Flightcom Magazine August 2022 by Flyer & Aviation Publications

FlightCm African Commercial Aviation

Edition 164 | August 2022

BNT INTERNATIONAL - Bridging the gap in private sectors

Compliance – Postholders

responsibility

SAAF Gripen: Problems continue 1

FlightCom: August 2022

Flying Khat

in East Africa

IATA AGM

– Africa roundup

AMO 227

FLIGHT SAFETY THROUGH MAINTENANCE

Overhaul / Shockload / Repair of Continental and Lycoming Aircraft engines

Hangar no 4, Wonderboom Airport, Pretoria PO Box 17699, Pretoria North, 0116 Tel: (012) 543 0948/51, Fax: (012) 543 9447, email: aeroeng@iafrica.com

SA Flyer 2022|08

Overhaul Engine Components Overhaul and supply of Hartzell / McCauley and Fix pitch Propellers

300 accredited journalists from across the world which included 35 international journalists

7 hangars of indoor hi-tech exhibitions enabling some 12 960m2 of stands built

62 official delegations from 33 countries 68 aircraft (civil & military) on static display 1200 pieces of media coverage about the exhibition & air show (local & international)

17 169m2 of outdoor exhibits

AAD AT A GLANCE

486 exhibitors from 40 countries 32 538 trade visitors from 112 countries 55 063 public visitors

A youth pavilion as part of the Youth Development Programme, which hosted & created awareness to 10 000 youths to careers in the aviation industry & SANDF.

Armaments Corporation of South Africa SOC Ltd

ANNIVERSARY

CONTENTS

TABLE OF 06 08 09 12 18 24 30 34 38 39 40 42

Publisher Flyer and Aviation Publications cc Managing Editor Guy Leitch guy@flightcommag.com Advertising Sales Wayne Wilson wayne@saflyermag.co.za

AUGUST 2022 EDITION 164

Bush Pilot - Hugh Pryor

Layout & Design Patrick Tillman: Imagenuity cc

ADMIN: +27 (0)83 607 2335 TRAFFIC: +27 (0)81 039 0595 ACCOUNTS: +27 (0)15 793 0708

AME Directory BNT International – Maintenance Excellence Defence - Darren Olivier Pilots - Laura McDermid Lockdown Freedom - John Bassi Industry Recovery - Roy Ezze The Regulatory Round Out - Kim Gorringe Alpi Aviation SA: Flight School Directory Atlas Oil Charter Directory AVES Technics AMO Listing Backpage Directory © FlightCom 2021. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronically, mechanically, photocopied, recorded or otherwise without the express permission of the copyright holders.

A NOTE FROM

THE EDITOR:

I arguably write an inordinate amount about SAA. The reason is because this once worldclass airline provides the spectacle of a Technicolor slow-motion train smash that has cost taxpayers billions. This train smash carries the hopes and dreams of so many of today’s youth, who have the sky in their eyes and dream of being pilots. THE PROBLEM RIGHT NOW is that SAA Version 2.0 continues to shoot itself in the foot; this despite a low level of flight operations. The latest controversy to befall the airline relates to flight SA9053 from Accra to Johannesburg. Let me take this opportunity to clear up some of the deliberate mis-information (lies) and distortions plus claims and counter-claims that swirled around after the story broke.

this flight was none other than Vusi Khumalo, who had also been the captain of the notorious Brussels vaccine flight. This was grist to the mill for all those who hate SAA and all that it represents in the public enterprises’ apocalypse. Gradually however, the most experienced airline captains quietly acknowledged that if they had been in Khumalo’s position they would not have done anything differently. The flight carried an engineer (a ‘flying spanner’) as SAA does not have engineering staff stationed at Accra. Whether the flying spanner was under pressure to sign-off the aircraft, we will probably never know. However, presumably the aircraft was actually signed-off as fit for flight. The experienced senior captains acknowledged that on that basis they would have accepted the plane – and its load of passengers.

Was there a cover up?

Was there a cover up? It took about five weeks before the media became aware of this drama - after it was exposed on social media. This led to accusations that there had been a cover up, both by SAA and the CAA. The CAA is however adamant that SAA had reported it as an incident and CAA Director Poppy Khoza claims to have logs that confirm this.

Were there passengers on board? The CAA incident report said that there was an improbable 1+1 crew and passenger on board. I checked with SAA, who confirmed that the aircraft had 184 passengers and 25 crew for a total of 209 people. Was the Captain at fault? The story was given added impetus by the admission by SAA that the captain of

This has been an enormous mess which has further sullied SAA's already compromised safety reputation. And a reputation for compromised safety is the one thing that the struggling airline just cannot afford, as passengers who have any reason to doubt an airline’s safety will simply book on another airline. And thus will SAA fail again. 

BUSH PILOT HUGH PRYOR

LOOK AT ME

M U M MY

Look at me Mummy, I'm up here. That's where it all started...up there with my head stuck out of the top of a Beech tree. High enough to be beyond reach and low enough to be seen by Mummy and other jealous members of the congregation.

HINT OF DANGER...a sniff of adventure...not too much, but just enough to elicit a barely suppressed sigh of admiration from that delightful little Annie down there. Once I was back down on the ground, I would be able to look up at the top of 'My' tree and say to myself, "I was up there!" with a barely veiled grin spreading across my face...the growing branches of a living thing having given me access to views not available to my more faint-hearted siblings.

simulator screen. It is much more interesting if you can still see the people on the ground...particularly if one of them is that delightful little Annie! There is another feature of aircraft which fascinates me in the same way that ships hold me in a state of disbelief...that is the sheer size of the big ones...to watch an enormous airliner brush its sixteen main wheels smoothly onto a runway and lower its immense nose wheel tyres gently on to the ground speaks of an intricate sensitivity to balance.

helicopters shouldn't really fly at all

The same feeling applies to aeroplanes for me. After more than 18,000 hours I am still definitely happier when I am within shouting distance of the ground.

How a tiny little ant-like creature can sit way up there in the front and have control over everything from those mighty engines to the tiniest servo tab away down the far end at the back, while supported, like a feather, by a vacuous invisible wraith of wind, defies a layman's belief.

