Flightcom Magazine December / January 21/22

FlightCm African Commercial Aviation

Edition 157 | December / January 2021/22

Rodger Foster – on Post Covid recovery

Mike Gough:

Knowledge Skills & Attitude

SAAF – should

it share with its neighbours?

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Space Weather

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CONTENTS

TABLE OF

Publisher Flyer and Aviation Publications cc Managing Editor Guy Leitch guy@flightcommag.com Advertising Sales Wayne Wilson wayne@saflyermag.co.za

DECEMBER / JANUARY 2021/22 EDITION 157

Layout & Design Emily-Jane Kinnear Patrick Tillman

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Bush Pilot - Hugh Pryor Airline Ops - Mike Gough Defence - Darren Olivier Face to Face: Rodger Foster Dubai Airshow 2021 SANSA Monitors Space Weather Denali - First Flight AME Directory Starlite Directory Atlas Oil Charter Directory AEP AMO Listing Backpage Directory

© FlightCom 2021. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronically, mechanically, photocopied, recorded or otherwise without the express permission of the copyright holders.

A NOTE FROM

THE EDITOR: I often get asked how general aviation is doing.

The answer is – I don’t know. Some parts seem to be doing really well, others really badly.

A COMMON PERCEPTION is that general aviation is dying, largely due to it becoming too expensive and oppressed by the CAA – and video games competing for young pilots.

Yet the flight schools are doing well.

According to the SACAA, there were 13,223 pilots in South Africa as at October 2021. Ten years ago there were 14,560 pilots, so the decline has been relatively small.

Why is the continued health of GA so important? Simply because, in the absence of any training budget in the SAAF, every South African pilot, regardless of where their career takes them, begins as a general aviation pilot. Their experience gained with light aircraft lays the groundwork for flying large aircraft. Many airline pilots secretly admit to how boring piloting a large airliner can be, compared to flying a small single-engine plane around the Okavango Delta. For old airline pilots, the thrill of first solos and cross-countries lives with them long after their initial training.

With airlines having to fund training to attract new recruits into the industry, there is a real hope that the biggest single obstacle to the growth of GA will be overcome – and that is the lack of funding for ab-initio training.

Further, Mike Gough, our stalwart airline columnist, has been quietly working away at bringing the Multi Crew Pilot Licence to South Africa. This will use sophisticated and stringent selection criteria that will almost (but not quite) guarantee the success of the student, and thus the student’s ability to repay bank financing.

student pilot’s repay bank financing

And now, with the airlines facing unprecedented pilot shortages, the importance of GA as the foundation for the African air transport industry is ever more important. Flight schools are ramping up capacity.

And most importantly, pilot pay is expected to likewise increase, making being a senior pilot as financially rewarding as being a senior company executive.

Compared to perhaps R100,000 for a bachelor’s degree, the R500,000 required for a Commercial Pilot’s Licence may seem a lot. But if the much-anticipated shortage becomes real, the salaries will make repayment of that half a million Rand seem like a bargain.

The problem with fat pilot salaries is that it will attract those who do not have the passion and commitment flying requires. Commercial flying demands an extraordinary level of commitment and sacrifice, which only those with a deep avocational passion for flying will be able to endure. This will continue to make being a pilot an unattractive job to those who want the cushy working conditions and status of a regular office job – that may one day provide accesses to the levers of procurement.

While we wait for high pilot salaries – may I wish you all a happy Christmas and a better 2022. 

BUSH PILOT HUGH PRYOR

I spent eleven exciting, sometimes challenging and often very amusing years flying for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), The main reason why I enjoyed those years so much was that it would be difficult to find a more admirable, brave and amusing bunch of people to work with, and that includes the aircrews.

I

T WAS NOT ALL RISK FREE of course, because the ICRC, by definition, only works in war zones and are the guardians of the Geneva conventions on the Rules of War and the treatment of prisoners and innocent civilians.

ICRC is looking for companies who employ pilots who have experienced operations in, shall I say, rather more ‘demanding’ theatres. To give you an example... there was one route in Angola where we were not allowed to fly above 80 feet AGL, in order to avoid SAM 7 missiles...but we nevertheless lost three of our Twin Otters and one C130 Hercules to missile strikes and one Twin Otter to an IED which had been planted on the runway at Cuima.

in Angola we were not allowed to fly above 80 feet AGL, in order to avoid SAM 7 missiles

An interesting anomaly in those rules is that the ICRC does not own any aircraft.

Aircraft bearing the official ICRC insignia are protected by the Geneva Conventions, but the aircrews are not. They are ‘contractors’, employed by the airline from whom the aircraft is hired and therefore the crews are not ‘Official Delegates of the ICRC’ and are not protected by the Rules of War because they are ‘Voluntary Non-Combatants’ and are therefore not technically ‘innocent’.

This sounds like a load of legal ‘Gobbledygook’, until you actually start flying for these guys.

The pay is normally very good and tax-free, but the

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The Twin Otter’s PT-6A exhaust stacks are built so far out in front of the wing that a heat-seeking SAM 7 will destroy the engine.

Fortunately however, the fuel is all safely stored down in the belly, reducing the risk of collateral fire. If the crew are quick, the Twin Otter’s other engine will keep everybody in the air until they find somewhere sensible to land. Which our crews did in Angola, and although we lost four of our Twin Otters in Angola,

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we got all our passengers safely on the ground. The only severe injuries were caused by the hangovers the following morning.

The tragedy was our C-130.

Its Captain, Dorian Schon and its Co-pilot Nick Dough had been the heroes of us twiddly pilots. They were flying ‘The Big One ‘.

They were legendary in Ethiopia during the Great Famine in 1984/5 because they were the only guys who would take ten tons in to Lalibella and get out of there, without hitting Ras Dashen, a mountain which was in the way.

In Angola, Dorian and Nick were our heroes, but they considered us ‘Twiddlys’ as ‘Front Line’ operators and so, if the Hercules was on the ramp when we got back from flying, Dorian would walk across and count the number of bullet holes in our aircraft. He would then drag us back to the hostel, where we had to drink a beer for each bullet hole, and if it had gone in one side and gone out the other...then that was two beers.

Basically, Dorian and Nick were the ‘morale’ for us Twin Otterers.

The strange thing about Angola was that we were all being shot at. Yet apart from the two Twin Otters hit by the SAM-7s all the other ones were patchworks of repairs carried out by the engineers to bullet holes which none of us heard as they pierced our little cocoons. Each repair was therefore labelled by the engineers and was worn like a medal.

The strange thing about Angola was that we were all being shot at

Then I did a week of flying out of Benguela with Maria, an Angolan-born Portuguese girl who had trained in South Africa but had retained a colonial sense of humour, which she needed, when we got back to our base, in Huambo.

We landed and taxied into the parking but nobody came out to greet us, so I just closed down and it was like ‘Zero’ until Hans Granenwerger, our Grandfather Twotterer grabbed open my door and shouted for me to get out...so I did. While we exchanged seats he asked me how much fuel there was. I told him that we had three hours left as he slammed the door and proceeded to takeoff across the parking area.

Hans managed to land the Twotter on a bit of road,

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across which the C130 had crashed, but the only human remains which he could find was a female left hand which was wearing the engagement ring which one of our engineers had recently bestowed upon her to both their delight. The tragedy was overwhelming, but, maybe because we were all so shocked by losing our heroes, we were welded together by a bond so strong that not one of us took up the offer of repatriation. We had lost our friends and one of our engineers had lost the love of his life. They had lost their lives doing a job, saving lives and now it was up to us to finish the job for which they had paid the ultimate price.

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

I received six ‘medals’, although two of them were downrated to one because one of the bullets came in one side of the aircraft and went out the other.

The only time I remember being shot at was after I had been transferred from Angola to Mozambique. There was a civil war in progress and one of our jobs was air ambulance, mostly picking up ‘Whiky-Whikys’, a radio pseudonym for ‘War Wounded’ to remind us of what we were looking forward to on our return to Beira, after the mission.

One day Jacko, a young Mozambique-born Portuguese co-pilot and I were detailed for a flight to a place called Meringue, a small government garrison in the middle of miles and miles of thick thorn bush.

This was ‘enemy country’, and radio communications between the aircraft and the troops on the ground did not work, so they had a system for letting us know what the ground conditions were for our arrival.

The ICRC procedure was for us to circle the destination at 3000 feet AGL, to show everybody that we were a Red Cross aircraft on a mercy mission and not a government Antonov 26, chucking bombs out.

middle of the instrument panel exploded in sparks and bits of flying metal and glass and there were one or two more thuds and bangs My immediate reaction was that something had gone explosively wrong with the radios and then Jacko shouted something expletive In Portuguese and I just dived for the trees...and I mean ‘below the trees’, because in Angola they had heat-seeking missiles and the only escape from those, at low level, was to get out of sight in amongst the foliage. So we did that for fifteen minutes, while we tried to sort out the problems.

