IN HIS ADDRESS TO THE AFRAA annual general assembly held in November in Cairo, IATA DirectorGeneral Willie Walsh addressed three critical issues facing the African airline industry.
Walsh’s first issue is safety, which is “always our top priority. Safety thrives with global standards. We see that clearly in IOSA—a condition of membership for both AFRAA and IATA. Airlines on the IOSA registry outperform those not on the registry. That is the case in Africa and globally.
“Africa has made significant improvements in safety. There were no hull losses or fatal accidents between 2020 and 2023. However, we took a step backwards in 2024. And even in 2023, the African turboprop hull loss rate was the highest in the world. This tells us that there is still work to do on safety.
countries. If airlines cannot repatriate their revenues, they cannot be expected to provide service. Economies will suffer if connectivity collapses. So it is in everybody’s interest—including the government—to ensure that airlines can repatriate their funds smoothly.
The third issue Walsh addressed is sustainability. He said, “This is the biggest challenge we face. By 2050 we must be at net zero carbon emissions. There will be many political twists and turns on the way to 2050. But in 2021 we set the course to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and reversing course is not an option.
the African turboprop hull loss rate
“An increased willingness to share data is an important outcome of an effective safety culture. The more data we can bring together, the more powerful the insights we can draw from it. Along with encouraging you to sign the Safety Leadership Charter, I also ask that airlines not yet contributing their data to the Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) initiative to do so.”
The second issue Walsh addressed is blocked funds. He said, “Airlines deliver huge social and economic benefits, but we are not charities. You have every right to count on the repatriation of funds for tickets sold across your global networks. Globally, our tally shows $1.662 billion of airline money is blocked from repatriation—$950 million of which is in African
“For Africa, aviation’s energy transition is a big development opportunity. SAF will contribute more than 60% of the mitigation needed for aviation’s decarbonization. But only a few percent of our fuel needs can currently be met with SAF and there is no production in Africa.
“That must change and change quickly. Africa has the people and natural resources to develop a world-leading SAF sector, provided the financing and government incentives are available. This is a perfect example of “build it and they will come”. And along with SAF will come jobs, growth and progress towards energy independence.”
The numbers tell us that Africa has the greatest unused potential for aviation development in the world. That is a great motivation for us all.
GOING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
I’m sure you are familiar with the ‘Leave Bug’. It’s a little worm which lives in calendars. It hatches in cycles of two. Just before you are due to go on leave it grabs the last five days of duty and makes each one last for 48 hours.
TIME SEEMS TO GO BY slower and slower as your leave approaches, until it’s almost standing still.
The other worm works the other way round when you are actually on leave. It makes Tuesdays into Thursdays and Thursdays into Sundays. The last week of your leave is normally gone before you even knew it had started!
I was working in Libya at the time, flying a Pilatus Porter for a French “wireline” company whose job was to tell the Oily Boys what was down the holes they were drilling all over the desert.
from aileron reversal at slow speeds and loves cross winds because that’s the time when she gets to show the uninitiated who the boss really is.
I have over five thousand hours piloting the old girl and every take-off and landing is still an adventure. Even so, I love every obstinate angular cranky inch of her, or maybe it should be centimetre, because she is designed (reputedly by a committee of six farmers) and built in Switzerland. Her engineers actually need two complete tool boxes. One with American tools for the engine and wheels and a metric one for the airframe!
every take-off and landing is still an adventure
I had done six of my four weeks duty time and was itching to get back for my first Christmas at home in six years. The only problem appeared to be that the company could not find any pilot to fill in for me while I was on leave. Eventually they dug up this tiny little French guy called André who had never flown a Pilatus Porter before. He said that he had seen them, but only in magazines.
The Porter has a mind of her own. She’s heavy on the controls, unstable in flight, has been known to suffer
Ernesto was the Chief Pilot of the large fleet of Porters which we were operating for the Swiss parent company. He had completed eighty-four hours of training with the little French guy by the time they arrived at my base in Zellah.
“Morning Hugh,” said Ernesto breezily as he jumped down from the cockpit. “Meet André, he’s your ‘Backto-back’. I want you to fly him around a bit and when you’re happy with him you can go on leave. Does that sound OK to you?”
“Absolutely, Ernesto. In fact I think I’m happy with him now! Can I go on leave right away?”
“No, Hugh! You are NOT happy with him! You haven’t even met him yet and this is a little Frog you will definitely NEED to fly around with a bit!”
I got the impression that Ernesto was trying to put some kind of a message over with the heavy emphasis. Maybe the eighty-four hours of training had not been quite enough?
After seeing Ernesto on his way, André and I went back to the camp for lunch and he showed signs of great relief on finding that he would be living with a lot of his compatriots. English was not one of his strong subjects and, since Ernesto’s French was non-existent, I imagined that the Cockpit Resource Management during the previous days had been challenging, to say the least, especially for little André.
After lunch, I suggested that we go for a whirl. André rather nervously agreed, so when we had finished our coffee we once again set off for the airport.
reduced growth preferred to do without the elevation provided by the cushions.
He nodded with a look that made me feel that I had questioned some strongly-held religious belief. I could not help noticing with added interest, that his eyes were now lined up with the turn-and-slip indicator, which, although fascinating as an example of gyroscopic technology, is not what would hold my attention during take-off or landing.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am sure!” he replied, allowing a certain amount of petulance to creep into his voice. “Ernest ‘e tell me.”
I became acutely aware that I had no brakes
We parked the car and went to our plane, which was tied down, the other side of the apron from the oil company hangar. Once we had taken all the ropes, blanks and covers off, I indicated to André that I would like him to drive. He opened the cockpit door.
None of the seats in the old H2 version of the Porter were adjustable, so I always sat on two big cushions and one little one because I liked to be able to see over the Porter’s long ugly nose. I was mildly interested, therefore, to notice that André, the top of whose head did not reach my shoulder, though I am only five foot ten, (sorry, 176 cms,) rather disapprovingly removed the two big cushions and threw them into the back.
Then he climbed in and clapped on his head set, leaving his right ear exposed to the outside world.
“Est-ce que vous etes heureux avec le position de votre siege?” I enquired, interested that a person of such
“Okay.” I shrugged and jumped in the other side.
The eighty-four hours with Ernesto had left their mark. André obviously knew his way around the cockpit. He even remembered to turn the pump off after start-up, a detail which I, with my vast-ahem-experience have been known to overlook.
“Quelle Piste?” he looked at me, adding, “What runway?” as a concession to my limited command of the Frog Lingo.
“Zero Six.” I replied.
