desks are separated from each other by two unused counters.

In 2018 ACSA announced the launch of its long awaited R7 Billion capex project.

This included upgrades to the international and domestic terminal buildings. Under the Covid-19 pandemic the project has been suspended. Also under review is the proposed R3.8 Billion construction of a new 3200-metre runway.

Cloete and his team remain focused with all key partners on ensuring responsible and safe travel solutions for passengers and in doing so hope to build passenger confidence and a much needed increase in bookings, flights and passengers.

For now the regulations only permit limited domestic travel. But by building safety, predictability and confidence, it will allow regulators the opportunity to consider the further opening of services by way of regulations. 

ABOVE: A Covid-19 Monitor screens passengers on arrival at the airport.

BELOW: General Manager of Cape Town International Airport, Deon Cloete.

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A Gripen has more than 60,000 components that need tracking and managing for replacement.

Defence D arren O livier

GETTING YOUR DIGITAL SYSTEMS

RIGHT

In this era of high maintenance, fuel and labour costs, ever more complex aircraft and weapons systems, and a need to extract more use out of fewer platforms, it makes sense for air forces to invest heavily in technological approaches that maximise efficiency. Yet far too many air forces, especially in Africa, continue to neglect this in favour of traditional approaches to aircraft fleet management, for which they end up paying a high price.

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T

HE South African Air Force (SAAF) is better than most of its African counterparts in that it has established an excellent base foundation around two main systems: The Operational Support Information System (OSIS) and the Ground Control and Command System (GCCS), both of which have resulted in large gains in efficiency and availability over the years. However, over the past two decades, the SAAF has somewhat neglected both systems, preferring to maintain them rather than to invest in substantial improvements, further integration and expansion.

This column will look at the lessons

learned from the implementation of OSIS in particular, although the situation is broadly similar for other SAAF computer systems like GGCS, and offer some recommendations on how both the SAAF and other African air forces can improve upon them in order to digitise more of their operations, reduce costs and increase availability.

OSIS & SLIS OSIS has its origin in a decision made in the late 1980s by the South African Department of Defence to move away from a mainframe-based central logistics system for all services: the Logistics Information Management System (LIMS), to having each service create its own specialised logistics platform. This was finalised in 1993 as the Logistical System Master Plan (LSMP3). Thereafter the Army, Air Force and Navy each pursued custom modern logistics systems, with the Air Force choosing the Pretoria-based Paradigm System Technology to build the SAAF Logistical Information System (SLIS).

SLIS was initially trialled in beta form on the Oryx and PC-7 MkII Astra aircraft fleets in the mid 1990s, where it quickly showed its value over the SAAF’s existing approach.

After a rewrite from the ASSYS programming language to Uniface to address support and cost concerns, the addition of operationally-focused functions such as the ability to track staffing, crewing and missions, plus the Navy’s adoption of a variant of SLIS, the system was renamed Operational Support Information System (OSIS) and gradually rolled out to the rest of the force.

It’s important to highlight just how well-specified and designed OSIS was, given how complex the problem it set out to solve was. An average modern aircraft has tens of thousands of components and sub-assemblies, each of which needs to be tracked individually in order to both efficiently manage stock and prevent faulty parts from being installed. An Oryx helicopter has over 30,000 unique components, a Gripen more than 60,000.

There are hundreds of separate maintenance procedures for each aircraft type, each

of which must be modelled, tracked and linked to the relevant unique aircraft and components. Every action that can affect an aircraft or one of its components, plus all of their individual states, must be tracked, auditable and available in real time to any user with the relevant authority. Plus, all this has to be done for units dispersed around the country, with vastly different aircraft types, while supporting extended operations away from home base.

The SAAF project teams behind LSMP3 and SLIS did excellent work to both model the service’s logistical challenges and to then create a specification for an allin-one system that would be able to handle all of the above problems and more, with the final OSIS system also adding the ability to manage the availability, currency and skills of technical staff & air crew, track the vehicles and facilities of an operational

AirCraft Computerised Equipment Support System (ACCESS) and Army Maintenance Information System (SIMAT) for the British Army and French Army respectively.

LITS in particular has been regarded as transformative by the Royal Air Force, where it gave the service the ability for the first time to have up-to-the-minute reporting on the status of every single aircraft and component, across every unit, while creating substantial operational improvements in readiness, safety, cost and forward planning. Its introduction, once the usual entry into service issues had been resolved, is even widely regarded as helping to bring about entirely new ways of thinking about and organising logistics.

OSIS has proved beneficial too.

According to a study by Maria-Jacoba Hattingh in 2005 the introduction of OSIS to the SAAF, while marked by issues

Effective digital management of defence logistics has become essential.

base, and run forecasts and simulations to predict aircraft availability, parts needs and other measurements for months or years into the future.

Paradigm System Technology proved to be excellent partners, designing and building a system that incorporated all of the specified requirements and has worked for decades without needing major rework.

In fact, after receiving permission to offer SLIS/OSIS commercially as the Equipment Programme Management System (EPMS), Paradigm was able to sell the system to the Royal Air Force (RAF) where it formed the core of the Logistical Information Technology System (LITS).

Elements of EPMS were later included in the

arguably beyond the project team such as poor network connectivity between bases, problems caused by the ongoing SAAF re-organisation and a general resistance to change, nonetheless resulted in substantial improvements to aircraft readiness, flight safety, data integrity, planning and the sharing and availability of needed information. Substantial problems remain, however, and unlike the RAF, the SAAF has never seen the full set of benefits from having an integrated logistics management system, despite having a nearly identical solution. Today only a fraction of OSIS’s power and functionality is being used.

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LOSS OF INSTITUTIONAL FOCUS So what went wrong? In short: A loss of institutional focus; an acquisition project process that was bad for software; and an attempt to treat OSIS and GCCS like regular commercial enterprise software rather than as the specialised custom solutions they were.