I am used to flying over my house and shouting to my wife out of the cockpit window to ask her to come and pick me up from the airport. Once I get much above Flight level 120 I lose the sense of Flight and the view out of the window might as well be on a

A ship needs a collection of little ants to drive it, of course, but when confronted by the whole massive bulk of steel, sitting, supported solely by water...How is it possible for something with seventeen stories above the waterline and only nine below to float the

FlightCom: August 2022

LOCATION

TEL NO

E-MAIL

✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

Britz

Rudi

Wonderboom Airport

083 422 9882

rudiavmed@gmail.com

Church

Belinda

Valhalla

079 636 9860

churchbs@live.com

Du Plessis

Alexander

Athlone Park

031 904 7460

dex.duplessis@intercare.co.za

Erasmus

Philip

Benoni

011 849 6512

pdceras-ass@mweb.co.za

Govender

Deena

Umhlanga Rocks

031 566 2066/7 deena@drdg.co.za

✗ ✗

Ingham

Kenneth

Midrand

011 315 5817

kaingham@hotmail.com

✗ ✗

Marais

Eugene

Mossel Bay

044 693 1470

eugene.marais@medicross.co.za

✗ ✗

Opperman

Chris

Pretoria Lynnwood

012 368 8800

chris.opperman@intercare.co.za

✗ ✗ ✗

Tenzer

Stan

Rand Airport & JHB CBD

083 679 0777

stant@global.co.za

✗ ✗ ✗

Toerien

Hendrik

White River, Nelspruit

013 751 3848

hctoerien@viamediswitch.co.za

✗ ✗ ✗

Van Der Merwe

Johann

Stellenbosch

021 887 0305

johann.vdmerwe@medicross.co.za

FlightCom: August 2022

Other countries

FIRST NAME

EASA registered

SURNAME

FAA registered

AME Doctors Listing

Off-site Specialist tests

And helicopters?...Now they shouldn't really fly at all! In fact, I don't really understand why the whole thing doesn't just fall to pieces immediately you start the engines 

On site Specialist tests

It just doesn't seem to make sense...until you look into it a bit closer and then everything suddenly seems to be so logical...If a Piper Cub can fly, then

That does not in any way reduce my fascination with ships and aircraft. In fact, if anything it increases the feeling that there is something mysteriously miraculous about them, as though they should not really work at all.

Senior Class 1, 2, 3, 4

By the same token, how is it possible for one person, weighing less than a sack of potatoes, to lift four hundred tons into the air simply by pulling back on a stick?

an A380 can too...they are both operating in the same air, so they both need engines, they both need wings and ailerons and flaps and elevators and rudders...in fact, they are really much the same, except that one is a bit bigger and the other is more difficult to fly.

Regular Class 2, 3, 4

right way up? I remember watching one of those monsters as it passed beneath me when I stood on the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland. Suddenly I saw a tiny figure standing on the forward observation platform, by the graceful sweep of the bow. I raised a hand to greet the great ship and was duly amazed when a tiny hand was raised in acknowledgement. It was as though the minute waving arm was just confirming that this gargantuan piece of metal was built and controlled by a tiny waving hand.

✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

✗ ✗

BNT

INTERNATIONAL

– A CENTRE OF MAINTENANCE

EXCELLENCE

HE AVIATION INDUSTRY, and the airline industry in particular, has been under a huge amount of pressure over the past three years. The Covid pandemic has created an environment where only the strongest businesses can survive. Consequently, many of the weaker businesses have failed or are struggling. One of the consequences of this pressure has been a loss of institutional capacity in the industry. One of the largest single casualties of this was SAA Technical, which lost many of its most senior engineers. Bridging the gap, the private sector is

coming to the rescue of airline operators. BNT international is a leading light amongst private sector providers of key engineering services. The company was founded by CEO Paulo Mateus in 2013 and has steadily developed into an approved maintenance organization (AMO) that provides high level engineering skills essential to the ongoing operations of the African airline industry. BNT International provides seven key competencies: A wheel shop, a brake shop, a composite shop and a machine shop and safety equipment supply and

BNT has made a massive investment in equipment - such as its machine shop. FlightCom: August 2022

maintenance. The company has a complete non-destructive testing (NDT) capability. In addition, it also specialises in emergency equipment maintenance and provides a machine shop for ground equipment maintenance. BNT's NDT capabilities are particularly noteworthy. CEO Paulo Mateus points out that it is not just old aircraft which need NDT testing. South Africa’s Boeing 737-800 fleet is already 20 years old and even Boeing 737 Maxes need regular NDT testing. The company has made the substantial investment in capital and skills to provide all five types of NDT. These are: Ultra sonic testing, eddy current, dye penetration, magnetic particle inspection and X-rays. The company has made a matching investment in skills development and has NDT Technicians qualified in Level 1 and 2 as well as Level 3 Certification under African NDT, being the standards and quality supervisors for the entire process. A further competency of BNT is the maintenance and provision of emergency equipment. The company specialises in the provision and refurbishment of life vests and rafts as well as escape slides.

10 FlightCom: August 2022

BNT has specialist skills - such as this wheel shop.

BNT services emergency equipment.

Yet another core competency is the maintenance of oxygen cylinders, fire extinguishers as well as regulator overhauls. This requires an ability to provide hydrostatic testing of the bottles and the regulators. BNT’s comprehensive range of high level skills and its investment in capital-intensive testing equipment gives the South African aviation industry a solid grounding in terms of its capacity to maintain aircraft as the fleet ages, particularly across Africa with its challenges in raising both capital and finance for aircraft replacement. j

SA Flyer 2022|08

Your one-stop-shop for repairs and overhauls of aviation rotables and special processes. ü ü ü ü

Quality Safety Service Excellence Honest pricing

Aviation Services § Wheel overhaul and Repair Services § Brake Overhaul and Repair Services § Non-Destructive Testing on Aircraft § Hydro Static Testing on Pressure Vessels § Oxygen Cylinders and Fire Extinguishers § Safety Equipment § Ground Support Equipment § Composite Repairs § Aircraft Weighing - Aircrafts up to 60 000kg

Contact us: Tel: +27 11 395 1677 / +27 10 110 7230 Website: www.bnt-int.co.za Physical Address: Denel North Entrance, Building D3, 131 Atlas Road, Bonaero Park, 1619 Satellite Facility: Hangar 3, Safair Precinct, 1 Northern Perimeter Road, Bonaero Park, 1619 Postal Address: PO Box 7300, Bonaero Park, 1622

AMO 1288 11

FlightCom: August 2022

DEFENCE DARREN OLIVIER

SAAF GRIPENS

– KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD By the time this issue is published the South African Air Force (SAAF) will have been without an air combat capability for more than a year.

