GA TO THE RESCUE

One of the crosses borne by the general aviation (GA) community is that it is the plaything of the rich. Happily, this has once again been proven to be spectacularly wrong and GA has shown what a key component of air connectivity it is.

Charter operator NAC made very effective use of their Cessna Caravan.

WHENEVER THERE IS A CRISIS, particularly one in remote areas, and medicines and food have to be moved urgently across a hostile landscape, the GA community has shown a selfless willingness to provide the skills and valuable aircraft to come to the rescue.

One of the most prominent occasions was the Mozambique floods of 2000 when the South African GA community came out in swarms to the aid of Mozambicans trapped by floodwaters.

And so it has been again with the Durban anarchy. The riots had begun at a toll plaza on the N3 highway and so closed down the key supply route to Durban from Gauteng. But soon the riots and looting spread across the province, fanned by inflammatory social media posts inciting people to go out a loot shops.

The highway to Durban was closed and shortages of essential food and medicine were beginning in Durban. Diabetics faced insulin supply failures, leading to coma and death. A dialysis centre had been burned down – so portable dialysis machines had to be flown in. These are just two examples of the small highvalue and urgent loads that GA can handle so well.

News24 reports that because a blood bank was destroyed in Durban, two private aircraft flew in blood supplies to the city. The SA Red Cross provided both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters to fly in supplies. A cell phone company flew in cable to restore its damaged network towers, and private security officers were flown in to protect businesses.

It was not just the Durban area that desperately need a GA airlift. The roads across the province were unsafe, so many farmers used light aircraft to carry food to family and friends in remote areas.

The CAA has long viewed small private airfields with suspicion, perhaps seeing them as a security risk. But the importance of rural airstrips has once again proven to be essential, despite the CAA’s persistent attempts to regulate them.

It was not just small loads that needed to be flown. A tonne of porridge was donated to Mission Aviation Fellowship from Paarl in the Western Cape. The Cape Winelands Airport is well positioned to transport the food to Durban but did not have suitable aircraft available, so a sizeable donation was raised from Canada and the essential food flown in a King Air from Cape Town International Airport.

Even AMO and charter operators helped - Lanseria based Gem Air unloads their King Air at Virginia.

Aircraft owners and pilots from all walks of life willing gave up their time to help. Many people stranded in Durban used the planes which had brought in essential supplies to fly out of the troubled areas. News24 reports that many families chartered private aircraft to fly their children, staff and pets out of KwaZulu-Natal.

The GA fleet was also essential for providing news coverage of the hotspots and as an overall picture of the scale of the riots and looting. In addition, insurance assessors were flown into small towns to expedite cliams.

It is estimated that there were more than 100 such flights into Durban’s Virginia airport on just Friday 16 July.

And its not only the GA community that came to the rescue. The airlines that are still flying, notably Airlink and CemAir, responded magnificently to the urgent call. Extraordinary partnerships arose. Airlink joined forces with taxi industry body Santaco, Shoprite supermarket and law firm, HSF to provide vital aid and support to Pietermaritzburg.

Airlink provided the essential airlift capacity to deliver over 2,000 food parcels after shops in Pietermaritzburg and surrounds were looted.

The airlines were invalauable - CemAir loads emergency aid into a Dash-8.

Image Sebabatso Mosamo.

A team of 85 volunteers were flown to Pietermaritzburg where Santaco taxis transported them to the areas in most need of support. Relief supplies and food packages were donated by Airlink, HSF, their respective staff and matched with contributions from Shoprite.

CemAir has never shirked form helping out. CEO Miles van der Molen said that they had been able to deliver food and other essential supplies. “There are so many who need help. We are channelling the supplies through specific NGOs who have footprints in Joburg and Durban.”

Miles made available his larger aircraft including the Dash-8 which could carry about four tonnes of food per sector. The return flights were in huge demand for those looking to escape the strife. “We are bringing lots of young people out with very small children. There is absolutely no visible effort by the state to push back this line, and people really feel like they are left to their own devices. This is fear and they really feel abandoned,” he said

The Commercial Aviation Association of South Africa (CAASA) played a key organising role. Louise Olckers, general manager of CAASA, said a co-ordinated system of flights was carrying vital goods, people and services and making evacuations to and from affected areas in KwaZulu-Natal. She said the supplies that were being airlifted included food, essential products and medical supplies.

Louise described the help from the aviation community with offers of use of aircraft and pilots as phenomenal. “When disaster hits our country, the aviation community stands together to bring relief to those in dire need. It is at times like these that municipalities should realise the value of having an airstrip in each and every town,” she said.

The bizjet and charter operators were another aviation sector that helped unstintingly. One such is Comair Flight Services, whose CEO said that initially they had been approached for evacuation requests but they combined those with requests for freight to Durban. A WhatsApp group was started and soon had over 100 aviation companies pooling resources to provide help. A common need was from doctors in remote areas who desperately needed medical supplies.

The beleaguered SAA pilots – most of whom have not been paid for 16 months – gave selflessly. SAAPA pilots who had access to a range of aircraft, from light sport to turboprops, rallied to offer their expertise.

SAAPA leadership set up a social media group and their pilots played an invaluable role collecting families and flying them out of the hot spots, as well as bringing in much needed medical supplies to secondary places like Margate and Richards Bay. Thus SAAPA member Captain Allen Lange provided his small DynAero MCR4S to evacuate people from Margate. And he used it to transport urgently needed baby formula, insulin and chronic medication.

Many other members of the ‘homebuilt’ side of aviation were able to provide an invaluable role. EAA member Don Kemp volunteered his Cessna 182, with pilot Keaton Perkins. A Sling 4 air lifted 120 kg of food to Richards Bay. And the list goes on and on.

It is in these critical times where the GA industry has, many times over, proved its indispensable worth.

General aviation is too often seen as a toy for rich whites.