SA Flyer Magazine February 2025 by Flyer & Aviation Publications

–LEARN TO SPIN!

• Jim: Fly by Night

• Boeing vs Airbus: 2024 wrap

• Embraer KC-390 finally for SAAF?

• Peter Garrison: Why do we turn left?

• Jannie Matthysen: A Day in the life of an O&G pilot

THE SUV OF THE SKIES

With increased headroom, larger windows, and spacious luxury seating, the PC-12 NGX gives you more space to work productively and arrive refreshed.

PILATUS CENTRE SA

Authorised Sales Centre

POSITION REPORT

Sporadically,

over the

past

five years since Covid-19

(yes, it was that long ago) I have been writing about the long-awaited pilot shortage. So what happened to it?

IN 2021 THE NUMBERS were all good. Over 60% of the pilot workforce was expected to either retire or just leave aviation in the next five years.

Flying schools could not make new pilots fast enough, the air forces were training fewer pilots, and despite appeals, there was no yielding by the FAA on their 1,500 ATP hour rule for all Part 121 pilots.

This was all good news for aspiring pilots. The pilot shortage was predicted to reach critical levels in by 2025, driving up pay and working conditions as airlines compete to attract and retain pilots.

For nascent South African pilots the situation was particularly promising as senior pilots took off for greener – or sandier – pastures. Thus, it was expected that Airlink would lose around 100 pilots to foreign airlines in 2024. Just as in 2023 SAA lost 20% of the initial 87 pilots they

A former SAA captain, who was a casualty of Covid and Business Rescue wrote, “Almost every ex-SAA pilot who wants to continue flying is now flying for a foreign airline, so that supply has mostly dried up. Some have hung up their wings and either retired or gone into non-aviation careers or businesses.

“A global pilot shortage is anticipated to extend through at least 2032, with North America anticipated to feel the brunt of it as post-Covid demand exceeds new entrants.”

But the global shortage of pilots turned out not to be as bad as bad as everyone feared. The industry responded in various ways, most notably in the USA, where one of the more significant steps taken to ameliorate the loss of experienced captains is that the retirement age for regional pilots was pushed up to 67.

Guy Leitch work in the political snake pits

There was even talk of airliners flying as single pilot operations. Fear not. This will not happen anytime in the next ten years, and probably never.

The industry is nothing if not resilient. The pilot shortage seems to have been largely defused by these measures, increased throughput from the flight schools, and a tightening up of pilot working conditions – so that many are now finding themselves hitting the 100 hour/month limit. Further, South African flight schools are desperately short of instructors as many are being hired with very low time by the airlines.

What there has been is a significant shortage of air traffic controllers, engineers and ground staff due to layoffs, redundancies and forced retirements. But then who would want to work in the political snake pits that are ACSA and ATNS?

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!

COLUMNISTS

PT6A FLAT RATE OVERHAUL (FRO)

SALES MANAGER

Kerry Matthysen sales@saflyermag.co.za 082 572 9473

CONTRIBUTORS

Morne Booij-Liewes

Laura McDermid

Darren Olivier

Jeffrey Kempston

TRAFFIC

Kerry Matthysen traffic.admin@saflyermag.co.za

ACCOUNTS

Bella Leitch accounts@saflyermag.co.za

EDITOR

Guy Leitch guy@saflyermag.co.za

ILLUSTRATIONS

Darren Edward O'Neil

Joe Pieterse

WEB MASTER

Emily Kinnear

StandardAero Lanseria, a Pratt & Whitney PT6A designated overhaul facility (DOF) and the sole independent DOF approved for the PT6A-140, is pleased to support operators across Africa with P&W’s flat rate overhaul (FRO) program, which combines OEM-level quality with guaranteed “not to exceed” capped pricing. Meaning that you can plan your maintenance expenses with confidence, and without any compromises.

The FRO program does not incur extra charges for typical corrosion, sulphidation or repairable foreign object damage (FOD), and PMA parts are accepted.

As the industry’s leading independent aeroengine MRO provider, StandardAero is trusted by airline, governmental and business aviation operators worldwide for responsive, tailored support solutions. Contact us today to learn more.

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

CAPTAIN GLENN POLEY

Sometimes pilots get the special privilege of seeing something that is beyond the reach of mere earth-bound mortals. The brief appearance of a comet in late January was one such remarkable event. Captain Glenn Poley was at FL380 on 22 January, at top of descent for Cape Town, when he saw Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas). He clicked away, capturing images of the comet high above the Cape Peninsula with his trusty iPhone 13. This image of the comet above the lights of Cape Town was caught as they descended through FL280 at 21.20 local time.

You Gotta Have Faith to Fly

There are some things about flying which fill me with awe and wonder.

FLIGHT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL synthesis of physics and dreams.

I get all choked when I hear the music from the twelve organ pipes of a Rolls Royce Merlin. SpaceX has the ability to regularly tear me up: when they simultaneously landed two Falcon Heavy side boosters back on their pads – or when they caught the Starship Super Heavy rocket booster in mid-air with the ‘Mechazilla’s chopsticks’. This is a perfect synthesis of man having overcome the combined challenges of space and flight to bring the whole thing back to a perfect landing.

runway and ponderously heaves itself into the air, it is an event possessed of an awesome grandeur. Even to an informed mind this experience can lead to a sense of wonder and creates an almost reverential homage to the seemingly supernatural power of flight.

It’s said that anything we don’t understand we instinctively fear. Do we as puny human beings really understand the power and the forces at work in flight of this magnitude and do pilots really understand their equipment?

possessed of an awesome grandeur

At an individual person scale, the script writers for the cult movie “Waynes World” recognised the God-awful power of flight by having the two maladjusted anti-heroes getting their thrills by lying on their car directly under the glidepath of landing jets.

On a more prosaic level the sweep of an Airbus A350 wingtip and the elegant slimness of the pylon engine mounts is art at its most functional and arguably, its best.

When 500 tons of A380 thunders down a

And, if we don’t, do we then not secretly fear flying? Watching the wing tip of a 787 flexing through 2 or 3 metres in even light turbulence makes me wonder about where all that bending is coming from, and just how much strain all the brazillions of rivets – or bonding – can actually take.

Jet engine mounts are another source of amazement. I am amazed that there are not more engine separations than the infamous Nationwide Airlines Boeing 737-200 engine falling off during takeoff in 2007. The twisting forces on the spar of an airliner with underslung engines must be incomprehensible.

As an impressionable youth I remember gazing up with rapture at the tail of that most beautiful of all airliners, the VC-10, and wondering how it’s elegantly slim pylons could hold up, not just one, but two engines.

I try to convince myself with the thought that aircraft design must be an exact science with all the stresses and strengths passively allowing themselves to be computed into unbreakable rules. But nature and physics are not to be controlled that easily.

It is perhaps in primeval recognition of this fear that, when the designers do get it wrong and things like engines or hatches fall off, then the pulp press capitalises on our repressed fears and launches into orgies of sensational journalism.

significant number of commercial pilots) have given up trying to resolve – or even just decide on their own view – on the Bernoulli vs Coanda / Newton’s second law debate.

I reckon many of these pilots secretly consider flying to be somehow a bit supernatural. While training and logical thought tells us how wings produce lift, I think that in the primal and usually sub-conscious recesses of our psyche we secretly wonder at the magic of nothing but air holding up hundreds of tons of metal.

you have to have the right stuff

I wonder if people would feel comfortable in an airliner if they knew that less than an inch of flimsy aluminium was between their posteriors and the thousands of feet of empty air beneath them.

As for that perennially vexatious subject of lift, I suspect that many private pilots (and a

For long after I learned to fly, I used to wonder about the structural integrity of a Cessna 172’s seat. It somehow always seemed that locked in

You have to have faith that there will be lift - somewhere.

the back corners of my mind was the fear that the skin would someday suddenly just split and my seat and I would go plummeting earthwards. Gliders with their thin fibreglass skins are even more worrying – so I never thought about that as I was too busy looking for that other great leap of faith; invisible lift.

and have a blind faith

I only overcame my fear of having to trust my life to a few millimetres of aluminium when I took up microlighting in weight shift trikes. When your bum is supported by nothing other than a seat squab strapped to the top of a skinny tube running between your legs, and when the whole contraption is suspended from a single bolt (the Jesus Bolt) you quickly learn to have faith in the basic integrity of materials.

And so the chance of your seat suddenly and inexplicably falling through the floor of an aircraft cabin comes to seem remote and just a little silly.

If perching on a pole and hanging on a Jesus Bolt from a fabric wing helped beat my deepseated psychoses about aircraft structural integrity, a quick course in basic aerobatics will go a long way towards reassuring the average closetly suspicious pilot that Bernoulli/Coanda are not just theories. When the windscreen is full of nothing but mother earth going round at dizzying speed and your stomach is in your mouth, the demons of doubt and fear are doing their best to reduce you to a jibbering wretch –or a whimpering child.

Like Chuck Yeager, you have to be made of the right stuff, and have a blind faith in the effects of controls. Faith such that when you push the stick forward in a spin, the ground obediently stops going round. (Yes – it’s the stick forward that stops the spin, not opposite rudder – see Jim’s main article on spinning for more on this).

Anyway – back to the spin; as you calmly but forcefully ease back on the stick and the ground recedes back to where it belongs at the bottom of the windscreen, your belief in the design of the aircraft, and indeed in the whole idea of flight, is strengthened.

And so dear reader, the moral of this essay is, like Jonathan Livingston Seagull, to always be growing. Learn new skills, expand your envelope, and find out what you and your plane can do.

As you find out more about what your plane can do, so you will find out more about what you can do. And what is maturity if it is not putting the child in you in its place?

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.

Why do we turn left in the pattern, when we could turn right? Thirsting for knowledge, I Googled why we drive on one side of the road rather than the other.

I FOUND A LOT OF OBVIOUS rubbish about quarrelsome knights and Roman charioteers. I suspect that what really happened was that Henry Ford flipped a quarter and William Morris a shilling, and they came up different. Nevertheless, I propose to offer an explanation of why the pilot of an aeroplane sits in the left seat, and why we normally make left turns in the traffic pattern [called the ‘circuit’ in SA, as the remains of the British empire] .

Actually, this theory is not original with me. It came from my late friend Javier Arango, who was a collector, student and flyer of World War I-era aeroplanes. In 2016, the year before his fatal accident in a Nieuport 28, Javier delivered a paper on the left/ right question to the Society of Experimental Test Pilots in Anaheim. He did not claim that his answer was anything more than a guess, but it was, and still is, a plausible one.

Peculiar turning behaviour was not confined to Camels LEFT? WHY

In the broad principle of their operation, rotaries were similar to the radials that became dominant later. What was different was that the crankcase and cylinders spun while the crankshaft was fixed to the aeroplane. How this inside-out idea occurred to anyone in the first place is a mystery to me. It may have had to do with the fact that some of the very earliest uses of rotaries, in the 1890s, were in bicycles; a little engine was integrated right into a wheel.

The root of our leftist tendencies was, in Arango’s analysis, the rotary engine. The rotary was the engine type most commonly used on “scouts,” or as we would now call them “fighters,” in the First World War. Rotaries were exceptionally light and powerful and, for the era, reliable.

The rotary arrangement had several advantages. Since the cylinders were always moving, they enjoyed builtin air cooling. A rotary didn’t need a heavy flywheel; the engine itself was enough. It didn’t need an oil pump; centrifugal force did the job, if you didn’t mind spewing used oil overboard. Remarkably, considering that aero engine technology was in its infancy and that rotary engines were made entirely of steel, they achieved outputs and power-toweight ratios comparable to those of current flatopposed Lycomings and Continentals.

One inconvenient peculiarity of the rotary was that, as a heavy, rapidly spinning mass, it imposed gyroscopic forces upon the aeroplane. Fortunately, these forces were only moderately strong, for a number of reasons. The single-

The spinning engine of the Sopwith Camel gave it quirky, and often lethal, flying qualities.

engine fighters were very compact and their engines were close to the aeroplane’s centre of gravity. The rotating mass of the engine, furthermore, was concentrated near the crankshaft, because the cylinder walls and heads were remarkably thin. Finally, rotaries did not spin very fast; 1,200 rpm was typical.

Such a slow-turning engine called for a large propeller, and the propellers of early scouts were huge by modern standards. That of a Sopwith Camel, for example, was almost 9 feet in diameter, though, being made of wood, it weighed only 32 pounds – about the same as today’s 6-foot aluminium fixed-pitch. The gyroscopic contribution of the Camel’s propeller was about half that of the engine.

It happens that aviation rotaries spun, like most modern aero engines, clockwise when viewed from behind. The reason for the choice of direction of rotation, like that of which side of the road to drive on, is buried in history’s junkpile. But the effect in flight was that when a rotary-

engined aeroplane turned to the left its nose tended to swing upward, and when it turned to the right the nose went down. (The gyroscopic force is always 90 degrees off the direction of pitch or yaw, in the direction of rotation of the upper part of the propeller disk.)

Sopwith Camels rolled, using ailerons and rudder, equally rapidly in either direction, but the downward slicing of the nose in a rapid right turn, and the consequent acceleration, gave rise to the idea that they “turned better” to the right than to the left, and to the canard, repeated in Wikipedia, that Camels could make a 270 to the right more quickly than a 90 to the left.

Peculiar turning behaviour was not confined to Camels. In a 1919 book entitled How to Fly and Instruct in an Avro – the Avro 504 was a single-engine trainer widely used by the Royal Flying Corps – the author, one Lieutenant F. Dudley Hobbs of the 2nd Life Guards (who probably never dreamed that his name would be mentioned in a magazine more than a century

later), suggests securing a toy gyroscope to the nose of an aeroplane model to use as a teaching tool. “No amount of explanation of gyroscopic action is worth so much to a pupil,” he writes, “as five minutes spent playing with a little gyroscope.”

A paradoxical consequence of the gyroscopic force was that whichever way you turned, you needed left rudder. In nearly all preWorld War II aeroplanes, and some postwar ones, that did not have rotary engines, considerable rudder, applied in the direction of the turn, is normally needed to overcome adverse yaw. But a rapid, steeply-banked turn in a rotaryengined aeroplane was different. In a left turn, left rudder was needed both to overcome adverse yaw and to keep the nose from slicing upward. In a right turn, after an initial application of right rudder against adverse yaw, left rudder was needed to keep the nose from dropping.

The

Camels had a high accident rate in the hands of novice pilots. As Lt. Hobbs explains, “A pilot starts a gliding turn to the right and finds his nose dropping. Instead of holding up his nose with a little left rudder, he tries to hold it up with his stick, with the result that the machine spins.”

It was this propensity to spin out of a right turn, Javier Arango suggests, that led to a preference for approaching the landing with left turns. That habit, in turn, eventually led to the pilot occupying the left seat in side-by-side cockpits.

A couple of Lt. Hobbs’ other observations are striking. One is that to loop a rotary-engined

aeroplane you must use left rudder, because the pitch-up produces a gyroscopic pull to the right. A more surprising statement is that “a Camel will not roll properly to the left, because the gyroscopic action of the engine swings the nose to the right, with the result that the machine sits up on its tail.” This opaque assertion becomes clear when you realize that when Lt. Hobbs says “roll,” he means not what we call an aileron roll, barrel roll or slow roll, but rather a snap roll, that is, a horizontal spin that begins with an abrupt pitch-up.

In the now-proverbial words of the novelist L. P. Hartley, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” And they speak a different language, too. But we still fly the traffic pattern the way that was most comfortable for them. j

CHINA CERTIFIES FIRST

COMMERCIAL ELECTRIC PLANE

THE LIAONING General Aviation Academy (LGAA)’s RX4E, which first flew in 2019, will be marketed globally with a focus on short-haul flights in areas without good roads.

The RX4E will target underdeveloped countries with poor roads for short-haul flights.

The manufacturer says the plane, which is about the size of Cessna 182 but with a much longer 45-foot wingspan, will have a 90 minute endurance with a range of about 160 miles and a cruise speed of about 120 knots.