TS FLEET OF GRIPENS, the sole fighter aircraft in operation with the service, have been grounded since mid-August 2021 when budget cuts and disagreements over contract terms resulted in the support contracts with Saab and GKN being allowed to lapse. Without support contracts in place, or adequately certified workarounds, the SAAF’s Military Airworthiness Board cannot issue or renew approvals for flight.

There’s no way to put a positive spin or brave face on this situation. It’s disastrous. For a year the country has been without any air defence capability whatsoever. And yet its leadership have complacently stood by with no apparent sense of urgency while a critical strategic capability acquired at great cost has fallen apart. One would have thought that those in positions of power would have been moving heaven and earth to resolve the situation. Delaying Gripen maintenance will result in even greater costs - and sooner obsolesence .

12 FlightCom: August 2022

Of course, the SAAF and Armscor (as the procurement agency) haven’t been entirely idle, and have been engaged in back and forth negotiations with both Saab and GKN to try find a workable solution that fits within the SAAF’s pitiful budget allocation, yet still provides the necessary level of support to keep these highly complex aircraft flying. But progress has been slow, suffocated by red tape and indecision at the highest levels, and characterised by stop-start spurts of activity and waiting that have wasted crucial time. Worse, those negotiations have been taking place since early 2021, long before the contract was due to lapse and providing plenty of time to avoid the situation. At the most basic level, the cause is simple: The SAAF’s Combat Systems directorate has an annual budget of just over R300 million, which is ludicrously inadequate to maintain even a single modern fighter squadron, let alone a squadron of Hawk Mk120 fighter-trainers alongside it. Benchmarking that against similar fighter squadrons around the world shows that an annual budget of R1 billion is needed just to maintain a basic capability level, with R3 billion or so a year needed for full operational capability and utilisation.

procurement regulations, even though there aren’t any local companies that could perform any of the work required. At best, it would mean some local company acting entirely as a rent seeker, placing orders with Saab and GKN for spare parts and adding its own mark up on top while adding no value and harming what’s already a low margin contract. This type of requirement is a problem that has increasingly crept into service and support contracts for key SANDF systems, even when the OEM is the only possible supplier, making maintenance costs much higher than they need to be and contributing to low availability of these critical systems. There are now questions being raised inside SANDF HQ about whether Armscor continues to be an enabler of the SANDF, or has become a harmful hindrance. That distrust played its part in delaying these negotiations too.

the realm of fantasy and magical thinking

Expecting things to work with just R300-400 million a year falls in the realm of fantasy and magical thinking, not sound governance. Add to that the chronic indecision plaguing the SANDF and indeed South Africa as a whole of late, increasing red tape around procurement, and the misapplication of preferential procurement regulations to strategic defence contracts that clearly can’t support them, and it’s no surprise things have reached this point. Absurdly, according to people familiar with the negotiations, much of the time was wasted by Armscor’s insistence on applying the 30% local content requirement from the preferential

Despite these constraints earlier this month, all sides finally reached a breakthrough and agreed, in principle and after a number of proposals and revisions, to a new three year support contract that almost fits within the pre-defined budget and provides a limited return to service. It’s not perfect, for either side, but it’s at least a way forward and buys a bit more time. At the time of going to press, however, it seems that neither the airframe contract with Saab nor the engine contract with GKN have yet been finalised, signed, and paid for. This was despite an assurance provided by military leadership to the news programme Carte Blanche in June that the situation had been resolved. Worse, even if all outstanding contracts are signed today, it will take many months for the first aircraft to return to the air after all the necessary maintenance and checks have been completed. It will take just as long for air and ground crews to regain their currencies and qualifications, as none have been able to preserve them over a grounding this extensive. It hasn’t even been possible for pilots to continue training on the two simulators in

FlightCom: August 2022

SAAF Gripens have unique and expensive to maintain features such as these gravity refuelling points.

the Squadron Level Mission Trainer (SqLMT) at AFB Makhado, because those fall under the same contract and have not been operational either. They need relatively substantial upgrades in any case.

key obsolescence issues been addressed, so the SAAF is going to be faced with another budget crisis on the Gripens when it next needs to renew the contract. That time it may be impossible to resolve.

While an attempt was made to keep 2 Squadron’s aircrews actively flying by re-allocating most of them to fly Hawks Mk120s at 85 Combat Flying School, that’s been only partially successful owing to inadequate funding and the resulting low availability of the Hawk fleet too, with only four aircraft available on most days. It’s also not possible to use Hawks to preserve Gripen proficiency, only to preserve some fast jet and combat tactics skills.

To understand why these contracts are so crucial, it’s necessary to know what they cover and how they work. Formally speaking, Saab, Armscor, and the SAAF refer to these as steady state support contracts, meaning that they’re intended to maintain an existing capability rather than establish new capabilities or perform substantial upgrades. There are two main contracts, the steady state support contract with Saab, which is commonly referred to as the ‘airframe’ contract, and a similar one with GKN (the OEM of the RM12 engine in the Gripen) to maintain engines.

only a token force can be restored

Realistically, the SAAF won’t have any real fighter capability before 2023 at the earliest, and only for a handful of aircraft at first. There is also now no hope of returning to the capability levels and numbers that 2 Squadron had before the grounding, and at best only a token force can be restored by 2024/2025 under current funding levels. Nor have

14 FlightCom: August 2022

As with most similar traditional support contracts, these contain two types of support: Activities, products, and services covered in part or in full as

part of the annual contract cost and those that need to be purchased and paid for on an on demand basis through separate Work Authorisation requests, with the contract defining the terms and process under which those orders will be made. As an example, air forces will usually include most baseline items, like configuration management, technical maintenance publications, and map updates, as part of the annual contract cost so as to ensure predictability and security of supply. Items that might be needed on an unscheduled basis or not needed as often, such as certain types of spare parts or repairs, might then be excluded from the main contract to save on annual costs. It’s always a complex exercise to get the balance right, as leaving too many items out of the main contract and into the on-demand portion can end up costing you far more over the life of the contract. It’s also risky from an availability point of view as those on-demand repairs and spare part orders have long lead times and little guarantee on delivery dates, meaning you could have aircraft grounded for months if you can’t carry enough spare parts inventory to cover for those delays.

