SA Flyer Magazine October 2024

THE SUPER VERSATILE JET

With its large cargo door, quickly reconfigurable cabin, and access to short, unpaved runways, the new PC-24 provides unmatched versatility.

PILATUS CENTRE SA

Authorised Sales Centre

POSITION REPORT

ONE OF THE FAILINGS of many local governments is that they do not appreciate the value of having an airport, no matter how small.

Across South Africa there are countless examples of local authorities which have surrendered their airports to land invasions and squatter communities. Examples that spring to mind are Nylstroom, Estcourt and Hermanus, with many more under threat.

The fate of Plettenberg Bay Airport hangs in the balance. It is the subject of a three way tussle between the local authority; the Bitou Municipality, which owns the land, the hangar owners and users of the airport, and the Cape Winelands airport developers, who, presumably frustrated by their lack of progress with the old Fistentekraal Airport outside Cape Town, are now trying to run (or is it ruin?) the Plett Airport as well.

global transportation network, connecting cities and countries, facilitating international trade, and enabling cultural exchange.

Thus the significance of airports extends beyond their primary function of air travel; they act as hubs of economic activity, generating employment, stimulating local businesses, and attracting investment.

a mile of runway will take you anywhere.

One of the reasons local governments do not fully appreciate their airports is that airports are seen as the playpens of those rich enough to have aeroplanes. However countless studies confirm the importance of airports to small town economies. Regional Horizons magazine (Q1, 2019) notes that, ‘airports… are significant engines of economic development and catalysts for growth in the modern era.’

There is a well-known aphorism:

“A mile of highway will take you a mile, but a mile of runway will

Small town governments need to appreciate that airports are not just places for the rich owners of aircraft to land and takeoff; they are pivotal to the

Airports have become integral components of the urban landscape, often shaping the economic fortunes of the cities and regions they serve. The development of an airport can transform what might have been a sleepy town or a rural backwater into a bustling economic centre. This metamorphosis is evident in numerous examples worldwide, where airports have acted as magnets for economic activity, drawing businesses, tourists, and residents alike. Dubai is a good example.

Airports play a crucial role in facilitating global trade. They are key to the value chain, enabling the rapid movement of goods across continents. This capability is particularly crucial in today’s global economy, where the competitive advantage from speed and efficiency are paramount.

Appreciating the economic impact of airports on local communities is not just about quantifying the direct financial benefits. It is also about appreciating the broader role these complex infrastructures play in shaping the social, cultural, and economic landscape of the regions they serve.

The SACAA tries hard to develop aviation amongst disadvantaged communities. I venture to propose that it would achieve a far better return for its efforts if it educated local governments on the value of their airports.

j

Guy Leitch

SALES MANAGER

Howard Long sales@saflyermag.co.za 076 499 6358

TRAFFIC

Howard Long traffic.admin@saflyermag.co.za

ACCOUNTS

Angelique Joubert accounts@saflyermag.co.za

EDITOR

Guy Leitch guy@saflyermag.co.za

PUBLISHER

Guy Leitch guy@saflyermag.co.za

PRODUCTION & LAYOUT

Patrick Tillman www.imagenuity.co.za design@saflyermag.co.za

CONTRIBUTORS

Jim Davis

Peter Garrison

Hugh Pryor

CONTRIBUTORS CONTINUED

John Bassi

Morne Booij-Liewes

Laura McDermid

Darren Olivier

Jeffrey Kempston

ILLUSTRATIONS

Darren Edward O'Neil

Joe Pieterse

WEB MASTER

Emily Kinnear

SNEAKING THREE DAKS ACROSS AFRICA

JUSTIN DE REUCK

When a truly exceptional photo opportunity comes along, the truly exceptional aviation photogs are called on to make the photo opportunity work. Such was the FlySafair flyover of the final SpringboksAll Blacks rugby game at DHL Cape Town Stadium,

Justin de Reuck and the two crews planned the flight meticulously and then flew it with Justin shooting from a Piper Seneca with the door off. Justin used his trusty Canon EOS R6 Mkll. The lens is a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM ll. The actual focal length was a very wide 24mm, for the in-your face effect. Exposure: 1/2000@ f/5.0 ISO 200

The pilots involved were:

• Pilot in Command (PIC): Captain Pierre Gouws

• Second-in-Command (SIC): Captain Steve van der Merwe

• Safety Pilot: First Officer Scott Ternent

• Reserve Pilot: Captain Peter Ladiellis

• Camera-ship Pilot: (PIC) Captain Alewyn Burger; (SIC)Captain Trevor Warner ; (Safety Pilot) First Officer Anneri Kemp

Speed was planned for 150KIAS and routing around Robben Island and down the Atlantic Seaboard to Cape Point, followed by the camaraship formating on the Boeing down the glideslope for RWY 19 at FACT and photographing the landing.

The meticulous planning and briefings happened over two online Teams meetings in the days before and then a final briefing of just the cameraship crew before departure.

Do Pilots Die Early?

There is

a

widely held belief that retired pilots die younger than the general population.

A QUESTION THAT HAS BEEN ARGUED for years in the cockpits, briefing rooms, remuneration negotiating tables and the watering holes of commercial aviation is; what is the life expectancy of an airline pilot after he retires?

Because airline pilots retire after a career of active health checks, the life expectancy of a 60 year-old retired airline pilot should be much longer than that of a 60 year-old from the general population.

However, briefing room chatter and online forums of the airline industry are happy to argue that pilots die at a younger age than the general population. Every time a retired airline pilot dies within the first few years after retirement, the whole idea that airline pilots’ die early is reinforced. Kind of like a confirmation bias.

The results were a shocking surprise, and caused much conflict in the airline industry. Clarke found that 60% of the pilots who retired at 60 had died by the time they were 65.

In stark contrast, the American National Center for Health Statistics says the average life expectancy for Americans who are 60 years old is 20.4 years. At 65 it is 14.7 years for men and 18.6 years for women.

60% of the retired pilots died by 65

The belief about premature pilot deaths was tackled by Captain Mike Clarke, a British Airways pilot who did a study for IFALPA, (the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations). Clarke analysed retirement records from 1953 to mid-1988 for 282 pilots across Britain, Canada and Argentina.

So it was deeply worrying for 60% of pilots to die within five years of retiring at 60 – to put it mildly. And now, with a current 63 or 65 retirement age – how many will live to 70?

The Clarke study reinforced the belief that airline pilots die early. The question is why?

One reason proposed is that, as a group, airline pilots (and from first-hand experience surgeons) have a hard time adjusting to retirement. The problem is that many airline pilots define themselves, and thus their value, as being captains of their ships, god-like in demanding respect and obeisance.

Fifteen years after retiring, a well-known SAA captain still loves to remind anyone who will

listen that he was the commander of the Queen of the Skies – the Boeing 747-400. And so when he retired, he went from being a Top Gun to a mere pop gun.

Hero to zero is another common self-image problem. Many retired pilots become depressed – and that leads to a significantly shorter lifespan, even if you don’t blow your brains out. Even four years after the trauma of Covid, and the massive SAA pilot cuts, at my regular watering hole there are still burned-out husks of pilots who start drinking at breakfast. I expect them to drink themselves into an early grave.

The prevalence of the belief that pilots die early is reinforced by almost every airline pilot having several anecdotes of colleagues who died early after retirement.

The obvious question is what factors associated with being an airline pilot may shorten life expectancy?

pilots are 24 percent more likely to get cancer

Pilots’ wives (or husbands) have a particularly torrid time with their retired captains. One famously remarked that since her husband had retired, “She has twice the husband hanging around the house – yet half the income.”

The stress of a high divorce rate doesn’t help matters.

Readers Health Warning: This list is enough to drive any pilot to drink.

Apart from being depressed, there are many other reasons to blame for early deaths. Being a pilot means having to deal with physical and emotional stressors that have a negative effect on their health. In no particular order, twelve of the most frequently discussed of these factors are:

1. Fatigue

2. Cosmic radiation and electromagnetic field effects

3. Circadian dysrhythmia; (their body clocks get out of time)

4. Depression

5. Responsibility for passenger safety and survival

6. Loss of career from airline failure

7. Loss of job because of professional errors

8. Losing your medical.

9. Excessive noise and vibration

10. Low humidity, ambient pressure and hypoxia

11. Airborne sickness and infection

12. Bad eating: airline and airport food.

Clarke’s findings, a number of further studies were conducted on the question of pilot life expectancy.

In a notable follow-up study, a far larger initial sample, being 2209 retired pilots and flight engineers, was surveyed. Early and late retirees were excluded from the sample, leaving 1494 pilots who retired at age 60 between April 1968 to July 1993. Comparisons were made with the census of the U.S. general population of 60 year-old white males. (The retired pilots were almost exclusively white males).

anecdotes of colleagues who died too early

Various attempts have been made to research these specific factors to determine their effect on life expectancy. However, because of the academic requirement for complete anonymity and de-identification, that level of analysis of specific factors could not be achieved.

Despite the alarming findings from Mike Clarke’s study, IFALPA declined to speculate on the reasons for the large proportion of untimely deaths. However, in response to

Happily, the new research contradicted Clarke’s findings.

It found that a full 50-percent of the pilots in this study’s sample, who retired at age 60, were expected to live past 83.8 years, compared to 77.4 years for the general population of 60 yearold white males.

The study therefore concluded, with typical academic jargon, that the question of lowered life expectancy for airline pilots was not

supported by the results of ‘that particular data set’. This second study in fact determined that airline pilots’ average longevity was more than five years longer than their counterparts in the U.S. white male population.

The new study did much to reassure pilots that they should not expect to die soon after retirement. But Item 2 on above the list of things that pilots have to put up with, namely cosmic radiation, is receiving an increasing amount of attention.

Cosmic radiation is high-energy radiation generated in outer space. Organisations such as the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) are increasingly concerned about its effects on flight crew.

On average, around 10 per cent of all radiation exposure of the pubic comes from cosmic radiation. Everybody receives small radiation doses from cosmic radiation reaching the Earth’s surface. But the dose dramatically increases with altitude. The atmosphere attenuates cosmic radiation – so the higher you fly, the more you receive.

It is therefore an occupational hazard that aircrew (and frequent flyers) receive higher radiation doses from cosmic radiation than the general public, and astronauts receive even higher radiation doses.

Thus, space tourists can also expect to receive an increased dose from cosmic radiation, depending on the altitude reached and time spent at altitude. The two astronauts stranded on the ISS because of the Boeing Starliner failures have yet more reason to be unhappy.

Life on Earth is not just proteted by the atmosphere, but is also protected from cosmic radiation by the magnetic fields that surround the Earth.

How much radiation do air – and space – crews receive?

The stats are not very helpful. Less than 1 mSv a year is received on average by aircrew where all routes flown do not exceed an altitude of 9,000 metres (FL295). But for aircrew flying long-haul polar routes, a far higher 6 mSv a year is a typical radiation dose.

Even that is not too serious. For comparison: 20 mSv is the limit per year for people who are occupationally exposed to radiation due to their work, such as radiologists, which other studies have shown to have a shorter life expectancy

A study by the Pentagon has shown an elevated cancer risk for military aviators. The Defense Department examined health records for 156,050 pilots for the period 1992 to 2007 and concluded that military pilots were 24 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancers than members of the general population, when adjusted for age, sex, and race.

I guess pilots and cabin crew should push their airlines for occupational health compensation. j

TROUBLE TO THE MAX

Who should have been blamed for that 737 debacle?

THE COVER STORY in the New York Times Magazine on September 22, 2018 was entitled, “What Really Brought Down the Boeing 737 MAX?” The writer, William Langewiesche, son of the sainted author of Stick and Rudder, is an experienced pilot and a thorough and technically savvy researcher of his wide-ranging articles and books. As you can imagine, I read it eagerly.

The article had been posted online a couple of days earlier. By the time I checked, it had garnered over 1,500 comments. I didn’t read all of them, but the reactions I saw seemed about equally divided between friendly and hostile to the writer.

I wrote a letter to the editor myself. It was not published. Despite the variety of online reactions, however, the letters to the editor that did appear two weeks later, were, surprisingly, all favourable. Did the editors consider the critical reactions not worth printing?

This is what Boeing apparently hoped any pilot would do in the event that the system, which applied nose down trim more rapidly than the normal trim system would, went off when it shouldn’t.

Langewiesche documented in great detail the combination of corruption, greed and irresponsibility that he said leads to the rapidly growing airlines of developing countries –notably, in this case, Indonesia’s Lion Air –putting novices fresh out of simulators into the cockpits of their jets.

commenters branded the argument racist

What these crews lacked, he argued, was the wide experience in planes and flight operations of all sorts that enables pilots to react calmly and resourcefully to unfamiliar situations.

Langewiesche’s position, in a nutshell, was that the real reason for the two crashes, one in Indonesia and one in Ethiopia, that had cost hundreds of lives and led to the worldwide grounding of the airliner, was the poor airmanship of the crews involved. Properly trained crews, he argued, should have been able to disable their misbehaving stabilityaugmentation systems – the now infamous MCAS – in the same simple way that one would remedy a trim runaway.

Using cockpit voice and flight data records, he dissected second-by-second the reactions of the two crews to the pitch-downs that had been triggered, in each case, by a single faulty angleof-attack sensor. He showed how all four pilots failed to cope appropriately, one of them, in fact, turning to prayer as a last, and futile, resort.

Many online commenters branded the argument racist. It may have sounded that way, but I think, if Langewiesche was swayed by any unconscious prejudice, it was by a sort of class feeling: the belief of an experienced pilot, who

has logged many hours flying freight in junky aeroplanes and seen a thing or two, that old timers like himself are real pilots, and relative newbies simply aren’t there yet.

The refrain that young pilots “don’t know how to fly” is not infrequently heard from senior and retired captains. If it’s true, it’s not entirely surprising; just learning systems and procedures takes all of a new pilot’s training time.

The design philosophy underlying the Airbus flyby-wire system, in which the aeroplane, not the pilot, has the final say, signals tacit acceptance of this situation. Airbus airliners are not so much flown as managed. You tell the plane’s computers what you want; they do the actual flying. Software guardrails protect the aeroplane from clueless pilots.

Many American pilots, even those flying Airbus equipment, have professed to prefer the Boeing philosophy, in which the pilot can override the aeroplane rather than vice versa. Boeing aeroplanes, they said, were “pilots’ planes,” and Boeing pilots were real pilots.

By now no one can be unaware that the MCAS design was flawed. It was originally added to deal with changes in the 737’s longitudinal stability caused by the more forward position of new, larger engines on the low-slung jet.

Boeing management deliberately minimised its importance, almost to the point of concealment, in order to hurry the new model into service without its requiring re-certification or pilot re-training. Regulators, mainly the FAA, lulled by decades of reliance on Boeing’s competence and honesty, had not caught on.

Langewiesche conceded that Boeing had made mistakes, but passed lightly over them, expressing little more than mild puzzlement over the company’s actions.

I thought it would have been interesting to know as much about conversations that may have taken place in Boeing’s engineering and flighttest spaces as we know about what happened in the cockpits of the doomed planes. It’s hard to imagine that no one questioned the wisdom of allowing this powerful, fast-acting system to be triggered by a single faulty sensor.

Three weeks after the article appeared, the New York Times Magazine printed a single belated letter. It was from Chesley Sullenberger.

Sullenberger, whose successful ditching of a goose-disabled Airbus in the Hudson River has elevated him into a sort of Lindbergh for our time, was one of the pilots invited to re-enact the accidents on a full-motion simulator. He dismissed as an “age-old aviation canard” Langewiesche’s idea that the pilots’ airmanship, or lack of it, was to blame, though he agreed with Langewiesche that “inadequate pilot training and insufficient pilot experience are problems worldwide.” Still, Sullenberger wrote, “they do not excuse the fatally flawed design [of the] pernicious and deadly” MCAS, a “death trap” that should never have been approved, either by Boeing or by the FAA.

“Boeing made faulty assumptions,” he said, not only about the reliability of the system itself but also about “the level of human performance possible once the failures began to cascade.” Inappropriate MCAS activations “did not present as a classic runaway stabilizer problem.” The aeroplanes felt and behaved differently than they would have with runaway trim, and crews might

therefore look elsewhere for the cause, which Boeing had gone out of its way to hide.

Having more than once, in 50 years of flying, looked back with disbelief and embarrassment at my own reactions to in-flight emergencies and anomalies, I empathise with anyone who doesn’t reason accurately when failures begin to “cascade.”

My reaction to the article had been in some ways similar to Sullenberger’s. My own letter to the Times said, in part, “I have written an aeroplane accident analysis column for Flying Magazine for many years, and something I have learned is that no pilot or crew can be certain of their reaction to an unexpected emergency. If Langewiesche struggles to define the quality of “airmanship” that the accident crews supposedly lacked, it is because airmanship exists only after the fact. It knows no national boundaries. You can never tell who has the presence of mind to cope with unexpected and frightening events until the crisis is over. Because human performance is unpredictable, it is the duty of aeroplane manufacturers to provide crews with every possible advantage for coping with the unexpected. Boeing didn’t.”

j

The Boeing Max MCAS system which caused all the problems.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

At a recent conference an airline owner said,

QOM

“Airports are fundementally monopolies and as such are not suitable for private sector ownership unless there are rigorous checks and balances in place to prevent the users being overcharged.”

BOOKS

by Peter Garrison

RIGHT SEAT RULES NO. 22

EXERCISE 8 DESCENDING

Descending is a remarkably complicated subject and us overworked instructors have to be able to field all manner of questions about it.

TO EASE YOU GENTLY into it – here’s the story about Joe’s picture. It was 1964 when I clambered on to an SAA Skymaster at Eros (Windhoek) for a flight to Keetmanshoop. The captain kindly let me sit in the jump-seat. Soon after takeoff he levelled off and asked me if I would like to descend to 1000’ below ground level. I had mixed feelings about this – he didn’t appear suicidal, but hell…

Anyhow he closed the cowl flaps, hauled the power back and stuffed the nose down for a flight into the mighty Fish River Canyon.

