March 2021

FlightCm African Commercial Aviation Edition 148 | March 2021

HUGH PRYOR ON LITTLE PLANES

The slow death of the SA AF

The end of fighter Aces

ETHIOPIAN’S TEWOLDE GEBREMARIAM 1

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CONTENTS

TABLE OF 06 12 14 17 18 22 28 30 34 39 40 42

Publisher Flyer and Aviation Publications cc Managing Editor Guy Leitch guy@flightcommag.com Advertising Sales Wayne Wilson wayne@saflyermag.co.za Layout & Design Emily-Jane Kinnear

MARCH 2021 EDITION 148

News

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A Decade of Space Investments in RSA Bush Pilot - Hugh Pryor AME Directory Airline Ops - Mike Gough Air Force - Des Barker Starlite Directory Face to Face - Ethiopian Airlines CEO Defence - Darren Olivier Atlas Oil Charter Directory AEP AMO Listing Back Page Directory

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A NOTE FROM

THE EDITOR:

A

S ANTICIPATED in this publication and elsewhere, the South African government’s claims that SAA could be bailed out for R10.3 billion have been shown to be yet more deceit and bluster.

Authoritative journal CH-Aviation states that the cost of rescuing SAA has increased to R19.3 billion rand, of which R5.3 billion will have to be sourced from strategic equity partnerships yet to be announced. At this stage I record my ongoing incredulity that a real strategic equity partner is also anything more than wishful thinking on the part of DPE. In his budget speech, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni confirmed that South African taxpayers would pay another R3.5 billion, taking the government’s immediate bailout of SAA up to R14 billion. Mboweni revealed that the business rescue plan approved by SAA creditors on July 14, 2020, had been unilaterally amended by the government in September. A caveat is that in a budget briefing, the minister said the allocation of the additional R3.5 billion still had to be “interrogated” before being approved.

“In September 2020, the business rescue plan was amended and the identified funding requirement was increased to R19.3 billion. Of this amount, R14 billion was envisaged to come from the government (including the R10.5 billion allocated in 2020/21), with the remainder sourced from strategic equity partnerships,” he said.

The government has also been slow in paying out the promised funds - by 12 February, SAA's business rescue practitioners had still only received R7.8 billion of the R10.5 billion allocation.

CH-Aviation notes that, “The fact that state spending to rescue SAA has gone off the approved business rescue plan has for months raised questions about whether the government is abusing the business rescue process. The biggest discrepancy has been an allocation of R2.7 billion for SAA's three subsidiaries, Mango Airlines, SAA Technical, and Air Chefs. Of this amount, Mango is to receive R1 billion, in stark contradiction to the desired level playing field with its competitors. As a useful reference, CH-Aviation provides the following breakdown of funding changes: • An additional R800 million over three years to PCF creditors; • R2 billion (down from R2.8 billion) for restart working capital; • R2.8 billion (up from R2.2 billion) for voluntary severance packages; • R2.2 billion (down from R3 billion) to refund un-flown tickets.

In the 2020 Budget Review, R16.4 billion was set aside for SAA to settle legacy state guaranteed debt and associated interest costs. Of this amount, R10.3 billion was allocated in 2020/21, with R4.3 billion and R1.8 billion to be allocated in 2021/22 and 2022/23 respectively. The 2020 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement upped the allocation to R10.5 billion for SAA in 2020/21, according to Mboweni's account.

Aviation economist Joachim Vermooten estimates that the real cost of the SAA rescue to be R49.4 billion by adding forecast losses in the first three years of R20.36 billion. In my opinion this R20.36 billion in losses is optimistic if you consider the extent to which the state is already abusing sound business practices in the running of SAA. 

NEWS

DAHER HAPPY WITH 2020

Daher's TBM 940 and Kodiak 100.

F

RENCH single-engine turboprop builder Daher said it delivered 53 aircraft from the Kodiak and TBM single-engine turboprop product lines, as well as orders for another 50 aircraft to be delivered in 2021.

2020 deliveries were led by the TBM 940 and TBM 910, with 42 provided primarily to pilot-owners.

The majority of TBMs were for North American customers (34), followed by Europe (with two in Germany, two in the U.K., and two in France), along with one aircraft in Brazil and the first TBM to be based in the United Arab Emirates at Dubai.

The other 11 deliveries in 2020 were Kodiak 100 Series II planes – nine of which were in the Americas, along with two provided in Europe for Germany. In

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addition, there were 20 sales of the pre-owned Kodiak 100 aircraft remaining in the inventory of the sales network after the company acquisition by Daher.

Nicolas Chabbert, the Senior Vice President of Daher’s Aircraft Division, said, “The Kodiak sales activity that followed Daher’s acquisition of this multi-mission aircraft is a good indicator of the renewed market confidence in the airplane – particularly with the enhanced support provided by our worldwide services network,” said Chabbert. “For the TBM, these aircraft continue to benefit from our strategy of product enhancements, including last year’s introduction of the HomeSafe™ emergency autoland system on TBM 940s.” 

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NEWS

AIRLINK EXPANDS NAMIBIAN ROUTES

S

OUTH AFRICAN regional carrier Airlink has announced that it is launching a three times a week direct service between Cape Town and Walvis Bay, from 2 March 2021.

The new route is Airlink’s fourth between South Africa and Namibia, with other services linking Cape Town and Windhoek, in addition to flights from Johannesburg to Windhoek and Walvis Bay. Before scheduled flights between South Africa and St Helena were suspended due to COVID-19, Airlink had been using Walvis Bay as a technical stop on the Johannesburg OR Tambo - St Helena route.

However, Foster is hopeful that following a ruling by the South African International Air Services Licencing Council, he will obtain fifth freedom rights to upload St Helena passengers from Windhoek.

Fifth freedom rights at Windhoek would then mean

Walvis Bay may be small - but it has strategic importance to Airlink's St Helena operations.

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that Airlink would no longer stop in Walvis Bay en-route to St Helena.

Foster explains “Windhoek is the preferred airport to pick up passengers because it has the stronger population and a greater air connectivity. Although Airlink has had third and fourth freedom traffic rights on both the Johannesburg – Walvis Bay and Cape Town – Walvis Bay routes, we elected not to apply for fifth freedom traffic rights between Walvis Bay and St Helena as we weren’t sure as to how long the Johannesburg – St Helena service would route via Walvis Bay before it could follow its originally intended routing via Windhoek, where it would pick up passengers from Namibia. This may happen when we were able to activate fifth freedom traffic rights for Windhoek - St Helena, which we are now able to do.

Airlink will operate the weekday flights between Cape Town and Walvis Bay on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 

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NEWS

ROLLS-ROYCE TESTS 100% SUSTAINABLE JETA

R

olls-Royce has conducted the first tests of 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in a business jet engine. This part the British OEM’s ambition to play a leading role in enabling the sectors in which its operate to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

The tests were conducted on RR’s latest business aviation engine in development, the Pearl 700, in Dahlewitz, Germany. This follows just weeks after unblended SAF was successfully used for the first time in engine ground tests on a Trent 1000 engine in Derby, UK. Rolls says, “This test demonstrates once again that our current engines for large civil and business jet applications can operate with 100% SAF as a full “drop-in” option, laying the groundwork for moving this type of fuel towards

certification. At present, SAF is only certified for blends of up to 50% with conventional jet fuel and can be used on all current RollsRoyce engines.

“The SAF that was used in the tests was produced by low-carbon fuel specialist World Energy in Paramount, California, sourced by Shell Aviation and delivered by SkyNRG. This unblended fuel has the potential to reduce net CO2 lifecycle emissions by more than 75% compared to conventional jet fuel, with the possibility of further reductions in future”, Rolls says.

Dr Joerg Au, Chief Engineer – Business Aviation and Engineering Director Rolls-Royce Deutschland, said: “Sustainable aviation fuels have the potential to significantly reduce the carbon emissions of our engines and combining this potential with the extraordinary performance of our Pearl

engine family brings us another important step closer to enabling our customers to achieve net zero carbon emissions.”

