January 2020

FlightCm African Aviation

Africa’s Biggest Selling Aviation Magazine

STARLITE FLIGHT TRAINING

– FROM DRONES TO JETS

BOSBOK vs MIGS AND MISSILES!!

TESTED: AM3 BOSBOK – THE BEST WARBIRD?

BEAUTY QUEEN PILOTS vs PREJUDICE!

CAN BUSINESS RESCUE SAVE SAA?

JIM: ARE TWINS SAFE?

GUY 2019 IN REVIEW

-

Edition 291 January 2020 Namibia $N49.50

Cover: Cassie Nel

R49.50

THE BIG LEAGUE

MOVING FROM PISTONS TO AIRLINERS

p

T HE BEST TIME TO FLY THE BEST IS NOW Introducing the brand-new PC-12 NGX, the most advanced single-engine turboprop ever. Featuring a completely redesigned cabin with new executive seats that provide more comfort and improved ergonomics. Not to mention six new BMW Designworks interior selections. Windows have been enlarged to allow more natural light to brighten up the cabin. With the PC-12 NGX, Pilatus just made the best even better. www.pilatus-aircraft.com Contact Pilatus PC-12 Centre Southern Africa, your nearest Authorised Pilatus PC-12 NGX Sales Centre for further information on Tel: +27 11 383 0800 or Email: aircraftsales@pilatuscentre.co.za

1 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

The 8th season in an iconic series.

The new 911.

Iconic design, also in the 8th generation: seamless taillight strip and wider track.

Outstanding performance: with a 3.0-litre six-cylinder twin-turbo engine and up to 331 kW (450 hp).

Sport and comfort combined: the upgraded Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM).

Discover more at www.porsche.com/911

Porsche Centre Johannesburg Telephone 011 540 5000 www.porschejohannesburg.com

Porsche Centre Cape Town Telephone 021 555 6800 www.porschecapetown.com

Porsche Centre Pretoria Telephone 012 816 7600 www.porschepretoria.com

Porsche Centre Umhlanga Telephone 031 514 3000 www.porscheumhlanga.com

Porsche Studio Cape Town Waterfront Telephone 021 000 0911Â www.porschecapetown.com

911 Carrera: Combined fuel consumption: 9.0 l/100 km; Power: 283 kW (385 hp); Torque: 450 Nm; 0-100 km/h: 4.0 sec (Sport Chrono) Priced from R1 542 000 including a 3 year/100,000 km Driveplan

Edition 291

CONTENTS COLUMNISTS SA FLYER

16 20 24 32 36 46 48 52 88

Guy Leitch - ATTITUDE FOR ALTITUDE Peter Garrison - LEADING EDGE Jim Davis - PLAIN TALK George Tonking - HELI OPS Johan Walden - A SLIM LOGBOOK Ray Watts - REGISTER REVIEW Barry Lewis - INSURANCE Jim Davis - ACCIDENT REPORT Chris Martinus - AOPA UPDATE

FC 29

4 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

FLIGHTCOM

7 Hugh Pryor - Bush Pilot 11 Airlines - Mike Gough 39 Defence - Darren Olivier

58

Edition 291

CONTENTS FEATURES SA FLYER

14 Product Review: Lightspeed Zulu 3 40 Companies: Starlite Aviation 58 Flight Test: AM.3C Bosbok 68 Lamborghini Urus 68 EAA Sun ‘n Fun 76 Rag Queen to Flight Deck 80 Book Reviews 82 Young Falcons at Morningstar 84 Loutzavia’s 2019 Graduation

FLIGHTCOM

5 17 25 29 35 6

Industry Update

REGULARS 10

Opening Shot

47 M&N Acoustics Register Review 57 SV Aviation Fuel Table 70 Market Place 94 Alpi Flight School Listing 95 AME Directory 98 Federal Airlines Charter Directory

Companies: AviSys SAA Business Rescue Dubai Airshow Face to Face: Rodger Foster

January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

FLIGHTCOM

20 GIB Events 41 AEP AMO Listing 43 Aviation Directory

Airlink which is privately owned, connects you to Namibia’s port city of Walvis Bay with direct flights from Johannesburg. From Walvis Bay, visit the tidal lagoon, home to abundant birdlife. Explore the wonders of the Namib desert, taking in the beauty of the dunes and the surrounding vistas. And if it’s business that takes you to Walvis Bay, you will enjoy the value-for-money intracontinental style business class service on our E-jet. Enjoy the Airlink hospitality as we soar to new heights in the years to come.

flyairlink.com

@fly_airlink

Fly Airlink

47490

Discover Walvis Bay

POSITION REPORT

M

and

slumped is evidenced by the paucity of

appear

sales of new and even second-hand aircraft.

confused by the fact

Aircraft sellers say that buyers are just sitting

that

on their hands, hoping things will get better.

readers

ANY

advertisers our

year-end

However, the news is not all bad. The

issue is the January January

South African version of the German Aero

issue goes on sale in plenty of time for the

Expo held at Wonderboom provided a very

Christmas holidays and leisurely cover to

welcome boost to the local industry.

cover reading.

is reflected in support for our magazines,

one.

The

This

We always bring you something special

where advertising, which is the life blood

for January. This year I have avoided the

of publications such as this, has been

temptation to do something ‘gee-whiz’ big

remarkably constant. For that I am grateful to

and have instead researched interesting

our loyal advertisers, and particularly to our

stories relating to the humble ‘Bossie’ –

unflagging sales manager Wayne Wilson –

the SAAF AM.3C Bosbok – service in

who often seems able to squeeze blood from

the Angola Bush war. The Bosbok is a

the most obdurate stone.

warbird that works at many levels – it is not

Behind the scenes, in the middle of the

impractically complex or expensive to own,

year my wife and I moved from Simon’s Town to beneath Left Downwind to the Hoedspruit

it’s a delight to fly, and it has a wonderful

AFB runway 36. We may move around the country, but the magazine

genuine military heritage.

Three years ago I dared hope that the economic and

still comes out on time and to the standard you have come to expect.

psychological depression South Africa seemed to have sunk into was

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my loyal team who have

ending. But it continues to plumb new depths. I get the sense that

shown great dedication to getting the job done.

the South African zeitgeist is dazed from taking endless hits from a government teetering on a knife edge between the two opposing

I wish all our readers a happy and safe festive season and a prosperous new year.

camps; the builders – and the breakers. When you get sucked into the noise of the endless news feeds and commentary, the country appears unable to arrest its decline. Not even the rugby world cup win could cheer us up for more than few days.

Guy Leitch

Statistically the economy might not be in depression, but the business mood is undeniably depressed. This particularly negatively affects the aviation industry as it is an industry which requires both passion and courage. It needs passion to overcome the regulatory hurdles and it needs courage to invest the capital required to start

EDITOR & PUBLISHER

and fund an airline or charter business. How far the industry has

guy@saflyermag.co.za

SALES MANAGER Wayne Wilson wayne@saflyermag.co.za +27 72 900 2023 TRAFFIC Daniel Leitch traffic.admin@saflyermag.co.za ACCOUNTS accounts@saflyermag.co.za DEPUTY EDITOR Owen Heckrath owen@saflyermag.co.za

8 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

TRAVEL EDITOR Nicola Leitch nicola@saflyermag.co.za PRODUCTION & LAYOUT Emily-Jane Kinnear emily@saflyermag.co.za SUBSCRIPTIONS subs@saflyermag.co.za +27 21 786 1463

OFFICE: 8 Victory Way, Simon's Town, Cape Town, 7975 PO Box 71052, Bryanston, 2021, South Africa Distribution

istribution by On The Dot (Throughout SA and Africa to approximately 1 000 stores), CNA, PNA, Exclusive D Books, Pick n Pay as well as selected Spars, and convenience stores. Sales into Africa: Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Moçambique and Madagascar. Unsold distributed to selected clinics, airport lounges, doctor’s rooms, garages, selected hotels and lodges and Airport Shops.

Important

pinions expressed in signed articles, News & views or in advertisements appearing in SA Flyer, are those of O the author or advertiser and do not reflect those of this journal nor of its publisher. The mention of specific companies or products in articles or advertisements, does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by this journal or its publisher in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. © SA Flyer 2019. 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.

OPENING SHOT

10 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Send your submissions to guy@saflyermag.co.za

WHEN RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN

T

HE thing about good photography and art is that rules are there to be broken. This is one of the pictures that epitomises that. This image may have two trees intruding, which traditionalists would argue should be cropped out – but the trees actually frame the dramatic image in the centre.

The subject matter is beyond wonderful. It perfectly captures ninety-year-old ex SAAF Korean War P51 Mustang pilot Allister Rae being helped into the rear cockpit of Menno Parsons’ P51 ‘Mustang Sally’. Willie van der Merwe has gallantly crouched down on his hands and knees for Allister to stand on him to climb over the high cockpit sill. Menno Parsons is supporting him from behind.

The Elders' Flight is a product of the remarkable passion and indefatigable leadership of Felix Gosher. It is a follow-on to his hugely successful Childrens' Flight – where he brings the thrill of flying to hundreds of disadvantaged children.

This remarkable photograph was taken by Trevor Cohen, a dedicated aviation photog who thinks nothing of getting up long before dawn to cover distant airshows. To get this shot he cleverly separated himself from the mob of photogs by going up to the balcony beneath the Rand Airport Control tower. He used his Canon EOS 5D with a 200-400 mm lens at its full 400mm.

Exposure was 125th at f9.

11 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

A super sports car soul and the functionality typical for an SUV: this is Lamborghini Urus, the world’s first Super Sport Utility Vehicle. Identifiable as an authentic Lamborghini with its unmistakable DNA, Urus is groundbreaking: the extreme proportions, the pure Lamborghini design and the outstanding performance make it absolutely unique. Urus’ distinctive silhouette with a dynamic flying coupé line shows its super sports origins, while its outstanding proportions convey strength, solidity and safety.

Urus is versatile and perfectly suited for everyday driving, but it provides the distinct engine sound, thrill and the high performance that is expected of a Lamborghini.

Sold with a 3 year/100,000 km Driveplan at no additional cost.

LAMBORGHINI JOHANNESBURG

LAMBORGHINI CAPE TOWN

Authorised Dealer

Authorised Dealer

Cnr Melrose Boulevard & Corlett Drive, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg Phone 010 020 3680 / 082 907 0222 www.johannesburg.lamborghini

Showroom C, Matrix Building, No. 8 Bridgeways, Bridgeways Precinct, Century City Phone 021 419 0595 / 076 611 2437 www.capetown.lamborghini

PRODUCT REVIEW

PATRICK DAVIDSON’S HEADSET OF CHOICE Former Red Bull Air Race pilot and South African Unlimited Aerobatics Champion, Patrick Davidson, owns a variety of planes, including an L39, Sea Fury, Harvard,

Stearman, Tiger Moth, Extra 300L, Gamebird, SBach, Sukhoi, Zlin, and an RV7 – but he only owns one headset.

Patrick Davidson in his custom headgear, built around his Lightspeed Zulu 3 headset.

Top of the range headsets are not cheap.

“If you are considering buying a top quality noise cancelling headset I would strongly recommend trying different headsets on a one-for-one comparison. It’s a big investment after all. If possible, compare them while flying,” Patrick says.

The Lightspeed Zulu 3 is the only ANR headset that has a 7-year warranty and the great thing is that they can be serviced or repaired right here in South Africa. Century Avionics at Lanseria is proud to be a dealer and also the only service centre for all Lightspeed headsets in Southern-Africa.

Contact Century Avionics directly on +27 11 701 3244 or email salesadmin@ centuryavionics.co.za for a great price on a Lightspeed Zulu 3.

j

W

he’s flying he uses a Lightspeed Zulu 3 headset, which he loves. “The reason I chose the Lightspeed Zulu 3 is because it’s even better than the already phenomenal Lightspeed 2! It ticks all the boxes: The 3’s ear cups are now titanium with larger ear pads for a better fit. The 3 is so comfortable that it’s easy to forget you’re wearing a headset. The cable now has a Kevlar woven coating. Battery life is great, construction quality is much improved as evidenced by its long warranty and, to top off the list of reasons, the music quality is awesome,” Patrick says.

He asked Century Avionics to build his Lightspeed 3 into his Red Bull Racing headgear. “A great feature is that the Lightspeed 3 works in all the planes I fly – even the open cockpit ones like the Tiger and Stearman. Wind noise normally defeats noise cancelling headsets but the Lightspeed 3 handles them all. And when I use two Zulu 3s in an aircraft with an intercom, the sound quality is awesome.

“I use the Bluetooth music streaming function with sunnies and a cap or my helmet and I can see, hear and feel the difference between the best headsets. If you are looking for an awesome performing headset that you can comfortably wear with a hat and glasses for hours on end, with crystal clear comms, the Zulu 3 is my choice.”

HEN

14 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

The Lightspeed Zulu 3 ticks all the boxes.

THANK YOU TO OUR CUSTOMERS FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT

SA CAA AMO 188

ASSEMBLY OF FLIGHT CONTROL CABLES • SHEET METAL REPAIRS • APPROVED AIRCRAFT WELDING

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ATTITUDE FOR ALTITUDE GUY LEITCH

THE 2019 AWARDS Each year at this time, I take the opportunity to look back at the past year, and in my own Oscar ceremony, present my awards for the stars and flops. Due to deadlines, I write this on 1 December and the past 12 months have been so epic that I hope I’m not tempting fate to say that hopefully, the worst of this year is over.

THE OSCARS FOR 2019 ALL GO TO MONUMENTAL DISASTERS:

for Boeing – and wiped U$40 billion from

from them. They were backed up by aviation

its market value. The MAX will likely be

genius Donald Trump making disparaging

grounded for a full year and it has had a

insinuations about ‘third world pilots.’ The

knock-on effect on Boeing’s already much

SACAA had its own problem – it couldn’t

delayed NMA and 777X deliveries. The FAA

find any boxes that hadn’t been ticked – so

has not escaped unscathed as the saga

characteristically, it did nothing and Comair

has delivered an almost mortal blow to their

continued to fly their MAXes until they

DISASTER OF THE YEAR:

much-vaunted independence and credibility.

realised that passengers voted with their

THE BOEING MAX.

All in all, a disastrous performance by

feet and would rather not fly with them at all.

The award for Disaster Movie of the Year

Boeing and the FAA.

Comair management gets the special

goes to…. Boeing – with a supporting actor

In South Africa, the responses were

‘Head in the Sand’ Volstruis Award.

award to the FAA. The MAX was Boeing’s

interesting. Comair had one MAX flying and

‘make-do’ answer to the Airbus Neo and was

another seven on the way. The airline’s ex-

WAR SAGA OF THE YEAR:

the fastest-selling airliner in Boeing’s history

fighter pilots sneered and said they would

CAA vs CEMAIR

with about 5,000 orders from more than 100

never have allowed the plane to get away

Once again sticking with its practice

customers.

The first Lion Air 737MAX crash, in October 2018, raised the question: Was it the plane or ‘third world’ pilots? No one would say. Investigations uncovered a pilots’ nightmare – the spine-chilling tale of an aircraft intent on destroying itself as it repeatedly pitched nose down, until the pilots were unable to hold the nose up any longer and it dived into the sea.

Under pressure from its cosy relationship with Boeing, the FAA tamely sat on its hands and merely issued a warning and training advisory. And then, on 10 March, Ethiopian Flight 302 crashed. Boeing and the FAA could no longer conceal that there was something badly wrong with the MAX. The worldwide grounding of all 737 MAXes became a U$20 billion disaster

16 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

It's hard not to conclude that the CAA has a vendetta against CemAir.

COLUMNS

of

the

which also grounded SAA, Mango, BA/

corporate

CAA grounded CemAir at the start of the

causing

maximum

destruction,

kulula and SAX, when it claimed that SAA

airline has been brought to its knees by

Christmas holidays. Why the CAA grounds

Technical was using unqualified people to

piss-poor

airlines on the first day of a long weekend is

sign off work. This had been its first line of

interference, a culture of malfeasance and

unfathomable – unless they really do hate

attack against CemAir, so the omens were

the sinister Dudu Myeni. At time of writing it

the airlines and passengers.

not good. I kept asking the question – is

had just faced down a strike by cabin crew

this a real maintenance problem with actual

and metal workers. Finance Minister Tito

aircraft – or is it just paperwork?

Mboweni wants to shut the airline down.

It’s hard not to conclude that the CAA is waging a vendetta against CemAir. They

vandalism,

this

once

management,

heroic

government

launched attack after attack. It is impossible

It didn’t help that the SACAA said it

But perhaps he won’t have to – Solidarity is

for an airline to withstand these attacks.

had found a key part with untraceable

pushing ahead with forcing the airline into

Yet with its existence at stake, ‘Braveheart’

provenance in a Mango Boeing. Seizing

Business Rescue and even that may be

CemAir engaged in a long and debilitating

the opportunity, the increasingly cornered

pointless as there may be no airline left to

legal battle against the almost unlimited

crooks in SAA joined the lynch mob

rescue. The large travel agencies and flight

resources of the CAA – funded by you

by spreading groundless stories about

insurers no longer trust the airline with future

and me. The airline remained grounded

international crime syndicates and pirate

bookings. Salaries are half paid. To hammer

while ‘lawfare’ raged. In a surprise twist,

parts.

home the nail in its coffin of afflictions, its

even though confidence in the airline was

The

loss

of

confidence

in

South

shattered, CAA Director Poppy Khoza had

African airlines was huge. The CAA failed

considered the airline safe enough to carry

spectacularly in its mission to assure the

herself and her family to Margate.

travelling public that its airlines were safe.

schoolmarmish-acting CEO embarrasses the airline with bumbling TV appearances.

It’s a tragedy.

The sad sight of SAA's fleet sitting idly on the ground.

Every time CemAir took the CAA to

We had gone from a country that had almost

HEARTBREAK MOVIE OF THE YEAR:

court, the regulator lost. Yet still the airline

never had an airline grounded – to one

GENERAL AVIATION

stayed grounded – until founder and CEO

which had five airlines grounded in a year.

While the airline industry in SA staggers

Miles van der Molen looked like he had

Either we have become a banana republic –

from battle to battle, the Cinderella general

given up and was opening an airline in

or the CAA is acting like a rabid dog.

aviation (GA) sector cowered in the corner.

Canada. Finally, the CAA appeared to relent

GA is a tall poppy (no pun intended) –

and announced it would restore CemAir’s

FANTASY FILM OF THE YEAR: SA

beautiful to behold, but it is being hammered

Operating Certificates. At time of writing

EXPRESS

by the storms blowing around it.

CemAir is struggling to restore its routes and

A year ago the ‘Interim’ CEO of SAX

This year GA has had to face three

trying to refund the thousands of passengers

Ms Siza Mzimela looked me in the eye and

crises: the first is that South Africans

whose flights were cancelled by the CAA a

said she would turn the airline around by

are getting poorer. The wealthy who use

year ago.

March. Dream on – the airline has managed

general aviation are fleeing the country as

the ultimate ignominy and lost even more

confidence continues to free fall.

MASSACRE OF THE YEAR: THE CAA

money than it turned over. It really is hard

The second crisis is CAA obstruction.

VS MANGO, BA/KULULA, SAA AND

to understand why they keep pouring billions

When paperwork was done by hand, you

SA EXPRESS

into this ugly stepsister of SAA.

could get your licence renewed before you

In a theatrical move to show that it was not just picking on CemAir, the CAA embarked on a chainsaw serial massacre

could finish your cup of coffee. Now it takes days, or even weeks (or months if you need

TRAGEDY OF THE YEAR: SAA In

an

audience-gripping

orgy

of

a CofA). This is an industry that relies on its

17 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

ATTITUDE FOR ALTITUDE fun factor – and the CAA fun police have

Aeroplane of the Year - the Sling 4 TSi.

broken the fun.

The third crises is cost. Thirty years ago you could buy two new 911 Porches for the price of a new Cessna 182. Now you can buy six 911s. With a new Sling 2 around R2.0 million, even local is unaffordable and People would rather spend their money in Mauritius than have to deal with CAA aggravation and fuel at over R20 per litre.

FEELGOOD MOVIES There are some honourable mentions in the Oscar line-up: The Airplane Factory has successfully broken into the international market and has sold planes on all the continents – except Antarctica – but TAF’s James Pitman says that they are working on that. The little company south of Jo’burg has now sold more than 500 planes – a growing proportion of them the amazing Sling 4 TSi which gets my Award for Plane of the Year.

The first Cirrus SF-50 Vision Jet arrived in South Africa – and was proudly on display at the Aero Africa show. The is the first of many orders of this revolutionary new

aircraft that really does take private flying to

reduced the once vibrant Wonderboom

a new level.

airport to a shadow of its former self – with

The Aero South Africa air show at

no fuel or night flying – and blocked toilets.

Wonderboom was a welcome shot in the

We are all in our crazy state together –

arm for the struggling GA sector. Organised

so to invert a popular aphorism – it is our

with Teutonic efficiency, the show provided

monkey and our circus. So grab the popcorn

a much needed outlet to GA advertisers

and let’s enjoy the ride.

who had been strong-armed out of the increasingly militaristic AAD expo. It’s an unfortunate tear-jerker that yet another incompetent

government

disaster

has

j

#I’m staying.

guy@saflyermag.co.za

Jabiru It's a lifestyle

For more information on full range of Aircraft & Aero Engines contact: Shadow Lite CC t/a Jabiru Aircraft SA SACAA AMO L14 & 909 Ph: 044-8769991 or Cell: 0828818499 Web: www.jabiru.co.za Email: info@jabiru.co.za

18 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

SA Flyer 2019|07

Over 2000 Jabiru aircraft sold world wide.

Nico van Staden Tel: +27 (0) 083 321 0916 E-mail: nico@aerostratus.co.za

Gerhard Mouton Tel: +27 (0) 82 458 3736 E-mail: herenbus@gmail.com

1973 Cherokee 235

2004 Piper Saratoga II TC

1985 Malibu 310P

2007 Cessna T206

1350 Hrs TT, A & E Neat & Clean, King VFR;

2830 Hrs TT s/new; 830 SMOH Avidyne Glass, IFR equipped

Clean; Priced to sell

310 Hrs TT; 1650 SMOH New Garmin Glass Panel, IF New Paint & Interior; R4,600,000.00

900 Hrs TT, A & E Garmin 100 equipped. Showroom Condition;

1983 Piper Navajo 310

1980 Bonanza A36TC

1981 Baron E55

1978 Turbo Arrow III

3177 Hrs TT, 1305 Hrs SMOH King, Garmin IFR Very clean; Offers

4100 Hrs TT; 651 SMOH King & Garmin IF equipped Very neat; R2,300,000.00 excl

4635 hrs TT, 350 SMOH King & Garmin, IF, Neat & Clean: OUTSTANDING VALUE - OFFERS

2000 Hrs TT, 440 Hrs SMOH Outstanding low hour aircraft R980,000 Excl VAT

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R6,300,000.00 excl VAT

1977 Cessna 210

1981 King Air 200

1979 Cessna T210

1979 Cessna 182RG

4480 Hrs TT, 1040 Hrs SMOH King & Cessna Avionics, very Clean;

9540 Hrs TT; 225 hrs SMOH Garmin & Collins, Neat

4740 Hrs TT; 1321 SMOH Cessna & Garmin Avionics. Neat;

2380 Hrs TT; 430 SMOH Garmin IFR; Clean;

1976 Cessna 210

1967 Baron 56 TC

1979 Cessna Citation 1SP

1982 Cessna T210

2740 Hrs TT; 640 SMOH King, Garmin, Very Clean,

2790 Hrs TT, 790 SMOH, King & Garmin IF Very Clean, updated maintenance; R2,250,000 excl VAT

9156 Hrs TT, 1815 / 878 SMOH Collins / Garmin IFR. Showroom Condition,

trade in / reasonable offers considered

USD600,000.00 excl VAT, if apl

3050 Hrs TT; 250 SFRM Garmin, S-Tec, IFR, Clean,

1979 MD Hughes 500

2007 Malibu Meridian

2016 RV-10

10,500 Hrs TT, good engines times on PBH Clean unit;

1250 Hrs TT, A & E Avidyne, IF equipped, very good condition Recent Paint; USD 900,000 excl VAT (Offers)

100 Hrs TT since new Garmin equipped,

R1,400,000 excl VAT

Please enquire

1978 Cessna S550

4500 Hrs TT, 900 Hrs SMOH Collins IFR equipped. Clean Aircraft;

USD750,000.00 Excl VAT, if apl

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19 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

SA Flyer 2020|01

R650,000 excl VAT

LEADING EDGE PETER GARRISON

Man Flies Like Bird!

FILM AT ELEVEN! At a late and insomniac hour, when you can’t find a Law and Order rerun that you haven’t already seen and resuming your reading of the family’s Encyclopaedia Britannica at GUNN to HYDROX seems too arduous to contemplate, it is well to resort to YouTube. That portable and compendious ocean is beset with funny cats, sadistic pratfalls, awful vocalists, miraculous gymnasts, instructions for dismantling your computer and fake aeroplanes presented as though they were real.

I

wrote a few years ago about one of

a fellow was trying to figure out how to flare

http://www.youtube.com

the remarkable things that I found

and land without a chute, just using the lifting

watch?v=37MNE8tOBG4. It certainly makes

on YouTube: the use of wingsuits

capacity of the wingsuit. I doubted at the

human

in skydiving and base jumping. A

time that it was possible, but I thought you

appear contemptible.

attempts

at

variable

geometry

wingsuit consists basically of some

could certainly get killed trying. Perhaps, I

fabric membranes stretched between arms

thought, you could calculate a Flare Factor

aeroplane-as-clothing is Swiss pilot Yves

and legs and between the legs. It increases

– the product of lift-drag ratio and wing

Rossy’s jet-powered strap-on wing. Rossy

the area and improves the shape of the

loading, with suitable exponents, required to

has used several different wings, all more or

jumper’s planform, making him or her look

permit a given touchdown speed – in order

less conventional-appearing, of about eight-

a bit like a flying squirrel. Some of the most

to know what kind of wing would be required

foot span, somewhat swept, of carbon-fibre

startling daredevil stunts on YouTube – and

to allow a man to alight at, say, 25 feet per

there are many – involve guys in wingsuits

second with a survivable vertical velocity. It

construction, with four model-aeroplane

barrelling down cliffs, seemingly inches

turned out, however, that the solution was

away from some very abrasive-looking

brute force: The determined experimenter

rocks. A good wingsuit can attain a glide

crashed headlong, and disappeared, into a

ratio of 2:1 or so; in 2010 an Army jumper

long row of cardboard boxes. After a tense

glided 11.5 miles after jumping out of a C-17

delay, he strolled out unharmed.

at FL 320.