To be clear, integrated support contracts are expensive, trading cost for predictable availability and consistent upgrades. The Swedish Air Force’s support contract with Saab for its two remaining Gripen C/D squadrons comes to over R1 billion a year. In contrast, the annual portion of the airframe support contract for the SAAF is expected to be around R200-250 million a year. Even that may yet turn out to be unaffordable. But in order to fit the annual cost within that limited budget, the revised SAAF Gripen contract apparently covers only the most crucial items, leaving almost everything else including training, upgrades, most spares, and certain types of maintenance as services to be procured and paid for separately as needed. It’s a high-risk gamble by the SAAF, betting that enough things will go right and it might be able to shift budgets around as needed for the most critical items, but it’s a shortterm strategy that will prevent 2 Squadron from reaching proper operating capacity and will cause severe maintenance delays.

the two simulators are not operational either

For this reason many countries have been moving toward integrated support contracts that guarantee a certain minimum level of availability and cover all aircraft management, spares, spiral upgrades, etc in a single annual payment. That’s the model nearly all of its other Gripen C/D customers use, which is why it was so much easier for them to upgrade from the MS19 baseline to MS20, and it’s a model the SAAF initially requested as part of its RFP for Project Ukhozi but subsequently abandoned in favour of a traditional support model with upgrades bought separately. Yet it has never had sufficient funding to implement most of those upgrades, including MS20, which has increased maintenance costs over time.

Worse, the SAAF’s Gripen C/D fleet is on a unique baseline from all other Gripens around the world. Not only are its aircraft still on MS19, but the SAAF has fitted unique electronic warfare, refuelling, and other components to its aircraft. It also has a custom logistics system, including integration with other systems like OSIS and its own technical publications format. Even the ejection seats are no longer at the same baseline as other Gripens, having been modified under Project Mothusi. There was a significant extra cost in the support contract that was dedicated to just maintaining the separate SAAF baseline, and included things like keeping people staffed at Saab just because they were skilled at maintaining some or other component or subsystem that other Gripen operators no longer used.

FlightCom: August 2022

The SAAF Gripens have custom mods on their ejection seats.

In 2018 I spoke to Mats Lundberg, then Saab’s programme manager for South Africa, to discuss this issue and Saab’s ongoing campaign to get the SAAF to purchase the MS20 upgrade in order to reduce the baseline difference and save on maintenance and support costs. He predicted that it would not be too long before the cost of the support contract became too costly for the SAAF to afford, even if Saab took virtually no margin on it. That turned out to be prophetic; that upgrade never happened, and according to those same people familiar with the negotiations, the SAAF has even had to exclude a number of those custom systems from the new contract while hoping it could somehow fix that later. It’s just more kicking the can down the road. Hope is not a strategy, and the budget crisis facing the SANDF is no longer something that we can pretend is a temporary state that will soon end. It’s time to wake up to that fact and start making serious proposals and plans on how to still preserve the most crucial capabilities while disbanding and dismantling anything and everything else. It will leave us weaker as a country, but at this point that’s inevitable anyway.

BUMPPPFFF:

16 FlightCom: August 2022



A321neo vs B737-10 in a nutshell.

NEWS

WORK FROM HOME

AFFECTS AIRLINES Qatar Airways' CEO says a work-from-home "epidemic" is contributing to the travel chaos. PEOPLE ARE MAKING EASY MONEY working from home and don't want to return to their jobs, Akbar Al Baker, the CEO of Qatar Airways said. "We face the same problem in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany," Al Baker said at the Farnborough Airshow. "So it is actually an epidemic in our industry. This all happened because people learned to get easy money from working out of their homes, and fewer people now want to come and do the jobs that they were doing," he said. Al Baker's comments came amid a summer travel season with flight delays and chaos across the industry — and particularly in Europe — as demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Issues faced by airlines include staff shortages and bad weather. To contain the chaos, London Heathrow Airport started limiting passengers flying out from the facility to 100,000 a day. A global aviation hub, Heathrow was the busiest airport in Europe before the pandemic. Al Baker, who is a Heathrow board member, declined to comment on the situation at the airport directly. But he told Bloomberg in an earlier interview at the airshow that Heathrow should have anticipated the situation. 



Akbar Al Baker blames work from home for airport chaos.

FlightCom: August 2022

PILOTS LAURA MCDERMID

MY LIFE AS A

DRUG RUNNER

Laura McDermid continues her series on the remarkable exploits of Iris McCallum UNICEF finally came to the realization that STOL aircraft such as the Twin Otter were better suited than the Cessna 402s when flying remote missions in East Africa, and as a result, they terminated their contract with SafariAir in 1989.

HIS MEANT THAT MY best friend Heather Stewart and I were back at Wilson Airport in Nairobi doing scheduled flights into the Serengeti. Initially, this was a welcome reprieve from the stress of flying assignments that we often risked our lives for, but it soon lost its allure. Kenya had become a soughtafter destination following the movies Out of Africa and White Mischief, the latter glorifying the hedonistic exploits of British expatriates living in Kenya in the 1940s. We were the romantic gateway to crystal decanters set on crisp white linen against a backdrop of misty emerald valleys teeming with game.

By that stage in my life, flying had become something of a routine. The wonder of my first exhilarating hours of flight had become lost in the many thousands of hours I had spent earning a living at the controls of a plane. I suppose I could have walked away and not had to worry about the weather, the night flights, the difficult landings on bush strips, and the demanding passengers. I could go somewhere far from Africa and never look at an airport again. So why didn’t I?

Smoke was coming out of the left wing

When we weren’t managing the ridiculous expectations of starry-eyed clients, we were flying great white hunters on missions to track down enormous ivory tusks that only existed in the realms of their fevered imaginations.

18 FlightCom: August 2022

The reality is that aviation ran in my veins as sure as my life blood did. I was addicted as much to the art of flying as I was to the soul of Africa. However, the time had come to move on to the next adventure. CMC Aviation was the Piper aircraft agent in East Africa and they had an aircraft engineer called Himat Vaghela. He was one of those rare, easy-going people, who despite their extensive knowledge,

Trusty Piper Chieftain 5Y-ROH.

remained friendly and humble. He treated me as an equal and his advice always proved invaluable. He was my ‘favourite engineer’ and I was his ‘favourite pilot’ and it wasn’t long before he acquired his PPL. This gave him an edge over his competitors as he had more insight and empathy into pilots’ woes! Himat struck out and formed his own company, Capital Air Lines. He started off by leasing a Piper Navajo 5Y-KDO, and two Piper Chieftain’s 5Y-ROH and 5Y-SMR. Once up and running he approached me to freelance for him and I accepted without a moment’s hesitation. One of the biggest and most lucrative businesses in Kenya at the time was the transportation of miraa khat, a plant that flourishes on hills at high altitudes.