The guys on the ground would then lay white sheets out on the airstrip.

One sheet halfway down the runway would indicate that the security was okay, but the airfield was flooded.

One sheet at each end of the runway told us that the Security and the landing conditions were good...and if there were no sheets, then neither side were happy and it was time to turn away and go back to Beira for further instructions.

Jacko was great and he and I went through all the emergency checks to make sure that the ‘Old Girl’ was going to get us back to Civilization in one piece.

The rebel ‘Renamo’ forces generally respected these rules and we only had one Caravan shot down. They were en route from Maputo to Nampula at 11 000 feet (FL 110), so it must have been a lucky shot which screwed up the reduction gearbox and the pilot, an Austrian, who is still a good friend of mine, managed to pull off a miraculous deadstick landing in the high reeds of a dried-up dam which had belonged to an old Portuguese mining company, in the thickest of the thorn bush. The Caravan settled comfortably into the reeds and slowly flopped over onto its back, while still supported by the reeds Everybody walked out, to be rescued by a Russian Mi-17 helicopter crew, not without considerable risk to themselves...but that is another story.

because one of the bullets came in one side of the aircraft and went out the other.

As far as we could work out, the flying controls were all working fine, but the Autopilot was not talking to us anymore. The fuel and hydraulic systems didn’t appear to have any unexpected holes and the engines still spoke ‘PT-6’ to us and I had an invaluable ‘King’ handheld VOR Transceiver in my flight bag, which had nearly caused a divorce, when I bought it, but it got us back to Quelimane that day and I have been forgiven.

Jacko and I did, of course, complain about our treatment upon our arrival over Meringue and the garrison commander apologised but explained that they had come under attack from Renamo as we came over and so they didn’t have time to take the sheet away and their only option was to fire incendiary rounds in front of us, to warn us off and we, stupidly, flew into them!

Anyway, we got to Meringue and started our circle, when I noticed that there was only one sheet on the threshold of the runway.

The wooden nose of our Twin Otter needed considerable surgery and so, instead of Medals, our Twin Otter got medal ribbons from the engineers, which I hope she wears to this day. 

Well that was not in our instructions, so I stupidly went for a closer look and suddenly the radio rack, in the

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AIRLINE OPS MIKE GOUGH

The concept of a combination of knowledge, physical flying skills and correct attitude (KSA for short) would be well known to those who have been involved in any advanced aviation training program.

W

ITHIN THE GENERAL Aviation (GA) environment, this would be referred to as Airmanship, which to many is a mysterious or even undefined concept.

Spending quality time at one of South Africa’s busiest international airports – Lanseria – has certainly illustrated the vast divide that exists between formally trained and assessed KSA, compared to some examples of seriously lacking airmanship.

So how would one define this concept of Airmanship?

Airmanship is defined by the US Federal Aviation Administration as -

Ebbage and Spencer, in their 2003 paper entitled ‘Airmanship Training for Modern Aircrew’, used their research to define this concept as, "A personal state that enables aircrew to exercise sound judgment, display uncompromising flight discipline and demonstrate skillful control of an aircraft and a situation. It is maintained by continuous self-improvement and a desire to perform optimally at all times."

maintained by continuous selfimprovement

• A sound acquaintance with the principles of flight – (Knowledge) • The ability to operate an airplane with competence and precision, both on the ground and in the air – (Skills) • The exercise of sound judgment that results in optimal operational safety and efficiency – (Attitude).

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Sounds like these attempts to define this aspect are all on the same page.

We all have most certainly seen, in one form or another, the good, the bad and ugly examples of this trait.

A very simple example of poor airmanship (of which we are probably all guilty of at some stage of our aviation careers) is turning an aircraft in front of an open hangar and prop-blasting dust and debris inside. This would normally then be followed by an irate occupant of the hangar storming out and berating the pilot, and then presenting the hapless aviator with a broom and firm instructions to reverse the transgression.

Airmanship requires pre-flight checks being properly done - including the removal of pool noodlers.

This sort of situation would (normally) never be done consciously, and the pilot’s attention would be on parking or positioning the aircraft, while not whacking a wing tip in the process. It is the unconscious consequence of the rearward-facing propeller blast that indicates a momentary loss of Situational Awareness (SA), part of the Attitude aspect, and is most certainly a part of airmanship.

effects of downwash and permitted landing areas.

Skills exhibited was that of barely being able to avoid a physical collision with nearby aircraft (specifically mine), and an absolute denial and aggressive response to the suggestion that things could have been done better indicated an attitude that would at some point result in an accident.

That is an example of conscious denial of transgressions of aeronautical common sense.

A few years ago, I was sitting in one of my Cessna 172s with a student, conducting a post flight briefing after having shut down. This was on what is loosely referred to as the Freight Apron at Lanseria - which has never seen much freight activity. However, as it is relatively uncluttered, it is frequently used for helicopter movements.

Unconscious poor performance is somewhat more common.

As my hangar is pretty full of aircraft when flying is done, or the weather is not cooperating, we find ourselves walking between tightly parked wings, tails and propellers. My bright idea to comply with health and safety in this situation is the humble pool-noodle – the expanded neoprene foam in a large noodle form popular with kids in the swimming pool.

A gentleman in his Hughes 500 helicopter (a hot ship for a new PPL-H, as he was) air taxied right over the top of my aircraft at about 20 feet and proceeded to shakily alight a few metres away, with the resultant rotor wash feeling like a mini tornado in the momentarily battered Cessna.

Split along one side of its entire length, this metre-anda-bit of high density foam is easily slipped onto the trailing edge of a Cessna wing, which helps immensely to eliminate the well-known Cessna Rash on one’s forehead.

An attempt to discuss this display of potentially lethal lack of airmanship resulted in a perfect example of KSA – and all in the negative, unacceptable sense.

Zero knowledge of the traffic patterns for helicopters,

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Logic would dictate that this item, attached to the trailing edge of an aileron, should be removed before flight.

The basic ASK model.

It has happened on at least one occasion that an entire pre-flight inspection has been done, without the noodle being noticed and removed. This by a licenced individual.

Luckily, the noodle’s grasp of the aileron is somewhat tenuous, and in this case, slipped off while on the taxi way. There was a bit of explaining to be done to the fire truck staff as to how a pool noodle ended up being reported as present on Taxiway A. In terms of Airmanship, this is a lack of being observant as well as a failing of application of procedures. Where it falls into the KSA model is the Attitude component, in terms of how one approaches a pre-flight inspection. This situation is not entirely removed from the multiple events that have occurred in the past with respect to the lack of removal of flight control locks before flight, all of which have had disastrous consequences.

The Knowledge and Skills component have been fairly well addressed through the steady improvement of simulator training scenario development as well as

the extensive use of computer based training and the advent of online resources.

The Attitude aspect is a more elusive element to define and thus train and refine.

Aviation history is full of examples of where the attitude of the crew has directly contributed to a fatal accident. The most notable being the collision of

The Inner Art of Airmanship - is recommended reading.

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two Boeing 747s at Tenerife in 1977, when a highly regarded Captain had a mindset to depart while disregarding procedures and inputs from other crew members.

careers or escaped a particular tricky situation with aplomb, managed to channel the positive side of their attitudes into that particular success.

English states, “It turns out there are many more places to look for flying lessons than in twisted wreckage sitting in a smoking hole in the ground.”

As is the structure of an investigation, the focus is almost always on what went wrong, and very little insight as to what went right, and this is where the essence of modern Crew Resource management courses is founded.

The entire advanced aviation training industry has made huge strides in the Human Factors area, and with this progressive thinking at the fore, we can expect more of the positive training aspects to emerge, as opposed to simply the lessons that have already been learned.

Dave English, in his work ‘Inner Art of Airmanship’, points out that psychology journals traditionally cite six times more negative aspects for each positive, or ‘what went right’ aspect. Looking down our noses and gasping at the blatant disregard for procedures / minimum altitudes / aircraft limitations and so on, does not teach us how those who have had exemplary

I would suggest taking a look at http://www.innerairmanship.com/asstd/index.html



Airmanship - looking cool is not part of it.

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NEWS

A350 PAINT PROBLEMS An undated photograph of what appears to be paint peeling, cracking and exposed expanded copper foil (ECF) on the fuselage of a Qatar Airways A350 aircraft may be the start of a widespread problem for Airbus.

Qatar has grounded 20 of its 53 A350s, saying it is acting on orders from its local regulator, until reasons for what witnesses describe as the blistered and pock-marked appearance of some of its A350s can be confirmed.

Reuters reports that a dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways over paint and surface flaws on A350 jets stretches beyond the Gulf, with at least five other airlines raising concerns since the high-tech model entered service.

