Flightcom Magazine November 2023

FlightCm African Commercial Aviation

Edition 178 | November 2023

The SA AF Cyberattack

By DC-6 to the Comoros John Bassi – saving the Giant Sable 1

FlightCom: November 2023

Robbie Robinson remembered

CONTENTS

TABLE OF 04 06 07 08 12 14 19 20 24 28 32 33 34 36

Publisher Flyer and Aviation Publications cc Managing Editor Guy Leitch guy@flightcommag.com Advertising Sales Howard Long sales@saflyermag.co.za 076 499 6358

NOVEMBER 2023 EDITION 178

Layout & Design Patrick Tillman: Imagenuity cc Contributors

John Bassi Laura McDermid Darren Olivier Jeffrey Kempston

ADMIN: +27 (0)83 607 2335

Hugh Pryor - Bush Pilot AME Directory

TRAFFIC: +27 (0)81 039 0595 ACCOUNTS: +27 (0)15 793 0708

News - TAAG adds four 787s Laura McDermid - Pilots News - New Qatar CEO announced John Bassi - Saving the Giant Sable in Angola News - Mercy Makau inducted into Hall of Fame Darren Olivier - Cyber Attacks Jeffrey Kempson - Indian Ocean Island Odyssey News - 100th Longitude delivered Alpi Aviation SA: Flight School Directory Merchant West Charter Directory Skysource AMO Listing Backpage Directory

© FlightCom 2023. 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:

In Economics 101 the choices facing government for funding defence spending were reduced to the binary: ‘guns or butter’.

WE ARE TOLD THAT in South Africa 27 million people out of the total population of 62 million are on social welfare grants. This is not sustainable. Given the abuse of business by government and the resultant disinvestment, combined with population growth above GDP growth, unemployment will get worse, and the ability to fund it will decrease.

Already government is saying that it cannot afford the current level of social grants. The easiest budget to cut is defence spending, especially as South Africa has no immediate threat. In the unlikely event of an invasion, alliances (e.g., a Southern African NATO) to protect territorial sovereignty in the region should be agreed with either the US or China.

There are therefore increasing calls to ‘right size’ the SANDF.

could then be increased to 70%, making far better use of the expensive assets. The idea is that the SAAF disband its Gripen and Hawk squadrons.

Long range transport, maritime reconnaissance, and search and rescue, is a capability South Africa has long lost but must have in terms of international obligations.

So the current C-130 Hercules upgrade must be expedited. Maritime surveillance aircraft (such as the CASA 295) can be leased.

The Air Wing will retain 10 - 15 transport helicopters.

The Rooivalk attack helicopter, which is rapidly becoming outdated, must be upgraded to a Mk2 standard.

hav e a flying training, and even r i ght -s i ze d Basic advanced training, can be outsourced, as increasingly pr o pe r l y happens in other air forces, f unde d f o r c e The entire SAAF budget is less than including the USAF. the cost of a single USAF fighter squadron, but the first casualty of defence cuts is likely to be the SAAF with its expensive aircraft. It is argued that the fighter squadrons can be shut down because they’re not operational anyway, and haven’t been since the SAAF’s limited capability for the Soccer World Cup protection.

The current budget priorities and funding constraints have reduced the SAAF to a hollow shell. The crisis has become so bad that experts are proposing the hitherto unthinkable – that South Africa reduce its Air Force to just an Air Wing; as Ireland and New Zealand have done.

It’s argued that South Africa should have no more than 50 aircraft, all based in one central place. Serviceability

The net result is that rather than the current underfunded mess, South Africa will have a smaller, but properly funded Air Wing where it can maintain professional standards within the current budget constraints.

Of course – it’s not just the SAAF which should be right sized. The same pundits argue that the navy and army need to be pollarded to remove expensive submarines and obsolete tanks. The Navy can keep two frigates (in Cape Town and Durban) and its new multi-mission inshore patrol vessels.

The choice is simple – rather have a right-sized properly funded force, than an all but useless hulk from a once massively funded past. 

BUSH PILOT HUGH PRYOR

ROBBIE ROBINSON “Hello. I am your Examiner...I am here to help you!” Oh yeah...Really?

I

AM ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE who loses two nights of sleep before an Instrument Rating Check Ride (IRT).

lucky with my examiners and have almost always taken some new gem of aviation wisdom away from the tests.

I spent ten years of my life at boarding school and four years at university. When that was over I made a promise to myself that I would never leave home again and since it had taken me seven attempts to pass Mathematics ‘O’- level (GCSE), I would never take another exam in my life...ever!

Of course there were some examiners who had a reputation for eating innocent pilots alive and spitting the chewy bits out on the tarmac after landing.

Then I took up aviation and in forty-five years of ‘Contract Flying’, I spent four Christmases at home and was never more than six months away from a career-threatening examination.

One of these was ‘Robbie’ and his reputation earned me three sleepless nights at the prospect of one and a half hours of purgatory, followed by a humiliating terminal experience and I would not be allowed to burst into tears until I got behind the locked door at the end.

one and a My check ride with Robbie included a ‘Practice Forced Landing’ from half hours of The stupid thing was that I only an approach from mid downwind failed one IRT and that was because 01, with the props in purgatory onfullyrunway the examiner had popped the Marker fine pitch and the power at Beacons Circuit-Breaker before I strapped myself in and I reset it during the pre-start checks and I failed the test right there, because the rules state that a popped circuit-breaker may be reset twice in the air, but if a circuit-breaker is found to be open on the ground, it must be reset by a qualified engineer...Fair enough, but he would have saved me quite a lot of money if he could have told me that I had failed, before we got airborne, instead of at the end of what would otherwise have been a successful check-ride.

Having said that, generally speaking I have been very

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FlightCom: November 2023

idle. The aircraft came down like an elevator with the string broken. The secret was to keep enough speed up to be able to flare, before digging an enormous hole in the runway, and it worked. In fact, the resulting landing was one of those greasers which happen once in a lifetime and it brought a smile to Robbie’s face as he said “Okay, that’s enough for me.

Let’s go and grab a cup of tea.”

The ‘Debrief’ was more like a pleasant conversation and Robbie forgot to tell me whether I had passed until I asked him. He laughed and said “Oh!...of course...did I not tell you?”

FlightCom: November 2023

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My obvious relief caused Robbie to laugh “What were you worrying about? That ‘Practice Forced Landing’ was one of the best I have seen!”

and if the pilot got a knot or two out on the speeds, the Buccaneer would tell him by falling out of the sky without warning.

“Oh, I always lose sleep before a check ride...it is just one of those things!” I said, sipping my tea and breathing again for another six months,

The ‘warning’ was when the aircraft fell out of the sky and if that was anywhere near the ground when it came, then it would probably be career-shortening for the crew, and being an Examiner would not improve his chances.

one of those greasers

6

E-MAIL

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: November 2023

Other countries

TEL NO

EASA registered

Britz

LOCATION

FAA registered

FIRST NAME

Off-site Specialist tests

SURNAME

On site Specialist tests

AME Doctors Listing

Senior Class 1, 2, 3, 4

Robbie was one of the most experienced Flight Test examiners ever born. He was the only civilian examiner on the Blackburn Buccaneer ground attack bomber in the Thunder City Collection in Cape Town and since I never met anybody who was not terrified of him, I was especially interested to discover that he himself lost a couple of nights sleep at the prospect of carrying out a Prof Check in the Buccaneer because the examiner had to sit in the back seat. There were no controls in the back

It was funny...I had never thought of an Examiner losing sleep at the prospect of doing a Check ride... it just seemed to be the wrong way round...but having said that, my opinion of Robbie took a sky rocket when I discovered that, hiding under the terrifying exterior, there was a quivering little human being...almost like me! 

Regular Class 2, 3, 4

Robbie smiled and nodded reflectively. “Mm...” he said, “You are not the only one. Anybody who says that they enjoy a check ride is either a liar or sick in the head!”

✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

✗ ✗

✗ ✗

NEWS

TAAG ADDS FOUR 787S TAAG Angola Airlines is adding the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to its fleet with an order for four of the wide-body jets.