Speaking of flaring, a magnificent super-

Normally, wingsuit jumps end with a parachute deployment. But when I first looked,

slo-mo video of an owl flaring to pounce upon a bait

can – and must – be seen at

Another

surprising

example

of

jet engines slung underneath them. Each engine weighs five pounds, produces 50 pounds of thrust, and burns a pound and a half of kerosene per minute at full throttle.

The wing has ailerons, but there is no empennage and I imagine pitch must be controlled with small fore-and-aft weight shifts, although I suppose Rossy’s legs might have some effect. A former Swiss Air Force fighter pilot who has also flown 747s for the airlines, Rossy, who is now going on 60, jumps out of a plane or helicopter or balloon with the wing on his back, and is able to fly level and manoeuvre for some time. There is a YouTube video of him racing about among the Swiss Alps in formation with a couple of jets, another over Dubai in formation with an A380 and yet another of him crossing the Grand Canyon. He crossed the English Channel, but failed because of weather to make it across the much narrower Strait of

20

Yves Rossy with his jet powered wing suit.

January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

COLUMNS

Gibraltar, ending up in the drink.

realism – but the flying motion looked

and batteries is 200 pounds, the area of the

Startling stunts can get millions of hits on

plausible enough if you weren’t disturbed

wing would have to be on the order of 300

YouTube. A couple of years ago there was

by the fact that the wings never seem to

square feet just to get airborne in the first

the aeroplane that appeared to lose a wing

load up: They didn’t bend upward, and the

place, and twice that if the runner reaches

during an acrobatic routine but nonetheless

fabric between the ribs did not bulge as you

only 10 mph instead of 15.

managed to land. This was a rather obvious

would expect it to do if it were supporting a

The area of Smeets’ wing was only

fake, but it still fooled a great many people.

good deal of weight. There was also some

around 100 square feet, and so there was

A less obvious fake that excited millions

question about why this contraption would

simply no way it could support a man at

in 2012 was the purported achievement

be longitudinally stable or even controllable.

running speed. But on a sufficiently large

of one Jarno Smeets, a Dutch engineer

But despite these faults, the appearance of

scale the idea of a powered ornithopter with

presented, in a series of videos, as having

flight was quite persuasive.

electro-imitative motion control and artificial

constructed a wing which allowed him to

The

filmmaker

said

that

he

was

stability is not implausible.

rise, flapping, into the air. It is not clear to

surprised that so many people were taken

While perusing the various Kaayk/

me that Jarno Smeets actually existed; he

in; to him the video was obviously fake.

Smeets videos I came upon a couple of a

may have just been a creature of a filmmaker named Floris Kaayk. But that is unimportant, since what is interesting to me is the project’s technical plausibility, or lack of it.

It is well established that human strength and endurance are sufficient to get an aeroplane aloft and keep it aloft for a long enough period to fly a considerable distance.

The record, unlikely ever to be broken, is held by an Olympic cyclist named Kanellos Kanellopoulos who, in 1988, covered 71.5 miles in 3 hours and 54 sweaty minutes in the MIT-built Dedalus 88. Actually, in the last sentence but one I guess the word “human” should be replaced with “superhuman.”

It is also well established that even though birds move their wings in complex and nuanced ways, simplified flapping-wing

Ja-well-no-fine - Jarno Smeets with his ornithopter.

machines can be built and will fly. There are plenty of flapping-wing toys on the market.

Smeets’ alleged ornithopter did not

But people will be taken in by almost any

man-powered ornithopter called Sunbird

rely on human strength for propulsion. It

hoax, no matter how obvious it may appear

built by students at the University of Toronto.

used several small electric motors and

to the perpetrator. The desire to believe

It had the 100-foot wingspan typical of

some lithium polymer batteries. What was

produces its own momentum, and continues

human-powered craft – induced drag is

ingenious about it was the way in which the

to roll along until it encounters a barrier of

the big problem at very low airspeeds and

flapping was controlled. He used, or rather

certain knowledge. When a magician saws

pure wingspan is the solution – and this

claimed to use, an electronic motion-control

a woman in half, you do not expect to see

enormous wing flapping was something

system like those in Wii and Kinect consumer

a heap of blood and entrails on the floor.

to behold. Sunbird appeared just able

games. Sensors detected the movements

However persuasive the illusion, you know

to maintain height after being towed into

of Smeets’ arms and reproduced those

that you are not assisting at a murder. But

the air by a car. There were also some

motions in the wings. Thus, Smeets could

with something like flight, the boundaries of

human-powered helicopters. The record for

flap with very little effort while the batteries

the plausible are less distinct. And Smeets’

hovering, at that time, was 19.46 seconds a

and motors did the heavy lifting.

concept seemed, in fact, quite plausible.

few inches above the ground. Since then, a

The climactic video in a 14-segment

So why was it too good to be true?

huge four-rotor Canadian thing collected a

series on this project showed the birdman

The basic problem is getting into the air.

$250,000 prize by reaching a height of 10

running along a large open space in a park,

A running man encumbered by a large wing

feet and remaining aloft for 60 seconds. A

then rising into the air and flapping along

will be hard pressed to reach 15 miles an

hundred and ninety feet wide, it weighed

for a little while before gliding down to a

hour. At this speed the dynamic pressure of

only 121 pounds.

surprisingly smooth and skilful landing. The

air is around three-quarters of a pound per

video was of rather poor quality – that was

square foot. Assuming very optimistically

part of the Blair Witch Project-style pseudo-

that the total weight of man, wing, motors

*Yawn* That’s enough for one YouTube session.

j

I guess it’s time for bed.

21 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

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23 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

PLANE TALK JIM DAVIS

FLYING A TWIN Last month Jim discussed

Identify but don’t feather.” Or whatever else she may want you to do. The point is that you

the basics of multi-engine

must both know whether an engine failure is

theory. Now he takes you

simulated or genuine, and what is expected

practical flying. But, before

Comanche when one engine quit just after

of you.

into the cockpit for some

I had some fragrant moments in a Twin takeoff from runway 11 at George. I hadn’t

you vault into the left hand

briefed the student properly. He thought

seat, he does the instructor

I had cut the engine, and I thought he had done something evil. We wasted vital

thing and insists on revising

seconds discussing this before I realised

last month’s theory and

that the aircraft had actually betrayed us.

golden rules.

R

Cross-feeding is a new concept that you need to get your head around.

EMINDER 1. Vmc is the slowest

PREFLIGHT Here are two pre-flight items you haven’t seen on singles, but they apply to all piston twins: •

speed at which full rudder will

Props

and

nosewheel.

Check

whether the props are ahead of,

counteract asymmetric power.

back a bit and let the houses get bigger – it’s

It’s a variable that depends on

or behind the nosewheel. Think

better than letting them get inverted.

what will happen to the props when

power, load, C of G and so on.

Reminder 2. The red line on the ASI

The Ground Crab Rule. If it starts pulling

you taxi over uneven ground, say

sideways on takeoff abort immediately.

between the grass or the tar.

is the worst possible scenario for Vmc. So

The Airline Pilot Rule. You have to

as long as you keep your airspeed above

take checks and procedures as seriously as

the red line you will not run out of rudder

engines inwards. This means that

airline pilots do.

most twins have different dipsticks

authority.

Reminder 3. When you are flying on one engine, the ball tells lies. If it’s in the middle,

for the left and right engines. If

tiger country – below red line – if you really

these are in the wrong engines it

understand tigers.

can become noisy, expensive and

The Switches Rule. Only switch them on or off one at a time.

about half a ball out towards the live engine, that’s great – you are not sideslipping.

NINE GOLDEN RULES The Sheep Rule. If you are on final approach, heavy and asymmetric, with

go-around – kill sheep rather than people.

The Systems Rule. The POH is your

the cockpit. Sit in it for hours and go through your checks and emergency procedures –

it.

say, touch and do – muscle memory really The Hurrying Rule. Don’t.

does work. Once you think you know where

The Oh Shit Rule. If something goes

everything is, do it ‘blind’ – shut your eyes

wrong, undo the last thing you did.

pilots do that during conversion training.

Your instructor should tell you that

The Houses Rule. If you are at Vmc, and it starts turning despite full rudder, throttle

out, “You have a simulated engine failure.

January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

and see how well you get on. All military

BRIEFING for a simulated engine failure she will call

24

dangerous.

To save training bucks, make friends with

bible – your prayers have little effect without

everything hanging out and a bunch of sheep drift into the field; do NOT try a single-engine

Oil dipsticks. Dihedral tilts the

Tiger Country Rule. Only venture into

you are sideslipping, causing serious drag and increasing Vmc by 10 to 15 knots. If it’s

•

BEFORE START-UP Make

yourself

a

round-the-cockpit

sequence for checking everything. Have a

25 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

PLANE TALK

shut down the live engine.

START-UP Do exactly what the POH says – Messieurs Lycoming and Continental have a lot more experience than your mate Frikkie who has his special way of doing it. Do it slowly and thoroughly. Hands that flash round the cockpit flicking switches will annoy the hell out of your instructor. (elsewhere in this issue you will see what happened to a Bonanza when the pilot was too quick with hitting switches.)

Gills – or cowl flap levers – are often hidden away. Make sure they are included in your round-the-cockpit sequence.

The emergency gear and flap extension system backup CO2 bottle is often concealed. This also applies to fire extinguishers. Know your systems, or else.

When instructors were created, we were issued with gentle, peace-loving natures.

Patience is our watchword and GBH is generally far from our minds. But pupils who are too slick around the cockpit can push us over the edge, and are likely to be the recipient of a fourpenny one behind the ear.

Slowly and thoughtfully is what we are looking for. Set the idle revs carefully – engine sound doesn’t tell you much when they are both running. It’s easy to have one engine belting it out at 1700 rpm while the other is shuddering around 600.

Once both engines are idling at the correct revs, do another round-the-cockpit check. There are engine instruments to check, avionics to switch on, frequencies to set, gyros to set, and so on. There is no way to remember everything that needs your attention – the only thing is to follow a standard round-the-cockpit sequence.

TAXI Taxiing needs care. Forward visibility is good, but watch out for tie-downs, gravel and so on under the props. Remember the relationship between props and nosewheel.

For tight turns use differential power to help you round.

When you turn, the weight of the engines

If you forget the alternator switches, you can run into all sorts of trouble. And, no, you can’t just leave them on all the time – like mags you have to test them individually.

gives the turn inertia. You need to anticipate this and be positive with the rudder when straightening up from a turn.

PRE-TAKEOFF CHECKS

look at the diagram. You will use this exact

mess. Your round-the-cockpit check is the

Use a home-brewed written checklist.

sequence several times on each flight, so it’s

only way to make sure you put all the knobs

POH checklists are fine but there are plenty

worth designing it carefully and practicing

and switches where they should be.

of things they don’t include. I am thinking

it as often as you can. I like to use top-to-

Beg your instructor on bended knee to

of setting frequencies, flight instruments,

bottom-then-left-to-right-and-right-to-left-

use the words left and right, not port and

passenger briefings and – most important

across-the-panels. It leaves nothing to

starboard, and not even number’s One

– self briefings. We will look at those in a

memory. After you have stopped or started

and Two engines. It only takes a moment’s

minute.

engines in flight, the cockpit becomes a

confusion, when you are under pressure, to

26 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

COLUMNS

My round-the-cockpit sequence looks like this. Top-to-bottom-then-left-to-right-andright-to-left-across-the-panels.

TAKEOFF DECISIONS

Scenario A. You are departing from Orville at gross weight. It’s

Plan for an engine failure on every takeoff. Think about:

3,550 ft AMSL and has 1,740 m of tar. OAT is 45 deg C which gives

1.

Density altitude. On a hot day Johannesburg’s density

you a density altitude of 7500 ft. If one engine fails you’ll climb at 150

altitude can be above the single-engine ceiling of many

ft/min – if everything is in good condition and your handling skills are

twins.

reasonably sharp. The POH says that you will use 620 m to get to 50

Load. Load has a massive effect on single-engine

ft. This leaves you more than a kilometre of runway ahead.

2.

performance. A Seneca I’s single-engine ceiling goes from

My planning and self-briefing would be to climb to 1000 ft at the

3,650 ft to 10,000 ft if you are 800 lb lighter than gross.

best rate of climb speed of 89 kt. If I have directional problems on the

3.

Wind. A decent headwind improves your obstacle clearance.

ground, I will throttle back immediately and brake as necessary. If an

4.

Runway length. Can you land, or stop, straight ahead on the

engine fails just after lift-off with no usable runway ahead, I will go to

runway after an engine failure?

76 kt (best angle of climb) and use local knowledge to reach the golf

Runway surface. Wet or dry, grass, gravel or paved, all

course or whatever. If I can’t clear obstacles and maintain better than

affect not only your acceleration, but also your braking – if

Vmc, I will reduce power and land ahead, regardless of terrain.

5.

that becomes necessary.

6.

7.

8.

Scenario B. You are at the same airfield on chilly a 0 deg C

Gradient. Even a 1 degree slope may be more than your

morning with two up and two hours’ fuel. The POH says you will be

single-engine climb.

at 50 ft in 300 m and you will climb at 500 ft/min on one engine, and

Overshoot area. What are the landing options past the end

almost 2000 ft/min on both, so you don’t have any problems.

of the runway?

Typical self-briefing before takeoff:

Obstacles. Blue line gives the best rate of climb speed. But

•

your best angle of climb may be more important. Look it up in the POH.

abort immediately.

•

Here are two takeoff examples using figures from a Seneca II handbook.

There’s no crosswind so if I have a directional problem I will I will rotate at 71 knots (red line + 5). I’ll retract the gear when I have positive climb and accelerate to 89 knots (blue line).

•

If I have an engine failure below 76 knots (best angle of

27 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

PLANE TALK

•

climb) I will be prepared to throttle

to retract the gear as soon as they have a

In the climb, you can’t see the nose to

fully back and land.

positive climb. The first method avoids doing

use as an attitude reference. Don’t worry,

If I have an engine failure above

an embarrassing gear-up on the runway,

you’ll get used to it.

76 knots, with no usable runway

however the second means the aeroplane

Your upper-air training will include steep

ahead, I will (and here, move your

is flying properly and in a strong position to

turns and stalls. Steep turns take a bit of

hand to each control as you self-

accelerate and climb away if an engine fails.

getting used to because again, you have

brief):

The choice is yours.

no nose to use as a reference. During stall

Fly the aircraft – maintain direction with rudder, and at least 76 knots

recovery, don’t be too quick with the power TAKEOFF

•

Power up – all levers fully forward

•

– if power comes in asymmetrically below

Line up and stop briefly. Rolling takeoffs

Vmc you can go inverted. Remember that

Gear up

are for cowboys. If it’s a prop-friendly

moving the stick forward is what unstalls

•

Flaps up

surface, hold her against the brakes and

the wings. It’s a common error for new twin

•

Identify – dead foot dead engine

increase power smoothly on both engines.

pilots to feed in the power too quickly. It’s not

•

Confirm – throttle back suspect

Make sure that temps and pressures are in

necessary and you risk going on your back.

engine

the green, fuel flows are steady and power is

Don’t do it.

Think

increasing at the same rate on both engines

•

Much of your training involves engineout work. Because repeated shutting down

You have got to develop your own round-the-cockpit sequence otherwise you are going to miss something.

and re-starting can be tough on engines, your instructor will sometimes simulate a feathered engine by using zero-thrust settings from the handbook.

You will have a Vmc demonstration on one engine in which you will slowly reduce airspeed by easing back on the stick. You will need more and more rudder to keep straight. Eventually you will have full rudder and the aircraft will start turning – that is Vmc for your current conditions.

Because you caused this loss of directional control by easing back on the stick, it’s easy to think that you should recover by moving the stick forward. But beware – some aircraft behave very badly at Vmc (the Baron is one). So your recovery is much quicker and more positive if you not only ease the stick forward, but you also immediately throttle back the live engine.

On many aircraft, Vmc happens close to stall speed. If you stall and lose directional

•

Feather

(turbo-charged engines sometimes lag or

control simultaneously, guess what – you

•

Bank up to 5 deg towards the good

surge). At about 20” or more, if the brakes

will find yourself spinning. For this reason,

engine

will hold her, release the brakes and go

Vmc demonstrations are often done with flap

Plan – (e.g. left hand on to zero-

smoothly to full power. Confirm that the ASI

to keep well above the stall.

five).

is live and increasing.

•

The increased power that you get at low

Of course, you won’t remember all

The aircraft will accelerate and climb

altitude gives you a higher Vmc. This means

this under pressure. But briefing yourself,

much quicker than you expect. Everything

that Vmc is further from the stall speed, so we

complete with hand movements, will be a

happens fast and you will be glad you spent

have the silly situation where it’s theoretically

huge help. If you have done the sitting-in-

time practicing checks.

safer to do the Vmc demonstration at low

the-cockpit-muscle-memory

that

When you reduce power, you will notice

level. I prefer to do it at high altitude and use

And it works

the thrumming of unsynchronised engines.

flap to keep a healthy distance from the stall.

even better if you say it out loud. Strangely,

Do not watch the rev-counters while

Better still, I manually limit rudder travel with

you tend to obey voice commands – even if

synching – they are not accurate enough

my feet for training purposes.

they are your own.

and will confuse you. Simply move one

Smooth and steady is the secret for

The Seneca II POH recommends after

pitch lever back or forward a millifraction

all engine-out flying – don’t do anything

lift-off you leave the wheels down until

until there is no beat. Good syncing is the

in a hurry. No violent manoeuvres. Plan

there’s no useable runway. Most pilots prefer

hallmark of a good twin pilot.

well ahead for gentle turns in the circuit.

makes it almost automatic.

thing,

28 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

COLUMNS Particularly

don’t

allow

a

tailwind

on

base (or poor planning) to force you into a hammerhead and steep turn onto final approach. That is an extremely dangerous situation – low altitude, low airspeed, a tightening turn and a desire to ease back on the stick – you know where that is leading.

They used to say never turn towards the dead engine. This is not a cast-in-bronze rule, but it carries a warning – banking into the dead engine increases Vmc dramatically.

Turn either way, but make sure it’s gentle, and maintain a safe margin of airspeed.

When

an

engine

fails,

you

have

immediate actions – things that need your attention straight away. Maintaining direction, making sure you have full power, cleaning up the gear and flaps, identifying, confirming and feathering.

After you have done all that and have it maintaining altitude, or climbing and banked 5 degrees into the good engine and have it nicely trimmed, it’s time to tidy up. Close the cowl flaps on the dead engine, to reduce drag and open them on the live engine to keep it cool. Pull back the throttle, pitch and

You must understand and be able to discuss all the different coloured markings on the ASI.

mixture levers on the dead engine so that they are out of the way. Shut down the mags, fuel pumps and other services to the dead engine. Check that the live engine supplies adequate electrical, vacuum and hydraulic power.

LANDING For a single-engine landing, tell ATC

And what are you going to do to make

you are asymmetric and won’t be able

sure you haven’t missed anything? You

to do a go-around. Do a normal circuit,

are going to use that wonderful round-the-

keeping the turns gentle. Only use flaps and

cockpit check again.

undercarriage when you are absolutely sure you can make the field with minimal power.

RESTARTING AN ENGINE IN FLIGHT Do exactly the same as you would on the ground, but think about this. The engine

You must plan to avoid dragging her over the fence with dwindling airspeed and a fistful of sideways power.

cools unbelievably quickly in flight with all

I like to aim for almost a glide approach.

that air flowing over it. If it has been shut

If you find yourself using much more than

down for only a few minutes you will need

half power on the good engine, your planning

to use the cold start procedure. More than

hasn’t been great.

one twin has crashed during training flights because

they

couldn’t

restart.

If you have used rudder trim to

Almost

counteract the asymmetric power, you will

certainly because the crew were trying to

need opposite rudder when you throttle back

use the hot start procedure.

for touch-down.

Oh, and by the way, just before hitting

Taxying on one engine is easy as long

the starter you don’t need to shout, “prop

as you keep moving and don’t turn sharply

clear.” Pupes often do it and then feel foolish.

towards the live engine.

If an engine fails en route, re-plan your

So that’s it. To get your multi-engine

altitude and ETAs and tell ATC. Also give

rating, you need to think and act like a

thought to fuel management. It’s generally

professional. Twins don’t tolerate fools. But

best to use fuel from the same wing as the

they do teach you to be a better and more

dead engine – you will need less aileron to

professional well-rounded pilot.

keep that wing up.

You need to know everything about everything in this busy centre console.

j

Most of all, they are a hell of a lot of fun.

29 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

BOEING MAX

I

To a certain extent our training in SA falls just as short. You bring a new idea, based on

spectrum of the issues leading up to the unfortunate crashes.

fact, to training departments in SA airlines

However, the list of contributory (and

have Just read your article in April

as a line Captain - and see the response!

mitigating) factors was so extensive that

2019 on the 737 Max. I might be a bit

Those pilots of ET 302 were ill-equipped to

to cover all of them would need more

late, however I have to give my two

recognize, let alone deal with the problem.

space than was available and the general

cents worth: Boeing’s Max is debated

You also failed to mention that similar

over and over and the point is not to

incidents with MCAS were dealt with

aviation press was also giving extensive

excuse Boeing, but to point out that not all

successfully by FlyDubai and a couple of

Instead, what we were aiming to achieve

the blame has to go to Boeing.

American carriers. To attack one person or

was only to give our readers a high-level

daily coverage.

The training and training environment

entity in particular is reckless and basest

overview of all three of the issues as well

at ET (Ethiopian) is not all it is cracked up

journalism. Yes, Boeing has to take some

as the sentiments that were pertinent to the

to be. For starters, most of the ET Training

of the blame, however I did not see the

MAX grounding and in doing so, we needed

Captains on the 737 have never flown the

same vigour being practiced when there

to exclude some content.

plane and are ex-767 Captains, now retired.

was reports of similar problems on the

You may ask, so what? I have flown the B777 and B787 and now am on the B737 and can tell you that it’s a different beast.

j

Airbus neo.

Just my two cents STEFAN CRONJE

Firstly: experienced trainers on type, who actively fly the line, bring value in the ways that books and FCOMs cannot.

GUY REPLIES:

Second: the training environment at ET

Thanks for taking the time to write to

is harsh. If you point out a training mistake or

us Stefan, we appreciate the additional

a procedure that differs from the SOPs, you

input you have provided in your letter.

are shut down, and fast. More time is spent

You are quite correct when you highlight

training someone’s view or opinion, rather

that our comments on this sad saga were

than on focusing on what is needed.

not complete and did not address the full

30 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Tell us what's on your mind: guy@saflyermag.co.za

+27 11 701 3244

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31 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

HELI OPS GEORGE TONKING

The ABCs Of

BECOMING A Helicopter Pilot

In this month’s column, I would like to talk about the various aspects of becoming a helicopter pilot, based on my training and my decade and a bit in the industry.

I

’M often asked by youngsters who are interested in flying helicopters how easy it is to become a pilot. So, let’s look at the basics and then move onto specific tasks that rotary airmen and women find themselves doing.

The cockpit of the Bell 206 L4 LongRanger, differences training helps to transition from the Bell 206 B Jet Ranger.

Is it difficult to fly a helicopter?

I would have to answer that it’s not difficult to learn and that

helicopters nowadays are definitely easier to fly than in earlier years. Advances in design and technology have made the cockpit a less harsh environment, with a lighter flying work-load for the pilot.

However, the difference between a regular helicopter pilot and a good helicopter pilot is many hours of extra training, practice and honing of skills.

It’s an urban legend that pilots need to have great eyesight and be professors of mathematics, geography and science.

So, what does it take to become a helicopter pilot?

Firstly, it’s an urban legend that pilots need to have great eyesight and be professors of mathematics, geography and science. In fact, all that you need to qualify to write exams for a private licence is a Student Pilot Licence (SPL). You can get this at most flight schools after a medical and short test on the basics of air navigation. It operates essentially as a learner’s licence. Once you have that, you are free to write any and all private licence exams; no Senior Certificate needed.

can choose the best of those – hence they take those with the best eyesight. In civilian flying, the eyesight standards are pretty much

The good eyesight thing is actually a military requirement. The Air

the same as for motor vehicles: 6/6, meaning average eyesight and

Force generally has many more applicants than places available and

wearing spectacles or contact lenses is allowed. A Class 2 medical

32 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

COLUMNS

exam sorts through some restrictions that one may have, but it’s also not a highly rigorous physical exam. It is, however, performed by a medical doctor who is further qualified as an aviation medical examiner.

One tends to stick with the same doctor through the years. They make good friends and keep you safe too. With these boxes ticked, you are free to become a heli pilot.

Some trainee helicopter pilots become proficient very quickly and then there are those who take longer to get there. But at the end of the day, it makes no difference.

The important thing is for a pilot to be able to fly an aircraft competently and safely, no matter how long he or she took to master the skill. With the checks and balances of training in place, both have an equal chance of becoming a great pilot. I’ve flown with both types and frankly, they both have their merits and inherent stereotypical flaws. It’s often easier to train a pilot to whom flying comes naturally, but they are usually the ones who are susceptible to over-confidence, leading to higher risk. On the other hand, training a slower, less-natural learner can seem tedious, but it normally leads to a more cautious, safe flyer, once you’ve invested the extra time.

Helicopter flying is clearly an applied skill, similar to driving a car or riding a bicycle. And like driving a car, you eventually need a licence. You can typically achieve a Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL) after a minimum of 50 hours of flight training, including 15 hours solo flight and five hours of cross-country navigation. The only thing is, unlike a vehicle driving licence, where you can drive any old car, from a BMW to an old Volkswagen Beetle, you can’t fly any old helicopter. Different makes and sizes of helicopters can be very different to each other, which necessitates being ‘Type Rated’ and receiving ‘Differences’ training in order to fly them.

Type ratings are a form of advanced training beyond the initial licence, which, as mentioned already, allow a pilot to fly different makes and models of helicopters.

Each

helicopter

model

has

its

own

particular character, whether it be controls in different places or performance and loading limitations. In addition, some larger helicopters require two or more crew to

The Robinson R44 cockpit, simple and rugged, popular as an ab-initio training aircraft.

fly, requiring type ratings for the different

of helicopter in order to fly it. This usually

crew stations. But for the most part, light

requires an instructor to perform a Pilot

helicopters are single crew machines.