Airbus says there is no risk to the A350's safety - a point echoed by the other airlines, which have not grounded any jets and describe the issue as "cosmetic."

Airbus said in response to queries from Reuters there had been some problems with "early surface wear" that in some cases had made visible a sub-layer of mesh designed to absorb lightning, which it is working to fix. 

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Paint breaking away from the skin of a Qatar A350.

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DEFENCE DARREN OLIVIER

If recent events across the African continent south of the Sahara have taught us anything, it is that for most countries, air power is increasingly unaffordable, ever more tenuous, and generally in retreat.

T

HE COST OF NEW AIRCRAFT continues to climb and, perhaps surprisingly, new offerings from Russia and China do not have low enough price tags to substantially offset that.

So Africa’s air forces are facing the same dilemma of air forces all over, of having to do more with less. But given the continent’s security issues and its relatively low economic power, it’s having to do much more with much less than most. That’s a problem.

across roles, it also brings increased cost. As an example: The C-130 is a good, versatile medium heavy air lifter, used by most air forces for tactical lift.

Back in the early 1990s, a C-130H would have cost an air force around US$55 million in current (2021) US dollars. Yet today, it costs almost twice that to buy a C-130J. Certainly, the C-130J is a big improvement on the C-130H in every single way, but is it twice as good?

a multi-role aircraft can only be used for one role at a time

Many problems can be solved by throwing money at them, and this is no different, but for any modern air force the money needed to maintain even a decent number of aircraft across multiple capability areas rapidly becomes prohibitively expensive for a developing country.

Aircraft are becoming more complex in almost every sense, and while that brings added capabilities and some savings in terms of being able to reuse them

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You can also double that unit price for any realistic acquisition: New Zealand’s recent purchase of five C-130J-30s, including a single flight simulator and a support package, worked out to nearly US$200 million per aircraft.

Of course you also don’t need to buy brand-new aircraft, and a number of lower and middle income countries have opted to buy second-hand aircraft where possible. Poland for instance just bought five ex-USAF C-130Hs for the bargain price of US$14.3

Could the SADC states ever co-operate enough to be a new NATO?

million, though that was partially subsidised by the US government to support an ally. The assessed value of the aircraft was US$ 60 million, with further retrofits and upgrades needed in Poland before they can enter service.

requirements that might include airlift, ISR, attack, air defence and maritime patrol, and wondering how the hell they’ll be able to afford to acquire more than a token capability in each of those roles as and when their current types require replacement.

But this approach has downsides, too, among which is that not all aircraft types are available in good or costeffective condition second hand, that you’re usually acquiring 30+ year old aircraft with relatively high ongoing maintenance and support costs, that they often need to go through refurbishment and upgrade before use, and that unless you can afford a thorough retrofit, you’re stuck with the configuration and systems that the previous owner deemed suitable for their needs, not yours.

In fact, it’s now something that not a single SubSaharan African country is reasonably able to do, with even South Africa struggling to maintain its core set of capabilities and unable to replace its ageing aircraft.

Sure, you can go all-in on multi-role and try to use a few aircraft types across as many missions as possible.

Hang a few missiles on a Cessna C-208, pop on an ISR turret, and now you have a light transport, a training aircraft, a light attack aircraft, and a surveillance aircraft all in one. Great! Except, it now costs much more to operate in the transport or training role than a basic C-208, it’s vulnerable to ground fire, costly

In any case, it’s a tough ask for any African air force planner looking at their twenty year forecasted

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Poland paid just U$14.3m for five ex-USAF C-130Hs.

to lose in combat or in an accident, and you have the inherent opportunity cost of any multi-role aircraft which is that it can only really be used for one role at a time: each time you take it up for a transport mission, you’re effectively taking away a light attack and ISR aircraft from your fleet.

In the end, while aircraft like this are undoubtedly useful and can bring cost-savings when used carefully, no amount of slapping on more gear and roles onto a single airframe can make up for a lack of numbers.

And in emergencies, you’re seldom going to need either a transport, or a light attack aircraft, or an ISR platform, you’re going to need all three simultaneously and in different places.

How then do we solve this dilemma? The needs keep growing, both in terms of having to respond to natural disasters exacerbated by climate change and in terms of new insurgent threats springing up everywhere; from northern Mozambique to northern Nigeria, as the world becomes less stable. But the same circumstances mean African air forces will generally have even less available funding to spend on acquiring and operating aircraft than they do now.

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The answer is a simple one, but far from easy: Sharing.

In short, what no Sub-Saharan African country can afford alone, regional groupings can afford together, by pooling resources, allowing countries to specialise in certain service areas, and achieving economies of scale. Each country could have access to a fuller range of capabilities for a much lower cost than operating everything themselves, especially if the most expensive facilities like training centres and maintenance depots are consolidated and shared.

In reality this is impossible, at least in the foreseeable future. For it to work would require a level of political, economic, and social integration that doesn’t exist in any regional grouping on the continent, and certainly in none globally outside of NATO. It would also require, most importantly, that every country involved permanently give up the idea of ever engaging in any sort of inter-state war with other countries in their region, something which seems incredibly difficult to predict in today’s chaotic world. So it’s only a dream, a semi-utopian and idealistic vision with no hope of success. But it’s at least interesting to think about, so let’s dive into what such an approach might look like.

Take SADC: It’s a political and economic alliance of 16 southern African countries, with a total land area of nearly 10 million km² and over 360 million people. It’s peaceful in terms of inter-state warfare, at least since the 1998-2002 war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but two of its member states are struggling with widespread and intractable insurgencies, about half are losing billions in revenue by being unable to protect their exclusive economic zones from illegal fishing and other illicit maritime activities, and all are acutely vulnerable to climate change.

maintenance facility in South Africa with targeted work share packages that involved industry in Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, etc as well? Similarly, if South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, and the island nations of Mauritius, the Seychelles, and Comoros all pooled their resources to establish a single maritime domain awareness centre with sub-regional offices and on a joint purchase of long-range maritime patrol aircraft with three or four regional operating bases, they could probably achieve much better collective control over their waters than each one attempting to do it individually.

Moreover, each of its members are struggling to maintain substantial and relevant armed forces given the rising costs of military equipment and demands for non-military budget spending. When it came time to assemble a self-funded military force to intervene in northern Mozambique, all that SADC could reasonably muster in terms of air support for the mission under the provided budget was a handful of helicopters, a single C-208 for ISR, and four medium-to-heavy airlifters to assemble the half-brigade-sized force. It’s far from sufficient.

Airlift, too, is a prime candidate for transnational sharing as argued here before and proven by NATO’s Strategic Airlift Capability. With pooled funding and shared facilities, SADC could afford at least a small squadron of heavy airlifters like the A400M or probably to have at least a dozen medium airlifters like the C-130J available at any given time. Either would be a huge improvement in regional capability.

do jet fighters still have a role to play?

In the end though, this is just a thought experiment and an incomplete one at that. Even if we ignore the impassable political and social barriers standing in the way of this sort of idealistic integration, which even the EU has yet to achieve, there are so many more factors to consider before it would be a realistic proposal. For instance, not all consolidation would bring savings, and the requirement for work shares to avoid countries feeling disadvantaged introduces its own set of problems.

But from a pure efficiency perspective, and again imagining our ideal utopian vision of all countries working together to combat internal threats like smuggling and insurgency, rather than needing to prepare for regional war, SADC has too many duplicated resources. Eight of its members operate fighters, though at least half those with such token and outdated capabilities that they might as well be non-existent. Most have transport helicopters, though generally in small numbers and more oriented toward light utility types rather than more useful medium transports. All have too few attack helicopters and light attack aircraft, and of dissimilar types. And so on. Of course all also have duplicated training facilities and maintenance units.

Then there’s the issue of mismatches between how each country views the priority of its requirements, how you fairly distribute cost burdens, how you allocate mission time, and a million other things. And do jet fighters still have a role to play? If so, can they truly be used as shared assets, given the prestige they inevitably carry? It all gets messy, complicated, and non-utopian quite fast.

What if instead, Botswana hosted all the flying training for SADC, with instructors and industry support from the rest of the bloc? And what if SADC’s members agreed to standardise on certain types, such as perhaps the Airbus Helicopters H225M for medium lift helicopters, and established a single depot

So it’s not a realistic goal, not just yet anyway, but perhaps some parts of it might just be. Continental air forces need to be thinking about the next twenty to thirty years and thinking seriously about how they’re

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Regional cooperation in Africa is not easy - as evidenced by the failure of Zambia and Zimbabwe to agree a new name for the Victoria Falls.

going to be able to maintain sufficient capabilities to meet an uncertain new world. They need to be looking at their neighbours, and at examples from elsewhere, to figure out what small steps they can safely make without sacrificing sovereignty to slowly share costs and opportunities with neighbours.