TAAG ANGOLA AIRLINES currently flies five 777-300ER (Extended Range) jets, three 777-200ERs and seven 737-700s to 12 destinations across Africa, Europe, South America and China. “Our goal is to work with the best manufacturers in the world towards a multi type fleet, in order to ensure we have the appropriate airplanes for each flight typology, namely our intercontinental connections,” said Eduardo Fairen, CEO of TAAG Angola Airlines.

“The 787 option suits our intent for modern, size-wise and efficient equipment, able to progressively replace our current wide-body fleet and provide our customers with an improved flight experience,” Fairen says.

Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook for Africa projects that the continent will need 1,025 airplanes over the next two decades. Overall African air traffic growth is forecast at 7.4%, the third highest among global regions and above the global average growth of 6.1%.  The 787s will complement TAAGs 777s.

FlightCom: November 2023

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LAURA MCDERMID

PART 7

IRIS - HER EARLY YEARS.

Air Kenya

Laura McDermid continues her stories about Iris McCallum in East Africa.

From my veranda in Watamu the serene Indian ocean stretched out to meet the horizon in an endless embrace. Without the puffy white clouds that dotted the azure sky, their meeting point was almost imperceptible. The susurration of the breeze through the palm leaves and the soothing lapping of the waves cast a mesmerizing spell, lulling me into a peaceful trance.

“

IRIS… IRIS, WHERE ARE YOU?” I jolted awake, unintentionally spilling some of the precious amber liquid from the bottle I clutched in my hand.

Over the preceding days, I had made a few repairs to the cottage and had packed my scant belongings into my VW Beetle in preparation for my move to Nairobi.

The owner of the cottage, Jack Irwin, had come to fetch the keys from me. “I’m on the porch, Jack. Grab yourself a Tusker.”

Jack rounded the corner of the cottage, followed by Gigis, the trusty stray dog who had adopted me at Ocean Sports Resort.

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Whenever I flew back to Malindi airport, I would play a little game with Gigis. I’d buzz the beach, and like clockwork, Gigis would emerge from the cottage, racing toward Ocean Sports as fast as his stocky legs could carry him. He’d arrive like a bat out of hell, his breath coming in jagged gasps, his tongue lolling from his cavernous jaws like a wet pink sea serpent.

Our game was simple – who would reach the destination first. Most of the time, Gigis greeted me before anyone else, his muscular body wiggling with delight as I praised him for being such a good boy.

Jack was a police commissioner and head of CID in Nairobi. The place I was staying was his holiday cottage in Watamu, a quaint coastal town just north of Mombasa.

Ian Gregory, Chief Pilot at Coastal Air.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jack and his family when I flew them from Malindi to Lamu on a day trip. Jack noticed my name badge and asked if I was related to Danny McCallum. It turned out that Jack had crossed paths with my brother a few years back when he took Danny’s statement while he was recovering in the hospital from a shrapnel wound.

Danny had taken some clients on a hunting expedition to Archer’s Post in Samburu County, where they were shot at by poachers.

The flying doctors eventually arrived, airlifting the trio to the nearest hospital. Miraculously, the bullet that struck the client’s cheek lodged in his neck, just under the skin, causing minimal damage.

After the wounds were treated, the clients insisted on continuing with their safari. Danny, on the other hand, had to stay in the hospital until he was able to walk again following surgery.

local Despite the harrowing experience, calm recounting of the events knowledge Danny’s left a lasting impression on Jack, and was our the two became friends.

Some of the bullets had struck the body of the Land Cruiser Danny was lifeline standing on, he returned fire, and the I had spent the past two years flying poachers fled. The ordeal left Danny with a knee full of shrapnel.

A bullet had passed clean through one of the client’s hands, whilst another had torn a hole through the fabric of her jersey on her left shoulder. She’d also caught some of the shrapnel in her face.

Her boyfriend who was standing next to her had a bullet hole through his right cheek. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much blood.

for Air Kenya, previously known as Coastal Air. Jack’s small beachside cottage became my home away from home.

In June 1978, I started flying my first passenger trips in a Piper Cherokee 6 with the registration number 5Y-AKS. She would be my faithful companion for the next 600 hours, the minimum requirement set by the airline for flying single-engine aircraft, to gain familiarity with the varied landscapes and extreme weather conditions of East Africa.

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PILOTS Jack Irwin’s cottage in Watamu, Iris’ home for 2 years.

Ian Gregory, the Chief Pilot, offered invaluable support and guidance. In those pre-GPS days, local knowledge was our lifeline, and we relied heavily on it.

My early flights involved structured day trips from Malindi Airport along the coast to Lamu, where I would land on Manda Island. A ferry would transport us to the mainland, allowing my passengers to enjoy lunch before our return journey.

Once I had grown comfortable with coastal flying, I ventured into more challenging routes. I began to navigate the mountainous terrain, particularly the journey to Tsavo National Park and the Maasai Mara.

The route took us west from Malindi, across the Chyulu mountain range, to the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Amboseli National Park.

colliding with the large rocks was a matter of life and death. Many pilots had tragically lost their lives when venturing into the Chyulus or the Kilimanjaro region. These airstrips were unmanned and devoid of air traffic control. Our only means of communication was through radio broadcasts among pilots, sharing information about the current conditions.

The danger did not end there.

The danger did not end there.

The mountain’s peak was frequently concealed by clouds that often cascaded down to the base, making the approach tricky. Flying conditions in this area required a pilot to possess three essential items: a watch, a compass, and an unwavering reserve of courage.

Timing the descent through the clouds to avoid

10 FlightCom: November 2023

Termite mounds were constant hazards that would pop up overnight, as were animals, especially during the migratory season.

Of these, the wildebeest were the worst offenders. Upon hearing the plane, the herd would begin racing around in an erratic fashion, flinging themselves on the ground with the abandon of mad dervishes. I could never decide whether this chicken-little behaviour stemmed from genuine terror or if it was merely a shameless recourse to the melodramatic.

In the time it took to set myself up to land after buzzing the runway, the clownish beasts would inevitably regroup and would be milling around on the runway again.

The view from Ocean Sports Resort.

After the morning game drives, my passengers would reboard the Cherokee, and I’d take off just before lunch, heading to the Maasai Mara by following the Rift Valley. To clear the mountains, the minimum VFR altitude was set at 12,500 feet, a crucial safety measure. When flying in the reciprocal direction, the minimum height was raised to 13,000 feet.

There is something deeply disturbing about being close enough to see the confusion in their piercing yellow eyes. Vultures, like people, could be unpredictable and irrational. There were instances when evasive manoeuvres, including steep banking, were necessary to avert a head-on collision, eliciting terrified screams from the passengers.

I had acclimated to flying at such altitudes after months of practice, but passengers who were unaccustomed to it often became lethargic and drowsy. I would always descend if someone complained of a headache or if I noticed a slight bluish tinge around their lips.

Upon reaching the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, my passengers embarked on another game drive, and later, we would takeoff for a pit stop at Tsavo National Park for afternoon tea. This leg of the journey was the most challenging, marked by hot, turbulent conditions during takeoff and landing. It was an unpleasant experience for everyone on board. The pilots collectively requested this leg to be scrapped as the only one who benefitted from it was the travel agent.

Flying at altitude soon became my secret weapon even when I didn’t need to be at that height as it afforded me some peace and quiet.

Another constant threat was posed by thunderstorms and vultures. Thunderstorms could be seen from a distance and avoided, but the unpredictable vultures presented a persistent hazard, especially when the plains game was abundant during migration. When a vulture encountered an aeroplane, nine times out of ten, it would tuck in its wings and dive.

The flying time of four hours was repeated every day, five days a week, come rain or shine. It was an effective way to accumulate hours in the logbook and hone flying skills.

To be continued…..



FlightCom: November 2023

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NEWS

AKBAR AL BAKER RETIRES - NEW QATAR CEO ANNOUNCED.

Qatar Airways controversial CEO, Akbar Al Baker, is stepping down after 27 years.

AL BAKER BECAME CEO in 1997. He has had to weather some particularly tricky circumstances while at the helm of Qatar Airlines, from the blockade of Qatar to the COVID-19 pandemic and, most recently, a high court battle with Airbus over the A350.

Al Baker was not popular with his employees. A typical comment says, “there can be no doubt that he worked tirelessly to build QR up into one of the best airlines in the world, but he had no mercy, took no prisoners and was very vindictive. He … built an organisation based on fear.”