What a wonderfully thundering experience that was. It must have been one of the last of the barnstorming flights that airline pilots could occasionally get away with. Taking a dirty dive into a valley is now frowned upon.

Some years later I remember Scully Levin giving us a talk on what was involved in calculating the top of descent (TOD) in a modern jet airliner. He explained that it’s now a matter of pride for airline pilots to pull the power fully back – roughly a hundred miles from destination, and only use it again for taxiing.

it often becomes the big deal

The big radials that had been hammering out close to 6000 hp, fell silent, but for the occasional bang and boof from the exhausts. It was a magnificent, calm, clear morning – not a bump in the sky.

The previously benign captain, an ex-SAAF guy, adopted the wild and gritty look of a Brooklands Bentley driver. He took a feverish grip on the string-bound yoke as he wrestled 35 tons of machinery into unbelievable bank angles and then heaved back so we all sank deep into our seats. This was necessary to negotiate the twists and turns of the canyon. I had to wonder how the pax enjoyed the roller-coaster ride.

Actually that’s not quite true because they need to use a fair amount of thrust on final to maintain the glide-slope in the landing configuration; and in case of a go-around. But you get the idea – it’s a glide approach to a field that’s out of sight over the horizon.

So why glide? Well first, they are recovering some of the time and fuel they used in the climb. Second, jets are unbelievably thirsty at low altitudes, so a powered descent – like we use on cross-countries – eats into fuel reserves, and the airline’s balance sheet. And finally, it makes sense to stay above the weather as long as possible to give everyone a smooth ride.

Why did Scully carry on about how difficult it is to work out a precise TOD? Well, because you have to take into account the forecast winds at various levels during the descent. Then you don’t know exactly how far you are going to descend.

Sure you can use the DME – but that only gives the distance to the beacon – so you need to estimate your own track miles and make allowance for the circuit. Next, you need to keep a sharp ear out for any other traffic that might conflict with your immaculate plan. And finally when you have it all figured, ATC changes your routing.

Technology has taken some of the grind out of this. Now, on your Nav Display, you have a VNAV profile which puts a nice little icon on your track to tell you when to become a glider. Actually it tells the auto-pilot, so you sit on your hands and watch das blinkin-lights while it all happens on its own.

Out of interest, a normal glide in a 737-800 is at around 280kts indicated. Then at 50 DME it must come back to a max of 250 kts. Then 210 kts at 15 DME. Your end-of-decent point is usually, where you intercept the glide-slope on the localizer. This is normally at 8 miles, or about 2500’, where you should be at 180 kts or less.

Electronics have largely taken the guesswork out of this, but the surprises come when ATC suddenly changes your routing. They may give you a short-cut in which case you must instantly increase your rate of descent. Or they may give you speed or altitude restrictions.

So it often becomes the big deal Scully was talking about.

A quick sidetrack. I was coming back from London one night in an A340. We were working our way round the tops of some Charlies that were causing turbulence and lightning just south of Paris. The Captain, who was an ex-pupil of

A DC-4 gave passengers the ride of a lifetime through the Fish River Canyon.

mine, explained that if he typed the new track into his magic box; the MCDU (pronounced macdoo), the autopilot would simply follow this around the build-ups.

Then he pointed to a knob on the MCP – Mode Control Panel on the glareshield, and said, “Of course I can fly it manually by turning this.” He was serious.

When I taught him to fly a Cessna 150 in Port Elizabeth, I’m sure we used to associate manual flying with working the levers and pedals. Silly me. To him, manual flying now means twiddling a knob.

Flutter

You may remember that on 1 April 2010 a young charter pilot was descending from FL95 into Swakopmund in a Cessna 210. Apparently, without warning the aircraft suddenly came apart and the separate bits variously fluttered and plummeted down over a large chunk of territory.

Two months later a pilot and his navigator were descending their Flamingo towards an air-race checkpoint near Bella-Bella when it also broke up in flight.

Jet pilots do it the other way round

Anyhow let’s get back on topic and look at descending in proper aeroplanes with propellers and pistons.

Unfortunately, before we look at the various ways you can descend, I must tell you about a nasty called flutter. This is because any descent has the potential for increasing airspeed –possibly to the extent that it can cause this lifethreatening condition. So here we go.

From pilot reports no significant turbulence existed in either case. Aerodynamic flutter, caused by excessive speed, had been the culprit in both events.

Now I have just read that Jimmy Leeward’s Mustang crash at Reno was caused by worn locknuts on the elevator trim. These allowed flutter to develop. The trim failed and subjected the aircraft to +17G, which incapacitated the pilot.

Both of the South African pilots seem to have been doing what we all do – using the descent to make up for speed lost in the climb. We like to think we are safe as long as we keep below Vne – the red line.

Sorry folks, this is not necessarily true. If you want to let the ASI needle move towards the business end of the dial you had better understand exactly what’s going on. It’s a complicated subject which I have covered Before. The Gleitch won’t give me the space to go through it all again, but here are the basics:

Flutter is what your washing does in the wind. Under the right circumstances parts of your aircraft can do the same. It might be a trim tab, an aileron, a tail-plane, or a whole wing. It can be anything from an almost unnoticeable buzz, to a major terrifying event which shakes the aircraft so violently that it rips itself apart. It may last for several seconds, or for only a fraction of a second, before it causes a catastrophic failure.

When the conditions are right the slightest thing may start it. It could be minor turbulence, or a twitch of the control column, or almost nothing.

To further complicate matters, flutter depends on TAS (True Airspeed) – NOT the indicated airspeed you are looking at on the ASI. This means that a particular indicated airspeed on your dial might be quite safe at sea-level but lethal at 12,000 ft.

Fortunately, unmodified, everyday aircraft, in good condition, have a decent safety margin built into the Vne limitation – as long as they are flown within their certification limitations – including maximum altitude. However any sloppiness in the control system can cause flutter at speeds well below the red line.

There is a whole set of complicated, and sometimes vague rules for gliders at high altitude. And other rules for NTC (Non-Type Certified) aircraft.

That’s just a general warning that any descent has the potential for increased airspeed – so keep that in mind when you plan to go downhill.

Basically you have two ways of making the aeroplane descend.

• You can glide

• You can descend with reduced power.

Glide

Instructors, please teach your pupil to glide. Ideally, demo it on her first flight. Then keep doing it as often as you can. This is pure flying. It’s the most elegant form of flight. It teaches her airspeed control. It teaches her judgement. And it teaches her that flight is about aerodynamics –not about engines. You want her to understand in her soul that an engine failure is an inconvenience – not a death sentence.

In Jim’s ideal flying school you will do glide approaches for most of your flight training.

Those of you who learned to fly when there was less traffic, and the plugs didn’t foul every time you closed the throttle, will remember that those wonderful glide approaches were the normal way of doing circuits and bumps.

gentle landing near the beginning of the grass runway. No tar, no VASIs and no PAPIs.

Sideslipping was a normal part of any approach that was too high. We will deal with that wonderful skill a bit later.

If you had used carb heat – we generally didn’t need to on Cherokees – you would put it off at about 100ft.

After a bit you got pretty good at glide approaches. So when they started teaching you forced landings – well you really couldn’t miss. Forced landings usually call for a longer glide, so you have to warm up the engine, and give it a blast of carb-heat, every thousand feet or so. You should also close the cowl flaps, if you have them.

Okay, so here’s the way we should teach students to start a glide:

make up for speed lost in the climb

You did a standard circuit, but when you turned on to the base leg you didn’t throttle back to start your descent. You maintained circuit height until you judged that you could easily glide for a touchdown a couple of hundred meters into the runway. You kept a beady eye on the runway and watched the drift in order to judge the wind. When the time was right you used carb heat and throttled fully back. You also used a touch of left rudder to keep the ball in the middle and you held the nose level until you reached your glide speed. Then you lowered it into the glide attitude and trimmed any pressure off the stick.

When you realized you were a bit high you would use some flap to steepen the glide. You progressively used flap. Each increment would steepen the descent to bring you down for a

• Make sure there’s no conflicting traffic

• Use carb-heat if the POH recommends it

• Richen the mixture

• Smoothly come all the way back on the throttle

• Use enough left rudder to keep straight

• Hold the nose in the level flight attitude

• When the airspeed reduces to the best glide speed lower the nose into the correct attitude

• Trim the pressure off the stick

• Relax and enjoy the sensation of pure flight

To maintain the glide:

• Keep a good lookout for traffic

• Don’t look away from your aiming point for more than a few seconds at a time

• Remember engine warm-ups and carbheat

To recover:

• Put the carb-heat off

• Richen the mixture

• Smoothly apply full power

• Use enough right rudder to keep straight

• Raise the nose into the level flight attitude. In some aircraft at large flap settings you may need to use a huge amount of forward force on the stick to prevent the nose from moving above the horizon

• When you reach cruise speed reduce power and adjust attitude accordingly

• Tidy up – trim, mixture, power-setting and cowl-flaps.

Descent with reduced power.

This will be your normal descent to destination – say on a crosscountry.

The question is where, when, and how much, should you reduce the power.

ears-popping, shock-cooling and excessive speeds.

First let ATC know you are at TOD. Richen the mixture a bit, ease the nose down a fraction, let the IAS increase by 15 – 20kts. Come back slightly on the throttle to prevent the revs running away. When everything is settled - trim the elevator and the rudder.

Keep an eye on the engine all the way down –tweak the mixture a tad richer every thousand feet and make sure the revs stay where you want them. As you get lower, any particular rev setting produces more power than it did at altitude. So you need to gradually reduce the revs during the descent.

start their descent way too late

Ideally I like to plan a normal descent to destination on a cross-country at a bit over 300 fpm. This gives you a reasonable increase in airspeed without running into the yellow on the ASI. It’s also nice and easy to work out your TOD – you are going to take about three minutes for each thousand feet.

So if you are descending to Virginia from say FL 95 you need to lose about 8500’, to get to circuit altitude. This should take you around 25 minutes.

If you normally true out at say 120kts, you can probably work your descent at a TAS of around 140kts. Which means you would start your descent 60nm short of Durban. These are thumb-suck figures – they can’t be exact because of winds and so on.

It is common for new pilots to misjudge this and start their descent way too late. This means

If you expect to be distracted by nav, traffic or pax, give the mixture an extra dose of richness – you don’t want a lean cut at low altitude. Also remember carb heat. I have had icing in a Cherokee 235 on the Natal coast when the OAT was over 35°C. It’s the humidity that does it.

And finally, let’s quickly sort out a long standing discussion. In piston-engine aeroplanes we control the airspeed with the elevator and the rate of descent with the throttle. I did touch on this earlier, but there’s a bit more to it.

Jet pilots do it the other way round, and there are good reasons for this. Briefly, because they are so heavy and carry so much inertia, it takes too long for changes in nose attitude to alter the airspeed. If they want to go faster NOW, thrust is what will do it for them.

Back to our sort of aeries, the only time you will ever break this stick-for-speed/power-forheight rule, is if you are low and slow on final approach. Obviously you can’t put the nose down to regain airspeed – so you have to use power. But this is not really something you need to think about – it just comes naturally.

Next time we will look at climbing and gliding turns and the disappearing art of sideslipping.

j

We elevate the ar t of aviation design to new heights. Our innovative approach blends cutting- edge technology with timeless elegance, transforming aircraf t into personalized sanc tuaries of comfor t and style. From bespoke seating & advanced cabin layouts to exquisite liveries, we craf t ever y detail to ensure your journey is as ex traordinar y as your destination.

Liver y Design

Photorealistic 3D previews

Photography

Bespoke Aircraf t Completions

OSSHKOSH 2025

Day and night, the fun doesn’t stop!

Our catered camp site on the airfield means you won’t miss out on any of the activities – the early morning wake up call of P 51’s getting airborne, the evening ultralight parade, the STOL competitions and of course, the incredible night airshows! Plus all the camaraderie and fun only a camping group can offer.

Our campsite offers you a home from home at Oshkosh, tents and bedding, meals and beverages, charging facilities and sheltered seating – no camping gear required, bring only your clothes!

Tours depart Johannesburg, Durban or Cape Town Friday 18th July and return Tuesday 29th July 2024.

Prices from R40 650, Early Bird specials available!

It just keeps getting better!

Guy Leitch with Goitseona Diale

Pipistrel is a phenomenon. Despite coming from a country few people could find on a map, and burdening their planes with ridiculous names, Pipistrel have become world leaders in light sport aircraft – and they fly the pants off the competition.

Pipistrel’s Explorer is the latest, and undoubtably the most developed, version of the Slovenian plane builders’ incredibly successful Virus range.

PIPISTREL’S Explorer

Pipistrel's Explorer builds on the great success of their Virus SW to create a certified LSA.

The Sinus and the Virus were introduced to South Africa in 2003. Based on the aircraft’s reputation, there has been stiff competition for the Pipistrel agency –which is now in the hands of Absolute Aviation at Lanseria.

an autopilot, dual redundant ADAHRS units and airbrakes.”… it is the fastest, most capable and the most economic aircraft in the CS-LSA category. Its speed performance allows it to fly at IFR speeds in/near complex airspaces and procedures, so it can be used for private

The Explorer is at heart a Pipistrel Virus which has been fully updated –and certified. It is the certification that makes what was already a remarkable plane even more useful and attractive.

Pipistrel claims that the Explorer is “the first and the only EASA Type-certified aircraft in the CS-LSA category approved for night VFR operations, intentional spins and glider-towing, the only one with

use and training also at busy airports next to airliners, without slowing down the other traffic.”

Pipistrel also says that the Explorer is the first small aircraft in history to be type-certified with 3D printed parts.

As a certified plane it is aimed at the training market. Pipistrel says that it can

The Pipistrel with a ZS registration - the Explorer on show at Virginia Airport. Image: Gary Shepard

Seats are comfortable and tall, with full 4-point harnesses.

The Explorer has an amazingly powerful avionics fit as standard.

be used as a simple ab-initio trainer and for more advanced systems – such as an MT constant speed prop, negative flaps, airbrakes and autopilot. The instructor can progressively increase complexity by adding the systems and options which the aircraft is certified for.

Pipistrel allow the owner to personalize their planes and thus offer a range of certified engine options - from the 80 hp Rotax 912 to the fuel injected Rotax 912-iS.

Unusually for this type of installation, Pipistrel mounted the coolant radiator above the engine, which gives a distinctive tall nose profile.

The Explorer is also commercially certified for glider towing which makes it very useful for clubs as an all-in-one aircraft and a great platform for pilots to build experience.

Safety is key and the Explorer incorporates a haptic stall warning system. This is essentially a system that alerts the pilot to an impending stall by vibrating the control stick. A ballistic parachute adds the ultimate fall back when all else fails.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXPLORER

The wing’s the thing.

The Explorer’s genesis can be traced back to the Sinus motor glider, whose wing is an aerodynamic marvel. Not only is it a super-efficient laminar flow wing, but like South Africa’s JS1 sailplanes, it uses different profiles along its span to improve the handling characteristics.

Testimony to the soundness of the design is that it won the first prize of US$100,000 in the NASA CAFÉ (Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency) competition for all-round performance, including climb, speed, economy, controllability and noise levels.

The view out the full window door and strutless wing is spectacular.

ON THE GROUND

The Explorer has a wingspan almost two metres shorter than the standard Virus, but it is still lengthy at 10.7 metres and glider-like in its high aspect ratio. The tail is surprisingly high at over 2 metres above ground, which makes it tricky to inspect.

Even though the shorter wingspan is the most obvious change to the standard Virus, there are other less evident enhancements. The empennage is smaller and most importantly, under the skin it has been seriously beefed up to cater for higher speeds. This has meant that the Vne (never exceed speed) of the Explorer has been raised to a healthy 163 KTAS or 302 km/h.

The strengthening of the basic structure is so extensive that, despite its almost identical appearance with the standard Virus, the Explorer’s fuselage structure was redesigned from the ground up. Much of the skin is now built out of honeycomb material. Another indication

Main wheels sport Beringer brakes as standard.

of the stronger structure is the two braces behind the windscreen, between the firewall and wing spar box, whereas the Sinus and standard Virus only have one brace.

The Explorer with the 100 hp 912ULS Rotax drives a hydraulic constant speed MTV-33-1A 2-blade prop which gives both great takeoff performance and ground clearance.

PRE-FLIGHT

The engine is easily inspected through a hatch on the side of the cowl. For a more detailed look the entire cowl comes off in a minute with Dzus fasteners. Many consider it sound practice for the first flight of the day to ‘burp’ the dry sump oil system by turning the prop through a couple of revolutions.

A DISTINCTIVE TALL NOSE PROFILE

There is a good-sized baggage space behind the two seats rated for a useful 25 kgs of bags. This can be accessed through a small baggage bay door on the side of the fuselage. There is now a solid bulkhead between the cockpit and baggage bay so the headrests are more firmly mounted on the bulkhead, which also holds the headset jacks. The seatbacks can be removed to access the baggage bay from the cockpit.

Our test aircraft ZS-FSC (note the ZS registration!) has a ballistic parachute fitted and this intrudes on the available space in the baggage bay behind the right seat.

Explorer’s utility. But it is more than capable of carrying a load for training.

ANGLE OF ATTACK INDICATOR DISPLAY.

The fully faired wheels feature quality Beringer brakes which are easily inspected. Regular operation from rough strips would make the removal of the wheel fairings worthwhile. Once seated, when the Battery Master Switch is turned on, an unusual feature is that the haptic stall warning buzzes the stick three times in a self-test.

FLYING THE EXPLORER

Each wing has a 50 litre fuel tank which can be reached from the ground by people of at least average height. So you don’t need to carry steps around as many Cessna pilots do. The 100 litre fuel capacity typically gives a 5 hour endurance, so is more than sufficient for most missions – and it happily drinks mogas, which is more readily available than avgas.As an LSA the max all up weight is limited to 600 kg. ZS-FSC has an empty weight of 370 kg, giving a 230 kg useful load. A 90 kg pilot and 80 kg pax leaves just 60 kg for fuel and bags. Assuming 50 kg for fuel, that is 67 litres. Two standard South African males with 10 kg of baggage will compromise the fuel load but can still fly for three hours. An increase in the 600 kg MAUW for the South African market, and the pending implementation of MOSAIC in the USA, will give a much-needed boost to the

The two transparent doors fold up against the lower surface of the wing and are held in place by a simple clamp.