Proficiency Check (PPC). However, even

Also, some helicopters have sub-variants

if you are ‘current’ on a particular type,

within the same type rating. For example, the

you need to become ‘recent’ in order to fly

Bell 206B JetRanger has a sub-variant, the

passengers (according to South African air

Bell 206L-4 LongRanger. Both are classed

law). This states that you must have flown

Bell 206 but the 5-seater JetRanger is vastly

within the last three months (90 days) and

different to the larger 7-seater LongRanger.

performed a minimum of three take-offs

This does not require a different type rating

and three landings on that specific type of

but rather only ‘Differences’ training, which

aircraft to satisfy the ‘recent’ requirement.

is done by a qualified instructor either on the

I can see my passengers’ heads turn as I

ground or while flying.

do three quick circuits around the airfield,

When you eventually get a valid licence,

wondering why I had forgotten to load them

you need to be ‘current’ on a specific type

up. It all seems complicated, but it’s common

33 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

HELI OPS

sense really. You wouldn’t want to get into

a Class 1 medical exam annually to maintain

the journey with people and being part of

an aircraft with a pilot constantly scratching

a commercial licence. If the pilot already

a fraternal family that sticks together like

his or her head while trying to figure out the

has a fixed wing licence, he or she can

brothers.

controls, would you?

get credit of one helicopter hour for every

Piloting is a complex skill, but a most

Training doesn’t happen only in the

two airplane hours, to a maximum of 100

rewarding one. As pilots, we get to master

flying school environment. Most advanced

hours. It is, therefore, possible to complete

our metal beasts and then apply them to

training takes place in the operational or

a commercial helicopter licence in 100

the specific chores they have been chosen

flying environment and this is what makes

(additional) hours. This was how I gained

to perform on a particular occasion. On

the difference between a mere helicopter

my commercial helicopter licence. There

any given day I could be called to ferry

pilot and an excellent one. I’m not condoning

are advantages financially to the credit but it

passengers, or to assist the police in multi-

initial training outside an official air training

does take time and hard work to accomplish

disciplinary operations. I perform routine,

organisation, with a qualified instructor, but

it in the multi-discipline environment.

mundane flights more often than exciting

rather speaking about the truths ‘we do

Once all the legal requirements of a

ones. I’ve taken youngsters for flips and

what we see’ and ‘become good at what we

pilot licence have been met, the fun can

have been used to track an escaped, rogue

do.’ For example, during advanced training

start. Unless your name is Rockefeller, you

lion across the Karoo.

toward a commercial licence, you complete

will need to find a use for your helicopter

Autopilot doesn’t exist and any open

a night rating. This takes around 10 hours.

flying. Unexpectedly, I found my niche in the

piece of land is a potential landing zone.

Most of the basics of night flying are taught

security industry. My first flying job was as

But often, more recently, I find myself

during this rating. For the most part after

a vehicle tracking pilot in Midrand, Gauteng,

‘flying my desk’ – completing the necessary

this, though, you become more comfortable

the hotbed of vehicle hijackings and thefts.

paperwork as chief pilot while others take

flying at night by yourself, while honing your

My first 800 hours flying helicopters were

to the sky. I also find myself in the role of

skills and perfecting your own techniques.

completed chasing thieves. Fun times!

mentor to younger pilots, while realising that

This holds true for most flying techniques,

I then had an opportunity to move on

where many pilots tend to learn best by

to Bidvest Protea Coin as Chief Pilot, a

there is still much for me to learn.

I hope this brief introduction to the

themselves in a low-pressure environment.

position I have occupied for the past nine

process of becoming a helicopter pilot has

Speaking of a commercial licence,

years. (How time flies!) I’ve had the privilege

cleared things up for you and inspired you to

a private pilot needs to complete all the

of acquiring many new skills and learning

chase that dream.

prescribed exams and pass a skills test with

new technologies along the way. I’ve also

an examiner once they have completed 200

amassed ratings on 11 helicopter types.

flight hours. The pilot is also required to pass

The most rewarding part, though, has been

See you in the sky!

j

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34 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

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35 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

A SLIM LOGBOOK JOHAN WALDEN

MY BROWN BOOK For years I’d watched pilots take to the

freedom of the skies

and envied their ability to do that. Now, it

was my turn to enjoy the true aviation experience.

I

brown. It had the CAA logo on the front,

weekend and that his co-pilot had had to pull

beneath it in shining gold letters, “Private

out: I was welcome to come instead if I liked.

Pilot Aeroplane” and it smelled new. Inside

He gave me more information on where

were plastic sleeves for the assorted pages

we were going and I had a quick look at the

that came with it. I signed where indicated

place on the internet. It was about fifty miles

and carefully slid the pages into the book

west of Sutherland, just outside a nature

along with my medical.

reserve. A diagram of “Tanqua International

I saw my instructor, Thomas, on the way

Airport” showed an airport terminal, control

out and showed him my sparkling new PPL –

tower, bathrooms, and a ‘village’ of large

already affectionately known as “My Brown

tents on the south side of the runway. I was

Book.” Now it was official.

still a bit ‘weirded-out’ by the suddenness of

Out of the blue a few days later, I got a phone call. The caller introduced himself as David and reminded me that we had previously helped judge landings together

the invitation, but I knew the mutual friend well and so gladly accepted the invite.

I

met

David

early

on

the

nippy

Saturday morning ready for a full day’s

T had only been a few weeks since I’d passed my PPL checkride. A proud total of 48,6 hours stood in my logbook summary.

A year of laborious studying exams and a gruelling checkride now lay behind me and I was at last ready for a Private Pilot Licence of my very own.

All I was waiting for now was the

call saying it had arrived.

But the weeks of waiting almost felt like

the past year. My whole life was on hold

I collected my sparkling new 'Brown Book'.

and after what seemed like an endless wait, still nothing had happened, I caved in and phoned the school…

My PPL had just arrived! I was at the airfield early the next morning and as I

at an air rally. He’d got my number from a

flying. I’d brought a cooler bag of bagels,

crossed the grass to the flight school I

mutual friend. I did a quick mental rewind

a camera, some planning of my own (I was

thought it was funny that I hadn’t even seen

back to my hangar rat years and recalled,

understandably a little over-excited) and

a pilot licence before. What did a PPL look

about two years previously, watching planes

My Brown Book – because why the hell

like?

bounce hopelessly past the orange cones

not? He rolled back the hangar doors and

I was tingling with excitement as I walked

and score zero points. That helped to put a

slid the cover off a Jabiru 430. I cracked its

into the office. The receptionist slid my brand

face to the voice on the phone. Anyway, he

door open and peered inside – one of my

new PPL across the counter. It was a book.

said that he was flying from Morningstar to a

favourite things to do.

A little bigger than a passport and golden-

strip in the Karoo called Tanqua the following

36 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Its insides were dark, cold, and smelled

COLUMNS

of Mr Min, leather and avgas. David flipped on the hangar lights, and now, in-between

Tanqua International Airport.

the seats, I could see a single centre-stick with buttons all over it and a grip that looked like it belonged to a fighter jet – cool. A sixpack of analogue instruments gleamed in a carbon-fibre panel. It also had a GPS and a switch labelled “AUTO PILOT” under which ran a neat row of fuses and switches. And on each side of the panel was a big plunger which I guessed were throttles. – and it had four seats! David opened the rear door and chucked in two large camping chairs and a cooler box.

I had spent the past year in a yellow Sling – a very yellow Sling – and was excited to learn the ins and outs of a new plane for the first time, using my newly-acquired ‘pilot’seye’. I followed David through the pre-flight closely. More than anything else the extra

The teleportation machine.

seats and rear door made it feel bigger than the Sling. A few minutes later we were ready to start and I watched David go through his checks to fire up the engine. The soft rumble of the six-cylinder motor was much smoother than the Sling’s raspy Rotax.

Soon, we were on our way to Tanqua and passing northeast over the mountains.

David showed me how the autopilot followed the GPS and things like how the digital fuel flow indicator worked. Eventually my verbal diarrhoea of questions died down and I turned to take in the stunning views. We were over similar terrain to that on my recent check-ride – but this time I could enjoy it. As we flew further, the vista became more alien – almost Martian I thought – desolate, but beautiful.

in the middle of nowhere, eating a cheese

met the instructor, did the type technical and

My butt was just getting sore when we

bagel. This machine standing next to me,

we went flying.

landed on the lumpy dirt runway of Tanqua

called an ‘aeroplane’, had the magical power

Even though in my mind the Jabiru was

‘International Airport’. I climbed out and

to teleport you wherever you wanted – no

a different plane and (with its four seats and

unbent myself in the refreshingly crisp

matter how far.

all), perhaps even a step up from the Sling,

breeze. I spotted the ‘airport terminal’: a

A few weeks later I flew with David

they were not that dissimilar: weight, size

large tent with someone inside drinking

again, this time to Swellendam. Afterwards,

and fuel capacity were about the same and

a coke next to a cooler box. The ‘control

David agreed to let me get some stick time

they both cruised at around 95 to 100 knots.

tower’ was simply a large wooden box-like

on the Jabiru, so before I knew it, I had my

The biggest thing I had to get used to – as

structure on stilts and I guessed the toilets

head in the manual and had booked an

I immediately found out – was the ground

were probably a long-drop. It was almost

instructor for my first ever conversion onto

handling: With no toe-brakes (this one had

comical.

another aeroplane. The challenge lay in not

a hand-operated brake lever) it just couldn’t

getting the speeds for the Jabiru scrambled

turn. With full right rudder I still managed to

with the speeds for the Sling, or using the

put a wheel in the grass when I turned onto

wrong estimated fuel flow for planning.

the taxiway –I’m better now, but initially it

Beyond the tents, in all directions, was absolutely nothing.

We unfolded the camping chairs in the shade of the wing and had lunch in the

Before I did the conversion, David

isolated landscape. It was weird feeling that

went over some technical points and a few

The controls were basically the same

I’d been at home that morning and here, just

‘housekeeping’ items with me so I knew how

as the Sling except for a few extras like

a few hours later, I was sitting under a wing

everything should work. A few days later I

carburettor heat. In the air the ‘Jabbi’ wasn’t

took some sweating.

37 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

A SLIM LOGBOOK

land in less than ideal winds, I decided to take to the air just like every other pilot and experience flying for the sake of its joy and freedom.

So on a bright sunny day I packed My Brown Book and went to the airfield.

I pulled the plane out by myself, started, taxied, took off by myself and flew towards the coast. I meandered above the beach with the aeroplane at my fingertips and the

It was good to have My Brown Book.

wind blowing in my face – through the airvent. I looked down at the aqua-blue water, the houses and cars. The waves seemed to

quite as manoeuvrable as the Sling, plus I

effect of air between the wing and runway,

crash on the beach in slow motion. I looked

had to get used to flying with my right hand

causing it to float. I flew it solo – which was

up and followed a looming ball of cloud until

instead of my left, but I soon got the hang of

scary and felt like my first solo all over again

it passed overhead and disappeared behind

it. The high wing made landing a little easier

– then went up with the instructor again.

the wing – I smiled.

because you didn’t have the cushioning

Once I felt comfortable that I could

Building on the success of Dart Aeronautical and M&D Aircraft Electrical, Dart Aircraft Electrical opened its doors in January 2015.

Dart Aircraft Electrical (DAE) took over from M&D and has acquired all M&Ds test and bench equipment, thereby maintaining M&Ds capabilities.

DAE has also retained the services of M&Ds Matthew Joubert, and is therefore well-equipped to cater to all aircraft electrical requirements.

Matthew has over 17 years’ experience and brings a high degree of professionalism to the aircraft electrics trade. He specialises in fuel pumps, magnetos, alternators and starters.

Sharing the premises with Dart Aeronautical, DAE is located on the ground floor of Aeronautical House at Rand Airport.

DAE is able to sell, overhaul, service and repair the following: •

Starters

•

Alternators

•

Fuel Pumps

•

Magnetos

•

Strobe Boxes

•

Aircraft electrical wiring installation and repairs

•

Electronic components

38 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

j

It was good to have My Brown Book.

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39 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

COMPANY PROFILE

STARLITE AVIATION Training Pilots for the World To deal with the looming pilot shortage, Starlite Aviation Training Academy is securing the future supply of pilots by providing the best of all possible training – not only for helicopter pilots, but also for fixed wing pilots – and to cater for the growing need for professional drone pilots.

STARLITE AVIATION TRAINING ACADEMY

Starlite offers civilian helicopter pilot training programmes for

Starlite has two decades of unrivalled African-centric aviation

all key helicopter types, from ab-initio training on the Guimbal Cabri

training and operations experience. It prides itself on stringent

G2, Robinson R22,R44 and R66 and then on to MD, Bell and Airbus

adherence to aviation safety standards, the quality of its flight training

products. .

and ground school and its modern aircraft fleet. In recognition of

The Academy is committed to providing skills development,

its high standards, Starlite is particularly proud that after a rigorous

knowledge and technology transfer, to enable a self-sustaining

selection process, it was chosen to provide training all the way to

solution to its customers, not only in South Africa, but across

ATPL on a three-year contract for the SACAA’s cadet programme.

numerous African countries. Starlite’s experience is that the African

At both its Durban and Mossel Bay bases, Starlite offers the full

air transport industry seeks African based solutions to an African

range of helicopter and fixed wing pilot training encompassing intro

aviation skills development need, illustrated by over a decade of

flights, Private Pilot Licence (PPL), Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL),

repeat business.

Night and Instrument Ratings, Aircraft Type Conversions, Hour

Safety is a cornerstone priority. Starlite has become a globally

Building/Hire and Fly, Simulator training, Additional Pilot training

recognised leader in providing superior professional and customised

courses and the English language proficiency rating.

helicopter, fixed-wing pilot and maintenance engineer training. The

40 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Academy has trained ab initio, private,

Starlite is also the only civilian company

commercial, instructor helicopter and fixed-

to train the South African Air Force and the

II MCC Fixed Wing simulators which are

wing pilots, totalling over 130,000 hours of

South African Police Air Wing. Contract and

EASA / FAA/ SACAA certified.

instruction and averaging in excess of 7,500

Full-time training courses are centred at

A key benefit of these state of the art

flying hours per annum. It has become by

the Mossel Bay base, which will be further

simulators is the advanced MCC platform

far the largest helicopter training school in

expanded in 2020 with a full-featured

which teaches crew co-operation between

Africa, with our fixed wing training division

campus providing accommodation for up

Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring. In addition,

on the same growth trajectory. It features an

to 200 students. The new state-of-the-

it enables realistic Instrument and/or night

accredited SACAA examination test centre at both of Starlite’s training bases, as well as helicopter, fixed-wing and drone pilot training at both bases.

To ensure that the Academy provides the most modern aircraft for training, Starlite was the African launch customer of the European manufactured next generation training helicopter, the Guimbal Cabri G2.

The Cabri G2 has unparalleled safety features not traditionally found in training helicopters. Starlite has already become the first company in the world to achieve the key fleet milestone of 10,000 flight hours on the Guimbal Cabri G2, within only 3 years of operation.

Starlite is also the first company in Africa to introduce the R44 Cadet, the latest

Starlite's Flight Academy covers fixed-wing, helicopter and drone training.

generation American manufactured training helicopter, fast becoming another favourite choice of training helicopter by students

art facilities will include lecture theatres,

training utilising upper functions – such as:

In 2017 Starlite introduced the latest

a medical centre and sports facilities. A

colour weather radar, EFIS, Autopilot and

generation fixed-wing training aircraft, the

notable feature is that the campus will be run

SAS System,

South African manufactured Sling 2, which

entirely ‘off the grid’ using solar energy and

Landing Gear use.

was such a success that Starlite doubled its

other renewables.

The helicopter simulator is based on the very common AS355 Twin Squirrel

fleet in 2019.

Leading the way, Starlite’s drone school

GPS Radio Altimeter and

SIMULATORS

turbine helicopter. It allows practise of

was launched in November 2019 in Durban

At its Mossel Bay base Starlite operates

single engine failures and profiles, hydraulic

and will launch in January 2020 in Mossel

the Elite Evolution S723T FNPT II MCC Twin

failures, tail rotor failure and LTE, and all

Bay.

Turbine Helicopter and the S923T FNPT

other systems with zero physical/financial risk. It is particularly valuable for practising ship-borne and oil platform operations plus approaches in all weather. It is able to handle specific approach and departure profiles and features a fully customised visual and navigation aid data base.

The fixed wing simulator is configurable to three types - Piper Arrow, Seneca III and King Air B200. Featuring Totally Integrated Systems, Dual Electro-Mechanical Dynamic Control Loading Yoke and Pedals, fully instrumented for Pilot and Co-pilot stations.

Full autopilot capability with flight director

Top of the range Elite Evolution S723T FNPT II simulators provide procedure training and count 30 hours towards the CPL.

and navigation coupling to GPS and VORs. Auto pilot can be controlled by Pilot or Copilot This simulator is approved for: 5 Hours towards initial PPL & Night Rating, 20 Hours

41 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

towards initial Instrument rating, 25 Hours

Theoretical

towards ATPL, and 3 Hours towards Multi

and examinations

roads and no higher than 120m (400 feet)

Successful completion of a Skills

above ground. Also, a hobby drone must be

Test, with a designated examiner.

flown within line of sight, which means you

Engine ratings. In addition, it is an excellent

•

platform for in-cockpit CRM training, LOS/ SPOT and MCC Training

Knowledge

Training

* Class 3 medical certificate, to be obtained before commencement of training

STARLITE’S DRONE TRAINING AND

an airport, 50m of people and buildings or

shouldn’t be flying at night.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft are being used

Drone regulations in South Africa are

as marketing tools for many organisations

closely modelled on existing aviation law.

such as tourism departments and real estate

Piloted

They separate drone flight into commercial

agents. Today, many businesses are starting

Aircraft Systems (RPAS) – or drones – are

operations and hobby operations. The laws

to think beyond the traditional use of photos

the fastest growing sector of the aviation

around the legal operation of remote control

or videos, however, the possibilities for the

OPERATIONS Recognising

that

Remotely

industry, Starlite has been leading the way in both drone training and lawful operations.

After a lengthy process, the SACAA has granted Starlite a coveted Remote Operating

commercial use of an RPA go far beyond photos and videos.

Starlite has a coveted ROC from the SACAA and a dedicated drone training facility.

One of the most common questions we are asked is, “How can I use my drone to

Certificate (ROC). This enables Starlite to

make money?” or; “What drone careers are

provide professional drone operations at all

available?” RPAs can be used to supplement

the key centres in South Africa, in particular,

existing data imaging tools to capture

the high demand area of Gauteng, using

images of the land and structures during the

Starlite’s Heidelberg maintenance base.

construction of new buildings.

Starlite is also able to provide drone

Drones are being used in projects such

operator training to enable aspiring drone

as road design, assessment of landfills,

pilots to obtain a Remote Pilot’s License

coastal erosion projects and the design

(RPL).. With certified training facilities in

of golf courses. Unmanned aircraft are

Durban and Mossel Bay and an experienced

increasingly being used in many different

team of skilled flight instructors, the school

commercial operations, simply due to their

offers both full time and flexible training

efficiency and reduced operating expenses, offering many options for drone careers.

Overall, there are many possibilities for

Formal ground school is essential for building understanding - and not just passing exams.

individual drone careers, or opportunities for businesses and government departments to use drones to improve their operations or provide new revenue opportunities.

The first thing anyone who wants to fly a drone professionally – whether for direct payment or not, is to acquire a Remote Pilots Licence (RPL). Once you have that, you can seek employment in this growing industry and work towards the other requirements to start your own firm.

STARLITE: GROUP OVERVIEW The

Starlite

Training

Academy

is

proud to be part of the much larger Starlite Aviation Group which has grown into a multioptions

and

can

arrange

discounted

accommodation for out of town students.

The Remote Pilot’s Licence (RPL) minimum requirements are:

aircraft – also known as drones, Unmanned

disciplinary aviation group, offering a wide

Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Remote Piloted

range of helicopter and fixed wing services

Aerial

a

worldwide. Having operated in more than

framework for where and how drones can be

30 countries and on five continents in some

flown and who is allowed to fly them.

of the toughest environments, including

Systems

(RPAS)

introduced

•

At least 18 years of age

•

A certificate in Radio Telephony

•

A certificate in English Language

on the whole, apply to the kind of hobby

readiness as one of the key factors of its

Proficiency

quadcopters that are a popular Christmas

success.

•

Successful

completion

of

These restrictions and regulations don’t,

the

Practical Flight Training syllabus •

Successful

completion

42 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

of

present, and if you are flying a drone for

Antarctica,

The

the

Starlite

Company

Aviation

has

mission

Group

was

fun the main thing to be aware of is where

founded by CEO, Slade Thomas and Vice

their use is banned. That’s within 10km of

Chairman, Karl Kebert with the vision: ‘To

RIGHT: The thrill of going solo is properly celebrated.

rule the African Skies’. The Company expanded rapidly and grew its vision: ‘To be a globally significant player in the international aviation industry.’

Starlite’s business model is based on the company being a trusted long-term partner to corporate, commercial and military customers, and it is considered to be a leader in operations, maintenance, training and aircraft sales.

SAFETY Starlite intensely guards its impeccable safety reputation. A key to the company’s safety record is the constant review of its safety management systems (SMS).

Great emphasis is placed on the

company’s own SOPs and regulatory compliance with whatever authority it is operating under. The company also introduced the supply and assembly of mobile aircraft hangars, allowing the firm to undertake quality compliant maintenance in remote locations.

HEMS Starlite has become a world leader in Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) and Medevac. The Company offers a blended solution, operating both a fleet of helicopter and fixed wing aircraft capable of transporting numerous patients. The aircraft are fitted with high level ICU emergency medical monitoring equipment and supply highly skilled aviation doctors and paramedics to provide primary medical care. Starlite’s ability to operate 24 hours a day has been a key part of this initiative. Using sophisticated Night Vision Systems allows for safer night flying when clear visibility for medevac operations is required.

AIRCRAFT SALES Starlite Aero Sales deals in the sale of a range of new and preowned helicopter and fixed wing aircraft through a wide network of contacts in the local and international markets.

The company specialises in the sale of the full range of Robinson helicopters, the Guimbal Cabri G2 and Elite simulators. Starlite Aero Sales’ integrated aviation solution includes all the associated support services including: Sales, Finance, Insurance, Importing and Exporting, CAA Registrations & Airworthiness, Maintenance, Spares, Training, Charter and Aircraft Management.

Starlite Aero Sales is an accredited service provider with all the major banks in South Africa and assists customers with the process of financing all aircraft types.

TOURISM For clients who require high end luxury travel for business and pleasure, the company provides seamless fixed wing and helicopter charter.

OIL AND GAS Starlite has developed industry leading expertise in oil and gas support, specifically for the challenging conditions in Africa. In June

Oil and gas support is a Starlite speciality.

2010, Starlite purchased a brand new large helicopter, the Sikorsky S92, the first of its kind on the African continent (featured extensively in SA Flyer at the time). This aircraft opened the door for the company to compete in the oil and gas industry.

Starlite has recently entered a joint venture with GEPetrol in Equatorial Guinea, providing helicopter services in its coastal waters and supplying HEMS and search and rescue services. Additionally, this will see Starlite training local crews in such operations, for example, pilots engineers and other staff that are required in the oil and gas industry.

ANTI-POACHING OPS Starlite Aviation has gone on to develop many unique operational skills. One such is its unique experience in combatting the massive scourge of Rhino poaching. The company has led the field in using the most up to date technology which includes night vision goggles and an FLIR equipped Bell 407 for night surveillance.

Through Project Ezemvelo, the company’s primary role in wildlife protection is to provide flexible, cost-effective solutions through collaboration with conservation bodies and governments, to provide support to anti-poaching units, patrolling, intelligence gathering and aerial surveillance. This includes border patrols, locating poachers day and night, game counting and herding and the relocation of endangered species.

43 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

Starlite provides a variety of scenic flight

THE FUTURE

CONCLUSION

packages for flights to game parks and wine

Fiona McCarthy, Director of Group

Working to suit the requirements of any

farms. Tourism flights operate from both

Operations, concludes: “Our aim is to

clientele, Starlite has successfully been

Virginia Airport, Durban and Mossel Bay

increase our reach even further into Africa,

able to penetrate a variety of new markets,

Airfield, Western Cape.

providing medevac standby and passenger

driven by its stellar reputation, competitive

and cargo transportation to the most remote,

strategies and the monitoring of key trends.

inaccessible and hostile areas. Ultimately,

The company has developed a multi-

dedicated

our goal is to become the service providers

disciplinary range of competencies in a

MAINTENANCE Starlite aircraft

has

numerous

organisations

of choice to governments and corporate

wide variety of very challenging fields. As

(AMOs) providing maintenance and logistic

maintenance

clients and to provide support in unstable

the global social, economic and political

requirements for all aircraft operated by

and unpredictable environments globally.”

climates

become

increasingly

turbulent

the group, The Company has a dedicated

in the coming years, Starlite is working to

assembly line in Durban for Robinson and

ensure that it is ready to deal effectively with

Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopters and has a vast

any challenging developments through its

third party maintenance capability.

adaptable, resourceful and flexible culture.

j

Johannesburg and Durban are the company’s primary AMOs. In addition,

Starlite does all its own fixed wing and helicopter maintenance.

satellite AMO’s have been established at key locations worldwide, providing onsite maintenance through a permanent group of qualified maintenance engineers for the fleet of helicopters.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT It is a truism to say that a business is only as good as its staff. This is particularly the case with Starlite, which has to operate in very remote and demanding conditions – in a job that requires the highest levels of skills, knowledge and experience to meet the exacting technical and safety standards of helicopter operations.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Starlite

has

implemented

leading

corporate social responsibility practices that integrate with the firm’s training policy. An important component of these are internships which are granted by the company to upskill disadvantaged and handicapped locals to ensure their marketability in the workplace.

Klara Fouche, Starlite Group Director of Training and Aero Sales says; “There is much work to do on the African continent with regard to rescue and relief, air ambulance, and passenger and cargo transportation.”

She further notes that, “Starlite’s 20 years’ experience and wide-spread presence on the African continent provides the assurance that the company is poised and ready to fulfil any contract, regardless of the complexity or challenging environment worldwide.”

44 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Specialised equipment such as night vision goggles are essential for 24-7 medevac and wildlife protection operations.

45 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

REGISTER REVIEW: RAY WATTS

NOVEMBER 2019 This month was quite active as four fixed wing aircraft, three gliders and five helicopters were registered in the TCA category.

departed our shores. Also included in the seven deletions are two Airbus A350B3 helicopters.