In the Horn of Africa, khat is a regular part of life, often consumed at social gatherings or in the morning before work and by those wishing to stay awake, such as students and long-haul truck drivers. The leaves and buds are chewed like tobacco or are brewed as tea. It produces feelings of euphoria and alertness that can verge on mania and hyperactivity, depending on the variety and freshness of the plant. Dozens of planes full of khat were flown to the north easternmost region of Kenya bordering Somalia each day, where the leaves were promptly sold before they lost their potency. When khat leaves dry, the more potent chemical decomposes within 48 hours. Thus, the fresh leaves and stems are packed in plastic bags or wrapped in banana leaves to preserve their moisture.

Northern Kenya near Garba Tula.

FlightCom: August 2022

PILOTS We all had our ‘own’ Somali trader. Ibrahim Sheik would meet me every day before dawn at Wilson Airport with a truck loaded with khat. The passenger seats from the Pipers were removed and every inch of the plane’s cavity would be stuffed with the herbaceous plant. Once full we would fly the three hours to Mandera, where Ibrahim would begin haggling with the prospective buyers. The first loads to arrive always got the best prices and as a result, we made sure to be there early. “As-Salam Alaykum! Very fresh, very special leaves. You taste? You like?…how many dollar you pay”? Ibrahim would start the process until every last leaf was sold.

20 FlightCom: August 2022

On the return trip the trucks were filled with bags of counterfeit blue jeans and T-shirts, which in turn were stuffed into the plane, and Ibrahim and I would fly back to Nairobi where the process was repeated. Himat and I flew these trips on a rotational basis. I had just completed my stint and was at home when Maggie the PA phoned.

“What took you so long Cuddles?”

The khat was loaded back onto trucks; some were distributed locally to stallholders at the markets in Mandera, whereas others made the journey across

Himat Vaghela.

the border into Somalia.

“Iris, we just got word from a pilot who saw Himat go down somewhere in the bush near Garba Tula. He gave a rough description of the location but we need you to find him as the local authorities are unable to assist”.

Himat had been scheduled to fly to Mandera that morning but both our Chieftain’s were at CMC Aviation for various reasons. They offered us another Chieftain, 5Y-BGO, which was also in the

Khat vendors in Mandera.

process of being serviced, but they promised to have it ready for his flight.

spot on my map, I descended as low as was practical and began to fly a grid.

I raced to Wilson where I found the Navajo 5Y-KDO, ready at the refuelling bay. It had been at least three hours since he had taken off. I packed the first aid kit as well as a flask of water and his favourite sweet, milky chai tea.

My hungry eyes soon picked out wisps of oily black smoke. A flash of reflected sunlight revealed the wreck of the Chieftain partially hidden by a thicket of trees and I recognized the luminous orange of Himat’s bomber jacket.

“What is the exact time you received the emergency call from Himat?” I asked Maggie.

Good man had the sense to turn his jacket inside out! I waggled my wings and flew low over the wreck, indicating that I’d seen him. I circled the area, making mental notes of the features, and the shapes of the hills and trees, and headed to the Garba Tula airstrip.

Good man had the sense to turn his jacket inside out!

I laid my 1/2,000,000 map on the table and based on his takeoff time and the time he made the radio call, as well as the info from the other pilot, I circled an area.

The semi-desert in northern Kenya is a vast and featureless grassland interspersed with shrubs and thickets of dry forest. Once I reached the designated

Maggie had organised ground support, and three armed policemen and three Samburu trackers were waiting for me in a 7-ton truck. Admittedly not the ideal bush vehicle, but it would have to do!

FlightCom: August 2022

PILOTS Evergreen khat bushes in East Africa.

22 FlightCom: August 2022

I sat up front next to Sergeant Maclear Ngombo, the others in the back clutching the first aid kit, the refreshments, and the rifles. We headed off in the direction of the wreck, bumping along goat paths and dry river beds. Every now and then a shifta (bandit) would break from his hiding place and run like hell in the opposite direction to our travel; convinced that the police had come for him!

Fearing being burnt alive, Himat scrambled out of the plane, an excruciating exercise due to a damaged right ankle and severe whiplash. He narrowly managed to escape before the first blast.

We drove until the bush became impenetrable after which we proceeded on foot.

I examined his leg. He had the sense to keep his boots on, the area above the shoe on his right leg was badly swollen, the skin stretched taut and shiny like that of an over-ripe plum. I gave him something for the pain and with a person on either side of him, Himat was man-handled back to the truck.

“Himat; Himaaat; Himaaaat”. we shouted, punctuating our shouts with occasional gunfire.

It took us twice as long to get back, stopping often to swop men and to catch our breath.

The midday heat was so stifling that even the incessant buzzing of cicadas had stopped. We had been walking for an hour when we heard the faint cries.

During a break, Sergeant Maclear appeared in front of me clutching a small bunch of wildflowers he had picked to show his gratitude for finding Himat. A big black man holding a delicate bunch of flowers in one hand and a rifle in the other was so incongruous that it would have been comical had the situation not been so dire.

“Help me……hellllpppp”. We followed the sound and found an exhausted but relieved Himat slumped in the shade of a tree.

convinced that the police had come

“What took you so long Cuddles?” He tried to smile but the ashy tone of his skin betrayed the pain he was in. He accepted the proffered flask gratefully and gulped down the sweet chai tea. Bolstered by the shot of sugar, the story slowly unfolded. The Chieftain’s left engine began running rough above no-man’s land before it finally quit. Despite full power, the right engine couldn’t maintain the plane’s altitude. Himat knew he’d have to land but there was approximately 1000L of fuel on board and the Piper would likely explode if it came down hard. He chose the only open area and deliberately stalled the aircraft in an attempt to prevent flying into the surrounding trees.

We finally took off for Wilson Airport at 17h30, a full 12 hours after Himat’s departure earlier on that day. Back in Nairobi, an ambulance was waiting to take him to the hospital. He had suffered extensive damage to the ankle and was wheeled into theatre that evening to have it operated on. Himat credits me for saving his life, but I don’t see it that way. We all needed each other in different ways. Himat saved me from a life of tedium and provided me with a different opportunity. In Africa, people learn to serve each other. They live on credit balances of little favours that they give and may, someday, ask to have returned. 

Despite the gentle landing, smoke was coming out of the left wing.