It is not necessary to stand on a wheel spat to get in, you simply slide your butt onto the seat and then lift your legs into the cabin, hoisting one over the short control stick.

I found the seats very comfortable as they have excellent lumbar support. As the seats are fixed the rudder pedals are adjustable. Both pilot and passenger have toe brakes and a look under the instrument panel shows a reassuring quality of the fittings.

A big thing about the Explorer is that it has a high wing, but this is not particularly evident in the narrow but tall cabin. Once seated you may notice

THE

the wing main spar, which looms across your forehead. But as with the two vertical braces across the windscreen, the spar soon ceases to intrude.

A high wing allows a good view of the ground, which is great for pleasure flying but it still suffers from poor view into turns, although Pipistrel go some way to alleviating this with a large transverse roof window. The view down is greatly enhanced by the transparent doors. An efficient fresh air system and cabin heater is standard.

The Explorer uses dual sticks with a single throttle and pitch control between the two pilots. This layout is ideal for training and it’s good to see that Pipistrel have not gone the cost-cutting route of installing a single centre-mounted stick. Behing the power controls is a large trim switch and ladder indicator and behind that the direct acting and simple ‘Armstrong’ handbrake style flap lever so familiar to Cherokee pilots.

The Explorer has plenty of space in its high and wide panel for the very comprehensive avionics fit, more befitting a bizjet than an LSA. The panel layout is straightforward, with pride of place top centre of the avionics stack being the very capable Garmin GMC-507 autopilot. On either side of the stack there are

two portrait oriented certified Garmin GDU-470 7-inch multifunction displays (MFDs), which can operate in split-screen modes and thus function as primary or secondary flight displays. Nav input comes from a Garmin GNC 355A which is WAAS enabled. Further nav input comes from GNC 255 navcom. A Garmin GTX 345 Transponder is standard so the aircraft is ADS-B compliant.

IF IT WORKS, DON’T MESS WITH IT

The auto trim system is connected to an angle of attack sensor on the pitot tube and automatically adjusts the trim. For flying schools, the trim system can be switched to manual and operated by a conventional conical hat on the stick.

Like all Rotaxes, the Explorer’s 912 engine bursts into life enthusiastically, but with the 912’s characteristic gearbox clatter.

Taxying is easy. Nosewheel steering is direct and the brakes sufficiently powerful and easy to use. Both seats have brake pedals. The wingtips are however hard to see and looking at the position of the shadows is a good way to check if there is wingtip clearance.

Another factor behind the Explorer’s clean design is that the windscreen is some distance ahead of the occupants. It is steeply raked and, with a high instrument panel sill, restricts forward visibility somewhat.

For straight and level cruise the flaps can, glider-style, be selected a further notch up – to negative five degrees, which has the effect of reducing the wing’s angle of incidence and thus attack. You can almost imagine the wing and indeed the whole Explorer high tailing it as it slices through the air.

The cabin noise level is pleasantly low, which creates the impression that the Explorer is lacklustre in climb and cruise speed. But a glance at the vertical speed and airspeed indicators quickly dispels this.

a reassuring quality of the fittings.

For takeoff the flaps are set to +1. Unstick speed is 43 KIAS and rotate after an impressively short ground run of around 250 metres at about 50 KIAS, depending on density altitude.

Unlike some T-tails, the elevator is smoothly effective on rotation. At 70-80 knots the flaps are raised to zero.

Climbing one-up through 5500 ft out of Lanseria routing for Durban’s Virginia, in a cruise climb at 70 knots the Garmin showed a climb rate of 1100 fpm. This is impressive, given that there was four hours’ fuel plus assorted stuff in the baggage bay.

In cruise the controls are well harmonised and responsive, especially the elevator. Control break-out forces are reasonably light, despite the full span flaperons. Whilst the Explorer takes its time to accelerate, it does not like to slow down.

As a minor criticism, the rudder lacks positive feel and so it is important to maintain the ball in the middle. But this makes it a good trainer.

Flying at an unusually high FL115, with just 55% power, Goitseona saw 98 IAS for 120 TAS at 6500 feet, full throttle and 5400 rpm, the Garmin PFD showed 125 KIAS for 137 KTAS, burning just 20 litres per hour Mogas. Even at that speed it flies impressively smoothly and quietly. With fixed gear and just 100 normally aspirated ponies, this is a great turn of speed.

The downside of a slippery laminar flow wing is usually found in the stall behaviour and the Explorer is no exception. Lowering flaps to Position +2 with the power off and the nose almost level with the horizon, there is an aerodynamic buffet plus the haptic stick feedback at 49 KIAS before the right wing dropped. As the Explorer is certified for intentional spins, this will further enhance its appeal to flight schools.

With the clean airframe, descent planning is important. It’s easy to end up a bit high and fast. Full flap in combination with the airbrake is typically used for landing. With the prop full fine and the power closed (there’s no risk of shock cooling on the Rotax) you use your right hand to reach up and unlatch the airbrake lever. This allows precise glider like hold-off and touch downs.

FLAPS CAN BE SELECTED A FURTHER NOTCH UP

The Explorer is easy to land, but once the airbrake is applied on final, the sink rate can get high without judicious use of power. Thankfully the Explorer’s clever auto trim system, geared to the pitot’s angle of attack indicator, makes retrimming easy.

The approach is flown at a brisk 65 knots with flaperons at position 2. An idiosyncrasy not uncommon to flaperonequipped aircraft (and Robertson STOL conversions), is that with full flap the ailerons load up at slower speed and require more effort to roll the aircraft. It is only in the approach phase that pilots will encounter this, and it is by no means a disadvantage as this natural resistance will discourage too high an angle of bank when turning onto final.

Thanks to the airbrake, the float is minimal. With judicious use of the wheel brakes you can easily get stopped after just 60 to 70 metres’ ground roll.

PIPISTREL EXPLORER

Specifications & Performance

Engine Model: Rotax 912 S3

Max Take-off power: 100 hp

Max Fuel Capacity: 26 usg (100 litres)

Max Take-off Weight: 1320 lb (600 kg)

Typical Empty Weight*: 835 lb (370 kg)

Useful Load: 495 lb (230 kg)

Wingspan: 35.1 ft (10.70 m)

Length: 21.1 ft (6.42 m)

Height: 6.82 ft (2.08 m)

Performance

Takeoff 50’ Obstacle (MTOW): 1050 ft (320 m)

Max Climb Rate: 1050 fpm

Max cruise speed: 133 KTAS at 10000 ft

Max Range (65% power 4000 ft): 625 nm (+30 min reserve)

Max Endurance (65% power 4000 ft): 5hrs 33 mins (+30 min reserve)

Stall Speed w/flaps: 47 KIAS

Take off Roll: 150m

Landing Roll: 120m

CONCLUSION

The Explorer has taken a well proven design – the Virus SW – and equipped it to the most modern standards.

The avionics fit makes it a most capable aircraft and especially useful as a trainer. It would be great if Pipistrel can persuade the SACAA to approve a 700 kg version. j

FAR TOO CASUAL

Aircraft registration: ZS-LVC

Date of accident: 8 April 2004

Time of accident: 0730Z

Type of aircraft: CESSNA T210N

Type of operation: Acceptance/test flight

PIC license type: PPL

License valid: Yes

PIC age: 45

PIC total hours: 200.0

• This discussion is to promote safety and not to establish liability.

• CAA’s report contains padding and repetition, so in the interest of clarity, I have paraphrased extensively.

PIC hours on type: 115.0

Last point of departure: FAGM

Point of intended landing: FAGM

Location of accident site: Field Near N59 Highway

Meteorological information: CAVOK Temp +17

POB: 1

People injured: 0

People killed: 0

Synopsis:

THE PILOT/OWNER DEPARTED from Rand Aerodrome on an acceptance/test flight after a MPI was carried out on the aircraft.

The pilot stated that during the flight, he recycled the landing gear to check the landing gear operation and operated the ailerons (rocking the wings up and down) when the engine suddenly failed. He then changed the fuel tank selection and restarted the engine. The engine started briefly but then failed again.

As he was committed to carry out a forced landing, he decided to execute a forced landing on a slightly rough but open field with the landing gear retracted. The aircraft skidded for approximately 100m on the grass and ground looped through 90 degrees before it came to rest.

The pilot was not injured during the event and the nose landing gear doors, nose under surface and propeller blades were only slightly damaged.

According to the pilot, he did not uplift additional fuel into the aircraft or visually check the level in the fuel tanks as he was of the opinion that there was sufficient fuel available for a flight of approximately 15 minutes. The left and right hand fuel quantity gauges indicated approximately ¼ full.

Periodic inspection (MPI) prior to the Incident was audited by the Airworthiness Department on 07 April 2004 and no major findings were noted.

he doesn’t do a

preflight after an MPI

The last MPI was carried out 8 April 2004 at 3284.2 hours and the aircraft had accumulated an additional 0.3 hours at the time of the incident since the MPI. The Aircraft Maintenance Organisation who certified the last Mandatory

Probable cause:

The engine stopped due to fuel starvation when the fuel tank outlets were uncovered by fuel when the pilot manoeuvred the wings up and down with the ailerons during the acceptance flight with fuel quantity at a low usable fuel level.

JIM’S COMMENTS

I COME FROM AN ERA when teachers told us, very publicly, when we had stuffed up, and hurled blackboard dusters at our heads. And that wasn’t for destroying expensive machinery and endangering lives, it was for failing to conjugate a Latin verb correctly.

There was a time, before all this woke nonsense, when it was perfectly normal to say what had caused an accident, and to speculate.

Overloading, alcohol, incompetence, poor training and crappy maintenance were all subjects on the agenda sheet for open debate.

The C210 slid 100 metres before coming to a stop.

Fuel tank senders are notoriously unreliable.

Us newbies learned a lot by listening to these discussions and speculation. Nobody was going to take offense or legal action.

Now we have to be careful not to discuss how pilots or engineers killed people in case we upset them. Grrrrrrr.

So I am not going to pussy-foot around the lies, stupidity and incompetence surrounding this idiotic accident.

Fortunately, no one died. The pilot and AMO are not named and it all happened 20 years ago, so I hope feelings have calmed down, because I am going into wild speculation mode.

Who, in their right mind flies an aircraft without doing a preflight inspection? I guess the answer is no one. So it follows that the pilot was not in his right mind. He behaved like an idiot and was lucky not to have killed himself when he starved the engine over a built-up area.

But this leads to an interesting discussion. What exactly is a preflight inspection? I always teach

that it’s a silly abbreviation for a pre-every-flight inspection. When you are training people, this is the safe and sensible thing to teach. But we have all done abbreviated versions which common sense seemed to indicate were okay.

If you are on a four hour flight in a wellmaintained aircraft, and you land for a pee-break after three hours, are you really going to do a full preflight, or even sample the fuel? I would certainly check the fuel and oil levels and make sure there were no oil leaks or flat tyres, and then be happily on my way.

Legal? Perhaps not.

Safe? Almost certainly

But how about this oukie? If he doesn’t do a preflight after an MPI, when does he ever do one? To me a post-maintenance preflight has to be the most thorough one you ever do.

Hell, think about it. The guys who have been swarming all over your aircraft and pulling it apart, are not necessarily engineers. In fact they

may be appies who have never even seen your type of aircraft before. Yep, it’s the engineer’s job to make sure all the work is done correctly and signed for. But I try not to consign my life to strangers.

Put it this way; I never trust the refueller to put the fuel and oil caps on properly – and I hope you don’t.

You may remember the Centurion that took off from Wonderboom with a family of four on board. Soon after takeoff they spun into the ground killing everyone. It turned out that the refueller hadn’t put the oil cap on properly. When it came off, the windscreen was instantly blackened with oil. The pilot, who could see nothing, got such a fright he stalled while turning back to the field.

your fuel tanks. And where do the appies who serviced your aircraft get fuel for their cars and motorbikes – that’s right. So the longer your aircraft is in the AMO the less fuel is in the tanks.

And if the aircraft has to be weighed – they have to record the empty weight – which means without fuel. So the guys at the AMO have to drain your tanks. Ideally they would be drained into spotless stainless steel containers with covers on, and then every drop returned to your tanks after the weighing… hmmmmm…

where do the appies get fuel for their cars?

And think about this. When you collect your aircraft after they have serviced it – it’s all nice and clean in the engine bay. Where do you think the cleaning material came from? It’s from

And who trusts their life to dicky fuel gauges that are reading around ¼?

And while I am speculating, who has exactly 200 hours? Remember when you started flying you proudly recorded hours to the nearest tenth. Most of us do that throughout our careers, but some greybeards with thousands of hours get a bit slack and round things up or down to the nearest half-hour – or perhaps even a whole hour on long-haul flights.

A rare photo of ZS-LVC - believed to have been taken after the repair.

Anyone who writes in an accident report that they have exactly 200.0 total hours is either meticulously conscientious in recording this coincidence, or just a bit too bloody casual. And given the fact that he didn’t do a preflight I would suspect the latter.

And is it another coincidence that the AMO just happened to have been audited by the CAA’s Airworthiness Department one day before the accident? What’s that smell?

In the olden days when everything was blackand-white, and we learned to fly from grass fields in little aeroplanes with five instruments, 40 hours was deemed sufficient to earn a PPL. And 200 hours in little aeroplanes with a dozen instruments and two radios was generally enough to train a pilot to fly safely in uncluttered skies in decent weather.

Now I have to wonder how many hours you need to feel really comfortable barrelling through complicated airspace at 200 mph with flaps, retractable gear and a constant-speed prop while fiddling with a stack of avionics and a micky-mouse autopilot. Perhaps somewhere between 500 and 1000 hours? I don’t know.

BUMPPPFFF:

But if this guy’s figures are to be believed, he converted to just such an aeroplane when he had 75 hours. Would you have happily consigned your loved ones to the back seat of his complex aircraft when he had less than 100 hours. Maybe it’s just an LCC thing.

Final thought – I believe that an instructor who signs out a brand-new low-hour pilot to fly a complex aircraft in a high density traffic environment is pushing his luck. Put it this way – if the airforce was converting a new pilot to a complex aircraft they would have him in the classroom for the best part of a month before he ever saw the aircraft – and he would probably have to do around 40 hours of dual in that aircraft.

Take home stuff:

• If you are the PIC please don’t trust anyone else to ‘help’ with the preflight, or the refuelling, or the removal of chocks, or the control locks, or pitot cover.

• Don’t let yourself fall into the category of too many Rands and too little sense. j

SpaceX technicians emulate a famous New York photo from the 1930s

OPERATING FROM GRAND CENTRAL Airport in Midrand, Superior Pilot Services prides itself in its wealth of knowledge and experience in the aviation sector, offering a variety of certified courses, from the Private Pilot’s Licence to the Airline Transport Pilot Licence, Instructor’s Ratings and Advanced training. The school specialises in personal outcome-based training and combines the latest techniques, methods and training aids to maintain a high level and standard throughout. Superior is proud to have been selected as a service provider to numerous institutions like, TETA, Ekurhuleni Municipality, KZN Premiers office, SAA, SA Express and SACAA cadets, however their ideally situated location allows the general aviator and businessman to conveniently access and utilize the same services.

With highly trained and qualified instructors and a fleet of Cessna 172s, a Cessna 182, Sling 2, Piper Arrow, Piper Twin Comanche and R44 helicopter, the school has the know-how and experience to prepare the best pilots in the industry. Making use of a state-of-the-art ALSIM Flight Training Simulator, the Superior Aviation Academy offers unmatched facilities that ensure students’ social needs are catered for and that the training offered is at the forefront of international training standards. The Alsim ALX flight simulator model provided by Superior Pilot Services is EASA and FAA approved and has proven itself worldwide. It provides up to four classes of aircraft and six flight models that cater from ab-initio all the way to jet orientation programmes in one single unit available 24/7.

The school offers a range of advanced courses, including IF Refresher Courses, Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS), GNSS/RNAV, CRM and Multi Crew Coordination (MCC) conducted by its qualified instructors. The school also offers PPL and CPL Ground School and Restricted and General Radio Courses. Superior Pilot Services has accommodation available. The lodge is conveniently located just six kilometres from the airport. All rooms are based on a bachelor’s unit which includes laundry and room cleaning services as well as breakfast. Students have access to the communal lounge, gym and entertainment room, pool and ‘braai’ area.

(ATO

This Cessna 337 is now ZU-NVG and a noncertified aircraft. Image Rui Sequeira.

AUGUST 2024

July’s register review sees some interesting additions and unfortunately quite a few aircraft exported too.

WE START THIS MONTH with a new Air Tractor AT-502B, ZS-XKB. The manufacturer describes this model as “the world’s most popular ag plane with over 1000 of these aircraft having been manufactured since 1987.

Several of these are already in service in South Africa in agricultural, firefighting and geo-survey applications.

Also registered this month is an Air Tractor AT-504 which is a two-seat variant of the aforementioned AT-502B. The cockpit’s side-by-side seating configuration is ideal for training new ag pilots but is still able to fully operate as an aerial application platform.

Helicopters

August has been a good month for helicopters, with five added to the register. Two turbinepowered Robinson R66s have been imported along with a single Robinson R44 Raven II. The other two additions are a single Bell 407 and Airbus Helicopters H125 – the two most popular turbine powered helicopter types in the South African market..

hopefully we see it around the airshow circuit

A 1984 year of manufacture King Air C90A ZS-KXP (LJ-1069) has been registered in South Africa having previously operated in Madagascar as 5R-AGB.

A Cessna 172K, ZS-TMH closes the typecertified fixed wing register additions for August.

Non Type Certified

Turning to the NTCA types, we also see five new additions, including a single helicopter. One each of the Sling TSI, Savannah S and Bathawk Rs have been added. The popularity of these trio of locallymanufactured aircraft is evident with at least one of these types regularly featuring in these monthly updates.