Hours after Al Baker’s retirement, the airline announced Badr Mohammed Al-Meer as his successor, who will take over as CEO on 5 November. Al-Meer is currently the COO of Hamad Airport Doha.

Qatar Airways lauded Al Baker, noting that the airline won the ‘World’s Best Airline’ award seven times, and airline subsidiary Hamad International Airport; has been recognised as the ‘World’s Best Airport’. 

Akbar Al Baker has retired after 27 years as Qatar Airlines CEO.

12 FlightCom: November 2023

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13

PART 1

JOHN BASSI

SAVING THE GIANT SABLE IN ANGOLA This article was originally published in Atlas Obscura by Ashley Stimpson

The giant sable bull arrived dangling beneath legendary wildlife pilot, Barney O’Hara’s MD500 helicopter, the antelope’s four-foot-long horns curving back toward its flanks like the scythe of a backhoe.

A

S THE AIRCRAFT CAME INTO view, hundreds of people who had been waiting to greet the massive antelope at the dry, grassy edge of Angola’s Luando Strict Nature Reserve, broke into tears, song, laughter, dancing.

For the Angolan people, the giant sable is a national symbol, adorning everything from soccer jerseys to postage stamps. But this giant sable represented something even greater; hope.

The giant sable with Barney O’Hara’s MD500 used to transport it.

14 FlightCom: November 2023

As Barney deftly delivered the tranquilised bull to the ground, a group of shepherds and scientists loosened the strops and rolled the sable onto a stretcher. A dozen people, under the watchful eye of another wildlife legend, Dr Pete Morkel, hoisted the stretcher into the belly of a Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin, a second, larger helicopter.

The crowd pushed forward.

Some people tried to get one last glimpse, others hoped to hug or shake hands with curly-haired biologist Pedro Vaz Pinto, who stood nearby, looking a little dizzy with disbelief. Somehow, against enormous odds, he had just led a team in tracking, tranquilizing, and transporting the 500-pound bull, which would journey another 60 miles north to Cangandala National Park, where it and nine female giant sables would comprise the world’s first captive breeding program for the nearly extinct animal.

“It was an absolute magical moment”, Pedro Vaz Pinto reminisces with an incredulous smile many years later, having witnessed many magical moments over the course of his 20-year mission to save the charismatic ungulate. However the animals future remains terrifyingly fraught. It remains beyond comprehension that this icon, the national animal of Angola, remains completely ignored by the government and its survival is dependent on a small handful of private individuals.

The giant sable is found in Angola’s largely undeveloped interior, when it can be found at all. No foreigner had seen one until 1916, 400 years after Portuguese explorers had first landed on Angola’s shore. It was not for lack of trying. The antelope is notoriously elusive

The giant sable bull being gently lowered to the ground.

and enjoyed the protection of the Lwimbi and Songo tribes, who often denied its existence to outsiders, deliberately misleading trophy hunters.

Historically for locals, the creature was a totem, the tip of its horns a portal into the spirit world. An antelope almost heraldic in its stateliness, more like a proud beast from legend, than one of this earth.

But even the giant sable wasn’t spared the carnage of Angola’s brutal, 27-year civil war. In the early 1970s, before the conflict, an estimated 2,000 giant sable inhabited the miombo woodlands in two of the

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15

Vaz Pinto (left) with Pete Morkel (right) and a sedated giant sable. Image Pedro vaz Pinto.

country’s preserves, the Luando Strict Nature Reserve and Cangandala National Park. By 2002, when the war finally ended, no one knew if there were any left at all.

“Nobody could tell me for sure,” said Pedro. But curiosity about the status of the sable gnawed at him.

“For a biologist who likes adventure, this was too much to ignore.”

her to be more specific. “Brown, kind of reddish?” she tried again. Pedro had to wait an agonizing week to get the pictures in the mail, but when they arrived, it took the biologist mere seconds to know that he was looking at the first photograph of a giant sable in nearly three decades.

i t was Pedro decided to do some pr o ba bl y reconnaissance work. In 2004, he installed motion-activated cameras in Cangandala National Park, strapping a was t e o f the devices to trees near termite t i me mounds where giant sable, grazing herbivores, might visit to eat the sodium-rich earth. Because there was nowhere nearby for him to develop the film, Pedro mailed each spent roll back to his mother in Portugal. One day, about a year into the effort, she called with some promising news. “She said, ‘There’s a lot of brown animals in this one,” Pedro remembers with a chuckle. He asked

16 FlightCom: November 2023

With evidence that the giant sable had survived the war, Pedro was able to secure public and private funding to establish the Giant Sable Conservation Project.

“I thought it would be easy,” he says, “I thought there would be more.”

Instead, subsequent photos began to reveal new crises.

For one, they always showed the same nine animals, suggesting that the giant sable was holding on, but just barely. More worryingly, there didn’t appear to be a bull among the group. And something else about the

photos began bothering Pedro. “Some of the animals looked a bit funny,” he says. “They had floppy ears and clownish faces.”

So he began tracking the herd on foot. When Pedro finally succeeded in catching up with them, what he saw confirmed his worst fears. Standing in the middle of a harem of females was a roan bull, a completely different species of antelope. Left without a sable bull, the female giant sables were mating with the roan and giving birth to hybrids. Pedro knew that with only a handful of pure sable left, hybridization would doom the animal to extinction in short order. “The sky fell on my head,” he says.

If the tiny sable population in Cangandala was going to survive, Pedro wouldn’t just need to separate the pure females from the hybrids, he would also need to deliver them a giant sable bull.

“We were so lucky,” Pedro exclaimed. But finding DNA didn’t mean that locating the actual animal would be simple. The Luando Reserve is about 3,820 square miles, or 830,000 hectares, the landscape a hypnotic collage of browns and tans with vast canopies of miombo forest. There are no fences, allowing easy access to poachers who penetrate on small Chinese motorbikes with murderous results.

And then, when he needed it, Pedro had another one of those magical moments. On the first day of the translocation mission, without any other leads to go on, the group chose to begin their aerial search for the sable where his dung had been collected. When they arrived, the bull was standing in that very spot, as if he knew they were coming. Pete Morkel tranquilized the animal from the helicopter and the group rushed to tag and place a GPS collar on him.

A couple weeks later, the process a n AS350 was repeated, of locating, then chemically immobilizing each Pedro quickly devised an c ov e r i ng a n animal individually from the ambitious plan. He would recruit a r e a as l a r g e helicopter, and slinging each one to all the help he could and build a recovery point. The females were a 17-square-mile enclosure as t he K r ug e r all moved to the enclosure one by in Cangandala National Park.

Meanwhile, he would begin scouting for a bull in the nearby Luando Strict Nature Reserve, where giant sable had historically roamed but hadn’t been spotted in years. If all went according to plan, in the summer of 2009, Vaz Pinto’s team would carry out the intrepid translocation mission, moving the nine females and one yet-to-be-found male via helicopter to the enclosure at Cangandala.

one. Once the cows were secure, the team flew back to Luando in the 500 to collect the bull. Because the journey to Cangandala required more fuel than the team’s small helicopter could carry, the crew stopped briefly to transfer the sable to a larger aircraft, providing the locals time for their impromptu farewell party and hugs for Pedro.

“I thought the chance of us finding a male were small,” said Dr Pete Morkel, the wildlife veterinarian Pedro recruited for the effort. “In fact, I told my wife it was probably a waste of time.”

In the decade since, the captive population has run into several challenges, including the unexpected infertility of several females and an aggressive bull that joined the enclosure, leading to the death of another male sable in 2011.

With the help of area shepherds, Pedro began collecting and testing dung for evidence of giant sables—nearly identical in appearance to roan dung—in the Luando Reserve. One month before the group had scheduled their translocation mission, a sample came back positive for male giant sable DNA.

Funding, Pedro laments, has been a constant struggle, especially during the pandemic, when longstanding corporate donors withdrew financial support. Angola’s current economic depression is also a major concern, as more people turn to poaching to survive.

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17

The giant sable on a TAAG 777. It also appears on Angola's currency and is the name of the national football team.

But for the most part, the herd has thrived. Today Vaz Pinto guesses there are more than 100 giant sable living in Cangandala National Park. “It’s been a spectacular success,” he says, while acknowledging the species is still perilously endangered. Between the populations at Cangandala and Luando, only about 300 of the antelopes remain.

population is highly threatened from poachers using sophisticated whip snares. A follow up operation into Luando was conducted in July 2021, the objective to try and locate 20 sable and monitor the health of the small population, no easy task for the 19 scouts and an AS350 covering an area almost as large as the Kruger National Park, but with no roads.