According to its web site, the manufacturer says it has a 2778 pound maximum takeoff weight with a payload of about 680 pounds, but remember that it does not have to carry fuel. Top speedis about 156 knots and stall speed is 54 knots. It takes off in about 1200 feet lands in a little more. Service ceiling is about 10,000 feet. It doesn’t give details about the propulsion system except to describe it as “high efficiency.”

Volar Air Mobility, which will be selling the plane, announced the certification, which happened on December 29, in a social media post.

The RX4E was developed by the Liaoning General Aviation Academy (LGAA), “With this, the RX4E has become the world’s first electric aircraft certified under Part 23 regulations (commercial use),” said the post. “This milestone marks a new era for sustainable aviation, paving the way for commercialisation of electric aircraft in the advanced air mobility (AAM) market.”

Zhao Tienan, deputy head of LGAA said.

China has certified a four-place electric aircraft under Part 23 regulations making it the first to qualify for commercial operations beyond flight training. j

“The RX4E aircraft has a huge market prospect. It can be used in a number of fields such as short-distance transportation, pilot training, sightseeing, aerial photography and aerial mapping,” he concluded.

China has certified its RX4E electric plane.

RIGHT SEAT RULES NO. 26

SPINNING

I have been doing some long-range mentoring of a new instructor. I called her the other night to find out how she was getting on with her patter and preparation for the flight test.

She had been due to patter spinning in a little C152 and I had told her this was going to be fun – she would enjoy it and it was perfectly safe. So when I called to find out how it went I was blown away by her story.

THEY ENTERED IN A NOSE-HIGH attitude and left on about 1600 revs to make sure there was sufficient rudder authority to get the show on the road. It seems they spun so fast that she was unable to count the turns – the countryside was a blur with no identifiable features to count.

Was the stick fully back? She was not sure.

Was the throttle fully closed? She was not sure.

Were the ailerons neutral? She was not sure.

No.

Was she able to patter it? Nope it was much too fast.

They did two spins to the left and gave it up for the day.

the bravest pilot in the world

How did they recover? Stick forward and opposite rudder

REALLY? In that sequence? She was not sure.

Was there a pause between the two actions?

I found the whole thing deeply worrying. Either she was a panicky little girl – which she was not in the least. She is an an intelligent, calm, solid, instrument rated, commercial pilot. Or there was something else going on. They were going to fly again the next day so I risked putting my oar in and doing some long-range patter over the phone – and made her write it down. This is how it went:

As you enter the spin – throttle fully back.

Confirm the stick is fully back.

Confirm the airspeed is close to the stall (not in a spiral dive).

Confirm the direction of rotation.

Confirm the ailerons are neutral.

Firmly apply full opposite rudder.

PAUSE

Move the stick forward until rotation stops.

Level the wings and pull out of the dive.

The ‘pause’ is bold and underlined because if you ease the stick forward first – even by a millisecond – the spin can speed up to the extent that you can’t count ground features going past.

The following evening she was able to confirm that all went splendidly – and she had all day to watch the ground and count the turns.

in the world - an Australian named Harry Hawker.

The same Hawker whose company later built the Hurricane, the Hunter, the Sea Fury, and that most beautiful aircraft of all time – the Hart.

Let’s go back 111 years to June 1914. Picture this: Hawker is high above Brooklands in a Sopwith Tabloid. His goggles keep blurring as the freezing wind mixes with a mist of hot castor-oil – Castrol R – from the 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape. His nostrils are filled with its pungent smell which will at least make sure that his bowl movements are regular. He is shivering, possibly from the cold, but more likely from the thought of what he is about to do.

I beg you not to teach

spins

Instructors, I beg you not to teach spins unless you are totally relaxed and current and comfortable with them. One incident like this can do a lifetime of damage –or it may simply shorten everyone’s lifetime.

Let’s talk a bit about the fascinating history of spinning before we get on to the good stuff about teaching, or not teaching, them. This subject is as wild as the spin itself.

A spin is a condition where the aircraft is pointing steeply down. One wing is deeply stalled and very draggy, while the other wing is partly stalled, and flying around it. This means the aircraft comes down in a corkscrew motion with the airspeed only a little faster than stall speed.

Right, that’s dealt with the formalities. Now I am going to tell you about the bravest pilot

He plans to intentionally enter a maneuver that is statistically sure to kill him. Hawker is deliberately going to spin the aeroplane and hopes that his recovery plan will work. History tells us that it will almost certainly not work.

No one has ever deliberately entered a spin and recovered before. It’s worth reading that again. Imagine how you would feel if your instructor said, “we are going to try a maneuver that is statistically certain to kill us”.

But Hawker thinks he can do it and survive.

Up until then there had been many accidental spins, and almost all ended in death. In fact spins were the biggest killer of pilots. No one understood what caused them, or how to recover. You were simply warned not to turn when the airspeed was low – because the spin god would grab you and hurl you into the dirt.

And no one knew how to recover.

But Hawker believed he had worked out a way to regain control. And he was prepared to bet his life on it.

He started the spin by deliberately running out of airspeed during the entry to a loop. The aircraft obediently dropped into the expected gyration. Hawker allowed it to do a couple of turns and then put his recovery plan into action.

It did not work.

He spun all the way down to the ground and crashed into a forest which left him cut and bruised, but alive.

While he was being patched up in hospital he thought of another method of recovery. He was so certain that his new procedure would work, that two days later he was again wiping the castor oil off his goggles as he looked down on the English countryside.

in his seat, then applies full right rudder. The aeroplane immediately pops out of the spin, levelling off barely 50 feet above the stunned crowd! The event becomes known as the “Parke’s Dive”.

Wilfred Parke is the first to identify the need to use opposite rudder for spin recovery. His experience also highlights the fact that spin recovery actions are contrary to our natural instincts; hence, the appropriate response must be learned. Parke’s Dive is chronicled in the British publication, ‘Flight’, including the first-ever spin recovery procedure: Apply rudder opposite to the direction of rotation.

Unfortunately, Parke had only got it half right. Three months later, he spun a Hanley-Page monoplane into the ground when he tried to turn back following an engine failure after takeoff. He was killed.

no one knew how to recover

Before telling you what happened, I must take you back two years and introduce you to Lt. Wilfred Parke, RN.

August 25 1912. A crowd gathers at Larkhill Aerodrome in Salisbury Plain, England, for the return of test pilot Lt. Wilfred Parke, who has just broken the world endurance record of 3 hours in an Avro G cabin biplane. The Avro G has no forward windscreen, requiring the pilot to look out sideways for visual references. While spiralling down to land, the airplane suddenly enters a left spin.

Consistent with the prevailing theory on recovery from an apparent sideslip, Parke responds by adding full power, pulling the control wheel fully aft, and pressing the left rudder all the way to the stop. Rotation earthward continues unabated. Spinning ever closer to the ground, Parke perceives a force pushing him to the right. He releases the control wheel to centre himself

Now we can return to Hawker’s windy cockpit. He thought that Parke had been on to something when he used opposite rudder. He believed that the other secret ingredient to spin recovery was to go against all instinct. Instead of pulling the stick back to recover, he would push it forward.

Hawker’s epitaph describes him as a “simple, clean, straight souled man.” Picture this slim 25 year old huddled against the cold in an open cockpit, high in a crisp English sky over Brooklands. He is half a world removed from his home and family.

He is again prepared to bet his life on an idea. You can’t get much braver than that.

This time it worked.

So every time you recover from a spin, or even an incipient – say a quiet word of thanks to Harry Hawker – the man who was brave enough to save your life.

Right, that’s the end of the history lesson. We are now in 2025, and aeroplanes still spin into the ground. What’s to be done about it?

Basically, there are three trains of thought:

1. Teach pilots to do full spins and recoveries.

2. Teach pilots to recognize the early part of a spin and recover before this incipient stage develops into a full spin.

3. Teach pilots to recognize and avoid the conditions that could lead to a spin.

Now let me tell you that I am biased. I have only once accidentally entered a lifethreatening full spin. I’ll tell you about it later. I was able to recover solely because I have spun so often that I am completely comfortable with spins. In fact I enjoy them. I have deliberately entered thousands of spins, and not one has caused a problem – even the ones that went flat, or were inverted.

In fact for instrument rating tests we had to do full spins in cloud on a limited panel – with the AH and DI caged so as not to damage them.

In my book, folks who have only been taught the approach to a spin, or an incipient spin, are not fully competent pilots – and certainly should not be instructing others anywhere near the stall.

Now, before your bleating becomes a roar of abuse, let me tell you that I am wrong.

Methods 2 and 3, above, have saved far more lives than the ability to handle spins with confidence. It is not my opinion – these are hard statistics supplied by AOPA.

You can see from Chart A, that by far the majority of fatal spins are started below circuit height. This means that knowing how to recover from full spins would not save you in something like 70% of all spins.

Altitude AGL at which stall/spin started (Chart A)

CHART A. Alt at which spin started.

Now have a look at Chart B. Up until 1949 nearly half of all fatal accidents in the USA were the result of spinning. That’s a seriously scary figure. Anyhow in 1949 the FAA took full spins off the menu for PPL training. They were

no longer compulsory. Look what happened –there was a massive decrease in the number of these accidents. Today the figure is around 8%.

If you find that surprising, have a look at Chart C. What hits me in the eye is that only one stall/spin accident, out of the sample of 465,

was while crop-dusting. Amazing. Anyhow by far the biggest percentage of accidents happen during “maneuvering”.

CHART C.

AOPA say: Maneuvering flight is loosely defined, but usually includes any type of flight where a pilot is using the aircraft’s flight controls to perform maneuvers not necessary for straight-and-level flight.

Many pilots commonly associate maneuvering flight with unauthorized low-level flight such as “buzzing” but other types of maneuvering flight might include low-level pipeline patrol, banner-towing, aerobatics, or even normal upper-air work in the practice area. The NTSB defines maneuvering flight to include all of the following: aerobatics, low passes, buzzing, pull-ups, aerial application maneuvers, turns to reverse direction (box canyon type

maneuvers), or engine failures after takeoff with the pilot trying to return to the runway.

Out of interest, according to the 2002 ASF Nall Report, takeoff accidents (including those that result in a stall/spin) are much more likely to be fatal than landing accidents. I don’t know whether go-arounds are classed as takeoffs or landings. Certainly they are badly taught in South Africa and account for many fatalities.

So maneuvering includes most of your training, which, in turn, includes steep turns, sideslipping, stalls, slow flight, spinning and incipient spins. (Interestingly they all start with a snaky “S”.)

Spin diagram 2.

OK, I got sidetracked, again. We were deciding how to handle spinning, and I was saying that statistically spin training shortens your life-expectancy. It still breaks my heart that this is the case –but the figures prove me wrong. Anyhow let’s look at the next option –incipient spins.

Perhaps these were an intelligent option forty years ago when instructors were mostly happy to spin, but now we have a huge number of instructors that are shirt scared of spinning. You really don’t want to be doing incipients with someone like that. Here’s what AOPA says about it:

So we seem to have done a full circle. That was the perceived wisdom in the days of the Wright Brothers – and that’s still what we should teach pilots.

In reviewing 44 fatal stall/spin accidents from 1991 –2000 classified as instructional, AOPA found that a shocking 91% (40) of them occurred during dual instruction, with only 9% (4) during solo training flights

So this leaves us with option 3. Teach people to recognize and avoid the conditions that could lead to a spin.

I agree that if you keep away from anything that could cause a spin then you will never spin. But we are talking about deliberate actions to keep clear of stalls and spins. So what do we do about accidental stall/ spin conditions, perhaps while practicing steep turns or sideslipping or stretching the glide or turning to avoid trees you can’t clear after takeoff? How are we meant to avoid accidental spins? It simply doesn’t make sense.

In fact, it takes us right back to the dark ages when you were warned not to turn when the airspeed was low.

Something is very wrong. A spin is the most dangerous loss of control a pilot can encounter. So should we teach pilots,

a) Not to lose control – but if they do they are dead meat.

b) Not to lose control and how to regain control.

Or here’s another thought. Would you like your kids’ driving instructor to teach them not to skid, or would you like them to learn how to avoid a skid and how to recover from one?

Okay I am outvoted and I am wrong and I am very unhappy about it.

I love spinning.

Instructors, don’t despair – I have much more on the subject next month. j

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

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

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

QOM

FlySafair has been much in the news of late – whether over drunk passengers or the threat of being grounded by the two air services licensing councils over disputed foreign ownership.

Kirby Gordon, the Chief Marketing Officer of FlySafair, says that the licencing council rules are vague and open to interpretation. He therefore insists,

"If the Councils can just give us a clear ruling as to what they require, we will be happy to comply - if we are in fact not already compliant. But at the moment it seems that almost all the airlines are non-compliant, and they expect us to sell or give 75% of our company to some natural person."

Flight Test:

Guy Leitch with Murray Kester

Due to the huge value and the irreplaceable nature of a real Spitfire, very few select pilots will ever get the opportunity to pilot the real thing.

SUPERMARINE Mk.26 Spitfire

The Supermarine Mk.26 is an 80% replica of the Spitfire - and in some ways even better.

FOR LESSER MORTALS there is the option to build and fly your own replica. This is what Australian enthusiast Mike O’Sullivan did after completing a couple of homebuilt projects.

O’Sullivan built his first Spitfire replica in the early 1990s as a 75%-scale version of the original, which he called the Mk.25. Inspired by legendary Spitfire test pilot Alex Henshaw, O’Sullivan completed his own Spitfire and liked it so much he decided to sell kits to like-minded enthusiasts worldwide.

Several Mk.25s were built before he came out with a slightly larger model that had bigger engine options and added a second seat behind the pilot. This was naturally designated the Mk.26. However the second seat was cramped and so he expanded the fuselage yet again to become a 90% version, which he called the Mk 26B.

Whether in Mk26 or Mk.26B forms, the aircraft is an all-metal, monocoque design with a fiberglass cowl.

An important goal for Mike O’Sullivan was for his Mk.26 to look like an original. This ruled out any Rotax engine options. Fortunately Australia is also a great source of aero engines – in particular, the widely used Jabiru air cooled direct drive engines. There are hundreds of Jabirus flying in South Africa and so there is a vast repository of skills and experience for the operation and maintenance of these simple yet proven engines.

Top of the range is the 8-cylinder Jabiru 5100 which is good for 180 hp. Despite this being far less than the original Merlin’s 1,600 hp, this still gives much the same power to weight ratio yet with a proven engine that is far simpler and cheaper to maintain than a supercharged Rolls Royce Merlin that needs to be overhauled around every 250 hours.

Classic Spitifre lines and nose-high stance - although taxying can be a challenge.

Murray Kester’s Mk.26

Watching the development of this home-grown Aussie product with great excitement was Murray Kester from Western Australia.

Murray acquired Mk.26 kit #47 and after around 1,665 hours of passionate work, finished his beautiful aircraft in 2016. Perhaps surprising, given the more traditional Battle of Britain camouflaged paint schemes that are most often used, Murray elected to paint it in the bright red livery of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Murray says, “I bought the kit in 2005 and work on it progressed slowly as I was still employed up until 2014. I’m

A GREAT CROWD PLEASER AT AIRSHOWS

originally Canadian so I thought the maple leaf roundels looked good and I didn’t want yet another war bird. When I gave Mike O’Sullivan the cheque I told him it was not going to be a war bird and would likely be red and white. He thought that would be great.”

On the ground

On the apron at Serpentine Airfield south of Perth, Murray’s Spitfire Mk.26 is a thing of beauty and a great crowd pleaser at the airshows he has graced with its presence across Westen Australia. The fit and finish are exemplary, tempting you to run your hand across the smooth flush-riveted skins.

With its nose high stance, it looks ready to leap into the air. The only slightly discordant note is the

narrow 2-bladed prop which is a fixed pitch twoblade black painted wooden Hercules prop. Jabiru insists that only a two bladed wooden prop with a maximum diameter of 72” be fitted to this engine. The prop was specially designed by Hercules in the UK for this engine and airframe and has a 61” pitch. The spinner is a four hole from a King Air, installed in anticipation of fitting a 4-bladed prop to a Toyota V12 engine.