ABOVE: This ex-Madagascan King Air 90 is now ZS-KXP.

BELOW: Embraer 175 G-CLVK has been imported by Airlink. Image LRS747.

ABOVE: ATR 72-600 ZS-LIZ has now been exported to Gabon as TR-LJZ.

BELOW: Former SAA Airbus A340-600 - ZS-SNG has been exported to Germany.

A single Westland Helicopters manufactured Gazelle AH Mk.1 helicopter joins the large number of these helicopters already owned and operated in South Africa. In February 1967 an agreement between French manufacturer Aerospatiale and Westland allowed the production in Britain of 262 Gazelle helicopters ordered by the British Armed Forces. The AH-1 entered service with the Army in 1974 for observation and transport applications. This particular Gazelle was built in 1976 and carried the serial XX453. It had previously seen service with the Qinetiq Rotary Wing Test & Evaluation Squadron based at Boscombe Down. It was withdrawn from active duty in December 2018 and placed in storage at Fleetlands before its sale to a private owner in November 2022 and registered G-CMMF.

The last addition is a Cessna “Push-Pull” model 337, ZU-NVG (FTB3370024). This aircraft was previously registered EC-MYM and painted in period USAF livery by its owner. It is unclear who the new owner is or what its use will be, but hopefully we see it around the airshow circuit if it retains its USAF livery.

Deletions

Closing this month’s “fives” are five deletions.

scheduled flights in September. The airline also plans to add an Airbus A320 before year end that will be deployed on international routes including a service linking Libreville with Johannesburg.

Other cancellations include a Diamond Aircraft DA-20 Katana exported to Germany and a Bell Longranger exported to Mozambique. A Pitts Special S-2A ZU-BIL also departs our shores to its new home in Australia. This 1974 built Pitts Special was imported to South Africa as ZS-MIK in 1989 and then moved to the NTCA register in 1997.

another elderly Airbus A340

Looking ahead

As always I close off this review by looking ahead at what aircraft have been delivered, but not recorded in the SACAA updates as yet, or that have seemingly missed in the updates supplied to SA Flyer every month.

Qatar Airways’ acquisition of a 25% stake in Airlink was one of the major news events in the local aviation. This announcement followed months of speculation as to which southern African airline Qatar Airways would invest in.

The SAA A340-600 ZS-SNG (557) mentioned in last month’s column has now been cancelled from the register as exported to Germany. Another departure is the ATR 72-600 ZS-LIZ (1674). This plane departed JNB with a new Gabonese registration TR-LJZ applied and is the first plane for the newly-launched Gabonese national carrier FlyGabon that began

They chose wisely in partnering with Airlink as the carrier has shown continued strong growth under competent management and we are sure to see even stronger growth and perhaps the introduction of larger single aisle aircraft types in the coming months.

Meanwhile Airlink has taken delivery of another two Embraer Regional Jets that will soon feature in this column. Embraer 175 G-CLVK (17000343) arrived at OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) on 24 August. A

ABOVE: Bombardier Global Express 6000 (9438) became ZS-CLO and has reportedly ended up in Russia.

BELOW: Pitts Special S-2A ZU-BIL has been exported to Australia. Image Stuart Soden.

few days later, on 3 September, Embraer 190 N421NA (19000041) landed at JNB having ferried from Marana in the USA via Goose Bay, Reykjavik, Casablanca and Accra.

Meanwhile SAA is expected to return to service another elderly Airbus A340-313

ZS-SXD (643). The plane made an hour long test flight from JNB on 9 August still painted in the original special livery promoting the country’s participation in the 2012 Olympic Games hosted in London.

The carrier’s first winglet-equipped Airbus A320, ZS-SZF operated its first revenue flight between OR Tambo Airport and King Shaka Airport in Durban on 3 September. The jet has been painted in a Star Alliance livery that will please the local spotters.

Pilatus PC-24, ZS-NID (535) arrived on delivery to South Africa on 5 September. The jet routed from Buochs on 30 August routing via Budapest, Hurghada, Djibouti and Kigali before landing at Lanseria International Airport.

A geosurvey configured Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, ZS-CXD, was ferried to Perth from South Africa between 12 and 20 August. This epic ferry taking 70 flying hours was done with 12 stops via East Africa, the Middle East, India and Indonesia. It is expected the plane will again revert to its Australian registry.

Finally, a Beechcraft 400A Beechjet, ZS-MJD (RK-18), was seen at Wonderboom during August being parted out. This 1991 model jet was registered in South Africa in December 2014 but now will end up as scrap metal after all the saleable parts have been stripped.

In closing I want to mention an interesting article published in August by Swiss CH-Aviation that confirms my suspicion, as mentioned in last month’s Register Review, that several of the long- and ultra-long-range corporate jets recently added to the register are done so to side-step sanctions by their Russian owners. In the article it is revealed that the Bombardier Global Express 6000 ZS-CLO (9438), registered in July this year (and mentioned in this column last month),

Gazelle XX453 is now ZU-ROI. Image Arjo Stok.

ABOVE: SAA's first winglet-equipped Airbus A320, ZS-SZF is now operational

BELOW: This Pilatus PC-24 is now ZS-NID and is the second for truckers NiDa.

is operated by Udan Aviation, a company incorporated in January of this year with a single Director.

CH-Aviation further reports that the plane completed a test flight on 10 August from

Dubai World Central Airport and subsequently flew to Malé in the Maldives four days later and onwards to Russia on 15 August. It has apparently since been based out of Russia, operating flights within Asia and the Middle East.

KEY PLAYERS DUCK NBAA EXPO

IN A MAJOR BLOW for the world leading bizaviation expo, Textron, Gulfstream and Dassault have announced that they will not exhibit in NBAA for 2024. This may signal a growing dissatisfaction with OEMs for the costs vs return of Expo participation.

The withdrawal of these ‘big-three’ leaves Bombardier as the only large business aircraft OEM to display at NBAA-BACE.

However, several smaller companies like Pilatus and Daher are still in, as are Boeing and Airbus with their airliner conversions.

Textron didn’t say precisely why it pulled out of the show so suddenly, but about half of its workforce went on strike on 23 September and

production stopped. The 5,000 striking workers are members of the International Association of Machinists, which represents most of the shop floor employees. The rank and file rejected a tentative deal that would have given them a 26% raise over four years and a $3,000 annual cash bonus.

NBAA said, “We have been informed by company leadership that their focus on business operations will preclude their participation in NBAA-BACE this year. We respect their decision and look forward to welcoming their return to future NBAA events.”

j

The 2024 NBAA is missing key manufacturers.

ZS-RMB

ZS-LIZ

• Now certified for TCAS training.

• RNAV and GNSS Certified on all flight models from single engine to turbine.

AERONAV ACADEMY FUEL TABLE

Baragwanath - FASY R34,00

Beaufort West - FABW R32,30 R 23,10

Bloemfontein - FABL R33,04 R18,74

Brakpan - FABB R33,80

Brits - FABS R29,25

Cape Town - FACT R33,93 R19,96

Cape Winelands - FAWN R33,00

Baragwanath - FASY

Beaufort West - FABW

Bloemfontein - FABL

R34,00

R31,60 R 23,10

R33,04 R18,74

Brakpan - FABB R33,80

Brits - FABS R28,30

Cape Town - FACT R33,93 R19,96

Cape Winelands - FAWN R33,00

Eagle's Creek R31,50 Eagle's Creek R30,50

East London - FAEL R35,70 R19,62

Ermelo - FAEO R31,51 R24,73

Gariep Dam - FAHV R34,00 R23,00

East London - FAEL

Ermelo - FAEO

Gariep Dam - FAHV R32,00 R23,00

George - FAGG R36,40 R19,24 George - FAGG

R35,77 R18,94

Grand Central - FAGC R32,78 R23,29 Grand Central - FAGC R32,49 R20,99

Heidelberg - FAHG R32,20 R23,50 Heidelberg - FAHG R29,33 R21,28

Hoedspruit Civil - FAHT NO FUEL NO FUEL

Hoedspruit Civil - FAHT NO FUEL NO FUEL Kimberley - FAKM

Kitty Hawk - FAKT R32,30

Klerksdorp - FAKD R32,95 R22,08 Klerksdorp - FAKD R32,00 R22,42

Kroondal / Airspan R30,15 R20,91 Kroondal / Airspan R27,20 R19,49 Kroonstad - FAKS R31,63 Kroonstad - FAKS R31,63

Kruger Mpumalanga Intl -FAKN R35,15 R26,30 Kruger Mpumalanga Intl -FAKN R35,15 R26,30 Krugersdorp - FAKR R31,25

Krugersdorp - FAKR R30,00 Lanseria - FALA R33,47 R22,43 Lanseria - FALA R32,32 R20,93

Margate - FAMG NO FUEL NO FUEL Margate - FAMG NO FUEL NO FUEL Middelburg - FAMB R32,80 R22,53 Middelburg - FAMB R31,75 R20,50

Morningstar R30,95 Morningstar R30,95 Mosselbay - FAMO R37,50 R27,00 Mosselbay - FAMO R35,50 R27,00

Nelspruit - FANS R34,98 R25,30

Oudtshoorn - FAOH R33,05 R23,10

Nelspruit - FANS R32,26 R23,00

Oudtshoorn - FAOH R33,05 R23,10

Parys - FAPY R30,73 R21,48 Parys - FAPY R27,77 R20,07

Pietermaritzburg - FAPM R31,40 R24,60

Pietersburg Civil - FAPI R31,95 R23,10

Plettenberg Bay - FAPG NO FUEL NO FUEL

Port Alfred - FAPA R33,50

Port Elizabeth - FAPE R35,08 R22,08

Potchefstroom - FAPS R30,15 R20,91

Rand - FAGM R37,50 R25,55

Robertson - FARS R31,90

Rustenburg - FARG

Secunda - FASC

R32,10 R23,65

R31,91 R25,88

Skeerpoort *Customer to collect R27,91 R18,66

Springbok - FASB R36,46 R27,03

Springs - FASI R37,25

Stellenbosch - FASH R36,00

Swellendam - FASX R32,00 R23,00

Tempe - FATP

R31,64 R21,01

Thabazimbi - FATI R30,65 R21,41

Upington - FAUP R36,62 R24,76

Pietermaritzburg - FAPM R31,40

Pietersburg Civil - FAPI

Plettenberg Bay - FAPG NO FUEL NO FUEL

Port Alfred - FAPA

Port Elizabeth - FAPE

Potchefstroom - FAPS

Rand - FAGM

R33,50

R35,08 R22,08

R27,20 R19,49

R33,50 R23,50

Robertson - FARS R31,90

Rustenburg - FARG

Secunda - FASC

R31,50 R23,00

R29,33 R21,28

Skeerpoort *Customer to collect R24,95 R17,25

Springbok - FASB

Springs - FASI

Stellenbosch - FASH

Swellendam - FASX

Tempe - FATP

Thabazimbi - FATI

R31,70 R23,50

R37,25

R35,00

R31,50 R23,00

R31,64 R21,01

R27,70 R19,99

Upington - FAUP R36,62 R24,76

Virginia - FAVG R33,58 R22,43 Virginia - FAVG R33,58 R20,64

Vryburg - FAVB R31,31 R21,66

Vryburg - FAVB

Vryheid - FAVY R30,15 Vryheid - FAVY

R19,49 Warmbaths - FAWA R32,00 Warmbaths - FAWA

-

Text and Photos: Trevor Cohen

CHILDREN’S FLIGHT: BLOEMFONTEIN

For the first time the South African Children’s Flight has been held outside of Gauteng.

Happy faces.

ARRIVING AT FEDERAL AIRLINES at 4.30 am the coffee was hot and the departure lounge warm and comfortable. We were greeted by smiles with sandwiches and cold drinks for the trip to Bloem.

Our flight was in an almost brand new Cessna Grand Caravan EX. We taxied out the gate and almost directly onto Runway 03. We took off and turned over the bright lights of Johannesburg heading south-west to Tempe.

shirts on, get our faces painted, sit on the bean bags, look at the aircraft arriving, or play games with HOT102.7.

The flying started late due to the SA Army deciding to do parachute drops on the same day at the same airport. The army parachute practice soon stopped as they don’t like to have parachutists in the air where there are helicopters operating.

Thanks to meticulous planning

We landed expertly on Runway 01 to a relatively warm Bloemfontein morning. We were greeted with our media bibs, shirts and hats. The children had already started arriving and their excitement was visible. As they entered the kids area they did not know what to do first. Should we jump on the jumping castles, put our

First up, a prayer was said to bless the day’s proceedings. Then there was a civilian parachute drop with a huge South African flag and the national anthem is sung.

Thanks to meticulous planning all the kids were flown in either a fixed wing or rotary wing aircraft over the course of four hours.

The amazing Felix Gosher.

ABOVE: Massive tents and containers full of goodies.

Below: The Free State University Optometry team which gave free eye screening to all the kids.

ABOVE: CemAir brought down a Beech 1900D. BELOW: Disabled children were helped.

ABOVE:

Hot 102.7 was a great sponsor. BELOW: The huge SA flag being jumped.

Some lucky children got heli rides.

The children were from orphanages and homes across the Free State. The object is to introduce kids to flight and show them that there is a future for them in aviation if they liked what they experienced as opposed to crime and gangs.

The event finished with a mini private airshow flown by the Harvard Pumas, Juba Joubert in the Gazelle and the Master Power Extras.

A special thank you must go all sponsors. From radio stations to fuel sponsors to food sponsors to pilots for their time and the aircraft time, to

the optometrists who did free eye exams to the container guys for the control tower.

Never forget those who volunteered their time to move and entertain kids, to feed them and to those who organised the show, those who drove generators, water and clothes down. Those who kept the aircraft safe and refuelled, those who cleaned up afterwards and put up and took down the tents.

We say thank you from every child. Once againwell done Team Gosher.

Even just single passenger Slings were welcome. j

HELICOPTER SERVICES

SUPPORTING LAW  ENFORCEMENT IS   CRITICAL MISSION

With surveillance and crime-fighting equipment vital to operations, our versatile range of helicopters perform a multitude of critical missions. Supporting law enforcement teams, who in turn support communities, Airbus proudly delivers cutting edge flight technologies that help keep the world a safer place.

Text: Dr J Pons

KALAHARI WINGSCARING 4 SIGHT

Amongst the many services it provides, White River based Mercy Air flies teams of optometrists to do sight saving cataract surgery across the other side of South Africa – in the Northern Cape.

The Mercy Air Kodiak with a team of Medical Mission Eswatini volunteers who will see over 100 patients, restoring sight to the blind.

THE POWERFUL KODIAK lifted us to the skies. As the wheels lift off, I’m struck by the relief of having my team and precious equipment aboard for the four hours flight to Upington. A grateful reflection that without Mercy Air, we would by now be well into a tiring two day road trip, from one side of the country to the other.

Flying not only avoids the hazards of South African rural roads, but avoids four dead days of travel (there and back) for the very stretched specialist team.

Arriving in Upington, after a thorough briefing, we were soon in the hospital setting up the equipment, supplies, assembling the microscope and creating the various work stations in the clinic.

an extraordinary mission pilot

Mercy Air pilot David Schumacher is an extraordinary mission pilot, who has forsaken flying airlines for small aircraft, and he is becoming an invaluable technical member of this outreach.

The Medical team consisted of myself, Dr Northway, Dr Wasik, Ophthalmic Assistant Lomagugu Mthembu, and Scrub Nurse Nontobeko Mhlanga. Tharien Schoeman as Optometrist and of course and the energetic Dr Hans Hendriks from the District Health System Hospital, assisted by two Stellenbosch student volunteers, one of them his daughter. Tertia and Anmarie.

Nurses from Karsten Farming, provided invaluable manpower in the patient waiting/prep area in theatre.

Takeoff from Mercy Air White River.

ABOVE: The Kodiak loads its doctors and technicians for the cross country flight.

BELOW: The medical team with pilot David Schumacher (right).

District Health System Hospital staff couldn’t be more helpful: The theatre staff and the ward nurses came in early and left late each day. Problems were overcome. The microscope light faltered and within 10 minutes, and to great surprise, Mr Stemmit came up with a new microscope light bulb! And of course David Schumacher in his magnificent multi-role as Pilot and Ophthamic Technician/logistics.

Tharien (Caring for Sight) had screened 30 patients in her practice in Springbok, and arranged transport to Upington using a combination of government and private bus.

They arrived on Sunday in time for the clinic, this time with the Biometry (which determines the lens implant strength) already done by Tharien.

And the Upington patients, who had been on unending waiting list, were delighted to receive the invitation from Sister Basson to come for surgery. Since we were relieved of much of the

usual Sunday evening work, Dr Martin arranged better patient flow, knowing we had to screen hundreds of people in the next three days. Besides improving efficiency, this also aided the elderly and wheelchair patients, and more improvements were made in the days to come.

Our work day starts with a 07h30 short devotion and by 9 am the theatre was ready to receive the first batch of patients for surgery.

The clinic team saw numerous walk-in’s and Ophthalmic emergencies. Our retinal camera, i-Care, A-Scan and Ultrasound B probe proved very useful, and aided in the accurate assessments and the Pre-op examinations. The hospital had repaired the Argon Laser so for the first time, PRP laser was performed for Diabetic Retina conditions.

The pace in theatre was blisteringly fast: We knew we had over 30 people to operate on each day.

Time is tight so operations are performed simultaneously.

Of course the possibility exists of running over time and having to cancel cases. But I can’t imagine what I would feel if I had been waiting years for my surgery and then at the last moment, it was cancelled.

So we pushed through each day, with few breaks till the last person had their surgery, sometimes by 7 pm. Sister Nontobeko and Sr Williams were the best scrub nurses I could wish for. Dr Northway was invaluable as the coordinator in the theatre and now has a greater respect for Ophthalmology.

Besides efficient and safe surgical techniques, the formula for success includes adequate theatre nurses, enough surgical instrument trays, and steady and uninterrupted supplies. It seems like we get all that right for this outreach where we made a new record of 34 surgeries in one day.