On the NTCA register, we lost an Alouette to the “Land of the long white cloud.” My friend Hugo Visser has joined his son in New Zealand and has taken his airworthy Alouette III and several other ex SAAF IIIs with him. Another Atlas AL60 (ZU-BTN) has also been taken off the register.

ZS-BTJ Piper PA12 exported. Taken by Dave Becker.

TAIL PIECE Although this is the register review for November 2019, it’ll be published in the January 2020 edition so HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY. I had the pleasure of attending the “Elders Flight” initiative at Rand Airport on 30 November and it was a fantastic event. About 100

T

senior citizens were taken for their first flight that day and their facial HE first of four Airbus A350-900s for South African Airways appeared on the register, even though all four of them are already in the country. I guess the bureaucracy is a bit slow. Two of the aircraft came from Hainan Airlines and two from Air Mauritius. They will be

registered using the registrations originally used on the Airbus A300-

expressions ranged from nervous and apprehensive before the flight to smiles and laughter afterwards. A personal highlight of the day was when an ex SAAF Korean War P51 fighter pilot, Allister Rae, was taken by Menno Parsons in his P51 Mustang for a flight around the airport. Al is now 90 years old and is just as feisty as when I knew him

j

as corporate pilot of Barlow’s King Air.

B4s that SAA disposed of in 2000. ZS-SDE, the first one showing here was called Springbok and went to Turkey as TC-ONT 16/11/2000. I wonder if the new aircraft will also be named Springbok. The other three were named Waterbok (ZS-SDC), Rooibok (ZS-SDD) and Eland (ZS-SDF).

The Cirrus ZS-ING takes up the registration that was allocated to a Beech Baron 58. The Baron is still around but is now known as ZSALH. The four fixed wing registrations this month are completed by the registration of two aerobatic aircraft – an Aviat S2B and an Extra

ZS-FGB taken at FAOR.

EA300. The five helicopters added are three Bell 430s from Angola, an Agusta 139 from Nigeria and an AS350B3 from Brazil.

The new section of the register ZT-G for Gliders opened this month with three being added, although there are already more than three around – again the bureaucracy seems a bit slow.

Only two NTC aircraft were added – a Savannah S and an RV4.

Since the CAA have taken over from RAASA activity has virtually ground to a halt and from what I read people are getting annoyed with the delays.

ZS-MID Cessna 208B exported. Taken by Ray Watts.

The Drones keep droning in with another forty-five added this month. A total of two hundred and eighty-two have been added so far in 2019.

A significant amount of aircraft have been deleted from the register this month and due to lack of information from the CAA I can only think that it’s because they have been exported. There are seven TCA aircraft deleted including a beautiful Piper Cruiser and a Grumman AA5. There is also an Atlas AL60 Kudu which was LS1 registered (ZS-WZN). The beautiful CL600 ZS-ZOR has also

46 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

ZS-ZOR CL600 exported. Taken by Omer Mees.

M&N Acoustic Services REGISTER REVIEW - NOVEMBER

Reg Manufacturer ZS- New Registrations

Type Name

Serial No

Previous Identity

Owner

ZS-ING

CIRRUS DESIGN CORPORATION

SR22

4819

N481FG

3G AVIATION (PTY) LTD

ZS-SDE

AIRBUS

A350-941

0354

3B-NBR, F-WZHG

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS SOC LTD

N6081Z

ZS-TJN

AVIAT INC

S-2B

5279

ZS-XLX

EXTRA FLUGZEUGBAU GMBH

EA-300/LC

LC088

SPAMAIR (PTY) LTD NATIONAL AIRWAYS CORPORATION (PTY) LTD

ZU- New Registrations ZU-IJV

SAVANNAH AFRICA

SAVANNAH S

19-04-54-0671

FUTURE ASSET RENTALS (PTY) LTD

ZU-OLI

RYAN DAVID BECKLEY

RV-4

4592

BECKLEY R D

ZT- RPAS - New Registrations ZT-WFK

DJI

PHANTOM 4 PRO

0AX1F6G00S1272

ROBOT AIR (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFL

DJI

MAVIC 2 ZOOM

0M6DFA80018144

RPAS CONSULTING (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFM

DJI

MAVIC 2 ENTERPRISE

276DFAH0019J2F

NTIYISO AVIATION SERVICES (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFN

DJI

PHANTOM 4 PRO

0AX1F6E00S0985

ECO-AGRI CONSULTANTS CC

ZT-WFO

DJI

PHANTOM 4 PRO

189CEAQBA20725

AURECON SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFP

SENSEFLY

EBEE X

IX-12-46135

ROCKETMINE (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFR

DJI

MATRICE 600

M80DFF15030058

DRONE OPS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFS

UFLYSIS

UFS UN-01

001

ISARAIL SA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFT

DJI

INSPIRE 1

W132F9K00S0012

SOLAR GROUP (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFU

DJI

INSPIRE 2

0A0LF6K707002X

AURECON SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFV

BIG BIRD FILMS (PTY) LTD

PHOENIX

BBP19002

STREAMLINE CINEMA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFW

DJI

MATRICE 210 RTK

17UDG9FR13HFP3

ATLANTIC TECH GROUP (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFX

DJI

MAVIC 2 PRO

163CG8HR0A0V40

COMPACT AERIAL SERVICES (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFY

DJI

MAVIC 2 ZOOM

0M6CG7QR0A0219

COMPACT AERIAL SERVICES (PTY) LTD

ZT-WFZ

DJI

PHANTOM 4 PRO

0AXDEBJ00S0235

SALARIA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGA

DJI

PHANTOM 4 PRO

07DDD5S0B11007

SALARIA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGC

FOXTECH

NIMBUS VTOL

VTOL05

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGD

UDS

KESTREL

K0013

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGE

DJI

PHANTOM 4 RTK

0V2CG1J0A30023

SALARIA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGF

UDS

KESTREL

K0019

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGG

UDS

KESTREL

K0015

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGH

UDS

KESTREL

K0018

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGI

DJI

PHANTOM 4

07DJE7E0C10761

SALARIA (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGJ

UDS

KESTREL

K0014

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGK

UDS

KESTREL

K0016

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGL

UDS

KESTREL

K0021

UAV AND DRONE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD

ZT-WGN

DJI

MAVIC 2 ENTERPRISE

298DG3E00109JC

COMPACT AERIAL SERVICES (PTY) LTD

ZTR - New Registrations ZT-HKZ

AGUSTA WESTLAND S.P.A

AW139

31578

5N-BTR, ZS-HMD, I-EASH

TITAN HELICOPTERS (PTY) LTD

ZT-RAV

AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

AS 350 B3

4599

PR-FLO

CAPITAL AIR (PTY) LTD

ZT-RRR

BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON

430

49109

D2-EYK, N825GB, C-FOFH

NATIONAL AIRWAYS CORPORATION (PTY) LTD

ZT-RRS

BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON

430

49113

D2-EYR, N70830, C-GLZE

NATIONAL AIRWAYS CORPORATION (PTY) LTD

ZT-RRT

BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON

430

49126

D2-EYS, N430JA

NATIONAL AIRWAYS CORPORATION (PTY) LTD

ZT - New Registrations ZT-GJC

M&D FLUGZEUGBAU GMBH & CO. KG

JS-MD 3

3.MD074

COUTTS J R P

ZT-GJR

M&D FLUGZEUGBAU GMBH & CO. KG

JS-MD 3

3.MD067

JS-JR PARTNERSHIP

ZT-GLG

M&D FLUGZEUGBAU GMBH & CO. KG

JS-MD 3

3.MD073

SCHLEICHER SAILPLANES (PTY) LTD

ZU - Deleted ZU-BTN

ATLAS

AL-60C-4M KUDU

995

ZU-HGO

AEROSPATIALE

SA 3160 ALOUETTE III

110

ZU-IJV

ICP ITALY & SAVANNAH AFRICA

SAVANNAH S

15-11-54-0435

ZU-MGR

VAN’S AIRCRAFT

RV-7

73355

ZU-RHM

ROTARY AIR FORCE

RAF 2000 GTX SE FI

M2010711030

ZT- RPAS - Deleted ZT-REE

AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

AS 350 B3

8610

ZT-RSG

AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

AS 350 B3

8402

ZS - Deleted ZS-BTJ

PIPER AIRCRAFT CORPORATION

PA-12

122749

ZS-CHI

BEECH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION

200

BB-197

ZS-JAF

GRUMMAN AMERICAN

AA-5A

AA5A-0403

ZS-MID

CESSNA AIRCRAFT COMPANY

208B

208B2226

ZS-OSE

AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES, A.S

L-420

922729A

ZS-WZN

ATLAS AIRCRAFT CORPORATION

AL-60C-M4-KUDU

965

ZS-ZOR

BOMBARDIER INC

CL-600-2B19

8080

We perform SANAS certifications on all your:

Acoustics ( eg. CEL 350 ) Vibration ( eg. Rion VA -11) Human Vibration ( eg. Quest Hav Pro) Electrical DC/LF Equipment – inhouse or on site (eg. Fluke Multimeters, Insulation Testers)

Contact: Rashid Snyders Tel: 012 689 2007 I Cell: 076 920 3070 Email: admin@mnacoustics.co.za

www.saflyer.com | January 2020

47

AN INSURANCE TAKE ON ACCIDENTS BARRY LEWIS

DUAL MAGS – DUAL SAFETY? Does a dual magneto really give ‘belt and braces’ redundancy?

A

N experienced aircraft engineer good

and friend

once remarked as we studied a

particularly

confined

aircraft engine installation, “When they install these engines they put in pipes and wires and then a canary. If the canary escapes they install more pipes and wires until it is trapped.”

Space-saving maybe one of the reasons Lycoming uses dual magnetos on some of its engines. The dual magneto is two magnetos in one, with a common shaft mounted on a single auxiliary pad.

A dual magneto - with a single drive shaft.

Most light aircraft engines have two separate magnetos. Besides safety, the

been overhauled and the single engine-

The second claim involved a Piper Lance

reason for having dual ignition is the

driven shaft had been incorrectly installed

on a short ferry flight. Shortly after takeoff

cylinders’ size, where two spark plugs are

so that friction made it run hot. The shaft

the engine failed. Investigation revealed that

desirable for better and smoother ignition.

has cams on which the fibre/plastic cam

chafing of the ignition harness had resulted

Magneto’s are self-contained and do not

followers operating the ignition contact

in complete failure of the dual magneto.

require battery power. If you have a total

breaker points run. What had happened was

Discussing engine components reminds

in-flight electrical failure your engine will

that the followers had melted as a result of

me of a case involving a Beech Bonanza

continue to run.

the heat of the shaft so the points could no

on which the dry type vacuum pump failed.

longer open and both magnetos failed.

The dry type pump doesn’t require engine

The first time I dealt with dual magnetos involved a Piper Chieftain inbound to

Unfortunately the Chieftain was a write-

Johannesburg from an airstrip in Botswana.

off. However, had the pilot feathered the

In the cruise at FL110 the left engine failed

propeller and still had to make a forced

The owner of this Bonanza had wanted

and for some reason the pilot didn’t feather

landing the insurers would have had good

to do a VFR flight after the dry type pump

the prop. The Chieftain could easily have

reason to sue the AMO that had overhauled

powering the artificial horizon and direction

returned to base had it been feathered. The

the magneto in order to recover the claim

gyro had been removed. The mechanic who

plane was therefore landed in the desert

cost. However, because of the pilot’s failure

had been working on the aircraft assured

with the undercarriage retracted, fortunately

to feather the prop, it was considered that

him that this would be fine. However, soon

without injury to the occupants but with

a case against the AMO would not have

after takeoff the engine failed due to lack of

extensive damage to the aircraft.

succeeded as they could have raised the

oil pressure.

The faulty engine had a dual magneto which had failed. This magneto had recently

48 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

argument that the aircraft could and should have made it back to its departure point.

lubrication, whereas the wet type pump does.

The engine was stripped at a major AMO and it was found that a big end bearing had

COLUMNS

failed, liberating the connecting rod, which had smashed the crankcase.

No reason could be found for this mechanical failure, but it was noted that a dirty wet type vacuum pump had been bolted onto the pad at the rear of the engine. It occurred to the investigator that this pump could have been installed after the accident as the mechanic could have neglected to fit a blanking plate on the pad, which is supplied with oil from the engine system to lubricate a wet type pump.

With no blanking plate, engine oil would

have

been

pumped

overboard.

The mechanic confessed that he had not installed the blanking plate when told that further investigation was being considered to

The lack of space under some cowls favours dual magnetos.

establish whether residual oil in the wet type vacuum pump matched the engine oil.

This was fortunate for the owner, as normally engine breakdown would not be

paid all the costs of the claim, including the

drag of a windmilling prop will literally drag

engine, and the owner did not need to claim

you down.

under his insurance policy.

Magneto

covered under the policy, although resulting damage would be insured. It should also be

WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

noted that the cause of mechanical failure

If your engine/s have a dual magneto,

can sometimes be very difficult to establish

be aware of its possible shortcomings and

because the extreme damage caused by the

ensure it is properly maintained.

failure destroys much of the evidence.

In this case, the AMO’s liability insurers

failure

is

uncomfortably

commonplace. Mags are full of plastic components. Plastic is non-conductive but less than robust.

Fortunately, our aircraft engines are equipped with dual magnetos for redundancy,

When engine failure occurs on a twin,

and the probability of both magnetos failing

j

be sure to feather the propeller as the huge

100 95

simultaneously is extremely remote.

E-mail: andries@dynamicpropeller.co.za pero@dynamicpropeller.co.za Tel: +27 11 824 5057 Fax2mail: 086 548 2651 Pero: 079 492 0592 Andries: 082 445 4496

75

25 5 0

SA Flyer 2019|12

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Everything is performed in-house, including cold compression rolling on Hartzell propeller blades, as well as dynamic balancing of propellers in the field.

Dynamic Propellers cc is an Authorised Service Centre for MT-Propeller and Whirl Wind. Dynamic Propellers cc is also appointed as the sole McCauley Authorised Service Centre for the African continent.

We carry a large stock holding of fast moving propellers, hubs, parts, de-icing parts, overhaul kits etc. in our inventory to cater for Hartzell, McCauley, MT – Propeller, Hoffman, Dowty, Sensenich, Whirl Wind and Hamilton standard propellers. We do a huge amount of travelling to local, domestic and neighbouring countries as well as abroad to cater for customer’s propeller requirements.

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49 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

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50 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

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E CE NC A AN N N I I S F F NS ON T TIIO P P E -O O L LE B B A LA IIL A A E V V RE A A U UIIR Q Q N E EN W!!

OW N NO

ACCIDENT REPORT JIM DAVIS

FUEL PUMP EFATO This report was compiled in the interests of promoting aviation safety and reduction of the risk of aviation accidents or incidents and not to establish legal liability.

SYNOPSIS On 3 March 2009, the pilot, accompanied by a passenger, intended

and minor damage was caused to the airport perimeter fence and surrounding vegetation.

to depart from Kimberley aerodrome to Ladysmith aerodrome as per his flight plan submitted to Kimberley ATC. It would appear that the engine lost power or failed during take-off and the pilot failed to maintain flying speed, resulting in the aircraft

PROBABLE CAUSE Did not maintain flying speed after the engine failed as a result of an over-rich mixture setting.

stalling and crashing.

Both pilot and passenger were fatally injured.

Investigation revealed no technical defects that could have caused the aircraft to crash.

The aeroplane was destroyed during the accident sequence

52 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

FACTUAL INFORMATION History of Flight On 3 March 2009 at approximately 04h10Z, the pilot, accompanied by a passenger, took off from Kimberley aerodrome in the Northern

Cape on a private flight to Ladysmith aerodrome in KwaZulu-Natal.

During take-off, the aircraft was observed to perform abnormal manoeuvres after which it nose-dived into the ground.

According to the ATC, the pilot transmitted a Mayday call, but was unable to state the nature of the problem before the accident occurred.

However, the transcript of the communication with the tower does not reflect a Mayday call.

Aerodrome Information Aerodrome Elevation: 3 949 ft Runway Designations: 10/28 Runway Dimensions: 2 439 m x 46 m Surface: Tar Impact Information The aircraft struck the ground approximately 50 m beyond the threshold of Runway 10 in a nose-down and left-wing-low attitude. It then swung around to face in a direction of approximately 100 degrees M. The tail section of the aircraft made contact with the airport perimeter fence.

The aircraft erupted in fire during the initial impact and was destroyed as a result of the post-impact fire. There were no indications of any in-flight fire.

On 4 May 2009, the engine, Continental TSIO-520 UB serial number 527335 from ZS-SVM, was taken to an approved maintenance centre for complete dismantling and inspection. Close attention was paid to parts that could have failed and prevented the engine from delivering the required power. No such problem was encountered during engine and component disassembly. The on-site investigation revealed no abnormalities that could have caused the aircraft to crash.

Departure clearance was issued at 06h11Z.

AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT & EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Aircraft Registration: ZS-SVM Date of Accident: 3 March 2009 Time of Accident: 04h10Z [ed’s note – this time is contradicted later in this report] Type of Aircraft: Beechcraft B36TC Type of Operation: Private Pilot-in-command Age: 58 Licence Type: Private Valid: Yes Pilot-in-command Flying Experience: Total Flying Hours 1 070.9 – Hours on Type 8.6 Last point of departure: FAKM (Kimberley) Next point of intended landing: FALY (Ladysmith) Location of the accident site: FAKM (Kimberley) Meteorological Information: Fine weather conditions prevailed at the time and place of the accident Number of people on board: 1 + 1 No. of people injured: 0 No. of people killed: 2

The aircraft rotated before the intersection of Runway 02/20. Passing

53 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

ACCIDENT REPORT

The Fuel Pump switch is a gated switch and positioned near the similarly gated gear selector.

With the above in mind, it is the opinion of the investigator-in-charge that the pilot intended to retract the landing gear after rotation

but

accidentally

switched

the

auxiliary fuel pump on to the high position.

This would have resulted in the engine losing power or even failing as a result of an overrich mixture setting. At the time, the pilot most probably attended to the reason for the engine power-loss and failed to maintain flying speed, which resulted in the aircraft stalling. All of the above occurred at low altitude and the pilot had insufficient time to effect a recovery.

Except for fire damage, there was no indication of any other damage to the auxiliary fuel pump switch. This is a ‘gated’ switch, i.e. it must be pulled out before it can be switched into a different position.

Bumping it upwards would cause damage to the switch. Since there was no damage evident, other than fire damage, it can be west of the intersection (approximately 50 m), still on the runway heading, the pilot called “Mayday, Mayday!”.

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) were alerted and the ATC observed the aircraft sinking towards the runway. The aircraft regained altitude to about 200 ft but the left wing dropped by 45°. The pilot recovered the aircraft to straight and level flight.

After reaching the upwind threshold of

seconds after the electric auxiliary fuel pump

assumed that the switch was accidentally

was switched onto high at maximum power

switched on by the pilot.

and with the mixture setting on full rich. The

The pilot did not maintain flying speed

auxiliary fuel pump switch is located to the

after the engine failed as a result of an over-

left and next to the green lights indicating

rich mixture setting.

when the landing gear is down and locked.

The landing gear selector lever is located to

Although it is already part of the syllabus

takeoff, the aircraft was observed to perform

for flying training, instructors should be

abnormal manoeuvres before it nose-dived

stricter on procedures followed after an

into the ground.

engine failure. In fact, not complying with

Runway 28, the aircraft crashed left to the centreline of Runway 28 and exploded on impact.

The fire and rescue services were on the scene at 06h12Z, a mere one minute after being alerted of the emergency.

During take-off, the engine either lost power or failed and the aircraft crashed. The impact with the terrain was not severe enough to cause fatal injuries to the occupants and both occupants survived the impact itself.

However, the passenger was stuck in the aircraft and perished as a result of burn injuries and the consequences thereof. The pilot managed to escape from the wreckage but died approximately two weeks later as a result of multiple injuries sustained during the accident sequence.

During

follow-up

testing,

it

was

determined that the engine had failed 11

54 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS

the right, below the green lights. During the

The fuel pump selector is clearly in the 'high' position in this post crash pic.

the correct procedures should perhaps be considered a reason for immediate failure.

JIM’S COMMENTS Oh dear, this is all wrong from so many aspects. First, does an instructor who does a type conversion have to assume that the

Post accident wreckage of ZS-SVM.

candidate’s general flying and emergency procedures are up to scratch? This is not an

get the needle within the yellow, green and

designers of Bonanza cockpits. They keep

easy question. Is she simply responsible for

red markings on each gauge.

changing the location of the gear and the

familiarising the pilot with the peculiarities

The flying part of the conversion will

flap switches. You just get used to one layout

of the type, or should she also include

cover all normal and emergency procedures

and they decide to confuse you by trying a

procedures that the pilot should already

and will include instrument and night flying.

different arrangement. Same with the power

know? Like EFATO and precautionary

When you have finished a SAAF conversion

levers. Never expect the throttle, pitch and

landing procedures?

course – you don’t only know the aircraft,

mixture knobs where you would like them on

you are comfortable in it throughout its

a Beechcraft.

If the pilot had previously flown say, 210 Cessnas, with a similar disastrous Hi-boost

operational range.

In this particular Beech, the closest thing

fuel pump, can the instructor reasonably

But, of course the industry would die

to the undercarriage lights is what? The high

assume the pilot is not going to do anything

from lack of money were military standards

pressure fuel pump which is waiting to kill

stupid with it?

to be imposed on the bottom end of GA. So,

you should you go near it.

Can the instructor also reasonably

sadly, we are forced to compromise and this

Finally, although many of us are aware

assume that a one thousand hour pilot will

type of unnecessary accident is accepted as

of the deadly results of hitting the ‘Hi’ fuel

not ride the brakes during takeoff? Or will not

collateral damage.

pump switch. Few seem to know that proper

run out of airspeed during a go around? Or

When writing these accident reports

leaning will restore engine power even with

that he will lower the nose if the engine quits

I often find that the pilot has very little

the pump on. In this case the fuel flow with

at a critical moment?

time on type. It’s a trend that is partly the

the pump on and the mixture rich is 30 USG/

This pilot crashed because his hand

result of unfamiliarity with the handling

min – and the engine dies from being too

went to the wrong switch at the wrong time.

characteristics of the new type; but it is very

rich. But if you haul the mixture back to 19

Could Walter Beech be partially responsible

often caused by poor systems knowledge.

USG/hour it runs perfectly.

for poor ergonomics – putting two critical

In other words the pilot has been too bloody

switches, that both required the same pull-

lazy to read the POH.

and-lift action, right next to each other.

The good news is that, as individuals,

Should a switch that will kill the engine have

there is no reason for us to accept crappy

some better form of protection?

standards. First make sure your instructor

At the end of the day we have some sort

herself has not just completed a half-

of human error that has caused a serviceable

baked conversion to the type – she must

aeroplane to crash, so we must try to learn

be experienced and competent on the type.

from this. Has the training system failed the

Conversions are a big deal. If your instructor

pilot, or has the specific instructor failed, or

doesn’t think so – find another instructor.

has some unforeseen factor intervened? Or

Next, the more time you spend in the

WHAT CAN WE LEARN? •

You can never spend too much time sitting in a cockpit and studying the POH.

•

You can never spend too much time doing a thorough conversion.

•

When things go wrong – undo the last thing you did. I have told you about this before.

•

When things go wrong – fly the

cockpit the more comfortable you will be

aeroplane. This guy sat with the

What I do know is that had this been

flying that aircraft. The good news is that

nose up calling MAYDAY. That tells

a SAAF conversion and operation, this

cockpit time costs you nothing. Lock your

me the pilot was in a panic and had

accident would not have happened. When

phone in the car, take the POH and park

you convert to a new type in the SAAF

off in the left hand seat for as long as you

it’s not a couple of hours duel until the

like. Do ‘blind’ cockpit drills, touching each

the aeroplane), navigate (point it in

instructor thinks you are okay. No, it’s a

instrument and control with your eyes shut.

a sensible direction) communicate

big deal. You go on a full time course for a

If you get bored after 30 minutes there is

– talk to someone who can help –

couple of months or more. There are many

something wrong with you. Stop flying –

but only after you have glide speed

hours in the classroom studying all the

seek career guidance or psychiatric help.

and the nose pointing somewhere

technical aspects. You write exams on the

Can you really unclip the fire extinguisher

systems and have to know not only that the

and operate it quickly and surely with your

oil pressure is in the green – but you must

eyes open?

was it a bit of everything?

know exactly how many psi are needed to

Talking of needing help brings me to the

stopped flying the aeroplane.

•

When things go wrong – aviate (fly

good.