The Pearl 700 combines the Advance2 engine core with a brandnew low-pressure system, resulting in an 8% increase in takeoff thrust at 18,250lb compared to the BR725 engine. The engine offers a 12% better thrust-to-weight ratio and 5% higher efficiency, while maintaining its class-leading low noise and emissions performance.

The engine features a 51.8” blisked fan, a high pressure compressor with a pressure ratio of 24:1 and six blisked stages, an ultralow emissions combustor, a two-stage shroudless high pressure turbine and an enhanced four-stage low pressure turbine that is one of the most efficient and compact in the industry. 

RR tested 100 drop-in Synthetic fuel on its new Pearl engine.

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S O U T H A F R I C A N N AT I O N A L S PA C E A G E N C Y

Celebrating a decade of innovative space products and services for the good of humanity

FlightCom Magazine

11

A DECADE OF

SPACE INVESTMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

D

EPENDING on their mission, satellites have different orbits. Weather and communication satellites are placed in Geostationary Orbits (GEO) at an altitude of 36,000 km above the equator, from which they have a constant gaze on the same region of the Earth. Other satellites are placed in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) between 400 and 600 km, which complete on average one orbit around the Earth every 100 minutes. Such orbits are used for remote sensing, navigation and positioning, and space weather applications.

SANSA promotes science to the youth through its Science Centre and public tours at SANSA's Hermanus facility.

Satellite communications is a key technology that enables us to participate in the global information infrastructure. Telecommunications networks are the most cost-effective way to ensure communications reach in areas where user density is lower than 200 subscribers per square kilometre.

Space weather refers to the conditions in space that can influence the performance and reliability of spaceborne and ground-based technological systems. Space weather is a consequence of the behaviour of the sun, the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere, and the Earth’s location in the solar system.

Earth observation/remote sensing satellites use modern instruments to gather information about the nature and 12

FlightCom Magazine

condition of Earth’s land, sea, and atmosphere. These satellites use sensors that can ‘see’ a broad area and report very fine details about our environment.

Satellite navigation uses satellites as reference points to calculate positions on Earth accurate to within a metre. With advanced techniques and augmentations, satellite navigation can provide measurements down to centimetre levels.

The above mentioned applications define our modern lifestyle and contribute immensely to our quality of life.

In addition, space-derived services are increasingly being used as a decision-making tool for policy choices relating to our political, social, economic and environmental challenges. In order to ensure that South Africa capitalised on these benefits, the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) Act was passed in 2008, which aimed to align South Africa’s space activities under one roof.

The SANSA Act mandated the formation of SANSA, and the agency was officially launched in 2010. On 1 April 2011, SANSA came into existence and united several of South Africa’s efforts in Space Science and Technology under one banner. This included the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory from the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Satellite Applications Centre from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The Hermanus Magnetic Observatory dates to 1841 and is now the SANSA Space Science Programme.

In 1960, the facility at Hartebeesthoek became one of NASA’s 14 Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) stations established around the globe. In 1975, NASA withdrew its involvement due to political instability and in 1980 it became the Satellite Applications Centre. The facility is now the SANSA Space Operations Programme. Also located at Hartebeesthoek at the time, the Earth Observation team

had been receiving and processing satellite data since the first transmissions were received from LandSat1 in 1972, which is now the SANSA Earth Observation Programme. Two additional Programmes were introduced, namely the Administration Programme and the Space Engineering Programme, to take care of the administrative and engineering requirements, respectively.

Over the past decade, SANSA has delivered an impressive array of products and services to meet the evolving needs of government. To date, the SANSA satellite archives have more than 150 terabytes of remote sensing data over Southern Africa dating back to the 1970s, which allows us to understand how our landscape has transformed over time. SANSA currently tracks between 15 and 18 satellite passes every day and have consistently maintained over 98% success rate.

SANSA hosts the only internationally accredited regional space weather centre SANSA also hosts the only internationally accredited regional space weather centre and our magnetic field data is considered the most continuous in the world and have been used since the 1960s, as one of four global stations, as a proxy for understanding midlatitude space weather phenomena. Our Antarctic base provides a crucial window into space where over 80% of the scientific equipment is space physics related – given that the magnetic field lines converge over the poles and phenomena occurring in space are mapped along these field lines.

SANSA also provides launch support services to foreign clients over the African region, as many of these clients lose sight of their rockets when it passes over Africa, at which point SANSA assumes control and issues commands for the various rocket stages and the eventual ejection of satellite payloads into orbit.

In addition, we perform in orbit testing and orbital corrections for various satellite missions.

These achievements have laid the groundwork for SANSA’s future plans, which include the recent

SANSA provides state-of-the-art and globally competitive ground station facilities and services for global launch activities.

announcement of a national Space Infrastructure Hub (SIH) worth R4.47 billion. The SIH was chosen in 2020 as a Strategic Infrastructure Project (SIPS), indicating the importance by the South African Government to invest in space infrastructure as a national priority.

The Hub is based on the concept of the space value chain and will include satellite builds for Earth observation and science missions, an expanded data reception, analysis and archiving capacity and a new data visualisation centre, the development of products and services for government and industry role players, along with human capital development efforts.

The SIH includes a pipeline of projects, some of which have already commenced, such as SANSA’s 24-hour Regional Space Weather Centre, a Concurrent Engineering Design Facility, an Earth Observation Data Cube platform, and teleport services to track and receive data from hundreds of satellites. The investment in the SIH is intended to assist the Agency deliver on its full mandate to the citizens of this country and the region; whilst growing the local economy and creating much needed employment.

Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, expressed his excitement about the future of SANSA, and especially the plans for the Space Infrastructure Hub, when he recently commented “I am heartened to witness the incredible contribution by SANSA to our people and the global space industry through knowledge generation, service support excellence to our space partners around the world and contribution to the local industry and our economy despite the budget constraints the Agency had to endure for a period of years.” 

FlightCom Magazine

13

BUSH PILOT HUGH PRYOR

SIZE M AT T E R S

The idea that a vast aircraft can stay up supported on nothing but thin air fascinated me beyond my comprehension before I got into flying for a living. As far as I was concerned, there had to be some magic secret involved.

I

T was soon after I started the aviation game that I bumped into a neighbour of ours in the UK, called Mike Payne. As it happened, he was one of the ‘magicians’ who knew the secrets of how these giants defeat the laws of gravity. He was the Head of Maintenance for a company called Caledonian and he offered to take me on a visit to their Main Maintenance Base at Gatwick Airport.

I was initially at a loss for words that somebody of such lowly stature as myself could be given access to this Temple of Aviation Secrets and I mumbled, “Would that really be okay? I only have a Private Pilots’ Licence and less than five hundred hours.”

Mike just laughed and said, “Well I don’t have a Pilot’s Licence at all, and they let me in, so let’s just see how we get on!”

I nervously followed Mike into the security office, outside the forbidding walls of ‘The Temple’, where I was interviewed by a surprisingly friendly middleaged gentleman whose ‘SECURITY’ identification was written on the blue Bush Jacket which was hanging on the back of his chair as we came into his office.

He and Mike appeared to be old friends and so, after presenting my PPL, as evidence of my identity, I was

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invited to sit in one of those ‘Photo Booths’ for them to take my picture, but the difference with this one was that you didn’t have to put coins in the slot to get a really smart plastic label, with my face, staring at the ceiling.

VISITOR No 56, printed in large letters below the photo, was spat out into the tray below the machine, with a convenient clip to attach it to my jacket.

I was impressed with the speed and efficacy of my reception, but was still suspicious of the ‘Magicians’.

How did they know that my school number at Prep School was 56?... and they now held my invaluable PPL! Anyway, there was no way out now without Mike, so I followed him in to ‘The Temple’.

I was totally unprepared for the experience as we entered the vast hangar.

It was rather like walking into a cathedral, as I had done many times, my father having been a vicar, before he lost his life during World War Two. For me, the construction of a medieval Cathedral is so far beyond my limits of knowledge that I simply have to sit down and wonder how it was even possible, all those centuries ago... maybe they had a magic potion, which they drank before venturing into the distant roof spaces to place their intricately-carved flutes and quoins

FlightCom Magazine

15

BUSH PILOT HUGH PRYOR to support the structure, using the laws of gravity, because the most sophisticated glue they had in those days was made by boiling up cows’ hooves in a pot.