We set a new of 94 surgeries in 3 days, with minimal complications.

We are astonished and blessed by the support from the local community. A team from Riverflow provided counselling and prayer for those that needed encouragement, and also provided our lunch and teas. The accommodation was provided by Karen Hendriks and her B&B neighbours, whilst delicious evening meals were provided at the Protea Hotel by a benefactor. We ate well!

Supplies of Intraoccular Lenses, which are unavailable in the state hospitals, are provided by a mix of Caring for Sight, Medical Mission Eswaitni, and Surgical and Ophthalmic Supplies (RSA).

The needs of this community are very obvious: It seems that over a quarter of a million people in this part of Northern Cape (Upington and Namaqualand) have limited access to eye care, the closest being Kimberley, about 800km away from Springbok. With the little time we had, our team was able to make a small difference against disability, blindness and pain. Whilst our long hours felt like a drop in the ocean of need, for those we ministered to, the impact was enormous.

Thank you, kind donors, for being a part of restoring lives in the Northern Cape! To see videos, visit Mercy Air on Facebook. j

The early days of Mercy Air with a Beech 18 at Mercy Air White River.

The Mercy Air Kodiak has proven very versatile.

RAND AIRPORT SUPPLEMENT

Guy Leitch

RAND AIRPORT IN TURMOIL

It is a tragedy for general aviation that Rand Airport is currently in a state of upheaval, if not outright war. The airport has been through three General Managers in three years and there is ‘lawfare’ between factions of the board members.

In 2022, after six years on the job, the then Rand Airport General Manager Stuart Coetzee departed under a cloud of accusations of malfeasance and mismanagement amounting a claimed R8 million.

Coetzee was replaced with Kevin van Zyl who was soon thereafter replaced with Johnny Walker, who left earlier this year. The current ‘Caretaker’ General Manager is Hennie Delport, who has been central to the management and control of Rand for the past twenty four years.

users claim that key accounts are unpaid, for example, that ATNS is owed R2.5m. A further claim is that there are no capable human resources left or funds available to stage the usually very successful Rand Airshow. Delport does however deny that the ATNS account is in arrears but he does say that there is a dispute with ATNS about their using the airport for ATC training. Regarding the airshow – Delport strongly disputes that the problem is a shortage of funds as the Airport has a R6m reserve in the bank.

endorsement

of

the

value of being at Rand

The accusations of malfeasance and vested interests flying around at the time of Coetzee’s departure caused a massive rift in the Airport’s Operators and Holding Boards. And that rift continues today with ongoing litigation between Directors, that has been escalated all the way to the Supreme Court of Appeals. A number of sources claim that millions have been spent on legal fees in the fight over control of the airport.

As a result of the infighting, the airport’s management is in crisis. Other than the turnover of three General Managers within a year, some

Further he says a decision has been made to only hold the air show every second year as it becomes too much of the same thing. A date is currently being finalised for 2025.

A further indication of conflict at the airport is that it is claimed that an attempt was made to evict three tenants who had objected to the way the airport was being managed. However the tenants fought back and so far have stood their ground, which must be an endorsement of the value of being at Rand. Delport says that at the reason one of the tenants is facing eviction is only because their account is in arrears.

When the airport was sold off by the Johannesburg City Council in 2000, a specific condition of the sale was that it had to remain an airport, at least until 2020. This means that the way is now open to sell it off for warehousing.

The Land Issue

The conflict amongst the Directors reportedly revolves around the sale of large chunks of the airport’s land – which has become increasingly valuable. Hennie Delport says that just one developer is investing R1.5 billion in this development.

he runway was shortened by 400

metres

have been leased. Runway 29 is the longest and thus most important runway, however plans were approved for the construction of warehousing which encroached upon the sterile approach cone to Runway 29. In a very public debacle, which Delport says revolved around a misunderstanding with the CAA, the effective length of the runway was shortened by 400 metres, effectively stopping almost all biz-jet operators from using the airport. After heated exchanges, the CAA was prevailed upon to put a stop to the development and the threshold was returned to the beginning of the runway.

All nine stands amounting to 27 Ha on the eastern side which were sub-divided and proclaimed around the threshold of Runway 29

The conflict amongst the Directors led to a flurry of accusations and counterclaims. Amongst others – that the land is being leased cheaply to intermediate companies – who will then make obscene profits. The amount involved

Rand Airport's iconic Art Deco terminal building.

Rand Airport has been downgraded to a category 2a airport in terms of firefighting.

A recent Google Earth image of Rand Airport showing the new development south-east of the threshold of Runway 29.

is not chump change. There is 147 Ha of land available which is worth billions. Yet some claim it is being sold off or leased for a third of its actual value. This naturally leads to accusations of ‘Airport Capture’ in the same way that the Guptas engaged in ‘State Capture’ with the South African government’s Zuma administration.

The Rand Airport Holding Company is part owned by the Mayondi BBBEE consortium and the Ekurhuleni Town Council, who have minority seats on the board. Whether the usual suspects in government are involved in the conflict is unknown, as the visible infighting is between the private sector hangar owners.

a few supporting businesses such as AMOs and helicopter flight schools. This would be an enormous loss for general aviation and would set back the plans for Rand being part of the greater OR Tambo Aerotropolis.

an incalculable loss to aviation

Given the demand for land around the airport, it has been suggested that there is a strong motivation to reduce the airport to a heliport and

If Rand became a Heliport, large businesses such as Pilatus would be forced to move off the airport – as would the many flight schools and support services, plus the specialist engineering shops which have had a long history at Rand. As many of the specialist engineering business are owner-run and are already under pressure from the burden of CAA compliance, it is reasonable to conclude that many owners would probably close their business rather than move them to say Lanseria. This would be an incalculable loss to aviation in South Africa.

Held on a Sunday, the Rand Airshow is a great outing for the whole family to enjoy flying.

International plane spotters make pilgrimages to Rand Airport's Historic Society compound. Pic Stauffenberg.

However, it must be noted that Hennie Delport and other views consulted in the formulation of this review believe the Heliport suggestion is absurd. And indeed the key protagonists operate large fixed wing aircraft which require all the available runway.

It is therefore argued that the disposal of land will raise the funds required to both lengthen and widen the runway and thus make it more attractive to large fixed wing operators

The next step is a Shareholders’ Meeting which has been called for 14 October. At this meeting it is hoped that some of the key concerns can be disposed of without further ruinous litigation.

Hennie Delport says that he would like to retire to the coast by the middle of 2025. However, he has invested so much of his life into Rand that he says his retirement will be subject to two preconditions: First that an acceptable Airport Manager have been appointed. Second, that there be a safe handover of the property development functions to secure the financial future of the airport.

The Resolution

At time of writing the key issues relating to control of the airport are still being litigated, with the airport shareholders having to carry the burden of the legal fees. This is reminiscent of the South African taxpayer having to shoulder the enormous legal fees that Jacob Zuma’s ‘lawfare’ Stalingrad strategy cost the taxpayer.

If there is a moral to the story – perhaps it is that pilots and engineers should not attempt to run airports. It would be in everybody’s interests if A-type personalities were put aside and grownups were left to get on with the business of the airport. j

RAND AIRPORT HISTORY

Rand Airport is like a classy old dowager. In its almost ninety years the airport has seen grand times and great moments.

THE SAA MUSEUM SOCIETY provides an invaluable description of the incredible early days of the airport:

Rand Airport was originally constructed in the 1930s when it consisted of just a grass-covered field and a hangar.

In 1929, when Imperial Airways made it known that they intended to organise a service to South Africa, the energy and vision of the Municipality of Germiston (afterwards backed up by the Johannesburg Civic Authorities) laid the foundation of what would eventually become Rand Airport.

It was a bit of a free for all until the Transport Commission brought some kind of order. On 21 December 1931 the first Imperial Airways flight arrived from London and the airport was officially opened by the Governor General, the Earl of Clarendon.

In 1931 the various governments concluded arrangements with Imperial Airways to run a service from London to the Cape. The Germiston Municipality was officially approached by the Union Government to provide an adequate airport capable of handling day and night traffic and of housing aircraft larger than any previously used in South Africa. As a result of the negotiations the Germiston Town Council voted £65,000 for the conversion of the old aerodrome into a properly equipped airport, and work started at once.

One large and one small hangar, as well as an administrative office building and workshop for Imperial Airways, were constructed. A complete floodlighting system was installed and a number of cottages built for the staff of Imperial Airways. Also erected were wireless masts for communication with the Imperial Airways aircraft.

The Governor-General, the Earl of Clarendon, officially opened Rand Airport in December 1931. Over 2,500 people drove, rode or walked to the aerodrome to attend the opening. The following day, 20 December 1931, the first Imperial Airways airmail flight from London arrived at Rand.

Growth was quick. As a result of increased activity at Rand a decision was made to improve facilities and a new ‘air station’ was built to provide control of the movements of aircraft from a properly equipped control tower, and to

The Terminal building in ealry days - before the control tower was added. DRISA archive.

cater for the comfort of passengers by means of waiting rooms, a baggage hall, customs office and restaurant. Until the time of the erection of the air station, the passengers’ baggage was dumped on the ground and sorted in the open while friends meeting air travellers were obliged to stand about in the open in all weathers for indefinite periods.

In addition, a clubhouse for the Rand Flying Club, a house for a resident Customs official and a meteorological station were erected. Previous to the building of the clubhouse, flying club members were accommodated in a small reed roofed shack which, owing to the rapid increase in membership, soon became too small for them.

For the second time the Governor-General opened the New Rand Airport, on Monday 5 August 1935. At the time it was considered that

sufficient development work had been done to last many years.

But inevitably it was not so. The introduction of the Empire airmail, the continually increasing activity of South African Airways and the greater interest in private flying necessitated further development.

Soon after the opening in 1935 seven more hangars were erected, a larger clubhouse built for the Rand Flying Club, the South African Airways administrative building was greatly enlarged and buildings, both temporary and permanent, provided for the fuel supply companies and flying schools operating from the airport.

Even this was not sufficient and in 1939 work began on constructing two further hangars, as well as extensions to existing hangars and

Rand Airport's original clock.

HISTORY

Rand Airport taken around 1934 - as the Ju52 on the apron was delivered in 1934.

alterations and additions to the air station. A mess for South African Airways staff, a wireless workshop and an engine workshop were also constructed.

The terminal building has remained virtually the same since it was built. The only noticeable change is the addition of a new control tower, which was added on top of the existing structure. A special feature of the 1935 terminal building was the flat roof, which to this day is open to the public and gives a fine view across the airport.

Before World War 2 the airport was owned jointly by the Germiston City Council, the Rand Gold Refinery and Elandsfontein Estates. It became the headquarters of South African Airways when its head office was moved from

Durban on 1 July 1935. After World War 2 SAA moved its headquarters to Palmietfontein Airport in 1948 due to runway length constraints. Nevertheless, Rand Airport still grew with vigour after the Second World War due to the pool of ex-air-force pilots.

Rand became the busiest airport in the southern hemisphere. However, during the 1980s, several corporate and charter operators moved to Lanseria Airport. The runway at Lanseria is considerably longer than those at Rand Airport, and the airport elevation is 1000 feet lower (4517’ as opposed to 5482’ at Rand Airport). In response to the exodus from Rand, its main runway, 29/11, was lengthened, but not to any large degree due to the geographical constraints of the site.

Rand Airport has much to offer historically - here people line up to see the DC-4.

At Aircraft General Spares, we specialize in providing top-quality parts for all types of light aircraft. Whether you need essential components or rare, hard-tofind items, we offer an extensive range of products to keep your aircraft in peak condition. We’re dedicated to sourcing and importing specialized parts tailored to your unique requirements.

As authorized distributors of Aeroshell, we stock premium oil, along with a wide selection of hardware, tires, tubes, 4130 tubing, filters, consumables, spark plugs, and more. If there’s something you need that we don’t have in stock, we’re more than happy to help you find it.

Expanding our expertise, AGS now offers bearings and transmission products, serving not only the aviation sector but various other industries as well. Our qualified sales team is committed to sourcing bearings, seals, fasteners, belts, gearboxes, and more to meet your needs.

NAC HELICOPTER MAINTENANCE AT RAND AIRPORT

Home of Helicopters

Known as the , our Rand Airpor t facility specialises in Bell and Robinson helicopters, offering a comprehensive range of ser vices and factor y-approved maintenance solutions. Our exper tise includes:

BELL HELICOPTER APPROVED CUSTOMER SUPPORT FACILITY

NAC is the only CSF in Sub-Saharan Af rica. With a select range of components available, we minimise downtime during the MRO process. We are also able to conduct structural repairs on 206B and 206L models.

AUTHORISED SERVICE CENTRE FOR ROBINSON HELICOPTERS

As an authorised service centre, NAC offers MRO and 2,200-hour/ 12-year overhauls on R22, R44, and R66 models. We also hold regulatory approvals in RSA (AMO -027), Zimbabwe, Zambia, Madagascar, and Angola.

ROLLS-ROYCE AUTHORISED MAINTENANCE CENTRE

As the only Rolls-Royce AMC on the Af rican continent, NAC offers repairs and overhauls for engine models RR250 and RR300, including the C20, C30, C40, C47, and B17

HELICOPTER PARTS SALES

NAC supplies OEM and FAA-approved helicopter parts at competitive prices.

HELICOPTER PILOT TRAINING

We offer training f rom initial to advanced commercial levels on Bell and Robinson helicopters, including specialised ratings like Instrument Rating, Instructors Rating, Conversion Training, Game Capture and Cull Ratings, and External Load Rating.

TECHNICAL TRAINING

Our facility provides first-year Aircraft Maintenance Mechanic training, followed by 18-24 months of on-the-job training in line with TETA and SACAA requirements.

AEROSPACE  ELECTROPLATING

AMO  506

For all your SACAA approved plating requirements

We

on 081 755 2534 or 083 208 7249

For all your Aircraft and Allied Electroplating requirements.

Alodine

Cadmium Plate in Gold or Silver Passivation

Hard Chrome

Hard Silver Plate

Electroless Nickel

Hard Copper Plate

Anodising in Grey, Red or Black Black Phosphating

Phosphating

EVENTS CALENDAR

3-5 October

Volare International Airport Italy info@airexpo.aero Website: www.volareairshow.com

22-26 October Stellenbosch airfield

Quintin Hawthorne E-mail: pak02496@pixie.co.za

19-21 November Abu Dhabi

Mr Didier Mary (General Manager) E-mail: didier@airexpo.aero

Ron Stirk E-mail: melron@mweb.co.za Cell: 082 804 445 0373

20-24 November Djerba Zarzis Airport

IADE Tunisia E-mail: admin@iadeorganiser.com

WONDERBOOM AIRPORT SAFETY SYMPOSIUM

3 December Wonderboom National Airport

Wonderboom National Airport Wonderboom National Airport, Pretoria

Cover: Trevor Cohen

Hugh Pryor - Dan’s Fan

AME Doctors Listing

News - Aviation Africa Sets New Standards

Laura Mcdermid - Air Kenya and Dave Leonard

AAD 2024 The BRICS Defence Show?

Jeffery Kempson - Sneaking Three Daks Pt3

News - Safair and Air Botswana expand

Jannie Matthysen - Evolution

News - Pilatus Legends Award

News - Starliner returns empty

Aviation Consultants Directory

Superior Pilot Services: Flight School Directory

Merchant West Charter Directory

Skysource AMO Listing

Backpage Directory

Managing

Layout & Design

Patrick Tillman: Imagenuity cc

Contributors

John Bassi

Laura McDermid

Darren Olivier

Jeffery Kempson

(0)15 793 0708

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS (SAA) has embarked on a public relations charm offensive. Huge billboard advertisements are popping up – and I received a questionnaire asking how it was doing.

The timing of this latest campaign may be related to the search for a permanent full time CEO. In an interview with me a few months ago, Prof John Lamola, the current Interim CEO, remarked that he did not want the role of permanent CEO as it was ‘a terrible job’.

I now suspect that the professor was not being entirely honest – perhaps not even with himself. He has held down the job of either Chairman or Interim CEO since 2021 and I daresay he has got used to the responsibility and sleepless nights inherent in running an all but bankrupt and undercapitalised airline.

and 2010. The airline remains financially delinquent because, until December 2023, it had last presented audited financial statements in 2018. And these were a disaster. Under the Dudu Myeni culture of malfeasance, the airline’s annual losses swelled from an arguably sustainable loss of around R1 billion per year to a definitely unsustainable R6 billion a year. Since 2018, SAA has cost the taxpayer an unconscionable R48billion in bailout funds.

the shortlist of SAA CEOs

It needs to be noted that Lamola did not say he would not apply for the job. He said, “There is an automatic assumption that the incumbent will [apply for the job]. But it’s a terrible job, so I’ll be happy to go back to academia.”

Let me place on record that I believe Prof Lemola has been hardworking and competent (and honest) and thus done a respectable job of getting the disgraced and moribund airline back in the sky. But he is hamstrung by the colossal baggage of its past which continues to manifest in damming failures such as questions about safety and the airline’s inability to produce timeous audited annual financial results.

How disgraced is the airline? SAA last turned a profit 13 years ago – and that was on the back of Project Bambanani’s slash and burn cost cutting in 2009

It is no wonder that the travelling public and taxpayers love to hate the airline, with many refusing outright to ever fly SAA again. No wonder SAA has had to embark on a public relations charm offensive. In a letter crowing about the airline’s recovery, Lamola wrote that in three years the airline has more than doubled its route network and tripled its fleet size. But then it was off a very small base.

Another positive move is that the airline has a last been returned to the correct government ministry, the Department of Transport under Minister Barbara Creecy.

I’m told that the shortlist of SAA CEOs is down to three – and it would not be a bad thing if Lamola is on that list – and gets the permanent job. 

DAN’S FAN

DanjoinedusinAngola.Hewastall,athletically built, with a boyish hair style which sported what we suspected were carefully applied sun tints. His hair also disguised quite successfully his age which was nudging fifty.

THE RED CROSS GIRLS fell for Dan in a big way and this hero-worship aroused a certain amount of antagonism among the more heavily married crew members and even some of the unmarrieds who saw Dan as a trespasser on their territory.