For Pedro, who never meant to devote two decades of his life to the giant sable, his continuing role in its survival is both an honour and an obligation, and he hopes he can soon step away.

Flying over the vast landscape searching for an estimated 150 to 200 sable is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Focus is torn between hoping to see live animals, and observing the myriad of green patches dotted in the clearings. Lethal grazing patches, completely surrounded by violently powerful whip snares. Then next few days proved to be a pleasant surprise…

The biologist who likes adventure admits he’s itching for a new one. “In a way, I feel like a doctor in the ICU eager for the patient to be discharged—not because I don’t love what I’m doing, but because it will mean the job is done and the patient can move on,” he says. “I am eager for the day the giant sable has been discharged from the ICU.” In October 2019 the Cangadala nucleus in their protected enclosure were doing really well, apart from one female with a snare. However the Luando

18 FlightCom: November 2023

To be continued.



NEWS

MERCY MAKAU INDUCTED

INTO HALL OF FAME

Mercy Makau founded the non-profit organisation in Nairobi called Young Aviators Club of Africa (YACAfrica).

YACAFRICA NOW HAS MORE THAN 60,000 members and is now established in several countries on the continent. In recognition of this the Smithsonian Institute has inducted Makau in its Emerging Technologies Hall of Fame.

Makau says, “We prepare young people to enter the aviation and aerospace industries to ensure the availability of trained, qualified and experienced professionals. The older students are coached by around 900 volunteers, mainly from civil aviation, who all give their time to share their aeronautical experiences.”

According to Boeing’s projections for the next 20 years, Africa will need around 67,000 people in the industry, including 20,000 pilots.

YACAfrica acts in accordance with the ICAO next generation of aviation professionals (NGAP) initiative and also maximises contacts with industry players as their support is essential.

The association has been awarded two International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) awards for winning innovation competitions. 

Kenya's Mercy Makau.

This involves facilitating and promoting innovation and creativity by setting up scholarships through established partnerships. There is also the involvement and participation of young people in aeronautical and space events.

“We have units within universities, schools and academies and are having constructive discussions to strengthen our presence in Uganda and Rwanda -and also to establish new branches in Gabon, Ghana and Senegal.”

FlightCom: November 2023

19

DEFENCE DARREN OLIVIER

THE WAR AGAINST

CYBERATTACKS

The recent much-publicised breach of the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) networks by the ‘Snatch’ ransomware team, in which they stole multiple terabytes of files and published them online, has thrown into sharp relief the need for strong cybersecurity practices for African militaries, especially as they adopt more digitised processes and products such as drones and command & control systems.

Cyberattacks and rasomware have afflicted the under resourced SANDF. 20 FlightCom: November 2023

HIS PIECE WILL FOCUS on the South African Air Force (SAAF) in particular and look deeper at the implications of the Snatch group’s breach on how the SAAF can and should keep its systems secure.

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network, such as one that contains classified information, is segregation. Either through complete physical air gaps between networks and systems or through partial air gaps and specialised firewalls that only allow one-way traffic of clear-text information.

In this era of increasingly digitised and connected systems, and as avionics, navigation systems, and operational platforms increasingly rely on software and networked communication, cybersecurity becomes not just a box to be checked and a nice to have, but a critical and strategic capability where vulnerabilities can have catastrophic consequences.

The most common pattern for this, and one which has been codified in multiple international standards, is called the Red/Black concept. This divides an organisation’s networks into two main areas: Red networks, which contain classified information in plaintext, even if temporarily while being worked on, and Black networks which contain either unclassified/ non-sensitive information or fully encrypted classified/ sensitive information.

Put simply, having all of your operational, communications, planning, and intelligence systems digitised and networked together brings massive advantages in efficiency, performance, speed of action, and a host of other areas, but it opens up a huge new vulnerability.

Shut down those systems or, worse, exploit them to feed them with false information, and you can grind an air force’s operations to a halt. Reverting to paper based systems is not an option, or at least not one that can be executed in a hurry or while maintaining the same level of effectiveness. While it’s feasible to design these critical systems to operate in a degraded state (such as with jammed communications), it’s not practical to have fall back plans that go all the way back to analogue.

Specialised encryption software and devices ensure that clear-text data from the ‘Red’ side may either never reach any other network (if it’s sufficiently classified) or may only be transferred in a standardised encrypted form.

On top of this basic approach, Electronic organisations then layer additional Warfare is security engineering elements as access control, selective evolving from such internet access, auditing, and so jamming and on. spoofing The DoD/SANDF, and therefore

Let’s take a brief overview through the South African Air Force’s digital infrastructure, describing all the main systems. Note that this will necessarily include a number of smaller systems, however, it’s not intended as a comprehensive list.

First, it’s important to understand how the SAAF’s network infrastructure is designed, which will also explain why the Snatch ransomware attack appears to have only captured administrative and office documents rather than more deeply classified information or access to key systems.

A standard practice for any extremely high security

by extension the SAAF, follow the same sort of pattern with three main categories of networks (and therefore file stores and similar):

The intranet, with internal file stores, sites, and similar functionality and without internet access.

ICENET, or the Internet Connected Executive NETwork, which is as the name implies connected to the internet, and which is primarily intended to host the official and unclassified emails for DoD personnel.

A series of ‘Red’ classified networks segregated according to service and purpose, without any internet access and only reachable by specialised equipment with cryptographic hardware and software usually developed by South African companies like Nanoteq and Etion. The SAAF’s core operational systems are all in Red networks.

FlightCom: November 2023

21

DEFENCE Ideally, you’d need entirely separate hardware to access all three. In practice, it’s not uncommon for computers to be given access to both the internet (via ICENET) and the intranet. But the same device never connects to both a Red network and the intranet or ICENET. Both the intranet and ICENET are largely maintained

by SITA, the state-owned IT agency, with support from the SANDF’s CMIS (Command & Management Information Systems) division, whereas the various Red networks are largely maintained in-house by CMIS and service-specific units like OCAM (Operations Communications and Administration) in the SAAF. The DoD has five main categories of information classification originally defined by the country’s Minimum Information Security Standards, namely: UNCLASSIFIED, RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, and TOP SECRET. UNCLASSIFIED was added primarily for press releases.

RESTRICTED is the lowest level of control and just means being cautious of how widely information is shared, but there are no serious controls.

explain why security researchers are reporting that they’re so far almost entirely seeing RESTRICTED and CONFIDENTIAL documents only.

That’s good news for the SAAF, as its most crucial operational systems are on Red networks. But the entire incident should be a serious wakeup call about the poor state of cybersecurity within the DoD, the over-reliance on SITA, and the long and unacceptable delays in setting up Cyber Command within Defence Intelligence.

With that explanation in place, let’s look at the SAAF’s core operational systems and the reasons why any breach of the networks containing them would be catastrophic.

The two most important tactical operations systems in the SAAF are the Ground Command and Control System (GCCS) and the Air Picture Display System (APDS) which together form the heart of all SAAF command and control.

is the mission planning the huge and GCCS and tasking system, providing the damaging SAAF’s Command Posts with information on aircraft available Snatch for tasking at various squadrons and allowing them to send tasking CONFIDENTIAL information breach orders to squadrons for the actual is a step up and is equivalent to what companies would consider to be ‘company confidential’ information. This would include most administrative issues, regular budgeting outside of the secret accounts, the personal information of DoD staff, office applications, administrative systems, and so on.

Those handling CONFIDENTIAL and RESTRICTED information need to be careful, but there are no formal document control mechanisms.

SECRET and TOP SECRET are another story: At least on paper these documents and systems are meant to be strictly controlled, with strict limitations on how many copies can exist of a document, and they may only exist in plaintext or opened form on Red networks and computers or devices.

It’s believed that the Snatch ransomware group breached only computers and drive shares on the ICENET and possibly DoD Intranet, which would

22 FlightCom: November 2023

mission sorties. GCCS generates flight plans, assigns flight numbers and crews. It’s a sophisticated system, without which SAAF operations would pretty much grind to a halt while people tried to achieve the same through phone calls, HF signals, and faxes. APDS is, as the name implies, an integrated air command and control system that displays a tactical picture of the airspace over South Africa or any other deployed area, synthesising data from SAAF radars, SAAF aircraft transponders, and data feeds from civilian air traffic control.