As you sit there, in the ancient cathedral, a tiny magician climbs up into a little box, surrounded by vaulting columns of pipes and architecture. This little ant proceeds to fill the yawning voids of the cathedral with the toccata and fugue in ‘D’ Minor – with sounds so deep and majestically resonant that it is impossible to believe that they can be produced by a couple of teenagers working flat out on the air pumps.

And yes...I knew how that worked, because i had spent many hours pumping those bellows – and there was no ‘magic’ involved...just backbreaking hard work.

Well that was what it was like, when I walked into the Caledonian hangar in Gatwick Airport.

I could not believe that anything that big could possibly be moved without the use of explosives...and everything seemed to be organised be teams of tiny ants, much like a cathedral.

Years later, I had to do a CofA test flight on a Trislander, which had

FlightCom Magazine

the DC-10, but we had a rear-view

mirror installed, as part of our Pre-

Takeoff Check List to make sure

that we had remembered to start the middle engine before takeoff.

This high-tech installation was

actually fitted after a Trislander once attempted a two-engined take-

off in the mountains in Kenya. The take-off was unsuccessful,

but

everybody walked out because the ‘Islander’/‘Trislander’ are both built

Islander would probably fill the bill... thick, basically honest and noisy – as long as I am topped up with the right juice!

Now back to size...

Well it is all ‘relative’ isn’t it...I mean, if I was a ‘bumble-bee’ flying in the same air space as a Super Cub, then the Super Cub would appear as a monster, just before I got smeared across his windscreen.

Similarly, in 1978, I was flying an Islander beneath a big series of thunderstorm build-ups in the Inter-Tropical-ConvergenceZone near Malakal in the Sudan.

The countryside in that part of the world is completely flat, so I was just bimbliing along, quite comfortably, under a general cloud base of three thousand feet, dodging the odd heavy shower.

Meanwhile a Lufthansa Boeing 707 was having to divert tens of miles off course to get round an immense CuNim above us.

to make sure that we had remembered to start the middle engine

There were two DC10s there, in for, I think they said ‘C’ Checks but, as a Bush-Bum Pilot, when I walked in, on the ground floor, they just seemed to be part of the architecture.

16

the same engine configuration as

on the principles established by the Royal Navy, when they were building

battle ships for the First World War...

build it light, so that it can go a bit faster and if that doesn’t work, then

build it stronger, which they did with

the Islander – and kept me alive for many years in Africa. The Islander is a bit slow and noisy, but it will get

you and nine-and-a-half passengers

in to and out of anywhere where you want to go...and I have done that for years. In fact, if you wanted an

‘aeroplane caricature’ of me, then the

In those days the Lufthansa long haul 707s had navigators and as they passed overhead the Malakal VOR, the navigator took a star shot of the top of the towering central massif of the weather some miles to the south and when they flew past it, the Nav reckoned that they were less than half way up the storm, which made it more than 81 000 feet above me.

So the Captain kindly warned us on the radio, “I have never seen such a monster!” he said.

So even something as big as a Boeing 707 can be made to feel small. 

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17

AIRLINE OPS MIKE GOUGH

OF

LOSS CONTROL N I A G A -

On 9 January, a (mostly) serviceable Boeing 737-500 departed controlled flight from eleven thousand feet, and plunged vertically into the sea, killing all 62 people on board.

M

AINTENANCE records indicate a minor issue with the auto-throttle system on a few previous flights, although this appeared to be rectified and signed-off prior to this particular flight. This history should have been known to the crew of the accident flight, as that is what reviewing the technical log is meant to achieve.

Thus, the so-called ‘startle factor’ should have been anticipated to a certain extent. However, as the aircraft levelled off at this relatively low altitude, it steadily turned to the left and essentially rolled inverted and went vertically downwards, during which it lost around 8000 feet in eleven seconds. That is an almost impossible situation to recover from, given the altitude.

Of course, they should not have entered such an attitude in the first place.

According to the Flight Data Recorder (FDR), the left thrust lever retarded as it should have done to maintain the selected speed during the level off process, while the right thrust lever’s drive failed, leaving it in climb thrust during the level off process. This, to a certain

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FlightCom Magazine

extent, would be very similar to a thrust asymmetry that would be encountered during an engine failure.

However, a glaringly obvious difference would have been the split in the two thrust lever positions – one would have been almost fully forward, while the left would be reducing to the idle position.

I recall my very first ‘real jet’ conversion around 21 years ago. This was after spending almost three years as a third pilot on Boeing 747 classics, which successfully dulled my flying skills due to limited ‘hands-on’ exposure to the critical phases of flight namely take-offs and landings.

The much smaller and immensely enthusiastic handling qualities of the 737-200 was most certainly a case of learning a whole new skill set of reactions to handle, in what appeared to me at the time to be little rocket.

Being a short coupled, swept wing aircraft, its reaction to a significant yaw movement was noticeably different to what I had encountered in my previous straightwing turbo-prop life.

Flightradar24 graphs show the fateful loss of control into an almost vertical dive

The introduction of wing sweep for the jet age was more than creating a good-looking aircraft that appeared fast while standing still on the apron. This design feature was aimed at resolving the

high-speed issue of airflow over portions of the wing becoming supersonic, as the air is accelerated over the curved upper surface of the aerofoil section.

If this happened at an actual airspeed less than the design ideal, it would result in a sudden increase in drag and loss of lift at that particular point of the wing. This is referred to as Mach Crit, or the Critical

FlightCom Magazine

19

The findings are from the FDR as the CVR is yet to be recovered.

Mach Number where sub-sonic airflow becomes momentarily supersonic with all the unwanted issues that it brings with it.

The sweep of the wing presents a ‘longer’ cord line to the relative airflow, which tricks the air that the actual curvature is more gradual than it really is. This results in less local acceleration, and thus a delayed onset of Mach Crit.

As with most design compromises, this creates a few unintended consequences as result. Specifically, if the aircraft is yawed significantly, the advancing wing, while having momentarily accelerated airflow over it, also presents a different profile to this accelerated flow, resulting in a sudden increase in lift, and a not-so-good decrease of Mach Crit.

As we all know from our Student Pilot days, the secondary effect of yaw is roll. The Boeing 737 family takes this to a new level as a result of the wing sweep.

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FlightCom Magazine

Anyone who has done engine failure training in the 737 simulator is aware of the almost instantaneous rolling moment that is brought about by the asymmetric thrust-induced yaw. This is significant enough that the immediate reaction to this is to level the wings with aileron, and then feed in the same-direction rudder until the aileron input on the control column is almost neutralised.

Once the appropriate amount of rudder trim is used, the yawing moment is reduced, and the swept wing is almost back to normal in terms of how the relative airflow meets it.

Without a doubt, this played a role in the initial upset of this accident flight.

What I find absolutely staggering is that either a simple adjustment of the thrust levers or the application of an initial amount of aileron and rudder would have solved this problem before it actually became a real problem.

I perform a very simple demonstration for students who are new to twin engine flying. Just as the effect of thrust is demonstrated early on in basic flying, the effect of asymmetric thrust is a very significant illustration of how engine-induced yaw can upset the proverbial apple cart.

In one of my Piper Senecas, by simply retarding one throttle to idle with zero corrective flight control input, has us in a spiral dive in a few short seconds. A repeat of this exercise with the only input being rudder to stop the yaw, and very little happens, save for a gentle descent due to the added drag of the windmilling propeller. I sum it up by saying ‘you stop the yaw and you stop the problem.’

Going back to my speculation on this latest Loss of Control In Flight (LOC-I), the FDR indicates that the autopilot was engaged during the level off and asymmetric thrust reduction sequence. This elderly 737 (and even through to the latest version, the MAX), has a two-axis autopilot – just like a Seneca – supplemented with a yaw damper. This means that roll and pitch are controlled, and yaw is only damped.