“Non, non, c’est pas possible...ees no correct.” he said with some urgency. “Ees runway trente-cinq.” That was the one-thousand-metre dirt runway which was built for this particular time of year, when the winds came in from the North, I was beginning to wonder which of the languages he used was the more difficult for me to understand. Anyway he obviously didn’t want to use the same runway as I did.
“Pourquoi? Why not Zero-Six?”
“Zee wind-across ees trop fort.”
“It’s only ten knots at the most, André.” I said, looking at the wind sock which was twitching sluggishly.
“Ernest ‘e nevere permit me to make zee Take-off or Aterrisage in zee wind-across.” said André with some finality.
“Well let’s try one now.”
“I no like!”
“Well you’ve got to start sometime otherwise I’ll NEVER go on leave! Come on, let’s give it a go.”
So, reluctantly, André got the old girl started up and went through the full checklist, as if to tell me that if anything went not according to the script, it was DEFINITELY my responsibility.
I became acutely aware that I had no brakes on my side. I knew that Ernesto didn’t have copilot’s brakes on his aircraft either. Are the Calendar Bugs putting undue pressure on? I asked myself....No... we’ve got to give it a try sometime, otherwise this guy’s not ever going to learn the intricacies or even the pleasures of cross wind landings in a Porter.....let’s go for it anyway!
So we taxied out onto the sixteen hundred metre long asphalt runway, with the five-to-ten knot cross-wind.
So, now the real test...the landing.
I could not believe that André would be able to see the runway from where he was sitting, but by some extrasensory instinct, he managed to line up with the final approach line of Zero Six. I suddenly remembered that Lindberg hadn’t been able to see out of the front either, when he flew across the Atlantic. Maybe he and André were somehow related?
I was impressed. Maybe these Frogs have some in-built Karma that lets them see where they are going without looking out of the window... a complete revolution in Instrument Flying!?
My illusions survived until after the actual arrival. The wheels squeaked onto the tarmac, only a little bit sideways, and André was obviously pretty chuffed. But it was after that that the fun really started.
it was time for him to go on his own
André had to weave the aeroplane around quite a bit to see where he was going, because of his lowly position in the cockpit and I was continuously trying to calculate whether we were being stupid or whether this was in fact the only way that he would learn the value of the cushions.
I decided that experience was the best teacher and, when he was ready, we launched off down the runway.
It actually went quite well, the take-off, although a final gust put him a bit sideways, just before we lifted into the air, I didn’t feel that I had to intervene at all, and we got airborne.
We floated off into the rather lumpy air which always abuses aviators in the afternoon in the desert and André did all his checks better than a banker.
André, having achieved his first, quite unchallenging cross-wind landing, thought that the game was over. He forgot that the Porter is YOUR boss until you get her tied down and chocked.
He looked at me with a smile of sublime confidence, because he could not see what was happening outside the window.
Meanwhile, Miss Porter had decided she wanted a bit of Sun-’n’-Sand and headed for the dunes.
I had my foot planted on the right rudder pedal. I whacked the stick over, to try and ‘fly’ us back to the runway.....to no avail...no brakes, you see...and Miss Porter wanted to explore the desert.
We eventually found the runway again, which was quite an achievement in those days, with no GPS, and we taxied back down to the beginning of it.
Zellah is not a very busy airport...maybe four or five flights a day...so we could sit and recover on the threshold of Zero Six without too much interruption.
“You want to try those cushions?” I said, as the kneetrembles subsided.
“Oui...peutêtre...maybe I try zem...if I am permetté”
“You are permetté” I said, with conviction.
So we-installed the big cushions, plus the normal little one, under Andre’s diminutive rear end and suddenly he could see the world outside the cockpit windows.
We spent the next day-and-a-half careering up and down Zellah’s beautiful black-top cross-wind runway, first with the left main wheel on the runway, then with the right. André really began to get the feel for these cross-wind landings in a Pilatus Porter...he actually began to enjoy them.
Finally it was time for him to go on his own.
I was, frankly, worried.
I stood by the runway and watched André go through his full check list, once again, very conscious of the fact that if the old girl decided to misbehave and go on safari, I was not going to be there to help André back to civilisation.
The take-off went well.
“Superbe!” he said, “Zee cushions, zay open zee window!”
I could go on leave! Now it was just the formalities... check and sign his Log Book etcetera and then: Off home for Christmas!
André was a pretty low time pilot when he came to us. In fact it was touch and go whether he qualified for our insurance requirements so I thought I had better take a little more interest in his Log Book than one might with a more experienced person.
It was then that I discovered something very unusual. I looked at the summary of his flying experience, which included the number of hours flown on different aircraft types, and couldn’t help noticing that André had logged over one hundred hours on Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets! This is almost unheard of for a pilot who has less than a thousand hours total time. Further investigation was obviously required.
The landing was a peach.
I flipped back through André’s book until I found some of his 747 flights. I was fascinated to find that he had not been ‘P1’ nor ‘P2’, no, nor even ‘F/Eng’ on the Jumbo Jet. He’d been a ‘PAX’.....Yes, that’s right.....a passenger!
I saw him get the flaps up and he went rather further, straight on down the axis of the runway, while he did his after takeoff checks. I was pleased to see that he was still doing the ‘Required’, even though there was nobody breathing down his neck in the cockpit.
The landing was a peach.
I was just running out to congratulate him, when I heard the power go on for another circuit.....OK, Why Not!
The second landing was enviable, and he brought the old girl to a stop right beside me. “This guy has finally Got It.” I thought.
I ran up to the aeroplane.
“Comment ca va?”
That meant that he wasn’t insured to fly our aircraft on his own. Without the 747 time he didn’t have enough hours. So Ernesto had been right after all. I certainly did need to fly around a bit with this little Frog...67 hours and 12 minutes, to be precise. We even became quite good friends eventually, once we’d got his Log Book sorted out, you understand.
My wife’s only comment on hearing my stumbling excuse for being more than a month overdue for leave was, “Well frankly I think you should be jolly pleased to have a job at all. Leave is a privilege, you know, not a right, it says so in your contract.” Just for one nanosecond, I wondered whose side she was on.
Of course, this was all years ago now. André eventually got the hang of the cranky old Pilatus Porter. In fact I think he actually got to enjoy the beast. He’s probably logging ‘P1’ time on 747s by now!
TAAG REBRANDS
TAAG, the Angolan national airline, is taking the opportunity to re-fleet and rebrand
DR. ANTONIO dos Santos Domingos, the Chairman of the TAAG Board, says, “Air transport in Africa is experiencing a new reality. The writing of a new stage in the company’s history has just started. The transfer to the new Hub: Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport (NBJ) within the framework of Operation Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) with successful simulation exercises, the renewal of fleet, the opening of new routes, the articulation of operations with the placement of human capital and the reformulation of the business model are among ongoing crucial steps.”