OPERATE THE ‘CHASSIS’ OR UNDERCARRIAGE

The front cockpit of the Mk.26 is on a par with most tandem 2-place aircraft such as the RV-8, although the rear seat is more cramped and reminiscent of a weight shift trike with the seat squab up against the back of the front seat. The rear seat may be tight but thanks to the large bulged canopy, is not claustrophobic. There is no heater, but there are two large eyeball fresh air ducts.

The pilot’s seat is ground adjustable to optimise the pilot’s position relative to the rudder pedals and cushions can be used to vary height and comfort. While there are two seats in the Mk.26, the rear seat does not have rudder pedals or a stick and is only suitable for a person under 70 kilos.

Entry into the cockpit is via an authentic bottom hinged door, a feature found on the original Spitfire and carried through for both nostalgia and practicality.

Murray’s choice of instrument panel for VH-BPD features low maintenance modern glass avionics.

The panel is dominated by a large Dynon Skyview touch screen Primary Flight Display

with comm and transponder controls on either side. The comm radio has a feature (that hasn’t been used in this plane) that can detect a tower frequency when within reach and switch to it.

Below the Dynon is a row of rocker switches for the engine and systems. Notable

The undercarriage operation is idiosyncratic. The mainwheels can each be operated independently. Murray Kester says, “It takes 15 seconds up and 15 seconds down. An electric motor drives a worm gear to deploy and retract the gear. The only reason for the independent controls for each main

is the rocker switch bottom left for the flaps and two rocker switches bottom right to operate the undercarriage. Once the switches on the panel are ‘on’ two levers on the right sidewall operate the ‘chassis’ or undercarriage – or if you speak American, the landing gear.

wheel is that was the way the original Spitfires were built, but I have no idea why.”

To raise the undercarriage the pilot places both left and right selector switches in the retract position before takeoff. Once a positive climb rate has

Cockpit features modern Dynon PFD and switchgear.

been achieved, the pilot reaches over to the right sidewall (switching hands on the stick), and pulls back on both undercarriage levers, which unlocks the pins and causes the electric motor to run in the direction selected by the switch. After 5 to 10 seconds the wheels should be in the wells and the Up-indicator light comes on. The pilot then pushes the levers forward to lock the undercarriage in the Up position.

LURED INTO THE SPIRIT OF A REAL SPITFIRE

Lowering the undercarriage is the same procedure, with the switch in the opposite position. This all takes getting used to for new pilots, and operations need to be deliberate. Emergency extension is achieved by pulling release cables and letting them free-fall.

Empennage is all metal. No rudder trim needed.

Undercarriage legs and wheels are custom made by Supermarine.

Like an RV, the flaps are selected down for the pre-flight to discourage the pilot from stepping on them to enter the cockpit. The flaps operate similar to car windows. A switch is held down to deploy the flaps – which stop as soon as the switch is released. Pushing the switch upwards stows the flaps with a nonstop movement. As there is no cockpit indicator, the flaps have to be eyeballed to judge the position. Murray says, “I put a mark on the port flap which indicates mid-flap position. Maximum flap angle is 50 degrees, but I wouldn’t advise going that far. The pilots who have flown her are quite happy to look out the window and set the flap by feel.”

An novel feature is the screen below the instrument panel which is connected to two on-board cameras. One on the left

wing lets the pilot see what’s coming while taxying. The other is on the belly and clearly shows the undercarriage. It gives a bit more confidence that the gear is either up, down or in transit. A toggle switch on the screen selects which camera is displayed.

The throttle is a single lever on the left sidewall, sharing its quadrant mount with the pitch trim lever in the place of the mixture control. The mixture control is now a simple push-pull knob on the instrument panel in front of the throttle. Below the throttle quadrant is a large push-pull knob that operates the cowl flap.

The wing inspection covers the usual points: aileron and flap hinges, brake fluid leaks, tyre condition and any sign of

Tailwheel is non-retractable but steerable.

undue rubbing which might suggest poor undercarriage rigging. Three hatches take care of the engine inspection.

A single fuel drain at the front of and below the left wing is all that’s needed to check for water. The inspection procedure is repeated for the right wing.

There’s little about the tail section which needs any special attention.

Flying the Mk.26

Entry to the cockpit requires a big step up onto the training edge of the left wing (all proper fighters are entered from the left). Thanks to the side door, you don’t need to stand on the seat to slide your legs down through an oval bulkhead aperture. The cockpit is spacious for an average-size pilot, and

despite the classically high cockpit sills, the visibility to the sides is good. Because it uses a flat-8 engine, the top of the long cowl does not need to be as wide as that over the V-12 of a Merlin and so visibility forward is slightly better than the full scale Spit. But it is still a classic taildragger and so S-turns while taxying are essential.

Once settled into the cockpit, the Mk.26’s four-point harness is an improvement on the original’s pin-secured belts and the buckle is easy to secure and release.

At first glance the spade grip control stick replicates the famous hinged loop Spitfire wheel, but it is fixed to the stick and thus articulates only at the base.

For the before-start checklist, you start inside the cockpit to make sure the undercarriage and flaps are selected down. The fuel level is checked via the

Large electrically operated flaps give low stall speed.

tube which runs from the top of the tank in front of the instrument panel to a point close to the bottom. Shaped like a T, the fuel tank is located on the centre of gravity behind the firewall and between the pilot’s legs.

With its SDS electronic fuel injection, the big flat-8 Jabiru engine fires up as smoothly as a car and has a beautiful deep throated rumble through stub exhausts on either side of the long cowl. Like any air cooled aero engine, it must to be warmed up, but this is an improvement over the original Spitfire which needs to get airborne quickly after start otherwise the coolant overheats.

Like any prudent tail dragger pilot make sure it’s lined up straight for takeoff. Open the throttle and the whole airframe comes alive – just as though there were 1,600 horses raring to go.

The steerable tailwheel gives good control on the ground, whether on pavement or the Spitfire’s natural element: grass runways. Just like the original, rudder authority is limited, and so pushing the stick forward to raise the tail early in the takeoff roll runs the risk “of running off the left hand side of the runway under engine torque,” Murray says.

After a brief takeoff roll, the Mk.26 is ready to fly but it’s not a good idea to try get airborne too early. At 7075 mph it will fly itself off and have plenty of rudder authority to manage any threatened swing. Climb out at 2400 rpm with one up and full fuel is a healthy 1,100 fpm at 90 mph IAS.

The fuel tank holds 110 litres and with the engine burning around 35 litres an hour, a two and a half hour endurance is not unreasonable, with the Mk.26’s cruise speed of up to 160 mph (140

Cross country cruise is 140 knots for 2.5 hours.

knots) at 2600 rpm and economical cruising at 120 knots at 2400 rpm, burning 30 litres/hr.

The airframe is stressed for plus 6 G and minus 3 G and is capable of most aerobatic manoeuvres, but no flick rolls. Loop entry speed is 180 mph, and rolls are started at 140 mph. “It’s a lovely plane to fly basic aerobatics”, says Murray.

Back in the circuit, the undercarriage can be lowered at a usefully high 130 mph, with the limit being 140. 110 mph is the target speed for base leg, and with full flap, final approach speed is between 75-95 mph, depending on weight and wind.

The aircraft can be 3-pointed, but is best wheeled on, purely because of the rapidly diminishing view over the nose at anything near a three-point touch-down.

Murray says “There’s little to see of the ground, and the only points of reference are each side, and in front of the wing. I bring the flaps up as soon as the tail

is down to place more weight on the wheels as early as possible.

“The Mk.26 can be landed and stopped in 400 metres, but if you get it wrong, the results can be humbling. Also, I far prefer landing on tarmac because the wheels are quite small - even a small tuft of uneven grass can start a swing on the ground,” says Murray.

Whilst the Mk.26 does not present too much of a skills jump for a pilot with 50100 hours on a taildragger, those used to a benign taildragger like a Piper Cub might find it a challenge.

Conclusion

Seeing the Mk.26 in the air is a reminder that any Spitfire is very special indeed. The iconic shape is defined by its slim fuselage, relatively wide chord wings and the beautiful elliptical planform of the wings.

With undercarriage down on final, the Mk.26 'Spit' is a beautiful icon.

It is a shape which arouses very strong emotions in any pilot with a high aesthetic sensibility. Even those with no connections to the Battle of Britain will struggle to remain unmoved by a Spitfire’s iconic airframe flying overhead, or better still, doing a low pass ‘runway inspection’.

Now it’s possible to approximate the real thing in the Mk.26, which is an affordable yet rewarding modern day replica.

SPECIFICATIONS AND PERFORMANCE

SUPERMARINE MK.26

Dimensions Length

Engine Jabiru 5100 8-cyl 180hp

Weights and loadings

Empty weight 620kg

MTOW 190kg

Useful load 172kg

Airframe `+6G - 4G

Performance

Vne (IAS) 222mph

Cruise (TAS)@6000ft 160mph

Range 400 sm

Stall 48mph

MK 26 VS THE ORIGINAL

AS THE DESIGNER of the Mk.26, Mike O Sullivan has done a brilliant job making his scale replica as close as possible to the real thing – and in some cases it is even better.

Neil Thomas has flown both the real Spitfire and the Mk 26. He says, “The scaled replica is very similar to a real Spitfire to fly. The Mk.26 has the same beautifully light and harmonised controls throughout the speed range. The stall is benign with a gentle roll-off in any configuration: 52-mph clean and 44-mph with the gear and flaps out.”

Neil’s descriptive words are exactly what designer Mike O’Sullivan aimed to achieve, as he feels strongly that the flying experience needs to be just as authentic as flying the original aircraft.

IN A REAL SPIT THE MERLIN EASILY OVERHEATS

In a number of key areas, the Mk.26 is better than the original. As mentioned, in the original, you need to start the takeoff run within four minutes of starting a Merlin. The coolant temperature rises by 10°C every minute at idle and the two big and important gauges were the temperature and boost. Too much boost from the supercharger and the engine would flood. The fuel/air ratio is important to the Merlin’s ability to run smoothly - it’s a lot more temperamental than the Jabiru 5100.

“Another Spitfire foible is its horrible brake system, which requires squeezing a handlebar-type lever on the circular control grip. Applying the brakes relies on pushing the rudder pedal on the side you want the brake to work. Before applying the opposite brake, the pressure has to be released by letting go of the handle first. It takes a good 12 hours to get used to it and I suspect it was a major cause of ground loops in a Spit during and after World War II. I still don’t know why the Brits didn’t simply adopt the system found on US trainers and eventually the Mustang. But imagine the British admitting to copying the Americans!”“In the air the Mk.26 is uncannily like the real thing to fly. Although the cockpit is much smaller, the same harmonious handling and light controls are almost identical. The Mk.26 and the real thing are stunning to fly and it’s easy to be lured into the spirit of a real Spitfire whilst flying the Australian copy. However, the Merlin is far more temperamental, and the Rolls Royce engines barely made 300 hours before overhaul - and only then if they were lucky.

The real Spitfire really talks to you, including the engine, but it is very temperature sensitive, requiring care throughout a sortie. In a real Spit the Merlin easily overheats due to the undercarriage legs disrupting the airflow

into the radiators beneath the wings. It also fouls up the plugs when pilots come back on the power in the cruiseit is an aeroplane that requires flying at high power settings - just like a Formula One car or thoroughbred horse, That is where it is designed to perform as the air force wanted. The Mk.26 has no such demands.

“Landing a real Spitfire, I watch for the tarmac either side to grow as that is the only indication there is any drift. On a narrow runway it needs to be confronted immediately as the view all but disappears when the tail goes down.”

Overall the Mk.26 is the nearest thing to a Spitfire the right side of two million dollars “ j

The Mk.26 was test flown by Werner Buhlmann.

OWN THIS SPITFIRE!

MURRAY KESTER HAS RETIRED from flying and wants to find a good home for his beautiful and proven Mk.26.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk26 Serial #47 is painted a vibrant red with white trim and underside. It has custom made engine cowls that give it that unique Spitfire appearance.

The Jabiru 5100 5-litre 180 hp 8-cylinder engine has a total time of 31.4 hrs. The TBO is 2000 hrs, The engine has SDS electronic fuel injection and is CASA compliant. It has 8 new pistons and the cylinders are honed. The engine is running beautifully and sounds fantastic.

• Included in the package is a completely refurbished Toyota 1GZFE 300 hp V12 engine with an aviation logbook.

This aircraft features:

• Dynon Skyview Avionics

• Upgraded undercarriage

• Matco brake conversion

• +6 / -3 aerobatic limits

• 30 litres/hr fuel consumption; 115 litres fuel capacity Hercules 72 inch diameter, wooden propeller.

• Backup 12 volt electrics to run the fuel injectors and EMS

Murray Kester says, “This makes this whole package an ideal project for someone who wants a superb Spitfire with a V12 engine. It adds at least $10,000 to the value to the plane. Had I found that engine earlier, it would now be in the plane. At 300 hp, it will liven the plane up quite a lot. The engine has been stripped down by an AME who said it was in pristine condition. I took the opportunity to change all bearings and chains. It owes me $13,000. I have an aviation log book for the engine. Should the plane be bought locally, I would be keen to assist in the engine conversion.”

Price is negotiable around AU$130,000 and all genuine offers will be considered. j

FOR SALE Supermarine Spitfire Mk26

The Jabiru 5100 5-litre 180 hp 8-cylinder engine has a total time of 31.4 hrs and a TBO of 2000 hrs. The engine has SDS electronic fuel injection and is CASA compliant.

It has 8 new pistons and the cylinders are honed. The engine is running beautifully and sounds fantastic.

This 80% scale Spitfire is amazingly similar to the original.

Included is a refurbished Toyota 1GZ-FE 300 hp V12 engine with an aviation logbook.

Should the plane be bought in South Africa, the seller would be keen to assist in the engine conversion.

Price is negotiable around AU$130,000 and all genuine offers will be considered.

SENECA AT NIGHT

Time of Accident: ±1800Z

Type of Aircraft: PIPER PA 34-200T

Type of Operation: Private

Pilot-in-command License Type: Commercial

Age: 24

License Valid: Yes

PIC Experience Total Flying Hours: 1064.0

Hours on Type: 354.3

Departure: Kruger Mpumalanga Airport (FAKN)

• 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.

Intended landing: Piet Retief Aerodrome (FAPF)

Accident site: Runway 15 – Piet Retief Aerodrome

Met Fine: Wind light variable from the South,

Temperature: +20°C, CAVOK

POB: 1 + 5

People injured: Nil

People killed: Nil

Synopsis:

ACCORDING TO air traffic control at FAKN the aircraft landed at their facility at 1652Z on an inbound flight from Inhambane in Mozambique with six occupants onboard.

After landing the aircraft uplifted 360 liters of Avgas. According to available records all occupants cleared customs.

Emergency personnel as well as the fuel attendant recorded the aircraft again departing their facility at 1720Z for a flight to Piet Retief, which is a licensed unmanned aerodrome with no active runway lights.

At the time of departure from FAKN the control tower had already closed down for active duty (1700Z).

An arrangement was made by the pilot that two vehicles would be parked at the threshold of Runway 15 at FAPF awaiting the aircraft with their headlamps illuminating the runway.

The pilot perceived his approach to be quite high at the time and he increased his rate of descent accordingly. On final approach the pilot experienced what he described as a lack of runway perspective due to insufficient lighting and the absence of natural light (moonlight).

In this image cars were positioned down the side of a runwaybut at the threshold with converging lights is best

His intention was to fly low over the vehicles to maximize the use of their lights but realized too late that his approach was too steep. In an attempt to flare the aircraft, he exceeded the elevator control range and collided with the roof of one of the vehicles (Pajero) at ±80 knots. It would appear that the impact severed the nose gear assembly resulting in a wheels-up landing on Runway 15. The aircraft skidded along the runway for approximately 70m and then turned

JIM’S COMMENTS

I HAVE BEEN STARING at a blank screen and wondering what to write that will persuade people to use common sense.