•

An EFATO seldom leaves time for a MAYDAY call, but it could get the ‘equipment’ to you quickly.

j

55 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

FUEL TABLE

SA Flyer 2020|01

www.sv1.co.za FuelFuel Prices Prices as atas04/11/2019 at 04/11/2019

FuelFuel Prices Prices as atas02/12/2019 at 02/12/2019

Pri ces Priices nclude i nclude VATVAT but but exclude exclude any any serviservi ce fees ce fees Ai rfiAi eld rfi eld Avgas Avgas Jet A1 Jet A1 Baragwanath Baragwanath R 20,00 R 20,00 Beaufort Beaufort WestWest R 22,95 R 22,95R 17,50 R 17,50 Bethlehem Bethlehem R 21,97 R 21,97R 15,62 R 15,62 Bloemfontei Bloemfontei n n R 17,46 R 17,46R 11,55 R 11,55 Brakpan Brakpan R 21,50 R 21,50 BritsBrits R 19,90 R 19,90 CapeCape Town Town R 24,44 R 24,44R 10,14 R 10,14 Eagles Eagles Creek Creek R 19,95 R 19,95 EastEast London London R 19,64 R 19,64R 12,41 R 12,41 Ermelo Ermelo R 19,55 R 19,55 Fi santekraal Fi santekraal R 21,70 R 21,70 Fly-In Fly-In R 19,20 R 19,20 GariGari ep Dam ep Dam R 21,60 R 21,60R 15,50 R 15,50 George George R20,82 R20,82R12,83 R12,83 Grand Grand Central Central R 20,53 R 20,53R 14,84 R 14,84 Ki mberley Ki mberley R 17,68 R 17,68R 11,78 R 11,78 KittyKitty Hawk Hawk R 21,70 R 21,70 Klerksdorp Klerksdorp R21,64 R21,64R14,80 R14,80 Kroonstad Kroonstad R 18,98 R 18,98R 13,40 R 13,40 Kruger Kruger Intl Intl Nelspruit Nelspruit R 20,00 R 20,00R 14,20 R 14,20 Krugersdorp Krugersdorp R 19,95 R 19,95 Lanseri Lanseri a a R 21,45 R 21,45R 15,30 R 15,30 Margate Margate R 21,90 R 21,90R 15,35 R 15,35 Morningstar Morningstar R 19,90 R 19,90 Mosselbay Mosselbay R 23,05 R 23,05R 16,42 R 16,42 Nelspruit Nelspruit R 22,77 R 22,77R 13,80 R 13,80 Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn R 19,80 R 19,80R 14,11 R 14,11 Parys Parys R 18,55 R 18,55R 13,32 R 13,32 Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg R 20,90 R 20,90R 14,70 R 14,70 Pi etersburg Pi etersburg Ci vi lCi vi l R 19,65 R 19,65R 13,60 R 13,60 PortPort Alfred Alfred R 23,17 R 23,17 PortPort Elizabeth Elizabeth R 21,91 R 21,91R 16,56 R 16,56 Potchefstroom Potchefstroom R 18,55 R 18,55R 13,30 R 13,30 RandRand R 20,93 R 20,93R 14,47 R 14,47 Robertson Robertson R20,80 R20,80 Rustenberg Rustenberg R 19,78 R 19,78R 13,80 R 13,80 Secunda Secunda R 21,28 R 21,28 Skeerpoort Skeerpoort *** Customer *** Customer to collect to collect R 16,80 R 16,80R11,65 R11,65 Springs Springs R 18,60 R 18,60 Stellenbosch Stellenbosch R 21,15 R 21,15 Swellendam Swellendam R 20,30 R 20,30R 13,00 R 13,00 Tempe Tempe R 22,49 R 22,49R 14,25 R 14,25 Thabazimbe Thabazimbe R 19,05 R 19,05R 13,80 R 13,80 Ultimate Ultimate HeliHeli (Midrand) (Midrand) *** *** R 19,70 R 19,70R 14,45 R 14,45 Upington Upington R 18,25 R 18,25R 12,35 R 12,35 Vereeni Vereeni gi nggi ng R 19,01 R 19,01R 13,68 R 13,68 Vi rgiVinirgi a ni a R 21,45 R 21,45R 15,00 R 15,00 Welkom Welkom R 18,98 R 18,98R 13,40 R 13,40 Wi ngs Wi Park ngs Park EL EL R 19,90 R 19,90 Witbank Witbank R 20,10 R 20,10 Wonderboom Wonderboom No Fuel No Fuel AvblAvbl Worcester Worcester R22,00 R22,00 *** Heli *** Heli copters copters onlyonly

Pri ces Priices nclude i nclude VATVAT but but exclude exclude any any serviservi ce fees ce fees Ai rfiAi eld rfi eld Avgas Avgas Jet A1 Jet A1 Baragwanath Baragwanath R 20,00 R 20,00 Beaufort Beaufort WestWest R 22,05 R 22,05 R 17,50 R 17,50 Bethlehem Bethlehem R 21,97 R 21,97 R 15,62 R 15,62 Bloemfontei Bloemfontei n n R 17,05 R 17,05 R 11,32 R 11,32 Brakpan Brakpan R 20,00 R 20,00 R 13,61 R 13,61 BritsBrits R 18,97 R 18,97 CapeCape Town Town R 24,53 R 24,53R 9,87 R 9,87 Eagles Eagles Creek Creek R 19,95 R 19,95 EastEast London London R 19,64 R 19,64 R 12,52 R 12,52 Ermelo Ermelo R 19,21 R 19,21 Fi santekraal Fi santekraal R 21,90 R 21,90 Fly-In Fly-In R 19,20 R 19,20 GariGari ep Dam ep Dam R 21,60 R 21,60 R 15,50 R 15,50 George George R20,79 R20,79R12,48 R12,48 Grand Grand Central Central R 20,50 R 20,50 R 14,43 R 14,43 Ki mberley Ki mberley R 17,28 R 17,28 R 11,66 R 11,66 KittyKitty Hawk Hawk R 21,30 R 21,30 Klerksdorp Klerksdorp R21,64 R21,64R14,80 R14,80 Kroonstad Kroonstad R 18,63 R 18,63 R 13,40 R 13,40 Kruger Kruger Intl Intl Nelspruit Nelspruit R 20,00 R 20,00 R 14,20 R 14,20 Krugersdorp Krugersdorp R 19,95 R 19,95 Lanseri Lanseri a a R 21,45 R 21,45 R 15,30 R 15,30 Margate Margate R 21,90 R 21,90 R 15,35 R 15,35 Morningstar Morningstar R 19,65 R 19,65 Mosselbay Mosselbay R 22,20 R 22,20 R 16,60 R 16,60 Nelspruit Nelspruit R 22,77 R 22,77 R 15,87 R 15,87 Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn R 19,80 R 19,80 R 14,11 R 14,11 Parys Parys R 18,65 R 18,65 R 13,05 R 13,05 Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg R 20,90 R 20,90 R 14,70 R 14,70 Pi etersburg Pi etersburg Ci vi lCi vi l R 19,65 R 19,65 R 13,60 R 13,60 PortPort Alfred Alfred R 23,17 R 23,17 PortPort Elizabeth Elizabeth R 21,91 R 21,91 R 16,56 R 16,56 Potchefstroom Potchefstroom R 18,65 R 18,65 R 13,05 R 13,05 RandRand R 20,93 R 20,93 R 14,16 R 14,16 Robertson Robertson R20,80 R20,80 Rustenberg Rustenberg R 19,78 R 19,78 R 13,50 R 13,50 Secunda Secunda R 21,28 R 21,28 Skeerpoort Skeerpoort *** Customer *** Customer to collect to collect R 16,40 R 16,40R10,80 R10,80 Springs Springs R 18,65 R 18,65 Stellenbosch Stellenbosch R 20,00 R 20,00 Swellendam Swellendam R 20,10 R 20,10 R 13,00 R 13,00 Tempe Tempe R 22,49 R 22,49 R 14,25 R 14,25 Thabazimbe Thabazimbe R 19,15 R 19,15 R 13,55 R 13,55 Ultimate Ultimate HeliHeli (Midrand) (Midrand) *** *** R 19,80 R 19,80 R 14,20 R 14,20 Upington Upington R 17,85 R 17,85 R 12,12 R 12,12 Vereeni Vereeni gi nggi ng R 18,69 R 18,69 R 13,29 R 13,29 Vi rgiVinirgi a ni a R 21,45 R 21,45 R 15,00 R 15,00 Welkom Welkom R 18,63 R 18,63 R 13,40 R 13,40 Wi ngs Wi Park ngs Park EL EL R 19,90 R 19,90 Witbank Witbank R 20,10 R 20,10 No Fuel No Fuel AvblAvbl Wonderboom Wonderboom Worcester Worcester R22,00 R22,00 *** Heli *** Heli copters copters onlyonly

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y t u a e B

OR BEAST?

REPORT: GUY LEITCH | IMAGES: JUSTIN DE REUCK

58 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

FLIGHT TEST

Your own warbird -

the SAAF AM.3C Bosbok

The Bosbok – or more affectionately – ‘The Bossie’ is an aircraft that has an at times astounding combat history – and yet is an easy warbird to own. And it’s a blast to fly. In this collection of articles we revisit an earlier review by John Miller and bring fresh new insights into the fabulous Bossie.

59 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

A

great

military

were assembled in South Africa and 40

could mount a pair of Matra machine gun

utility aeroplanes have

many

delivered in total, although it’s believed three

pods, two 170kg or four 91 kg bombs and up

a

machismo

sold to the Rwandan Air Force also ended

to four smoke-rocket pods. The cabin was

Those

up in South Africa. The prototype remains in

configured with three seats, the rear two

such,

Italy. There were no other customers for this

being removable for a single stretcher. An

having

tough bush plane but those that did enter

opening floor hatch is also a feature.

been developed from civilian airframes, tick

service made a significant contribution to

many boxes for pilots wanting to master big

the bush war. One Bosbok went on to knock

supercharged Lycoming alone weighs 230

piston engines and hefty taildraggers.

out a key triple-A emplacement during

kilos and the aircraft has a maximum takeoff

Operation Protea, earning its pilot Danie

weight of 1,700kg (3,748lbs).

strong

appeal. designed rather

as

than

The Bosbok is a great example of the army

co-operation/light

attack

aircraft

that emerged during the sixties and early

Laubscher an Honoris Crux for bravery (see Bosbok at War in this issue).

It

is

a

heavy

aeroplane.

The

At least 11 Bosboks were written off, a small number of those during bush

seventies. It shared a marketplace with some

Along with its sibling the eight seat

war operations. Soon after the end of

well-known similar use aircraft. Among them

Atlas C4M Kudu, which shared the same

hostilities however, the remaining aircraft

were the Pilatus Porter and Dornier 27.

engine, wing and tailplane, the Bosbok

were demobbed with the exception of four

mostly operated from Potchefstroom. The

airframes one of which, tail number 959, still

aircraft was used for various roles including

flies with the SAAF Museum. Some 16 were

DEVELOPMENT The AM.3C was designed against an Italian Air Force requirement for some 80 forward air control aircraft. It was a product of a NATO requirement and so included British, American, French and Italian aerospace manufacturers. In fact, whilst many refer to the Bosbok as an Aermacchi, it was in fact a mismatch of old Italian design skills from the war-time Meridionali company, along with wings and tail surfaces originally from the drafting board of Al Mooney. It was initially known as the ‘Aerfer’ AM.3C, (Aerfer being a joint venture company between Aermacchi, Finmeccanica and Aeronautiche Meridionali). The aeroplane was driven by a Piaggio license-built version of Lycoming’s 340 horsepower GSO-480 engine.

Despite the grand intentions to use European aircraft capability, the Italian Air Force chose modified Cessna O-1 Bird Dogs, equipped with Allison 250 turbine

Tandem seating for three - was designed to be big enough to carry stretchers. Spindly undercarriage soaks up the bumps.

engines, which left AerItalia desperately needing customers for its AM.3C. The SAAF

Forward Air Control, radio relay (Telstar)

sold into private ownership as warbirds with

was an obvious choice as they had already

ops,

reconnaissance,

seven exported to various countries around

bought Aermacchi MB326 Impala Mk.1s and

artillery observation, casevac and various

the world including tail number 947 which is

target

marking,

in service in the US with the National Test

THIS TOUGH PLANE MADE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE BUSH WAR

Pilot’s School.

Bosboks now sell for between R750,000 and R800,000 for aircraft in top condition and owners have been grateful for the efforts of Wonderboom-based Johan Lok of the AMO “Warbirds”. Johan is largely responsible for maintaining the remaining fleet in South Africa and to an extent, overseas as well.

He has a healthy parts stock and staff familiar with the type. Owners often praise Johan saying that by keeping old aircraft

were about to complete their first Impala

other battlefront and peacetime liaison

parts prices to an affordable level, he’s

Mk.2 strike aircraft.

duties.

resisted the pattern of many parts suppliers.

The SAAF Bosboks entered service in

Being a military design from the outset,

There are always aircraft in his shop ready

1973 with 41 and 42 Squadrons. Thirty two

the Bosbok’s wings had hardpoints which

for restoration for those wanting to own a

60 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Bosbok is suprisingly large and requires mountaineering to preflight all six fuel tanks.

for a total useable capacity of 642 pounds or 107 US gallons. This might seem a lot, but that supercharged geared Lycoming burns 40 gallons an hour during takeoff. So 107 gallons doesn’t last long at high power settings.

With

the

pre-flight

completed,

the

rear cabin is entered via a large upwards opening door. There are two at the back to help casevac operations or for the rear, third occupant to get in and out easily. The front cockpit has its own door on the right hand side.

FLYING THE BOSSIE Pushing a combined starter/magneto switch brings the engine to life. If it’s a hot start, a half-second prime is normally needed unique and in many respects, rewarding and

items you would expect to be made with

and three seconds when cold. The mixture

genuine warbird.

flimsy fittings like the door handles and

lever is pushed all the way in to the auto-rich

So what are these tough aeroplanes

the tailwheel assembly. Even the single

position as soon as the engine fires, allowing

about and what is the ownership experience

windscreen wiper looks as though it’s off a

the Stromberg pressure carburettor to do its

like?

ship. The cabin is big and well lit by the huge

stuff. The mixture lever remains in the fully

windows and up front, the cockpit has all the

rich position at all times as the carb has a

presence of a big Air Tractor crop sprayer.

permanent auto function that adjusts its own

ON THE GROUND The Bosbok is an imposing piece

Strategically

placed

steps

and

flows during flight, happily releasing the

of machinery, both from a distance and

handholds help the pilot to clamber up to

pilot from this responsibility... under normal

especially close up. It stands tall and nothing

the wing to check fuel quantities. There

circumstances.

about this aeroplane appears delicate, even

are three interconnected tanks per side

With the big Lycoming rumbling away the

Front cockpit is wide and typically military. Unlike the Kudu it has joysticks and power levers.

61 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

needs to know who is boss. Ex-owner, Richard Smit, says; “It needs firm power-against-brakes handling. Any attempt to taxy the aircraft gently will see you halfway through the turn and then stopped with a red face”. However, the ride is soft and yielding, damped by oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers which give a comfortable ride across almost any rough surface.

Pre-takeoff checks complete, tailwheel lock in and lined up and the throttle can be moved gently but firmly forward.

Too quick and it might cause the auto mixture to hiccup. The aeroplane accelerates briskly and at 25 knots a push on the stick brings the tail up. 60 knots is the lift-off speed using a single notch of flaps.

It’s quickly apparent the Bosbok handles very nicely – a just reward for the designers employing semi-pushrod controls. I’m reliably told that an AM.3C can get airborne at sea level and at gross weight in a mere 120 metres. On the highveld, a skilled pilot would probably use a minimum of 250 metres. This sounds great, but the aircraft must also have kindly manners during its most important role which is slow speed loitering. Thus stall behaviour needs to be predictable and benign. And it is, provided the ball is in the middle. The Bosbok stalls at 50 knots with full flaps and due to the airflow exciters on the upper and lower wing surface in front of the ailerons, the aircraft retains full aileron authority during the break.

The Bossie is designed for low and slow ops so the SAAF employed an anti-MANPAD manoeuvre when taking on targets in the bush. This involved approaching at extremely low level – below treetop height, then pulling up to 300 feet on the run-in to line up on the target and egressing Rear cockpit has basic flight instruments.

AC inverter is brought online to power up the radios and most of the instruments. Like a proper warbird fighter the Bosbok has an early version of a ‘Hands On Throttle And Stick’ (HOTAS) protocol. In fact it beat the Hawk, Gripen and Rooivalk by quite a few years in this respect. Even in the sixties, HOTAS was a natural step for the pilot to be able to control many functions while keeping his hand on the stick. In the Bosbok’s case,

this is a highly entertaining aeroplane to fly

the pilot can control the weapons release trigger/buttons, trim

A hefty handle to lift and turn the tail on the ground.

and PTT. The grey coloured is

throttle

mounted

quadrant

on

in

a the

cockpit’s left hand shelf with the flap selector to the left and propeller control and mixture lever to the right. A rotary knob to the right of the red mixture lever controls the massive cowl and oil cooler flaps.

Having brought the temperatures and pressures up, it’s time to taxy. This is not a J3 or RV. The Bosbok needs a burst of power and firm handling on the pedals with the stick properly back. It’s a heavy beast, built like a brick craphouse and it

62 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Like everything else the tailwheel is sturdy and overengineered.

the area at low level again after diving away following weapon launch. It didn’t always work out like this as can be seen in the at War section.

Cruise speed is a little academic, but depending on what is hanging from the wing, 125 knots is possible with a raucous 75% power. That takes 2750rpm and 35 inches of manifold pressure. At this setting, the GSO-480 is gulping 85 litres per hour. Takeoff power sucks 180 litres per hour into the engine with 3400rpm and 48 inches of manifold pressure. You need to get the power back to reduce consumption, even though the climb setting of 3200rpm and 43” still needs 150 litres per hour.

This is not an aeroplane for economical cross country cruising unless you own a filling station. Most owners simply enjoy horsing around in the big taildragger and it’s not impossible to

Unusual geared and supercharged Lycoming GSO-480 is good for 340 horses - but is thirsty.

bring the fuel consumption down to a less frightening 65 litres per hour.

Best approach speed is 70 knots with two notches of flap.

Very short landings are made with full (37-degrees) of flap and the hefty aircraft can be braked to a halt in around 100 metres if needed. Whilst the Bossie does not have a mind of its own, like the slab sided Kudu, when alighting in strong crosswinds

Twin exhausts contribute to Bossies reputation as 'The Converter' - for converting avgas to decibles.

any lack of concentration can turn it into as nasty a taildragger as any other.

It might be tempting to be lulled into a false sense of security by the soft oleos on touchdown. The gear’s maximum sink rate limit is a sturdy 540 feet per minute but it’s easy to exceed that if you run out of airspeed too high over the threshold. Stalling the big Bosbok onto the runway for a three pointer is possible and indeed taught, but it needs to be done with the wheels close to the surface. It’s also advisable to wind in some nose up trim: two notches to help maintain elevator control during a three-pointer at forward C of G. If you can ignore the fuel burn woes, this is a highly entertaining aeroplane to fly. Its empty weight is almost that of a fully laden Cessna 182 and it has a maximum all up weight of 1750kgs. The military’s overload weight with the pylons full was 2041kgs. Despite some crews having misgivings about flying the Bosbok, it proved popular amongst its pilots – much more so than the Kudu.

OWNING A BOSBOK The ownership experience is mixed. On the one hand it is lovely to fly and share the view out with others. But It is also

AERMACCHI AM.3CM BOSBOK SPECIFICATIONS

a big heavy aeroplane that is too big for most T-hangars. It’s also unwieldy to push around, making it vulnerable to hangar

Length: 8.73 metres

rash. Just like the airframe, the original instruments, radios

Wingspan: 11.73 metres

and avionics are also military-spec with some likely hassles

Height: 2.72 metres

in getting them serviced and repaired. However, whilst it’s not impossible to care for these sturdy components, modern

Engine: 340hp Lycoming GSO-480-B1B6

avionics and instruments are a good choice when things start

Empty weight: 1,080 kgs (2,381lbs)

to expire.

Max TO weight: 1,700kgs (3,748lbs)

The airframe is robust, as are the simple hydraulics and

Seats: 3

trouble free propeller. The engine requires careful handling to reach its 1400 hour TBO and keeping the gearbox and high manifold pressures in mind, power changes need to be effected smoothly rather than abruptly for longevity.

All in all, it’s a wonderfully rewarding plane to fly – and its

j

heft and thirst simply add to its allure as a genuine warbird.

PERFORMANCE Maximum speed: 150 KTAS at 6,000 feet Range: 530 nm Fuel capacity: 107 US gallons

63 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

THE BOSBOK AT WAR

The Highs & Lows

The Bosbok being refuelled during the operation at Xangongo.

STORY 1: DOING THE MIRAGE’S JOB

mortars I was directing that they would have

carried smoke rockets was not to take out

In August 1981, Bosbok pilot Captain

to carry on ‘blind’ as I would be off their

the target - that’s why we have vlammies

Danie Laubscher earned his nation’s highest

frequency for a while. I changed frequency

in the SAAF - but to mark the vicinity of the

award for bravery, the Honoris Crux, for his

to FAC and listened to what was going on.

target to show the Mirages where the target

attack on an enemy 23mm gun position,

I heard the Mirages calling ‘Rolling in’

which was holding up ground forces during

and watched them dive down and fire their

is so they can take it out.

Bosbok pilots will tell you that the

their assault on the town of Xangongo in

68mm rockets. The moment they lifted their

rockets fired from a Bosbok are extremely

Southern Angola.

noses I saw flashes from the ack-ack site

inaccurate - probably due to the low speed

directing

as the cannon fired back at the Mirages. It

(120 to 140 kts) that they are released. To

artillery fire from his Bosbok at 10,000 feet

was clear that the ‘vlammies’ were shooting

mark this target I lobbed a smoke rocket in

with an observer in the rear seat. One of his

‘blind’ as their rockets did not explode close

its general direction. It exploded some way

underwing pods contained smoke rockets

to the target.

from the target and I gave corrections to

Captain

Laubscher

was

and the other had high explosive. Under

They rolled in again, the firing from the

the Mirages. However, they missed again

anti-aircraft fire, Laubscher’s spotter was

site stopped, the Mirage’s 68s missed again

so I fired another smoke rocket that was bit

giving corrections to the artillery batteries

and the firing from the site resumed.

closer. But still the Mirages could not hit the

Now I must state that we were briefed

exact spot. I must defend the vlammies here

that the only known ack-ack at Xangongo

- they were shooting at my markers and not

The first Ratel armoured vehicle to drive

was 14.5mm. In general, we were not too

at the specific target as it was very difficult

onto the Xangongo road was faced with a

worried about the 14.5 as it was not a very

for them to spot it while diving down at 400+

lethal anti-aircraft cannon firing from 400

accurate cannon and we were relatively safe

knots.

metres away. This stopped the advance. The

flying at 6000 ft AGL. However, watching

I realised that the only way to neutralise

ground forward controller called in Mirages

the flashes I realised that it could not be a

this target was to mark it more accurately and

to take out the gun. Here’s what happened

14.5mm as the rate of fire was much more

the only way to do that was to get closer to

in Danie Laubscher’s words. (Spyker Jacobs

than a 14.5 can achieve. Reports from the

the target. I had a brief discussion with Tinus

was his SAAF Mobile Air Operations Team

ground also indicated that it did not sound

in the back, explaining to him the situation

ground contact):

like a 14.5. But Intel was adamant that it

and what I wanted to do. He agreed.

and the army was slowly moving forward to take the town’s airfield.

“After the second or third sortie of

must be a 14.5 – so that’s what it was.

I thought of calling Spyker and informing

Mirages had had no success, Spyker gave

By now I realised that the Forward Air

him but he’d probably try talk me out of it,

me the frequency that the Forward Air

Controller wasn’t sure where the target was

which was sound advice, but I was young

Control (FAC) were talking to the Mirages

so I chipped in and said that I’ll mark the

and fearless and this was war. So, with the

on and asked me to help. I told the 120mm

target with a smoke rocket. The reason we

rocket pod selected on, pitch fully fine to get

64 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

max speed in the dive and a nice steep wingover, down we went.

In the dive I noticed that the cannon was busy firing at me, so I told

Photo from a Bosbok of dust from 1000lb bombs dropped by Canberras.

Tinus to hang on as a lot of lead was flying around. For a moment I contemplated selecting ripple mode and firing the remaining four smoke rockets but realised that it would be even more confusing for the Mirages if there were four smoke areas scattered over Southern Angola.

Sometime during the dive I decided that I was as close as I would like to be and pulled the trigger. One smoke rocket streaked to the target. I pulled the nose up into a steep climb away and also rolled to the left. Looking back at the target I noticed that the smoke of the rocket was coming out of the pit where the ack-ack was deployed. I called the Mirages and told them that the target was right where my smoke was, only to be told that they were out of ammo and fuel and returning to Ondangwa.

A while later Spyker called and said that the battlegroup was busy crossing the road and that the ack-ack was not firing on them.

On reaching the site they found the gunner sitting in his chair with a 68mm hole through him where my smoke rocket had hit. If there ever was a “mogge troffe” (a lucky random shot) then this was it.

After the war the SAAF wanted to court-martial me and the Army wanted to give me a medal. Luckily the Army won. What they also found was not a 14.5mm ack-ack cannon but a ZU23-2 - a much deadlier weapon.

STORY 2: A CASUALTY OF WAR During Operation Moduler, Bosbok pilot Lt Richard Glynn and his observer Cmdt Johann Christiaan du Randt were shot down south of the Lomba River in Angola, whilst on an artillery fire control mission onto Cuban targets. This involves flying fairly close to the enemy lines and then directing the heavy artillery fire onto them. This is a capability that SAAF pilots were trained to do – to deadly effect.

The Bosbok was taken out by a SA-8 ‘Gecko’ missile fired from the 21st Brigade, FAPLA. There are a number of versions of what happened next, but it is generally accepted that the proximity fuse detonated the missile close to the Bosbok, killing both crew. Their bodies were recovered with assistance from UNITA. This was the last time that a manned fixed wing light aircraft was used on the battlefield, as the incident accelerated the deployment of the Seeker UAV’s.

to track down and make contact with the OC of the Cuban squadron and the pilot, who was now a successful beekeeper in Cuba. The MiG pilot said that they had considered shooting down the Bosbok, but their jet fighters were configured for ground attack mode. Further, they were low on fuel and it would have taken a while to reconfigure for air to air engagement and their MiGs had a huge turning radius compared to the Bosbok, at just 90 knots.

So the Bossie was able to escape – and Colin Gibson lived on to become an SAA Captain.

STORY 4: THE TELEPHONE POLE Bosbok pilot Lionel Reid recounts the story of Captain Ian Duraan flying an observation sortie near Ruacana in a Bosbok. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the tell-tale signs of a missile launch. The next thing, even over the clamour of the Bossie’s notoriously loud engine, there was a mighty roar and Duraan says he saw what looked like ‘a telephone pole’ streak past.

It was too close for comfort, so he dived down and headed back to base. Safely on the ground he discussed what he has seen with his Intelligence Officer who pointed out that he had had a very lucky escape from a massive SA-6 missile, the 2K12 ‘Kub.’ The missile is six metres long and weighs over 600 kg and with a top speed of Mach

j

2.8 it would have obliterated the Bossie if it had detonated.

STORY 3: BOSBOK VS MIG-23s Bosbok pilot Colin Gibson recounts how he was flying a reconnaissance patrol for an army captain new to the area at 500 ft AGL from Hurricane Base west of Ruacana when the captain spotted two MiG-23s streaking towards them.

At first they thought they must be SAAF Mirages, but Gibson quickly remembered that the nearest mirages were in Grootfontein.

As they swept past the unmistakeable shape of the variable wing sweep MiG-23s revealed that they were two of the most deadly Russian fighters – flown by well-trained Cubans.

The MiGs passed so close that Gibson says he could see the pilot’s blue helmet. Once past the Bosbok the MiGs pitched up and Gibson was convinced they were going to dive back down in attack and blow the defenceless Bosbok out of the sky. But then they peeled off to the north and disappeared back to Angola, leaving Gibson to marvel at their lucky escape Years later fellow SAAF border war pilot Lionel Reid managed

What they also found was not a 14.5mm ack-ack cannon but a much more dangerous ZU23-2.

65 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

Making a comeback? Spike 1 ZU-ACZ.