The Roadshow on Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) conducted by the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) in Angola and the findings by the African Airlines Association’s (AFRAA) Laboratory on air transport sustainability in Africa have enlightened the national aviation community. Therefore, the entire TAAG team believes in the transformation and modernization of the airline to prepare new competition while keeping Africa more connected.
“The Right connectivity network is only possible within a single market that improves operational efficiency and the quality of service provided to passengers and cargo forwarders through air service agreements aligned with the requirements of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) supervised by the Executing Agency in enforcing YD regulatory instruments.
“AFRAA has a critical role to play in assisting airlines to build up customized commercial arrangements that lead towards fair competition.”
Domingos says, “This new chapter is a result of the journey of continuous improvement over eighty six years in providing proven multiplier effects to the national economy. Any change in aeronautical architecture and the aero-political environment, both domestically and globally, poses major challenges for TAAG - Angola Airlines. The realty clearly indicates the dynamic nature of air transport and vulnerability that may be caused by several factors.
TAAG - Angola Airlines is among the catalyser of tourism nationally and on the continent, and contributor to materialization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The joint effort with relevant stakeholders leads towards considerable achievements.
With new fleet, new brand, new routes, new hub, new strategy and new commitment within new dynamic, TAAG-Angola airlines is making dreams take off and fly higher to various destinations across Africa and beyond. However, an implementation of SAATM with competition supported by cooperation among airlines would yield more benefits for sustainable air transport connectivity.”
Dr. Antonio dos Santos Domingos, the Chairman of TAAG
ENGINE FIRE!
Iris McCallum’s continues her stories about her early years with Air Kenya, and we get to revisit one of her more dramatic moments.
NAIROBI’S WILSON AIRPORT was peaceful on this 11th day of February 1981 which made filling out the paperwork for my flight to Tana River County uncomplicated.
Air Kenya had booked me to charter five passengers on a Cessna C401 to the Bura cotton fields; 366km north east of Kenya’s capital.
It was still dry season in Kenya and with no thunderstorms predicted, I knew it would be a smooth flight provided we could depart before it became too turbulent.
‘I better be really careful with this preflight check. N65175 had just come back from an MPI’ I thought.
Preflight done, I herded the smartly dressed businessmen up the short stairs. Once everyone was strapped in and comfortable I secured the clam-shell door.
I took my seat, buckled the harnesses and adjusted my headset, flattening my wild “bush pig” curls.
Master switch.....ON. Left engine fuel boost pump.... ON. Opening the mixture briefly to full rich...... press start. The engine coughed and spluttered, the propellor turned once lazily, halting briefly through its arc. The old Cessna gave an almighty shudder as the propellor swung into life.
There was no time to think
I ran my hands over the familiar curves of the big Cessna twins’ airframe with affection, examining all the bolts and screws and wiggling the hinges. I opened the inspection hatch to check the level of the clean new transparent oil.
‘Main tanks, tip tanks and the two auxiliary tanks are full with 100LL Avgas. Check. She’s ready to fly’
Left engine ..... good to go.
I repeated the sequence for the right engine. I leaned the mixtures, made sure that the oil pressures had come up and waited for the temperatures to rise.
The Continental engines purring in unison, I taxied to the holding point of runway 14 to perform the run-ups.
“Welcome on board, this is your captain Iris McCallum. May I please have five minutes of your time to brief you on the emergency protocols.”
The wreck of the C402 lying in a ditch with the separated engine.
We were ready for departure, N65175 lifted smoothly off the asphalt and easily climbed 1000ft, levelling out at 6500ft which was the height restriction along the corridor.
“Gentlemen, straight ahead is a hill shaped like a gigantic pimple called Ol Doinyo Sapuk”. The passengers laughed. “This popular landmark is where we are permitted to climb higher, however I will maintain our current height of 6500ft so that we are well clear of the incoming international traffic flying IFR to Jomo Kenyatta Airport”.
Seeing their eager faces, gazes fixed on the shifting landscape, I reminded myself of what a privilege it is to fly.
Well clear of the IFR traffic I gently pulled back on the yoke and powered up to climb to 11,000”. An aberration caught my eye. Why’s the manifold pressure on the right engine dropping, despite the power being set to climb?’ I wondered.
The right gauge showed 24 inches of mercury while the left engine correctly showed 28 inches. I felt an unease grip my gut. My right engine was operating as though it was normally aspirated.
‘Something’s wrong’. Instincts took over, my attention now fully focused on the dials.
RPM 2450....normal. FF 18 g/h ....normal.
“Gentleman I’ve picked up a slight problem. Unfortunately we need to return to Wilson Airfield”.
I ignored their groans of protest as I banked the plane into a gentle turn.
WHOOMPF!
“FIRE!” A passenger screamed. “THERE IS FIRE COMING OUT OF THE WING!”
I looked over my right shoulder to see flames shooting out of the engine.
‘SHIT!’
There was no time to think. I flicked the fuel supply off and cut the power to the right engine.
I knew that even though I had another working engine, 80% of the aeroplane’s performance would be lost; furthermore the plane could explode at any moment.
“Brace yourselves for an emergency landing”. I scanned the landscape below, seeing only one place to put us down.
One chance.
“Mayday, Mayday, this is November-one-seven-sixfive, my right engine’s on fire. I intend to land on a dirt road 15 miles south of Ol Doinyo Sapuk”. My parched voice echoed in my ears.
My foot was already aching from the constant pressure that I needed to apply on the left rudder to prevent the plane from pulling towards the dead engine.
I must keep the left wing down. I must prevent her from rolling into the dead engine.
PILOTS
Five passengers, five souls entrusted to my care. Their stricken faces strengthened my resolve. They were all someone’s son, some were husbands and fathers and it was my job to deliver them alive.
“Once you feel the wheels touch make sure the door is open. Then once stopped, open the door and run!”
I needed the weight to be as far back as possible to assist with my short field landing.
The flames are intense and I don’t know if we are going to make it to the ground in one piece. The wing may burn through. Even if we managed to arrive intact, the fuselage may crumple, trapping us all inside this burning coffin.
‘I’m on short final..... I can see the road clearly now’.
‘Damn, there’s a tree! If I touch down before the tree it will take my good wing off. I’m going to have to land after the tree. I can’t take full flaps as I’ll reduce directional control.
I take fifteen degrees of flap.....maintain the blue line approach speed of 120k......make sure the landing gear is down.
Timing is critical. The tree is fast approaching. The landscape is rushing past in a blur.
HOLD IT. HOLD IT. NOW! I turn the yoke towards the left, dipping the left wing just under the canopy of the tree.
We made it. I level the plane. I’m ready to touch down and to my astonishment an African women balancing a metal basin laden with ears of corn, spinach and potatoes on her head fills my vision as she starts crossing the road.