The autopilot would have controlled the roll with aileron to the best of its ability, which is somewhat reduced compared to manual control. It cannot, however, automatically trim this axis, so when it reached its programmed maximum control force and abruptly disengaged (as it is designed to do), a smartish half-roll would have ensued if the crew were not on top of their game. As mentioned previously, they were, for whatever reason, not actively monitoring the automatics as per their lack of correcting the auto throttle issue.

Following this sudden and probably quite violent roll event, the aircraft nose would be well below the horizon, and the eleven second plummet had started.

The perfect storm for a LOC-I event.

For the unwary crew, I must add.

I would be most interested to see what Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) program had been in place with this particular operator.

Let’s all keep the blue side up, folks. 

Sriwijaya Boeing 737-500 at Jakarta Airport.

FlightCom Magazine

21

AIR FORCE DES BARKER

HAVE WE SEEN THE LAST

FIGHTER ACE? The question often on many a fighter pilot’s minds is, “have we seen the last fighter ace?” even an issue?

Why is this

Well, becoming a fighter ace is one

of the aspirations of a fighter pilot – why else would you bother?

A

worldwide are finding

Secondly, nuclear weapons have made wars between

experienced pilots with ‘kills’ against their

of fighters, rare. The third reason, and often neglected,

IR

FORCES

themselves with a shortage of combat

names. Fighter pilots who have shot down an enemy aircraft are a rapidly shrinking community; the trend

has been there for decades; there are no more aces on active duty and the number of fighter pilot’s with any ‘kills’, are decreasing. In a few more years, there will be no more living aces at all.

There are four reasons for this.

Firstly, in the last half century,

only three USAF pilots became aces.

In nearly a century of

operations, only 816 American air

force fighter pilots became aces; approximately 87% of the aces

is the imbalanced air power picture that has prevailed over the past six decades, being the air dominance of Allied combat aviation. In the more recent past,

the only significant wars have been mainly between second- and third-rate proxies, versus the might of

In a few more years, there will be no more living aces at all

Allied air power, a bit like “going to a gunfight with a knife”.

Since World War II, Allied air power has dominated every aerial battlefield they have entered - the result being fewer air battles. The

enemy was either destroyed on the ground, or refused to fight.

originated during World War II, which ended nearly 75

So, the lack of adequate opportunity to ‘make a kill’

only three during the Vietnam war. In the last twenty

today’s air battles, the biggest threat to Allied pilots is

years ago. There were 39 aces in the Korean war, and

years, seven fighter pilots scored two victories each,

and three fighter pilots scored one each. None scored four or more victories. So, mathematically, it is clear that the fold has dwindled considerably.

22

major powers that can afford to maintain large numbers

FlightCom Magazine

prevents fighter pilots from building up a ‘score’. In anti-aircraft defences, mainly surfaced launched and

highly manoeuvrable and only then, fighters – so, where

are the targets to come from to enable fighter pilots to achieve that magic number of 5 kills?

Baron Manfred Von Richthofen, the top ace of WWI, would not necessarily be an ace in WWII

FlightCom Magazine

23

Another factor mitigating against

future fighter aces is the major shift

in air power doctrine. With the threat posed to fighter pilots by technology, the engineering response has been

to turn to unmanned aerial vehicles, including robotic fighters that no

human pilot could overcome. This

is because the unmanned aircraft can perform manoeuvres that the

human body cannot sustain. The human weakness of g-intolerance has for long placed a restriction on

maximising

‘killing tool’.

aircraft

as

a

WHO WAS ACTUALLY THE

THE CHANGING

BEST EVER?

BATTLESPACE

Is it even possible to answer this

Interestingly, throughout the ages,

role models of fighter pilots and

aces, and they have only one thing

question? Aces are the inspirational

most fighter pilots that have made a study of their trade have debated, but never settled the question: Who was the best fighter pilot ever?

Manfred von Richthoven, WWI’s Red

Baron, must be one such contender, while another is, Erich Hartmann,

who is the all-time kills leader with 352 in World War II. Could it have

Being a modern fighter pilot in a highly technological battlespace is a hazardous undertaking Robotic aircraft do not have this

problem. Moreover, a robotic aircraft

would be computer controlled through software and would possess

a significantly higher degree of situational awareness; much more than any human pilot could ever

possess. This isn’t science fiction,

The bad news is the ace is facing extinction!

said, “Not much else really matters.”

In the one-hundred and eight years of air combat (World War I to the

present), the aircraft have advanced from the Sopwith Camel to the

F-35. The skills needed to become

an ace have changed, and so has the

shot

In the days of Von Richthoven and

aircraft in a

with guns. This held through the

down

nine

single

sortie

on 24 October 1944?

Could

the

award for the

‘best’ be to the

highest number of aerial victories in a single day? This was claimed by

Emil Lang, who claimed 18 Soviet fighters on 3 November 1943, or

nature of air combat.

Hartmann, most of the kills were

Korean War, but increasing aircraft speeds through each war and the eventual introduction of air-to-air

missiles, all contributed to changing

air combat tactics and the skills required. Speeds ranging from 100 kts for the Sopwith Camel to 350 kts for the Bf-109 to 590 kts for

the F-86F that dominated the skies over Korea.

Erich Rudorffer who is credited with

In Vietnam, first generation air-to-

single sortie on 11 October 1943.

always successfully, but the missiles

the destruction of 13 aircraft in a

really determine who the best of

an evolution.

air combat; Baron Von Richthoven

who

McCampbell,

them, faster than a computer - it’s

is creating the robotic fighter, but

or more enemy aircraft in air-to-

David

A case could be made for each of

not a revolution in technology that

in common: shooting down five

been

the human simply cannot make inflight decisions, and execute

more than 5,400 pilots have become

them, but the fact is, one cannot all time was.

Nevertheless, the

ego of the fighter pilot, despite the

statistics, will ponder what their chances of becoming a fighter ace are or going down in history as one of the best fighter pilots?

air missiles entered the fray, not

allowed kills to be accomplished

from as far as 2,5 nm away with

the AIM-9B Sidewinder – still within visual range but significantly further out than the typical guns range of 0.5 nm maximum. Today, the AIM-120 AMRAAM and other missiles can kill you without you

even seeing the opposing aircraft

(from as far as 86 nm away in the case of the AIM-120D).

24

FlightCom Magazine

aces were different. Hartmann was in constant combat from 1942 onwards – most of it against Russian pilots. Allied pilots, on the other hand, were continuously rotated between tours in an effort to provide them with some respite from operations and allow them to plough back their experience in the training of aspirant fighter pilots.

USAF studies in the wake of the Vietnam War (Red Baron study) indicated that 80% of the pilots killed never knew that

they were a target until their killer opened fire. This was true then and will remain true in all future air combat. Hartmann estimated that a similar percentage of his victims never knew he was there until he opened fire.

Robin Olds was a USAF fighter pilot_ a ‘triple ace’, with a combined total of 16 victories in WWII and the Vietnam War.

Beyond visual range (BVR) combat has forever changed

the way in which air combat is conducted; the days of

pilots being selected as fighter pilots for their handling and energy management skills and situational awareness

have been replaced by technology in which the pilot

with the longest range missile and the ability for first detection, will in all likelihood be victorious. With closing speeds of supersonic proportions during a

head-on attack, classical ‘dogfighting’ will be left to

the survivors from the first missile engagement, only if opposing forces engage.

There is no doubt that

being a modern fighter pilot in a highly technological battlespace, is a hazardous undertaking.

Even during WWII, the circumstances faced by these

The results of the Red Baron study, which were in keeping with the observations of other American aces, led to the concept of maintaining situational awareness (knowing exactly where you are, and where everyone else is in the dogfight). Probably one of the most valuable tools for Allied Force pilots is JTIDS (Joint Tactical Information Data System), a datalink that provides each pilot with a virtual 3-D ‘mental picture’ of the combat geometry. A similar capability is available on all 4th and 5th generation fighters, including the Gripen.