THE BOSBOK

PERSONAL INSIGHTS

BY PIERRE GOUWS Captain Pierre Gouws is an accomplished airshow pilot. He shares some of his pleasures in the Bosbok and about the Spikes Bosbok air show team.

T

HE

Bosbok,

Bossie,

or even BlĂŞrbok (as one of my colleagues fondly calls it) is an absolutely

delightful

aeroplane. I don’t for

one moment give myself out as an expert on the Italian lady with the long thin legs as I have more time on the portly Kudu, which perhaps surprisingly, is actually a

66 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

few knots faster than the Bosbok.

there was not much flying during night

During a bush tour in Northern

hours. The Bosbok brigade however was

Namibia I was a fresh lieutenant with

different. With a steely look in the eye

brand new wings and in my eyes a

they would stroll to their Bossie at sunset.

Kudu commander of note. As a typical

With cacophony of sounds and 340

bush tour for Kudu commanders went,

supercharged horses on tap the brave

Spike 2.

FEATURE

Bosbok commander and his steed would

during our close on three-hour flight, and I

can give lectures on control harmony etc.

leap (well maybe not leap) into the air and

immediately fell in love.

However I cannot fault the way it flies so

disappear into the dark night, leaving their

Although I was in the backseat, it just felt

yes I’m prejudiced! Over the years I’ve had

Kudu compatriots back at base, wondering

perfect. I guess I was used to the Kudu with

the privilege to display it a few times at air

what excitement they were missing out on.

its control yoke, Vernier throttle and side by

shows. Although heavy on the stick, certainly

And let’s face it, being a Kudu pilot was

side seating (not to mention the Kudu’s rather

underpowered and perhaps ungainly, it still

hardly as glamorous as the Bosbok and

sedate takeoff roll). In contrast, the Bossie

presents fairly well. If all goes well, you will

Chopper pilots (oops I almost forgot the Jet

just felt business-like. Yet those who flew it

see it displayed at Faskosh in March 2020.

Jocks!). These are the guys who were in the

at the time, mostly saw it as a lesser aircraft

Maybe even in formation with some of its

thick of things when it came to the action.

– merely as a step to the fighter line – so it

sisters. Now wouldn’t a “Spikes” display of

(The Dakota pilots just made potjies and

wasn’t loved by all.

sorts be something.

drank beer.)

It took around 25 years before I had the

So it happened that Adrian Heard (now

privilege of flying it again and this time it was

an A320 Captain with SAA) invited me along

wearing civilian clothes and looked like a

one night to accompany him on a secret

Piper Cub on steroids. ZU-ACM was painted

mission. As far as I can remember it was

bright yellow by its owner, Rob Beaumont.

a Telstar mission where we served as a

Thys Kuhn, a Captain at Comair, gave me my

radio relay for an Impala flight into Angola.

civilian conversion in 2008.

Adrian allowed me to manhandle the controls

You will have to come and see.

j

Don’t take me for a test pilot boffin that

67 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

GETTING TO THE AIRPORT: THE LAMBORGHINI URUS Owning a plane is not great for impressing your mates. They would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a R500k Cherokee 235 and a R3m RV10 – or for that matter a R10m Cirrus. So let’s be honest - if you want to impress – you buy a supercar.

A

ND being a bit

have turned out to be a horrible mongrel –

more honest – you

something like the offspring of a greyhound

can have a much

and a bulldog. But what it is, is a triumph of

more visceral thrill

selective breeding that has created a new

giving a 650 hp

thoroughbred. It does everything well – no,

car the beans and

make that phenomenally well.

being

projected

The

Urus

competes

in

a

hotly

towards the horizon at ground level, than

contested market. The Bentley Bentayga

from opening the throttle of a 235 hp

is a monumental 4x4, fully justifying Ettore

Cherokee.

Bugatti’s famous jibe of Bentleys being ‘fast

But now Lambo has brought the Urus to

trucks’. And even Rolls Royce has launched

South Africa – as a right hand drive - nogal.

its colossal Cullinan. But, for now at least,

The Urus is something completely different

the Urus stands alone as the world’s first and

– and despite causing much sucking of

only true Supercar SUV.

teeth and shaking of heads from the Lambo

Reviewing the Urus, Jeremy Clarkson

purists, it’s already a humungous success.

in his inimitable way said, “Yes we’re all sad

So much so, it was a finalist in the 2019

that Lamborghini hasn’t plumbed in either its

European Car of the Year – a Lambo as a

psychopathic V10 or operatic V12, but …a

Car of the Year? Who wudda thort?

4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 producing 641bhp

The Urus has many surprises – it’s

and 627lb ft of torque (from just 2,250rpm)

the first Lambo to have a turbo engine –

is an able substitute. What it lacks in revs

and the first to have an auto box. It could

(the redline is 6,800rpm), it makes up for in

68 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Lambo makes the Urus in right hand drive - and it has an auto box.

A Lambo with a real boot.

“Out on the Vallelunga circuit, it’s barely believable the way this high-riding two-tonne family car flings itself out of corners, fast and flat. I honestly don’t think it would be too far behind a regular Huracan if you got the stopwatch out. The key, of course, is technology. Mass-masking, physics-battering, driverflattering technology. For example four-wheel steering that turns the rear wheels by +-3 degrees. This means at low speeds, where they turn opposite to the front tyres, the virtual wheelbase is shorter than a Huracan – handy for hairpins and tight parking spaces. In higher speed situations, where they turn with the fronts, it means rock solid stability – like the flat fifth-gear right hander at the end of the Vallelunga start/finish straight. Twitch your wrists and it goes, instantly, never wavering from its line. The steering is sharp, without

REPORT: GUY LEITCH

rib-crushing torque, whenever you need it and in whatever ratio you find yourself in the eight-speed auto.

any useful feedback, but slack-free.

Then there’s the active roll stability control, which firms up the outside suspension in fast corners, keeping you flat with the horizon, but it can also decouple each wheel when you’re hammering down a dirt track. It’s possibly the most impressive piece of tech on display – virtually negating the Urus’ higher centre of gravity.

The automatic gearbox is smooth when you dial everything down in Strada mode and just cruise along. We realise that hooning around a track isn’t necessarily how the Urus will be used, but we did drive at saner speeds, on public roads and can confirm it’ll do both the school run and the long-distance stuff with consummate ease.

We should talk about the noise. Put any notions of the Urus sounding remotely like its V10 and V12-engined brothers to bed right away. Because where the Huracan barks and shrieks, the Urus woofles and rumbles.”

You want to pretend you’re flying? – well the instrument panel has triple glass – kind of like a PFD and two MFDs. Behind the steering wheel is the digital driving display, while in the centre console the top screen handles navigation, infotainment, telephone and car settings. The lower screen is for climate control and it has a virtual writing pad if you’d rather write in your destination, instead of scrolling and clicking. Hey Garmin, can’t we also have that on the G1000?

The rest of the interior continues Lambo’s ability to combine German quality with Italian style. Everywhere you look there are snazzy hexagons and Alcantara leather. The starter button has a fat red flip-up gate and the gear selector feels chunky and industrial, as does the Anima lever to select driving modes.

More weird things: It’s a Lambo with genuine space for the whole family. And it’s not even that fuel thirsty. Lamborghini claims that, thanks to a system that shuts off four cylinders below 3,000 rpm, this is its most fuel-efficient car ever. On the open road the 85-litre fuel tank means you can realistically expect over 600 km.

The Urus has been on sale in South Africa for just less than a year and Porsche/Lamborghini can’t keep up with demand. It comes with a 3 year/100 000 km Driveplan and with a basic list price of R3.5m, the waiting list is now six months.

I never imagined I would ever want a raging bull in my garage – but the Urus is something special – a remarkable feat of engineering.

j

Cockpit combinbes German quality with Italian style - and has tricks that plane makers should adopt.

www.saflyer.com | January 2020

69

Market PLACE ENQUIRIES: dan@saflyermag.co.za STUDENT/PILOT ACCOMMODATION

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• Robinson RH44 clipper for sale . 2001 model 1500 hours remaining on Main Rotor gearbox ,M/r blades and engine. 2200 hrs remaining on other components. 4400 hour overhaul just completed R2,7 mill excluding VAT

• Robinson RH22 Beta, 1992 model. 1600 hours remaining 1.6 million excluding VAT

• Robinson RH44 for sale. 2004 model. 1900 hours remaining R3.9 mill excluding VAT For enquires please contact or What’s app 082 376 3156

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70 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

71 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

REPORT & PICS: GARTH CALITZ

EAA SUN ‘N FUN

The EAA Chapter 322 hosted their annual Sun ’n Fun Fly-In at Brits airfield over the weekend of 8-10 November and it can only be described as a resounding success.

T

HE weather forecasts

logged well over 100 movements. Nigel

fun from The Coves, they were joined in a

for the weekend were

Musgrave, safety officer for the weekend,

formation fly-past by a remarkable mix of

not great but fortunately

was also a busy man making sure that all

other aircraft.

the

the aircraft moved seamlessly around the

predicted

bad

weather passed by. By

parking areas and taxiways.

The Sun ‘n Fun weekend has become a meeting place for all the fortunate people that

Friday evening only a

Rob Jonkers, Chairman of SAPFA and

had joined Neil Bowden on his Air Adventure

handful of aircraft had

Protea Rally Pilot, organised an Adventure

Tours in the past. Brits transforms into a mini

arrived and fears were running high that the

Rally for those who felt like spicing up their

“Kamp Plakkerfontein” for the weekend and

newly elected chairman of Chapter 322, Neil

Saturday morning with a bit of excitement.

it really inspires the poor souls that haven’t

Bowden, may have a very ‘quiet’ inaugural

The course for the Rally took the seven

made the annual Oshkosh pilgrimage to

Sun ’n Fun.

teams for a trip around the bushveld of

seriously consider attending the biggest

Those who did make it on Friday enjoyed

North West, including its two prominent

aviation spectacle in the world.

37 degree heat. Derek Hopkins, one of the

dams. The rally is about teams enjoying the

Scully Levin and Arnie Meneghelli made

few pilots in South Africa rated on a Wilga,

more relaxed and fun kind of event, mostly

a short visit in two of the Puma Energy Flying

took Arjan Schaap’s newly airworthy PZL-

involving

window,

Lions Harvards. Scully then presented a

104 Wilga 35 for a few circuits.

recognition of ground features and learning

well-attended talk on the importance of

The airfield was abuzz from very early

about the area being overflown, although

safety briefings.

on Saturday morning with locals who

navigation accuracy is also included in the

were taking advantage of the great flying

scoring criteria.

observation

out

the

Ian Reed, the owner of the trailermounted Rolls Royce Griffon was invited

conditions as did many of the visitors who

A good spread of aircraft made the

to come along and run his massive 37-litre,

began arriving shortly after 8:00 . The ATNS

annual pilgrimage, ranging from not one but

60-degree V-12 engine. This specific Griffon

air traffic controllers who kindly gave up their

two, tiny Evans VP1s to the largest visitor, a

was previously on one the SAAF’s Avro

time to assist, were kept busy throughout

Piaggio P166S Albatross. Aerobatics pilots

Shackleton MR Mk.3s that was unfortunately

the day and by lunch time they had already

Jason Beamish and Kale Wooll joined the

scrapped.

72 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

FEATURE

Well over 80 aircraft flew into Brits – a slightly lower turnout than last year but still very good considering the predicted hailstorms, which

A strikingly mixed bag of aircraft in formation.

fortunately never materialised. As always, the large RV and Sling community supported the event brilliantly, making up the majority of the fixed wing visitors. Rotor wings also came out in droves with no less than nine ‘fling wings coming and going during the day, four of which were Alouette IIs. After the flying it was time to relax with a cold one or three around the braai fires and catch up with old friends. Dr Frank Persson kept everyone entertained with his brilliant selection of live music and later a few ‘dutch courage’ infused visitors provided an impromptu show of

j

festive Karaoke.

The biggest visitor - this Albat needed most of the runway.

Scully Levin, Arnie Meneghelli and Karl Jensen Photo by Andre Venter.

The massively impressive RollsRoyce Griffon roars into life.

Arjaan Schaap's newly flying Wilga put though its paces by Derek Hopkins.

Peter Bailey's Stemme S12 lowers its wheels.

Kathy Burke, Rob Jonkers, Alan Evan-Hanes and Neil Bowden winning the Sling Floating Trophy.

73 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

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75 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

DASSIE PERSAUD-VAN DER WESTHUIZEN

RAG QUEEN TO FLIGHT DECK When one thinks of an

‘airline pilot’ an image of a tall middle aged man with

a moustache usually comes

to mind and probably not a

beautiful young woman. This is because globally, only 5% of airline pilots are female.

W

ITH

so

few

women in the flight

deck,

it’s no wonder passengers are

often surprised to find females breaking this stereotype in the pilot’s seats. I am proud to be part of a new generation of women setting new paradigms in a global movement to encourage women to consider a career in aviation.

Although my generation is not the pioneer of women in this industry, we are the most visible group of pilots, thanks to social media and blogs (such as my own called ‘Aviatrix West’). The print media also contributes significantly by taking an interest in interviewing and featuring female aviators, with the aim to inspire girls to consider this as a career.

Dassie Persaud van der Westhuizen from a Rag 'beauty queen' to an airline pilot.

Even though I launched my aviation career during my teenage years (I did

process. I am hoping that sharing my

final results. After five months of hard

my initial solo flight approximately a

own experiences will help us all to reflect

work, the moment had finally come to

week after my final Matric exam) I only

on our reactions to those breaking the

announce the winner. One of us would

committed to professional flying as a

stereotypes.

become Rag Queen - the oldest tradition

career during the year as my University’s

Poised on stage, I gazed down at

at the University – originating in the

Rag Queen. So my journey to the flight

the sea of faces looking up at me from

1920s- to join the long list of successful

deck is atypical and includes navigating

the audience. I hoped that my fixed smile

women as ambassadors of the University

around

hid my nerves as I waited to hear the

of Pretoria.

several

stereotypes

76 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

in

the

FEATURE

Despite my composed appearance, my heart was racing as the master of ceremonies slowly unfolded the page. He gave an unbearably long pause in the spotlight...

“Please let it be me,” I thought... My stomach knotted as his mouth opened to announce the winner and I barely heard my name over the roaring applause filling the auditorium. I had done it!

I stepped forward in my strappy high heels to the cheers from the crowd and received my Rag Queen sash. The spotlight shone brightly on me as the crown was lowered to my head and the key to the blue and silver Audi A1 was presented to me for my year as Rag Queen.

I committed to professional flying as a career during the year I was my University’s Rag Queen reactions from other women.

pilots, I encourage more women to become

“I hope she can drive. The girl who won

I failed miserably at embodying the

pilots. Even though it’s male dominated,

last year didn’t even have a driver’s licence!”

image of a beauty queen – coiffured hair

there’s no expectation for women to be ‘one

muttered a balding man in the audience

with not a strand out of place and perfectly

of the boys’ – pilots can be feminine too. I

behind my friends. My friend turned around

manicured nails – as my hands regularly

am proof of that. My experience moving from

and chirped back: “Dassie flew airplanes

had ingrained oil and avgas. Beauty queens

Rag Queen to Commercial Pilot proves that

solo at the age of 18 so I think she can handle

are supposed to wear feminine clothes but

it is not irreconcilable to be feminine, strong

a car.”

I wore our flight schools baggy male pilot

and yet mechanically competent.

It did not matter that I was already an Architecture student and that Architecture is a male dominated profession, or that I had spent my youth being selected for the South African field hockey teams for my age group. As the crown touched my head I was automatically typecast as a ‘beauty queen’, which is worlds’ apart from the ‘pilot’ stereotype.

To make a leap from beauty queen to pilot was, I guess, unfathomable to many with cherished pre-conceived notions.

In reality the Rag Queen competition is not a beauty pageant. RAG (which is an acronym for ‘Reach-out And Give’) is a student run charity. The months leading up to the crowning involves much work at fundraising and projects to assist those less fortunate. This requires a variety of soft skills such as leadership, networking, communication, sufficient self-confidence

Fatima Jakoet is a Senior First officer with SAA who is uplifting others through her Sakhikamva STEM foundation.

to accept repetitive rejection to fundraising proposals and the ability to persuade others to support an initiative. All of these skills are

shirts. And dare I say - beautiful women are

transferable into the workplace as life skills

all too often viewed as lacking intelligence,

and indeed, to CRM in the cockpit.

whereas I often achieved the highest exam

However, this aspect of the Rag Queen

scores .

MOVING FORWARD Although I felt unique during my journey to the flight deck, I have now noticed many

competition is unfortunately overshadowed

Fortunately, my hard work as a student

other inspiring and strong women in their

by the idea that it is a beauty pageant. Due

pilot did not go unnoticed. After completing

twenties breaking the all-male stereotype. A

to the history of beauty pageants – and the

my

with

good example in our own country is former

antipathy aroused by militant feminists due

Instrument and Multi-Engine ratings in 2017,

Miss South Africa, Roelene Strauss, who

to the winners being selected only on looks

I was awarded the Student of the year.

not only went on to win the Miss World

and charm – I was often faced with negative

Commercial

Pilot’s

License

Despite the low numbers of women

2014 competition, but reaffirmed that it is

77 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

possible to have beauty and brains

indicates that there is a lack of

by qualifying as a medical doctor.

exposure to the aviation industry for

Great work is being done by Refilwe

young women. Fortunately, female

Ledwaba, the only black woman ATP

aviators are not alone in our desire

helicopter pilot and founder of Girls

to attract more colleagues of the

Fly Programme in Africa (GFPA).

same gender; several airlines have

Another stereotype breaker is Fatima

acknowledged the need to tap into

Jakoet – a Senior First Officer with

the female population to address the

SAA, who flies with her Muslim hijab

developing global pilot shortage. As

headscarf and who founded the

a result, initiatives aimed at recruiting

dynamic Sakhikamva Foundation.

and retaining women are becoming

On an international level we can

admire

Angeline

Flor

more common in the industry.

Pua

Hopefully more women will make

(Miss Belgium 2018) who was a

their way to the flight deck and in the

student pilot in Europe at the time

future, it will no longer be unusual

of her crowning and has dreams of

to find an all-female crew. Perhaps

flying for the airlines in the future.

we will eventually reach a more

Glamorous Maria Pettersson quickly

balanced representation, where 50%

amassed an Instagram following of

of pilots are female and no gender

more than 550,000 followers of her

stereotypes exist to challenge those

life as a First Officer with Ryan Air.

interested in joining the industry.

Emirates Boeing 777 Captain, Ashley

Until then, let’s support the

Klinger, goes so far as to define

women who have already embarked

herself as a ‘girly-girl’ despite being

on a journey to the flight deck, who

a 777 commander for a notoriously

are part of a generation breaking

chauvinist Middle East airline.

stereotypes.

With a new generation of role models,

mindsets

change

and

consider dominated

will

more

careers

hopefully

women in

industry.

this

The efforts of women such as Refilwe and Fatima do much to help

will

women break through the glass

male

ceiling and participate in any career

Research

conducted by airlines in Europe

Refilwe Ledwaba - will be using her scholarship to study at Harvard.

j

they desire.

Happy landings!!! - Luck be with you!

78 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

ONLY 17 STANDS LEFT!

E martin@zandspruit.co.za W www.zandspruit.co.za

Die Ryshuis, R 527, Hoedspruit T 015 793 0081

Over 90% sold out

79 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

BOOK REVIEW REPORT: GUY LEITCH

Air Law:

THE ULTIMATE REFERENCE The author, Professor Philippe Salazar, has

an intimidating reputation as one of South Africa’s very few A1 rated academics.

He is also a PPL, based at Cape Town’s

Morningstar, who has written a hefty book

school. Its format lends itself to easier teaching. ‘What does the law say?’ is often heard when a student (or instructor) gets stuck.

•

The South African Civil Aviation Authority, as well as the civil aviation authorities of the SADC region: for when they set up examination guidelines.

•

The general public, who are often fascinated by aviation: this book opens a window onto the art and joy of flying.

on South African air law. I was therefore

•

presented with a dryly academic 415 page

The book works at all levels and even provides a detailed section

somewhat worried that I was going to be textbook to review.

Members of the legal profession: who struggle at times to find their way in the labyrinth of regulations, standards, and aeronautical information that make up air law.

on law for drone pilots. Part 1 covers all that precedes training: it gives the reader an introduction to how air law is structured and it ends with the medical side—how one is declared fit to fly.

T

Part 2 makes you step right into the training of a pilot.

HANKFULLY it’s not. ‘Air Law’ is easy to read and well-illustrated with great diagrams and tables that

make

an

occasionally

complex subject easy.

Prof Salazar avoided the

trap of writing a dull academic tome by making

Part 3 tells the story of a cross-country flight. By far the longest part of the book, it follows a pilot through all the phases of preparation, pre-flight, flight, and post flight. If you are not (yet) a pilot just imagine that you are sitting in the right-hand seat, looking at what a pilot does.

the book tell a story: that of flying safely. You follow a VFR pilot on a cross-country flight and see how the rules, regulations and demands of air law are there to produce better pilots, and to make flying a unique and long-lasting human experience.

Naturally, it’s a great book from which to learn. It provides excellent questions and answers at the back of the book, pitched to the PPL level. Prof Salazar says that the book is aimed at six types of readers: •

Student pilots who are training for their PPL: As any instructor will tell you, what you study for a PPL is what you should always remember. It is the core knowledge of piloting. And that applies to air law.

•

The large community of private pilots who fly for pleasure: mostly under VFR, and who sustain general aviation in Southern Africa through flying clubs and training academies, however small. The role played by general aviation in the supply chain of professional pilots cannot be underestimated.

•

Aviation Training Organisations (ATOs) and instructors: this book is a reference work they can reliably use for ground

80 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

LEFT: Air Law is a comprehensive yet easy to read and use reference work.

BELOW: Air Law comes with many useful diagrams - such as this for the confusing VFR minima.

BOOK REVIEW Student pilots are able to see how each regulation applies in real life—instead of learning parrot-fashion chunks of rules that often seem disconnected from what they love to do: to fly. Salazar uses a crosscountry scenario as the best way to tell a story about the law and flying, as it takes pilot and reader through everything that makes up a real flight.

Part 4 is about piloting drones, or Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS). The number of drone pilots has increased dramatically in recent years and so has the registration of RPAS, which have now overtaken helicopters.

Overall this is a wonderful book that contains so much more than a simple discourse on air law.

Something I particularly liked was Salazar’s use of quotes to introduce most chapters – and thankfully he avoided the overworked quote supposedly attributed to da Vinci about “once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards.”

Instead he has wonderful quotes - one such from the stupendously named book “I was a Kamikaze pilot’ by Ryuji Nagatsuka.

This is a treasure trove of a book - a must for every

A BUSH PILOT’S

LOGBOOK Gordon Marshall started his flying career in the

SAAF in 1945 and earned his pilots’ wings before he was 18 and could legally drive.

A

notable claim to fame in an interesting life was that he was the first to land at what became Durban’s Louis Botha Airport.

This happened when he was instructing in a Harvard and they had an engine failure over Durban City. He managed to pull off a wheels-up landing on the construction site of what was then called Reunion Airport.

Marshall joined 2 Squadron and shipped to Korea where he flew Mustangs

pilot and indeed anyone even interested in flying. It

against MiGs, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by the

is available from Juta or, slightly more cheaply, for

Americans.

R499.00 from Loot - https://www.loot.co.za/product/

He

philippe-joseph-salazar-air-law/wxjt-6419-g800

j

was

profoundly moved by the plight of refugees he saw walking barefoot in the snow and this led to a crisis of faith which changed his life. Back in South Africa he left the SAAF and became a missionary pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship

OME ED H N R TU O RE ERCY R WH ND M A A W E C IN F PEA NED AN O TRAI M N A A AM ME ECO TO B

(MAF). He amassed more than 10,000 hours, of which more than 8000 were on taildraggers such as the Cessna 180,

S ’ T O L I P H

S OGBOOK U B L A F RY O O T S TRUE ARSHALL THE M DON GOR

ALL & ARSH M N HIK HE AR-C STEP L K S E JOYC

flying in the Sudan and then Rhodesia in the 1970s and 80s.

“Gordon Marshall was not only an amazing pilot but also an outstanding person. I hadn’t realised the tensions Gordon and [his wife] Jean faced in Rhodesia during the ferocious 1970’s conflict. They feared daily for their children as well as themselves. But with bravery and dedication they remained faithful in their service to God through MAF. This was typical of their lives.

Max told me that, when reading Stephen and Joyce’s book, he was sometimes moved to tears. I often found myself deeply and similarly affected.”

Stuart King — President Emeritus MAFI and one of the MAF Founders.

The book is an essential read for all those interested in the unlikely combination of the Korean war and missionary flying. It is available from MAF South Africa for a very reasonable R150. Order from the MAF SA website: www.mafsa.co.za/shop or contact the MAF SA office on +27 11 659

j

2880.

A Bush Pilots Logbook.

81 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

FEATURE REPORT AND PICS: JOHAN WALDEN

YOUNG FALCONS AT MORNINGSTAR

The Young Falcons is a programme under the wings of the South African Air Force. It offers people of about 16 years old exposure to different fields in the SAAF such as aircraft maintenance, air traffic controlling, and many other aspects of aviation.

Experience of hands-on piloting is given by the pilots of Morningstar Flying Club (MFC) in Cape Town.

Falcons flooded the clubhouse, where the events co-ordinator, Cyril Shand gave them a safety briefing.

Even though some aircraft could seat more, only one cadet was assigned to an aircraft for each flight. This way everyone had the inspiring opportunity to ‘have a go’ at the controls and experience a one-on-one learning opportunity with their pilot. The first bunch were the luckiest though: they got to go through the pre-flight inspection process as well.

The cadets flew from Morningstar to

O

Bloubergstrand then on to Melkbosstrand NCE a year pilots from MFC give rides to the Young Falcons so as to give them first-hand experience of what it’s like to be

at the controls of an aeroplane. Since it is a SAAF programme, the event normally takes place at the Ysterplaat Air Force Base.