“Oh my God!”
Up to that point I had the situation under as much control as I could, but this new threat was completely out of my hands.
In that split second I knew what it was like to feel absolutely powerless. I was committed to my landing and could do absolutely nothing to avoid hitting the woman.
The world slowed down. I could see the whites of the woman’s eyes as they grew wide with terror. By some divine intervention she sprinted to the other side of the road unharmed, the karai still perfectly poised on her head.
Iris McCallum, - you can call me 'Captain Cuddles'.
We landed hard but were fast running out of road.
‘There’s a ditch’! No chance of surviving if we go down that bank.
My right foot pushed down hard on the rudder pedal, swinging us sharply to the right. We hit the camber on the side of the road ripping the undercarriage off and spinning the wreck 180 degrees. We skidded sideways into a thicket of bushes and came to a halt facing the direction we had come from.
We are alive. Time to get the hell out! I feel the thud as the door hit the ground. The men were fighting their way through the door frame.
I felt completely calm and honestly thought we would not survive. No one was more surprised than me that we were all still alive.
Once out I scanned the carnage. N65175 had come to rest at an angle, channelling the leaking fuel into the ditch.
On impact the right tip tank had torn off and was flung back onto the road where it had exploded.
The disembodied engine lay a considerable distance from the airframe, having been ripped from its fire weakened aluminium mountings and lay next to the left tip tank which was engulfed in orange flames and oily black smoke.
I heard the drone of a Kenyan Air Force Bulldog long before it came into view.
I felt a rush of relief; word of our predicament had reached the army. The Bulldog was shortly followed by one of Air Kenya’s C310’s who circled overhead twice.
“Thank God,” I murmured. Salvation is on the way.
It was found that the fuel line had come loose, pouring Avgas straight into the turbo charger. I was told that I had less than twenty seconds remaining before the main spar of the wing would have burnt through.
This incident shaped me in a very profound and fundamental way which would see me through many challenging situations in years to come.
A TRIBUTE TO NICK FADUGBA
By Mark Tierney
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.
IF EVER THERE WERE
A MAN who heard, understood and followed his calling, it was Nick Fadugba, founder and head of African Aviation Services, the venerable consultancy he formed in 1990 to promote Africa’s aviation industry, and of African Aviation, the eponymous journal he founded for the same purpose.
Although courted in the 1980s by Steve Udvar-Házy at ILFC and the late Tony Ryan at GPA (the ‘twin’ doyens of the then-fledgling aircraft leasing industry), Nick opted to follow his own star – dedicating his time, energy and considerable intellect to Africa’s socioeconomic development by means of proselytizing allcomers to the benefits of a fit-for-purpose air transport system on the continent.
For more than 30 years, Nick organised the annual Air Finance Africa Conference, the annual MRO Africa Conference and many other aviation events.
Nick’s was a grand pan-African vision of and yet ahead of its time: as he understood that the continent’s air transport system needed to be modernised to enable faster economic growth, his Air Finance Africa Conference was initially aimed at gathering together
‘under one roof’ Africa’s airline shareholders. In due course, it became one of the main annual events on the African aviation calendar, attracting senior executives of airlines, original equipment manufacturers, lenders, lessors and service providers.
No less effective was his annual MRO Africa Conference which may have been even more consequential as it touched less on policy and more on practice and witnessed, to Nick’s delight, Africa’s much-improved airline safety record this century.
Always principled, ever dignified, Nick revelled in a challenge and never flinched, sometimes mischievously, from ‘speaking truth to power’. (His was one of the voices that succeeded in having the EU’s aviation ‘black-list’ renamed the ‘banned list’.)
There is a bygone phrase once used by Africans and foreigners alike: Westerners might wear watches … but Africans have the ‘time’. It was a rare ‘stop all the clocks’ moment when Africa’s aviation community learned that, alas and a-woe and all too soon, Nick’s time was up. As we commiserate with Nick’s family and friends, we might also reflect that we owe it to Nick, to them and to the African public, to help make his vision a reality.
Mark Tierney is chief executive of Crabtree Capital, chairman of SantosDumont and, since 2010, champion of the CAFE initiative.
First published by Airline Economics, October 2024.
Nick Fadugba.
MARK TIERNEY’S CAFE PROPOSAL
One of the many challenges faced by African airlines is access to cost effective finance.
AIRLINES ARE NOTORIOUSLY
capital intensive, yet the cost of capital and its availability are a serious impediment to airline growth in Africa.
One of the primary problems faced by African airlines in their quest for aircraft finance is that almost all the airlines cannot operate profitably, and thus have weak sustainability, which makes them poor finance risks. The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) says that 2010 was the last year that African airlines managed to return an aggregate net profit.
Continuing losses by airlines may be attributed to the usual challenges such as poor management and high taxes and charges. Further challenges include weak currencies and blocked funds. A compounding factor is that many African countries are landlocked, which makes the transport of fuel to inland airports very expensive.
air travel forms part of the spending ‘basket’ for calculating CPI in the USA).
• The inadequacy of current African air connectivity is extremely costly as billions of dollars are lost annually in permanent capital outflow to nonAfrican airlines on the one hand and to non-African suppliers of equipment and capital to African airlines on the other and many more billions are forfeited (invisibly) in terms of foregone economic growth.
commitment to achieving better economies of scale
Mark Tierney, the CEO of Crabtree Capital based in Dublin, makes five points about the current status of the African airline industry:
• The industry is unable to perform the ‘utility’ function seen elsewhere (it is noteworthy that
• It is both unreasonable and irrational to expect airline managers – answerable to their boards and shareholders - to fix the ‘system’ themselves.
• To compound matters, current policy and practice result in the continued fragmentation of a relatively small market, making rationalisation ever less realisable.
• Without sustained commitment to achieving both better economies of density and of scale, unit costs will remain high. High unit costs (which have many causes) result in high ticket prices (especially intra-Africa).
To address these challenges, Tierney has proposed a “Commercial Aircraft Finance Enterprise (CAFE). This would be a Public Private Partnership (PPP) for a commercial aircraft finance enterprise for Africa. It will access previously unavailable sources of infrastructure and related finance on a public-private initiative basis to participate in the historically profitable business of aircraft, leasing and financing.”
By conservatively leveraging capital, CAFE will acquire aircraft for placement with African airlines on a commercial basis. The unique objective of CAFE is “To release the aviation brake on Africa’s socio-economic development by motivating African airline shareholders and management to change their behaviour for the better”.
“By rationalising their behaviour, African airlines will enjoy the fruits of the virtuous circle. The most effective, least risky way to create an enabling environment for African airlines to rationalise their behaviour is to establish a world-class commercial aircraft finance enterprise (CAFE), funded jointly by Multilateral Development Banks (such as the Afreximbank) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and the private sector,” Tierney says.