FlightCom: August 2022

BY JOHN BASSI

When visiting Cape Town the first thing anybody notices is the mountain. A concave, sheer wall of rock 1085 metres high, usually shrouded in a table cloth or orographic cloud.

TRONG WINDS UPLIFT moist air from the Atlantic which condenses as it cools. Deep vertical ravines over 1000 feet high cut into the cliffs, narrow rock ledges run in bands parallel to each other covering the mountains, and caves lurk in impossibly remote areas. Vicious turbulence with wind gusts exceeding 100kmph are not uncommon, and even a light breeze accelerates into downdraughts and turbulence that only the falcons can manage to fly in. This is definitely not helicopter friendly terrain.

“Well, from most observations they prefer the higher cliff faces. They use the narrow ledges to move around and when disturbed they literally run vertically down the cliff face into the forest.”

This is not helicopter friendly terrain

You can imagine what went through my mind when I got the request: “Okay, so, John, we need to capture and fit satellite and GPS tracking collars onto 12 or more Tahrs on Table Mountain. We are wondering if you have any ideas on how we can do this?”

24 FlightCom: August 2022

“Where do these goats like to live and hide?” I asked, feeling half excited but mostly incredulous.

“And you want to capture, and somehow recover not one but twelve?” I replied with wide eyes.

Initially I thought that this was an impossible idea. It had never been done on Table Mountain, because it was such a dangerous, hostile environment. But the country and world was in lockdown, this was a ticket to ultimate adventure and freedom and a real challenge. I was most definitely up for the task. All I had to do was study these animals, study the weather, think out the box and put together a very small, professional and crazy team.

Initial recce flight along the front face of Table Mountain.

FlightCom: August 2022

On the north western corner of Table Mountain’s flat top is a little knob. It looks like a pimple from far, but once you get closer you will see that it is the Upper Cable Way Station. Monster invisible cables and a series of power lines are suspended down the mountains face. On the back face, or eastern, Newlands side, massive forests carpet the lower slopes which then rise vertically 2500 feet. And this is the home of the Tahr, a bit like a mountain goat with a lion's mane.

few. Also in this mix are other animals which are not South African but actually south east Asian such as the Samba deer and the Himalayan mountain goat, or Tahr as it is called here.

Table Mountain is famous for its views, and for the many species of plant and animals that live on it. In all, there are 1470 species of plants growing just on these mountains, more or less the same number as can be found in the whole of the United Kingdom.

Tahrs live on the upper reaches of Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles. They are territorial and do not cohabit with the other local antelope found on the mountain. Fascinating as these shaggy mammals may be, however, their exotic nature poses serious challenges for the natural biodiversity and fragile ecosystem of the mountain. They contribute to the loss of endemic plant life and soil erosion through heavy foraging and over-grazing, and their aggressive species presence threatens that of the klipspringer.

The mountain is not only home to plants, but also a number of wild animals such as the hyrax, rock rabbit, Cape grysbok, klipspringer, caracal, grey mongoose, porcupines and baboons to mention a

A strange thought: a Himalayan mountain goat on Table Mountain? The tahrs came to South Africa at the turn of the last century (1900s) and were introduced by Cecil John Rhodes. The story goes Typical Tahr habitat. The satellite collar and identification ear tags can be seen.

26 FlightCom: August 2022

An adult male tahr hiding inside a crack on a cliff face. The dart can be seen near his hip. The biggest challenge would be to offload the vet safely on the cliffs.

that two tahrs lived in the now-defunct Groote Schuur Zoo close to the Rhodes memorial until 1936 when they “escaped” and found their way on to the mountain. The surrounding terrain was so similar to that of their native Himalayas that they thrived, and have been up there for more than 86 years now. It is not just alien invasive animals that threaten the natural biodiversity of this world heritage site, but there is also alien vegetation that outperforms the fynbos. This too is being targeted to “clean up” the mountain.

Cape Nature Conservation officials have decreed that the tahrs endanger the local plant life on the mountain, causing erosion as well as endangering the antelope that are endemic to Cape Town and so have to be removed. In the process of eradication of the tahr which started in May 2000, approximately half of the population has been removed. Like many introduced species, the tahr's impact on native plants was never considered: its hardy constitution means it can live off just about any vegetation, and - given it has no natural predators here - its spread is only really limited by its breeding cycle.

FlightCom: August 2022

This has caused a furore as the nature lovers in SA believe that as the animals have been here for so long, they should be allowed to stay. The good thing is that the killing has stopped for the present. Ironic when you consider that the tahr has nearly become extinct in the Himalayas, although there is a small population of them in New Zealand where they have also been culled extensively. There have been a number of plans discussed to try and rescue the last of the Cape Town population. One of the suggestions is to catch all the remaining tahrs and relocate them back to the Himalayas. The big problem with this idea is of course, FINANCE, followed by a second but just as difficult one, the practical capture of the tahrs. They are also so genetically inbred that no one wants them. If anyone knows Table Mountain and what the sandstone cliffs look like, then you will appreciate the difficulty capturing wild goats on the cliffs of the mountain.

28 FlightCom: August 2022

It had been proposed that a helicopter and netgun be used in the capture of these hardy animals. Not only would the idea be extremely dangerous, but the chances are that the net shot from a helicopter would knock the tahr off the cliffs and to its death far below. Not to mention how would a person be able to recover a netted, angry goat on a sheer cliff face. Netguns have already been used to catch and relocate numerous tahrs in New Zealand, where a similar issue exists. But this method is by no means without its challenges. As the animals move incredibly quickly across steep rock banks and cliff faces, tracking them is a dangerous undertaking for helicopter pilots – and the tahrs. The time had come, that huge flat mountain and I were about to get to know each other, but I was under no illusion that I would need to tread carefully. Our crew was ready, the unknown lay waiting. 

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FlightCom: August 2022

BY ROY EZZE

WHAT DOES AFRICA REQUIRE TO DRIVE

AVIATION INDUSTRY

RECOVERY?

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) 78th AGM in Doha stirred confidence over industry recovery from COVID-19, while also raising hopes that current industry challenges are surmountable.

OWEVER IN AFRICA, according to IATA, lower vaccination rates have slowed the air travel recovery. Africa’s net losses for 2022 are forecast by IATA to be $0.7 billion, while “demand (RPKs) is expected to reach 72.0% of pre-crisis (2019) levels, and capacity 75.2%.” For most other world regions, however, demand and capacity are forecast to rise above 8090% in 2022 overall.