Pure jealousy of course, but then there’s nothing quite like a bit good old-fashioned spite to add spice to the social pantomime. Dan could not, of course, lavish his attentions on all the girls, so there were quite a number of the neglected ones who joined the “Green Party” as we were known.....not green, as in “Green Peace”, you understand. In fact almost the opposite, really, as in “Green with Envy”.

Quite unnecessarily, Dan felt that he had to boost his reputation still further with the crews by dwelling at enormous length upon his long years of experience in the Royal Navy. He never actually claimed to have been a Pilot in the Royal Navy, but he always used to wear the white kid gloves, suitably soiled and grubby, which are the exclusive preserve of front line military pilots.

His conversation was always laced with words of avuncular advice to those who had not yet entered

the arena of “Active Duty”.....”Always carry a spare set of boot laces,” he would suddenly insert, half way through a discussion on Bar-B-Q’s, “Because if you get taken alive, you’re going to have a lot of walking to do.”

These instructions actually came from the Red Cross Standard Operating Procedures, which Dan knew hardly anybody had read. But it all proved that Dan was one step ahead of the game, which implied that he was several steps ahead of us plodders.

In actual fact, Dan was quite a low-time pilot who, we discovered, had never left Terra Firma during his time in the Navy, as he was always much too busy cleaning lavatories and Senior Officers’ cars.....No, that’s a bit unfair. I believe he did occasionally get to clean the odd helicopter as well.....well Somebody’s got do it, haven’t they?

One of Dan’s more peculiarly quirky pieces of advice concerned the use of head-sets in the cockpit and purported to come from his long experience in the line of fire. “You should never ever wear your head-set during take-off or landing!”

“Why not, Dan?”

“Trust me. If the little bastards are going to get you, that’s when they’ll do it. And if you have to disembark in a hurry, believe me, you don’t want to have all those wires wrapped around your neck as you bail out!”

All sounds pretty authentic stuff, but if the truth be known, the only time you really need a head-set in a Twin Otter is during Take-off and Landing. So I suppose it really comes down to this: do you want to die because of the remote possibility that you survive the crash after “The Little Bastards got you”, only to be garrotted by you headset cables as you exited. Or alternatively, would you prefer to die because the headset-less pilot never heard the copilot’s call for the control locks to be removed before takeoff. (I know of at least three disasters caused by this very problem.)

Whatever the pro’s and con’s of these procedures, Our Dan continued to go through the ritual, every flight. Just before take-off he would laboriously remove his head-set and, without looking, he would hang it on the hook on the cockpit wall behind his head. After take-off, before requesting the climb checks, he would ceremoniously reach back with practised ease, to retrieve his head-set.

We could normally fit in ten or eleven rotations a day to Kwima because, with the loading and unloading, the average time for a round trip was about an hour, sometimes a bit less. On the sixth rotation, Dan got airborne, nude-headed as usual, and when he reached up to get his head-set for the climb checks, the familiar “FFRRRRRRRRRP!!” added itself to the roar of the engines, as the co-pilot knew very well it would. He couldn’t contain it this time. A gale of laughter escaped from his lips as he turned, red-faced to study the passing countryside outside the cockpit window.

Dan pretended not to notice the co-pilot’s amusement, but inside he was a burning cauldron of humiliation. The fan had caused him to look like a complete fool in front his subordinate.....the fan would have to go!

infuriating as

I’m

sure you will appreciate

So, reaching up, while the co-pilot was studiously examining the landscape, he grabbed the offending fan and tore it out of the roof, wires and all. The co-pilot’s eyes still appeared to be glued to the outside world, almost as if he did not want to witness the goings on inside the cockpit.

The only problem with this manoeuvre was that the little cockpit fan was right in the path of Dan’s searching fingers and every time a coconut! The loud FFRRRRRRRRRP!! as the little plastic blades chewed at Dan’s finger would inevitably be followed by the soft sniggering of the co-pilot.

Absolutely infuriating as I’m sure you will appreciate.

One day it happened once too often. We were doing rotations into Kwima, a small town about twenty minutes flying time from our base in Huambo in the central highlands of Angola. Kwima had been isolated for weeks. surrounded by rebel bandits.

The gardens had been extensively mined and, after the first few deaths, the locals had given up trying to cultivate them. Food ran out and we were called in.

Dan, seizing the opportunity, opened the cockpit window and heaved the dead fan out into the passing slipstream, slamming the window back into place as he did so. The co-pilot’s attention was instantly attracted by the opening of the window and he turned round just in time to catch the departure of the fan.

“Bloody stupid things these fans! Bloody dangerous too! Should be bloody banned!” said Dan as he saw the look of disbelief on the co-pilot’s face.

Unknown to either resident of the flight deck the fan flew straight back to be caught deftly by one blade of the number one propeller. It was then whirled violently round and hurled at close to the speed of sound, back through the ice shield and the skin of the fuselage, into the cabin. The sound of its re-entry was deadened by the sacks of maize-meal stacked in the back.

They off-loaded at Kwima and flew back to Huambo. There they closed down the engines in order to refuel

and reload with more maize-meal. A passing engineer immediately spotted that there was an enormous piece missing out of one blade of the number one propeller. He ran up to the loaders and shouted “Stop loading. Stop loading! this plane is grounded!” Then he noticed the gaping hole in the side of the fuselage.

“Must have picked up a rock in Kwima.” said Dan nonchalantly, as another engineer mounted the airstair door into the cabin.

“Do you always carry rocks bolted to your cockpit roof?” asked the second engineer, “’Cos that’s where this one came from.” he said, holding up the remains of the fan which had been presented to him by one of the loaders who had found it on the cabin floor.

thought that maybe it would be better if he took a job in the Seychelles while tempers cooled off a bit.

means sweet revenge in Swahili

A year later he was re-employed by the company, but he was a changed man. No more stories about “Fast-Jets” on the front line, no more white kid gloves, and now he puts his head-set on the moment he takes his seat on the flight deck and they are inseparable until he leaves the cockpit at the end of the flight. I’ve watched him. Funny how people change as the years pass by.

It’s probably just a coincidence, but I noticed that the aircraft he was given to fly after his return to the company, was not fitted with a ventilating fan on the captain’s side! *Kisasi Tamu!

The new propeller cost twenty-three thousand dollars and the repairs to the cabin wall, the ice-shield and the cockpit ceiling cost another five thousand so Dan

*Kisasi Tamu means sweet revenge in Swahili 

AME Doctors Listing

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

Feinberg Rodney Lyndhurst 011 882 6010 rodneyfeinberg@gmail.com

Govender Deena Umhlanga Rocks 031 566 2066/7 deena@drdg.co.za

Head Brandon Sandton 010 448 0900 reception@drbradonhead.joburg

Maneli Lumka Sandton 083 471 2051 lumka@doyioccuhealth.co.za

Toerien Hendrik White River, Nelspruit 013 751 3848 hctoerien@viamediswitch.co.za

AVIATION AFRICA SETS NEW STANDARDS

The

Aviation AFRICA Summit and Exhibition for 2024 was themed “Bridging Skies and Leveraging Growth.” Held in Johannesburg’s Sandton Convention Centre in September, it “exceeded expectations and set new milestones in aviation collaborations and innovation.”

WITH PARTICIPATION from 34 African countries, 1,200 delegates, 92 airlines and operators, and more than 100 exhibitors and sponsors, this year’s event was co-sponsored by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) who, together with Times Aerospace Events, united industry leaders for focused discussions on the future of aviation.

This event also marked the first co-location partnership with AfBAA (African Business Aviation Association), and this three-way partnership ensured industry leaders, airlines, regulators, airports, OEM’s and business aviation companies would come together and engage in aviation specific conversation for the future.

with air passenger numbers, post the COVID-19 pandemic. “A strong aviation network is essential for boosting tourism in Africa. With its diverse landscapes, rich cultures, and vibrant cities, Africa has immense potential to attract international tourists,” Minister Creecy said.

an open spirit of honest debate

The summit was officially inaugurated by the SA Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy. In her keynote address Creecy highlighted the global aviation recovery

Ms. Poppy Khoza, the Director of Civil Aviation at the SACAA, said: “Despite past social and humanitarian challenges, we are now a continent with great potential for growth on condition that we make use of the networks and collaborative opportunities in this and similar events.”

Summit Chairperson, Alan Peaford, opened the proceedings by honouring the late Nick Fadugba, former Chairperson of the African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA) and SecretaryGeneral of the African Airlines Association, where Peaford acknowledged his contributions to aviation development across Africa.

Peaford said ”SACAA and AfBAA involvement helped us attract leaders from across the African industry and delegates from more than 70 countries. There was an open spirit of honest debate about the issues that are holding back Africa’s aviation industry from realising its true potential.”

The event included a range of panel discussions and deliberations on key topics, such as:

• How Africa can ensure that it develops a skilled workforce to match its growth potential in the air and on the ground.

A notable addition to this year’s instalment was the Insight Theatre, which operated concurrently in the Exhibition Hall, and where it facilitated robust debates on key aviation topics where two South African airlines, SAA and Airlink, presented their organisational strategic plans.

networks and collaborative opportunities

• Why challenges still exist to finance Africa’s aviation ambitions.

• Human Capital for sustainable Airport Projects.

• Adaptation to challenges on climate change, and many more.

The event also highlighted significant industry announcements that included a strategic agreement between Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) and Global Air Navigation Services (GANS) to collaborate on various aspects of Air Traffic Management.

In closing, the official flag was passed on to the Republic of Rwanda’s Minister of Infrastructure, the Honourable Olivier Kabera, to designate the East African country as the next hosts for Aviation Africa 2025.

Times Media's Alan Peaford leads SA Transport Minister Barbera Creecy into the packed Convention Centre.

AIR KENYA AND DAVE LEONARD

Laura McDermid continues her stories about Iris McCallum’s early years in East Africa.

ORIGINALLY FOUNDED in 1970 from the merger of Wilkenair and other smaller operators, Air Kenya underwent several significant changes in the 1980s.

Through his extensive entrepreneurial knowledge and vast experience in various business ventures, owner Nicholas Biwott played a crucial role in shaping the airline’s direction, while Chris Kenny brought invaluable expertise to his role as managing director of Air Kenya.

Sid Dirks, who had relocated to East Africa from Canada where he served as Vice President of the Pacific Division at Canadian Airlines, was appointed general manager at Air Kenya shortly before I joined in October 1980.

In the short time I had been with Air Kenya, I was the happiest I’d been in a long while. The company was run by some truly fascinating people, and I was fortunate enough to be flying some excellent aircraft.

Our fleet consisted of four Navajo Chieftains, a Cessna 401 (N65175, which would soon catch fire), two Cessna 402s, and one Cessna 310R (5Y-EAR), which was my favourite.

She was a real minx to land

Every time I fired up her engines, a surge of excitement would run through me as the twin Continental IO-520s roared to life. As I taxied down the runway, knowing I had real power beneath the cowlings, I felt confident that I could handle anything the sky threw at me.

Rumour had it he took early retirement from Canadian Airlines, though I suspect his fondness for the odd tipple may have contributed to his early departure.

She was, however a real minx to land as her weight and balance had to match her speed perfectly. Too fast, and we’d float endlessly; too slow, and we’d drop like a stone. When I nailed the balance, she would reward me with a smooth, controlled greaser that was truly satisfying!

The notorious Top Office.

In the tight-knit aviation community, I had known Air Kenya’s Chief Pilot, Dave Leonard, long before I joined the company. He had renewed my licence several times over the years as one of the Designated Flight Examiners (DFEs). Beyond our professional relationship, I got to know him socially, as most of the pilots at the time frequented the Aero Club, fondly known as the ‘Top Office’. After a hot day’s flying, it was customary to head to the Top Office for a Tusker.

Dave, a former paratrooper, kept himself in great shape. His handlebar moustache earned him the nickname ‘Pink Panther’ for his resemblance to Inspector Clouseau from Blake Edwards’ famous series. Despite his phenomenal flying skills and wealth of knowledge, Dave was down-to-earth and lacked the inflated ego often associated with such expertise.

He smiled knowingly. ‘Iris, it’s not a stupid question. Because you have to turn so sharply right after takeoff, set your OBS to zero-seven-zero, and then, as you fly towards the VOR, adjust the heading on the CDI. That’ll help you intercept the correct radial.’

Instead of belittling me for asking what I thought was a stupid question, Dave made me feel validated—a critical skill for any good instructor.

transporting members of the entire cabinet

I had been wrestling with something for months, and one day after a few beers at the Top Office, I mustered the courage to ask Dave for advice. ‘Hey Dave, stupid question. When I fly out of Wilson to Jomo Kenyatta in IFR conditions, I can’t seem to get the VOR to pick up the zero-six-zero radial on the ILS.’

At the time, if you had a Cessna 411 rating on your licence, the Kenyan CAA would issue you a licence for any smaller Cessna, although you still had to be checked out on each type.

It didn’t take long before I had a formidable list of aircraft on my licence. Dave was in charge of the work rota and did his best to divide the flying fairly among the five pilots. If I flew a lot of short legs, he’d make sure to throw in a long leg to even things out. Although we earned a basic salary, we were paid extra for every additional statute mile flown. It was a unique setup, there was hardly ever any squabbling and we were a tight-knit group who genuinely liked one another.

Due to Nicholas Biwott’s roles in the governments of former President Jomo Kenyatta and then-President Daniel arap Moi, Air Kenya was heavily involved in charter flights for the Kenyan government.

In 1982, when Biwott was appointed Minister of Regional Development, Science, and Technology, the airline began expanding into the safari business to capitalise on the booming industry. At the time, tourism from safaris was estimated to contribute 11% of Kenya’s GDP, providing substantial income and employment in rural areas and becoming a major focus for many businesses.

saw an opportunity to profit by offering illegal safari flights and tours, often without the necessary permits or oversight.

To legally operate a safari or charter business, pilots needed to obtain air operator certificates (AOC) and comply with the licensing requirements for commercial aviation. This meant adhering to safety standards, insurance regulations and regular maintenance checks, as well as obtaining the necessary permissions to fly into national parks and conservancies.

his resemblance to Inspector Clouseau

In the 1970s and 1980s, Kenya saw an influx of private pilots, many of whom were expatriates or affluent individuals who owned their own planes. These pilots

Franz Lang, a German national and qualified commercial pilot, based his safari operations out of Air Kenya. Since he was qualified to fly the fleet and benefitted from the airline’s AOC, his operation was legal, unlike many of the unscrupulous private pilots.

Dave Leonard in his brief movie appearance in The Wilby Conspiracy based on the novel by Roger Armitreau.

During my first year at Air Kenya, I flew many charters for the Kenyan government, transporting members of the entire cabinet at various times. I quite enjoyed these flights as they weren’t to the typical

BUMPPPFFF:

tourist destinations but to remote areas in northern and northeastern Kenya, which, at the time, were relatively uncharted.

How not to tie down a plane!

The happy early Air Kenya team.

Text and Images: Guy Leitch

AAD 2024 THE BRICS DEFENCE SHOW?

The biennial African Aerospace and Defence Expo has evolved from being primarily an aerospace expo to being a defence show. For 2024 the shift in focus was heightened by poor weather on the Saturday that limited the airshow, as well as the absence of former key exhibitors.

THE LACKLUSTRE AVIATION

participation in AAD were most evident in the non-attendance of the United States and Russia. The USA withdrew at the last minute, citing delays in the issuing of approvals by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) for their aircraft. The SANDF does however dispute this.

In previous AAD Expos the USA has always been a huge presence with C17 Globemasters, KC135R Stratotankers, C130J Super Hercules, the MQ-9 Reaper UAV and even a live band playing Dixie tunes on the flightline.

Hercules fleet with modern airlifters. In 2009 South Africa cancelled its orders for the Airbus A400M which left it with no alternative plan for a replacement for the C-130s, which were supposed to fly until 2020. Visitors arriving at AAD were greeted by the sight of four cannibalised C-130 airframes parked behind the hangars.

The SAAF did themselves proud

China and Brazil are partners with South Africa in the BRICS alliance and the absence of the Americans left the door wide open for China and Brazil to exhibit their military airlifters.

The South African Air Force (SAAF) has a longfrustrated need to replace their 60 year old C-130BZ

The need for the SAAF to replace the C-130s is therefore evident and so the Brazilians brought a C-390 Millenium which arrived in plenty of time before the Expo for the SAAF to test fly, and the Chinese brought a Xi’an Y-20 Kunpeng, which was parked next to the C-390 and showed up the Brazilian’s smaller size.

This was the second appearance of the C-390 in South Africa in less than a year. “We believe the C-390 is a perfect fit for the diverse needs of the South African Air Force. The C-390 Millenium was designed from

The Chinese were a dominant presence at AAD 2024 - here with the Y-20.

the start to be versatile – it is not only excellent for military missions, but it can also perform tasks of national interest such as disaster management, medical evacuation, maritime surveillance and firefighting,” said Bosco da Costa Jnr, President and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security.

While the C-390 was only on static display, China’s Y-20 was a notable airshow performer on the trade

and public days, particularly on the Saturday with its marginal weather, when it disappeared into the cloud base and had to break away for a return on the ILS.

China had by far the biggest presence at the Expo, exhibiting a large range of weapons, missiles, drones, aircraft models and small arms. Another notable exhibit was the Changhe Z-10ME attack helicopter. This was transported in the hold of the Y-20, emphasising

the heavy transporters much desired capability to transport attack helicopters with the rotor masthead intact. Notably though the Z-10ME is a significantly smaller helicopter than the South African Rooivalk. The Z-10ME's height of 3.85m is 1.34m shorter than the Rooivalk, which makes a key difference when specifying an air lifter for attack helicopters.

Overall the show appeared to reflect a steady decline in support by both exhibitors and potential buyers. While there was plenty of evidence of senior military officers and consulate employees on the trade days, there was a sense of ‘tyre-kicker’ visitors wanting to see how technology was evolving, rather than being actual buyers. This was emphasised by comments by both South Africa’s President Ramaphosa and Minister of Defence Motshekga.