Tierney claims his proposed CAFE is “a low-risk, highreward proposition to give airlines strong motivation to change practices, rationalise air traffic and embark on a virtuous circle of behaviour.” He says there is no good reason not to do it. If, after a given period, it fails in its catalytic purpose (to ‘accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative’), the assets get monetised and
Mark Tierney has a bold vision for African airline finance.
A former senior executive at GPA, Mark Tierney is chief executive of Crabtree Capital, chairman of Santos Dumont and, since 2010, champion of the CAFE initiative.
shareholders/lenders get repaid, quite possibly with profits.
Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) such as US Eximbank and the European Export Credit Agencies have historically played a key role in aircraft financing. Tierney argues strongly for MDBs and DFIs to play a far more significant role.
There is a well established correlation between air connectivity and economic growth. Based on research of 139 countries from 1970-2005, a MIT analysis found a bi-directional causality in that “air transportation impacts an economy by providing employment in the aviation sector and creating wider socioeconomic benefits through its potential to enable certain types of activities in a local economy because of its distinctive characteristics: speed, cost, flexibility, reliability, and safety. The region’s economic activity, in turn, provides capital and generates the need for passenger travel and freight which drives the demand for air transportation services”.
An Oxford Economics report titled ‘Aviation; The Real World Wide Web’ draws similar conclusions and IATA’s Vision 2050 Statement asserts: “More important [than the traditional understanding of the economic value of air transport] is the infrastructure asset created by air transport connections between major cities and markets”.
speed, cost, flexibility, reliability, and safety
Tierney makes the point that, “In Africa, an aircraft in motion corresponds more to a bridge than a bus due to the continent’s topography (Aircraft=Bridge).”
Referencing the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) he says, “by levering SAATM to the full, the emergence of a fit-forpurpose air transport system will underpin the broader economy, helping to give effect to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), to make African business more efficient, to enable much greater mobility and to support the creation of worthwhile jobs across the continent,” he says.
It is however noted by other commentators that a regressive approach seems to be emerging in many quarters to accept the loss-making nature of
many African airlines. The net effect is that African governments are now openly expressing an interest in incentivising lessors to do business with airline lessees by means of financial subsidies. This approach is unsustainable and is at best self-limiting and at worst market-distorting.
Critics argue that subsidising a state-owned airline is effectively taxing the poor, who need the development funds, to subsidise rich air travellers.
Tierney therefore argues for “…a new disruptive change agent in the supply chain of finance, upstream of the airlines as users. This new change agent will encourage more commercial behaviour amongst the airlines in the sense that they rationalise what they are doing.”
“By gaining access to favourable finance and tailor-made leases for the African airline industry, the airlines will choose of their own volition to arrest market fragmentation and improve economies of density and scale – commercially self-selecting into three airline categories: major, regional and cargo/niche,” Tierney says.
partial ownership by MDBs/DFIs on the one hand and partial ownership/management by a blue-chip aircraft lessor team on the other. This will then ensure that:
Commercially viable business plans from state or privately owned airlines are facilitated by means of the supply of right-sized mission-suitable aircraft (for example, an otherwise struggling smaller airline might opt to come under a larger airline’s wing by offering feeder services where the right-sized equipment would be provided under lease by CAFE).
Crucially, un-commercial business plans will be rejected and the promoters encouraged either to revise their business plans to make them viable – or to abort the plans.
Safe, efficient and affordable
“Such rational behaviour, when set in motion, will give momentum to a virtuous circle of cause-andeffect: improved operations giving rise to better creditworthiness, giving rise to reduced finance costs, giving rise to greater reinvestment, and so on until African airlines reach the Holy Grail … of lowering airfares profitably.”
“This would then catalyse what I call SEACAT (Safe, Efficient, Affordable Commercial Air Transport). And it would stymie some of the fragmented airline behaviour which really doesn’t do anyone any good in the long term. Such behaviour causes losses to be made by many African airlines, but every cent that is lost, is a cent lost to the greater African economy, multiplied many times over.”
Tierney claims that there is no shortage of lessors and African airlines who are supportive of the concept. He adds that the key to CAFE’s success will be an ownership/management structure that allows for
Tierney points out that, “The appeal of the availability of aircraft and engines from a dedicated supplier would be a new ingredient that disrupts for the better by appealing to the interests of airline shareholders and managers. CAFE will encourage a virtuous circle of behaviour in which access to SEACAT engenders the same kind of chain reaction as created by mobile phone technology: more connectivity results in more productivity which results in more economic growth which results in more connectivity and so on, in a self re-enforcing cycle.
Tierney argues that the ability of countries to create gainful employment for the huge population growth that is coming in the next 10 to 20 years, will be that much weakened by every cent lost by the airlines.
Progress since Tierney first proposed the CAFÉ concept has been slow. Kenya Airways was the most active promoter until it met with opposition from potential airline partners.
“Safe, efficient and affordable air transport has been shown to add between 1 and 2 percent to GDP growth per annum, and this compounds, over time. And to the extent that you do not have safe, efficient and affordable air transport, it is Africa’s loss,” Tierney concludes.
RODGER FOSTER STEPS OUT THE COCKPIT
At the end of November 2024 Airlink announced a change of leadership following the decision by current CEO and Managing Director, Rodger Foster, to step down at the end of March 2025. Rodger Foster founded the airline almost 33 years ago.
Rodger Foster has announced his retirement.
AIRLINK’S CURRENT Chief Financial Officer, de Villiers Engelbrecht, will take over from Foster as the company’s new CEO with effect from 1 April 2025.
Foster will remain a shareholder in the airline and will continue serving as a non-executive director.
Rodger Foster has served as the CEO and Managing Director since co-founding the business in June 1992 with Barrie Webb. At that time, South Africa was undergoing a political transition with sanctions and boycotts gradually being lifted and the doors being opened for increased trade, commerce, arts, and tourism.
Airlink’s establishment coincided with the deregulation of South Africa’s domestic airline industry, allowing privately-owned airlines to compete with the stateowned national carrier.
“It has been a privilege to have led Airlink through what has been an exciting, at times very challenging, but ultimately a rewarding and fulfilling journey. However, after more than three decades in the post, it is time to hand over the flight controls to my successor and our Chief Financial Officer, de Villiers Engelbrecht,” said Mr Foster.
De Villiers Engelbrecht has been involved in Airlink for over 20 years, he served as a non executive director for a period, and joined as an executive in February 2011.
“De Villiers is widely respected in the industry and has worked alongside me, helping to steady Airlink, repurpose it and put the airline on a course for sustainable growth in the face of two existential threats to the company.