But of course it isn’t really a lack of common sense that caused this crash. So what is it that causes an otherwise sensible pilot to take a fat chance with other people’s lives?

If I had sat him down before this 100 nautical mile flight into the dark and asked him if he really thought it was a good idea to endanger

The result of a quick conversion.

sideways. Coming to a halt on the runway. The aircraft was substantially damaged. Nobody was injured in the event.

Probable Cause

During an attempt to land on an unlit runway at night the aircraft collided with a vehicle on short final approach, which severed the nose landing gear assembly from the aircraft and resulted in a wheels-up landing on the runway.

everyone’s lives by not having a proper place to land, I suspect he would have called it off.

He must have known roughly what a crashsite looks like. Burned bodies, twisted metal, humans converted to slimy pieces of meat and bone. Flies and a terrible smell.

So what force drives this pilot to risk all that?

Two things – pride and testosterone. These are incredibly powerful pressures that obliterate fear, imagination and common sense.

ZS-NYC after having been repaired from its unnecessary mishap. Image Malcolm Reid.

Well that’s the case for roughly half of the world’s population – the half that were born males. In order to avoid politics and genetics I will not mention the undecided, or unclassified sectors of humanity. Oops, I just have. Sorry.

Anyhow in general – lady pilots don’t do silly things like beat-ups and showing off and flying into cars on pitch black nights. They know when, and how, to say no.

Here’s what a lady pilot might say to a passenger who tries to bully her into a flight she knows is dangerous.

“It’s better to be late, Mr Plunkett, than the late Mr Plunkett.”

Actually I’m always shattered by pax who try to override a pilot’s decision not to fly. If I were a student SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diver, and my instructor told me that today there was a danger that I could run out of oxygen, have my leg chomped off by a shark, or suffer from the staggers, I would open a beer and wait for more propitious conditions.

You’d think a non-flyer would respect the pilot’s decisions – but it often doesn’t happen.

Let me tell you about those most repulsive members of human society – the charter passengers. If you get the impression I dislike them you have underrated my loathing of these blots on the landscape. I speak of the ones who say, “Put my luggage in the Land-Rover and call my wife to tell her I’ll be late.”

Anyhow here are a couple of stories about how I have managed to deal with them.

I have just landed at Middleburg, having flown four of these horrors up from George. As they are about to get into airconditioned cars and leave me on the hot, desolate airfield, I corner the chief horror and explain that we need to take off at 5.00 pm in order to get home before dark as, in those days, George airfield was unmanned and unlit.

I spend the day with a cowboy book, a bottle of water and sandwiches in a Tupperware container. This is the lot of the charter pilot.

Eventually the Four Horrors pitch at about ten to six.

I ask them what their plan is – they look at me as if I’m mad and tell me they are now ready to depart for George. I tell them we can’t land there because I can’t find airfields in the dark. They are amazed but insist on going as the Chief Horror says he knows where the airfield is.

Of course, when we cross the Outeniqua mountains, and I ask the Chief Horror to point out the runway amongst the lights below, this causes some consternation. So I relieve the pressure by telling them that exactly 162 nautical miles to the east there’s a lighted runway at Port Elizabeth. We will be night stopping there and the extra costs will be invoiced to their company.

I never saw them again – but they did pay.

I’ve told you this next story before, so I’ll keep it brief.

I was based in Kimberley, and I had to fly my rotund and normally jovial boss, Bert Potgieter, to Bloomies in our brand-new Twin Comanche, ZS- EAR for a Very Important Meeting. It took a bit over half an hour to cover the 83 nautical miles.

Sadly the summer thunderstorms had started bubbling early that day. When we arrived there was the grandmother of all Charlie Bravos sitting on top of Bloomies, like a fat hen on a dozen eggs. There was no way in hell we could get in.

A couple of days later I overheard him telling some charter pax that I was the safest pilot in the world.

It was actually on that return flight, while Bert was shouting at me, that I invented my foolproof anti-bullying-pax idea. All you have to do is mentally replace the pax with wooden boxes containing tape recorders that emit stupid and offensive words.

Sounds silly? It works like a strap, and I have used it ever since in the air and on the ground to avoid doing things that frighten me.

Now, to get back to this accident. If you really have to land at night with car lights, the SAAF taught me that you need two Land Rovers, but I suppose Toyotas will do.

I would open a beer and wait

They are at the threshold – one either side and well back from the runway. They must shine their lights inwards at about 45 degrees so their beams intersect at the touchdown zone.

I explained to Bert that his VIM had just been cancelled. He told me that was impossible and I tried to explain that I was a coward and the thought of an early death held no appeal.

On the way back to Kimberley Bert shed his customary good nature and bellowed at me like an enraged buffalo. He informed me that he hadn’t bought an expensive aeroplane to be stuffed around by a cheap pilot. I was fired. However we did agree that this would only take effect after landing as he had no idea how to get this lot on the ground.

I ignored the firing – it had happened before, and I found that it generally dissolved withing 24 hours.

At the far end of the runway you have someone holding a bright torch, at waist height, pointing down at the ground ten metres away so as not to dazzle the pilot – this is only for direction after touchdown.

I’m not advocating this – but if you are going to do something silly, do it sensibly.

Take home stuff.

• Ask yourself - would a lady pilot do this?

• Brief your pax the day before on possible delays or diversions.

• Remember the tape recorders – they have often given me solace.

• In the long run you will be alive and respected for saying NO. j

TTAF: 7195 hrs: In excellent

Engines/Props

• LH engine 659 hrs SMOH

• RH engine 1235 hrs SMOH

• Props overhauled 2024

• New rubber fuel cells in wings

• GAMI fuel nozzles

Key avionics:

• Dual Garmin G5 primary flight instruments

• Genesys (STEC) 3100 digital autopilot

• GTN 625

• GNS 430 Nav/Com

• GNC 225 Nav/Com.

• G500TXi as primary engine instrument with CiES digital fuel senders

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).

ZU-ROO is a Gazelle now flying in Libyan parades. Image - Cassie Nel

DECEMBER 2024

This month’s column closes off 2024. The year has flown by quickly and by the time you are reading this column you will already be well through the first month of the New Year!

BEFITTING DECEMBER’S STATUS as a holiday month where South Africans traditionally take time off and companies close their doors for the Christmas and New Year period, we have very few aircraft mentioned in this month’s updates.

These updates are kindly supplied by the SACAA on a monthly basis for which we are very grateful!

Just seven aircraft have been registered this month, while three depart our shores.

in the last half of 2024, replacing their elderly Embraer 170s. But by early January they had not yet entered service.

SAA continues to grow its fleet

Airlink has registered another one of their four Embraer 175s, ZS-YBE (17000343) but these aircraft seem to be taking longer to enter service than expected. They were reportedly to have started commercial services with these jets

The Pilatus PC-12 family continues to be a popular choice for aircraft owners in southern Africa with yet another new PC-12NGX, ZS-JHG (2433), being registered. This aircraft arrived on delivery to Cape Town on 13 January having ferried from Switzerland via Heraklion, Luxor, Djibouti, Entebbe and Victoria Falls.

The last fixed wing this month is a Scheibe Flugzeugbau SF28A touring motorized glider. This is a type we don’t see too often in this column!

ABOVE: ZS-EAI Is a Beechcraft 1900D now exported to Algeria.

BELOW: ZS-TGY is a much travelled Boeing 737-500 now exported to Goma DRC. Image

Gerrit Griem.

Gulfstream IIB N24FU departing HLA in May 2022 heading to its new owners in the USA. Image - Morne Booij-Liewes.

December only saw a single helicopter being registered: an Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter) EC120B is added, taking up the registration ZT-HKL. This 2016 built helicopter was operated by the US Department of Agriculture as N250WH from its delivery till its sale and export to South Africa in the latter part of 2024. It is not known who the new owners are as this information is regrettably not supplied by the SACAA due to the POPI Act restrictions.

delivered to Goma from OR Tambo

Turning our attention to the NTCA types, two Savannah S and a single Vans RV-10 have been registered this month.

Departing our shores are a Beechcraft 1900D, ZS-EAI, that has moved to Algeria, and a Boeing 737-5Y0 ZS-TGY (25183) that has

been exported on sale to the DRC. This jet joins the fleet of a recent start-up scheduled carrier, Mont Gabaon Airlines (MG Airlines). It was delivered to Goma from OR Tambo International Airport on 15 December and entered service on 3 January on scheduled services linking Kindu with Kinshasa and Goma. This 32 year old jet has a rich history, having been delivered to China Southern Airlines in February 1992. It then joined Russian carrier Transaero’s fleet in December 2006 where it remained for 10 years. The jet was then transferred to another Russian carrier, VIM Airlines, for three months but was then sold to Africa Charter Airline in South Africa in November 2017. It operated for various carriers while in South Africa including several months with Proflight Zambia in 2023/24.

A single Sling 4 ZU-IZW moves to Australia and closes this month’s updates.

Some other notable South African aircraft developments include four Gazelle helicopters recently exported from South Africa that have been seen active in Libya operating for the Libyan National Army. The four in question, ZU-HGZ, ZR-ROO, ZU-ROU, ZU-RZR, were flown from Lanseria International Airport onboard an Ilyushin IL-76 during December 2024. The end destination was initially mentioned as being the DRC but it has since transpired that they are now in service in Libya and there is even video footage of them taking part in a parade at Smerkit Air Force Base as part of the graduation ceremony of cadets of the Libyan Armed Forces. It is not known if these helicopters have been sold or on lease to Libya.

sold or on lease to Libya

In closing the month is a story of the sad but inevitable end of the last airworthy South African Gulfstream IIB, ZS-DJA (156). This 1975 built corporate jet was a long-time resident at Lanseria International Airport from where it departed for the last time on 27 May 2022, heading to her new owners in the USA, now with the registration N24FU. On 22 December 2024 the burnt-out wreckage of the jet was found in a field near Dolores Village in the Toledo District in southern Belize. She met the same fate so many other old Gulfstream IIs have befallen the past few years: being used for extremely profitable drug running flights that invariably end up with their burnt-out wreckage being found in some remote field in Central America.

On the commercial airline front, South African Airways continues to grow its fleet and the next arrival is expected to be the former Qatar Airways A320-232 A7-AHF (4496) that is said to become ZS-SZN. It was expected to be delivered to OR Tambo International Airport in the latter half of January 2025.

Another new jet is a Boeing 737-476F, C5-STC (24446) that arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on 11 January on delivery to Africa Air Charter. It will no doubt soon feature in this column once its registered locally.

The Belize Defence Force found the wreckage of N24FU on a makeshift airstrip in a secluded cattle pasture about 15 minutes form the Guatemalan border, an area long associated with illicit cross border activities and drug smugglers. The plane had been deliberately torched to destroy evidence. It was still registered to a company “Best Aircraft Deals LLC” (Breaking Bad?) in Salt Lake City, Utah at the time of this flight. A very sad end to this grand old lady that I was fortunately able to photograph on her departure from South Africa in May 2022.

FLIGHT DESIGN INSOLVENT

The very successful Light Sport Aircraft manufacturer Flight Design has filed for insolvency. The aircraft builder says it has run out of cash because a major customer hasn’t paid its bill.

THIS DEVELOPMENT follows a string of financial troubles in the aviation industry, including bankruptcies from Hoffmann Propeller, Lilium, Sonaca, and ICON earlier in the year.

“The insolvency application became necessary because, on the one hand, an international customer has not yet paid undisputed claims in the mid-six-figure range and another payment in the mid-six-figure range was also delayed,” the company’s website notice said.

Flight Design has declared insolvency - again.

brought temporary stability, Flight Design struggled to maintain momentum with newer models like the F2 and the long-anticipated F4, a four-seat aircraft still under development.

The company is based at Kindl airfield in Hörselberg-Hainich and has production sites in Sumperk, Czech Republic, and Kherson, Ukraine.

The invasion of Ukraine meant Flight Design had to relocate its main manufacturing base to Sumperk, which affected production.

The company says it has 10 employees working in Germany, 70 in the Czech Republic and 20 in Ukraine. Since the company was founded in 1988 it has delivered more than 2,000 aircraft.

Flight Design previously entered insolvency in 2016 due to debt issues, eventually being acquired by Lift Air in 2017. While the move

Marcello Di Stefano was named the insolvency administrator and appears confident the company can emerge with some short-term financing. “The company’s order situation is good and the products have a very good reputation on the international market, and the outstanding debts are manageable,” said Di Stefano.

He said he’ll be looking for bridge money while going after the unpaid accounts. “This would make it possible to maintain the Flight Design Group with its EASA Design and Production Organisations and the F-Series and CT-Series aircraft and to finalise the existing orders and hand over the aircraft to the customers.”

• Now certified for TCAS training.

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

Tel: 011 701 3862

E-mail: info@aeronav.co.za

Website: www.aeronav.co.za

AERONAV ACADEMY FUEL TABLE

Airspan / Kroondal

Baragwanath - FASY

R25,80 R18,64

R29,00

Beaufort West - FABW R29,70 R 21,40

Bloemfontein - FABL R33,04 R18,74

Brakpan - FABB R33,80 R18,42

Brits - FABS

R27,60

Cape Town - FACT R33,93 R19,96

Cape Winelands - FAWN R32,00

Airspan / Kroondal

Baragwanath - FASY

Beaufort West - FABW

Bloemfontein - FABL

Brakpan - FABB

Brits - FABS

Cape Town - FACT

R27,44 R19,49

R29,00

R29,70 R 21,90

R27,60 R18,95

R32,50 R19,05

R27,60

R33,93 R19,96

Cape Winelands - FAWN R32,00

Eagle's Creek R29,50 Eagle's Creek

East London - FAEL R34,67 R18,61

Ermelo - FAEO R29,79 R23,57

Gariep Dam - FAHV R29,50 R20,00

East London - FAEL R34,67 R18,61

Ermelo - FAEO

Gariep Dam - FAHV

George - FAGG R34,57 R19,00 George - FAGG

Grand Central - FAGC R31,68 R20,47

Heidelberg - FAHG R28,90 R20,30

Grand Central - FAGC

R29,79 R23,58

R30,00 R20,00

R34,57 R19,00

R31,68 R20,47

Heidelberg - FAHG R30,00 R20,30

Hoedspruit Civil - FAHT NO FUEL NO FUEL Hoedspruit Civil - FAHT NO FUEL NO FUEL

Kimberley - FAKM NO FUEL R22,52

Kitty Hawk - FAKT R28,90 Kitty Hawk - FAKT

Klerksdorp - FAKD R28,52 R22,42 Klerksdorp - FAKD R28,52 R22,42 Kroonstad - FAKS R27,50 Kroonstad - FAKS R27,50 Kruger Mpumalanga Intl -FAKN R35,15 R26,30 Kruger Mpumalanga Intl -FAKN R35,15 R26,30

Krugersdorp - FAKR R28,00 Krugersdorp - FAKR R28,00 Lanseria - FALA R31,17 R20,36 Lanseria - FALA

Margate - FAMG NO FUEL NO FUEL

R31,17 R20,36

Margate - FAMG NO FUEL NO FUEL

Middelburg - FAMB R29,50 R20,49 Middelburg - FAMB R29,50 R20,50 Morningstar R29,50 Morningstar R29,50 Mosselbay - FAMO R34,50 R27,40 Mosselbay - FAMO R33,00 R23,50

Nelspruit - FANS R32,26 R23,00 Nelspruit - FANS

R29,96 R20,13 Oudtshoorn - FAOH R33,10 R23,05

Parys - FAPY R26,38 R19,22

Pietermaritzburg - FAPM R29,00 R22,40

Pietersburg Civil - FAPI R29,45 R22,15

Plettenberg Bay - FAPG NO FUEL NO FUEL

Port Alfred - FAPA

R33,50

Port Elizabeth - FAPE R30,94 R20,64

Potchefstroom - FAPS R25,80 R18,64

Rand - FAGM R33,50 R23,50

Robertson - FARS R31,90

Rustenburg - FARG R29,50 R21,95

Secunda - FASC R29,33 R21,28

Skeerpoort *Customer to collect R23,56 R16,40

Springbok - FASB R29,50 R23,50

Springs - FASI R37,25

Stellenbosch - FASH R33,00

Swellendam - FASX R29,50 R20,00

Tempe - FATP R26,86 R18,71

Thabazimbi - FATI R26,30 R19,14

Upington - FAUP R36,62 R24,76

Virginia - FAVG R30,94 R20,64

Oudtshoorn - FAOH

Parys - FAPY

R33,10 R23,05

R28,01 R20,07

Pietermaritzburg - FAPM R29,50 R21,00

Pietersburg Civil - FAPI

R29,25 R21,85

Plettenberg Bay - FAPG NO FUEL NO FUEL

Port Alfred - FAPA

Port Elizabeth - FAPE

Potchefstroom - FAPS

Rand - FAGM

Robertson - FARS

Rustenburg - FARG

Secunda - FASC

R33,50

R30,94 R20,64

R27,44 R19,49

R34,36 R21,77

R31,15

R29,50 R21,95

R31,05 R21,28

Skeerpoort *Customer to collect R25,19 R17,25

Springbok - FASB

Springs - FASI

Stellenbosch - FASH

Swellendam - FASX

Tempe - FATP

Thabazimbi - FATI

Upington - FAUP

Virginia - FAVG

Vryburg - FAVB R26,96 R19,40 Vryburg - FAVB

Vryheid - FAVY R25,80 R19,49 Vryheid - FAVY

R29,50 R23,50

R36,25

R32,00

R29,90 R20,30

R26,86 R18,71

R27,94 R19,99

R34,50 R27,40

R30,94 R20,64

R28,59 R20,25

R27,44 R19,49

USE IT OR LOSE IT!