Ethiopia $75million. A manager of Asky said the airline has to; “find creative ways of making the blocked funds in Nigeria useful” for the airline. For the global recovery, IATA Director General and CEO Willie Walsh spoke confidently about the industry recovery, projecting that the industry would achieve profitability in 2023, and Africa could be looking at recovery in 2024.

Airlines outside Africa are already experiencing recovery

Africa’s slow recovery is further compounded by high costs of operation including rising jet fuel prices, the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war, high taxes, charges and fees as well as other challenges in Africa’s difficult operating environment. Notably, twelve African States have been identified by IATA to be blocking about $1billion airline funds. Nigeria is blocking $450million, Zimbabwe $100million and Algeria $96million, Eritrea $79 million and

30 FlightCom: August 2022

Airlines outside Africa are already experiencing recovery. Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said his airline has made 1.5 USD billion profit, and is looking to increased profitability. Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue and Chair of IATA Board of Governors, says there is a lot of pent-up demand which will fuel recovery of airlines going forward. For Mehmet Tevfik, Chairperson of the Board and Managing Director of Pegasus

The IATA AGM in Doha produced a very impressive line-up of top speakers, here moderated by CNN's Richard Quest.

Airlines, recovery started faster than expected, as Pegasus Airlines looks forward to hosting the 79th IATA AGM in Ankara, Turkey June 4-6, 2022. As the COVID-19 restrictions ease, airlines are returning to their long-haul routes to Africa, which explains the surge in Africa’s long-haul market. Qatar Airways, for instance, now operates into four airports in Nigeria, including Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano. It operates two daily flights from Lagos, Nigeria’s and West Africa’s most populous and largest economic hub. The airline and several other foreign airlines including Emirates, Air France/KLM, Turkish Airlines, among others, fly multiple frequencies to numerous African cities. IATA says Africa has re-established connectivity with the rest of the world better than within the continent itself.

However, just a few African carriers, including Ethiopian, EgyptAir and Royal Air Maroc are leading African airlines’ reciprocity and interconnectivity with other continents. Others without long-haul capacity are focusing on domestic and regional flights within Africa facing various forms of restrictions, while several other African airlines have been forced to cease operations. African airlines now, as always, face a disadvantage competing with their foreign counterparts. With this situation, foreign airlines are increasingly establishing partnerships with especially cashstrapped or otherwise weak African airlines that have good potential to strengthen the foothold of these foreign airlines in Africa.

FlightCom: August 2022

SAATM – Single African Air Transport Market Mr. Rodger Foster, CEO of Airlink, like his Air Peace counterpart, Allen Onyema, lamented the challenges of poor market access still perpetrated in Africa despite the signing of the SAATM by 35 States. He expressed confidence that his airline, which recently celebrated 30 years of operation, will drive connectivity beginning with the Southern Africa region.

Kamil Al-Awadhi, IATA's Regional VP, Africa & Middle East, believes the liberalisation of air transport in Africa would bring huge benefits to Africa and its airlines, a conviction shared by most African airline CEOs. It appears the major hurdle to SAATM is the prohibitive operating conditions including high charges on African airlines that fly into various African States. Foster further said these challenges are well known, emphasising that regional bodies including the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA), and IATA among others must continue advocacy to ensure States grant traffic rights with favourable operating conditions to African airlines under the SAATM framework.

IATA reported that; “The cargo business is doing well already..

Already covering 45 destinations, Foster said Airlink’s cautious expansion strives to enhance interconnectivity in the region, and further reach over to other African regions. Airlink and South African Airways are looked upon to fill the gaps left by the fall of Comair, Mango Airlines and South African Express Airways, among other regional carriers in Southern Africa.

Ms Güliz Öztürk, CEO of Pegasus Airlines, was awarded the “Inspirational Role Model Award” at the IATA AGM.

32 FlightCom: August 2022

Cargo IATA reported that; “The cargo business is doing well already, operating 9% above pre-crisis levels in Africa, and in the Middle East 18%,” adding that “despite economic challenges, cargo volumes are expected to set a record high of 68.4 million tonnes in 2022.” However, Africa faces challenges in terms of low volumes of cargo exports, which the region must address through the full operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which would boost production, and the implementation of the SAATM which would grant air access for African airlines to move cargo easily around the continent.

Lithium Batteries

Mr. Walsh said SAF provides a remarkable investment opportunity for Africa. Discussions in Doha also called for incentives from governments for investors to develop SAF as well as acceptable standards and data collection to ensure the integrity of SAFs to be produced.

Back To The Future Elijah Chingosho, DG of Zimbabwe Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Abderahmane Berthe, Secretary General of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), and Aaron Munetsi, President of Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) who joined the global airlines in Doha, strongly charged African States to tear down non-physical barriers and allow the SAATM take effect for Africa’s benefit.

being pressured to reduce emissions

The challenge of transporting lithium batteries also drew concern at the AGM in Doha. Such batteries could cause disaster for airlines, according to Akbar Al Baker, Group CEO of Qatar Airways. Though he said lithium batteries are being carried safely on airlines, he warned that undeclared and illegal carriage of lithium batteries on-board aircraft could cause safety challenges. Willie Walsh called on governments to step up efforts to improve regulation on lithium batteries.

Africa’s recovery would be achieved through innovative business leadership, industry collaboration, and more importantly government action to remove barriers to industry recovery including travel restrictions.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel – SAF

As global airlines head towards the 79th IATA AGM in Ankara in June 2022, the question would be how much of the impediments within Africa have been resolved, and how much of recovery will Africa have made. 

The aviation industry, which produces just 2.5% of global emissions, is being pressured to reduce emissions; and early development of sustainable and affordable SAFs could quicken this process. Africa is said to have the potential to develop and become a global supplier of SAF. Already, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is working with a number of African States for possible development of feed stock and the requisite technology for SAF production in the continent.

One good take-away from the Doha AGM is that, as Willie Walsh emphasised, the global response to health and other challenges should have input from the aviation industry. And, with the benefit of past experiences, the industry now knows what to do in future crises, and only needs to respond quicker.

FlightCom: August 2022

ACCOUNTABILITY

RESPONSIBILITY OF POST HOLDERS

AND

On 18 April 2022, the Director of Civil Aviation (DCA) circulated a letter to all Accountable Managers and Approval Holders, expressing concern over the number of recent incidents involving the airline and general aviation sectors. The letter especially reminded the aforementioned post holders “…of their responsibilities as dictated by the Civil Aviation Regulations.”