These included Airlink’s separation from SAA due to SAA’s business rescue, followed closely by the COVID-19 travel restrictions which jolted air travel to a standstill. He has had hands-on exposure to all of the key elements that constitute the airline business and has the support of the entire executive team, the broader management as well as all our external stakeholders,” explained Rodger.
“Airlink is a flourishing and resilient business. It has a strong balance sheet that has been bolstered by an equity injection from Qatar Airways Group’s acquisition of a 25 percent stake in the company. Since 2020 Airlink has built a constellation of commercial partnerships with many of the world’s leading airlines. None of this would have been possible without the tireless support of the entire dedicated, diligent and professional Airlink team who it has been my privilege to lead,” he added.
In 2024 Airlink’s fleet comprised over 65 Embraer airliners. In the 2024 financial year (to 31 August 2024) more than four million passengers travelled on over 85,000 Airlink flights to its 50 destinations in 15 countries including Madagascar and St Helena Island in the South Atlantic.
Airlink is an International Air Transport Association (IATA) member and accredited under its IOSA safety audit programme.
An Airlink ERJ-140LR.
JEFFERY KEMPSON
OKAVANGO ECHOES
One Okavango evening, at the luxury Khwai River lodge, a young well-bred English pilot of good character and eloquent public-school accent and I had too much to drink.
THE PERSONABLE KENYA EXPAT
couple who managed the lodge Mr Derek Bentley, a superb host, together with his wife, Cordon Bleu Chef, Pamela, were entertaining at the bar.
During this period two of our four Esquire Botswana Airways Aero Commander 500s were based at Khwai River lodge to operate the local Lindblad tours contract.
My companion pilot Rodney and I had imbibed excessive numbers of freshly concocted White Lady cocktails and then, by way of a nightcap, Mine Host Derek created a variation of a Brandy Alexander, which he named The Esquire Whore.
This liquid creation was very smooth, though potent, and of such superior quality that we persuaded Derek to mix more.
The Esquire Airways Aero Commander 500 on a sandy Delta airstrip.
During this increasingly jocular evening one of the American guests asked me, “What would happen if we are attacked by a wild animal at night, and you need to casevac us to Johannesburg, and the pilots are all drunk?”
Even though it was not strictly true, I replied that our aircraft insurance policy precluded us taking off or landing at night at Khwai as there was no flarepath for night flying. On occasion we had to casevac out in an emergency using Land Rovers positioned at each end of the runway to line up on. I also said that we pilots tended not to drink before 5.00 pm so guests should be careful on late afternoon safaris not to provoke the wildlife.
I related an incident about a local mixed-race professional hunter who introduced himself to his American clients by saying, “Hello, I’m Willy Phillips, your off-white hunter.”
My anecdote caused considerable mirth so encouraged, I related a particularly memorable Khwai story about how I had flown the President, Sir Seretse Khama, his bodyguard, Churchill, and their entourage to Khwai. After dinner His Excellency and retinue were reclining in chairs around the campfire, together with the lodge owner, and others.
There he lamented that a Special Police unit which had been dispatched to the lodge for his protection several days earlier, had not yet arrived.
He was asked by one of the professional hunters present if he was considering a future army defence force for Botswana.
The President said that he had no wish to be told, while at a commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference, that a coup had occurred back home. The President suddenly yelped and clutched his hand. A small white dog had bitten him on the finger. Dogs were not allowed in the camp, but this one belonged to the owner’s wife. She had locked the dog into a chalet but it had gnawed its way through the gauze sheet which doubled as a window, escaped, and joined its owner at the campfire.
Profuse apologies ensued and antiseptic and a Band Aid was applied to the President’s bitten finger.
Once the President had returned he said to me; “Captain Jeff. That small dog biting my finger illustrates a universal truth.’’
“What’s that your Excellency?”
He replied: “It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you go, dogs hate us natives.”
I tried hard not to laugh out loud.
“You may laugh” he said, “But not too loudly.”
Soon afterwards my English pilot colleague and I weaved out of the bar to our shared chalet.
Shortly after midnight I awoke to the haunting sounds of a lion kill, so close that I feared for our safety. The door was locked but the moon shone brightly through our flimsy gauze screen which would not deter a hungry lion. I slid under my bed.
There was a loud shout as I bumped into Rodney.
Rodney, who was the pilot flying, with the broken prop of the Aero Commander.
“What the hell are you doing under my bed?!” I hissed.
“Self-preservation old boy! If a lion comes through the window it will see you and not me.”
After a few seconds we both started giggling drunkenly, but remained where we were until the sounds of the kill abated, then we returned to our own beds.
A few days later, Rodney dropped a group of passengers at Khwai then took off empty for Shakawe on the north west Okavango panhandle, to collect passengers for Savuti Lodge.
About three quarters of the way to Shakawe, just after lighting a cigarette, the Aero Commander 500 shuddered. Before Rodney could react, the right engine broke two of its engine mounts and seized.
He saw that the two-bladed propeller had sheared about halfway along a blade, exactly where a nick had been filed out prior to the last inspection. Fortunately, the dismembered half blade had not penetrated the fuselage. Rodney shut off the fuel and magnetos, picked up his cigarette from the smouldering carpet, extinguished it in the ashtray, and then discovered he was unable to feather the prop. Full power on the left engine enabled him to reach Shakawe’s long runway.
A few days later, a pilot engineer called Mel Colyn arrived in an A36 Bonanza from Rand Airport with an assistant. They removed the damaged engine and flew it to Aero Sales Workshop at Rand for repair.
In due course the engine was overhauled and returned to Shakawe where it was fitted with a new propeller and engine mounts. I flew it back to Rand for a full MPI.
ZS-CLZ was one of only two Aero Commander 500s in the country. They were powered by two 250 HP Lycoming engines and were able to carry 6 passengers (3 on the rear bench seat).
A mere ten flying hours since receiving CLZ back from the AMO I taxied out at Maun with 6 American passengers and copious amounts of baggage, bound for Johannesburg. As I entered the runway and opened the throttles, the recently overhauled right engine stopped. I tried to restart it but the starter could not budge the prop.
I managed to taxi back to the apron. Once out the cockpit, I grasped the horizontal prop and was able to lift myself off the ground. The newly overhauled engine had seized solid.
If it had seized a couple of minutes later we would not have been able to maintain altitude on one engine at our weight and density altitude.
The newly overhauled engine was returned to Rand Airport. On splitting the crankcase halves it was found that a part of a split pin had dropped into an open oil gallery. This had seized the engine because it was just idling. Martin Hildebrand, the engine expert, averred that at full power the split pin segment would have pulled through the main bearing and not seized the engine. I told him this was wishful thinking.