Wilbur Wright said, ‘It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill.

PILOT KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL are human factor concepts that have been researched and refined over the decades. When it comes to a proficient pilot, there is little dispute that a calm demeanour, thorough knowledge and ‘good hands’ are a winning formula. But, what do the building blocks of these skills look like? And, how does one develop and maintain a winning formula?

Skill Acquisition

Skills, or skill-based knowledge is the ability to ‘do something’ (trimming, balancing a turn, landing) and is the reflection of cognitive processes manifested into motor actions. In essence, this is the difference between knowing what to do (the steps to be followed) and performing the skill.

the skill being performed – it is often automatic, almost on autopilot.

So, how do we get from knowing to doing?

The answer lies in Neural Mapping - the process in which your brain creates connections between neurons, to help you learn and remember things. When you learn something new, or practice a skill, your brain repeats and strengthens these connections, forming ‘maps’ that guide how you think, move, or respond. The more you use these pathways, the stronger and faster they become, making actions or thoughts feel automatic over time.

develop and maintain a winning formula

This mapping is like walking a trail in the bush - the more you walk it, the more permanent it becomes, therefore making it clearer and easier to follow.

A true skill is that which is exceptionally hard to verbalise as to how it was achieved – you just feel how much back pressure you needed to catch the flare, right?

True skill is different to declarative knowledge in that you are often not consciously aware of

What’s interesting though, is as much as that path is permanent, it is fallible. And that’s the aspect we are looking at. Learning and skills acquisition place high demand on the brain. This can detract from situational awareness, decision making and other executive functions.

Fortunately, skill-based activities can be made more efficient with time, repetition and practise.

This process, specifically when focussing on skills acquisition, occurs over three distinct cognitive phases, with each of these phases employing different demands on the brain’s available ‘RAM ‘ (available memory for task completion).

The Cognitive Stage – Thinking it Through

In this stage you are focussed on factual knowledge of the required skill, typically by memorising and then executing the steps needed to perform it.

This stage demands the full attention of the brain and engages a wide area of brain activity. While each step is executed, the pre-frontal cortex, or ‘thinking brain’, is occupied which can limit situational awareness – you might get stuck on a specific step or, if interrupted, you could be delayed or even stop in the execution of the task.

Associative Stage – Connecting the Dots

In this phase, your brain learns to connect a stimulus with a desired response and requires practice to integrate muscle coordination with visual and tactile feedback.

The more you practice, the more you begin to link each step in the process with expected outcomes. This reduces the pre-frontal activity as you use less ‘thinking’ and transition to more ‘doing’.

You will transition from merely following steps to actively evaluating your progress and making adjustments as needed. Although deliberate focus is still required, you become better equipped to manage distractions while performing the skill.

3. Automatic Response Stage – Running on Autopilot

With extensive practice, your skills become automatic. At this stage, executing the procedure requires minimal attention (minimising pre-frontal demand), allowing you to multitask effectively.

Performance becomes faster, smoother, and more efficient, often without conscious awareness of the individual steps involved. You might find that you no longer recall or explain the steps as the skill has become second nature. At this point the skill is mapped into your ‘muscle’ memory. This creates ‘available RAM’ for executive and other cognitive functions.

Keeping it Fresh

The adage ‘use it or lose it ‘ can be applied to most acquired skills, whether physical, mechanical or cognitive. Unless that skill is exercised regularly, the process will become less familiar and more difficult as time passes and, eventually, the ability may be lost completely.

This phenomenon is known as skills fade - the ‘decay of ability or adeptness over a period of non-use. ‘ This fade of skills could be compared to overgrowth on a trail in the bush - the less you walk it, the more it degrades and the more difficult it becomes to walk on.

There are a number of factors that influence the degree of ‘fade’. Perhaps the most obvious is the familiarity and retention interval – newly acquired skills deteriorate quickly as the neural pathway is still ‘fresh,’ while skills that have been acquired over a long-term period take longer to fade. In addition to these influences, the type of task and its complexity further plays a role.

Conditions of learning (positive or negative), and instruction technique, in addition to retrieval conditions also play a role.

Lastly, we must consider the individual ability of the pilot, in addition to their previous experience and existing knowledge.

What we have learned

EASA stress that reduced activity not only degrades skills but prevents development of further proficiency through practice and insight. It adds that a secondary concern of proficiency decay relates to spare mental capacity –correctly carrying out a task demands more effort.

It can be deduced that a decay in proficiency creates a safety risk – speed, accuracy and task efficiency will deteriorate with a lack of practise which will, in turn, reduce safety margins for a given flight. Studies have found that pilot skill can degrade by up to 70% in just 90 days.

Post-COVID studies found that, while pilots displayed the same speed in skills execution, they were three times more likely to make mistakes due to a loss of accuracy.

We have all felt ‘out of practice’ at some point, but how do we know how much ‘fade’ we have experienced?

After a period of non-use of skills we see that pilots find that they still react quickly to tasks in the flight deck. However, post-COVID studies revealed that, while you are likely to maintain the same speed within the flight deck, with checks and flows, you are likely to lose up to three times your accuracy. So it feels like you›re proficient because you›re ‘back in the groove’ - you can do what you are required to do, you can do it at a sufficient pace, but you are not necessarily doing it accurately!

ICAO (in their SMS Initial course) state that “Aviation accidents are usually the result of many actions and/ or inactions accumulating to a point where the crew could not be relied upon to perform their jobs accurately.” And, that’s what we really want to protect ourselves from.

Add in emotion (good or bad), and we are increasing RAM demand even further! Essentially, you are opening more and more browser tabs and slowing the system down. Now, what you are left with, is the scraps of the remaining RAM for executive functions –problem solving, stress management and task load management. All the items that you are going to need most in an emergency.

‘I’m Safe’ ….or, are you?

How do you assess your bandwidth or available RAM? Shy of a ‘body battery’ or ‘health status’ report on a smart watch, the assessment is left largely to you. A common tool, often seen in flight schools, flying clubs and ops bulletin walls is the ‘I’M SAFE’ poster. You know the one that asks about Illness, Medication, Stress, Alcohol, Fatigue, and have you Eaten?

mistakes due to a loss of accuracy.

Skills fade impacts pilot reliability and increases the likelihood of error due to the fact that it essentially reverses the skills acquisition process. The brain reverts to the associative phase and, in the worst case, cognitive stages of neural mapping - both of which will increase the ‘RAM’ demand.

You can think of your brain much like the operating system on your phone – memory is dedicated to specific tasks (or apps). Your brain is doing exactly the same thing - you’ve got your operating system (your metabolism, heartbeat, digestion etc) - if you’re ill, it’s going to need more RAM.

The more flying tasks you’re doing, the more hands on you are, the more RAM you’re going to need; the more mental processing you’re doing, the more RAM you’re going to need.

For the most part, we will glance over it with a ‘Yeah, yeah. Okay, I’m good’ type of personal pre-flight without attributing much time to the RAM demands each element. So, while it is easy to ask ‘Am I safe to fly?’ it’s probably more prudent to ask - ‘If the unthinkable had to happen today, would I have the bandwidth to handle it?’

So the question to consider is - While you might be fast enough, will you be accurate enough?

BUMPPPFFF:

SACAA AND HEARING STANDARDS

I CAN’T BELIEVE the trouble SACAA are giving me to renew my medical. There was a question about my hearing in one ear, above the thresholds but was considered likely to raise questions at SACAA so I did a complete audiology test which came out almost 100% and way above all the standards required. But then they come back a month later asking for an ENT specialist report. The ENT specialist says there is nothing more she can examine than what was done in the audiology test and report. They don’t seem to follow their own standards!

Meanwhile I cannot help noticing that the SA CAA cannot spell the word “Licence” as in “Commercial Pilot Licence” which is written in American spelling as “Commercial Pilot License” on everyone’s nice new card licence. It doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in them generally if they cannot spell Pilot Licence. Any English teacher will confirm that South Africa uses British English Spelling where the noun is spelled “Licence” and the verb “License”. (In USA both are spelled “License”). Maybe I should return my licence saying it has a mistake on it?

Edmund Farmer

Guy replies:

I let my licence lapse because of the hearing test – but then I did not want the required hearing aid!

We are doomed to have a mix of US and UK English – amongst many others: airplane, aluminum and landing gear are now common.

Guy j

HELICOPTER PILOTS’ UNION

I READ WITH INTEREST the article by Mr Christopher Jonsson regarding his proposal for the establishment of a South African helicopter pilots’ union. Inasmuch as he clearly sympathises with a certain cohort of local freelance helicopter pilots, I argue that his assumptions and citing of non-factual beliefs are mostly unfounded and incorrect. I furthermore regard his proposal careless and counterproductive in furthering sound operator-pilot relations. Moreover, the article was seemingly drafted by Artificial Intelligence software when considering the Americanisms, spelling and layout.

entitled to defined rest periods

From the outset I wish to disclose my utter dislike of any trade union or even the mere thought of a unionised mindset. The late Maragret Thatcher made a significant statement in the 1980s by introducing anti-union laws, which ultimately served to grow the UK economy and stabilise labour relations. Similarly, the late former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, expressed his unqualified displeasure of the SIA pilot strike and handled the matter with firm aplomb.1 In both the cited cases the key considerations pivoted on clear and fair communication between the parties, rather than an aggressive approach to ameliorate an inevitable outcome.

In furthering my concern with the article, I elect to divulge my involvement in various facets of the South African helicopter industry and

similarly having to wear many different hats. First and foremost, I’m a commercial helicopter pilot and instructor who sympathises with the rigorous demands placed on all pilots. Obtaining a commercial pilot qualification nowadays requires immense perseverance and access to a multitude of resources, inter alia, monetary. I am also intimately involved with a large Johannesburg-based helicopter operation, which employs circa 35 permanent helicopter pilots and have to deal with employment matters on a daily basis. A further ten freelance pilots are retained within a regular utilisation pool.

Mr Jonsson’s assertion anent freelance pilots’ “never ending season loop” and being stuck in “a 12-month period per annum flying cycle [sic]” are certainly notions I have personally never encountered, whether as a commercial pilot or as an operator. In fact, the Regulations (SACARs) are clear on an operator’s obligations insofar training and managing freelancers as deemed fulltime crew, regardless of the employment contract type. Any crew member is entitled to defined rest periods between active Flight Duty Periods (FDP) and obliged to disclose any form of accrued flying hours in compliance with the stipulations of CAR 91.02.03.2 The comment regarding “further outside work… to enhance their income” is thus already catered for and incapsulated by the relevant Regulation(s).

The sweeping statement regarding South African Helicopter Pilots [sic] requiring time to mentally and physically switch off, is in essence a vagary without any scientific or statistical substance. It would perhaps be more realistic to authenticate such a proclamation by disclosing the research methodology employed, hypotheses, sample size and outcomes of the study. This holds particularly true when Mr Jonsson’s very next posit is the formation of a helicopter pilot’s union that proposes “…[an] opportunity to prevent pilot exploitation and can offer numerous benefits to the aviation industry.’ I opine that this is a careless suggestion and certainly devoid of any material essence considering the bulk of South African helicopter operators’ positive approach to their fulltime and freelance crews.

The points noted in the article as favourable contributing factors are already included in all operators’ Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Quality Assurance programmes and should essentially be better communicated and employed on a continuous basis. These programmes by definition include striving for enhanced safety standards, elevated training curricula, better reporting systems and operational efficiencies.

goal when compared to a hostile approach. This unquestionably includes salary negotiations, career mapping, working conditions, rest periods and leave discussions.

I fully concur with Mr Jonsson’s opinion on focused support for any staff member that encounters a crisis and can confirm that this is a well-developed social crutch at the operator that I am involved with. In this instance the support team is accessible to anyone, at any time and is open to assist with any personal or professional issue that may be detrimental to the individual’s wellness and wellbeing. Interestingly, the SACAA has recently adopted new Technical Standards that specifically address the wellbeing of aviation personnel (SACATS Part 67 Schedules 48 & 49).3

includes salary negotiations, career mapping..

In closing I stand critical of the establishment of a helicopter pilots’ union and proffer that the creation thereof, within a South African context and to the exclusive benefit of freelance pilots, will in all probability do more harm than good. I similarly remain a vocal proponent of induvial dialogue and frank discussions with all staff members. My personal estimation guides me to embrace rather than engage.

Sincerely,

At this juncture it is fair to comment that not all helicopter pilots nor helicopter operators are created equal. A healthy and mutually beneficial relationship between operators and all its staff is undoubtedly a key factor in bridging any salary and working condition discussion, albeit not in a collective bargaining fashion. My own experience has proved that civilised and productive discourse on an individual basis always achieves a common

André Coetzee

1 See: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=kGDqLeRuyCA

2 See https://caa.mylexisnexis.co.za/

3 See 2 above j

Aviation ground school offers comprehensive training programs for PPL, CPL, and ATPL students, as well as essential

- UPDATE

PLETTENBERG BAY AIRPORT

The ambitious plans to ‘save’ Plettenberg Bay Airport from the neglect of its local city council are fast unravelling.

RSA.AERO HAS an agreement to lease the airport from the Bitou municipality. This is the same company that has ambitious plans to redevelop the old Fisantekraal Airport in Cape Town, which they have now renamed the Cape Winelands Airport.

The key point of conflict appears to be who is responsible for the runway repairs which are expected to cost around R40m with a R5m payment claimed by the new lessee, rsa.AERO.

One of the consequences of the rsa.AERO takeover of the airport is expected to be a dramatic increase in user fees – such as landing and parking charges and hangarage fees. This has made rsa.AERO unpopular with the current airport users.

The Executive Director of rsa.AERO, Nick Ferguson, says “After conducting a thorough and good-faith review of the proposed new/ replacement contract documents, we have identified substantial deviations from the original terms and conditions.”

He claims the Bitou municipality is in breach of contract and that the existing CAA Category 2 Licence for the airport will expire at end January 2025.

A further point of contention is that a clause of the contract stipulated that a payment of R5 million (plus VAT) was due in August 2024. This has apparently not been paid by the Bitou municipality.