HE DCA, MS POPPY KHOZA, also mentioned that various safety audits conducted on operators indicated “…a common denominator of recent staff reductions, cost cutting measures and reduced operations, all of which had impacted on the implementation of the safety management and quality assurance systems.” She sent out a clear message that any compromise in aviation safety was nonnegotiable and that a commitment to safety had to show in the way air service operations were managed.

For many years, ICAO had no requirements regarding management responsibilities within air service operators. In the 1990s, South Africa, by way of the air service licensing legislation, enacted its own requirements for four management positions, namely CEO, Responsible Person Flight Operations, Responsible Person Aircraft and Air Safety Officer.

overall account abilit y cannot be delegated

In light of this letter, it seems apt to review how management responsibility and accountability for

34 FlightCom: August 2022

post holders has evolved over the past 30 years and how the current prescribed safety and compliance management structures are supposed to look and operate.

License holders were required to submit a

A simple yet key question that should not need a CAA audit to answer.

“Management Plan” to the Councils providing the names, qualifications and experience of these post holders as well as a signed statement of responsibility and accountability for each incumbent. Whenever a responsible person was replaced by a licensee, the Councils needed to be notified of the change and theoretically approve the new appointee. However, as there were no prescribed character, qualification or experience requirements, the councils had limited ability to reject unsuitable personnel.

121. 06.2(5) in 2011 which prescribes that an AOC holder must appoint eight post holders who meet the experience and qualification requirements set out in the CATS. The eight prescribed positions are the CEO/Accountable Manager, Person Responsible Flight Operations, Person Responsible Aircraft and the Chief Pilot, Cabin Crew Manager Air Safety Officer, Quality Manager and Security Manager.

management need to fulfil their safet y res pons ibilities

Around 2010, ICAO introduced standards for Air Operator Certification requiring operators to demonstrate they had an adequate organisation, method of control and supervision of flight operations, training, ground operations and maintenance, control consistent with the nature and extent of the operations. This resulted in the SACAA introducing regulation

The same regulation requires that the SACAA approve the appointment of any person into these prescribed positions based on their experience and qualifications. The experience requirements for the Air Safety Officer and Quality Manager positions are quite onerous. The practice for such approval is that an operator applies to the SACAA in the prescribed manner via its Principal Operations Inspector (POI). Such application needs to take place well in advance of any post holder change being made. Where it is necessary to make an emergency replacement, the

FlightCom: August 2022

A hierarchy of accountability.

operator can temporarily “assign” a replacement post holder for 30 days whilst approval from the SACAA is being sought for the permanent appointment. If the change relates to one of the four positions regulated by the licensing councils, once the SACAA has approved the appointment, a further application must be lodged with the Councils for approval. The responsibilities of post holders were given added prominence with the implementation by ICAO of the Safety Management System methodology in 2013 (Annex 19) and Quality Management System requirements in 2017. Management accountability and responsibilities are key to both systems.

responsible for ensuring appropriate actions are taken to address safety issues, safety risks, accidents and incidents. The accountable manager bears overall accountability for the safe operation of the organization and responsibility for establishing and promoting the safety and quality policies and objectives of the organization as set out in the SMS and Quality manuals. In terms of both SMS and QMS, the accountable manager must maintain a suitable management structure and appoint adequate human resources to manage the system. Although the accountable manager can delegate responsibility for functions and activities to subordinate managers, the overall accountability cannot be delegated.

remedial action must be taken quick ly

The Safety Management System (SMS) requirements are set out in CAR Part 140 and the Quality Management System (QMS) prescripts for commercial operations, training and maintenance are situated in Parts 121, 141 and 145, respectively. The management structure and processes for SMS and QMS are very similar. There must be an accountable executive/manager (typically the chief executive officer), sitting at the apex of the management pyramid. As set out in the CATS, the accountable manger must make the decisions on behalf of the organization, have control of resources, both financial and human, and be

36 FlightCom: August 2022

For SMS, the accountable manager must appoint and rely on a suitably qualified and experienced Air Safety Officer or Safety Manager and for QMS, the key post holder is the Quality Manager. In less complex operations, the CATS allow for these positions and titles to be combined. Those managers responsible for safety and/or quality should have formal job descriptions or delegations which define their responsibilities, specify their independence from the operation and their right of unhindered access to the accountable manager to raise matters of concern. Key to both SMS and QMS is the management evaluation/review process. As the accountable manager in most larger operations is not involved

in the day to day activities of the organization, the accountable manager should lead the management review process. The review should be done by a committee which meets at regular intervals, comprising the most senior managers in the organization as well as the Safety and Quality Managers. Safety and Quality reviews should be dealt with at the same meeting by the committee. This committee must amongst others, evaluate the effectiveness of the Safety and Quality Systems, evaluate and correct trends, establish whether safety performance indicators have been triggered and monitor that scheduled quality audits are being performed and safety reports are being closed off timeously. Where the organization has been recently downsized, the committee must ensure that a management of change and risk assessments have been properly performed by the Safety Department.

occurrences are signs that things are amiss and remedial action must be taken quickly. Indications of safety reports remaining open for extended periods, risk assessments not being done and audits being deferred could mean either a lack of resources or that the skills and experience base in the Safety and/or Quality Departments is lacking. If there is any doubt that these departments are not functioning optimally, the accountable manager must take action to correct the situation. Where issues are not addressed by an operator’s management, it can be expected that the SACAA will perform a Continuous Safety Oversight Inspection and if any of the deficiencies mentioned above are found in the SMS or QMS , enforcement action could be taken against the post holders and/or the operation. Even in these difficult times, it should not be necessary for the SACAA to remind industry that safety is obligatory and that management need to fulfil their safety responsibilities. 

sk ills and ex perience base in the Safet y and/ o r Qu a l i t y De p a r t m e n t s i s lack ing

If done correctly, this process gives the accountable manager and senior management vital insight into how the safety and quality systems are performing. A sudden increase in incidents and repetitive

A complex chain of accountability must be established before an airline can takeoff.



FlightCom: August 2022

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If it can’t stand the heat, get it out of the engine. Higher tempretures and faster degradation can cause unwanted carbon to accumulate, which blocks filters and oil tubes. Modern turbine engines require hard working oils that can withstand these temperatures and improve performance. Can your oil beat the heat? Contact us today and enquire about our range of AeroShell Turbine Engine products: www.atlasaviation.co.za sales@atlasaviation.co.za (011) 917 4220

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