Related to these two is the CURrent Intelligence System, or CURIS, which is networked to both and contains all tactical intelligence information, both historic and that being generated by ongoing sorties.

A breach of any one of these three provides the opportunity to not only disrupt SAAF operations by shutting them down, but for a sufficiently sophisticated attacker with knowledge of their internal workings

A Snatch ransomware card.

to inject false data, presenting SAAF and SANDF commanders with a misleading picture. It’s sometimes said that the only thing worse than a non-functioning critical system is a semi-functioning one that you can no longer trust.

to implant exploit payloads into internal systems.

Modern aircraft in particular are entirely controlled by software and ever more reliant on a single internal shared network that, although compartmentalised, still touches all the key operational systems.

At the next level back, on the logistics side, is the Operational Support and Information System (OSIS) which manages the maintenance, sustainment, and support of all SAAF aircraft by tracking work done, work needed to be done, spare parts inventories, maintenance bulletins, scheduling, and many other areas. OSIS is a little less vulnerable than the other systems owing to its decentralised design (each unit has its own instance, which can operate in offline mode and sync when possible) and the less urgent nature of the task, but it is still a risk.

So, while the approach is still in its earliest stages, there’s a much lower level of risk because of the high standards of avionics software, and there are no known instances of it being used in the real world, given current levels and rates of development it’s not impossible to imagine it becoming a reality in the near future. And it will be even more risky for air forces like the SAAF which lack the funding to keep updating their aircraft to the newest onboard systems software versions. For instance, the SAAF’s Gripen Cs and Ds remain on the MS19 standard, whereas all other operators are on MS20 and some are already on MS20 Block 2.

Not listed, but in the same category as GCCS and APDS, are the type-specific mission planning and systems such as the Saab Mission Support System used by 85 Combat Flying School for the Gripen and Hawk fleets which provide more specialist functionality and are linked with GCCS. Moreover, the terrestrial networks aren’t the only area of vulnerability. Electronic Warfare is evolving from being merely a jamming and spoofing capability to one that makes use of vulnerabilities in signal processing software on aircraft, missiles, and other equipment

There is therefore a need for a full rethink of the SAAF’s information security strategies, linked to a broader SANDF-level shift. The threat level in this sphere is only going to increase and become more sophisticated and the ever-increasing digitisation of military systems will make it harder rather than easier to defend against attackers.

As the huge and damaging Snatch breach has so powerfully shown, complacency is no longer an option. 

FlightCom: November 2023

23

JEFFREY KEMPSON

INDIAN OCEAN

ISLAND ODYSSEY (OR FIASCO)

Before the South African political transformation, a group of diving enthusiasts wished to extend their diving experience to the more northern reaches of the Indian Ocean.

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HEY WERE AWARE of the Coelacanth discovery near the Comoros Islands, and the proliferation of exotic fish and turtles that enjoyed the warm waters surrounding the French dependency of Mayotte in the Comoros archipelago, which featured one of the largest lagoons on Earth.

The fishing club chartered a Douglas DC-6 freighter from Inter Ocean Airways at Lanseria. The freighter had been converted to passenger status by installing several rows of seats.

Whether the aircraft carried passenger oxygen outlets, a galley or other normal amenities found on passenger aircraft, I don’t know. These items are normally removed from freight aircraft to reduce weight to increase the cargo capacity.

The installation of the seats and other passenger amenities took a few days longer than expected, so the passengers had to seek overnight accommodation.

Some slept on seats at Lanseria airport and some in the squash court.

24 FlightCom: November 2023

Once the aircraft was nearly ready, a Belgian pilot arrived to command the flight, aided by an American DC-3 Dakota owner and operator (Captain Fantastic in an earlier story) as co-pilot. The Belgian used to be a flight engineer and he sported a worn-out navy blue uniform with faded gold braid which made him look like a head waiter.

Once the DC-6 was deemed more or less ready for flight, work was suspended to allow the pilots to familiarise themselves with the aircraft during daylight hours. Then cosmetic finishes to the passenger installations were continued during the night.

During the afternoon the two pilots and a flight engineer started the engines. When the normal clouds of thick grey oil smoke cleared, they taxied out for a familiarisation flight watched by several passengers who had hoped to have been in the Comoros a couple of days previously.

The takeoff seemed fairly normal and the aircraft climbed away, then banked towards the general flying

area. A while later the aircraft became visible on final approach, did an interesting landing, took power and went around again for another circuit.

Driving down the airport access road on my way home, I was startled to see this large four engine airliner descending toward me on the access road with undercarriage and flaps down. With a perceptible roar the machine took power to abort and at about four hundred feet it climbed away, trailing a little black smoke.

about the airport concourse when Captain Fantastic, looking resplendent in his airline uniform and braided cap ascended the lower segment of the staircase, lit a cigarette which he placed in a long black holder, and addressed the frustrated divers, who should have left a couple of days earlier.

Captain Fantastic's oration was pure theatre, befitting a man who at an earlier age had to choose between becoming an opera singer or a fighter pilot.

Hew chose the latter.

a n o pe r a Whether they had mistaken the parallel Captain Fantastic was approaching access road for the runway or were just s i ng e r o r a late fifties, with a full head of sightseeing, I was unsure. f i ght e r pi l o t his grey hair, a handsome face, and The following morning work continued on the aircraft and the passengers gathered around at lunch time with the expectation of boarding for an afternoon departure.

Much later that afternoon, it became apparent that departure would be further delayed until at least the next day. The now disgruntled passengers were milling

a commanding American voice, he addressed the passengers with a disarming charm, and apologised for the fact that a couple of mechanical glitches had initially delayed their departure, but he now advised that his CIA contacts had advised him that there was a formidable Russian fleet present in the Comoros Island area of the Indian Ocean. Not knowing their intent, it seemed

The end of the Interocean DC-6 at Lanseria. June 1990 Image Omer Mees.

FlightCom: November 2023

25

sensible to delay their departure for another day or so, until the Russian fleet had steamed clear of the area.

Particularly as 52 South African apartheid era passport holders wouldn’t want to have to divert to the nearest other suitable runway at Dar as Salaam in Tanzania. At this, revelation, several of the passengers smiled, and actually applauded this precautionary revelation.

Whereupon, he descended the stairs, and shook several of the willing hands extended towards him.

Now, it became apparent to me that another major problem existed, notwithstanding the imaginary Russian presence at the desired diving location. A major, undisclosed discord existed between the two pilots.

The Belgian Captain was adamant that he would not land the large DC-6 on the relatively short airstrip of Mayotte, but only on the much longer airstrip on Moroni, the principal island of the Comoros archipelago. One of the contributing factors to this decision was that the electrically operated reversible pitch propellers used for braking were intermittent.

Bon Voyage he casually said; ‘We’ll get the landing clearance en-route’.

Then he climbed the stairs, turned at the top, and after a theatrical wave, closed the door.

A small crowd of interested off duty pilots and airport personnel watched the DC-6 start up and belch further clouds of oily smoke. Then with chocks removed, the aircraft taxied to the 06 runway threshold, to run up the engines, and complete pre-take off checks. A few minutes later the sound of four Pratt & Whitney R2,800 radials roared along the runway. Abeam the tower the airliner lifted gracefully into the air and the undercarriage was retracted as the aircraft was held level with the runway to gather speed, before the nose was raised to the climbing attitude and the aircraft climbed skywards.

I watched the aircraft until it was out of sight, wondering if I’d ever see it again.

It was late afternoon, and Comoros Island time was an hour ahead of us, so the aircraft should arrive there about an hour before local midnight.

a mi l dl y ov e r w e i ght Wishing them the best of luck, I headed C2 10 for the bar.

However, Moroni was not where the diver’s accommodation had been booked, and it also seemed that there now also existed some low level political dispute between the islands, and permission to land on Moroni had not as yet been forthcoming.

The divers had not been acquainted with this fact and the pilots still hoped to resolve the situation prior to departure.