Maybe that involves more standardisation, both on aircraft types and on subsystems, or maybe it involves more shared training, or some level of maintenance consolidation. Whatever the case, it has to be something new, innovative, and a little bit risky, because the status quo isn’t working any more. 

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NEWS

BESTFLY ACQUIRES

AW169S

Angola’s Bestfly has announced it is to acquire four Leonardo AW169 light intermediate twin engine helicopters. This is the first entry of the AW169 into the African market.

The introduction of the AW169 is a significant boost to Bestfly’s air operations in Angola. It says it will be conducting passenger and equipment transport in the energy industry by “leveraging latest technology and navigation/mission avionics, latest certification and safety standards, outstanding performance, the largest cabin in its category and a modern maintenance approach.”

wide range of applications, including air ambulance, law enforcement, executive / corporate and offshore transport, electronic news gathering, training, military and utility roles.

Leonardo says, “In the energy industry sector, by supporting oil and gas or wind farm, the AW169 has already proven successful in Europe and the Middle East. More than 130 units have been delivered worldwide and have logged more than 90,000 flight hours.” 

Orders and options for nearly 290 AW169 helicopters have been signed by over 90 customers in more than 30 countries around the world to date for a

Bestfly is acquiring four Agusta Westland AW-169s.

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

21

Rodger Foster says Airlink is both a regional airline and a network carrier.

Airlink has been one of the star survivors of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is seizing opportunities to expand its network across Africa – and is rapidly expanding its fleet to accommodate the many new opportunities it has made.

AviaDev’s Jon Howell (JH) asks Airlink’s CEO Rodger Foster (RF) how he has met the challenges – and what the new normal is expected to be.

22 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

JH: Airlink is an airline that has done much in the past 25 years to keep sub-Saharan Africa connected, especially during the dark times over the past 18 months. It's now almost two years since you terminated the franchise agreement with South African Airways and set up on your own code. I guess you were thinking “We're poised for gigantic growth, with all guns blazing,” and then of course Covid came along and spoiled the party. How much did that impact change your strategy and what lessons have you learned as a result of the past 18 months or so?

there are all of the absolutely essential bolt-on’s to the basic system, such as revenue optimisation and accounting systems and so on. I'm very pleased to say that Airlink has accomplished total independence from the relationship that we previously had with the mothership.

In August this year you entered a codeshare with Emirates. Tell us a bit more about the agreement and are you starting to see the benefits?

As a SADC airline we connect local business centres with other economic centres. However, we rely on commercial partnerships with airlines that provide long haul services from source markets such as North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, for us to gain access to those markets for the purposes of providing seamless connectivity to our customers. We operate a local and regional network of destinations all linked together by our hubs, we offer high frequency of services with availability to serve the markets’ requirements at the right timing.

Our customers originating their travels from within our network have access to the world’s most popular destinations via the services of Airlink’s commercial partners, and reciprocally, customers originating their travels from source markets within the networks of our partners have access to all of Airlink’s destinations via the services of our partners in conjunction with our own.

We are therefore proud of the codeshare relationships we've established with Emirates and United, as well as the interline relationships with many others, including: Lufthansa, British Airways, Qatar, Air France, KLM, Virgin, Delta, Ethiopian, TAAG, LAM, Cathay, Turkish and many others.

RF: If anything, Covid presented us with the opportunity to implement our strategy. Bear in mind that our relationship with South African Airways lasted 25 years. When your business is dependent on a mother ship for that amount of time, you can imagine that to untangle that spaghetti and to reinstate independence is a mammoth task. So Covid and the lockdowns presented the opportunity for us to quietly get on with that implementation of our independence and that entailed setting up new systems and relationships. Bear in mind that Airlink is at the end of the day a network carrier and a regional airline. As a network airline we have interlining agreements and that required systems establishment and the implementation of those systems.

Airlink is standing alone, totally independent from the mothership

And then there are the commercial partnerships.

The lockdowns and the ebb and flow of easing was mayhem for us. There were curfews, travel prohibitions, countries closing their borders, airport hours of operation changes and airport closures. Some airports still remain closed, even today, and there is one instance that a country’s borders remain closed.

All of them caused multiple business disruptions but at the same time allowed us quiet time to get on with the implementation of the systems, in particular the inventory hosting systems. And then, of course,

Are we seeing the benefits of international travel being reactivated? We absolutely are. Just a month and a half

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

23

Rodger Foster with one of his Embraer 190s. He expects to upgrade to Embraer E2s. Pic Garth Calitz.

24 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

ago we had almost zero interlining traffic, other than for online interlining, in other words, on our services from Cape Town to Johannesburg and on to Bulawayo for example. But right now, interline traffic represents about 20% of our business, so we've definitely seen an uptick and the multiple relationships that we have firstly established and then nurtured are undoubtedly bearing dividends. We need to see this in context – long-haul travel is currently only at about 40% of its pre-Covid levels.

see that relationships and commercial partnerships and agreements are the future of our business, but in an agnostic way. We don't want to be locked into one of the alliances on an exclusive basis. All three of the major global alliances and their key airline partners are relevant to our destinations as they collectively access the source markets to our destinations, and vice versa, where customers originating their travel from within our network would want to access their choice of global destinations through one of our partners who are members of one or the other of all three major global alliances.

It's a real sign of approval from both sides that those carriers obviously trust you and see the benefit of working with Airlink. And that's part of your longevity as I think you have a longer tenure as CEO of an airline than any other. How important are the lessons you've learned over those many years of being in the industry? Has it cemented your ability to deal with what's being thrown at you at the moment?

We want to look at what's best for our network system and our customers who need to get access to our destinations through our network in conjunction with what is best on every continent, and in every one of the source markets. Therefore we tied up a codeshare with Emirates which has the biggest global reach. We have also tied up a codeshare with United which is best placed to provide connectivity to the North America source markets via its hub in Newark - on to Johannesburg and then throughout our network, on a reciprocal basis.

long-haul travel is currently only at about 40% of its preCovid levels

Its equipped me better than if I was a green stick to the game.

I've been doing it now for almost 30 years, and you don't always get it right. But you do learn from your experiences and that’s what, together with your own skill set, develops expertise over time. It boils down to firstly: the clarification of what you're trying to do, and secondly: what you're trying to be. You can't be everything to all needs, but you can be something that, as long as you can define it clearly, you can get on with implementation.

Emirates are also alliance agnostic, as are many of the other partners that we engage with. Lufthansa and United are prominent members of the Star Alliance and in the case of our codeshare with United, this is on an alliance agnostic basis so we can also have a commercial relationship with Delta, which is part of Sky Team, and that opens up all the doors to us. It's that experience that gives us the ability to adjudicate what is best for our business and specifically for our customers who need to travel from within our network system through our hubs and then access their end destinations everywhere in the world through our partnerships. 

We are a regional airline and a standalone network system now, whereas before we were a component of a composite network system. I suppose in many ways we remain a composite. We are the local and regional component, and the composite is a collaboration between ourselves and our global partners. I think it's that clarity of thought that has matured over time; we

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

25

NEWS

STARLITE SOLD TO SAF HÉLICOPTÈRES Prominent South African company Starlite Aviation has been sold to French company SAF Hélicoptères to form part of a global aviation group: SAF Aerogroup.

SAF Aerogroup, is consolidating its position as the French leader and a major player in the helicopter and fixed wing service sectors worldwide, by opening up new markets in Africa and the Middle East.

The new group of 500 employees, manages 8 maintenance bases, 2 training centres, 5 flight simulators and operates a fleet of 78 mission aircraft for: Medevac operations, EMS, light and heavy lift work and VIP transport. The pilot training fleet consists of 40 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, including 3 twin turboprop aircraft.

SAF Aerogroup operates in France, Ireland, Belgium, South Africa, Mali and Niger with a consolidated turnover of 100 million dollars. Within three years, SAF is expected to create 100 to 300 additional jobs and a turnover of 150 million dollars.

The acquisition opens up new market opportunities for the SAF Aerogroup geographically and expands their areas of expertise. Starlite is a leading multi-faceted aviation group of companies, offering helicopter and

26 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

fixed wing aircraft for challenging missions in austere environments and a well-established manned and UAV pilot training academy, supported by numerous dedicated maintenance divisions across Africa.

Recognised worldwide, Starlite has maintained a strong presence and long history rooted in Africa, providing 24/7 mission ready helicopter and fixed wing aircraft for complex assignments for: medical emergency services, and rescue and relief.

Starlite Aviation’s globally recognisable brand will remain unchanged under SAF Aerogroup. Gareth Schnehage, CEO of Starlite Aviation says, "We are delighted to be joining the SAF Aerogroup. Ultimately, it is our customers and employees who will benefit from this merger."