The well-known example of the JTIDS testing on the F-15, reported drastic increases in their situational awareness; in an exercise, they took on F-15s and E-3s without JTIDS, and achieved a 4-to-1 kill ratio in their favour, mostly because the pilots with JTIDS knew where the ‘blue force aircraft, and the ‘red force’ bandits

FlightCom Magazine

25

Erich Hartmann, the all-time ‘kills’ leader with 352 in World War II.

were, and could sort out who was going to target which bandit a lot quicker than the ones without.

Aerial combat has become less of a single hunter, but rather a team of hunters with the fighter pilot’s only

responsible for pushing the missile launch pushbutton.

The integrated support of several role players involved

claimed that an artificial algorithm had beaten a human fighter pilot in a virtual dogfight. The contest was the

finale of the U.S. military’s Alpha Dogfight Challenge,

an exercise to “demonstrate the feasibility of developing

THE FUTURE OF AIR COMBAT

Robot fighter pilots are a long way off

One thing is for certain though. The future for fighter

effective, intelligent autonomous agents capable of

in the ‘kill’ should all receive acknowledgement for their role, or not?

pilots will be determined through innovative engineering and the role and function of artificial intelligence. As recently as August 2020, an event in the USA turned fighter pilots’ concerns into reality.

The never-ending saga of machines outperforming humans has opened a new chapter as the USAs Defense

26

Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) engineers

FlightCom Magazine

defeating adversary aircraft in a dogfight” using noseaimed guns only.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) faced off against a human fighter pilot, callsign ‘Banger’, sitting in a simulator and wearing a virtual reality helmet, and the AI won five rounds to zero. What the reports did not

state, however, was that their robot had been through at least 4 billion simulations and had acquired at least 12 years of experience.

Be that as it may, canned and rigid exercises are not very useful without catering for the thinking, unpredictable, higher order tactically thinking, fighter pilot and doesn’t prove anything unless through machine learning and teaching an algorithm, it can counter the myriad of various options available to the tactically astute human pilot. Robot fighter pilots are a long way off and most fighter pilots, would relish engaging a robot fighter. Fortunately, we are

CONCLUSION The variables of technological progress through the various eras and the consequent requirements on piloting skills at the specific time in history make it impossible to definitively determine the best fighter pilot in history. One might be able to determine the best of an era or a war, but even then, it will be the subject of debate for years.

Considering the technological progress in aerial combat and the ever-changing strategies and tactics of modern warfare, it will most certainly take some special occurrence before a single fighter pilot is able to notch up 5 kills for ace status.

not there yet and not likely to get there within the foreseeable future.

Erich Hartmann.

The director of the Strategic Technology Office at DARPA described the trial as a victory for better human and machine teaming in combat, which was the real point.

The contest was part of a broader

DARPA effort called Air Combat Evolution (ACE) which didn’t necessarily seek to replace pilots with unmanned systems, but rather sought to automate a lot of fighter pilot tasks.

By the fifth and final round of the dogfight, ‘Banger’ was able to significantly shift his tactics and survive much longer. The standard tactics that he used weren’t working. It didn’t matter though as in the end he hadn’t learned fast enough and was defeated.

So, what we are witnessing is the beginning of a type of human-machine interdependence, a human sitting in the cockpit, being flown by one of these AI algorithms as truly being one weapon system, a system of systems, where the human is focusing on what the human does best such as higher order strategic thinking and the AI is doing what the AI does best.

References: Dunnigan James. The Age of the Fighter Ace Ends. 22 September 2004.

Hutchison, Harold C. Why You Can’t Tell Who Was the Best Fighter Pilot Ever. 30 June 2005. 

FlightCom Magazine

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IATA TRAVEL PASS wandAir will become the first African

airline to trial IATA Travel Pass. The airline will begin a three-week trial in April for customers travelling between Kigali and Nairobi in Kenya.

Yvonne Manzi Makolo, CEO of RwandAir, said, “IATA’s innovative solution simplifies and digitally transmits the information required by countries and governments around the world into our airline systems, in a secure and efficient manner. Travel Pass will make it easy for our customers to resume flying – and just as easy for RwandAir, and airlines around the world, to accept them," said Makolo.

RwandAir customers participating in the trial will create a ‘digital passport’ which verifies that their pre-travel Covid-19 test or vaccination meets the requirements of their travel destination.

IATA says that the main priority is to get people traveling again safely. In the immediate term that means establishing confidence in governments that systematic pre-departure COVID-19 testing can work as a replacement for quarantine requirements. And that will eventually develop into a vaccine program.

Rwandair's Yvonne Manzi Makolo is pioneering IATA's Travel Pass in Africa

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29

FACE TO FACE

E C A F O T E C A F ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES CEO

In an Interview with CAPA’s Peter Harbison (PH), Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam (TG) describes how he has survived the Covid-19 storm – and amazingly – managed to remain cash positive.

Tewolde Gebremariam talks about how Ethiopian survived Covid

30

FlightCom Magazine

What’s the overall situation for airlines in Africa at the moment?

TG: The industry in Africa was not in a good shape even before COVID. This is an industry which has been losing money, for I would say six, seven years in a row. So airlines were not in their best position when they caught this global pandemic crisis. Thus COVID has affected the African airline industry much more and much worse than the rest of the airline industry and the rest of the world. This is for a few reasons: 1) Almost every African country has closed its borders, and they have stayed for too long – from March to September. So African airlines missed the summer peak – which cost lot in terms of not being able to support airline operations in the continent.

a better position to face this challenge. At least in a better position than the rest of our peers. And secondly, I think back to March when everybody was panicking about the pandemic, I think we have done very well.

The cargo business is booming, for two reasons: First the available belly cargo capacity was lost because passenger planes were grounded. But on the other hand, PPE and other medical supplies transport was a booming business to save lives. Realizing this, we made a quick decision to build as much capacity as possible on our cargo business. We already have 12 planes. But we have also switched passenger planes to cargo by removing the seats. We did about 25 airplanes, so that was a significant capacity increase on our cargo at the right time. So the yields were very good. Demand was very high. So we took advantage of that opportunity at the right time.

We’ve shown agility, speed of decision-making, resilience that has helped us.

The cargo business is booming for two reasons

2) The amount of Coronavirus in Africa is not that bad. But there is a fear of Africa’s substandard health services, so African countries were very concerned that their health services would be overwhelmed by the pandemic patients. Because of this fear, they took extreme measures of blocking and closing borders. So that’s the reason they did it for too long as compared to the rest of the world, especially Europe and America, which were more moderate.

3) African airlines did not get support from their government in terms of bailout money, because the African economies were badly hit by the pandemic.

So for almost all African countries, the airlines were very unfortunate. We lost SAA, Air Mauritius and so on. Others like Kenya Airlines has also downsized significantly. Also there is no capital market in Africa, so they cannot sell bonds. They cannot borrow money from banks or from financial institutions like Europe and America.

What’s been keeping you going and how do you see yourself being positioned when things do start to improve, as they inevitably will? And in the meantime, how are you keeping the cash flowing?

TG: Firstly, the last decade in our ‘Vision 2025’ has been very good for us, both in terms of profitability and expansion, not only for our fleet, but also for human resource development. So that has put us in

So to answer your question: we have a very strong cash flow.

We are managing our cash flow within our internal resources, without any bailout money or without any borrowing for liquidity purposes, and without any layoff or any salary reductions. It is an amazing performance, but this is because we have developed an internal capacity suitable for any kind of challenge in the past 10 years.

You’ve been in China for longer than almost anybody in Africa. How’s that market going?

TG: We have been in China since 1973, so close to half a century. We gained the right strategic position when China started to invest in Africa heavily, especially in infrastructure. That created very significant passenger air cargo traffic between China and Africa. We have the largest market share between China and Africa.

Unfortunately, COVID devastated the passenger business. We have lost almost the entire passenger demand between China and Africa. Right now we are operating once a week flight to Shanghai – with a lot of restrictions. But on the cargo side, we are still very big, and it is a very significant market for us.