The next morning, sounds of a tremendous hammering, not appropriate to the maintenance of a serviceable aircraft, issued from the interior of the DC-6 as the last required seats, and a few interior fuselage side panels were fitted. Late afternoon the aircraft was declared ready for the trip, and the passengers cleared immigration and customs formalities. With their weighty diving equipment stowed in the underfloor holds, they boarded the airliner.

As I shook Captain Fantastic’s hand and wished him

26 FlightCom: November 2023

Much later in that dark moonless night the DC-6 was unable to make radio contact with Moroni. There was no answer to their repeated calls, and the landing flare path had not been turned on.

Having covered nearly 1400 nautical miles, and then flown around on reduced power over Moroni, Capt.

Fantastic, and the head waiter look-alike Captain in command considered their options.

Capt. Fantastic ventured the unwelcome opinion that as the passengers were all experienced aquatic divers, they should perhaps consider ditching the aircraft close to the Moroni shoreline. The flying Captain pointed out that the passengers may be good swimmers, and used to the sea, but that all their scuba equipment was locked in the underfloor holds, only accessible from outside the aircraft.

After further discussion Capt. Fantastic suggested that the only realistic option they had was to head for Dar

The long route flown by the DC-6 to get the divers to the Comores.

es Salaam in Tanzania, a further 438 nautical miles away, and on first radio contact there declare a fuel emergency.

helped smooth the landing request, but airport officials were astounded to find that the 52 passengers all carried South African passports.

The other captain replied; “But that’s exactly where you told them they didn’t want to land, and the reason for the extra delay before the departure. And, anyway what about the presence of a large Russian fleet in the area?”

The passengers were deplaned and herded into the airport terminal lounge on a transit basis, while telephone calls were made to the police, and senior Tanzanian Government officials.

‘Well,” replied Capt. Fantastic. “I just made that up as a plausible explanation for our further departure delay.”

Anyway, a couple of hours later, with the aircraft decidedly low on fuel, they declared an emergency, and were allowed to land in Dar es Salaam.

Doubtless the aircraft’s American registration had

Fortunately, it seemed that the local government was keen to get rid of the aircraft and its South African contingent as soon as possible, before the press could arrive, and a full blown diplomatic incident ensued.

Sadly, the crew did not have a fuel carne’ acceptable to the local fuel company, nor sufficient hard currency in US dollars to pay the landing fees, and refuel the aircraft.

FlightCom: November 2023

27

But fortunately the aircraft was owned by a construction company in Johannesburg, with international connections, so it was arranged for British Airways in Dar to pay all the applicable fees, and be compensated by one of the company’s overseas associates.

This was done, and before too many local Tanzanians became aware of the potentially political embarrassment which the diversion had caused, the aircraft was once again taxiing out for takeoff with adequate fuel on board. Moreover, the Tanzanian government had secured landing permission for the aircraft at Moroni.

They took off, and headed back towards the Comoros; with the head waiter still refusing to land on the shorter Mayotte airstrip, where the passengers needed to go.

Some two hours later the DC-6 landed at Moroni, and immigration and customs formalities were completed.

However after landing at Moroni the DC-6B became unserviceable with severe propeller pitch issues which were so bad the plane struggled to clear the runway. So it was then declared unairworthy, pending spare parts and rectification, which now had to be done on the very remote Comoros archipelago.

ferried the passengers and crew at last to their seaside accommodation.

Some several days later it was necessary to arrange a transfer of US Dollar funds to the DC-6 crew, to cover expenses on Mayotte, where banking services were close go non-existent. It was decided a light aircraft should be despatched to the island carrying US Dollar cash funds.

Knowing all the parties involved, and being considered an honest fellow, it was suggested that I pilot the aircraft for this mission. So, very early one bright morning, having been assured that Avgas was available in Mayotte, my then Commercial and instrument rated girlfriend pilot joined me, and due to the civil war in parts of northern Mozambique, we left Lanseria for Salisbury in the then Rhodesia for a refuelling stop, and bathroom break.

This particular Cessna 210 Centurion was fitted with extra fuel tanks in the wing tips that increased our endurance from 6 to 8 hours.

pas s e ng e r s k i s s e d t he gr o und After the quick refuelling stop at the

Arguments ensued about how to get everyone to Mayotte, and to the ensemble’s great good fortune, a French Air Force C160 Transall was parked at Moroni.

They were practising military exercises as the Comoros was once a French dependency.

The good natured Transall crew negotiated some sort of permission, boarded the passengers and their scuba gear and luggage then flew them all to Mayotte.

Grateful applause was accorded for this timeous favour.

One last obstacle stood in the way of the passengers leaving the airport for their booked hotel. A 12 foot tidal drop between the airstrip and the main part of the island.

A boat was arranged by the hotel, and once the tide table had been consulted, in due course several trips

28 FlightCom: November 2023

efficient then Salisbury main airport, we climbed to nine thousand five hundred feet and crossed northern Mozambique above extensive patches of cloud, which was a plus for being out of sight to potential ground fire.

The weather cleared over the Indian Ocean, and we landed uneventfully on Mayotte. The tar airstrip was in good condition, and adequate in length for aircraft up to about the BAe 748 airliner, but not a heavy DC-6.

Happily the tide fluctuation was in our favour, and a small boat, and then a Citroen delivered us to the small, but comfortable hotel.

After a shower, cocktails, and an excellent sea food dinner, various passengers cited reasons to try hitch a lift back to South Africa on the C210. I deflected these inquires with the spurious arguments that this aircraft was not insured for passengers crossing a sizable tract of ocean, and in any event safe passage could not be guaranteed, as we only had one engine, and should that fail, we’d all be swimming with the sharks.

This seemed to dissuade them, although some suggested a lottery type arrangement which would permit 3 passengers to accompany Captain Fantastic, my co-pilot girlfriend and me back to Lanseria. I also tendered the excuse that the aircraft would be considerably overweight with the amount of fuel we had to carry to get back to the mainland. This mollified them, as they were unaware that a mildly overweight C210 would have no trouble launching enthusiastically from a smooth tar runway at sea level.

After handing over the cash float to Captain Fantastic’s appointed deputy, we spent two nights on the island, our enjoyment only somewhat restrained by the understandably bleak mood of the now stranded diving club passengers.

On the third morning, my girlfriend and I took off on the return trip to Salisbury and Lanseria with Captain Fantastic in full captain uniform occupying a middle seat. Interesting to relate, he slept, or feigned slumber over the oceanic portion of the route. As we crossed the African coast he opened his eyes, and asked; “Where are we?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me,” I replied.

While refuelling at Salisbury, Captain Fantastic caught sight of a South African registered Citation jet boarding for Lanseria, and tried to cadge a ride. I knew the pilot and persuaded him not to agree on the grounds of insurance and company policy, as I felt he had been responsible for this entire fiasco, and should arrive

home in a less triumphal style. This was relayed to him and accepted with bad grace.

The only significant weather we encountered on the trip was a large and virulent late afternoon thunderstorm between Lanseria and Pretoria, necessitating us diverting to Wonderboom.

Captain Fantastic lived in Pretoria, so his luck had finally turned, as after completing immigration and customs formalities, his wife arrived, and drove him home.

An hour later the storm had passed, and my girlfriend flew us back to Lanseria.

Several days later I was at Lanseria, when a chartered Safair L130 Hercules landed, and the Mayotte diving contingent and equipment disembarked. I now regret not having a camera with me, as several of the formerly stranded passengers actually knelt down and kissed the ground.

The hapless DC-6 remained on Moroni Island for several further weeks, sadly corroding badly in close proximity to the salty sea.

In due course, it was flown out by a different crew to Salisbury, where the efficient Rhodesian Affretair maintenance facility repaired it. Then it returned to service as the productive freighter it had been for many years. 

A Transall C-160F, of the French Air Force.

FlightCom: November 2023

29

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FlightCom Magazine

35

NEWS

100TH LONGITUDE DELIVERED Textron has delivered its 100th Cessna Citation Longitude – to a South African buyer and longtime operator of Cessna Citations and Textron products.

THE LONGITUDE with Constructor’s Number 100, rolled off the Wichita production line in May in its green primer paint.

The Longitude received its FAA type certificate in September 2019 with deliveries beginning the following October. The aircraft earned its type certificate under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in July 2021.