The airport pilots and hangar owners had hoped the contract would be nullified. They fear that they will have no recourse if rsa.AERO finalise the agreement as their rights are not protected. They claim it will leave them in a worse position as they cannot take recourse against either side of this dispute.

Plett Aiport's future is still in the balance. Image courtesy Plettenburg Bay Aiport. j

SLING REPORTS BEST EVER YEAR

Sling Aircraft says 2024 has been its best year ever, with more planes sold and delivered than ever before.

“Lead times on High Wings and TSis have come down due to our increase in production capabilities. The lead time on a kit build is now between 1 and 3 months and 6 to 9 months on a Ready-to-Fly TSi or High Wing. We have stopped taking holding deposits on High Wings as we can now deliver them in a short period of time.

Sling Aircraft have become a worldwide success.

In Sling style, the year has not all been about selling and delivering planes. The fun has to continue in the form of adventures and crazy trips.

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.

INTRODUCING BIG WATER AERO

The Gariep Dam Airport has changed hands. The new owners are rsa.Aero – the owners of The Cape Winelands Airport.

REFLECTING THE CHANGE of ownership, the airport name has been changed from Gariep Airport to Big Water Aero.

This well-known stopover in the geographic centre of South Africa has long and wide runways and has hosted a Presidents Trophy Air Race and regularly hosts international glider pilots.

Big Water Aero is an uncontrolled airfield with two asphalt runways that cater to aircraft to 12,000 kg. The airfield is situated at an elevation of 4176 feet above sea level and features the following key characteristics:

• Runway 10/28: 1311 meters in length

• Runway 15/33: 1122 meters in length

• Airport Frequency: 124.80 MHz

Gariep Dam airport is now Big Water Airport.

• Complimentary Wi-Fi is available for pilots.

• Avgas and Jet A1 fuel are available.

• There are tie-downs available.

Accommodation:

Self-catering sleeping accommodation is available on-site.

Two large hangars are available, one lockable, the other open.

Accommodation Options:

For pilots who prefer to stay off-site, several quality self-catering guesthouses are available in the nearby town, with a variety of restaurants offering delicious meals and refreshing drinks.

geographic centre of South Africa

The terminal building is accessible to all with mobility challenges, There are clean ablution facilities, seating, and an office where landing and parking fees can be paid.

The terminal also features a veranda overlooking the dam, where pilots can relax and enjoy a cup of coffee or a cold drink while enjoying the view.

The Airport Manager, Mr Gerrit Lotz, says, “We welcome all members of the Aero Club of South Africa, EAA and all General Aviation Pilots to visit Big Water Aero and make use of our facilities. Whether you’re stopping for fuel, a short break, or a longer stay, we believe our airport will be a welcoming and well-equipped location for your flying needs. j

The Big Water airport terminal has self-catering accomodation with pleanty more in the Gariep village.

CALENDAR

22 - 24 May 2025 Presidents Trophy Air Race: Bona Bona david@pilotinsure.co.za cell: 073 338 5200 31 May 2025 Shuttleworth Military airshow Old Warden UK https://www.shuttleworth.org/product/military-air-show-2025/

31 May 2025 Newcastle Airshiow Newcastle KZN

16 - 22 June 2025 Paris Air Show Paris-Le Bourget https://www.siae.fr/en/

25 - 27 June 2025 AERO South Africa Wonderboom https://aerosouthafrica.za.messefrankfurt.com/pretoria/en.html 28 June 2025 Virginia Air Show

18 - 22 July Royal International Air Tattoo Fairford UK https://www.airtattoo.com/ 25 July 2025 Polokwane Airshow Polokwane Limpopo

21 - 27 July 2025 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Contact Neil Bowden: 084 674 5674 info@airadventure.co.za

20 September 2025 Rand Airshow Rand Airport Germiston

17 - 21 November 2025 Dubai Airshow UAE https://www.dubaiairshow.aero/

AVIATION COMPANY PROFILES GUIDE 2025

As the world transitions into the digital era there is a still a need for a reference work that gives companies which provide specialist services to the industry with the complete range of ways to reach their market.

OUR Aviation Company Profiles Guide gives our advertisers a focussed ready-reference shop window which enables them to achieve comprehensive high-impact marketing across the aviation industry.

By participating in our annual services guide, advertisers have been able to grow their market by exposing their products and services to the massive SA Flyer and FlightCom digital presence which reaches over 20,000 people. In addition to our digital magazines, advertisers reach many thousands more through the regular visitors to our websites for news and aviation memes, and our over 7000 Facebook following.

Thanks to the digital platforms, readers can click directly onto the advertisers’ websites and view video content with one click on the links provided in the digital publications. This Services Guide provides the ultimate solution that covers all the ways for advertisers to reach their market, and for readers to find the best suppliers of that particular service.

For our readers we have included:

• The digital version of this Guide will be uploaded and promoted on all of the following digital marketing platforms –available to read and share with the world for free:

• It has been uploaded onto our main home landing page of our information-rich website news feed www.saflyer.com

• Our Facebook page, where SA Flyer has by far the largest number of followers for an African Aviation Facebook page www. facebook.com/saflyer

• Email distribution to our thousands of worldwide key contacts & decision makers – this includes the local aviation community and CAASA members.

Aeronautical Aviation - AMO, Avionics Upgrade, Avionics Maintenance

Aerotric - Electrical, Ignition, Instruments

AVDEX PTY (Ltd) - Aviation Industry Software

Avisys Aviation Systems - Aircraft Maintenance

Blue Chip Flight School - Flight School, Training, Ratings

Pilatus Service Centre SS - Aircraft Sales, Aircraft Maintenance

AERONAUTICAL AVIATION

AMO, Avionics Upgrade, Avionics Maintenance

Aeronautical Aviation, founded in 2005 by owner and pilot Clinton Carroll, is a leading provider of specialized avionics and aircraft maintenance services. Based at Lanseria International Airport, we serve general aviation clients across Africa. With over a decade of industry experience, we offer a comprehensive range of services, including avionics installation, repair, overhaul, and upgrades. We are proud to be Africa’s largest Garmin Platinum dealer and distributor, alongside strong partnerships with industry leaders like Collins Aerospace, Dynon, and Avidyne.

Our team of Garmin and Collins Aerospacecertified technicians ensures top-quality service, while our innovative laser department offers unique refurbishment solutions for aircraft panels.

Committed to customer satisfaction, we provide personalized, cost-effective solutions tailored to your operational needs. At Aeronautical Aviation, we prioritize safety, reliability, and service excellence, helping you maintain peak performance for your aircraft.

Hangar 202, Gate 7, Lanseria International

Airport, South Africa

Tel: +27 11 659 1033

Email: sales@aeronautical.co.za

AEROTRIC

Electrical, Ignition, Instruments

Aerotric (Pty) Ltd is based at Wonderboom Airport and has grown from strength to strength since opening their doors in May 2012.

The Company prides itself on providing quality and reliable services such as overhauling, installing and repairing all electrical, ignition, instruments and avionics that is efficient and at an affordable rate.

Aerotric is a small company with big heart that strives to maintain relationships with all customers. Consisting of seven staff members Aerotric maintains a policy of high standards and keeping up with the latest technology and trends in aircraft maintenance.

Contact Aerotric on: Office Tel: +27 87 802 1347

Email: admin@aerotric.com or Richard@aerotric.com

AVDEX PTY (Ltd)

Aviation Industry Software

Avdex provides dedicated software to the aviation industry. AMS Software manages AMO workshops including labour, outwork and stock control.

TOOLMANAGER tracks and traces tool usage and maintenance. AMP provides a service to assist with aircraft maintenance planning.

Aircraft are linked to a Maintenance schedule which tracks scheduled maintenance items. Avdex Aircraft Register lists all aircraft registered in South Africa. Visit our website: www.avdex.co.za.

For AMS and TOOLMANAGER contact Alexis:

27 (0)87 265 6319 or alexis@avdex.co.za.

For AMP contact Tania: 27 (0)73-454 7809 or tania@avdex.co.za

AVISYS AVIATION SYSTEMS

Aircraft Maintenance

AviSys Aviation Systems is an established Maintenance Organisation (AMO 1089) with SA CAA, and other African CAA accreditation to perform component maintenance and overhaul capabilities under its Category B rating.

Currently, AviSys is equipped to cater for our clients’ needs as per the SA CAA Approved Capability List and Operational Specifications on the following:

• Aircraft Braking Systems repair and full overhaul capability with SA CAA Component

• Release to Service (Authorised ReleaseCertificate) on the following OEM Makes; ABSC, Honeywell / Bendix, Goodrich and Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems. Aircraft main and nose wheel assemblies for the above makes, to repair and overhaul.

• Landing Gear Repair and Overhaul

• Helicopter Servo Actuator Repair and Overhaul

• Flexible Hose Build-up

• Engine Fire Bottles HPT, Service, Fill and Re- charge

AviSys Aviation Systems is committed to deliver service excellence and quality workmanship at market related prices, carried out with years of cumulative aviation experience in our field by means of dedicated hand-picked staff members.

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

Hangar 17 Wonderboom Airport

Email: dewald@avisys.co.za

Phone: +27 (0) 83 442 5884

Fax: +27 (0) 86 618 6996

Website: www.avisys.co.za

BLUE CHIP FLIGHT SCHOOL

Flight School, Training, Ratings

PILATUS SERVICE CENTRE SOUTHERN AFRICA

Aircraft Sales, Aircraft Maintenance

At Blue Chip Flight School, they don’t just love aviation, they live, eat and breathe aviation. The school has been around for almost 3 decades, awarding wings to aspiring aviators from around the world. Aviation is made up of extraordinary people, who share a passion for flying, with an energy and enthusiasm not seen elsewhere.

Blue Chip Flight School provides training from a PPL through to an ATPL. We have an accredited in-house examination centre, which makes writing the exams for the PPL, Night Rating and Instructor’s rating more convenient. The school offers a superb fleet of aircraft as well as a state-of-the-art simulator, that will cater for all your training needs. The simulator can be used for Night, Instrument and Instructor’s ratings, Simulator ATPL renewals, MCC course and RNAV/GNSS ratings. Whilst hour building, we host fly aways and cross-country trips to expose students to unique experiences at non-home-based environments.

Come and see for yourself what the fuss is about!

(ATO 0056) Main Terminal Building

Wonderboom Airport

Tel: 012 543 3050

E-mail: marketing@bluechip-avia.coza Website: www.bluechipflightschool.co.za

As one of a global network of Pilatus authorised independent sales and service centres, Pilatus PC-12 Centre Southern Africa (PCSA) is official distributor for Pilatus aircraft in the region and the only such centre in Africa. Officially opened in 2007, PCSA has celebrated a decade of providing unmatched servicing and sales support to the Pilatus brand from its base at hangars 41 and 42 at Rand Airport. With a team of dedicated, highly qualified and competent staff members whose focus is to provide an all-round holistic sales and maintenance support experience for its customers. Nobody knows Pilatus aircraft like PCSA and at the same time the company strives to know its customers just as well.

Maintenance support

PCSA supports an ever-growing fleet of more than 85 Pilatus PC-6, PC-12 and PC-24 aircraft in the southern African region. The company strives to maintain Pilatus’ intense focus on postsale maintenance support, where customers are served locally through strong personal relationships and backed by knowledge and technical support from the Pilatus factory. It is this philosophy, which has seen operators, in an independent survey, conducted by Professional Pilot magazine, vote Pilatus number one in turboprop customer service for the past 19 consecutive years. PCSA continues to uphold its commitment to Pilatus and its customers. The Pilatus PC-12 NGX and PC-24 are supported by the industry leading CrystalCare program, which provides owners/operators with maintenance piece of mind and predictable operating costs.

Tel: 011 383 0800

E-mail: aircraftsales@pilatuscentre.co.za Website: www.pilatus-aircraft.com

Where romance meets nature

FEBRUARY

Hugh Pryor - Sergeant Abdullah

News - New Search for MH370

Laura Mcdermid - Aftermath of the Engine Fire: Pt 2

AME Doctors Listing

News - South Africa still considering C-390

Boeing vs Airbus 2024

News - Piaggio sold to Turkish UAV Builder

Aviation Consultants Directory

Jannie Matthysen - Living the Dream Part 3

News - SACAA Wins Top Employer Award

Superior Pilot Services: Flight School Directory

Merchant West Charter Directory

Skysource AMO Listing

Backpage Directory

Publisher

Flyer and Aviation Publications cc

Managing Editor Guy Leitch guy@flightcommag.com

Advertising Sales

Kerry Matthysen

sales@saflyermag.co.za

008 572 9473

Layout & Design

Patrick Tillman: Imagenuity cc

Contributors

Hugh Pryor

Laura McDermid

Jannie Matthysen

Iris McCallum

Guy Leitch

ADMIN:

+27 (0)83 607 2335

TRAFFIC:

+27 (0)81 039 0595

ACCOUNTS:

+27 (0)15 793 0708

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

The airline industry is intensely competitive, with very little other than price and on-timeperformance to differentiate one airline from another.

IT IS ALSO A HIGHLY regulated industry and every few years an airline ‘weaponises’ one of the regulators to attack a competitor. The risk is that this can have a wholly unexpected comeback – which is what is happening in the fight between Lift and Airlink in one corner and FlySafair in the other.

When FlySafair launched in 2014, Comair successfully forced FlySafair to amend its ownership before it could start operations. The amended structure lasted until 2019 when it was discovered that FlySafair’s Irish parent, ASL Aviation Holdings, had quietly undone the original 2014 structure. This had the effect of ASL ending up with an out-of-bounds 74% of FlySafair.

Almost a year ago Airlink and Lift reported FlySafair to the International Air Services Licensing Council (IASLC) and the domestic Air Services Licencing Council (ASLC). Both the IASLC and the ASLC have the power to suspend or cancel airline licences, thus grounding an airline.

FlySafair steadfastly denies that it’s breaking the rules. It claims that the trustees of the ‘Irish trust’ are South African residents. However, legal opinion holds that a trust is a juristic person, in which case, even if the ASL trust is accepted to be a South African resident, FlySafair will still be over the 25% natural person limit.

This whole imbroglio again raises the question of why have a limit on foreign ownership of airlines at all?

FlySafair denies it’s breaking the rules

On 14 January, a meeting with Lift and FlySafair was called by the ASLC. In this meeting, in a wholly unexpected turn of events, the Air Services Licencing Council (ASLC) ruled that “natural persons” resident in South Africa must own at least 75% of the shares in South African airlines. This rules out trusts or companies owning shares in airlines.

If implemented, this ruling will ground almost the entire South African airline industry, notably SAA and Airlink as well as FlySafair. Only CemAir and Lift claim that just natural persons own their shares.

Many countries have no such restrictions, or else require a 51% local shareholding. South Africa’s 25% limit of foreign ownership is particularly constraining.

The key benefit of having foreign ownership is that the all-important airline input of capital – and lots of it – should be cheaper and more readily available. Given the difficulty of attracting capital investment in SA, this must surely be a compelling reason to throw out this whole sorry mess of badly written and unnecessary rules.

And in the meanwhile – the 87% of airline travellers who use FlySafair, Airlink and SAA can only hope that grown-ups will be called in the sort out this playground fight. The consequences of the three airlines being grounded will have huge knock-on effects for the South African economy, and tourism in particular. 

PART 1 SERGEANT ABDULLAH

In 1986, I was, surprisingly, quite pleasurably employed in Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya. I was flying for the leading Utility Aviation Company in the world at that time, on contract to an oil field service company, called Schlumberger.

THE PRE-GPS FLYING was challenging and the people I was flying around the desert were fun. Their speciality was to tell you what was down the hole that the drilling boys had dug for you, in your search for oil…if that was the business that you happened to be in at the time.

The equipment they used to do this was built out of expensive metals, like titanium and gold. These tools were designed to withstand the enormous formation pressures which you find hidden at the depths where the hydro-carbons lurk, under the ground. They were right on the cutting edge of sophistication… unlike the aircraft which I had the great pleasure to fly for them.