We have daily dedicated freighters from Shanghai,

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Ethiopian Airlines has taken great advantage of its location in the middle of the map

and 10 dedicated freighter flights a week from Guangzhou, and more than daily from Hong Kong. Then Chengdu, and Wuhan now, and Shenzhen. So we are still a very, very large operator in China. With 50 frequencies per week linking China and Africa, China and South America, and China and Europe.

What are you carrying on the freighters and the converted 777?

TG: Mainly industrial goods and products, machinery, medical supplies, medical equipment, mobile phones, batteries for mobile phones, and electronic goods of course. And from Europe, exports to China, and from China to Europe also, Chinese exports. So it’s a triangular operation, Africa, Europe, China.

It is a remarkable success story in the middle of the gloom. Are the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Free Trade

32

FlightCom Magazine

Agreement (AFTA), helpful? Is it functional, or just a wall poster?

TG: We are one of the drivers of the AFTA. From 1 January we partnered with the African Union to start the first free trade goods moving from Eswatini (Swaziland) to the rest of Africa as a show of commencement. So it is a very significant milestone, and it has been ratified by most African countries. It has been officially launched, and we are very optimistic about it. So hopefully it will improve inter-Africa trade, because right now inter-Africa trade is at very low volume. Out of the total trade between Africa and the rest of the world, only 16% is within Africa, so 84% is with the rest of the world.

institutions – started late fifties, early sixties. The European Union has achieved a lot compared to the African Union. In Europe 60% of

we have about 23% market share within Africa

I like to compare the African Union with the European Union because they are the same aged

trade is within Europe. But here it’s only 16%. So you can see how much we are lagging behind.

Yet African countries have a lot to trade among themselves. Many of them are agricultural exporters.

Some have slightly better industrial exports like South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and so on. But inter-Africa trade is very low. So AfCFTA is going to change that, but there are daunting challenges, because

Yes. For two reasons. 1) Post COVID it’s a triangular TG: the African countries will be searching for of trade, not only with their operation, Africa, opportunities traditional trading partners in Europe and China, but also within themselves and Europe, China among their peers in Africa. That is a big the tax barriers are challenging. I hope African countries will face those challenges and make progress.

As Ethiopian Airlines, we are one of the drivers. We think that trade will generate traffic, both in cargo and passengers, within Africa. We are the largest network within Africa: right now we have about 23% market share within Africa. So we see quite a bright future, especially after the coronavirus recovery.

Do you think because of Covid, that AfFTA will be accelerated?

incentive. 2) The US administration has changed. Before, globalization was having a big setback, with a lot of barriers, nationalism, and protection. In the midst of that situation, maybe African countries will fall back to their continent.

Which is another incentive for the success of AfCFTA.

There is also the currency issue. African countries will have to find a means of exchanging trade between and among themselves in their own currencies, because pegging with the Dollar and the Euro, has been a challenge. 

Using its Addis Ababa hub, Ethiopian has become the primary carrier for Intra-African trade

FlightCom Magazine

33

DEFENCE DARREN OLIVIER

While this Oryx may be ready for domestic missions , it has had its missile warning sensors removed and so cannot be used in the DRC

THE HOLLOWING OUT OF THE SAAF 34

FlightCom Magazine

Much has been written, including in this column, about the dire state that the South African Air Force (SAAF) finds itself in as a result of continuous and devastating budget cuts coupled to poor leadership choices.

I

n those analyses we usually quote various external statistics to illustrate the SAAF’s plight, such as the precipitous decline in flying hours; the number of aircraft available on the flight line and aircrew on base; and the rate of acquisitions.

However, there’s a more insidious and subtle trend that’s far more difficult to track, which is the gradual hollowing out of the SAAF’s capabilities from within, to the point where they end up being shells that look all right on paper but would not stand up to the stress of a conflict situation or major disaster.

set of equipment including all weapons interfaces, EW subsystems, and so on, for full-blown combat. In between those two extremes are the many variations for different mission types, for instance while an Oryx that’s on standby for search and rescue in the Western Cape needs to have a working hoist and IFR subsystems on top of its baseline MEL, it is not prevented from conducting those missions if its missile approach warning sensors and/or flare dispensers are unserviceable.

All air forces struggle to define, measure, and manage readiness across their fleets

None of this, it must be emphasised, is the fault of the average SAAF pilot, technician, logistician, quartermaster, instructor, or other specialists. Every indication is that the vast majority of those continue to pull magic rabbits out of hats daily, achieving levels of readiness and activity that should be impossible on the meagre budgets they’re given to work with.

The fault, instead, lies with the leadership of the SAAF, the Defence Force as a whole, the DoD Secretariat, and the Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans, who have all failed to provide the support needed by the rank and file, to implement metrics and policies that expose weaknesses and allow them to be corrected, and to treat the running of the Air Force as the solemn and crucial responsibility that it really is.

To begin, it’s important to define what readiness and availability actually mean. Surprisingly, this is more difficult than it might initially appear, to the point where even forces like the US Air Force struggle with getting it right. In the most basic terms, readiness refers to the percentage of your fleet of aircraft that are available for missions at any given time.

But readiness to perform missions is quite complicated.

First, it refers to a Minimum Equipment List (MEL) for each mission type, which could range from merely the basic equipment on an aircraft such as the engine, avionics necessary for flight, radio, etc which could be enough for local training flights, all the way up to the full

Yet were that same aircraft to be deployed to join the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then a working anti-missile system becomes mandatory and the aircraft will be grounded if that subsystem fails, even if every other component onboard is working correctly. It’s not even only components, but things like whether an aircraft is up to date with service directives or mods. Finally, depending on what mission types are defined, it may even take into account how long an aircraft’s components have before next requiring servicing. If an aircraft has a critical subsystem with 20 hours of flying time specified before it requires maintenance, and it’s being considered for a mission with 40+ hours of flying in a matter of days, is it really ready?

And this is without even speaking about aircrew, who also have differing mission capable rates depending on how recently they conducted qualification courses or refresher training in certain mission skills such as hoisting. It’s taken seriously, with an expiration triggering a mandatory re-qualification process that’s far more painful and long than refresher training. If an aircrew is not current on a skill required for a mission type, and they’re the only ones available, that aircraft is just as grounded as if it had broken down.

This complexity is why all air forces struggle to some extent to define, measure, and manage readiness across their fleets of aircraft. Each eventually muddles through to a set of compromises that they can live with, but it’s never a settled thing and is constantly being tweaked and refined.

For the USAF, the main indicator is called the Mission Capable rate, which is calculated by adding up the fully

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mission capable (FMC), partial mission capable for both maintenance and supply (PMCB), partial mission capable for maintenance (PMCM), and partial mission capable for supply (PMCS) hours that the fleet has amassed and dividing it by the total number of possessed hours.

Possessed hours refers to the total time. So, if a squadron had an aircraft for a month, that’s the full 730 hours in a month. If it was only mission ready for one week, or 168 hours, then the mission capable rate is 23%.

Notably this excludes aircraft that are at depot facilities or in depot status, and therefore temporarily not possessed by the squadron.

ever-larger number of aircrew losing currency Fully mission capable (FMC) is self-explanatory: It refers to aircraft that can fulfil all missions mandated for the type. All components and subsystems are operational, all maintenance directives and mods are up to date, and there’s enough time remaining before the next maintenance period for missions to be completed.

The others all represent readiness levels for only certain missions, but note how little information they actually provide as metrics. Sure, they tell us in extremely broad strokes why an aircraft is only partially available, such as being as a result of maintenance, but not which missions cannot be fulfilled. Is an aircraft in PMCM status combat ready? Maybe. Maybe not. Yet too often the Mission Capable rate is taken on its own as an indication of how many aircraft a squadron can deploy in combat, which is obviously impossible to rely on without further information. For that reason, the planning staff of the USAF and other air forces rely on many other indicators as well, such as mission abort rates, cannibalisation rates, timeto-deployment measurements, and the results of frequent combat exercises to achieve a broader view.