Tristan Serretta, CEO of SAF Aerogroup: "Our ambition is to become a global player in airborne services, and this acquisition takes us one step further in that direction. Our common culture aimed at excellence will significantly facilitate the integration of Starlite Aviation teams". 

NEWS

DR ANSA JORDAAN

HONOURED

The British Royal Aeronautical Society has awarded its prestigious President’s Award to South African doctor, Dr Johanna (Ansa) Jordaan.

work experience includes the South African Military Institute of Aviation Medicine, the South African Civil Aviation Authority, medical director of South African Airways, medical director of Occupational Health at International SOS and working as an independent consultant. Her memberships include the Aerospace Medicine Association, the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine and the Airlines Medical Directors Association. She is an advisor to the World Health Organization. 

The Royal Aeronautical Society’s president, Mr Howard Nye, awarded Dr Jordaan his President’s Award “to recognise outstanding skill and professionalism in the field of aviation and aeronautics, especially in adverse circumstances.”

The award is entirely in the gift of the incumbent President and may be awarded to individuals or teams. Dr Jordaan’s colleague, Dr Kenneth Ingham, says, “This is only the second time in the history of the Royal Aeronautical Society that the President's Award has been issued, this time to Dr J J Jordaan of CAPSCA in ICAO, for their tireless work on aviation safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not bad for a "Boeremeisie” from Carletonville.”

RAS President Howard Nye with Dr Ansa Jordaan.

The Royal Aeronautical Society’s citation reads that Dr Johanna (Ansa) Jordaan, “is the Chief of the Aviation Medicine Section at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). She is a medical doctor with post-graduate degrees in Aerospace Medicine and Occupational Health. Her previous

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

27

DUBAI

AIRSHOW 2021 Hannes Meyer

28 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

The Dubai Airshow 2021 kicked off on 14 November, still under the Covid-19 blanket, but that did not deter Dh286.5 billion ($78 billion) worth of commercial and defence contracts signed during the show, surpassing the previous edition’s total by over Dh100 billion.

The Boeing 777X was the undisputed star of the flying display.

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

29

H

ELD AT AL MAKTOUM International Airport at Dubai World Central from November 14 to 18, industry specialists and leaders from across the aviation, aerospace, space and defence sectors arrived at the Airshow from every part of the globe.

This year’s Dubai Airshow is the biggest edition of the event since it began in 1989. Almost 150 countries are represented at this year’s Airshow, which includes 20 country pavilions and new additions. There were also civil and military delegations from more than 140 countries with more than 370 new exhibitors at the event.

Dubai Airshow and the UAE Space Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the second day of the Airshow. The two parties will collaborate to further position Dubai Airshow as a key platform for companies and investors in the space sector.

The partnership will support organisations looking to establish a presence at future editions of the event and will enable space companies to benefit from the participation, engagements, networking and agreements created at Dubai Airshow.

Airbus launched its A350 freighter at the airshow with ALC as launch customer with an order for seven A350Fs. Boeing now has more than 200 orders for its 737800 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) from 19 customers. Boeing announced the opening of three more B737-800 conversion lines with Icelease as the launch customer. The company will open up one conversion line at its London Gatwick MRO and a two further lines in 2023 at KF Aerospace MRO in Kelowna, Canada.

Emirates Airlines announced they will retrofit 105 aircraft with new premium economy seating. The 18 month programme will be conducted at their Emirates engineering facility in Dubai.

52 A380s and 53 B777s will be retrofitted and work will begin at the end of 2022.

Emirates also announced an order or two B777Fs to be delivered in 2022 and signed an agreement with IAI to convert four Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft into freighters, starting in 2023, with an option for further conversions.

star of the flying display was the Boeing B777X

This year focused very much on the future of aviation in terms of sustainability and virtual reality. In the exhibitors’ hall was an abundance of companies promoting electrical powered flight as the future of aviation, and virtual reality, being the leading training tool.

Orders Announced This year the aircraft orders announced at the show did not disappoint. Airbus was the clear winner with 406 airframes, Boeing with 98 and ATR with 18.

Home colour from the Emirates A380 in Expo 2020 livery.

30 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

ABOVE: An Etihad B787-9 with the UAE's Al Fursan team.

BELOW: The US military was there in force - here a USAF KC46 with a C130 behind.

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

31

Bombardier's Global 7500 continues to chalk up steady sales.

Airbus opened up the show announcing a massive 255 Airbus A321NEO and A321XLR order from low cost consortium Indigo Partners. Indigo partners includes Low cost carriers Wizz Air from Hungary, Frontier from USA, Volaris from Mexico and JetSMART from Chile and Argentina. ALC signed a letter of intent for 23 A320-300’s, 55 A321Neos, 20 A321XLRs, 4 A330Neos and 7 A350Fs. Kuwaiti low cost carrier, Jazeera Airways, ordered 20 A320Neo’s and 8 A321Neo’s

Boeing signed a deal worth nearly $9 Billion for 72 737MAX with Indian startup low cost carrier Akasa Air. African carriers did not disappoint. Nigerian airline Ibom Air Ordered ten A220s. Air Senegal is to acquire five Airbus A220-300s under a lease agreement with a division of Macquarie AirFinance. Air Tanzania placed an order with Boeing for a 787-8 Dreamliner, a 767-300 Freighter, and two 737 MAX aircraft.

The still hopeful single-aisle contender - Russia's Irkut MC21.

32 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

The Kamov Ka-50 is a Russian attack helicopter with the distinctive coaxial rotor.

Flying Display

Angolan airline Bestfly announced the lease of up to four E190s from ACIA. Nigerian start-up Overland Airways ordered three firm plus three options for E175s. Afrijet has signed for three ATR 72-600s with new PW engines. Binter Canarias ordered four ATR 72-600’s plus one option and Tarom signed a firm order for three ATR 72-600’s.

The crowd was spoiled by a variety of displays.

Performing was UAE Al Fursan, Saudi Hawks, Airbus A350, Russian Knights, French Rafale, Japanese Airforce C2 Kawasaki, Italian AW609, Irkut MC-21 just to name a few. The star of the flying display was the Boeing B777X, making its international airshow debut. Another noteworthy flying demonstration was the Russian Mi-28NE attack helicopter which made its first demonstration flight abroad.  Tecnam's P2012 made a welcome appearance.

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

33

NEWS

AIR TANZANIA

ORDERS MORE JETS The financially embattled Air Tanzania has announced an order for four new Boeings: a 787-8, a 767-300 Freighter and two 737 MAXes. The order, valued at more than $726 million at list prices, was previously listed as unidentified on the Boeing Orders and Deliveries website, pending the announcement of the orders at the Dubai Airshow.

In 2016, the Tanzanian government under President Magufuli had initiated a yet another attempt to resuscitate the repeatedly bankrupt national airline.

The airline announced it intended to double its fleet to 14 aircraft by 2022 and increase its longhaul and regional routes.

Wikipedia notes that in April 2021, the Tanzanian Auditor General warned that Air Tanzania flights flying abroad run the risk of being impounded due to huge debts incurred by the company. He stated that the company had incurred losses of USD 65 million since 2016. However, in May 2021 the Government of Tanzania announced a bailout of USD 194 million for the airline.

“Our flagship 787 Dreamliner is popular with our passengers, providing unrivalled in-flight comfort and ultra-efficiency for our long-haul growth,” said Air Tanzania CEO Ladislaus Matindi.” Adding to our 787 fleet, the introduction of the 737 MAX and 767 Freighter will give Air Tanzania exceptional capability and flexibility to meet passenger and cargo demand within Africa and beyond,” he said.

“Africa is the third fastest-growing region worldwide for air travel, and Air Tanzania is well-positioned to increase connectivity and expand tourism throughout Tanzania,” said Ihssane Mounir, Boeing senior vice president of Commercial Sales & Marketing. “We are honoured that Air Tanzania has chosen Boeing for its fleet modernization program by adding an additional 787 and introducing the 737 MAX and the 767 Freighter into its expanding network.”

Boeing’s 2021 Commercial Market Outlook forecasts that, by 2040, Africa’s airlines will require 1,030 new airliners valued at $160 billion and aftermarket services such as manufacturing and repair worth $235 billion, supporting growth in air travel and economies across the continent. 

Air Tanzania has announced it is to acquire another B787-8 and two 737-8 Max aircraft.

34 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

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FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

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35

The South African National Space Agency

SANSA MONITORS

SPACE WEATHER T he South African National Space Agency (SANSA) has been monitoring space weather since 2011 when it launched a limited research and development Space Weather Centre at its facility in Hermanus.

South Africa, through SANSA, was selected as an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) designated Regional Space Weather Centre in 2018.

This designation means that a fully operational capability for the African region will be in place by 2022, along with advanced research capabilities in the space weather field.

The new R90 million project includes upgrades to the SANSA Hermanus facility that will see the establishment of additional state of the art structures dedicated to 24/7 monitoring of space weather for civil aviation globally, and over the entire African region.