By the time OSIS reached maturity in

ambitious strategies to re-organise the SAAF along more efficient lines. Neither plan got off the ground.

Then, OSIS suffered from the myopia of the DoD and Armscor planners who created defence acquisition policy such as VB1000 and its successors, which codified the way in which new systems should be acquired and supported. While that policy was excellent

GIGO - If garbage is fed into a digital system if will produce garbage results a situation the SAAF is approaching.

the late 1990s to early 2000s, the SAAF had lost focus on its previous ambitions to transform the force’s logistics. Senior leadership were too preoccupied with handling transformation, budget cuts and a huge re-organisation to be able to pay enough attention to implementing an entirely new logistical system, even if the potential savings could be substantial.

That’s why, for instance, OSIS was gradually rolled out to flying squadrons without there being a concurrent upgrading of the outdated network infrastructure linking them to the rest of the SAAF. This created a perception that OSIS was too slow to be usable, even though the fix was merely a network upgrade away.

That inattention was justified on the basis that those neglected priorities could be returned to in more stable times, but the SAAF has become so used to scrambling in survival mode after each budget cut that it has effectively lost the ability for organisational transformation. Both the current Chief of the Air Force and his predecessor launched

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and extremely thorough for acquiring complete military systems, such as aircraft or ships, it was badly suited for acquiring

development contract with the supplier, software like OSIS and GCCS was acquired via proper military projects then immediately farmed out to Denel’s InfoPlan (later SITA) for basic operational maintenance, and occasionally upgraded via new military projects in much the same way as you’d upgrade an aircraft.

It’s a terrible approach that doesn’t work, yet it’s still being used in the SAAF today. In contrast, the RAF has continuously developed and enhanced LITS over the years thanks to long-term support and development contracts with IBM, the original LITS consortium lead. And because it has been an ongoing and renewed contract, many of the original team continue to work on the system, thus preserving domain knowledge. It has also never stopped pushing the adoption of LITS within the organisation, ensuring that its feature set and ease of use were constantly expanded to meet the needs of even lowlevel personnel.

In contrast, SITA is not suited to supporting specialised and custom defence software, as it’s primarily oriented around managing commercial support contracts for government’s commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS), for which the market has a ready supply of fungible skills. Defence systems like OSIS are too small a part of its portfolio to make it worth investing the money and effort to create in-house teams, so it mostly outsources both support

It’s a terrible approach that doesn’t work, yet it’s still being used in the SAAF today. software solutions like OSIS, which did not have associated hardware and had an impact on the entire organisation.

So rather than adopting a software solution via an ongoing support and

and training to an ever-dwindling supply of external contractors with the requisite skills. As a result, there is almost no ongoing development, no incorporation of improvements, little to no work on

extending data sharing and interoperability, and no incentive to drive better adoption of OSIS and its more advanced features within the SAAF. The end result is quite predictable: Because the squadrons and maintenance units were not given the training, equipment and process reforms required to use OSIS’s entire feature set, they tend to see only its value as a parts tracking database and treat the entering of any other data as a chore for reporting purposes. In fact, in most units the line personnel don’t even have access to OSIS at all. Instead they work from a 1980s-style entirely paper-based approach that’s then entered every few weeks into OSIS by a dedicated data capturer. This not only destroys the value OSIS has a real-time view into the state of the Air Force, but it leads to numerous data capture mistakes and other data quality issues that are often caught only during the compilation of quarterly and annual reports.

This has become a negative feedback

loop, where the lack of use of OSIS at squadron levels, and the poor enforcement of data quality leads to it being mistrusted and seldom used by senior leadership and planners, which in turn leads to even less use at squadron level.

Quite bizarrely, this means that in the past decade the SAAF has actually regressed in technological terms when it comes to its handling of logistics and reporting, reverting from a highly functional integrated system to an inefficient and errorprone system of paper records, manual data entry and spreadsheet-based collation.

So what are the lessons learned?

How could the SAAF get itself out of this situation, and how could other African air forces avoid making the same mistake?

The answer is deceptively simple in its explanation, but enormously difficult in its implementation: You need to treat your specialised custom software that enables core capabilities, such as integrated logistics, as a top level project, every bit as

important as acquiring a new aircraft type.

Effort made up front to first rethink and model, the organisation and its functions, in such a way as to prepare it for a digitisation effort, will pay off and will prevent failures where software solutions are forced to be made extremely complex and brittle in order to cater for poorly designed workflows and processes.

It’s better to test out both a solution and any new concepts it brings with smaller and less risky experiments, such as the OSIS beta on the Oryx fleet, and to then gradually add features and roll outs, rather than trying to solve all the problems at once.

And finally, critical software like this should be supported by long-term fullservice contracts, preferably with the original supplier, rather than attempting to have irregular development bursts followed by maintenance by a third party. It works out cheaper in the end too. 

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FlightCom Magazine

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Savage BARN FIND IN UGANDA Part 3

P hotos

by :

C raig L ang

and

T yron G ibbs

THE FLIGHT HOME In Part 2 our intrepid plane rescuers took three days to fly the Savage Cub from Uganda, down the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, to Shongwe – ‘the armpit of Africa’ in Tanzania. For this, the final episode of this saga, we take up the story with them finally having managed to get a workable radio and trying to get out of Shongwe as fast as possible.

26 FlightCom Technical “refuelling” stop inMagazine the Luangwa NP.

DAY 4: Before anyone could change the ATC’s minds, we were airborne and routing for Mfuwe, in the Luangwa National Park in Zambia, where we planned to clear customs, refuel and push on to friends near Mazabuka. A few miles out of Songwe I spoke to ATC, then switched off the handheld radio to save the battery, as we still had no charger.