With all that in mind it is surprising, if not shocking, that the main performance indicators relied on by the SAAF’s senior staff, according to information relayed to me by multiple sources within Air Force HQ, are simply quarterly measurements of: 1. The number of serviceable aircraft available daily 2. Number of crews available daily 3. Number of flying hours These are wholly inadequate metrics by which to determine the health of an air force, especially as none measure whether aircraft are fully mission capable or merely

If all scheduled maintenance has not been done, full force readiness is not possible

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Aircraft not maintained and supported to operational readiness may soon become scrap

‘serviceable’ and able to conduct a subset of their full mission sets, and whether aircrews are current on all necessary mission skills.

Worse, as I described in the September 2020 edition of this publication, the SAAF has for years had the ability to collect much better data and have it available in real time through its operational support system OSIS, but it has neglected it so badly that it has to rely on quarterly reporting instead. OSIS, rather than driving the operational side of the SAAF, has become yet another system into which personnel grudgingly enter data too late for it to be truly useful and without much oversight or regard for accuracy.

As a result, the SAAF and SANDF’s senior leadership have reportedly been mostly unaware of the extent to which underfunding is hollowing out the SAAF’s aircraft and aircrew fleets. Every month, while aircraft appear to be serviceable and available on the flight line, they’re less mission capable, mostly because the lack of funding means unserviceable parts have to be replaced when they fail and few replacements are kept readily available in stocks to replace them.

A sharp decline in flying hours has also resulted in an everlarger number of aircrew losing currency in various skills.

All of this is largely hidden from senior staff and, most importantly, Parliament and the public because it’s not exposed in any metrics that those can see.

When metrics are inadequate, a good proxy for readiness is the holding of annual large-scale combat exercises that test all capabilities and skills, while including deployment elements to ensure that aircraft can operate away from home base. But the SAAF has not held a full combat exercise in years, with the most recent Winter Solstice field exercise having been in 2017 and even combined arms exercises like Exercise Ndlovu being severely downscaled in scope since, becoming more of a command post exercise than a field exercise. While those exercises are costly to hold, they are critical as both training aids and evaluations of readiness and capability. Every year that goes by without one being held is another opportunity for readiness levels to decline without anyone truly being aware of it.

There is no doubt that the SAAF is in serious trouble, as it has been ground down by so many years of successive budget cuts even as the requirements on it have remained constant or even in some cases grown. But we can’t begin to fix it unless both we as the public and the SAAF and SANDF’s senior leadership have access to a set of honest and useful metrics and performance indicators that truly measure what level of readiness exists. Only then can reforms and changes be attempted with confidence that we’ll be able to see whether or not they work.

Time is running out to get this right. After all, one of the hallmarks of a hollow force is that everything seems okay as long as the outer shell is not broken. The moment that happens, though, the entire thing comes falling down. 

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NEWS

FIRST PILATUS PC-24

COMMUTER DELIVERED The first PC-24 in commuter configuration has been delivered.

E

XPANDING onb the already market leading versality of its PC-24 jet, Pilatus now offers the PC-12 in a commuter configuration for up to ten passengers, delivering cost-effective corporate travel by jet to remote airfields.

Each seat is installed with a quick-release mechanism allowing easy cabin reconfiguration for all transportation requirements.

The PC-24’s payload capacity of 1,134 kilograms and standard large cargo door enable operators to load large, bulky items that no other business jet is capable of carrying with such flexibility. The cabin features a private lavatory which can be serviced from the exterior.

Unlike many other light and midsize jets in this category, the lavatory seat is not used as a passenger seat: the loss of comfort for the passenger is simply too great.

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The PC-24’s entirely flat floor also adds to comfort on long trips. Seat pitch in the commuter configuration varies from 34 (86) to 40 inches (102 centimetres).

Each seat features a side storage compartment and cup holder as well as one USB charging port. On top of that, four 115-volt power outlets in the cabin enhance in-flight productivity.

Ignaz Gretener, VP General Aviation of Pilatus commented: “The PC-24 is the only aircraft in its category to offer this level of high-capacity interior for ten passengers. All seats are forward-facing, and internal cargo space of more than 50 cubic feet (1.4 cubic metres) remains accessible in flight. We expect this configuration will prove very popular with both public and private operators requiring a cost-effective solution for frequent transportation of passengers as an alternative to sending them on the airlines.” 

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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

Alpha One Aviation Opelo 082 301 9977 on@alphaoneaviation.co.za www.alphaoneaviation.co.za

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

Flying Unlimited Flight School (Pty) Ltd Riaan Struwig 082 653 7504 / 086 770 8376 riaan@ppg.co.za C. W. Price & Co www.ppg.co.za Apco (Ptyd) Ltd Kelvin L. Price Foster Aero International AES (Cape Town) Tony/Henk 011 805 4720 Dudley Foster Erwin Erasmus + 27 12 543 0775 cwp@cwprice.co.za 011 659 2533 082 494 3722 apcosupport@mweb.co.za www.cwprice.co.za info@fosteraero.co.za erwin@aeroelectrical.co.za www.apcosa.co.za

www.fosteraero.co.za www.aeroelectrical.co.za Dart Aeronautical Aref Avionics Jaco Kelly Gemair AES (Johannesburg) Hannes Roodt 011 827 8204 Andries Venter Danie van Wyk 082 462 2724 dartaero@mweb.co.za 011 701 2653 / 082 905 5760 011 701 3200 arefavionics@border.co.za andries@gemair.co.za office@aeroelectrical.co.za Dart Aircraft Electrical www.aeroelectrical.co.za Atlas Aviation Lubricants Mathew Joubert GIB Aviation Insurance Brokers Steve Cloete 011 827 0371 Richard Turner Aerocore 011 917 4220 Dartaircraftelectrical@gmail.com 011 483 1212 Jacques Podde Fax: 011 917 2100 www.dartaero.co.za aviation@gib.co.za 082 565 2330 Sales.aviation@atlasoil.co.za www.gib.co.za jacques@aerocore.co.za www.atlasoil.africa DJA Aviation Insurance www.aerocore.co.za 011 463 5550 Gryphon Flight Academy

ATNS 0800Flying Jeffrey Von Holdt Aero Engineering & PowerPlant Percy Morokane mail@dja-aviation.co.za 011 701 2600 Andre Labuschagne 011 607 1234 www.dja-aviation.co.za info@gryphonflight.co.za 012 543 0948 percymo@atns.co.za www.gryphonflight.co.za aeroeng@iafrica.com www.atns.com Dynamic Propellers

Andries Visser Guardian Air Aero Services (Pty) Ltd Aviation Direct 011 824 5057 011 701 3011 Chris Scott Andrea Antel 082 445 4496 082 521 2394 011 395 3587 011 465 2669 andries@dynamicpropeller.co.za ops@guardianair.co.za chris@aeroservices.co.za info@aviationdirect.co.za www.dynamicpropellers.co.za www.guardianair.co.za www.aeroservices.co.za www.aviationdirect.co.za

Eagle Aviation Helicopter Division Heli-Afrique cc Aeronav Academy BAC Aviation AMO 115 Tamryn van Staden Tino Conceicao Donald O’Connor Micky Joss 082 657 6414 083 458 2172 011 701 3862 035 797 3610 tamryn@eaglehelicopter.co.za tino.conceicao@heli-afrique.co.za info@aeronav.co.za monicad@bacmaintenance.co.za www.eaglehelicopter.co.za

www.aeronav.co.za

Henley Air Blackhawk Africa Eagle Flight Academy Andre Coetzee Aeronautical Aviation Cisca de Lange Mr D. J. Lubbe 011 827 5503 Clinton Carroll 083 514 8532 082 557 6429 andre@henleyair.co.za 011 659 1033 / 083 459 6279 cisca@blackhawk.aero training@eagleflight.co.za www.henleyair.co.za clinton@aeronautical.co.za www.blackhawk.aero www.eagleflight.co.za www.aeronautical.co.za Hover Dynamics Blue Chip Flight School Elite Aviation Academy Phillip Cope Aerotric (Pty) Ltd Henk Kraaij Jacques Podde 074 231 2964 Richard Small 012 543 3050 082 565 2330 info@hover.co.za 083 488 4535 bluechip@bluechip-avia.co.za info@eliteaa.co.za www.hover.co.za aerotric@aol.com www.bluechipflightschool.co.za www.eliteaa.co.za Adventure Air Lande Milne 012 543 3196 / Cell: 066 4727 848 l.milne@venture-sa.co.za www.ventureglobal.biz