A SAAB Gripen takes off for the closing show. Image Trevor Cohen.

The mini war on the trade days blew dust and debris into the chalets.

Mwari provided an impressive flying display. Image Trevor Cohen.

Milkor 390 UAV impressed with its size and capability.

ABOVE: The Chinese PLAAF brought a Z-10 helicopter in the Y-20's hold. Image Ricardo Teixeira. BELOW: Russia was not there, but Rosoboronexport was big.

ABOVE: Updated African favourite - the latest genration Let 410NG on display. BELOW: Plenty of visting senior military officers from across Africa in evidence.

The decline in the show was evident in the failure of the organisers to sell out the show exhibition space. They reported 80% of the stands sold, however that number may be on the inflated side as the Expo seemed smaller than previous years, when all the hangars had been filled with exhibitors. This year there were some eerily empty hangars and show stands where exhibitors just failed to arrive. Apart from the non-appearance of the USA, the were also notable absences from Russia and the Ukraine.

Despite the AAD organiser’s best efforts, the bifurcation between the military side of the show and general aviation has grown even bigger. This year general aviation occupied just a small picket fenced-off area on the apron – which was noteworthy for its few exhibitors, some of which were drone operators. It would seem that the annual AERO general aviation Expo that takes place at nearby Wonderboom Airport is proving a viable alternative to the defence heavy AAD.

The SAAF had just one (non-airworthy) C-130 on static display.

This year the expo was most marked by the absence of key players – most notably Boeing. Airbus had a chalet but were focussed mainly on their helicopters – perhaps indicative of how low the two major manufacturers consider the possibility to be of a new airliner order from SAA – or any of the other regional airlines.

There were just ten country exhibitors, of which notable ones were China, India and Turkey. While the Russian government was conspicuous by its absence, Rosoboron, the Russian defence export and import agency had a strong presence. Despite their continued financial troubles, South African state owned arms manufacturer Denel featured strongly. The other large presence was private arms manufacturers Paramount and Milkor, which featured its very well received Milko 380 UAV.

The Exhibition

The tired looking Zimbabwe K-8.

Turkey had a large national stand.

Missiles and rockets were prominent, particularly from the Turkish manufacturer Rocketsan – but the dominant presence was UAV technology. Denel used the Expo to publicly launch their RW-UASD rotary wing UAV. In support of the launch, a fun exhibit was a full-sized replica of the UAV intricately handcrafted from beads. This single rotor UAV impressed with its capabilities: it is day and night and BVLOS operable and equipped with optical sensors and an optional radar sensor. The standard observation sensors include

a thermal imaging camera, high definition colour TV camera, auto tracker, laser rangefinder and designator. The optional radar sensor offers synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imagery as well as ground moving object indicator imagery.

As a VTOL, the RW-UAS can operate and navigate autonomously, with 10 hours of endurance with the standard payload. With an additional 80 kg payload,

Youth development is a pervasive effort.

the system has a four hour endurance. Maximum takeoff weight is 560 kg. With a fully articulated five-blade main and tail rotor system, Denel says the UAV has a low noise profile and can operate from a variety of landing zones, even from the back of a vehicle.

Paramount again featured the Mwari single engine reconnaissance surveillance and precision strike aircraft which it controversially took over from the original developer Aerosud. This year the Mwari put on an impressive flying display that showed off its speed, power and agility. Sales however remain elusive with some of the few Mwaris in operation seeing action in Northern Mozambique.

The Air Show

The Expo covers three days followed by an airshow for the public. Unfortunately the weather for the two public days, was poor and this probably deterred many spectators. On Saturday a low cloud base prevented all but the most determined Waterkloof based helicopter displays, and the teams that had to come in from other airports were stood down early.

There were two welcome new displays at the airshow: the former US Navy North American T-2 Buckeye trainer which was returned to airworthiness at its base at the Chinese AVIC flight school in Oudtshoorn, and a former SAAF Impala trainer, now privately owned. A regular at AAD is the Zimbabwean Hongdu JL-8 (Nanchang JL-8) trainer which looked somewhat tatty on static display.

The SA Space Agency showed ambitious projects.

After the negotiation of a last minute compromise for the maintenance contracts for its SAAB Gripen fighters in 2022, the SAAF managed to get three Gripens flying. The SAAF’s 85 Combat Flying School in Makhado brought a very impressive six-ship BAE Hawk display team including the Hawk painted in the colours of the South African flag. The SAAF fielded a limited 2 + 1 Silver Falcons team.

The SAAF did themselves proud with show-stopping

pyro-technical anti-missile flare displays from the Rooivalk. These dramatic flares are a great favourite with the photographers and commentator Brian Emmenis was able to give them excellent forewarning.

Helicopter action was provided by a BK117 which was flown with verve, showing what this rigid rotor design is capable of. The SAAF Museum also came to the party with helicopters performing an aerial ballet which enthralled the cognoscenti.

The Indian national stand.

The 3-day conference was well attended.

The big crowd pleaser is the ‘mini-war’ with many explosions, smoke and simulated machine gun fire. A tactical operation using several multi-disciplinary teams was put through their paces. Unfortunately the prevailing wind is from the west and this means that the dust and ash from the mini war blows into the exhibitors’ chalets.

Another crowd pleaser is the old trick of hoisting an ‘illegally parked’ car with a SAAF Oryx and then

‘accidentally’ dropping it midfield. This was carefully rehearsed with an actor who claimed the car was his and was deemed one of the best ever of these stunts. Stooges in the crowd reinforced the drama and there was much sympathy for the supposed victim, whose car was also in noticeably good condition, having been confiscated by the police earlier.

The Hawker Hunter owned and flown by Ron Wheeldon was a rare treat. A highlight for the crowd

Stalwart aviation enthusiasts and historians.

The long walk in from the trade visitors car park.

was a finale flown by a FlySafair Boeing 737-800 in formation with four 85 CFS Hawks.

The airshow ended with not one but three climaxes: First the four Harvards of the Flying Lions flew a beautiful sunset display, this was followed by a Rooivalk dropping flares into the gloaming and finally the SAAF pulled out all the stops to field a 9-ship jet fly-past featuring three Gripens and six Hawks flying the Red Arrows diamond-9 formation.

General Aviation was very poorly represented at AAD 2024.

AAD ALBUM

Images - Trevor Cohen

ABOVE: C-390 did not fly much - as it was demonstrated before the Expo. BELOW: FlySafair Boeing turns in for the flypast.

Images - Trevor Cohen

ABOVE: Novelty full-sized beaded replica of Denel's RW-UASD UAV. BELOW: One of just three flying SAAF Gripens.

ALBUM

Images - Trevor Cohen

ABOVE: Rooivalk inbound against the golden evening sky. BELOW: Spectacular show finale.

ALBUM

Images - Trevor Cohen

ABOVE: The 9-ship jet finale of 3 Gripens and 6 Hawks.

BELOW: The FlySafair Boeing 737-800 does a low flypast over three Gripens.

Images - Trevor Cohen

ABOVE: The weather and thus the crowd improved for the Sunday public day. BELOW: The Y-20 gets airborne.

JEFFERY KEMPSON

SNEAKING THREE DAKS ACROSS AFRICA

Roy and I arrived back in Munich to ferry the third Dak to South Africa. Sadly, we ran into

DURING STATIC ENGINE RUN-

UPS we found the right engine propeller would not feather. This necessitated a delay of several days while a serviceable feathering pump was sourced from the aircraft owner, Bob Korinski’s partner in Miami.

The pump arrived after we’d spent a few nights sampling the excellent beer in Schwabing’s piano bars. The feathering pump was fitted, but still didn’t feather the prop.

In desperation I visited a downtown hardware store and bought several metres of ordinary household

insulated double flex wire. This we threaded through the wing and fuselage and connected it to the feathering pump and selector. I pressed the switch, and the prop feathered.

We flew a test flight that afternoon. Roy rotated and called for the gear up. Alas, the undercarriage remained down and locked. The retract cables had stretched during the several months the aircraft had been standing idle.

We continued with our climb and some miles out we were vectored back towards the airfield and had started a slow descent when the right engine backfired.

The three Daks that were clandestinely sold and then flown to South Africa to become 'Dakeltons'.

I enriched the mixture, but it happened again. So I leaned the mixture – and the left engine backfired. I moved both mixture controls to full rich, to no avail.

We turned onto final with the aircraft swinging left and right. Apparently we were also spewing black smoke from the exhausts, and the tower asked us if we wanted to declare an emergency. I answered in the negative, Roy kept the aircraft high on the approach, and we touched down halfway down the runway. Once taxying, the engines worked normally. We parked and shut down. We were both shaken.

Our Dak emitting black smoke and yawing from side to side as the engines backfired on our final approach gained us unwanted publicity in the local newspaper.

Recalling a light bulb moment that I’d been too busy to think through I said to Roy, “I think I know what our problem may be.”

My father had been a highly licenced engineer with a couple of SA airlines, and as I had been aircraft crazy as a child, he’d given me bits of aircraft memorabilia to play with. One was a small corrugated bellows from a Dak carburettor. This expanded and contracted with altitude to provide a semi-automatic mixture adjustment.

Against instructions, I contacted Sakkie Henning, the CO of the SAAF Transport Squadron. Sakkie listened to my story and agreed that the barometric capsules had almost certainly been the problem.

With the DC-3 now serviceable we departed. The Dak seemed to be serviceable, except that despite using the same power setting on both engines, the left engine had used more fuel than the right engine. Refuelling at Corfu confirmed this.

Avgas was not available

They had probably expanded with altitude to weaken our mixture, then had both stuck in that position, and not contracted to enrich the fuel mixture as we descended.

Sakkie airfreighted two serviceable capsules, and they performed perfectly during our nervous test flight. Sakkie Henning was later killed in the Air Force HQ bomb by uMkhonto weSizwe.

The next morning we launched for the island of Rhodes. When we landed at Rhodes it was very apparent that our left engine was thirstier than the right. I dipped the four fuel tanks, and reckoned we were using about 23% more fuel in the left engine, despite attempting to run it a little leaner than the right.

After I topped up the engine oil, Roy seemed in a disagreeable mood and insisted on climbing the ladder to check the oil level in the left engine. From the cockpit I heard a loud shout and a crash. I saw Roy lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious.

Roy Matthews fell off a ladder while inspecting an engine.

The planned 5200nm route flown by the Dak from Munich to

I rushed out the aircraft just as Roy regained consciousness and one of the Greek refuelers helped him to his feet. Roy had injured his back but was able to limp. We took a taxi to our cheap hotel near the airport, where he had a hot bath. Then still in pain, he joined me in the bar and declared that this whole Dak ferry delivery operation had become too hairy and he was pulling out of it.

I said, “If you quit now, I wouldn’t pay you.”

Our argument became increasingly acrimonious, and I was very aware that I held only a Commercial licence and not an ATP, so although I had quite a few hours on Daks, and also technically owned the aircraft, I was not permitted to Captain it.

My threat not to pay him for this trip brought Roy to his senses. Mollified by liquor and Deep Heat his mood improved, and he agreed to continue the flight.

Next day I did the flying to Luxor in Egypt, where we were met by the same health official who I bribed with a German porn magazine.

The following day Roy’s aches and pains had mostly subsided, so he took the helm for the seven plus hour flight to Djibouti.

Flying down the middle of the Red Sea, I worried that with our left engine using at least 23% more fuel than the right, getting to Djibouti without refuelling was becoming impossible.

JEFFERY KEMPSON

Lanseria.

I asked a passing local airliner to request a relay for us to divert to Asmara for fuel, and was told to stand by. After a long wait Asmara denied us permission to land, and also said that Avgas was not available.

Roy nodded. I had much respect for his quiet professionalism that I felt this vastly experienced pilot must have a plan B up his sleeve. That day, the only thing he had up his sleeve was his arm. It had become apparent that we would probably end up 40 miles short of Djibouti.

Roy reluctantly complied and we landed into the very strong wind. After parking, an ATC came to the plane, saying he could hear our calls, but his radio was unable to transmit.

I heard a loud shout and a crash

I slapped a protractor onto the 1:1,000,000 chart and gave Roy a heading to Assab in Eritrea.

He turned almost 30 degrees left, and a few miles later we entered a narrow but unavoidable line squall.

By this stage we were cross feeding both engines from the only tank indicating any fuel and I reckoned we had about twenty minutes left.

Then we entered the line squall and all hell broke loose. The turbulence was brief but violent. A large and very heavy DC3 carburettor broke its straps and flew into the cockpit, hitting the floor below the power console. Moments later it flew back down the cabin, broke the toilet door, and crashed into the empty toilet bowl, where it remained until we reached SA.

We emerged from the storm into bright sunlight and saw the long Assab dirt runway. I said, “Turn left ,to join right downwind.”

Roy replied, “No I’ll turn left overhead the runway then do a procedure turn onto final”.

“No, we don’t have enough fuel for that airline stuff! Just put this plane on the ground!”

Then a fuel bowser arrived, and we filled it up. We had around 15 minutes of fuel left and Djibouti was still 90 miles, or 40 minutes, away.

Then the police arrived told us that special security would be arriving from Addis Ababa to interrogate us the next morning. Meanwhile we would be escorted to a hotel in town to spend the night.

Roy Matthews (R) heads out to the aircraft.

Two guards were placed on the aircraft, and we were driven to the hotel without completing any border formalities. In our hotel rooms Roy and I flushed the South African documentation down our toilets.

Late the next morning a pair of security men arrived and interrogated Roy and I separately. We called them Sweet and Sour and told them our destination was Madagascar. Just before lunch we were cleared to proceed.

throttles but I shouted, “It’s just the gauge Roy, there’s no swing,” I pushed the throttles forward again and the RPM needle returned to max revs. A few seconds later we were airborne. I said; “Wow! That could have gone badly!”

“That’s the trouble.”

They drove us to the airport, and as I turned one of the props to prevent hydraulic lock, the Sweet fellow started turning the other prop. It would have made a great picture for the SAAF Squadron mess, but didn’t have a camera with me.

Completing the pre-flight checks, I noticed Mr Sour was still holding our aircraft document folder. He showed me a dirty magazine he had found and said he would have to confiscate it.

I nodded happily, but then he said; “Your aircraft documentation is too good. In Africa we use photostat forms.”

Our Dak carried an African registration from the opposite side of the continent. I tried to look unconcerned. Then Mr Sweet said something in Arabic, and Mr Sour reluctantly handed me the folder.

I smiled as Mr Sweet apologised for the inconvenience caused. He wished me a good trip. I quickly closed the door.

I said; “Start the engines Roy, and let’s get out of here as fast as possible. Mr Sour is questioning the plane’s documentation.”

Roy said, “Why? It’s all correctly stamped. Perfect in fact.”

“That’s the trouble.”

A few minutes later, tail up and roaring down the runway, the right engine RPM needle dropped to zero. Roy closed the

Forty minutes later we arrived in humid Djibouti without further incident.

Here I located an aircraft engineer of unknown provenance, and after some discussion he claimed he’d be able to fix our thirsty carb. By late afternoon the engineer declared that the problem was beyond his capability, but charged me $200 for fiddling.

Roy started haggling about the distance to Mombasa, and the fuel flows, so I told him we were going to buy a 44-gallon drum of Avgas and a manual wobble

JEFFERY KEMPSON

They nearly ended up in jail for a girlie magazine.

pump to transfer the fuel into the tanks because we were going to land at Hargeisa, where there was no Avgas. A friendly ATC arranged clearance to land at Hargeisa. That night we counted our lucky stars at having remained free.

The next morning we replenished the left fuel tanks from the drum. Being driven into town to find a bank for our landing fee payment, the taxi driver explained why so many of the houses had bright blue roofs. A lorry containing drums of blue paint had broken down and the blue paint was used to colour their previously drab tin roofs.

Taxing out at Hargeisha we were amused to notice a large radar dish rotating slowly above a camouflaged anthill. The dish then stopped, and began rotating in the opposite direction. Obviously not connected to anything, just blowing in the wind. After taxiing past an engineless Vickers Viscount lying on its belly, we lined up and took off.

the wings. Go have a look.” I later learned these lights were for formation flying at night, and could not be seen from the ground. I switched the lights off, then a while later I shouted to Roy, who was still in the cabin, “The left engine oil pressure is dropping.”

Roy shone his powerful torch onto the left wing, and pronounced oil was streaming across it.

I called Lanseria Tower and told them to advise the relevant SAAF authorities not to send a crew to collect the aircraft that night.

Fifteen minutes later we were on the ground and were marshalled to a remote part of the apron. We put in the control locks and made our way into the terminal building.

in the line squall all hell broke loose

This sector, and subsequent Mombasa night stop, was uneventful, except that Roy insisted on us staying in a cheap hotel where many years before he had first met his wife; Mercedes.

The next day we landed at Blantyre and were dismayed to find an oil leak on the left engine. A mechanic could not be found.

A Safair L100 Hercules was parked on the ramp ready to return to Joburg. I knew the co-pilot, a former aircraft salesman called Wessels and asked him to please inform Lanseria that we would be landing there this evening.

We replenished the oil on the leaking engine, and decided that the usage was not excessive.

Crossing the Limpopo a little after dark Roy rushed into the cockpit from the cabin where he had been donning jacket and tie for a celebratory dinner at Lanseria. He shouted; “What have you done?”

“I’m just fiddling with the light switches. Why, what’s wrong?”

“There are lights shining straight up from the top of

Over dinner I expressed my relief that the three DC-3 ferry deliveries had been completed.

I had heard on the grapevine that five other DC-3s had been clandestinely ferried in from New Zealand, but that one had been lost on the way. I was not able to verify this.

The next morning I went to Lanseria, and learnt a loose rocker cover had been venting oil. This was tightened, the oil replenished and the engine satisfactorily run.

I moved to a quiet vantage point and watched the Dak taxi out and take off. At that moment I felt an inexplicable emptiness. Those three ferry flights had become a way of life.