Cutting over a corner of Malawi, we entered Zambian airspace and enjoyed the peace of flying for hours over the remote Luangwa National Park, every now and again passing over the Luangwa River with an occasional herd of elephant or a lone hippo passing below.

Luckily, we could talk on the intercom if we pressed the PTT, despite the radio being dead.

I planned to land at a small airstrip called Mwaleshi which appeared to be on the edge of the Luangwa NP, in order to top up our tanks from the jerry cans, and to have a stretch.

The Savage cockpit is not designed for 6’3” pilots for extended periods.

Wary of landing in a National Park, I warned Tyron that we would do a steep approach from 1000 ft, land, refuel and in 10 minutes be back in the air. The heat on the runway was extreme - 40 degrees plus, so we emptied bladders and quickly refuelled, before getting airborne again.

Once in the air, we noticed a small guard hut about 1 km from the runway, and just hoped they hadn’t noticed us.

We pushed on another hour to Mfuwe where we managed to raise the ATC from a few miles out and landed without incident.

It was fortunate that I had a pair of cell phone earphones to plug into the radio that I could place in my ears under my headsets when I needed to use the radio.

Once we had cleared customs and paid landing fees, I sent Tyron off with a local driver to get fuel. While waiting for him, I was summoned to the tower, and asked by the ATC if I had landed inside the Park.

Safely tied down in Songwe, but with a broken radio.

sugar cane and maize on the Mazabuka flats southwest of Lusaka. We hangared the Savage next to Raymond’s new Savannah and went off to enjoy the hospitality of his

IT HAD BEEN SEVEN HOURS OF FLYING IN EXTREME HEAT, AND WE FELT IT. Not wanting to lie to him, I said we had made a technical stop to refuel and were on the ground only 10 minutes. I was asked to write a report for the Park authorities, stating it was a technical stop, and was required to have my aircraft inspected to make sure we had not picked anything up in the park, like a rhino horn or tusk.

The ATC was friendly and seemed content with my report. A short while later I was escorted to inspect the Savage. One of the inspectors seemed a little confused, and eventually asked me how I knew there was fuel waiting for us in the park? Trying my hardest to keep a straight face, I showed him how we had refuelled, and explained that Tyron had taken along the jerry cans to fill up in town.

Refuelled and given the green light to leave, we launched for another long stretch to Delta Farm airstrip near Mazabuka, where we would spend the night with the Strovers, old acquaintances from my Maritzburg Varsity days, and now farming

family and the comfort of a decent bed and shower...and some fabulous tender chicken!!

“I read you 5” was the best transmission I have ever received over the radio.

It had been seven hours of flying in extreme heat, and we felt it.

DAY 5: The Strover’s had fuel for us, and with a flight plan filed, we set off for Livingstone, covering the distance in good time. The new airport in Livingstone is modern, clean and efficient, so we were quickly refuelled and cleared for Bulawayo, with instructions to remain clear of the busy sight-seeing traffic over Victoria Falls.

The further south we flew, the more picturesque the scenery became and passing over the Hwange National Park, we found large concentrations of big game. Dodging dark CBs we landed in Bulawayo, refuelled and had just pushed the Savage into one of the GA hangars for the night when the heavens opened.

Friends of Tyron’s folks, Gerard Stevenage, a local vet, and his wife Anwen picked us up, and fed us copious amounts of craft beer and a great meal in typical Zimbabwe-style hospitality, before we crashed, exhausted, for the night.

DAY 6: The next morning we made good time across the border into South Africa to Polokwane, where we landed to clear customs and refuel. Customs delayed us by at least an hour, with SARS questioning us on duties and taxes on the aircraft.

This was eventually resolved, and we were airborne around 1 pm, and heading southeast towards dark and stormy skies.

We passed through a few showers and around a couple of large storms in the Loskop Dam area, before eventually getting into heavy weather approaching Hendrina. Luckily, I knew of a farm strip that belongs to WA de Klerk, a farmer in the area who flies. We landed on his strip

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Luangwa River snaking off into the distance.

and taxied to his hangar. A phone call later, and WA had opened his hangar to us, as well as his guest room, and we spent a great evening with him.

DAY 7: We were airborne from Hendrina just before 10 am due to low cloud and showers, but once we crossed the escarpment the skies began to clear as we approached Newcastle. It really dawned on us the further into South Africa we flew, how free and fortunate we are to have the flying we so enjoy. Our scenery, in my opinion, is far more dramatic and beautiful than anything we saw between Uganda and the Limpopo.

Our CAA and the regulations that govern GA and sport flying is unique in Africa, and we should be grateful for this

Refuelling in Livingstone.

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freedom. I fly between 400 and 500 hours a year, low and slow over southern Africa, and I will never take what we have for granted again.

The spectacularly green KZN Midlands signalled our arrival home, and we circled over Eva’s Field in Hilton, where our welcoming party awaited us with a bottle of champagne and ice cold beers…

The little Savage had been extraordinary.

We had flown 30 hours over 6 days, averaging 82 kts. For an aircraft that had been parked for five years, this was no mean feat. Her reward, now registered as ZU-IPZ, was a complete facelift and huge upgrades to all aspects of the airframe and instrument panel. The result is a barely recognisable aircraft.

A huge thanks to Tyron Gibbs, who trusted me enough to join me on the trip of a lifetime, helped with flying and other duties, and generally kept the humour levels up. Thanks to all the folks along the way who helped with advice, fuel, a place to lay our weary head and with other logistical support. My mate Deren who kindly let me borrow his PLB - you gave us all great peace of mind knowing we had friends and family watching our every move.

And lastly, thanks to an amazing little aircraft that carried us without as much as a hiccup over some of Africa’s most remote areas. We are truly blessed to live and fly in South Africa. If you don’t believe me, take a trip north. 