I discovered something which made my guts shrivel

By no stretch of the imagination could the Pilatus Porter be accused of being sophisticated. Boxy?… yes. Angular?…yes. Eccentric?…most assuredly. Beautiful?...Well, if you were lost in the desert and you had finished the last of the water yesterday and the Grim Reaper was fluttering in and out of your consciousness like a ravenous vulture…very possibly. Loveable?...for me, a definite ‘Yes’. But sophisticated?...a decisive ‘No’.

You probably don’t remember, but it was in April that year that that Ronnie and Maggie tried to ‘get’ Gaddafi, in revenge for the Lockerbie bombing of the Pan Am 747. I was in Libya at the time and, since a lot of the bombers came from the United Kingdom, I felt fairly exposed to any official, (or unofficial, for that matter,) reaction that the Libyan Government might feel it appropriate to take against British subjects, if they could lay their hands on them.

The most extraordinary thing to me about the American raid was that almost the only aircraft which was not destroyed during the Benghazi attack, was the old Pilatus Porter which I had taken there from the desert, for a one-hundred hour inspection. The F-27 to the right of the Porter was burned out and the old expired Caravelle on the other side had one wing broken by the bomblets.

The apron was covered in little fan-shaped excoriations where the bomblets had bounced and then exploded, firing minute shards of shrapnel into the apron. The Porter, however, was not even scratched. I have seen a photo taken from an SR 71, the following day, from flight level God, and you can quite easily pick out the Porter sitting innocently in amongst the wreckage.

Some

A couple of nights after the raid, I was convinced that I had been targeted by American Special Forces. I was sleeping at the Schlumberger base at 103-Alpha, back down in the desert again, after the inspection. They had put me in the comfortable old Maltese-built trailer, set aside for visiting guests and pilots. It had been an early night, after some discussion of our immediate future, in the aftermath of the American raids.

I was abruptly woken, at one o’clock in the morning, by a massive explosion. The initial crash was followed by the thump of falling woodwork and the tinkle of broken glass. I cowered under my flimsy bed linen, expecting the roof to collapse in on me at any moment. A fat lot of good those sheets would have done me, if it had! I even framed the first words I would hurl at the assault troops, as they stormed through my door. “DON’T SHOOT! I’M BRITISH!” A fat lot of good that would have done me too, in the circumstances, but I didn’t have any other offensive weapons to hand, at the time.

Then my nose picked up the pungent and unmistakable aroma of freshly-brewed beer. The threat of attack instantly receded and the cause of the explosion revealed itself. Ralph’s potent ‘Tripple-X’ brew had proved too strong for the ‘Bengashia’ mineral water

bottles into which it had been decanted. Unbeknownst to me, the guest trailer had been designated as a cellar for the storage of the illicit liquor and when two of the crates decided to blow, they took the cupboard doors with them. Powerful stuff, Ralph’s brew!

All this excitement meant that it became more and more difficult to dig out crews who were prepared to put their heads into the Libyan noose. So the company became more and more reluctant to grant leave to the crews who were already on the gallows, so to speak. Eventually, I had been extended for three months over my normal four week tour.

Then I discovered something which made my guts shrivel. The authorities had lost my passport. You cannot leave Libya without an exit stamp. You cannot get an exit stamp without a passport. You cannot get a new passport without an embassy, and Britain had closed up their embassy in Libya, when a young police woman had been shot and killed outside the Libyan Embassy in London. Later investigation established that the bullet had originated inside the embassy itself and so diplomatic relations between the British and Libyan governments were broken off, and the Libyan staff were fairly politely asked to leave.

After the raid, I thought my fate was sealed and that I would be gleefully and probably sadistically arrested, to spend the rest of my few remaining days in the Black Hole of Benghazi, en-celled with the other luckless Brits. There would be no room to sit down until the first hundred or so had demised and their pitiful remains been dragged out to feed the packs of mongrels which skulked around the dungeon, waiting for human tit-bits. What a way to go.

For a time I seriously considered absconding with the Pilatus. The problem with that course of action was that the Pilatus Porter takes for ever to get anywhere. Also, it doesn’t carry quite enough fuel to get you within walking distance of where you would want to go anyway, and because that’s the other side of the Mediterranean, the last bit’s going to be rather wet, unless your initials begins with JC. So another cunning plan would have to be hatched.

Meanwhile I decided to keep my head as low to the ground as a sand viper and hope for the best. Unfortunately, that wasn’t low enough to avoid Sergeant Abdullah, our burly local policeman.

One evening, we were on our way back from the Dowell camp, round the back of the Occidental production facility. We ate with Dowell and slept at the Schlumberger camp. We had enjoyed a comparatively sumptuous dinner, which was lucky, because Sergeant Abdullah stopped us enroute and demanded to see our Desert Passes. The pilots never had Desert Passes, because we were on one-month Business Visas in order to save our company from paying Income Tax on our salaries. To obtain a Desert Pass you had to be in possession of a Residence Permit, and in order to get that, you had to pay Income Tax. So, in other words, all the pilots were flying around the Libyan desert illegally. I was more illegal than most, because, not only did I have no Desert Pass, but my one-month business visa had expired three months before. I had no replacement pilot, so the company could not give me leave, without jeopardizing the contract. Anyway, my passport had disappeared now, so I could not extend my visa, even if I had wanted to.

noticing that he was gently rubbing his hands in anticipation.

“You know I don’t have a Desert Pass, Abdullah.” I said, confident that the crate of home-brewed beer which we had delivered to the police station last Thursday, would ensure my immunity.

My confidence was unfounded. “Then I shall have to detain you, pending regularization of your status, Mr. Pryor.” The teeth gleamed triumphantly beneath the neatly-trimmed moustache. “ Be so kind as to drop Mr. Pryor off at my police station, on your way back, would you, Mr. Marvin?” Marvin was the Party Chief and this evening’s designated driver.

Sgt. Abdullah was the proud proprietor of one detention cell, at ‘his’ police station. This facility was unique in that it had a thriving population of bed-bugs, even though there was no actual bed. A pillow was provided, but, to be honest, I wouldn’t have even touched it with yours. As for food…let’s just say I was glad to have dined so well at Dowell. My next problem would be when the waste products wanted relief.

a thriving population of bedbugs

It wasn’t my first experience of Abdullah’s hospitality. I had had the pleasure on one previous occasion and bail had been paid in beverages, after a couple of days. So presumably the same rules would apply this time, and they did. Abdullah managed to drag my sentence out for three days on this occasion, but finally I was released, just before the Dowell Dinner demanded deliverance.

A couple of weeks later, on our return from the Dowell Diner, Abdullah’s stocks had obviously become depleted and he ambushed us again. This time Marvin tried to negotiate the bail without the custodial sentence, but Abdullah wasn’t having it. “You must drop Pryor at my police station, Mr. Marvin. We will discuss his future with you in the morning.”

This sounded rather ominous to me, and my fears turned out to be justified. After Abdullah had closed and locked the cell door, he paused and turned to me. ”Mr. Pryor,” he said, leaving a prolonged gap for dramatic effect, “I will not be putting you in jail again.”

“No Desert Pass, Mr. Pryor?” said Sgt. Abdullah, exercising the fluent command of the English language which had got him the job in 103-A. I couldn’t help

“Oh, thanks, Abdullah.” I replied, a relieved smile spreading across my face, “Great news?”

“I’m afraid not Mr, Pryor.” Abdullah bowed his head, as if to emphasize the gravity of the situation. “On three occasions now, you have flouted the laws of the Socialist Peoples’ Libyan Arab Republic.” He raised his head and fixed me with a withering stare. “You have become a habitual criminal, Mr. Pryor, and if this infringement of the Desert Pass Regulations occurs again, I will have to refer your case to the Central Criminal Court of the Peoples’ Committee in Tripoli.”

I suddenly realised Abdullah was deadly serious. “The last expatriate who appeared before this committee, for a similar offence, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. He got out after six, but he was not the same man who had entered that jail six years before. His mind was gone, after the years of deprivation and depravity. He died within two years of his release.”

This was seriously scary stuff. I decided to throw myself on Abdullah’s mercy.

“Abdullah,” I put on my best pleading voice. “We’ve known each other for some time now. You know that I am not a criminal. You know that I am really putting my neck on the line here, in order to help the economy of Libya. It is my company and the demands of the People of Libya which cause me to have to be flexible with the Desert Pass Regulations, not my own personal gain.” I was actually skirting round, pretty close to the truth, in fact. Personal gain had ceased to be part of the equation a couple of months back, even before the American raid, and my flying career would most certainly not be advanced by ten years in a Libyan jail. “What do you suggest that I should do?”

“I suggest, Mr. Pryor, that you go to Tripoli tomorrow morning and sort out your situation before it is taken out of your hands.”

“Thanks for the tip, Abdullah. I will most certainly take your advice.”

Obviously the client was not too happy to have a pilotless, instead of a Pilatus Porter on his hands, but there was no alternative. I scrounged a lift on the Occidental Twin Otter, the next morning and arrived in the Schlumberger office in Tripoli, just in time to call our office in Zürich, before lunch.

“’Morning Eddie.” I greeted our Chief Pilot.

Many Brits were trapped in Lybia after the American attack.

“’Morning Hugh!” came his cheerful reply.

“I’m in Tripoli.”

“Very good, Hugh. How’s everything in Tripoli then?”

“Not very good Eddie. I’m in Tripoli, but the aeroplane is down in the desert.”

“You can’t do THAT, Hugh! Who’s flying the plane?”

“Nobody, Eddie. You have to get someone down here to replace me.”

“No Hugh, I’m afraid that’s not an option at the moment. We have no replacement for you as yet. So you will just have to soldier on for a bit longer.”

“Sorry, Eddie. I have been advised that if I go back to the desert without a Desert Pass again I will be arrested as I have already been three times now, and my case will be referred to the Peoples’ Committee here in Tripoli. I was told that, in all likelihood, I will not then reappear in public for ten years, if ever, and that our company would probably become Personna Non Grata in Libya. So you will HAVE to get someone to replace me anyway.

Eddie paused for some serious brain-storming. “Right, Hugh. I will see if I can get down there myself, tomorrow, and take over from you.”

“That’s my Boy!” I thought out loud, but the task of finding my passport and getting the visa extended without incurring the wrath of the Peoples’ Committee seemed an especially daunting task, particularly in light of the recent American raid. 

NEW SEARCH FOR MH370

Ten years after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished, the Malaysian government has approved yet another search for the missing aircraft.

ON MARCH 8, 2014, MH370, operated by a Boeing 777-200, carrying 239 passengers and crew, departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport en-route to Beijing. However, the aircraft mysteriously vanished from radar screens shortly afterwards.

Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke says the government has approved a $70m search on a “no-find, no-fee” basis by US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity. The company will only be paid if the wreckage is located.

Despite extensive efforts, including satellite imagery analysis and underwater searches, the wreckage of MH370 has remained elusive. The initial search

focused on the southern Indian Ocean, based on acquired satellite data and largely driven by Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) analysis. Extensive underwater searches were conducted by multinational teams, including Australia, Malaysia, and China. However the search was suspended in 2018.

The new search area, identified by Ocean Infinity, is based on the latest information and data analyses conducted by experts and researchers. The company has proposed a 15,000 square kilometre area in the southern Indian Ocean for the renewed search.

Ocean Infinity has equipped its advanced autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with cutting-edge technology, including high-resolution sonar and artificial intelligence capabilities. These technologies will greatly improve the search and increase the chances of finding the wreckage.

The families of the missing passengers and crew have actively advocated for the resumption of the search.



AFTERMATH of the Engine Fire PART 2

Iris McCallum continues her stories about her early years with Air Kenya and this month she shares her recovery in the aftermath of her dramatic engine fire and crash and her subsequent ‘getting back onto the saddle’.

AFTER ALL THE DOCUMENTATION

relating to the crash had been dealt with, my fellow pilot at Air Kenya, Paul de Voest, exerted his natural authority and said, “Okay Cuddles, (Cuddles being the nickname the Air Kenya staff had given me). You’re coming with me.”

Paul must have been just 23 years old and so was younger than me. He was one of the most natural pilots I had ever flown with so we teased him a lot and called him De Verst pilot in da Vorld. Of course in British, and especially British colonial culture, teasing is one of the signs of respect.

Finally Paul said, ‘Okay Cuddles, I’m taking you home now. Tomorrow morning we will do a quick charter to Ol Pejeta and have some fun on the empty return leg.”

teasing is one of the signs of respect.

When I entered the old bar at the Aero Club I received a rapturous welcome. I felt a lightness that I had never felt before. I experienced a beautiful sense of total peace that lasted for six months or so.

I was plied with lots of our lovely Kenya beer, Tuskers, by all and sundry. Fellow pilots touched my shoulders and arms (for good luck they said). We had quite a celebration.

Our Piper Navajo, 5H-IHC, was a delight to fly. Paul took the co-pilot seat and we worked as two crew in harmony. I don’t recall what or who we flew, probably a combination of pax and supplies. Fifteen minutes later we were airborne back to Wilson. Paul was perfect, he didn’t overstress me on my first flight, he just wanted me to land one one single engine. So he closed down the right engine and said, “This will be easy for you, you did one yesterday.”

Sure enough, it was much easier without any flames. Paul was doing a great job helping me get back into the saddle and flying without fear.

I was given a couple of days off and then Paul and I went flying in the Cessna 310R, 5Y-EAR. It was a lovely morning flight to Kisumu on Lake Victoria, very picturesque in the Rift Valley, with the Aberdare Mountains to our right and a glimpse of Mount Kenya.

We dropped our passengers at Kisumu and came back to Wilson empty. Paul got me to do some steep turns, left and right, clean stalls, full flap stalls, slow flight and alternating engine failures. On the return he again gave me a single engine landing to do, only this time he shut down the critical left engine. We had a thoroughly fun time and Paul agreed that I was comfortably back in the saddle.

My logbook shows that on 17 February I flew 5Y-IHC to Entebbe to drop passengers and then return to Wilson. There was no Paul to hold my hand.

that it made, and I kept looking from left to right engine and making sure that all was well. After about 20 minutes out, I noticed that I was losing fuel out of the left fuel cap. I wasn’t taking any chances so called up Nairobi Centre and told them that I was returning to Wilson. I apologised to my passengers in that they were going to be delayed getting to Entebbe, but they didn’t seem to mind.

Our Piper Navajo was a

delight to fly

I did normal preflight checks and engine runs, and all looked good. I took off Runway 07 with a right hand turn out to the north-west. It is such a privilege to fly around Kenya. The magnificent highlands and mountains are a tonic for the soul.

I was very much aware of my aircraft, every sound

The fuel cap was duly fixed, (I think a seal had hardened). This time there was nothing to bother us, the weather was clear on the way there and my passengers arrived in time for lunch.

On the way back to Wilson I climbed to Fl170. We had oxygen on board and no pax and so I took the direct IFR Route A609 Entebbe to GG. It was peaceful up here and I was determined to get over my anxiety of hearing strange noises coming, when there were none. I set up the autopilot, pushed

Paul de Voest & Buster Ray finishing EA Safari Ralley.

PILOTS

back my seat, got out the latest Jilly Cooper novel and never looked back.

I am often asked whether they gave me psychological counselling in those days.

They didn’t, but I was very fortunate in the friends I had. Jill Megson, whose cottage I rented, made sure I was all right and invited me over for many a meal

and a vodka with her three teenage daughters Jacquie, Linda and Wendy to liven things up.

My fellow pilots, Paul de Voest, Buster Ray, Heather Stewart and GK Bayraktur were all steadfast. We were a very tight group and I learned what it means to have a band of brothers and sisters. I was incredibly lucky to be working within a company of caring directors and staff, from baggage handlers to the Chairman.

Captain Paul de Voest welcoming his pax on the Dreamliner.

Paul de Voest accomplished much, as a pilot, and as a rally car driver. He has had an outstanding airline career. He was invited to join Gulf Air and was with them for many years. He became the Training Captain on the A340/330 and B767. He later joined Etihad and spent seven years on the 777 and 787 before taking early retirement. He and his wife Jane now live on the Kenya Coast at Watamu.