But, due to the Rugby World Cup and uncertain Cape weather, the 2019 event

82 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

had some difficulty in setting a date more

and back again. Each flight lasted around

than two weeks in advance. So it wasn’t

20 minutes – depending on the speed of

logistically feasible for the event to be held

the plane. Despite some turbulence, many

at Ysterplaat, where SAAF politics was also

of the Young Falcons took to the controls

a complicating factor.

like a duck to water – though some were

9 November was a sunny Saturday

reportedly a little nervous.

morning with the wind tickling the windsock

The pilots loved the enthusiasm of the

– perfect for a ‘first time’ smooth ride. There

cadets as, smiling from ear to ear each

were 12 planes available ranging from a

Young Falcon climbed out after the flight to

Bush-baby to a Bonanza and nearly 30

allow the next one to jump in, and by 11h00

cadets to fly. At 08h45 the pilots briefed in

all the Young Falcons had had their personal

the clubhouse and at 09h00 a flock of eager

experience of a lifetime.

j

The Young Falcons get their safety briefing from Cyril Shand.

Mike Brown shows that a Preflight is a detailed process.

Taxying out.

Let's go flying and the smiles say it all.

Next Please! A change of cadets for the next flight.

Waiting his turn while the others watch eagerly from the clubouse lawn.

One smiling Young Falcon gives up his seat peacefully.

Thanks to the awesome pilots from Morningstar who gave of their time.

83 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

EVENTS REPORT: GARTH CALITZ

Loutzavia’s 2019 Graduation

Loutzavia CEO and founder Jannie Loutzis.

“When in doubt maintain altitude, no one has

ever collided with the sky” Loutzavia CEO Jannie Loutzis said in his address to the Class of 2019 at Loutzavia’s graduation ceremony.

T

Loutzavia graduate Morne Postma shares his experiences.

graduation

involved in the training of well over 1000

celebration was held

students with many of them going on to

on 7 November at

become successful commercial pilots.

Villa

Giovanni

New SA Flyer columnist Dassie van der

at Wonderboom and

Westhuizen is a successful Loutzavia

was attended by staff

graduate who has just been accepted

HE

san

as well as present and past students. A

into EasyJet.

previous student, Morne Postma, who

After a wonderful dinner it was

now flies for SA Airlink was the guest

time for the graduates to receive their

speaker. As a young boy Morne would

certificates for their PPLs, CPLs,

spend his free time watching aircraft

Instrument

coming and going at Krugersdorp until

and upgrades in instructor status.

he was encouraged to start flying by

A

an instructor at the field. Morne read

certificates. To achieve this Loutzavia

a Loutzavia advertisement in SA Flyer

flew almost 7000 hours, with 13,811

and decided to move to Pretoria to train

landings and 1000 simulator hours.

Ratings,

whopping

113

night pilots

ratings received

Once all the certificates were

at Loutzavia.

Jannie saw the potential in the

received it was time to honour the

young man and decided to give him

outstanding

a job doing whatever there was to do,

last

starting with painting a hangar. Morne

included Private Pilot of the Year,

slowly worked his way up while he

Most Dedicated Pilot of the Year,

completed his PPL and later his CPL.

Most Promising Student, Best Student

Once he obtained his Instructor’s

Progress, Commercial Pilot of the Year,

rating, he became an instructor at

Commercial

Loutzavia

accumulated

of the Year, Most Airborne Flight

enough instruction hours to obtain his

Instructor, Instructor of the Year and

ATP.

finally the prestigious Passion for Flying

where

he

In his address Jannie pointed out

year.

achievements These

Pilot

for

the

achievements

Licence

Student

award.

that studies done by Airbus and Boeing

It was a wonderfully memorable

show that over the next twenty years,

celebration of real achievement from

worldwide demand will be for 617,000

one of South Africa’s most popular

new pilots. Jannie has been personally

flight schools.

84 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

Johan Myburgh with his 'Passion for Flying' award.

j

Jannie and Maria Loutzis.

Contact Details:

Rand Airport Road, Terminal Building, Germiston, Gauteng Tel. No. 011 827-8884/5/6

Who to Contact:

Stuart Coetzee - Airport Manager, Tel. No: 011 827-8884 Ext. 202 Email: manager@randairport.co.za

SAF 2020|01 Image: Frans Dely

Rand Airport wishes all our clients a happy festive season and prosperous New Year

85 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

WASSUP

MOONEY

SHUTS THE DOOR

REPORT: OWEN HECKRATH

The sad news is that it’s unlikely that any more

new forward-canted fins will grace our aprons.

The Kerrville Daily Times is reporting that Texasbased Mooney Aircraft

company has reportedly shut down and released its entire staff.

A

in each of the first two quarters, after selling 14 aircraft at a value of US$10.7 million in T Oshkosh in 2018 Mooney

under the then new owners Soaring America

2018. By contrast, Cirrus sold 203 aircraft in

stated that it intended to

Aircraft. Mooney had not been producing

the first half of 2019 while Mooney’s output

build 20 aircraft that year

new aircraft for nearly five years prior to that.

trailed that of Extra, Pipistrel and Quest.

but would ramp up toward

However, to those watching Mooney’s

40 in 2019 and maintain

sales numbers over the first half of last year,

to contact Mooney led to an answering

50 aircraft a year starting in 2020. Mooney’s

the shutdown probably doesn’t come as a

machine message as follows; “At this time,

workers were put on compulsory leave in

huge surprise. According to GAMA sales

all Mooney employees have been furloughed

2017, four years after restarting production

records, Mooney only sold two Acclaim Ultras

and therefore we cannot take your call.”

The

Times

reported

that

Wishing you a magical and blissful holiday!

86 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

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87 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

AOPA BRIEFING CHRIS MARTINUS

AVIATION INSECURITY Ever since the first meeting several years ago where my

which they were expected to vigorously

predecessor, Dr Koos Marais and I met the newly-appointed

defend Khoza’s clearly anxious insecurity.

While Koos continued with his affable

Acting Director for Civil Aviation Ms Poppy Khoza, AOPA

presentation of the areas in which we wished

South Africa has had grave misgivings. Not about aviation

to engage with the CAA over the coming

security in the traditional sense, but about the security of the future of general aviation in South Africa

years, we found ourselves faced with a growing glowering horde of individuals who began to pick on several of the points raised

by Koos. Although the meeting was to do

I

little more than meet the DCA and let her know who we were and what our objective T has been a tradition for the

jitters when facing aviation representatives

are, we surprisingly found ourselves having

AOPA President and some office-

so soon after being appointed to such a

to defend against a number of attacks which

bearers

call,

dauntingly important position as chief of

seemed calculated to turn the meeting into a

introduce themselves and exchange

almost everything to do with aviation. It

field of conflict.

pleasantries when a new Director

was only later that we realized that Khoza’s

Koos continued undeterred. He said that

Civil

background was simply in airport security,

AOPA would be happy to have one of our

Aviation is appointed. The purpose of such

she had no relevant qualifications and we

consultants spend a week or more at CAA in

meetings is to lay a little groundwork for

have been informed, does not even hold a

order to cover matters of mutual concern and

the relationship between the Civil Aviation

matric certificate.

to cement a cooperative relationship. At that,

(previously

to

pay

a

courtesy

Commissioner)

for

Authority and AOPA in the years to come.

Despite Koos Marais’ geniality, the

CAA head of legal, Mmanare Mamabolo,

The previous Acting Director, Zakhele

meeting stumbled a bit when Koos briefly

broke into uproarious cackling laughter.

Thwala, graciously hosted us in March

described some of the areas and concerns

The other executives took up this cue and

2011 and this formed a cordial basis for

in which we would likely be engaging in the

we were faced with a room full of people

our CAA dealings during his tenure. The

future. Whenever he mentioned a particular

laughing derisively at us, but obviously not

meeting was attended by Thwala and

aspect of aviation, Khoza would stop the

knowing why.

CAA communications executive Phindiwe

meeting and ask her secretary to get the

Khoza did nothing to bring things back to

Gwebu, with Koos Marais, Meent Borcherds

relevant senior executive heading that

an even keel. We continued to be peppered

and me making up the AOPA contingent.

department to come and join the meeting.

with aggressive questions and antagonistic

The meeting was pleasant and friendly

Koos and I were initially pleased that

remarks. As the meeting degenerated into a

and despite a little turbulence here and

we would get to meet the whole gang, some

self-fuelled mob frenzy and bizarre attacks,

there on issues on which CAA and AOPA

of whom we already knew, and others who

I finally picked up my things and headed for

do not necessarily agree, laid the basis for a

were new to us.

the door. Koos followed suit.

mutually respectful relationship between the

But there was an ominous undertone. each

executive

entered

As we went down the passage to the lifts,

regulator and us as representatives of the

When

the

Poppy Khoza ran to the door and said, “You

interests of general aviation.

meeting, he or she did not know what was

must not talk to the press!” at our departing

That, however, was not how things

expected, but picked up on Khoza’s fearful

backs. And thus ended our first attempts to

started with Poppy Khoza. When we entered

nervousness. They therefore presumed

establish a working relationship of mutual

her office, Khoza seemed very nervous and

that the meeting was some kind of hostile

respect and understanding.

agitated. We put that down to understandable

engagement with these AOPA brutes in

88 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

COLUMNS

An affable meeting with AOPA and CAA.

IT GETS WORSE

INSECURITY CONTINUES

Zakhele Thwala’s tenure as Acting DCA

Khoza has understandably felt insecure

ended unhappily. The Civil Aviation Act

in her tenuous position in which she is paid

allows the Minister of Transport to appoint

R8.3 million annually according to the last

an Acting DCA for no longer than 12 months.

CAA annual report.

Several industry bodies, including AOPA,

She appears to bolster herself with many

pointed this out but the Minister stubbornly

“awards” which she engages marketing

insisted that he was “extending” Thwala’s

companies to dream up and then bestow on

tenure. That was obviously not permissible

her. Astonishingly, she uses these awards as

and the concern was that we had no validly

proof of her expertise in press releases and

appointed DCA, a circumstance which could

other promotional material.

be disastrous.

Clearly, the legal provision for an Acting Director was being abused because Thwala

CAA ALSO INSECURE CAA’s

most

recent

annual

report

likely did not have the technical experience

is mostly filled with material relating to

and qualifications which are mandated by the

‘transformation’ and herculean efforts to

Act if a full Director is to be appointed.

create outcomes that show a dedication to

In a perversion of the law, the Minister

race and gender parity. But, although CAA’s

appointed Khoza as Acting DCA instead.

internal personnel structure is now largely

The Minister seemed to think that simply

black and balanced between genders, the

by changing the name of an Acting DCA, a

numbers of black, coloured, Indian and

further 12 months of having an unqualified

female pilots in the industry are still dreadful

individual holding this crucial position would

minorities. The efforts to change this have

be available.

failed and it seems that strategies of forced

At that time, the now finally decided

transformation have failed. Maybe a friendlier

E-Bury airfield case was beginning and

and more cooperative approach may bear

Khoza’s arbitrary refusal to issue an airport

fruit in the future.

licence was brought before the Civil Aviation

Sadly, CAA’s conduct also reflects a

Appeals Committee for review. Not only did

great deal of insecurity in its dealings with

the CAAC overturn Khoza’s decision, but

its clients. Not only are there unnecessary

it affirmed the challenge made by AOPA

delays

that Khoza’s appointment was invalid. The

other documents, but hostile groundings of

Minister thereafter lost no time in going

individuals and even airlines for reasons that

through the steps prescribed by the Act to

can only possibly be explained by insecurity,

appoint Khoza to the position of DCA, but

jealousy and prejudice.

in

processing

applications

The CAA’s mandate is aviation safety

must have appropriate technical experience

and security and not the projection of their

and qualifications, which Khoza clearly does

own social and political insecurity.

j

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91 www.saflyer.com | January 2020

KEEP IT LITE

Quote of the month: Talking about the usefulness of the current pilot career path that requires hour building for an Airline Transport Pilots Licence, SAA Captain Mike Gough writes:

“…having a few near-death experiences in General Aviation training and charter operations, with ropey aircraft in dodgy weather, hardly builds the ideal skill set for the transition to complex, multi-crew operations.”

Jabiru It's a lifestyle

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92 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

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REPORT & PICS: GARTH CALITZ

AEROCLUB OF SOUTH AFRICA 2019 AWARDS

In a break from tradition on the eve of their centenary

year, the AeroClub of South

Africa held a lunch function, instead of the customary black tie dinner, for their

annual awards ceremony.

T of

members

ceremony

was

held at Dakota Lodge,

who died in Thailand while leading the

Rand Airport on 16

Handiflight team, posthumously earned the

November

James Gilliland Trophy.

The

last

were

The SA Eagle trophy was presented

primarily to celebrate

to Mauritz Du Plessis and Sandi Goddard

the

for the most meritorious achievement at

achievements

an international event. Mauritz and Sandi

contributions to aviation over many years

achieved a Bronze Medal in the Landing

and

Section at the World Air Navigation Race

that

had

awards

year.

notable

those

who

HE

had

made

represented

the

country in the various recreational aviation

Championships

disciplines during 2019.

Portugal. Various AeroClub members were

Paul Lastrucci delivered his chairman’s address. A notable commentary was the continuing downward trend of memberships

in

Santa

Cruz

Beach,

also awarded gold and silver wings as well

Paul Lastrucci presents the Chairmans address.

as a single Lifetime Achievement Award to Mike Pascoe for his ongoing contribution to

experienced over the past ten years. 2019

the Gliding fraternity. The Airplane Factory

had been no exception as membership had

acknowledges

participating

competitors

was awarded the PGS Trophy for the major

further slipped. On a more positive note,

and their team managers by awarding them

milestone of exceeding 500 Sling aircraft

Paul emphasised the 2020 centenary year

Protea colours.

sales.

with brief outlines of what was planned.

Speed Rallies have become the fastest

The event closed with the customary

He also urged all members to get involved

growing recreational aviation sport in the

thanks. As the function finished earlier than

through their relative sections to make 2020

country. The inaugural season kicked off

previously, many stayed to catch-up with old

a very memorable year in the history of

in Secunda in 2018 and ended back in

friends.

South African recreational aviation.

Secunda earlier in 2019. PilotInsure 2019

Highlights planned for 2020 include the

Championships

overall

winners,

Leon

revival of the Governor General’s Cup Air

Boutell and Martin Meyer, were presented

Race in its original 1937 format, the Silver

with AeroClub Colours. Winners of the 2019

Queen Air Rally jointly with the SAAF and

Presidents Trophy Air Race, Kobus and

the Air-Week, which once again will be

Sarel van der Merwe, were also awarded

at Middelburg Airfield. Paul reminded us

AeroClub Colours for their achievement.

that South Africa will be hosting the World

The

Youth

Development

Certificate

Rally Flying Championships at Stellenbosch

was awarded to two recipients, Boitumelo

which will also form part of the AeroClub’s

Tumi Katisi and Goitseona Diale for their

Centenary celebrations.

committed work in developing future pilots

The first order of business was the

through their respective organisations. The

recognition of the members who had

Don Tilley Trophy was presented to Cobus

achieved national colours in 2019. The South

Toerien for his significant Contribution to

African Olympics Committee (SASCOC)

Safety in Aviation. The late Mike Lomberg,

96 January 2020 | www.saflyer.com

j

Simon Smith accepts on behalf of Mike Lomberg.

Goitseona Diale and Boitumelo Tumi Katisi with their Youth Development Awards.

James and Andrew Pitman from TAC.

Mark Holliday receives the award on behalf of Mike Pascoe 2019.

Mauritz Du Plessis and Sandi Goddard.

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We are for the journey

FlightCm African Aviation

Edition 135 | JANUARY 2020 Image: Avisys

THE LANDING GEAR SPECIALIST – WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE RUNWAY

WHAT HAPPENED TO DENEL?

AIRLINK’S RODGER FOSTER ON AFRICAN EXPANSION

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Ed's note...

JANUARY 2020 Edition 135

5 Bush Pilot - Hugh Pryor 7 Airlines - Mike Gough 11 Companies - AviSys 17 GIB Events 20 SAA Business Rescue

25 Dubai Airshow 29 Face to Face: Rodger Foster 35 Defence - Darren Olivier 39 AEP AMO Listing 41 Back Pages 44 Industry Update

W

HEN I acquired SA Flyer magazine back in 2006 I soon realised that my interests were broader than just South African flying and included the entire aviation industry, especially the airlines. So in October 2008 we launched FlightCom Magazine.

Many readers and advertisers seem to struggle to understand the role of FlightCom. By way of explanation, I am fond of quoting Jonathan Livingstone Seagull author Richard Bach, who differentiates between flying and aviation; he maintains that flying is a passion, a sport and a great way to live in three dimensions. Aviation is the industry behind flying. It’s about airlines and air forces and maintenance. It’s about the flying training industry and pilots’ futures.

FlightCom has been a fantastic success, instantly becoming the largest circulating African aviation magazine. The reason is simple: Rather than start a new publication from scratch, we bound it into SA Flyer.

And, it’s worth repeating - SA Flyer is by far the largest selling and circulating monthly general aviation magazine in Africa (and in page count – the world!) So, like the sparrow on the back of the eagle, FlightCom launched from SA Flyer’s altitude.

However, one of Africa’s many problems is that the postal services are unreliable, non-existent, or prone to theft. Magazine distribution in almost all countries north of Southern Africa is also very limited.

The only way we could get FlightCom to the key aviation decision makers in Africa is by couriering it – for free. Thankfully internet distribution of digital copies is now

by-passing physical deliveries.

To overcome the challenges of distribution, we make sure that we produce a publication people want to read – that fulfils our key objective of entertaining and informing our readers. Fortunately we have been blessed to have developed a core of contributors that make FlightCom unique. I am most grateful to Hugh Pryor, who after meeting me for just a quick cup of coffee, gave me a memory stick with hundreds of his priceless stories of bush flying in North Africa. Shortly thereafter, Mike Gough, then a senior first officer with SAA, and the owner of a thriving flight school at Lanseria, came on board to write about airline operations and pilot training. For the past four years we have been privileged to have Darren Olivier’s expert analysis on African defence. And, for the past couple of years, I have been working on a PhD on the air connectivity provided by African airlines. The spin-offs from this have also provided many fascinating industry insights.

Our columnists form the core of FlightCom and I am grateful for their commitment to quality writing and fresh insights. With them, and the topical articles we provide, I am confident that we have indeed fulfilled our mandate to entertain and inform our readers and provide the best channel for our advertisers to reach their market.

I wish all our readers a wonderful festive season and a great 2020.

Guy Leitch

Publisher Flyer and Aviation Publications cc Managing Editor Guy Leitch guy@flightcommag.com Advertising Sales Wayne Wilson wayne@saflyermag.co.za Layout & Design Emily-Jane Kinnear 70

3

FlightCom Magazine

ADMIN: +27 (0)83 607 2335 Postal Address P O Box 71052 Bryanston, 2021 South Africa

TRAFFIC: +27 (0)81 039 0595 ACCOUNTS: +27 (0) 82 875 9630

© FlightCom 2019. 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.

Editor

JET & TURBINE SALES EXPERT Led by Maartin Steenkamp and his experienced team, the company has over 60 years of experience in providing the best advice and solutions to companies and individuals looking to operate corporate jets. From single engine turboprops to long range corporate jets and airliners, Ascend Aviation is able to provide the right solution for every need.

Contact Maartin Steenkamp: C +27 (0)82 807 6701 Pierre Kieser C +27 (0)82 577 7815 T +27 (0)11 064 5624 F +27 (0)86 673 9129 E sales@ascendaviation.co.za

SA Flyer 2019|03

For our list of available aircraft head over to our website www.ascendaviation.co.za.

Industry Update Report: Owen Heckrath

UPRATED CIVILIAN HERCULES

FORMULA ONE SPARKS The electric airplane racing league was announced last year and we will soon see eight aircraft flying head to head around a five-kilometre course at altitudes of around 30 feet and at speeds approaching 500 km/h.

A

IR Race E unveiled an electrified Cassutt Formula One race plane capable of 300 MPH (480 km/h) at the recent Dubai Air Show. The tiny aircraft, which is familiar to those who get their thrills the National Championship Air Races in Reno, USA was modified with a 150-kilowatt motor and about 100 kg of lithium batteries replacing the Continental O-200 that traditionally pulls it along. It also sports contra-rotating props to harness the torque of the electric motor.

The aircraft which was unveiled was designed specifically for the electric racing environment. The batteries will supply enough power for five minutes of flat-out racing and about 10 minutes of loitering at lower energy consumption.

Eight teams have confirmed participation in the race series and they’ll soon be announced. The tendering process for the host city for the inaugural race is underway and an announcement of the location is forthcoming. 

5

FlightCom Magazine

Many operators who rely on a rugged go-anywhere ability for their African operations have settled on the Lockheed L-100 Hercules Freighter. These are now reaching the end of their operating life and operators requested an updated version in line with Lockheed’s C-130J upgrade.

L

OCKHEED Martin’s LM-100J commercial freighter—the civilian variant of the C-130J Super Hercules, recently received its FAA type design update certification. “The worldwide and particularly the African, L-100 fleet is much tasked and much relied upon,” said Rod McLean, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of Air Mobility & Maritime Missions. “As this fleet nears the end of its operating life, customers told us that the only replacement for the L-100 would be an LM-100J. The LM-100J is a modernised version of the company’s C-130based L-100 freighter, of which more than 100 were produced between 1964 and 1992. Upgrades to the LM-100J include better fuel efficiency, improved payload and range, automated maintenance fault reporting and an integrated Head-Up Display (HUD).

According to Lockheed Martin, the C-130J model has accrued more than 2 million fleetwide flight hours. The LM-100J variant is powered by four Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 engines and has a 50,000-pound (22,700 kg) payload, a range of 2390 NM and a maximum cruise speed of 355 knots.

The first two LM-100Js are scheduled to be delivered to launch customer Pallas Aviation later this year. South African operator Safair – at one time the largest C130 operator in the world, has an LM-100J on order. 

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SA Flyer 2018|10

CONTACT:

BUSH PILOT HUGH PRYOR

STAY OF EXECUTION I am the youngest of six children. My father was killed during World War II leaving my Mum to bring us all up.

T

HE extraordinary thing about my childhood was that it was jam-packed with the happiest of memories. Days spent exploring or climbing trees or swimming or boating or fishing, followed by evenings sitting captivated by stories of high adventure, read to us by Mum or one the uncles or aunts. In other words, a childhood of pure magic punctuated by memorable Christmases. Childhoods just don’t come any better.

The only drawback to an otherwise magic existence was that I had to share a room with my elder brother and we used to fight like cat and dog. These were not friendly ‘rough and tumbles’, they were all out war. During one particularly intense encounter, which I was winning, he looked at me with hate-filled eyes and through gritted teeth he spat the words that no aspiring pilot would wish to hear.

“You will die in an air crash before you reach the age of twenty-one!” That caused me to loosen my grip round his neck and release him.

Some years later I went for two years’ service in the remote jungles and mountains of New Guinea. To get there, I signed on, aged seventeen, as an apprentice on a ‘Tramp ship’ called the ‘Cedarbank. My choice of transport had nothing to do with the death threat issued by my brother. It was just the cheapest way to travel. In fact, I was

7

FlightCom Magazine

actually paid £42 per month, which covered my bar bill back in 1963.

It was after I had disembarked in Madang that my brother’s death sentence suddenly came back to haunt me.

I had a two-week course of briefings before being sent to work among the Pigmy people of the Karem ethnic group up in the Simbai valley, on the border between the Madang and the Western Highland Districts. It was brand new country for the colonialist Australian Government and the first Europeans had only penetrated this far into the mountains some four years previously. For me it was the fulfilment of boyhood dreams. To be the very first European who most of the local population had met was the stuff of pure adventure.

Then Tony Austin was killed trying to get into Simbai in a Cessna 180.

The sources of the Ramu River may be found in five valleys which lead down from the forested mountains like the fingers of a hand. The palm of the hand is a large bowl, from where the mighty river meanders through the fetid coastal plains into the sea.

The valleys are steep sided, narrow and covered with thick rain forest. The Kompiai, the Kaironk, the Tembiump, the Simbai and the Aiome valleys are confusingly similar when viewed from the cockpit of an aircraft. In New Guinea the weather deteriorates very quickly after midday. The clouds come down over the mountains with vicious thunderstorms threatening anybody brave or stupid enough to attempt to fly

amongst them. New Guinea has a horrific safety record in the air, because of the lethal mixture of mountains and weather. The rains had been so severe that there had been a landslide in the Simbai Valley which had killed twenty-three people.

Tony got the wrong valley and being inexperienced, flew up the middle of it. He was forced lower and lower into the ‘V’ until the only way out was to climb through the storm and that is when the C180 met the mountains. The last few moments of Tony Austin’s life must have been unimaginably terrifying.

Two weeks later it was my turn to brave the trip in the slightly beefier Cessna 185.

I lost sleep for three nights knowing that these would be my last ones on Earth before I became a little pile of charred bones high in the undiscovered remoteness of New Guinea. The morning of our intended flight, I arrived at Madang Airport.

The aircraft belonged to a start-up company called ‘Talair’, the pilot was a chap called Max Parker and my fellow passenger was a tiny lady called Margaret Kibikibi. She and I were seated on the minimally cushioned bench seat attached to the rear bulkhead. Access to the cabin was via a small luggage hatch, because the cabin had been piled from floor to ceiling with supplies to the extent that Mrs. Kibikibi and I were carrying boxes on our knees.

Max Parker’s Pre-flight Briefing consisted basically of an instruction to keep our seat belts fastened during the whole flight and if anything went wrong, we were to wait for him to sort things out before we tried to get out.

We felt the plane rock as Max climbed in. We heard him mutter his litany of prestart checks, then there was a loud click and mechanical groan, followed by a vehement Australian expletive, followed by another click and a groan and an even more vehement

“Listen.” I said in disbelief. “I have never been here in my life! I have never been in an aeroplane before!...This is my first time!...How do you expect me to know?”

Max just shrugged his shoulders, raised his hands in the air and said, “Well how are we going to find it then?”

My heart rose into the back of my throat as we passed the entrance to one of the now darkened valleys and I noticed that there was wide strip of yellow rubble which had torn its way down through the green of the forest like a great yellow wound. It looked like the mountain had collapsed taking the trees with it. There was a little line of local houses either side of the wound and suddenly I realised that I was looking at a dramatic landslide which had swept away the little houses in-between the two settlements on either side of it.

I nervously drew Max’s attention to what I had seen and suggested that this could actually be the Simbai Valley. “Are you absolutely sure?” he said and I replied incredulously, “No, of course not! I told you before! I have never been here in my life!”

“Oh well,” said Max, “Let’s give it a try.” And then he added as an afterthought,

“I just hope that you are bladdy right!”

We stuck so close to the trees on my side of the valley that I was convinced that Max was trying to scare the living daylights out of his innocent passenger. Actually, by sticking to the side of the valley he was giving us a chance to turn around if I had got the wrong valley.