Our routing from Uganda to Eva’s Field.

FAR MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN ANYTHING WE SAW BETWEEN UGANDA AND THE LIMPOPO Celebrating the safe arrival back at Eva's Field.

W N E EW B S IT E

The Savage Cub resplendent in its new finish.

FlightCom Magazine

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FlightCom Magazine

33

People W ords : G uy L eitch

NICO BEZUIDENHOUT LEAVES MANGO IS IT THE END OF MANGO? AND WHAT NEXT FOR HIM AND THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY?

Nico Bezuidenhout has announced his surprise departure as the CEO of Mango – the airline he launched 15 years ago.

Nico Bezuidenhout in 2015 during one of his long periods as Acting CEO of SAA. Image: Guy Leitch

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H

E has survived tumultuous storms, including confrontations with the appalling yet untouchable Ms Dudu Myeni who, as Chairman, all but destroyed SAA. While he was Acting CEO, Nico saved SAA a number of times from the cronies and looters, until he was finally forced out.

He was snapped up to head FastJet, until that too was killed by African government interference. In October last year he returned to SAA to get Mango back on track. Now he has accepted the position of CEO of a smaller airline, Aurigny – based in Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

Guy Leitch chats to him about whether he was pushed – or pulled, and what it means for SAA, Mango and indeed the rest of the airline industry.

Were you pushed out of SAA/ Mango, or were you seduced by yet another struggling small state owned carrier?

I have long wanted to broaden my international experience and exposure. As a family we have also been hit hard by crime and by Covid-19 in South Africa and so wanted to manage this exposure. When this job in the Channel Islands came up, it was quite frankly just too good an opportunity to turn down, and it represents a lifestyle choice for me and my family.

You have been Acting CEO of SAA twice. Given the current state of SAA, is it still a job that you could do?

Yes. If as we hope, a new permanent CEO gets a clear mandate and the necessary government support without political interference, then I believe the job is executable.

Did you make yourself available for the permanent SAA CEO job?

I have been through that mill twice before and I did not put my hat in the ring.

Does your departure not raise the question as to whether Mango will be able to continue?

I don’t think my departure and the continued existence of Mango should be in any way dependent on each other. I have been back at Mango since 1 October and it has been an amazingly rough time. A week after I returned, Mango, SAA and Comair were grounded by the CAA. A month later

SAA had its 8-day strike, and that spilled over into Mango as we had to change our schedule to accommodate the SAA passengers. December was the start of the SAA business rescue process, and this had a massive knock-on effect to Mango. SAA is our codeshare partner for feed and de-feed and was providing other essential services such as fuel procurement. All our credit lines were badly affected. Then in February we changed ground handlers and in March we went into the Covid-19 lock down. So quite frankly, I have been firefighting pretty much every day I have been back at Mango.

Yet the company has made some progress under these incredibly difficult conditions.

For example, we managed to get new routes into a number of African destinations, such as Mauritius.

needed to take care of our most vulnerable employees. The lowest paid employee in our company earns R5,600 pm, so we agreed that we would all accept R5,600 pm – from the CEO downwards, from 1 April. There is also the R6,000 tax free from the UIF TERS scheme. So our 20% most vulnerable employees have received pretty much full salaries since the beginning of Covid-19.

Were you able to get these new routes as part of SAA? No. Mango operates under its own AOC so we had to negotiate the bilaterals and the route rights ourselves. When the world returns to at least halfway normal, Mango will be able to take up those routes.

But even before the Covid-19 pandemic there was a lot of talk about the South African market being over traded. Now all four major players look like they will survive, and we hear that Gidon Novick will enter the market as well.

Yes, but you need to look at the end size. Comair currently has 26 aircraft but is expected to return to the market operating between 13 and 20 aircraft based on media reports. The other airlines are also shrinking and that would indicate an approximate thirty percent near term reduction in overall capacity.

What was the single biggest challenge you faced?

If you operate a fleet of 14 aircraft, it’s best you have the full fleet of 14 flying. If you are only using 10 out of 14 aircraft your cost of capital, plus your cost of ownership and many other factors increases your cost base. And that means you end up having to use wet lease capacity to maintain your schedule. This all affects your on-time performance and when that deteriorates you need to reduce your ticket prices to continue to attract passengers. You end up taking a knock on both the cost side and on revenue. That drove Mango’s losses, but at no point was Mango terminally ill.

Fortunately dispatch reliability improved a year ago when Adam Voss and Michael Muller stepped into SAAT. But that’s what happens when you have an external locus of control. Our on-time performance has improved substantially and now, with the reduced schedule, we are operating at 90% OTP. How are you paying your staff during the lockdown?

We are doing better than most in that we haven’t had to retrench anyone. Now that Mango has made it back into the sky, we are carrying 40% of all passengers being carried at the moment. With the limited funds that we have, we decided we

Post Covid, will there still be space for Mango?

SAA will be a much smaller airline in the future, at least initially, and the scale of Comair will also likely be impacted by their own business rescue process. So the supply side of the market will be significantly smaller, and Mango’s proportion of that market may be higher.

What are your expectations of demand at the end of 2021?

Our most pessimistic expectations are that we will see 70 to 75% of the December 2019 levels by then. So with all the swings and roundabouts in the market, it implies that the pre- Covid-19 supply and demand equilibrium will be restored in the end, although challenging times exit in-between.

How is Mango surviving in terms of cash flow? You had a R1 billion bailout from the government, which the privately owned airliners could not get.

SAA’s published business rescue plan outlines the capital requirement of the Group’s subsidiaries, although no funding flow has occurred as yet We have been able to cover our direct operating costs since the 15 June limited restart and as long as all airlines maintain supply discipline, then we can all come out intact on the other side.