JEFFERY KEMPSON
Lanseria's 'temporay' prefab terminal opens with a Learjet arrival.
The owners of our fleet of aircraft were private pilots and aircraft enthusiasts. Their principal business was running their town planning company based in Pretoria, called Haacke, Sher, & Aab. (Aab must have been the first name in the Pretoria phone book).
We’d had a few serious aircraft maintenance problems with AMOs, first at Grand Central, then at Rand.
The Town Planning Company had recently bought a large piece of land, together with a four bedroom house North West of Johannesburg.
Thereafter Haacke, Sher, & Aab’s enthusiasm for the project took on an altogether more grandiose dimension. And that was the genesis of Lanseria Airport.
that was the genesis of Lanseria Airport
The Esquire Airways pilots based in Joburg moved into that house, and we paid a nominal rental. I had a conversation with Fanie Haacke about them using the land for an airstrip and hangar for the Esquire Airways fleet and an AMO. I suggested the new airfield might be called Northfield.
A couple of years later the initial 7,000 foot Lanseria tar runway had been completed, and a ‘temporary’ prefabricated terminal building imported from America.
Lanseria Airport opened in August 1974. The runway was later extended to 10,000 feet, and twenty-eight years later, in 2002, a new terminal building replaced the ‘temporary’ prefab structure.
Toerien Hendrik White River, Nelspruit 013 751 3848 hctoerien@viamediswitch.co.za
LIVING THE DREAM
Part 1: Life in the Trailer Park
A harsh, piercing sound jolts me out of a restful, deep sleep. My alarm clock. Where am I? The ceiling is not familiar, the bed is hard, and the room smells.
Well, I know I’m not home. My mind is racing to identify my location on this planet. Oh yes, I’m at work. Houma, Louisiana.
IT’S 3:45 AM, IT’S DARK, and my day is about to start. After slowly creaking out of bed, I splash some cold water on my face, and tiptoe to get the coffee started.
The other guys are not up yet, but they’re probably flying a different schedule today. I’ll be quiet.
Home away from home here in the swamp is a typical Southern trailer accommodating four pilots. There are countless such trailers in this part of the world in which local families create a comfortable home, knowing that all their worldly possessions might be swept away by the next hurricane. At least our trailer is relatively new, and it’s equipped with a powerful central air conditioner, the size of a small family saloon. It runs all the time. There’s a communal lounge and kitchen, but we each have a private room and en-suite bathroom. There is virtually no sound proofing, so we share a lot of intimate details that should have remained unheard.
Spoken words or otherwise created. There are many other trailers just like this, but this is ours – our little “family” away from family. This is top-notch luxury compared to some of the joints I have been stuck in before as an intrepid aviator.
The familiar smell of
The coffee is just what I need this morning, and I slowly galvanise with a rusk or two that somehow survived international travel across the Atlantic. No-one here knows what a rusk is, but I suspect that someone is developing a taste for my wife’s homemade delicacies. There are a few missing – I’m sure of it. I’ll have to hide these. It’s every man for himself when it comes to rusks or biltong in a strange and foreign land!
The coffee is working its magic, and I start formulating vaguely coherent thoughts. Time to fire up the iPad and start some flight planning. There’s a lot to do before our 06:30 take-off time: multiple apps and websites to consult, ranging from downloading my
assigned Sikorsky S-92’s latest maintenance status, to weather, NOTAMS, customer updates, schedule changes, performance planning, flight & duty limits, airspace restrictions, deck reports, and safety notices, to name just a few. All this will be checked again, but I always like to get an overview before I head off to the operations department. I learnt many moons ago that rushing before a flight leads to mistakes, and I’ve tailored my routine to avoid strapping myself into the cockpit in a breathless huff.
After a quick shower, shave, and a final sip of coffee, I grab my flight gear and step outside into the hot, humid southern Louisiana gloom.
Even hours before sunrise, it’s already around 30 degrees C, and I know there’s more heat and humidity in store for us. Thank goodness for an airconditioned cockpit! I can hear activity down on the flightline. The night maintenance crews are wrapping up their duties while getting a whole flock of helicopters ready for the day’s flying. There
are multiple S-92s, a few S-76s, and a collection of AW139s and Airbus H145s. The Bell 407s and new Airbus H160 are based across the runway.
It’s quite impressive to see the pre-dawn operation gain momentum in all its facets as an orange glow appears on the eastern horizon. The familiar smell of JetA-1 fumes put a grin on my face and a spring in my step. It’s going to be a good day.
No-one here knows what a rusk is
With my family more than 8,000 miles and several time zones away, I use the stint during my 7-minute walking commute for a quick call home. It’s a brief chat, and hopefully we’ll have more time to talk later in the day between flights. My wife is fine, the kids are at school, and the dogs are happy. “Yes, I still have a few rusks left, thank you. No issues. We’ll talk again soon. Love you.” On a busy day, they’ll be asleep by the time I return to base, so every few minutes are precious. An S92
HELICOPTERS
The planning room is abuzz with pilots glued to iPads, discussing weather, payloads, MEL-items, or the latest company gossip. Others are quietly sipping their coffee or whatever early-morning poison gets them going while contemplating the tasks of the day.
Our operation supports a few different customers, all heading in different directions into the Gulf of Mexico. The vast majority of our missions are passenger flights. Sometimes the smaller helicopters are tasked to fly patrols, or we transport emergency tools or parts. Most offshore installations or vessels accommodate a hundred or more people at any given time. Some of these individuals are specialists who travel offshore only for a day or two to provide their expensive expertise, while others are contractors, general labourers, or part of the operation’s regular crew. Most work 2-week rotations. Either way, to us they are passengers, a name on a manifest, a weight, and a solemn face corralled along a noisy flight line to a waiting helicopter. We love them all equally…
Each crew receives a lineup the night before, detailing the plan for the next day. We know which aircraft we’ll be assigned to, who the crew is for each, and how many flights are scheduled. We also know the intended destinations, but we do not know how many
passengers and how much cargo will be carried. That is determined by the first piece of information produced by each crew. Both pilots are engaged in reviewing all planning data while considering variables such as weather and aircraft performance to calculate a maximum payload. This payload is then sent to the dispatch team to start the check-in process and generate flight manifests for each flight.
It is during this pre-flight and planning phase that the complexities of offshore helicopter operations in support of the oil & gas industry become very apparent.
The modern and complex twin-engine helicopters we operate are all crewed by two pilots. Most operations are IFR, which means that the weather must be rather dismal for a flight not to be undertaken. Add to that the mandates contained in FAA Part 135, then consider our company requirements as stipulated in various operation manuals and checklists. So far, so good. Nothing we have not experienced before.