As reviewed in the November issue of SA Flyer, the Citation Longitude “super-midsize” business jet features integrated autopilot and autothrottle systems with emergency descent mode (EDM), Garmin

synthetic vision technology (SVT), and in-flight diagnostics reporting.

Powered by FADEC-equipped Honeywell HTF7700L turbofan engines, the model has a 3,500-nm range, full-fuel payload of 1,600 pounds, and top cruise speed of 483 knots. The Longitude has a 6-foot-tall, flat-floor cabin outfitted with fully berthable seats and technology designed to allow passengers “to manage their environment and entertainment from a mobile device.” It offers a cabin altitude of 4,950 feet at flight level (FL) 410 and can climb to FL430 in 20 minutes. 

The 100th Citation Longitude ready for delivery to South Africa in its final livery.

FlightCom: November 2023

31

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Companies in the Group are licensed and authorized FSPs FlightCom: November 2023

33

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FlightCom: November 2023

35

BACKPAGE DIR DIRECT ECTORY ORY 208 Aviation Ben Esterhuizen +27 83 744 3412 ben@208aviation.co.za www.208aviation.com A1A Flight Examiner (Loutzavia) Jannie Loutzis 012 567 6775 / 082 416 4069 jannie@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za AES (Cape Town) Erwin Erasmus 082 494 3722 erwin@aeroelectrical.co.za www.aeroelectrical.co.za AES (Johannesburg) Danie van Wyk 011 701 3200 office@aeroelectrical.co.za www.aeroelectrical.co.za Aerocolour cc Alfred Maraun 082 775 9720 aeroeng@iafrica.com Aero Engineering & PowerPlant Andre Labuschagne 012 543 0948 aerocolour@telkomsa.net Aerokits Jean Crous 072 6716 240 aerokits99@gmail.com Aeronav Academy Donald O’Connor 011 701 3862 info@aeronav.co.za www.aeronav.co.za Aeronautical Aviation Clinton Carroll 011 659 1033 / 083 459 6279 clinton@aeronautical.co.za www.aeronautical.co.za Aerospace Electroplating Oliver Trollope 011 827 7535 petasus@mweb.co.za Aerotel Martin den Dunnen 087 6556 737 reservations@aerotel.co.za www.aerotel.co.za Aerotric Richard Small 083 488 4535 aerotric@aol.com Aviation Rebuilders cc Lyn Jones 011 827 2491 / 082 872 4117 lyn@aviationrebuilders.com www.aviationrebuilders.com AVIC International Flight Academy (AIFA) Theo Erasmus 082 776 8883 rassie@aifa.co.za Air 2000 (Pty) Ltd Anne Gaines-Burrill 011 659 2449 - AH 082 770 2480 Fax 086 460 5501 air2000@global.co.za www.hunterssupport.com Aircraft Finance Corporation & Leasing Jaco Pietersen +27 [0]82 672 2262 jaco@airfincorp.co.za Jason Seymour +27 [0]82 326 0147 jason@airfincorp.co.za www.airfincorp.co.za Aircraft General Spares Eric or Hayley 084 587 6414 or 067 154 2147 eric@acgs.co.za or hayley@acgs.co.za www.acgs.co.za Aircraft Maintenance International Pine Pienaar 083 305 0605 gm@aminternational.co.za 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

Celeste Sani Pak & Inflight Products Steve Harris 011 452 2456 admin@chemline.co.za www.chemline.co.za

Airshift Aircraft Sales Eugene du Plessis 082 800 3094 eugene@airshift.co.za www.airshift.co.za

Cape Town Flying Club Beverley Combrink 021 934 0257 / 082 821 9013 info@capetownflyingclub.co.za www.@capetownflyingclub.co.za

Alclad Sheetmetal Services Ed Knibbs 083 251 4601 ed@alclad.co.za www.alclad.co.za

Century Avionics cc Carin van Zyl 011 701 3244 sales@centuryavionics.co.za www.centuryavionics.co.za

Algoa Flying Club Sharon Mugridge 041 581 3274 info@algoafc.co.za www.algoafc.co.za

Chemetall Flight Training College Cornell Morton Wayne Claassens 044 876 9055 011 914 2500 ftc@flighttrainning.co.za wayne.claassens@basf.com www.flighttraining.co.za www.chemetall.com

Alpi Aviation SA Chem-Line Aviation & Celeste Products Steve Harris Dale De Klerk 011 452 2456 082 556 3592 sales@chemline.co.za dale@alpiaviation.co.za www.chemline.co.za www.alpiaviation.co.za Apco (Ptyd) Ltd Tony/Henk + 27 12 543 0775 apcosupport@mweb.co.za www.apcosa.co.za Ardent Aviation Consultants Yolanda Vermeulen 082 784 0510 yolanda@ardentaviation.co.za www.ardentaviation.co.za Ascend Aviation Marlo Kruyswijk 079 511 0080 marlo@ascendaviation.co.za www.ascendaviation.co.za Atlas Aviation Lubricants Steve Cloete 011 917 4220 Fax: 011 917 2100 sales.aviation@atlasoil.co.za www.atlasaviation.co.za

Clifton Electronics cc CJ Clifton / Irene Clifton 079 568 7205 / 082 926 8482 clive.iclifton@gmail.com Comair Flight Services (Pty) Ltd Reception +27 11 540 7640/FAX: +27 11 252 9334 info@flycfs.co.za www.flycfs.co.za Corporate-Aviators/Affordable Jet Sales Mike Helm 082 442 6239 corporate-aviators@iafrica.com www.corporate-aviators.com CSA Aviation – Cirrus South Africa Alex Smith 011 701 3835 alexs@cirrussa.co.za www.cirrussa.co.za C. W. Price & Co Kelvin L. Price 011 805 4720 cwp@cwprice.co.za www.cwprice.co.za

AVDEX (Pty) Ltd Tania Botes Dart Aeronautical 011 954 15364 Pieter Viljoen info@avdex.co.za 011 827 8204 www.avdex.co.za pieterviljoen@dartaero.co.za www.dartaero.co.za Aviatech Flight Academy Nico Smith Dart Aircraft Electrical 082 303 1124 Mathew Joubert viatechfakr@gmail.com 011 827 0371 www.aviatech.co.za Dartaircraftelectrical@gmail.com Aviation Direct www.dartaero.co.za Andrea Antel 011 465 2669 Diepkloof Aircraft Maintenance cc info@aviationdirect.co.za Nick Kleinhans www.aviationdirect.co.za 083 454 6366 diepkloofamo@gmail.com Avtech Riekert Stroh 082 749 9256 DJA Aviation Insurance avtech1208@gmail.com 011 463 5550 0800Flying mail@dja-aviation.co.za BAC Aviation AMO 115 www.dja-aviation.co.za Micky Joss 035 797 3610 monicad@bacmaintenance.co.za Dynamic Propellers Andries Visser 011 824 5057 Blackhawk Africa 082 445 4496 Cisca de Lange andries@dynamicpropeller.co.za 083 514 8532 www.dynamicpropellers.co.za cisca@blackhawk.aero www.blackhawk.aero Blue Chip Flight School Henk Kraaij 012 543 3050 bluechip@bluechip-avia.co.za www.bluechipflightschool.co.za

Eagle Flight Academy Mr D. J. Lubbe 082 557 6429 training@eagleflight.co.za www.eagleflight.co.za

Bona Bona Game Lodge MJ Ernst 082 075 3541 mj@bonabona.co.za www.bonabona.co.za

Execujet Africa 011 516 2300 enquiries@execujet.co.za www.execujet.com

Breytech Aviation cc 012 567 3139 Willie Breytenbach admin@breytech.co.za

36 FlightCom: November 2023

Federal Air Rachel Muir 011 395 9000 shuttle@fedair.com www.fedair.com

Ferry Flights int.inc.