FlightCom Magazine

35

So do you have historic debt – from earlier losses?

The three months of hard lockdown has cost Mango R750 million to R1 billion worth of revenue. It is for these reasons that we need our capital structure rectified.

Mango is no different to any other airline and to my knowledge there is not an airline in the world that has not needed some form of capital bolstering following COVID.

And it’s not just about aircraft leasing, airlines must look at all their inputs. The entire world is different. From CEOs down, there is now a complete glut of supply. The same for pilots and cabin crew and ground handling. The supply and demand equations are changing, and if you as an airline do not take advantage of this opportunity to reset your cost base, you must have rocks in your head.

What about your aircraft leases?

Your fleet is getting on for 20 years old, yet it is still leased.

Of Mango’s 14 aircraft, 2 were scheduled for return prior to Covid-19. I reckon that for the next 12 months Mango will need between 6 and 12 aircraft. So we have a few too many. Also, we took aircraft off SAA’s hands when we didn’t need them.

That’s the worst thing for an airline; to have aircraft on the balance sheet and yet AOG – aircraft on the ground.

Will you be sorry to leave Mango?

Mango remains very dear to my heart. I don’t regret a day. It has been very challenging, but I am happy that we have still managed to drive the business forward.

The company has suffered losses in recent years but the issues that caused it to be loss making were easily identified, even if they weren’t that easy to address. The ground handling changes saved us a bucketful of money and we cancelled some of the lossmaking routes.

What about the cost of your leases? Under SAA can you get payment holidays and reductions?

Mango’s lease arrangements stand separate and independent of SAA. There’s

Will you be glad to be out from under the control of SAA? I’m a bit of a hoarder in terms of my sentimental connections, and I have plenty of those connections within the SAA

In conclusion?

I think that Mango remains a good company. It has carried thirty million passengers and has never before needed a subsidy. All the staff are in it for the long run. Mango’s pilots for example have agreed to take the minimum basic salary until the end of March, plus a variable percentage of their normal salary, depending on what percentage of our old route network we manage to operate. That’s a cost-effective mechanism to ensure Mango’s survival.

And it protects our massive investment in skills and human resources – we are not adding to unemployment in the country, in as much as we can avoid it. It’s not as though everyone else can be as lucky as I have been in finding an alternative. So everyone has to take a haircut, but we all need to wake up and be realistic. The question is not about whether you can continue to get 100% of your salary. That is not your choice. The choices in life now are that the world is smaller and the demand levels are just not there. So airlines need to shrink to fit, or alternatively, airline people need to move into another industry altogether.

I care more about the people than I do about the brand. If SAA gets its cost structures small enough, then for all I

Bezuidenhout is leaving to run the smaller Aurigny Air Services in the Channel Islands.

no doubt that the cost of leases can come down at least 25%, and we hope to be able to take advantage of that. It has been a lessor’s market for a long time but now we have an opportunity to restructure our costs. If airlines do not use this opportunity to reset their cost base, they risk surviving Covid-19 but then dying from the post Covid-19 recovery. I have always maintained that the real test will be in the restarting and that more airlines will die in the recovery phase, than from the actual lockdown.

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FlightCom Magazine

Group. I suppose it is like a brother-sister relationship. You may have the hardest of fights, but at the end of the day you are still family.

You are going to another state-owned flag carrier. Do you support the idea of a flag carrier?

It’s not so much about whether you’re a flag carrier or not, it’s about whether the operation is being conducted efficiently.

care they can combine the two airlines. I wouldn’t have said this a few years ago, but if the two businesses can get to the same cost structure, well then, I’m not precious about brands so they could merge. I am just precious about making sure that the people – Mango’s Employees and Guests, are looked after. 

BACKPAGE DIR DIRECT ECTORY ORY A1A Flight Examiner (Loutzavia) Jannie Loutzis 012 567 6775 / 082 416 4069 jannie@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za

Alpi Aviation SA Dale De Klerk 082 556 3592 dale@alpiaviation.co.za www.alpiaviation.co.za

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Apco (Ptyd) Ltd Tony/Henk + 27 12 543 0775 apcosupport@mweb.co.za www.apcosa.co.za

Comporob Composite Repair & Manufacture Felix Robertson 072 940 4447 083 265 3602 comporob@lantic.net www.comporob.co.za Corporate-Aviators/Affordable Jet Sales Mike Helm 082 442 6239 corporate-aviators@iafrica.com www.corporate-aviators.com

Flying Frontiers Craig Lang 082 459 0760 CraigL@fairfield.co.za C. W. Price & Co www.flyingfrontiers.com AES (Cape Town) Aref Avionics Kelvin L. Price Erwin Erasmus Hannes Roodt 011 805 4720 Flying Unlimited Flight School (Pty) Ltd 082 494 3722 082 462 2724 cwp@cwprice.co.za Riaan Struwig erwin@aeroelectrical.co.za arefavionics@border.co.za www.cwprice.co.za 082 653 7504 / 086 770 8376 www.aeroelectrical.co.za

riaan@ppg.co.za Atlas Aviation Lubricants Dart Aeronautical www.ppg.co.za AES (Johannesburg) Steve Cloete Jaco Kelly Danie van Wyk 011 917 4220 011 827 8204 Foster Aero International 011 701 3200 Fax: 011 917 2100 dartaero@mweb.co.za Dudley Foster office@aeroelectrical.co.za Sales.aviation@atlasoil.co.za 011 659 2533 www.aeroelectrical.co.za www.atlasoil.africa Dart Aircraft Electrical info@fosteraero.co.za Mathew Joubert www.fosteraero.co.za Aerocore ATNS 011 827 0371 Jacques Podde Percy Morokane Dartaircraftelectrical@gmail.com Gemair 082 565 2330 011 607 1234 www.dartaero.co.za Andries Venter jacques@aerocore.co.za percymo@atns.co.za 011 701 2653 / 082 905 5760 www.aerocore.co.za www.atns.com DJA Aviation Insurance andries@gemair.co.za