A few days later my King Nav/Comm set was returned to me. Then I asked Armscor for an additional R10,000 to compensate for the time-consuming difficulties and costs that I’d had to bear. A week later the pleasant Armscor man I’d met in Munich handed me R10,000 in a plain brown envelope. If I had been able to deal with him originally, I would not have needed to fly to Paris for lunch while the embassy staff typed up my delivery contract.

I didn’t make as much money out of those DC-3 deliveries as I had hoped, but the memory of the warm gleam in my girlfriend’s eyes endures. 

SAFAIR AND AIR BOTSWANA EXPAND TO WINDHOEK

South African low cost carrier FlySafair is continuing to expand beyond South Africa’s borders. In so doing it is addressing the much needed challenge of intraAfrican air connectivity.

FLYSAFAIR SAYS it will be operating two additional flights per week between Cape Town and Windhoek, starting 22 October 2024.

This announcement comes after the airline was awarded rights by the International Air Services Council last year to operate routes between Johannesburg, Windhoek, Harare, and Zanzibar. In addition to these new routes, FlySafair was awarded five additional frequencies on their Mauritius route, enabling the airline to offer daily flights.

Also expanding into Windhoek in October is Air Botswana which has announced that it will commence flights between Maun, Gaborone, and Kasane to Windhoek in October 2024.

Air Botswana Chief Executive Officer Lulu Rasebotsa says the new Windhoek routes will operate three times weekly from each destination, connecting Botswana and Namibia and providing convenient travel options for both business and leisure travellers.

“The new additions are popular destinations for business and tourism, and we are excited to offer convenient air travel between the cities to advance economic activities in all countries, particularly Botswana,” she said.

In addition to the Windhoek route, Air Botswana has also revealed plans for new connections to Cape Town, Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA), and Durban, as well as the reinstatement of their Johannesburg to Maun, Gaborone, and Kasane route.

FlySafair continues to aggresively expand its regional route network.

H125. Safeguarding Our Biodiversity

EVOLUTION

It’s been almost 15 years since my articles appeared in SA Flyer. While I’m astonished at how time flies, it does feel like change has been constant and relentless in my life. In both good and bad ways.

The current chapter of my career started when I joined Bristow as an offshore helicopter line pilot in Nigeria. Shortly thereafter I served as chief pilot in Nigeria, and finally landed a promotion to Bristow Head Office in Houston as part of the flight operations management team. Although I was no longer in the cockpit, I loved this role as I frequently travelled to Bristow’s operations all over the world with the overall mandate to influence and improve flight operations in a meaningful way.

Sadly, all good things come to an end, and a global crash in the oil price in 2016 started a domino effect, leading to massive restructuring which saw most of the global helicopter operators filing for bankruptcy. Many smaller operators simply disappeared in the chaos and never returned.

My experience in the US oil & gas industry positioned me to become an aviation consultant as banks, investors, leasing companies and opportunists all scrambled to make sense of the global downturn. It was fun being an independent consultant until Covid put the brakes on my new career as aviation activity declined to almost zero.

Seeking more job security than I had previously experienced in the helicopter business, I turned my passion and sidehustle into a more formal business and opened a small car dealership. While it was fun, I always felt like a fish out of water. I missed my “tribe” in aviation, and our family dearly missed relatives and all things comfortable and familiar back home in South Africa. My family and I became Americans along the way, but the US always presented an uncomfortable fit for us.

Now, in my latest role with PHI, I’m back on the front lines flying a Sikorsky S-92 in the Gulf of Mexico. This position allows me to spend 50% of my time with my happy family back in SA while still working in the USA.

Jannie Matthysen is back flying helicopters - here in a huge S-92. Image Jack

Danza.

TWO ICONIC AIRCRAFT have always been on my aviation bucket list: the Boeing 747, and on the helicopter side, the Sikorsky S-92.

The size and old-school character of both these lumbering giants have consistently appealed to me, and I would fantasize about getting my sweaty palms on the controls of these two beasts.

The semi-permanent grin on my face is a result of receiving a start date for S-92 simulator training at Flight Safety in Louisiana. I could not be happier!

My employment offer had arrived from PHI, arguably one of the premier operators in the helicopter offshore industry.

The S-92 is no longer a beast

When the initial euphoria had subsided, I started planning in earnest, but soon cold reality set in… I had not flown a helicopter in almost 10 years, I had never flown commercially in the USA and had not worked directly in the aviation industry for a long time.

The challenge before me seemed simple: spend an uninterrupted 52 days in S-92 initial training, pass a whole gambit of tests, exams, and check rides during technical ground school, simulator training, indoctrination training, and then finally company line training. How difficult could it be? It’s just another helicopter, and I’ve done all of this before in one way or another.

The first challenge was being away from friends and family. Nothing new in the life of a pilot, but 52 days is a long time if this type of duty cycle has not been part of your routine for a few years.

PHI is one of the premier operators in the helicopter offshore industry.

Then the physical realities. Suddenly I started thinking about medical issues that had never been on my radar before. Maintaining a Class 1 medical in what can grudgingly only be described as “middle age” presented its own challenges. Since my last flight a decade ago, I had started wearing glasses, and not the cool Top Gun “look at me I’m a pilot” sunglasses. I’m talking about full-blown varifocals in a frame that reminds one of angry Grandpa on a bad day without coffee. I would worry about looking cool later. Tinnitus had evolved from an occasional irritation to a constant whine, and then for some reason unbeknown to me, I was now buying pants a couple of sizes larger than before. It’s a good thing I was going to be flying an S-92 as it should be able to accommodate a “little bit” more heft in the cockpit.

From the very start of ground school, the scope and scale of my little adventure became overwhelmingly apparent. This was going to require a little more effort than just some light reading or casually paging through a few manuals. The volume of work was incredible and came in numerous formats from all directions. There were the usual Flight Safety printed training manuals, but somehow there were now more of them, and they were all much bulkier than I’d ever seen. I also received a shiny new i-Pad. Cool, I thought, but I soon learnt that this thing was filled to the brim with more manuals, operations guidelines, rules, more rules, additional rules, supplementary rules, regulations and hyperlinks to every aviation website known to mankind. How was I going to learn all this stuff, and more importantly, would I remember any of it a few months down the line?

and action. A decade ago, I was very comfortable in the cockpit, knew the aircraft I was flying, and felt very much at home in any helicopter operation. Now, this was different. The passage of time had not been kind to my physical being, my skillset, nor my confidence.

Not surprisingly, simulator training now exposed weaknesses that I never knew I had, and the sheer volume of studying required me to work harder than ever before. Every test and exam presented a major challenge, and then I still had to remind myself to eat healthy and get some exercise! What did I let myself in for? Suddenly, I did not feel the capable pilot I had always considered myself to be.

“It’s not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it”

As I pondered my dire situation, a silver lining appeared. In contrast to the last time, I found myself challenged on so many levels, I realized that I am now much more patient than before – with myself and others. My fellow training victims had no idea how good they had it sharing a simulator with me, compared to a few years ago.

The other change I saw in myself was the evolution of communication skills. Somehow, it was now easier to get a message across without offending someone. My long-suffering wife’s corrective prodding undoubtedly had something to do with it: “It’s not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it” was one of her favourite admonishments. Without realising it during this period of distress, I started applying a few personal rules that I never really knew about. These only became apparent to me during a deeply personal post-mortem over a few single-malts…

Soon, I was reminded of the very regimented and structured nature of the industry I found myself in once more. How I had missed it, but I was also reminded of the fact that there were many ways in which to screw this up. Virtually everything is rule-based and there is a process, procedure, or checklist for almost each task

1. Don’t take yourself too seriously

2. Work harder than you think you should

3. Take time to rest and recuperate – whatever form that might take

4. Know the people who love and care for you. Acknowledge them

HELICOPTERS

5. Own your mistakes, learn from them. Evolve. Find a reason if you must, but no excuses.

6. Slow down - breathe

7. Be humble, be grateful

8. Strive to be a positive role model

9. Celebrate success

10. Cultivate a good attitude

I started applying this little set of personal rules without realising it at the time. I could only attribute it to some deep-rooted survival instinct that comes with age – it was really a matter of survival. Either try something different or fail entirely.

The results were surprising. I completed the initial training without any issues. Flying the line as a relatively inexperienced pilot in a “new” helicopter, in a complex and hostile environment such as the Gulf of Mexico, did inevitably produce some “newguy” mistakes. Every flight is IFR, with many flights extending more than 200NM into the blue yonder of the Gulf. Apart from weather and other operational challenges, we’re also required to meet very stringent and diverse customer requirements. Once again, a very fertile environment to mess things up. Simply piloting the S-92 now proved to be the easy part!

The size and old-school character of these lumbering giants appeals to me.

The initial period as the new guy on the line is flown under supervision. This is where new challenges presented themselves in the form of stereotypical, crusty old captains – some of whom had been in the same helicopter, with the same employer, flying the same contract for 25 years or more. To say that they do not suffer fools, nor do they have the patience to deal with an inexperienced pilot’s mistakes, would be an understatement. Note to self: refer rules 2, 5, 6, and 10. Repeat.

Now, after a few months into my new adventure, and the luxury of hindsight, a new perspective emerges. As with most things in life, human beings evolve and somehow rise to the challenge. What seemed insurmountable at the start, now appears to be routine in its simplicity. Things that kept me awake at night, are now second nature. The S-92 is no longer a beast to be tamed, but is proving to be a kind, gentle giant. Cranky, crusty captains have become good friends and loyal, supportive colleagues.

How I’ve missed this! Refer Rule 7.

PILATUS LEGENDS AWARD

Markus Bucher, the CEO of Pilatus, has accepted an award for notable achievement in aviation at the ‟Living Legends of Aviation Europe Awards”.

The awards honour companies and personalities who have made a significant contribution to aviation and aerospace. For the fourth time, the "Oscars of Aviation” were presented as part of the "Living Legends of Aviation Europe Awards” at the spectacular Scalaria Event Resort on Lake Wolfgang, Austria.

In this special setting, Markus Bucher and the Pilatus Team accepted the "Sam B. Williams Technology Award” for the company’s untiring efforts to produce unique, world-class aircraft.

The award was presented by Gregg Williams – the owner and Chairman of Williams International: a manufacturer of gas turbine engines.

Markus Bucher, CEO of Pilatus, said: "The award is an important recognition for our years of commitment, and for the work we do as a team every day – it also spurs us on to achieve further heights of success!”

The "Living Legends of Aviation” organization was created in 2003 – with the aim of celebrating

the second century of aviation and honouring the outstanding achievements of pilots, industry representatives, astronauts and record holders. While the American edition takes place in Los Angeles every spring, the European event is held at the spectacular "Scalaria” Event Resort on Lake Wolfgang in Austria. The "European Legends” include famous names such as Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, and Felix Baumgartner, who is widely known for his space jump.

Pilatus receives the Living Legends of Aviation Award.

STARLINER RETURNS EMPTY

IN EARLY SEPTEMBER

Boeing’s Starliner returned to Earth without astronauts.

The success of this mission was critical to Boeing’s tattered reputation as it was Starliner’s first astronaut flight. Hover, after much prevarication, and despite pressure from Boeing, NASA decided that the capsule must return uncrewed due to issues with its reaction control system (RCS) thrusters shortly after its 5 June launch.

NASA opted not to risk the lives of astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore by having them onboard for the return journey.

This concluded the craft’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission. Notwithstanding the Starliner’s safe return, the decision to leave the two astronauts on board the international Space Station(ISS) to return with competitor SpaceX is an ignominious defeat for Boeing.

The capsule undocked from the International Space Station on 6 September and landed successfully in New Mexico early on Saturday 7 September. Adding to Boeings embarrassment, the mission was meant to last eight days, ending on 14 June with a landing in the American Southwest. However, the capsule’s thrusters malfunctioned as Starliner approached the ISS.

After more than two months of investigation, NASA decided it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. Instead, the Boeing spacecraft returned uncrewed on 7 September 2024, and the astronauts will return on arch-competitor SpaceX Crew-9 spacecraft in February 2025.

This means their intended eight day space mission had to be extended to eight months aboard the International Space Station. 

The two NASA astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, who have been stranded in space by Starliner problems.

AVIATION CONSULTANTS DIRECTORY

JOHANNESBURG

VIO Aviation 083 230 7821

Mont Blanc Financial Services 0800 467 873

PRETORIA

Ardent Aviation 082 784 0510

www.vioaviationsolutions.co.za

www.mbfs.co.za a

www.ardentaviation.co.za a a a yolanda@ardentaviation.co.za

Vektor Aviation 012 247 5010

CAPE TOWN

Litson and Associates (Pty) Ltd

+27(0)21 851 7187

safety@litson.co.za NATIONAL

+27 87 703 1062

iTOO

www.vektoraviation.co.za a

www.litson.co.za

*FSF BARS/IOGP/IATA/ICAO/CAP 437

www.itoo.co.za a 0861 767 778

Where romance meets nature

Located in South Africa’s Safari hub of Hoedspruit, Safari Moon is a boutique base from which to discover the wonders of South Africa’s Lowveld region. Explore a range of nearby attractions from the famed Kruger National park to the scenic Panorama Route, or simply chose to relax and unwind in nature, making the most of your private piece of Wildlife Estate wilderness.

Hangar to Rent

Hangar available in White River area:

T-hangar available for rent at a secure private farm airstrip near White River. No landing fees. Power available. R2200/m. Contact Jeremy (064 931 1642).

Aero Engineering and Powerplant AMO

BACKPAGE DIR ECT 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

Airshift Aircraft Sales

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

Alclad Sheetmetal Services

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

Algoa Flying Club

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

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

AVDEX (Pty) Ltd

Tania Botes 011 954 15364 info@avdex.co.za www.avdex.co.za

Aviatech Flight Academy Nico Smith 082 303 1124 viatechfakr@gmail.com www.aviatech.co.za

Aviation Direct Andrea Antel 011 465 2669 info@aviationdirect.co.za www.aviationdirect.co.za

Avtech

Riekert Stroh 082 749 9256 avtech1208@gmail.com

BAC Aviation AMO 115

Micky Joss 035 797 3610 monicad@bacmaintenance.co.za

Blackhawk Africa Cisca de Lange 083 514 8532 cisca@blackhawk.aero www.blackhawk.aero

Blue Chip Flight School Henk Kraaij 012 543 3050 bluechip@bluechip-avia.co.za www.bluechipflightschool.co.za

Border Aviation Club & Flight School

Liz Gous 043 736 6181 admin@borderaviation.co.za www.borderaviation.co.za

Bona Bona Game Lodge

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

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

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

Cape Town Flying Club

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

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

Chemetall

Wayne Claassens 011 914 2500 wayne.claassens@basf.com www.chemetall.com

Chem-Line Aviation & Celeste Products

Steve Harris 011 452 2456 sales@chemline.co.za www.chemline.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 hello@flycfs.com www.flycfs.com

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

Dart Aeronautical Pieter Viljoen 011 827 8204 pieterviljoen@dartaero.co.za www.dartaero.co.za

Dart Aircraft Electrical Mathew Joubert 011 827 0371 Dartaircraftelectrical@gmail.com www.dartaero.co.za

Diepkloof Aircraft Maintenance cc Nick Kleinhans 083 454 6366 diepkloofamo@gmail.com

DJA Aviation Insurance 011 463 5550 0800Flying mail@dja-aviation.co.za www.dja-aviation.co.za

Dynamic Propellers

Andries Visser 011 824 5057 082 445 4496 andries@dynamicpropeller.co.za www.dynamicpropellers.co.za

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

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

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 College Cornell Morton 044 876 9055 ftc@flighttrainning.co.za www.flighttraining.co.za

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

Kit Planes for Africa

Stefan Coetzee 013 793 7013 info@saplanes.co.za www.saplanes.co.za

Kzn Aviation (Pty) Ltd

Melanie Jordaan 031 564 6215 mel@kznaviation.co.za www.kznaviation.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: Phone:enquiries@litson.co.za 27 (0) 8517187 www.litson.co.za

Litson & Associates Risk Management

Services (Pty) Ltd

eSMS-S™/ eTENDER/ e-REPORT / Aviation Software Systems

Email: Phone:enquiries@litson.co.za 27 (0) 8517187 www.litson.co.za

Loutzavia Aircraft Sales

Henry Miles 082 966 0911 henry@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za

Loutzavia Flight Training

Gerhardt Botha 012 567 6775 ops@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za

Loutzavia-Pilots and Planes

Maria Loutzis 012 567 6775 maria@loutzavia.co.za www.pilotsnplanes.co.za

Loutzavia Rand Frans Pretorius 011 824 3804 rand@loutzavia.co.za www@loutzavia.co.za

Lowveld Aero Club

Pugs Steyn 013 741 3636 Flynow@lac.co.za

Maverick Air Charters

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

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

MH Aviation Services (Pty) Ltd

Marc Pienaar 011 609 0123 / 082 940 5437 customerrelations@mhaviation.co.za www.mhaviation.co.za

M and N Acoustic Services cc Martin de Beer 012 689 2007/8 calservice@mweb.co.za

Metropolitan Aviation (Pty) Ltd

Gert Mouton 082 458 3736 herenbus@gmail.com

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

Mont Blanc Financial Services Devon Ford devon@mbfs.co.za www.mbfs.co.za

North East Avionics

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

Dr Rudi Britz Aviation Medical Clinic

Megan 066 177 7194 rudiavmed@gmail.com Wonderboom Airport

SAA Technical (SOC) Ltd

SAAT Marketing 011 978 9993 satmarketing@flysaa.com www.flysaa.com/technical

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

Savannah Helicopters

De 082Jager 444 1138 / 044 873 3288 dejager@savannahhelicopters.co.za www.savannahhelicopters.co.za

Scenic Air

Christa van Wyk +264 612 492 68 windhoek@scenic-air.com www.scenic-air.com

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

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

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

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

Status Aviation (Pty) Ltd

Richard Donian 074 587 5978 / 086 673 5266 info@statusaviation.co.za www.statusaviation.co.za

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

Swift Flite

Linda Naidoo

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

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

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

The Pilot Shop

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

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

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

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

Colin Blanchard 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