“This is very exciting for us as we are growing the space weather capability of Africa,” says Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell, SANSA Managing Director.

The space weather impacts on the aviation sector have been identified to be in the areas of High Frequency (HF) Communications, Satellite Navigation and Surveillance, Satellite Communications and Radiation Exposure. “The development of suitable products

Space Weather impacts many aspects of aviation and will become mandatory in flight plans.

36 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

in each of these areas are at an advanced stage and will lead to an information service required for the mitigation of these impacts, which in turn will assist with the reduction in the economic impact to the sector,” says McKinnell.

will require space weather to become a mandatory component for flight plans.

These upgrades, currently under construction, will include a space weather monitoring room with big screens displaying real-time data with an additional 24/7 functionality and a 100-seater auditorium for conducting training, public participation and awareness sessions on space weather, and additional offices for students and accommodation for visiting researchers.

• Real-time forecasting and monitoring of space weather to reduce and mitigate the risk of • the impact of space weather on technology, critical infrastructure and human activities.

• Provide tailored information and data for space weatherrelated requirements, such as High Frequency propagation forecasts, to clients.

• High Frequency Communications prediction software (IOCAP) • Facilitate communication and service co-ordination regarding space weather, particularly • during periods of enhanced solar activity and in the event of extreme space weather activity.

• Promote understanding of space weather and its effects among users, researchers, the • media and the general public.

• Tailor-made training solutions in HF radio systems, Geophysical exploration and satellite, spacecraft and airline operations.

Watch: This is how the new Space Weather Centre will look What is the impact of space weather on Aviation?

SANSA provides the following space weather services:

space weather will become a mandatory component for flight plans

Space weather refers to the effect of the sun on the earth and is caused by four main components: solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), high speed solar wind and solar energetic particles. When these components interact with the earth’s magnetic field, they can cause disruptions to our technologies. Communications and navigation disruptions and increased radiation exposure due to space weather events pose a serious risk to the aviation industry and this is why ICAO

SANSA is building a new Space Weather Centre in Hermanus.

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

37

The current Space Weather Centre.

SANSA’s magnetic expertise The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) is recognised as the national expert in magnetic technology applications. It provides quality-controlled services to clients in the defence, aviation and aerospace industry. These services contribute significantly to the work of private aviation companies, national airports, the South African Navy (SAN) and South African Air Force (SAAF), and thus to the safety and security of all South Africans.

With more than 80 years of magnetic operations under its belt, SANSA’s Hermanus facility offers state-of-theart equipment and services and operates a magnetically clean facility that enables them to perfectly calibrate landing compasses.

SANSA products and services • Landing compasses, which are used to calibrate aircraft compasses, also need regular calibration. SANSA offers not only calibration of landing compasses, but also performs general maintenance on these compasses.

38 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

• SANSA hosts regular courses for the SAAF and the private aviation sector on how to execute a compass swing procedure, including background on space weather, geomagnetism and Fourier analysis (the mathematics behind the procedure).

This procedure, which calibrates the aircraft compass, needs to be done in a magnetically clean environment, and SANSA assists clients in surveying an appropriate magnetically clean site on their own premises.

• SANSA also offers the calibration of magnetometers or electronic compasses used for navigation and orientation in drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and satellites.

• SANSA has designed and built a magnetic test bench used to test an aircraft standby compass before it is installed into an aircraft, thus ensuring that an aircraft is equipped with a working compass before executing an expensive compass swing procedure.

• A high-resolution local geomagnetic field is modelled across southern Africa using SANSA observatory and repeat survey data. The output of this model is used for navigational purposes by SANSA clients. 

South African National Space Agency Protecting Africa's Infrastructure The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) offers ICAO and SACAA compliant products and services to the aviation sector in the fields of space weather and magnetic technology. Learn more about this and other exciting thematic space programmes at SANSA: www.sansa.org.za

An entity of the Department of Science and Innovation

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

39

NEWS

NIGERIA TO RESTART NATIONAL AIRLINE The BBC reports that Nigeria will launch a new flag carrier before April 2022.

Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says a strategic partner will own a 49% stake in the airline.

A further 46% will be owned by local companies, and the government would not hold more than 5%.

With echoes of the South African government’s search for a strategic equity partner for SAA, Sirika announced that the search for a strategic partner for the new airline is about to commence. It could be either a foreign airline or a financial institution, and the required capital is between $150 million and $300 million.

Nigeria last had a flag carrying national airline in 2003, when Nigeria Airways closed after 45 years of mostly loss-making operations.

In 2005, Virgin Atlantic set up Virgin Nigeria as a joint venture with the Nigerian government. However, in an acrimonious split, in 2008 Virgin sold its stake in the airline and the carrier was rebranded Air Nigeria, only to cease operations in 2012, following safety troubles, groundings and an accumulation of debt. The most recent attempt to restart the airline was in 2018, but this ended when it was unable to find suitable investors. 

Air Nigeria closed in 2012 when Richard Branson pulled out of a joint venture.

40 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

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41

NEW AIRCRAFT

DENALI

- FIRST FLIGHT B

EECHCRAFT’S NEW single-engine turboprop, the Denali, completed its first flight on 23 November.

During the flight, the team tested the aircraft’s performance, stability and control and its propulsion, environmental, flight controls and avionics systems.

The aircraft reached an altitude of 15,600 ft. and speeds of 180 kt.

The Denali is not just an all new airframe, it also has a hugely important all new engine. Powered by the clean-sheet GE Aviation Catalyst 1,300 shp-rated engine this Pratt & Whitney PT6 challenger features a dual-channel FADEC and propeller control and is claimed to use 20% less fuel than older turboprop engines, GE says.

The Denali is expected to have a maximum cruise speed of 285 kt., have a full fuel payload of 1,100 lb.,

a four-passenger range with one pilot of 1,600 nm and a maximum cruising altitude of 31,000 ft.

The aircraft is equipped with McCauley’s all-new 105-in.-dia. composite, five-blade propeller, Garmin 3000 avionics and an integrated Garmin autothrottle.

It can be equipped for six passengers with individual reclining seats or for nine with a high-density seating option.

The 2h 50m flight by the Denali prototype took it to a test site over Cheney Lake west of Wichita, accompanied by a Cessna Citation chase aircraft. The flight departed at about 8:20 a.m. piloted by Peter Gracey, senior test pilot, and Dustin Smisor, chief test pilot. Gracey said; “It’s just a great aircraft to fly.

The Catalyst engine was outstanding, and the aircraft performed to the levels we were anticipating. First flights can’t go more smoothly than this.”

After a reportedly faultless first flight of over two hours, the Denali approaches to land back at Wichita.

42 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

The Catalyst-powered Denali has now flown with the new engine in the Denali airframe.

“Today’s landmark flight is not only a significant occasion for the Denali, it’s a truly great moment for our employees, our suppliers and the customers who will be flying this aircraft,” says Ron Draper, Textron Aviation president and CEO. “With its more environmentally friendly engine and largest cabin in its class, this is an aircraft that will change the landscape for high-performance, single-engine aircraft. Today’s flight is just the beginning for what we anticipate will be a long list of important accomplishments as we prepare the aircraft for certification and customer deliveries.”

The prototype aircraft, plus two additional flight test aircraft and three full airframe ground test articles will be used to test systems, engine, avionics and overall performance.

Textron and GE announced the aircraft and engine in 2015. Flight testing began in 2018 with certification in 2019, but delays in the engine’s testing programme moved back the schedule.

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083 679 0777

stant@global.co.za

✗ ✗ ✗

Toerien

Hendrik

White River, Nelspruit

013 751 3848

hctoerien@viamediswitch.co.za

✗ ✗ ✗

Van Der Merwe

Johann

Stellenbosch

021 887 0305

johann.vdmerwe@medicross.co.za

Van Niekerk

Willem

Benoni

011 421 9771

http://willemvanniekerk.co.za

Other countries

E-MAIL

EASA registered

TEL NO

FAA registered

LOCATION

Off-site Specialist tests

FIRST NAME

On site Specialist tests

SURNAME

Senior Class 1, 2, 3, 4

AME Doctors Listing

Regular Class 2, 3, 4

With this important and long awaited milestone, Textron has announced that certification is planned for 2023. 

✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

✗ ✗

✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

43

NEWS

BOEING 787

–

QUALITY CONTROL PROBLEMS CONTINUE The Seattle Times reports that Boeing has admitted to the FAA that some of its Boeing 787 composite components have been contaminated with Teflon and they may not be as strong as they were intended to be.

This is the latest in a long list of manufacturing defects being investigated by the FAA. There is reportedly no immediate safety risk for the in-service fleet but the composite issue will possibly delay the resumption of production of the 787.

specs but recently the company has found bonds that are weaker than designed. The Teflon contamination has been found in parts made by at least two of the contractors making big pieces of the aircraft like wings, fuselage and tail.