011 463 5550 Aero Engineering & PowerPlant Aviation Direct 0800Flying GIB Aviation Insurance Brokers Andre Labuschagne Andrea Antel mail@dja-aviation.co.za Richard Turner 012 543 0948 011 465 2669 www.dja-aviation.co.za 011 483 1212 aeroeng@iafrica.com info@aviationdirect.co.za aviation@gib.co.za

www.aviationdirect.co.za Dynamic Propellers www.gib.co.za Aero Services (Pty) Ltd Andries Visser Chris Scott Avtech Aircraft Services 011 824 5057 Gryphon Flight Academy 011 395 3587 Riekert Stroh 082 445 4496 Jeffrey Von Holdt chris@aeroservices.co.za 082 555 2808 / 082 749 9256 andries@dynamicpropeller.co.za 011 701 2600 www.aeroservices.co.za avtech1208@gmail.com www.dynamicpropellers.co.za info@gryphonflight.co.za

www.gryphonflight.co.za Aeronav Academy BAC Aviation AMO 115 Eagle Aviation Helicopter Division Donald O’Connor Micky Joss Tamryn van Staden Guardian Air 011 701 3862 035 797 3610 082 657 6414 011 701 3011 info@aeronav.co.za monicad@bacmaintenance.co.za tamryn@eaglehelicopter.co.za 082 521 2394 www.aeronav.co.za

www.eaglehelicopter.co.za ops@guardianair.co.za Blackhawk Africa

www.guardianair.co.za Aeronautical Aviation Cisca de Lange Eagle Flight Academy

Clinton Carroll 083 514 8532 Mr D. J. Lubbe Heli-Afrique cc 011 659 1033 / 083 459 6279 cisca@blackhawk.aero 082 557 6429 Tino Conceicao clinton@aeronautical.co.za www.blackhawk.aero training@eagleflight.co.za 083 458 2172 www.aeronautical.co.za www.eagleflight.co.za tino.conceicao@heli-afrique.co.za Blue Chip Flight School

Aerotric (Pty) Ltd Henk Kraaij Elite Aviation Academy Henley Air Richard Small 012 543 3050 Jacques Podde Andre Coetzee 083 488 4535 bluechip@bluechip-avia.co.za 082 565 2330 011 827 5503 aerotric@aol.com www.bluechipflightschool.co.za info@eliteaa.co.za andre@henleyair.co.za www.eliteaa.co.za www.henleyair.co.za Aircraft Assembly and Upholstery Centre Border Aviation Club & Flight School Tony/Siggi Bailes Liz Gous Emperor Aviation Hover Dynamics 082 552 6467 043 736 6181 Paul Sankey Phillip Cope anthony@rvaircraft.co.za admin@borderaviation.co.za 082 497 1701 / 011 824 5683 074 231 2964 www.rvaircraft.co.za www.borderaviation.co.za paul@emperoraviation.co.za info@hover.co.za

www.emperoraviation.co.za www.hover.co.za Aircraft Finance Corporation Breytech Aviation cc

Jaco Pietersen 012 567 3139 Enstrom/MD Helicopters Indigo Helicopters +27 [0]82 672 2262 Willie Breytenbach Andrew Widdall Gerhard Kleynhans jaco@airfincorp.co.za admin@breytech.co.za 011 397 6260 082 927 4031 / 086 528 4234 www.airfincorp.co.za aerosa@safomar.co.za veroeschka@indigohelicopters.co.za Bundu Aviation www.safomar.co.za www.indigohelicopters.co.za Aircraft Maintenance @ Work Phillip Cronje Opelo / Frik 083 485 2427 Era Flug Flight Training IndigoSat South Africa - Aircraft Tracking 012 567 3443 info@bunduaviation.co.za Pierre Le Riche Gareth Willers frik@aviationatwork.co.za_ www.bunduaviation.co.za 021 934 7431 08600 22 121 opelonke@aviationatwork.co.za info@era-flug.com sales@indigosat.co.za Celeste Sani Pak & Inflight Products www.era-flug.com www.indigosat.co.za Aircraft Maintenance International Steve Harris Pine Pienaar 011 452 2456 Execujet Africa Integrated Avionic Solutions 083 305 0605 admin@chemline.co.za 011 516 2300 Gert van Niekerk gm@aminternational.co.za www.chemline.co.za enquiries@execujet.co.za 082 831 5032 www.execujet.com gert@iasafrica.co.za Aircraft Maintenance International Cape Aircraft Interiors www.iasafrica.co.za Wonderboom Sarel Schutte Federal Air Thomas Nel 021 934 9499 Nick Lloyd-Roberts International Flight Clearances 082 444 7996 michael@wcaeromarine.co.za 011 395 9000 Steve Wright admin@aminternational.co.za www.zscai.co.za shuttle@fedair.com 076 983 1089 (24 Hrs) www.fedair.com flightops@flyifc.co.za Air Line Pilots’ Association Cape Town Flying Club www.flyifc.co.za Sonia Ferreira Beverley Combrink Ferry Flights int.inc.