But wait, that’s not all – there is no other type of flight operation, that I’m aware of, anywhere in the world, where the customer wields so much power and influence over how we fly and maintain our helicopters.
The pilots' trailer park.
Each customer is permitted almost unrestricted access to our flight and maintenance operations under the guise of safety. Procedures are often bespoke to each customer, and pilots and maintenance personnel alike are confronted with these added intricacies in addition to the usual manufacturer, FAA, and company guidelines and decrees.
The reality is that our little $30,000,000 Sikorsky is dwarfed in size, complexity, and cost by the equipment and technology found on oil & gas platforms and vessels. We do, however, characterise substantial risk. It took me a while to understand the little significance that we represent in the overall enterprise of one of these offshore installations operated by the biggest oil companies in the world. It is truly humbling to grasp that, in spite of providing safe and reliable transport, we are just another function in the production of oil & gas. We are a very small cog in a massive machine churning billions of dollars.
Of course, the potential pitfalls for us mere mortal pilots are that our procedures might be different, depending on which customer we’re assigned to on any given day. The remedy to this is that pilots may bid to be permanently assigned to specific contracts, but that means that you’re flying with the same crew, many of the same passengers, and almost certainly the same routes every day. For me, that would be a horrible version of Groundhog Day, and I am blissfully allocated to “the pool”. That’s a euphemism for being open to abuse as pool pilots may be assigned to any contract and any base. Life on the road…
Next in Part 2 – We’ll delve a little deeper into passenger handling, try to complete our pre-flight actions, and hopefully make it to the flightline.
LANSERIA AIRPORT
implements E-Gates
As air travel continues to grow, pressure mounts on the check-in process, resulting in frustration and often leading to missed flights.
IN THE FIRST OF ITS KIND in Africa, Lanseria International Airport has implemented the Tap-and-Fly E-Gate system, a revolutionary approach to airport check-ins that leverages contactless technology and automation.
On 19 November, SA Flyer was invited to the launch where attendees were allocated personal boarding passes in order to experience this system in action.
The CEO of Lanseria, Mr Rampa Rammopo, introduced the Vice President of Turkish company TAV technologies, Mr Itker Aksoy, who presented an overview of the benefits that this revolutionary contactless system offers for passengers, airports, and airlines alike. The most significant benefit is that it reduces wait times at check-in and security checkpoints.
This eliminates the need for manual verification by staff, accelerating the check-in process and reducing bottlenecks during peak travel times. It is also scalable, allowing for easy expansion and integration with future technologies such as artificial intelligence and advanced analytics.
Passengers can simply tap their boarding pass
Passengers can simply tap their boarding pass or biometric-enabled travel document on the e-gate, which quickly verifies their identity and grants access.
Furthermore, the system integrates advanced biometric authentication and data encryption to verify passenger identities with high accuracy.
Real-time data from government databases is cross referenced thus enhancing security while maintaining compliance with international aviation regulations. This minimizes the risk of human error or fraudulent activity, ensuring safer travel for all.
While there is an upfront investment in e-gate infrastructure, the long-term cost savings are substantial. Automated systems require fewer personnel for checkins and security.
ABOVE: Lanseria CEO Mr Rampa Ramopo launches the 'Tap n Fly' project.
BELOW: MC Kirshen Pillay Head of Training at Lanseria International Airport got the show on the road.
ABOVE: Mr Joggie Zeuner Executive Manager Operations and PRFO and CEO Elmar Conradie of Safair. BELOW: Executive assistant to the CEO Marcelle Willemse and the Director of Airports and Airspace at the National Department of Transport Lehlogonolo Mashiteng.
ABOVE: Guests enjoyed convivial drinks and snacks.
BELOW: Accounts and Sales Manager of SA Flyer Kerry Matthysen.
Mr. Rammopo emphasized that the implementation of the Tap-and-Fly E-Gate system will not result in any job losses. Instead, it will enable Lanseria to allocate its resources more efficiently, allowing staff to focus on minimizing delays and enhancing operational performance.
The Tap-and-Fly E-Gate system is more than just a technological upgrade—it is a vital step forward in redefining the airport experience. We can only hope that O R Tambo and Cape Town International follow suit without delay.
TREVOR COHEN
By Trevor Cohen
EXERCISE VUK’UHLOME 2024
The South African Army’s Exercise Vuk’uhlome 2024
Distinguished
THIS YEAR’S EXERCISE Vuk’uhlome highlights the SA Army’s preparedness to address national and regional security challenges.
“Scenarios depicting typical war scenes form part of the exercise which will enable the SA Army to measure its state of readiness in terms of discharging its mandate of preparing, providing and sustaining combat ready landward forces for employment by the Chief of the SANDF,” says the SANDF official statement.
This year’s Exercise Vuk’uhlome featured over 7000 troops from infantry units across SA which combined with the South African Air Force’s 2 Squadron and 85 Combat Flying School.
The demonstration began with a huge controlled bang, depicting air strikes by SAAF Hawks and Gripens. Three Gripens demonstrated unguided Mk 81 120 kg bombs, dropping eight bombs each, totalling 2 880 kg of ordinance.
The two Hawks from 85 Combat Flying School fired their 30 mm cannons with impressive accuracy. Special Forces troops were deployed by a parachute drop from a BK 117 helicopter.
SAAF participation was low key
Other elements included Special Forces, and the SA Army’s Specialist Infantry Capability (SAASIC), 1 Tactical Intelligence Unit, Motorised Infantry, and 43 Mechanised Brigade.
Other than the Hawks, the SAAF participation was low key. Gripen action was fast and unfortunately far from the visitors’ stands which made it difficult for the visitors to gain a close-up first hand experience of their effectiveness. The sole Oryx intended for the demonstration was called away for a Casevac to Bloemfontein.
ABOVE: Hawks from 85 CFS were a strong presence at Exercise VUKUHLOME III. BELOW: Over 7000 troops participated.
ABOVE: The venerable BK 117 still has an important role to play.
BELOW: SAAF participation included dropping Special Forces paratroops from a BK 117 helicopter.
ABOVE: ZPU-2 and ZU-23 anti-aircraft cannons mounted on Land Cruisers. BELOW: Key combat elements were provided by the Olifant Main battle tank.
DEFENCE
On the ground the Special Forces demonstrated their ZPU-2 and ZU-23 anti-aircraft autocannons, mounted on Toyota Land Cruiser ‘Technicals’ but for SA use called the GOAT (gun on a truck). The ‘dust and diesel’ for which the demonstration is known was most evident in the large deployment of infantry fighting vehicles and Olifant main battle tanks.
The intimdiating anti- aircraft guns.
BUMPPPFFF:
Beech 18 split rudder.
Buying a plane.
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