Michael (Mick) Schittenhelm 082 442 6239 ferryflights@ferry-flights.com www.ferry-flights.com F Gomes Upholsters Carla de Lima 083 602 5658 delimaCarla92@gmail.com Fireblade Aviation 010 595 3920 info@firebladeaviation.com www.firebladeaviation.com

Flight Training Services Amanda Pearce 011 805 9015/6 amanda@fts.co.za www.fts.co.za Fly Jetstream Aviation Henk Kraaij 083 279 7853 charter@flyjetstream.co.za www.flyjetstream.co.za Flying Unlimited Flight School (Pty) Ltd Riaan Struwig 082 653 7504 / 086 770 8376 riaan@ppg.co.za www.ppg.co.za Flyonics (Pty) Ltd Michael Karaolis 010 109 9405 michael@flyonics.co.za www.flyonics.co.za

Gemair Andries Venter 011 701 2653 / 082 905 5760 andries@gemair.co.za GIB Aviation Insurance Brokers Richard Turner 011 483 1212 aviation@gib.co.za www.gib.co.za Guardian Air 011 701 3011 082 521 2394 ops@guardianair.co.za www.guardianair.co.za

Heli-Afrique cc Tino Conceicao 083 458 2172 tino.conceicao@heli-afrique.co.za

Henley Air Andre Coetzee 011 827 5503 andre@henleyair.co.za www.henleyair.co.za Hover Dynamics Phillip Cope 074 231 2964 info@hover.co.za www.hover.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

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 Johannesburg Flying Academy Alan Stewart 083 702 3680 info@jhbflying.co.za www.jhbflying.co.za Kishugu Aviation +27 13 741 6400 comms@kishugu.com www.kishugu.com/kishugu-aviation Khubenker Energy (Pty) Ltd T/A Benveroy Vernon Bartlett 086 484 4296 vernon@khubenker.co.za www.khubenker.co.za

Lowveld Aero Club Pugs Steyn 013 741 3636 Flynow@lac.co.za

Dr Rudi Britz Aviation Medical Clinic Megan 066 177 7194 rudiavmed@gmail.com Wonderboom Airport

Maverick Air Charters Lourens Human 082 570 2743 ops@maverickair.co.za www.maverickair.co.za

SAA Technical (SOC) Ltd SAAT Marketing 011 978 9993 satmarketing@flysaa.com www.flysaa.com/technical

MCC Aviation Pty Ltd Claude Oberholzer 011 701 2332 info@flymcc.co.za www.flymcc.co.za

Mistral Aviation Services Peter de Beer 083 208 7249 peter@mistral.co.za

SABRE Aircraft Richard Stubbs 083 655 0355 richardstubbs@mweb.co.za www.aircraftafrica.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

Kit Planes for Africa Stefan Coetzee 013 793 7013 info@saplanes.co.za www.saplanes.co.za

Money Aviation Angus Money 083 263 2934 angus@moneyaviation.co.za www.moneyaviation.co.za

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

North East Avionics Keith Robertson +27 13 741 2986 keith@northeastavionics.co.za deborah@northeastavionics.co.za www.northeastavionics.co.za

Lanseria Aircraft Interiors Francois Denton 011 659 1962 / 076 810 9751 francois@aircraftcompletions.co.za Lanseria Flight Centre Ian Dyson Tel: +27 11 312 5166, F: +27 11 312 5166 ian@flylfc.com www.flylfc.com Lanseria International Airport Mike Christoph 011 367 0300 mikec@lanseria.co.za www.lanseria.co.za Leading Edge Aviation cc Peter Jackson Tel 013 741 3654 Fax 013 741 1303 office@leaviation.co.za www.leadingedgeaviation.co.za Legend Sky 083 860 5225 / 086 600 7285 info@legendssky.co.za www.legendsky.co.za Litson & Associates (Pty) Ltd OGP/BARS Auditing & Advisory Services & Aviation Safety Training Email: enquiries@litson.co.za Phone: 27 (0) 8517187 www.litson.co.za Litson & Associates Risk Management Services (Pty) Ltd eSMS-S™/ eTENDER/ e-REPORT / Aviation Software Systems Email: enquiries@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

Orsmond Aviation 058 303 5261 info@orsmondaviation.co.za www.orsmondaviation.co.za Owenair (Pty) Ltd Clive Skinner 082 923 9580 clive.skinner@owenair.co.za www.owenwair.co.za Par-Avion Exclusive Catering Jakkie Vorster 011 701 2600 accounts@par-avion.co.za www.par-avion.co.za PFERD-South Africa (Pty) Ltd Hannes Nortman 011 230 4000 hannes.nortman@pferd.co.za www.pferd.com Plane Maintenance Facility Johan 083 300 3619 pmf@myconnection.co.za Powered Flight Charters Johanita Jacobs Tel 012 007 0244/Fax 0866 66 2077 info@poweredflight.co.za www.poweredflight.co.za Powered Flight Training Centre Johanita Jacobs Tel 012 007 0244/Fax 0866 66 2077 info@poweredflight.co.za www.poweredflight.co.za Precision Aviation Services Marnix Hulleman 012 543 0371 marnix@pasaviation.co.za www.pasaviation.co.za Propeller Centre Theuns du Toit +27 12 567 1689 / +27 71 362 5152 theuns@propcentre.co.za www.propcentre.com Rainbow SkyReach (Pty) Ltd Mike Gill 011 817 2298 Mike@fly-skyreach.com www.fly-skyreach.com Rand Airport Kevin van Zyl Kevin@horizonrisk.co.za +27 76 801 5639 www.randairport.co.za

The Aviation Shop Karel Zaayman 010 020 1618 info@aviationshop.co.za www.aviationshop.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

Turbo Prop Service Centre 011 701 3210 info@tpscsa.co.za www.tpscsa.co.za

Signature Flight Support Cape Town Alan Olivier 021 934 0350 cpt@signatureflight.co.za www.signatureaviation.com/locations/CPT Signco (Pty Ltd) Archie Kemp Tel 011 452 6857 Fax 086 504 5239 info@signco.zo.za www.signco.co.za Skytrim Rico Kruger +27 11 827 6638 rico@skytrim.co.za www.skytrim.co.za SleepOver Michael Richardson 010 110 9900 michael.richardson@sleepover-za.com www.sleepover-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 Southern Energy Company (Pty) Ltd Elke Bertram +264 8114 29958 johnnym@sec.com.na www.sec.com.na Southern Rotorcraft cc Mr Reg Denysschen Tel no: 0219350980 sasales@rotors-r-us.com www.rotors-r-us.com Starlite Aero Sales Klara Fouché +27 83 324 8530 / +27 31 571 6600 klaraf@starliteaviation.com www.starliteaviation.com Starlite Aviation Operations Trisha Andhee +27 82 660 3018/ +27 31 571 6600 trishaa@starliteaviation.com www.starliteaviation.com

Superior Pilot Services Liana Jansen van Rensburg 0118050605/2247 info@superiorair.co.za www.superiorair.co.za

The Pilot Shop Helen Bosland 082 556 3729 helen@pilotshop.co.za www.pilotshop.co.za

Top Flight Academy Nico Smith 082 303 1124 topflightklerksdorp@gmail.com

Sheltam Aviation PE Brendan Booker 082 497 6565 brendanb@sheltam.com www.sheltamaviation.com

Status Aviation (Pty) Ltd Richard Donian 074 587 5978 / 086 673 5266 info@statusaviation.co.za www.statusaviation.co.za

The Copter Shop Bill Olmsted 082 454 8555 execheli@iafrica.com www.execheli.wixsite.com/the-copter-shop-sa

Titan Helicopter Group 044 878 0453 info@titanhelicopters.com www.titanhelicopters.com

Sheltam Aviation Durban Susan Ryan 083 505 4882 susanryan@sheltam.com www.sheltamaviation.com

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

Swift Flite Linda Naidoo Tel 011 701 3298 Fax 011 701 3297 info@swiftflite.com / linda@swiftflite.com www.swiftflite.co.za

Ultimax Aviation (Pty) Ltd Aristide Loumouamou +27 72 878 8786 aristide@ultimax-aviation.com www.ultimax-aviation.com United Charter cc Jonathan Wolpe 083 270 8886 jonathan.wolpe@unitedcharter.co.za www.unitedcharter.co.za United Flight Support Clinton Moodley/Jonathan Wolpe 076 813 7754 / 011 788 0813 ops@unitedflightsupported.com www.unitedflightsupport.com Velocity Aviation Collin Pearson 011 659 2306 / 011 659 2334 collin@velocityaviation.co.za www.velocityaviation.co.za Villa San Giovanni Luca Maiorana 012 111 8888 info@vsg.co.za www.vsg.co.za Vortx Aviation Bredell Roux 072 480 0359 info@vortx.co.za www.vortxaviation.com 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

FlightCom: November 2023

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