011 394 5310 021 934 0257 / 082 821 9013 Michael (Mick) Schittenhelm Investment Aircraft alpagm@iafrica.com info@capetownflyingclub.co.za 082 442 6239 Quinton Warne www.alpa.co.za www.@capetownflyingclub.co.za ferryflights@ferry-flights.com 082 806 5193

www.ferry-flights.com aviation@lantic.net Airshift Aircraft Sales Capital Air www.investmentaircraft.com Eugene du Plessis Micaella Vinagre Fireblade Aviation 082 800 3094 011 827 0335 010 595 3920 Jabiru Aircraft eugene@airshift.co.za micaella@capitalairsa.com info@firebladeaviation.com Len Alford www.airshift.co.za www.capitalairsa.com www.firebladeaviation.com 044 876 9991 / 044 876 9993

info@jabiru.co.za Airvan Africa Century Avionics cc Flight Training College www.jabiru.co.za Patrick Hanly Carin van Zyl Cornell Morton 082 565 8864 011 701 3244 044 876 9055 Jim Davis Books airvan@border.co.za sales@centuryavionics.co.za ftc@flighttrainning.co.za Jim Davis www.airvan.co.za www.centuryavionics.co.za www.flighttraining.co.za 072 188 6484

jim@border.co.za Algoa Flying Club Chemetall Flight Training Services www.jimdavis.co.za Sharon Mugridge Wayne Claassens Amanda Pearce

041 581 3274 011 914 2500 011 805 9015/6 Joc Air T/A The Propeller Shop info@algoafc.co.za wayne.claassens@basf.com amanda@fts.co.za Aiden O’Mahony www.algoafc.co.za www.chemetall.com www.fts.co.za 011 701 3114

jocprop@iafrica.com Alpha One Aviation Chem-Line Aviation & Celeste Products Fly Jetstream Aviation Opelo Steve Harris Henk Kraaij Kishugu Aviation 082 301 9977 011 452 2456 083 279 7853 +27 13 741 6400 on@alphaoneaviation.co.za sales@chemline.co.za charter@flyjetstream.co.za comms@kishugu.com www.alphaoneaviation.co.za www.chemline.co.za www.flyjetstream.co.za www.kishugu.com/kishugu-aviation

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37

BACKPAGE DIR DIRECT ECTORY ORY Kit Planes for Africa Stefan Coetzee 013 793 7013 info@saplanes.co.za www.saplanes.co.za

MS Aviation Gary Templeton 082 563 9639 gary.templeton@msaviation.co.za www.msaviation.co.za

Kzn Aviation (Pty) Ltd Melanie Jordaan 031 564 6215 mel@kznaviation.co.za www.kznaviation.co.za

North East Avionics Keith Robertson +27 13 741 2986 keith@northeastavionics.co.za deborah@northeastavionics.co.za www.northeastavionics.co.za Landing Eyes Gavin Brown Orsmond Aviation 031 202 5703 058 303 5261 info@landingeyes.co.za info@orsmondaviation.co.za www.landingeyes.com www.orsmondaviation.co.za

Lanseria Aircraft Interiors Owenair (Pty) Ltd Francois Denton Clive Skinner 011 659 1962 / 076 810 9751 082 923 9580 francois@aircraftcompletions.co.za clive.skinner@owenair.co.za www.owenwair.co.za Lanseria International Airport Mike Christoph Pacair 011 367 0300 Wayne Bond mikec@lanseria.co.za 033 386 6027 www.lanseria.co.za pacair@telkomsa.net

Skyworx Aviation Kevin Hopper kevin@skyworx.co.za www.skyworxaviation.co.za

Legend Sky 083 860 5225 / 086 600 7285 info@legendssky.co.za www.legendsky.co.za

PFERD-South Africa (Pty) Ltd Hannes Nortman 011 230 4000 hannes.nortman@pferd.co.za www.pferd.com

Southern Energy Company (Pty) Ltd Elke Bertram +264 8114 29958 johnnym@sec.com.na www.sec.com.na

Litson & Associates (Pty) Ltd OGP, BARS, Resources Auditing & Aviation Training karen.litson@litson.co.za Phone: 27 (0) 21 8517187 www.litson.co.za

Pipistrel Kobus Nel 083 231 4296 kobus@pipistrelsa.co.za www.pipistrelsa.co.za

Southern Rotorcraft cc Mr Reg Denysschen Tel no: 0219350980 sasales@rotors-r-us.com www.rotors-r-us.com

Plane Maintenance Facility Johan 083 300 3619 pmf@myconnection.co.za

Sport Plane Builders Pierre Van Der Walt 083 361 3181 pmvdwalt@mweb.co.za

Precision Aviation Services Marnix Hulleman 012 543 0371 marnix@pasaviation.co.za www.pasaviation.co.za

PSG Aviation Reon Wiese 0861 284 284 reon.wiese@psg.co.za www.psg aviation.co.za

Starlite Aero Sales Klara Fouché +27 83 324 8530 / +27 31 571 6600 klaraf@starliteaviation.com www.starliteaviation.com

Rainbow SkyReach (Pty) Ltd Mike Gill 011 817 2298 Mike@fly-skyreach.com www.fly-skyreach.com

Rand Airport Stuart Coetzee 011 827 8884 stuart@randairport.co.za www.randairport.co.za

Robin Coss Aviation Robin Coss 021 934 7498 info@cossaviation.com www.cossaviation.co.za

Starlite Aviation Training Academy Durban: +27 31 571 6600 Mossel Bay: +27 44 692 0006 train@starliteaviation.com www.starliteaviation.com

Litson & Associates Risk Management Services (Pty) Ltd. eSMS-S/eTENDER/ eREPORT/Advisory Services karen.litson@litson.co.za Phone: 27 (0) 8517187 www.litson.co.za Loutzavia Aircraft Sales Henry Miles 082 966 0911 henry@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za