“We are looking at the undelivered airplanes nose to tail and we have found areas where the manufacturing does not conform to the engineering specifications,” a Boeing spokesperson told the Seattle Times. “None of these issues is an immediate safety-of-flight issue.”

The most serious threat is with the fittings that connect the floor beam to the fuselage frame where the wings are attached. The Times is also reporting that the memo contains more information on the improper shimming of gaps between parts caused by waves in the composite material. The memo says more gaps have been found in passenger and cargo doors in the aft fuselage. Again, there is no immediate safety issue, but the gaps could reduce the service life of the airframes because they can lead to the fasteners that hold the skin on pulling out. That condition could affect as many as 1,000 aircraft. The memo also reportedly says the faulty titanium fasteners identified earlier may be in as many as 450 aircraft and there is a potential safety issue if two of the non-spec fasteners are next to each other. 

The contamination occurred during the bonding process on many of the large components of the aircraft. Plastic bags are used to create a vacuum that holds the composite material in position in a mould.

The part is formed under heat and pressure in a giant autoclave. The bags and the material used to allow release of the bags contained Teflon and it left a residue on the composite. That residue can weaken the bond when parts are joined together using adhesives.

Initially, Boeing tests showed the bonds to be within

Boeing is still having quality control issues with the 787.

44 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

NEWS

BOEING KQ

LAUNCH INNOVATION HUB Boeing has announced a partnership with Kenya Airways to support its recently launched, Fahari Innovation Hub. The announcement was made at the Dubai Airshow 2021, with Kuljit Ghata-Aura, president of Boeing Middle East, Turkey and Africa and Allan Kilavuka, Group Managing Director and CEO of Kenya Airways, in attendance.

networking, research and learning. It aims to stimulate innovation by providing expertise, resources, services, mediation and support to other business functions and partner organisations.”

“The industry has been through a tough two years, but it is resilient and promises to become even more competitive and complex. We have the opportunity to enable new entrants that think outside of our norm and consider new approaches to our business,” said Kuljit Ghata-Aura, president of Boeing Middle East, Turkey and Africa.

Launched in July 2021, the Kenya Airways’ Fahari Innovation Hub is a platform that brings together entrepreneurs and innovators to help accelerate the development of the aviation industry and tackle some of its current and future challenges. “We are very proud of our partnership with Kenya Airways to support their new start-up hub. We share a common objective to discover and empower new talent that will accelerate the growth of our industry.”

Group CEO and MD, Kenya Airways, Allan Kilavuka stated: “While the pandemic came with extreme challenges for the aviation industry, it also brought along opportunities for reflection initiatives, one of them being the Fahari Innovation Hub. This not only enabled the presentation of new world class ideas that became part of the solutions to the challenges we faced but also brought together partners with whom we have worked together across the value chain in a bid to revive operations.” 

The Fahari Innovation Hub is “an autonomous and agile business unit, created within Kenya Airways.

Boeing will support the hub through equipping the centre with software, hardware, furnishing, and other essential requirements. Focused on being an epicentre for strategic innovation management, the centre will offer opportunities for co-creation, collaboration,

Boeing is backing Kenya Airways Innovation Hub.

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

45

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FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

47

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CODE TEL NO

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48 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

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• Overhaul / Shockload / Repair of Continental and Lycoming Aircraft engines; •Overhaul Engine; Components; •Overhaul and supply of Hartzell / McCauley and Fix pitch Propellers Hangar no 4, Wonderboom Airport , Pretoria PO Box 17699, Pretoria North, 0116 • Tel: (012) 543 0948/51 • Fax: (012) 543 9447 • email: aeroeng@iafrica.com AMO No: 227

FLIGHT SAFETY THROUGH MAINTENANCE

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

49

BACKPAGE DIR DIRECT ECTORY ORY A1A Flight Examiner (Loutzavia) Jannie Loutzis 012 567 6775 / 082 416 4069 jannie@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za

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

Adventure Air Lande Milne 012 543 3196 / Cell: 066 4727 848 l.milne@venture-sa.co.za www.ventureglobal.biz AES (Cape Town) Erwin Erasmus 082 494 3722 erwin@aeroelectrical.co.za www.aeroelectrical.co.za

Alpha One Aviation Opelo 082 301 9977 on@alphaoneaviation.co.za www.alphaoneaviation.co.za

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

AES (Johannesburg) Danie van Wyk 011 701 3200 office@aeroelectrical.co.za www.aeroelectrical.co.za

Apco (Ptyd) Ltd Tony/Henk + 27 12 543 0775 apcosupport@mweb.co.za www.apcosa.co.za

Aerocore Jacques Podde 082 565 2330 jacques@aerocore.co.za www.aerocore.co.za

Aero Engineering & PowerPlant Andre Labuschagne 012 543 0948 aeroeng@iafrica.com

Aero Services (Pty) Ltd Chris Scott 011 395 3587 chris@aeroservices.co.za www.aeroservices.co.za

Aeronav Academy Donald O’Connor 011 701 3862 info@aeronav.co.za www.aeronav.co.za

Aref Avionics Hannes Roodt 082 462 2724 arefavionics@border.co.za

Aeronautical Aviation Clinton Carroll 011 659 1033 / 083 459 6279 clinton@aeronautical.co.za www.aeronautical.co.za Aerotric (Pty) Ltd Richard Small 083 488 4535 aerotric@aol.com Aircraft Assembly and Upholstery Centre Tony/Siggi Bailes 082 552 6467 anthony@rvaircraft.co.za www.rvaircraft.co.za

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 @ Work Opelo / Frik 012 567 3443 frik@aviationatwork.co.za_ opelonke@aviationatwork.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 Airvan Africa Patrick Hanly 082 565 8864 airvan@border.co.za www.airvan.co.za

Atlas Aviation Lubricants Steve Cloete 011 917 4220 Fax: 011 917 2100 Sales.aviation@atlasoil.co.za www.atlasoil.africa

Chem-Line Aviation & Celeste Products Steve Harris 011 452 2456 sales@chemline.co.za www.chemline.co.za

Fly Jetstream Aviation Henk Kraaij 083 279 7853 charter@flyjetstream.co.za www.flyjetstream.co.za

Comporob Composite Repair & Manufacture Felix Robertson 072 940 4447 083 265 3602 comporob@lantic.net www.comporob.co.za

Flying Frontiers Craig Lang 082 459 0760 CraigL@fairfield.co.za www.flyingfrontiers.com

Corporate-Aviators/Affordable Jet Sales Mike Helm 082 442 6239 corporate-aviators@iafrica.com www.corporate-aviators.com C. W. Price & Co Kelvin L. Price 011 805 4720 cwp@cwprice.co.za www.cwprice.co.za

Dart Aeronautical Jaco Kelly 011 827 8204 dartaero@mweb.co.za

Dart Aircraft Electrical Mathew Joubert 011 827 0371 Dartaircraftelectrical@gmail.com www.dartaero.co.za ATNS DJA Aviation Insurance Percy Morokane 011 463 5550 011 607 1234 0800Flying percymo@atns.co.za mail@dja-aviation.co.za www.atns.com www.dja-aviation.co.za Aviation Direct Dynamic Propellers Andrea Antel Andries Visser 011 465 2669 011 824 5057 info@aviationdirect.co.za 082 445 4496 www.aviationdirect.co.za andries@dynamicpropeller.co.za www.dynamicpropellers.co.za BAC Aviation AMO 115 Micky Joss Eagle Aviation Helicopter Division 035 797 3610 Tamryn van Staden monicad@bacmaintenance.co.za 082 657 6414

tamryn@eaglehelicopter.co.za Blackhawk Africa www.eaglehelicopter.co.za Cisca de Lange

083 514 8532 Eagle Flight Academy cisca@blackhawk.aero Mr D. J. Lubbe www.blackhawk.aero 082 557 6429 training@eagleflight.co.za Blue Chip Flight School www.eagleflight.co.za Henk Kraaij 012 543 3050 Elite Aviation Academy bluechip@bluechip-avia.co.za Jacques Podde www.bluechipflightschool.co.za 082 565 2330 info@eliteaa.co.za Border Aviation Club & Flight School www.eliteaa.co.za Liz Gous