I was on the Kenya coast in 2016 when I saw them again. I had been to Tanzania to visit my Mum and family briefly, then on to Nairobi for a memorial service for a great friend, Greg Love. Paul and Jane took me out for dinner and while we were eating my brother phoned to say that my mother had unexpectedly died.

It was a great privilege for me that during two of my life changing moments, first the fire and crash, and then the death of my mother, Paul and Jane de Voest were there to support me. I am very grateful to them. 

AME Doctors Listing

SOUTH AFRICA STILL CONSIDERING C-390

Defenceweb reports that South African Air Force (SAAF) representatives were among a high-level government delegation given a tour of Embraer’s facilities in Brazil, including C-390 Millenium and A-29 Super Tucano production lies.

THE DELEGATION COMPRISED key representatives from Denel and the South African Air Force (SAAF). The purpose of the visit was for Embraer to showcase the company’s expertise in aeronautical technology, design, assembly and support. The visit included presentations about the company, as well as tours of the assembly lines for commercial and defence aircraft such as the C-390 Millennium airlifter and the A-29 Super Tucano trainer/ light attack aircraft. Representatives from the SAAF also explored training facilities, including flight simulators.

“This comprehensive tour provided an opportunity to build strong relationships and explore the potential for establishing industrial partnerships,” Embraer told defenceWeb after the visit.

“The SANDF has shown interest in the C-390 Millennium, as it advances in the necessary steps for the selection of the much needed strategic lift capability for the SANDF,” the company said following AAD 2024.

expertise in aeronautical technology

Embraer has given South Africa a number of opportunities to evaluate the aircraft over the past years, first bringing it to South Africa in November 2023, when it was evaluated by the SAAF as well as various government departments. Embraer believes the C-390 is ideal for firefighting, disaster relief, humanitarian assistance and other tasks South Africa needs to accomplish.

Embraer showcased the C-390 aircraft at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition, held at Air Force Base Waterkloof from 18 to 22 September, presenting the aircraft and its capabilities to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Minister of Defence Angie Motshekga. Embraer said the multimission military transport aircraft fully meets the needs of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) as well as other government departments.

In April 2024, Embraer officials met with the South African National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) to explain the aircraft’s use for missions such as fire-fighting and humanitarian airlift. South Africa has experienced multiple natural disasters in recent years – including fires and floods – while the SAAF is in need of transport aircraft to support its international peace mission obligations.

Embraer said the C-390 could easily take on missions for the South African National Defence Force, the

Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, as well as the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. These range from the transport of freight, personnel and vehicles for peace keeping operations to special operations, humanitarian support, medical evacuation, search and rescue, maritime surveillance, fire fighting, air to air refuelling, and disaster management.

“This aircraft is currently the most modern and high performing in its category,” Embraer said, adding that it can operate from austere airfields to carry out a wide variety of missions.

The Embraer C-390 rendered in SAAF livery.

Since its entry into service with the Brazilian Air Force in 2019, the C-390 has carried out numerous humanitarian aid and medical evacuation missions, saving thousands of lives. On a daily basis, the C-390 Millennium transports soldiers, personnel, supplies, and both civilian and military vehicles, a capability highly valued for peacekeeping missions and disaster management. More recently, the C-390 has contributed to environmental protection in Brazil by fighting wildfires in the Pantanal region, dropping up to 11 tons of water per pass over the fires.

“Additionally, both nations rely on the Swedish designed Saab JAS-39 Gripen fighter jet, which is capable of air-to-air refuelling for the protection of their national airspace. This makes the C-390 Millennium an even more relevant and practical choice for the South African Air Force, offering not only cutting-edge capabilities but also enhancing the interoperability with Brazilian Air Force.”

the most modern and high performing

This tactical transport aircraft is capable of being refuelled in flight, allowing it to cover long distances at Mach 0.8 or undertake extended missions. It can also perform air to air refuelling missions for other aircraft thanks to special pods installed on its wings.

“It is interesting to note that South Africa shares many similarities with Brazil, particularly in terms of geography and operational needs. Both countries have vast territories with remote and often challenging environments, including large forested areas and numerous austere airfields,” Embraer said.

“Beyond its versatility, reliability, and top-tier performance, which make it the best aircraft in its category, the C-390 also offers very attractive operating and maintenance costs. These qualities explain the growing commercial success of this mission-proven aircraft with numerous clients, including Sweden, South Korea, Portugal, Brazil, Hungary, Austria, and the Netherlands to replace their legacy aircraft,” Embraer concluded.

The C-390 has been selected by many nations to replace their C-130 Hercules fleets – the C-390 can fly nearly twice as fast as the C-130, and carries a greater payload (26 tons versus around 20 tons). For the South African Air Force, the C-390 would enable faster and more efficient transport of troops and equipment to places like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the SANDF has peacekeepers deployed.

BOEING VS AIRBUS 2024

In 2024 Boeing delivered 180 fewer commercial aircraft than 2023 after a year which began with the door plug failure on an Alaska Airline 737-9 Max.

BOEING HAS REPORTED that for the year 348 passenger jets were delivered to customers and there were just 57 in the last quarter. This compares to 2023 when a total of 528 commercial airliners were delivered, with 157 delivered in the final quarter.

Rival Airbus reported that it had delivered 766

commercial aircraft during 2024. Airbus described 2024 as ‘good year’ despite missing delivery target. It delivered 766 commercial aircraft to 86 customers during 2024 and reported 878 gross new orders.

In July 2024 Airbus reduced its delivery target for the year from 800 planes to around 770, citing the shortage of engines and other key components.

After the Alaska Airlines incident on January 5, 2024, the US plane maker’s quality control suffered enormous damage to its long cherished reputation. The FAA launched a far-reaching investigation and limited aircraft production numbers. The head of the FAA Mike Whitaker said in December 2024 that “enhanced oversight” of Boeing is “here to stay”. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was replaced by Kelly Ortberg.

As of January 2024, Boeing was producing 38 737 Max jets per month. This rate was capped by the FAA due to safety concerns. Boeing’s goal is to increase production to 50 737 Max jets per month. Boeing has said it aims to return to its pre-strike production rate in 2025 and triple its current rate by 2027. However, the company has faced supply chain and manufacturing issues for over two years.

The American OEMs troubles were compounded when 30,000 workers went on strike for sevenweeks in September 2024 over pay and employment conditions. The recovery was protracted as, when workers returned to work, Boeing spent a month poststrike making sure the necessary safety steps were taken before restarting production.

The damage was not just to the platemaker’s backlog of deliveries but Boeing also saw its orders fall catastrophically 60% in 2024 with 1,456 secured in 2023 and only 569 in 2024.

Airbus CEO Christian Scherer said: “2024 confirmed sustained demand for new aircraft. We won key customer decisions with most important customers and saw phenomenal momentum for our widebody orderbook, complementing our leading position in the single aisle market. On deliveries, we kept our trajectory and celebrated several landmark firsts. These include the first ever A321XLR as well as first A330neo and A350 deliveries to several customers globally.”

To have achieved Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury’s delivery target for the year, the planemaker would have needed to deliver 127 aircraft in December 2024. However, it reports only 123 delivered. In comparison, in 2023, Airbus reached its yearly target of 720 deliveries, with 112 aircraft delivered in December 2023.

During 2024, 604 A320 family aircraft were delivered, followed by 75 A220 family aircraft, 57 A350 family aircraft and 32 A330 family aircraft.

PIAGGIO SOLD TO TURKISH UAV BUILDER

Baykar, a Turkish company specializing in unmanned aircraft, has received approval from the Italian Ministry of Enterprises to acquire Piaggio

Aerospace, manufacturer of

turboprop.

OF NOTE TO BAYKAR as a UAV builder, Piaggio devoted significant resources to developing the P.1HH “Hammerhead” an unmanned special-missions derivative of the P.180 Avanti for long-endurance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The “Hammerhead” name is a reference to the basic Avanti design, which includes a small forward wing, sometimes incorrectly called a “canard.” The Avanti’s is technically a “three-surface” configuration. The forward wing is technically not a canard since, unlike canard aircraft such as the Rutan LongEze, pitch control is achieved primarily through normal tailmounted surfaces.

Piaggio’s corporate lineage dates back to 1884 as an early motor vehicle manufacturer. The company produced its first aircraft in 1915.

Since the development of the Avanti in the 1980s, Piaggio’s ownership has seen a long string of changes, starting in 1998 with another Turkish business entity, a holding company known as Tushav.

Piaggio was acquired two years later by a group headed by Jose DiMasi and Piero Ferrari of the famous Italian carmaker family.

Control shifted to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development company, and in 2018, Piaggio entered Italian receivership with the proceedings to be controlled by an Extraordinary Commissioner.

In 2020, the company was officially listed for sale with final approval of a buyer to be overseen by the appointed commissioner

While Baykar notes the acquisition will “expand its influence in the European aviation market,” the company also indicates a commitment to retaining Piaggio as an Italian company. Italian Minister Adolfo Urso said, “After six years of waiting, we are giving Piaggio Aerospace, a strategic asset for our country, a future with a long-term production perspective, safeguarding corporate complexes and workforce.”

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 a a a a a

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

HELICOPTERS

JANNIE MATTHYSEN

HEADING OFFSHORE

Part 3: Living the Dream

It’s still dark outside and I’ve already worked up a sweat. We’ve been busy for almost two hours and have not yet made it to the helicopter for our scheduled flight.

Two pre-dawn hours are spent preparing the big

Sikorsky for flight.

MY FELLOW PILOT and I have completed an extensive systems check, and we are confident that our Sikorsky S-92 is up to the task of taking us and our unsuspecting passengers more than 200 miles offshore into the Gulf of Mexico and safely back again.

Our flight plans have been filed, all paperwork reviewed, signatures placed in all the appropriate places, weather checked and doublechecked, and final “pitstops” made. Our passengers are being prepared for flight in another part of the sprawling flight operations complex. We’re almost ready to go!

either right or left seat and all our crews are trained and qualified to do both. Typically, the pilot in the right-hand seat flies outbound, while the pilot in the left-hand seat manages checklists, radio work, and all other tasks required to be accomplished on our iPads.

ATC sounds like an auctioneer

The S-92, as a two-pilot helicopter, can be flown from

The left-seater is also responsible for closing the rear cargo ramp, removing chocks, and closing the cabin door. These responsibilities are reversed for the inbound flight while each pilot remains in the same seat. Individual roles are typically decided by the crew on the day, but the company assigns the Pilot in Command for each flight. Clear as mud initially, but the arrangement works well once each pilot is accustomed to the expectations in each role.

The oil platofrm is 200 nm away over varying weather.

HELICOPTERS

The helicopter spends a tense 20 minutes on the helideck. Note the firefighter on standby.

One crew after another trickle out of the planning room to the flight line as they receive confirmation that their passengers are ready. Our call should come soon. We have thirteen passengers for our outbound flight today, and we know that the aircraft has been refuelled and baggage loaded in accordance with the flight manifest.

Right now the passengers should be in one of the briefing rooms where they are given a detailed preflight safety briefing and handed their life jackets for the flight. The men and women who work offshore in the oil & gas industry are very familiar with safety protocols, emergency procedures, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and preparing for worstcase scenarios. A routine helicopter flight represents just one more dimension of risk in this hazardous profession with the ever-present preparedness for ditching offshore.

We receive an electronic message on our iPads that our passengers are finally ready for the flight and we march out into the warm morning air to our S-92 on the flight line. It’s hot, and one of our primary tasks is to fire up the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) that allows us to prepare all aircraft systems for flight, but more importantly, powers the air conditioning unit.

It works gloriously well, and our cabin and cockpit will be pleasantly cool before we allow passengers to embark. This also gives us a few minutes to consult ATIS for the latest airport weather, obtain our departure clearance and program our FMSs for our planned routes and IFR departure procedures. The weather forecast promises a pleasant day, devoid of any major activity, but there has been some rain overnight with cloudy remnants of those storms still drifting around. We will be flying a SID (Standard Instrument Departure) before adjusting course to our offshore destination.

Passengers are brought to the flight line in what can only be described as a ‘stretch limo golf cart.’ These things scurry around the flight line all day, and some even tow a small trailer for baggage and cargo.

Ground crews corral our passengers on board. The cargo ramp and cabin doors are closed and we start both engines and engage the rotor system for the first time today. This is when the helicopter really comes alive, and our excitement levels invariably raise a bar or two. Deafening noise, vibration, blinking lights, and thousands of bridled horsepower are all poised at our command as we taxi to the runway.

Our flight is scheduled to depart a little later than the other flights, and it appears that we’ve managed to avoid the early morning rush of IFR departures. The airport is busy, and the air traffic controller sounds like an auctioneer. I strain to understand his southern drawl. No doubt he is experiencing similar issues with my South African accent as he has only heard Charlize, Trevor and Elon with their Americanised accents.

Our two General Electric CT7-8A engines collectively produce more than 5,000 horsepower, and to say that climb performance is impressive borders on understatement. Upon initial climb, we reduce engine power to bring performance to a manageable level and we slowly accelerate beyond our Vy (Best Rate of Climb speed) of 80kts to settle at around 100kts and 1,000 feet per minute for the cruise climb. We need a

BUMPPPFFF:

little over 70% power to accomplish that while loaded close to our maximum weight of 26,500 lbs.

Today, we will be flying outbound at 3,000 feet as headwinds only increase at higher levels. Our return flight at 6,000 feet should yield a healthy tailwind, which will propel us to a groundspeed of around 165kts. Fun! 

Pakistan Airlines ad shows plane flying into the Eiffel tower.

And then so did a Qantas ad!

SACAA WINS TOP EMPLOYER AWARD

The

South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA)

has been recognised as a Top Employer for 2025 by

the Top Employers Institute.

THE SACAA says the Top Employers Institute conducted a rigorous evaluation process, assessing the SACAA’s human capital practices. The comprehensive assessment required the aviation regulator to provide extensive data and evidence of its human capital strategies, which was validated through an in-depth review of the organisation’s practices.

The process not only reviewed SACAA’s practices but also measured their impact and consistency across the organisation.

“We are incredibly proud of this achievement. It reflects our unwavering commitment to creating a world-class work environment, fostering growth, and offering continuous opportunities for development for all our employees,” said the SACAA Board Chairperson, Mr Ernest Khosa.

“This certification also reinforces the SACAA’s dedication to fostering an inclusive and collaborative work culture based on diversity, equity, and inclusion. It highlights the SACAA’s success in creating an environment where employees feel valued, empowered, and inspired,” Khoza added.

The SACAA’s Director of Civil Aviation, Ms Poppy Khoza, expressed her appreciation, saying: “Our commitment goes beyond simply serving the people of South Africa through aviation regulatory oversight. Just as the SACAA strives to be the best regulator for the public, we see ourselves at service to our employees. We work hard to create a healthy, supportive work environment where the employees’ wellbeing are prioritised, allowing them to deliver the highest possible service. When our employees feel valued and cared for, they are in the best position to serve the people of South Africa.”

Director of SA Civil Aviation Ms Poppy Khoza.

Aero Engineering and Powerplant AMO

BACKPAGE DIR ECT ORY

208 Aviation Ben Esterhuizen +27 83 744 3412 / 83 820 1513 ben@208aviation.co.za info@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 www.aeroeng@iafrica.com

Aero Engineering & PowerPlant

Andre Labuschagne 012 543 0948 www.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

Cape Town Flight Training Centre

Frans 021 976 7053 admin@cape-town-flying.co.za www.cape-town-flying.co.za

Capital Air

Tanya Vinagre 011 827 0335 / 083 928 7265 tanya@capitalairsa.com www.capitalairsa.com

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 0371 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 0800 467 873 info@mbfs.co.za www.mbfs.co.za

MS Aviation Gary 082 563 9639 gary.templeton@msaviation.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: 021 935 0980 execheli@iafrica.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