Loutzavia Flight Training Gerhardt Botha 012 567 6775 ops@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za Loutzavia-Pilots and Planes Maria Loutzis 012 567 6775 maria@loutzavia.co.za www.pilotsnplanes.co.za Loutzavia Rand Frans Pretorius 011 824 3804 rand@loutzavia.co.za www@loutzavia.co.za Lowveld Aero Club Pugs Steyn 013 741 3636 Flynow@lac.co.za Marshall Eagle Les Lebenon 011 958 1567 les@marshalleagle.co.za www.marshalleagle.co.za Maverick Air Charters Chad Clark 083 292 2270 Charters@maverickair.co.za www.maverickair.co.za MCC Aviation Pty Ltd Claude Oberholzer 011 701 2332 info@flymcc.co.za www.flymcc.co.za

MH Aviation Services (Pty) Ltd Marc Pienaar 011 609 0123 / 082 940 5437 customerrelations@mhaviation.co.za www.mhaviation.co.za M and N Acoustic Services cc Martin de Beer 012 689 2007/8 calservice@mweb.co.za

Metropolitan Aviation (Pty) Ltd Gert Mouton 082 458 3736 herenbus@gmail.com Money Aviation Angus Money 083 263 2934 angus@moneyaviation.co.za www.moneyaviation.co.za

38

Skyhorse Aviation Ryan Louw 012 809 3571 info@skyhorse.co.za www.skyhorse.co.za

FlightCom Magazine

SAA Technical (SOC) Ltd SAAT Marketing 011 978 9993 satmarketing@flysaa.com www.flysaa.com/technical SABRE Aircraft Richard Stubbs 083 655 0355 richardstubbs@mweb.co.za www.aircraftafrica.co.za SA Mooney Patrick Hanly 082 565 8864 samooney@border.co.za www.samooney.co.za Savannah Helicopters De Jager 082 444 1138 / 044 873 3288 dejager@savannahhelicopters.co.za www.savannahhelicopters.co.za Scenic Air Christa van Wyk +264 612 492 68 windhoek@scenic-air.com www.scenic-air.com Sheltam Aviation Durban Susan Ryan 083 505 4882 susanryan@sheltam.com www.sheltamaviation.com Sheltam Aviation PE Brendan Booker 082 497 6565 brendanb@sheltam.com www.sheltamaviation.com

Sky-Tech Heinz Van Staden 082 720 5210 sky-tech@telkomsa.net www.sky-tech.za.com Sling Aircraft Kim Bell-Cross 011 948 9898 sales@airplanefactory.co.za www.airplanefactory.co.za

Solenta Aviation (Pty Ltd) Paul Hurst 011 707 4000 info@solenta.com www.solenta.com

Starlite Aviation Operations Trisha Andhee +27 82 660 3018/ +27 31 571 6600 trishaa@starliteaviation.com www.starliteaviation.com

Status Aviation (Pty) Ltd Richard Donian 074 587 5978 / 086 673 5266 info@statusaviation.co.za www.statusaviation.co.za Superior Pilot Services Liana Jansen van Rensburg 0118050605/2247 info@superiorair.co.za www.superiorair.co.za

The Copter Shop Bill Olmsted 082 454 8555 execheli@iafrica.com www.execheli.wixsite.com/the-coptershop-sa Titan Helicopter Group 044 878 0453 info@titanhelicopters.com www.titanhelicopters.com TPSC Dennis Byrne 011 701 3210 turboprop@wol.co.za Trio Helicopters & Aviation cc CR Botha or FJ Grobbelaar 011 659 1022

stoffel@trioavi.co.za/frans@trioavi.co.za

www.trioavi.co.za

Tshukudu Trailers Pieter Visser 083 512 2342 deb@tshukudutrailers.co.za www.tshukudutrailers.co.za U Fly Training Academy Nikola Puhaca 011 824 0680 ufly@telkomsa.net www.uflyacademy.co.za

United Charter cc Jonathan Wolpe 083 270 8886 jonathan.wolpe@unitedcharter.co.za www.unitedcharter.co.za

United Flight Support Clinton Moodley/Jonathan Wolpe 076 813 7754 / 011 788 0813 ops@unitedflightsupported.com www.unitedflightsupport.com Unique Air Charter Nico Pienaar 082 444 7994 nico@uniqueair.co.za www.uniqueair.co.za

Unique Flight Academy Nico Pienaar 082 444 7994 nico@uniqueair.co.za www.uniqueair.co.za

Van Zyl Aviation Services Colette van Zyl 012 997 6714 admin@vanzylaviationco.za www.vanzylaviation.co.za

Vector Aerospace Jeff Poirier +902 888 1808 jeff.poirier@vectoraerospace.com www.vectoraerospace.com Velocity Aviation Collin Pearson 011 659 2306 / 011 659 2334 collin@velocityaviation.co.za www.velocityaviation.co.za Villa San Giovanni Luca Maiorana 012 111 8888 info@vsg.co.za www.vsg.co.za Vortx Aviation Bredell Roux 072 480 0359 info@vortx.co.za www.vortxaviation.com Wagtail Aviation Johan van Ludwig 082 452 8194 acrochem@mweb.co.za www.wagtail.co.za Wanafly Adrian Barry 082 493 9101 adrian@wanafly.net www.wanafly.co.za Windhoek Flight Training Centre Thinus Dreyer 0026 40 811284 180 pilots@flywftc.com www.flywftc.com Wings n Things Wendy Thatcher 011 701 3209 wendy@wingsnthings.co.za www.wingsnthings.co.za Witbank Flight School Andre De Villiers 083 604 1718 andredv@lantic.net www.waaflyingclub.co.za Wonderboom Airport Peet van Rensburg 012 567 1188/9 peet@wonderboomairport.co.za www.wonderboomairport.co.za

Zandspruit Bush & Aero Estate Martin Den Dunnen 082 449 8895 martin@zandspruit.co.za www.zandspruit.co.za Zebula Golf Estate & SPA Reservations 014 734 7700 reception@zebula.co.za www.zebula.co.za

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