043 736 6181 Enstrom/MD Helicopters admin@borderaviation.co.za Andrew Widdall www.borderaviation.co.za 011 397 6260

aerosa@safomar.co.za Breytech Aviation cc www.safomar.co.za 012 567 3139 Willie Breytenbach Era Flug Flight Training admin@breytech.co.za Pierre Le Riche Bundu Aviation 021 934 7431 info@era-flug.com Phillip Cronje www.era-flug.com 083 485 2427 info@bunduaviation.co.za Execujet Africa www.bunduaviation.co.za 011 516 2300 enquiries@execujet.co.za Celeste Sani Pak & Inflight Products www.execujet.com Steve Harris 011 452 2456 Federal Air admin@chemline.co.za Rachel Muir www.chemline.co.za 011 395 9000 shuttle@fedair.com Cape Aircraft Interiors www.fedair.com Sarel Schutte 021 934 9499 Ferry Flights int.inc. michael@wcaeromarine.co.za Michael (Mick) Schittenhelm www.zscai.co.za 082 442 6239 ferryflights@ferry-flights.com Cape Town Flying Club www.ferry-flights.com Beverley Combrink 021 934 0257 / 082 821 9013 Fireblade Aviation info@capetownflyingclub.co.za 010 595 3920 www.@capetownflyingclub.co.za info@firebladeaviation.com

www.firebladeaviation.com Century Avionics cc Flight Training College Carin van Zyl Cornell Morton 011 701 3244 044 876 9055 sales@centuryavionics.co.za ftc@flighttrainning.co.za www.centuryavionics.co.za www.flighttraining.co.za

Chemetall Flight Training Services Wayne Claassens Amanda Pearce 011 914 2500 011 805 9015/6 wayne.claassens@basf.com amanda@fts.co.za www.chemetall.com www.fts.co.za

50 FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

Flying Unlimited Flight School (Pty) Ltd Riaan Struwig 082 653 7504 / 086 770 8376 riaan@ppg.co.za www.ppg.co.za Foster Aero International Dudley Foster 011 659 2533 info@fosteraero.co.za www.fosteraero.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

Integrated Avionic Solutions Gert van Niekerk 082 831 5032 gert@iasafrica.co.za www.iasafrica.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 Kishugu Aviation +27 13 741 6400 comms@kishugu.com www.kishugu.com/kishugu-aviation

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

MS Aviation Gary Templeton 082 563 9639 gary.templeton@msaviation.co.za www.msaviation.co.za

Sky-Tech Heinz Van Staden 082 720 5210 sky-tech@telkomsa.net www.sky-tech.za.com

North East Avionics Keith Robertson +27 13 741 2986 keith@northeastavionics.co.za deborah@northeastavionics.co.za www.northeastavionics.co.za Landing Eyes Orsmond Aviation Gavin Brown 058 303 5261 031 202 5703 info@orsmondaviation.co.za info@landingeyes.co.za www.orsmondaviation.co.za www.landingeyes.com

Owenair (Pty) Ltd Lanseria Aircraft Interiors Clive Skinner Francois Denton 082 923 9580 011 659 1962 / 076 810 9751 clive.skinner@owenair.co.za francois@aircraftcompletions.co.za www.owenwair.co.za Lanseria International Airport Pacair Mike Christoph Wayne Bond 011 367 0300 033 386 6027 mikec@lanseria.co.za pacair@telkomsa.net www.lanseria.co.za Kzn Aviation (Pty) Ltd Melanie Jordaan 031 564 6215 mel@kznaviation.co.za www.kznaviation.co.za

Legend Sky 083 860 5225 / 086 600 7285 info@legendssky.co.za www.legendsky.co.za

PFERD-South Africa (Pty) Ltd Hannes Nortman 011 230 4000 hannes.nortman@pferd.co.za www.pferd.com

Litson & Associates (Pty) Ltd OGP, BARS, Resources Auditing & Aviation Training karen.litson@litson.co.za Phone: 27 (0) 21 8517187 www.litson.co.za

Pipistrel Kobus Nel 083 231 4296 kobus@pipistrelsa.co.za www.pipistrelsa.co.za

Litson & Associates Risk Management Services (Pty) Ltd. eSMS-S/eTENDER/ eREPORT/Advisory Services karen.litson@litson.co.za Phone: 27 (0) 8517187 www.litson.co.za Loutzavia Aircraft Sales Henry Miles 082 966 0911 henry@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za

Loutzavia Flight Training Gerhardt Botha 012 567 6775 ops@loutzavia.co.za www.loutzavia.co.za Loutzavia-Pilots and Planes Maria Loutzis 012 567 6775 maria@loutzavia.co.za www.pilotsnplanes.co.za Loutzavia Rand Frans Pretorius 011 824 3804 rand@loutzavia.co.za www@loutzavia.co.za Lowveld Aero Club Pugs Steyn 013 741 3636 Flynow@lac.co.za Marshall Eagle Les Lebenon 011 958 1567 les@marshalleagle.co.za www.marshalleagle.co.za Maverick Air Charters Chad Clark 083 292 2270 Charters@maverickair.co.za www.maverickair.co.za MCC Aviation Pty Ltd Claude Oberholzer 011 701 2332 info@flymcc.co.za www.flymcc.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

Sling Aircraft Kim Bell-Cross 011 948 9898 sales@airplanefactory.co.za www.airplanefactory.co.za

Solenta Aviation (Pty Ltd) Paul Hurst 011 707 4000 info@solenta.com www.solenta.com Southern Energy Company (Pty) Ltd Elke Bertram +264 8114 29958 johnnym@sec.com.na www.sec.com.na Southern Rotorcraft cc Mr Reg Denysschen Tel no: 0219350980 sasales@rotors-r-us.com www.rotors-r-us.com

Plane Maintenance Facility Johan 083 300 3619 pmf@myconnection.co.za Precision Aviation Services Marnix Hulleman 012 543 0371 marnix@pasaviation.co.za www.pasaviation.co.za

PSG Aviation Reon Wiese 0861 284 284 reon.wiese@psg.co.za www.psg aviation.co.za Rainbow SkyReach (Pty) Ltd Mike Gill 011 817 2298 Mike@fly-skyreach.com www.fly-skyreach.com

Rand Airport Stuart Coetzee 011 827 8884 stuart@randairport.co.za www.randairport.co.za

Robin Coss Aviation Robin Coss 021 934 7498 info@cossaviation.com www.cossaviation.co.za

Villa San Giovanni Luca Maiorana 012 111 8888 info@vsg.co.za www.vsg.co.za

Starlite Aero Sales Klara Fouché +27 83 324 8530 / +27 31 571 6600 klaraf@starliteaviation.com www.starliteaviation.com

Vortx Aviation Bredell Roux 072 480 0359 info@vortx.co.za www.vortxaviation.com

Starlite Aviation Operations Trisha Andhee +27 82 660 3018/ +27 31 571 6600 trishaa@starliteaviation.com www.starliteaviation.com

Wanafly Adrian Barry 082 493 9101 adrian@wanafly.net www.wanafly.co.za

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

Windhoek Flight Training Centre Thinus Dreyer 0026 40 811284 180 pilots@flywftc.com www.flywftc.com

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

Wings n Things Wendy Thatcher 011 701 3209 wendy@wingsnthings.co.za www.wingsnthings.co.za

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

Witbank Flight School Andre De Villiers 083 604 1718 andredv@lantic.net www.waaflyingclub.co.za

Titan Helicopter Group 044 878 0453 info@titanhelicopters.com www.titanhelicopters.com TPSC Dennis Byrne 011 701 3210 turboprop@wol.co.za

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

Velocity Aviation Collin Pearson 011 659 2306 / 011 659 2334 collin@velocityaviation.co.za www.velocityaviation.co.za

Sport Plane Builders Pierre Van Der Walt 083 361 3181 pmvdwalt@mweb.co.za

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

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

Unique Air Charter Nico Pienaar 082 444 7994 nico@uniqueair.co.za www.uniqueair.co.za

Unique Flight Academy Nico Pienaar 082 444 7994 nico@uniqueair.co.za www.uniqueair.co.za

Van Zyl Aviation Services Colette van Zyl 012 997 6714 admin@vanzylaviationco.za www.vanzylaviation.co.za

Vector Aerospace Jeff Poirier +902 888 1808 jeff.poirier@vectoraerospace.com www.vectoraerospace.com

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

Trio Helicopters & Aviation cc CR Botha or FJ Grobbelaar 011 659 1022

stoffel@trioavi.co.za/frans@trioavi.co.za

SA Mooney Patrick Hanly 082 565 8864 samooney@border.co.za www.samooney.co.za

www.trioavi.co.za

Tshukudu Trailers Pieter Visser 083 512 2342 deb@tshukudutrailers.co.za www.tshukudutrailers.co.za

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

U Fly Training Academy Nikola Puhaca 011 824 0680 ufly@telkomsa.net www.uflyacademy.co.za

United Charter cc Jonathan Wolpe 083 270 8886 jonathan.wolpe@unitedcharter.co.za www.unitedcharter.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

United Flight Support Clinton Moodley/Jonathan Wolpe 076 813 7754 / 011 788 0813 ops@unitedflightsupported.com www.unitedflightsupport.com

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

FlightCom: December / January 2021/22

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