Aircraft Assembly and Upholstery Centre Border Aviation Club & Flight School Emperor Aviation Tony/Siggi Bailes Liz Gous Paul Sankey 082 552 6467 043 736 6181 082 497 1701 / 011 824 5683 anthony@rvaircraft.co.za admin@borderaviation.co.za paul@emperoraviation.co.za www.rvaircraft.co.za www.borderaviation.co.za www.emperoraviation.co.za

Aircraft Finance Corporation Breytech Aviation cc Enstrom/MD Helicopters Jaco Pietersen 012 567 3139 Andrew Widdall +27 [0]82 672 2262 Willie Breytenbach 011 397 6260 jaco@airfincorp.co.za admin@breytech.co.za aerosa@safomar.co.za www.airfincorp.co.za www.safomar.co.za Bundu Aviation Aircraft General Spares Phillip Cronje Era Flug Flight Training Eric or Hayley 083 485 2427 Pierre Le Riche 084 587 6414 or 067 154 2147 info@bunduaviation.co.za 021 934 7431 eric@acgs.co.za or hayley@acgs.co.za www.bunduaviation.co.za info@era-flug.com www.acgs.co.za www.era-flug.com Celeste Sani Pak & Inflight Products Aircraft Maintenance @ Work Steve Harris Execujet Africa Opelo / Frik 011 452 2456 011 516 2300 012 567 3443 admin@chemline.co.za enquiries@execujet.co.za frik@aviationatwork.co.za_ www.chemline.co.za www.execujet.com opelonke@aviationatwork.co.za Cape Aircraft Interiors Federal Air Aircraft Maintenance International Sarel Schutte Nick Lloyd-Roberts Pine Pienaar 021 934 9499 011 395 9000 083 305 0605 michael@wcaeromarine.co.za shuttle@fedair.com gm@aminternational.co.za www.zscai.co.za www.fedair.com Aircraft Maintenance International Wonderboom Thomas Nel 082 444 7996 admin@aminternational.co.za Air Line Pilots’ Association Sonia Ferreira 011 394 5310 alpagm@iafrica.com www.alpa.co.za

Airshift Aircraft Sales Eugene du Plessis 082 800 3094 eugene@airshift.co.za www.airshift.co.za Airvan Africa Patrick Hanly 082 565 8864 airvan@border.co.za www.airvan.co.za Algoa Flying Club Sharon Mugridge 041 581 3274 info@algoafc.co.za www.algoafc.co.za

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Cape Town Flying Club Ferry Flights int.inc.

Beverley Combrink Michael (Mick) Schittenhelm 021 934 0257 / 082 821 9013 082 442 6239 info@capetownflyingclub.co.za ferryflights@ferry-flights.com www.@capetownflyingclub.co.za www.ferry-flights.com

Capital Air Fireblade Aviation Micaella Vinagre 010 595 3920 011 827 0335 info@firebladeaviation.com micaella@capitalairsa.com www.firebladeaviation.com www.capitalairsa.com

Flight Training College Century Avionics cc Cornell Morton Carin van Zyl 044 876 9055 011 701 3244 ftc@flighttrainning.co.za sales@centuryavionics.co.za www.flighttraining.co.za www.centuryavionics.co.za

Flight Training Services Chemetall Amanda Pearce Wayne Claassens 011 805 9015/6 011 914 2500 amanda@fts.co.za wayne.claassens@basf.com www.fts.co.za www.chemetall.com

Fly Jetstream Aviation Chem-Line Aviation & Celeste Products Henk Kraaij Steve Harris 083 279 7853 011 452 2456 charter@flyjetstream.co.za sales@chemline.co.za www.flyjetstream.co.za www.chemline.co.za

Indigo Helicopters Gerhard Kleynhans 082 927 4031 / 086 528 4234 veroeschka@indigohelicopters.co.za www.indigohelicopters.co.za IndigoSat South Africa - Aircraft Tracking Gareth Willers 08600 22 121 sales@indigosat.co.za www.indigosat.co.za

Integrated Avionic Solutions Gert van Niekerk 082 831 5032 gert@iasafrica.co.za www.iasafrica.co.za International Flight Clearances Steve Wright 076 983 1089 (24 Hrs) flightops@flyifc.co.za www.flyifc.co.za Investment Aircraft Quinton Warne 082 806 5193 aviation@lantic.net www.investmentaircraft.com Jabiru Aircraft Len Alford 044 876 9991 / 044 876 9993 info@jabiru.co.za www.jabiru.co.za Jim Davis Books Jim Davis 072 188 6484 jim@border.co.za www.jimdavis.co.za

Joc Air T/A The Propeller Shop Aiden O’Mahony 011 701 3114 jocprop@iafrica.com Kishugu Aviation +27 13 741 6400 comms@kishugu.com www.kishugu.com/kishugu-aviation

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

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

United Flight Support Clinton Moodley/Jonathan Wolpe 076 813 7754 / 011 788 0813 ops@unitedflightsupported.com www.unitedflightsupport.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

FlightCom Magazine

43

CARGO

Boeing 737-300 Cargo Aircraft available for wet (ACMI) lease.

SA Flyer 2019|08

Based at OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg South Africa.

Contact: yvonne@starcargo.co.za or peter@starcargo.co.za Tel: +27 11 234 7038 www.starair.co.za

W

SA Flyer 2021| 03

N ond W EW e r e TE boo hav L: m e m +2 Air ov 7( por ed 83 t , to ) 4 Ha 42 nga 58 r 17 84

AviSys Aviation Systems is an established Maintenance Organization AMO 1089 with SA-CAA, and other African CAA accreditation to perform component maintenance and overhaul capabilities under its Category B rating. Currently, AviSys is equipped to cater for our Clients needs as per the SA-CAA Approved Capability List and Operational Specifications on the following: • Aircraft Braking Systems repair and full overhaul capability with SA-CAA Component Release to Service (Authorised Release Certificate) on the following OEM Makes; ABSC, Honeywell / Bendix, Goodrich and Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems.

• Aircraft main and nose wheel assemblies for the above makes, to repair and overhaul.

• Landing Gear Repair and Overhaul • Helicopter Servo Actuator Repair and Overhaul • Flexible Hose Build-up • Engine Fire Bottles HPT, Service, Fill and Re-charge AviSys Aviation Systems is committed to deliver Service Excellence and Quality Workmanship at market related prices, carried out with years of cumulative aviation experience in our field by means of dedicated hand-picked Staff Members.

AviSys looks forward to establish long and just relationships with our client base, in order to meet our high standards of customer satisfaction.

 '

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7 ;

Email: dewald@avisys.co.za Phone: +27 (0) 83 442 5884 Fax: +27 (0) 86 618 6996 Web: www.avisys.co.za

FlightCom Magazine

INCOME PRODUCING: Rated exceptional 9.6 on booking.com

TOP RATED GUEST HOUSE FOR SALE

R7,995,000

SIMONS TOWN LUXURY ACCOMMODATION.indd 1

8 Victory Way, Simon’s Kloof, Simon’s Town, Cape Town: A villa boasting sea views, situated 2 km from Boulders Penguin Colony in Simon’s Town, Penguin Palace is a top rated (9.6) villa on booking.com. This spectacular home has the option of buying the furniture as well as the guest house management systems - price to be negotiated when submitting an offer. There are audited turnover figures on request.

The perfect retirement opportunity!

FEATURES: • Chef’s Kitchen with gas hob • 3 expansive viewing decks • 5 rooms all with sea views and terraces • Separate Studio flat downstairs with own deck & sea views • Separate Scullery • Triple Garage • 3 off road parking bays • Inverters

www.penguinpalace.co.za 45

PENGUIN PALACE

Contact: Nicola +27 83 449 5868 | nicola@penguinpalace.co.za 8 Victory Way, Simons Kloof

FlightCom Magazine