As we rounded the last spur of forest, by what seemed to be sheer luck Simbai airstrip miraculously appeared right on the nose. We landed beautifully smoothly and my life started again!

We were greeted by a party of people which included Olive, the missionary’s wife who was also the medic. As I climbed down to the ground she grabbed my arm and said “Are you okay? You look as though you have seen a ghost.”

So I told her what I had just been through.

“That Max is a wicked man!” she laughed, “He has been here dozens of times!”

And that was fifty-five years ago, so I got quite a bonus, didn’t I? 

INTEGRITY, INTELLIGENCE, ENERGY AT YOUR SERVICE GIB House - 3 West Street, Houghton, Johannesburg Tel: +27 (11) 483 1212 | aviation@gib.co.za | www.gib.co.za | FSP License No. 10406

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SA Flyer 2020|01

expletive. Then we heard Max’s door open and moments later our little hatch opened and Max stuck his head in to inform us that the “Bladdy starter motor was Fcuked” and that we should “come back tamorrah”.

Now I knew for sure that this would be my last sleepless night.

This was confirmed the following morning when Mrs. Kibikibi failed to turn up having probably decided to seek an alternative form of transport. Since even a month’s walk through impenetrable swamps would be preferable to Tony Austin’s ghastly end.

Max put me in the front with him the next day. We were late, because Max had had to fix the starter, so we eventually got started after midday and the clouds had begun to build up threateningly as we followed the Ramu up towards the mountains.

When we reached the ‘Palm of the Hand’ they were well down and we could no longer see the peaks of the mountains, only the jaws of the little valleys. We circled around the bowl and then Max said, “So which one is it, Blue?” And suddenly I realised that he was asking me the way to Simbai.

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THE BIG LEAGUE One of the more mind-numbingly boring things I get to do on a regular basis are Language Proficiency Rating (LPR) tests. This is an ICAO mandated requirement that all pilots and ATCs have a reasonable chance of understanding and being understood, in English.

It’s not too tricky getting pilots to talk, but getting them to shut up may be more difficult.

I

have had the joy of doing over a thousand of these since 2007 and have found that it’s not too tricky getting pilots to talk, but getting them to shut up may be more difficult.

One question I ask during the voice recording phase is along the lines of “where do you see yourself in aviation in five years’ time?” This is almost always to someone about to complete their initial PPL skills test.

As most of my current students in General Aviation are aiming for the CPL,

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the normal answer is “Captain on A380 / B777 / A320”. Noble thoughts indeed and why not aim for the stars in the shortest possible time?

I can clearly remember when I had completed my PPL in 1989, my sense of grandeur was limited to trying to impress the ladies from my university classes by wearing Ray Bans while convincing them to come for a flip with me. I also needed company to try and split the cost of hiring that fire-breathing Cessna 172.

Beyond that, the thought of obtaining a

CPL seemed so hopelessly out of reach that dreams of airliners were simply downright foolishness.

The world has most certainly moved on. As instant gratification, fuelled by the information age, has fanned the fires of millennial expectations, the perception of what is possible has changed completely.

Maybe the notion of ‘paying one’s dues’ is completely irrelevant in the current pilot marketplace.

The two recent, highly publicised 737 Max accidents have shone a spotlight on the relevant crews’ experience and ages.

While Boeing has become Aviation’s Public Enemy Number One (whether justified or not), in both crashes the actions of the crew are most definitely considered contributory.

What does it take to transition from freshly-minted CPL to successful inhabitant of the air-conditioned flight-deck set? Well in a nutshell, it’s a completely different training approach which is being implemented in the form of the MultiCrew Pilot Licence, or MPL. I have banged on about this before, so won’t labour this particular point.

In the same vein, having a few neardeath experiences in General Aviation training and charter operations, with ropey aircraft in dodgy weather, hardly builds the ideal skill set for the transition to complex, multi-crew operations.

So, let’s assume that a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed commercial pilot has completed all the theory related to flight that man has learned from the time the Wright Brothers

first flew through to when Generation Four aircraft were certified. He or she (if we can even assign such restrictive genders in this age and day) would then complete the softskill courses, and learn all the theory for Crew Resource Management (CRM) and Multi-Crew Cooperation (MCC). Yet have next to zero practical knowledge.

Next up is the somewhat obvious fact that the flying of a heavy, fast, high altitude aircraft with major weight and centre of gravity variations has handling characteristics somewhat removed from a light aircraft. Before one can get close to touching a type-specific simulator (never mind the actual aircraft), a few recalibrations of one’s grey matter is required.

Something as simple as a checklist is for the most part, misused and misunderstood in General Aviation (GA). In a single crew environment – where we spend most of our time while becoming a CPL holder – the checklist is almost impossible to use correctly and inevitably becomes an action list, which is fraught with human factors issues.

An action list checks nothing, thus contradicting the title of the check list.

Learning the Standard Operating Procedure in its entirety is essential to getting all normal actions done and then being checked by the reading of a list by a monitoring pilot, is the absolute basic, entry level application of multi crew cooperation. We then add standard call-outs and actions by phase of flight and we start acting like the big boys.

The large jet transport aircraft has been the subject of much discussion over the years, since it emerged in its first successful commercial iteration in the form of the Boeing 707. Not to be unkind to the Brits with their Comet of the early ‘50s, this leap in technology, while a hugely important learning curve, was so entrenched in WW2 style design philosophy that the design complications prevented it from becoming a commercial success.

The performance objectives of all jet transports obviously dictate its physical design and the myriad systems that are not found in GA aircraft. It must cruise at high speed. Thus, we need a way of convincing the airflow around the aircraft to cooperate with this need, and not fight it, as much as possible. Above fifteen thousand feet altitude and 250 knots airspeed (approximately), air becomes compressible and weird things start to happen aerodynamically.

The value of Indicated Airspeed (IAS) and the actual (true) speed of the aircraft through the air (TAS), start to diverge

An action list checks nothing, thus contradicting the title of the check list. considerably and some form of constant, that accounts for the variables of temperature, pressure and density is required.

In 1929, Ernst Mach, an Austrian physicist and philosopher (we need to be deep-thinkers at these airspeeds,

data from a pair of pitot tubes mounted on the vertical tailplane which measured the local airflow at that point. This was carried through to the NG versions of the aircraft and became part of the infamous MCAS system that we have all learned about

We legally battle to breathe above 10,000 feet.

apparently), devised a relationship between two variable speeds, namely TAS and the local speed of sound. This is displayed to the pilot as a decimal percentage of the actual speed of sound at the aircraft’s current altitude.

Due to various curvatures of the upper and lower wing surfaces, tail surfaces, fuselage sections and so on, each part of the aircraft travelling at an overall constant Mach number, has local airflows all doing their own thing at vastly differing speeds.

This leads to certain areas having subsonic, transonic and supersonic airflow all at the same time. This is described by terms such as Mach Crit and Mach Tuck as well as a host of other aerodynamic swear words.

The original Boeing 737-100 and -200 had a system automatically trimming the horizontal stabiliser at high Mach numbers to prevent unexpected pitching moments, called Mach Trim. This derived its airspeed

recently in great detail. MCAS itself of course, operates as a consequence of Angle of Attack, as opposed to Mach number.

Those sexy looking swept wings that appeared on the B707 and then the 737 were not the result of the need to look good.

A swept wing is structurally way more complicated to build than a straight one, but this was born out of the necessity to ‘fool’ the airflow that it was actually travelling at a slower speed over that particular portion of the wing. This hugely assists with delaying the onset of Mach Crit, or the critical Mach number at which transonic flow occurs.

As this happens, shockwaves are formed at various points on the wing, creating massive drag and playing havoc with the post-shockwave airflow behind.

The swept wing presents a more gradual curvature of the aerofoil section to the relative airflow and the relative velocities are prevented from accelerating in excess.

The unintended consequence of this is

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Flaps are well known to the GA pilot, but we also have to learn about slats.

that, when a significant yaw motion is encountered (for example, when an engine failure occurs), the airflow suddenly ‘sees’ the wing for what it actually is and a whole bunch of additional lift is created. This leads to a significant roll effect that the new jet pilot has to learn to counter with accurate and astute inputs to keep the blue side up.

I recall being trained on the B732 to initially use aileron to counter this secondary effect of yaw and then smoothly feeding in rudder input to mostly centralise the control column. This is a very different technique to how one is trained on GA aircraft.

Great – so we have created a wing that can travel a lot faster than the likes of the DC3 and Hercules, for example. We can’t obviously take off and land at 220 knots unless we build epically long runways and create Superman tyres capable of withstanding such speeds. Thus, we need devices to force the airflow to work hard at low speeds, without losing its enthusiasm and abandoning the airframe altogether, in what would be an aerodynamic stall.

Flaps are well known to the GA pilot, but we also have to learn about slats, which are moveable surfaces at the leading edge (or front) of the wing. These ‘high lift’ devices change the airflow pattern completely around the wing and when extended on

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very specific speed schedules, allow a large aircraft, weighing two to three hundred tonnes, to slow down to a respectable 140odd knot approach speed.

As the swept wing does not respond as optimally to aileron input for roll control that our GA aircraft so obligingly does, the clever guys designed large surfaces that arise from the upper wing area to ‘spoil’ the creation of lift in certain areas. This greatly assists roll control and is also used on touch down to get the landing distance performance to an acceptable level.

However, as these spoilers are deployed, the centre of pressure of the wing moves forward rapidly, resulting in a pronounced nose-up pitch, which must be countered by the pilot. If this is mis-handled on touch down a tail strike is possible, with the resultant cold tea / no biscuits with the Chief Pilot.

As drag is one of the major villains in the aerodynamic movie, a cunning plan to reduce this overall effect is to fly as high as optimally possible. As we know, we legally battle to breathe (according to our air law) above ten thousand feet and thus we need to convince our biological beings that we are only around seven to eight thousand feet up.

By forcing more air into the cabin than is being allowed out at any point in time, we create a differential pressure to the outside

environment, allowing all on board to breathe normally.

Any system that an airliner has that enables it to operate in the hostile environment of high altitude, high speed flight, has to fail at exactly the worst possible time and still be safely dealt with by the crew. That’s why most of a complex conversion consists of failures, emergencies and decision-making processes to deal with them.

I have obviously only briefly touched on just a few of the design-induced issues and associated systems of an airliner here and as mentioned earlier, veritable tomes of wisdom have been written on this subject.

I haven’t even mentioned the handling characteristics of high-bypass jet engines…

Getting back to the new, starry eyed CPL wishing for immediate occupancy of the complex flight deck. What you don’t know can hurt you a lot. Baby steps, and be aware of the massive amount of learning, training and gathering of experience that lies ahead.

Ten years of experience still takes ten years to obtain.

Merry Christmas. 

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Company Profile

AVISYS where rubber meets tarmac An aircraft’s undercarriage, tyres and brakes regularly handle the enormous loads from all types of landings, whether at – or beyond – crosswind limits, or from ham-fisted pilots dropping the aircraft onto the runway.

U

NDERCARRIAGE components take such a hammering that they can only be effectively maintained by a specialist with knowledge and sophisticated equipment. AviSys Aviation Systems, SACAA AMO 1089 based at Hangar 17 Wonderboom Airport, is a long-established maintenance organisation with SA-CAA accreditation to perform component maintenance and overhaul under its Category B rating.

AviSys Aviation Systems’ vision is; “To set new standards in aviation by developing strategies to hone and develop our skills and capabilities to new levels of excellence. This sets the standard for others to benchmark from.”

AviSys’ driving mission is its quality approach to delivering maintenance of the highest standards and it is convinced that customer satisfaction is what differentiates it from current industry standards.

The company is able to provide superlative advice and service to cater for client’s needs on the following types: B727

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FlightCom Magazine

and B737 Series, Douglas DC-8 and DC-9 Series, PC12 Series, Douglas MD80 Series, Beechcraft and the following OEM Makes; ABSC, Honeywell / Bendix, Goodrich and Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems.

AviSys has three divisions: The Brake Shop: This is equipped to work on: 727, 737, DC8, DC9, DC10, MD80, PC12 & Hawker HS125, KingAir and Beech 1900 brake assemblies. On arrival all brakes are visually inspected and assessed.

They are then stripped down to individual components, where a more in-depth inspection process is performed, using the latest Non Destructive Testing techniques (dye penetrant, magnetic particle, eddy current and ultrasonic). Worn or faulty parts are either repaired or replaced, in accordance with the component maintenance manual.

The brakes are then reassembled, tested and given a final inspection, before being returned to the customer.

AviSys has a fully equipped landing gear repair and overhaul facility.

The Wheel Shop: This has the capability to maintain almost any wheel assembly; specifically, B737, C130, LearJet, Citation, Dornier Jet, Fokker F100, PC12, KingAir, Dash 8 and more. On arrival all wheel assemblies are stripped, cleaned and assessed. All the wheels are NDT inspected and parts are either repaired or replaced, in accordance with the component maintenance manual. Wheels are then reassembled, a leak check is performed followed by the final inspection before returning to the customer.

The Landing Gear Repair and Overhaul Facility: This facility houses a fully equipped machine shop with capabilities that currently include: B727 & B737 Boeing, Douglas DC9, DC8, Hawker HS125 Series and Beechcraft aircraft.

In addition, AviSys is able to perform helicopter servo actuator repair and overhaul, flexible hose build-up and engine fire bottles HPT and service. AviSys founder and CEO Dewald Krynauw stresses their interest to extend AviSys’ capabilities to provide whatever the customer may need.

AviSys Aviation Systems’ many years of cumulative aviation experience in its field is supported by means of dedicated staff members who are committed to deliver service excellence and quality workmanship at market related prices.

Contact AviSys on: +27 83 442 5884 Email: dewald@avisys.co.za or igena@ avisys.co.za or for more detail visit their website at: www.avisys.co.za - or phone 012 567 0046 

W a h ishi ap ng py all fes ou tiv r c e s lie ea nts so n!

AviSys Aviation Systems is an established Maintenance Organization AMO 1089 with SA-CAA, and other African CAA accreditation to perform component maintenance and overhaul capabilities under its Category B rating. Currently, AviSys is equipped to cater for our Clients needs as per the SA-CAA Approved Capability List and Operational Specifications on the following: • Aircraft Braking Systems repair and full overhaul capability with SA-CAA Component Release to Service ARC (Authorized Release Certificate) on the following OEM Makes; ABSC, Honeywell / Bendix, Goodrich and Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems.

• Aircraft main and nose wheel assemblies for the above makes, to repair and overhaul.

• Landing Gear Repair and Overhaul • Helicopter Servo Actuator Repair and Overhaul • Flexible Hose Build-up • Engine Fire Bottles HPT, Service, Fill and Re-charge AviSys Aviation Systems is committed to deliver Service Excellence and Quality Workmanship at market related prices, brought by with years of cumulative aviation experience in our field by means of dedicated hand-picked Staff Members.

AviSys Aviation Systems Quality approach to delivering maintenance of the Highest Standards, and Customer Satisfaction is what sets this Maintenance Organization apart from the current industry standards.

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AviSys looks forward to establish long and just relationships with our client base, in order to meet our high standards of customer satisfaction. Our aim is to set new standards in aviation by developing strategies to hone and develop our skills and capabilities to new levels of excellence, thus setting the standard for others to benchmark from!

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Email: dewald@avisys.co.za Phone: +27 (0) 12 567 0046 Fax: +27 (0) 86 618 6996 Web: www.avisys.co.za

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EVENTS CALENDAR PROUDLY SPONSORED BY GIB INSURANCE BROKERS SA Flyer 2019|12

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20

Defence D arren O livier

DENEL

AEROSTRUCTURES –

WHAT HAPPENED?

Denel, like so many other state-owned enterprises (SOEs), is in trouble.

Having only just emerged from a cash crunch so severe that it was unable to fully pay salaries until local banks stepped in with a temporary loan.

I

T had gone months without paying suppliers, freezing all of its production lines until receiving a R1.8 billion cash injection from the national budget at the end of August 2019. Now, the most crucial production lines are running again, bringing in much-needed revenue, but the company is far from out of the woods. Its turnaround plan depends in part, on receiving another R2 billion from government in February this year.

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In South Africa’s public debate, the most common sentiment around Denel amongst both opposition politicians and media editorials is ‘sell it’ or ‘close it down’. This is usually accompanied by an expressed opinion that there is no value in the company continuing to exist as a stateowned enterprise and in addition that it has been a never-ending sink for taxpayer funding over its existence.

This article will be split into two parts.

The first will describe how Denel reached

this point and will explore whether the popular view is accurate. The second part will investigate whether Denel may have any real value to the country in its current form and which of the options available to government will result in the least cost to taxpayers.

To keep things concise and in line within the ambit of this publication the focus of this article will be on Denel Aerospace and not on the company’s landward and maritime divisions.

While it may seem difficult to believe now, only a few years ago Denel was an example of an SOE going right and surviving without further government assistance. It had taken years to reach that point following a troubled start in the 1990s and early 2000s when it was an unfocused, unwieldy and inefficient conglomerate formed from all the manufacturing business that had been housed in Armscor during the apartheid era. Few of its constituent parts had any shared expertise, experience, administrative staff, or even properties. Each operated as a mostly independent silo just as it had when it was part of Armscor and when defence funding was effectively limitless.

Some administrative functions and costs were centralised within the Denel head office, including employee payrolls and other HR function. But achieving an integrated and focused business was a difficult task at a time when all attention was on merely surviving in an open market era. After all, the holding company or conglomerate approach was one to which most South African professional managers were most accustomed and felt safest with, as it was the primary means by which corporate SA diversified its risks under sanctions. And it’s still the preferred way that many countries structure their stateowned defence industry companies.

By 2005, the company had reached an inflection point. It was nearly bankrupt as the majority of Denel’s divisions and subsidiaries provided products and services that were custom-created for the needs of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). As a result of its dwindling budget, this was no longer sufficient to sustain Denel through large and regular equipment acquisitions or maintenance contracts.

Cracking the export market had also been more difficult than initially assumed, requiring a set of marketing, sales and product development skills that the local defence industry had never needed to learn.

Realising it needed to rethink its strategy on Denel, the government at the time appointed a new CEO, Shaun Liebenberg to head the firm and come up with a new strategy to first, save Denel and then make it selfsufficient and profitable.

Liebenberg and his executive team came back with three options: Run Denel as a subsidised government business, as had been done with Armscor

government and the shareholder, beyond the loss in industrial capability and the impact on the SANDF. Implement a turnaround plan to convert Denel into a leaner and more focused company able to compete in the global market. Non-core parts of the company would either be shut down or sold off into joint ventures where Denel would maintain only a minority stake. What remained would be modernised and streamlined. This would require R3.5 billion in an upfront cash injection to pay off existing debts, followed by another R1.7 billion cash injection to be used to update the company’s near-obsolete

Cracking the export market had also been more difficult than initially assumed, requiring a set of marketing, sales and product development skills that the local defence industry had never needed to learn. during the Apartheid era. It would have no obligation to be profitable, but that also meant that it could be a home for longrunning research and development (R&D) initiatives at lower Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) that might otherwise be too risky for a commercial entity.

Shut Denel down or sell it off piecemeal. This was calculated at the time to cost R19 billion (R41 billion in 2019) in various shutdown costs that would fall upon

production machines and facilities, much of which were already old and outdated when Denel was formed in 1992.

The Cabinet chose Option 3, gave Liebenberg the green light to implement the turnaround strategy and provided the initial R3.5 billion over three years. However, in a nonsensical move, both government and Parliament then reneged on supplying the promised R1.7 billion to modernise Denel’s equipment, even though they had signed off

Denel aerostructures is yet another casualty of the destruction wreaked by state capture.

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BELOW: Denel Aerostructures made large investments to build key parts of the A400M.

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on the turnaround strategy that incorporated it. Nonetheless, the executive team got to work implementing as much of the plan as they could.

A majority stake in Denel Optronics was sold off to Carl Zeiss, becoming Carl Zeiss Optronics. It still exists as Hensoldt Optronics. Somchem, Naschem, Swartklip and related businesses were bundled up and a majority stake sold to Rheinmetall with the company still currently doing well as Rheinmetall Denel Munition. Saab came on as an equity partner in the aerostructures business, which became Denel Saab

to make the division profitable, especially once Saab divested from the company. That work had paid off when Aerostructures won manufacturing contracts for additional A400M parts, assemblies on the HondaJet and pylon secondary structures for the A3501000 under subcontract to GKN Aerospace.

That’s an extraordinary achievement, given the hugely competitive and high-standard nature of the aerostructures market, and the fact that those contracts were won through open bids and without any offset incentives in place. The first few months and years of deliveries were going well. With those

Aerostructures – and so on. However, an attempt to bring on MBDA as a partner for Denel Dynamics and BAE Systems as a 20% equity partner for Denel as a whole were both blocked by government, for asyet-unexplained reasons.

Despite that interference and the investment funding shortfall and even though Liebenberg left in 2007, the turnaround plan was successful. By the 2011/12 financial year, Denel was profitable. What’s more, it was consistently profitable at a group level even though some of its divisions continued to struggle. One by one its divisions and subsidiaries were streamlined and made more efficient, becoming integrated into global supply chains and as suppliers to toplevel OEMs. Not everything was perfect, of course: Parts of Denel still struggled with subpar management and a lack of skills and the structure remained unwieldy. But the outlook for most of the group and especially its most critical high-tech units was positive. For instance, massive effort had been made by Aerostructures’ leadership

contracts and all the relevant top-tier certifications in place, Aerostructures was well-placed to win a lot more work on the same level and scale.

Today, Aerostructures has been shut down. After all that effort, the cash flow crisis within Denel as a whole meant that from around 2017 onwards Aerostructures could no longer buy the raw materials and subcomponents to fulfil its orders to Airbus, GKN, and HondaJet, resulting in massive penalties and reputational damage that meant the business was no longer commercially viable. Its most modern part-making machinery is being returned to lessors or sold off and its staff are being retrenched. A long history of airframe and parts manufacturing dating from the formation of Atlas Aircraft Corporation in 1965, is over.

What happened? How did a company go from being profitable and winning lucrative contracts to being unable to deliver to the point where penalties forced an entire division to close?

In two words: State Capture. The most

FlightCom Magazine

important thing to understand in any debate about Denel and its future is that the cash flow crisis that began in 2016 had little to do with the company’s fundamentals or how it had been run up until then.

In 2015 the Zuma administration replaced Denel’s entire board with unqualified individuals widely regarded as being picked for their friendliness to the notorious Gupta family, who had captured the state through their corrupt relationship with the president. That new board in turn, acted swiftly to first suspend and then sack Denel’s top leadership, including Riaz Salojee, its well-regarded CEO and replace them with pliant individuals willing to do the Gupta’s bidding.

The impact on the business was both rapid and devastating. Rather than managing cash flow properly, always crucial in a defence company, the new executive team set about enriching the Gupta family through a number of mechanisms. VR Laser, a once-respectable supplier of armoured steel plating, was taken over by Gupta associates and soon after subcontracted to perform vehicle manufacturing work for the Hoefyster combat vehicle programme that had originally been intended for LMT, a Denel subsidiary. Denel also spent a substantial amount of money setting up Denel Asia, a joint venture with VR Laser Asia (a shell company) that would effectively channel half of Denel’s profits in that entire region to the Gupta family. Other publications such as the Daily Maverick and amaBhungane, have covered this subject in far greater detail than there is space for here, but the evidence is overwhelming.

Since the Ramaphosa government took office it has replaced the tainted Denel board and the company’s top leadership. The new CEO, Danie du Toit, has impeccable credentials from his time working on both the South African and international defence industries. He and his staff have, in turn, been tasked to develop a new turnaround plan that has been presented to and accepted by, both Cabinet and Parliament.

The belief is that if Denel’s present crisis was caused by its becoming a pawn in South Africa’s largest ever corruption scandal there’s a chance its fundamentals are still sound and that it can be made commercially viable again.

Next month’s article will explore that possibility, along with the implications for both the SANDF and the rest of the defence industry. 

SA Flyer 2018|10

AIRCRAFT INTERIORS & EXTERIORS

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Feature G uy L eitch

THE

NUCLEAR OPTION

What does Business Rescue mean for SAA?

After threatening for a number of years, trade union Solidarity has decided that they too have had enough of SAA’s incompetent management and have launched an application to force the airline into Business Rescue.

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S

OLIDARITY argues that if drastic action is not taken then the airline will collapse – leading to the loss of its 30 members’ jobs. These 30 members may be tiny compared to the cacophony of threats, counter threats and intimidation emanating from the Cabin Crew and Metal Workers Union strikers, but it is potentially a far more serious threat for the airline’s existence and will have a huge impact on the government’s finances.

SAA is properly bankrupt. It has still not submitted its 2018 and 2019 financial results due to its being unable to certify that it is a going concern. Further, the airline fails almost every solvency and going-concern test: SAA’s liabilities are in the order of R100 billion, while realisable assets are less than R10 billion. It also fails basic liquidity and corporate governance requirements. Losses have increased from an average of R1 billion a year to R6 billion per year. Yet we, the taxpayers, are expected to continue to bail it out.

Any normal business would be declared insolvent and those owed money when it shuttered its windows would enjoy what are wryly called the ‘cold comforts of concurrent creditors.’

But SAA staggers along, being drip fed just enough taxpayer money to keep it going. Meanwhile the mountain of debt grows. What are the options – should it be put into Business Rescue? And is Business Rescue equivalent to airlines in the USA seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection?

In South Africa the Business Rescue process, (as defined by the Companies Act of 2008), aims to “facilitate the rehabilitation of a company that is “financially distressed” by providing for: the temporary supervision of the company and management of its affairs, business and property by a business rescue practitioner. A temporary moratorium (“stay”) on the rights of claimants against

THE BUSINESS RESCUE PROCESS WOULD THUS PROVIDE SAA WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO REORGANISE AND RESTRUCTURE ITS AFFAIRS the company ….. and the development and implementation (if approved) of a business rescue plan to rescue the company by restructuring its business, property, debt, affairs, other liabilities and equity.”

The business rescue process would thus provide SAA with the opportunity to reorganise and restructure its affairs and to structure a payment scheme with its creditors, whilst also saving jobs and allowing the business to continue trading as an economically contributing entity.

It sounds good, and that’s why Solidarity wants to force SAA into Business Rescue against the wishes of its shareholder, by an order of court. The following actions are then prescribed by the act: 1. Within 10 business days after being appointed, the practitioner must convene a meeting of the creditors and a meeting of the employees and advise them of the prospects of rescuing the company.

2. A business rescue plan, as proposed by the practitioner, must be

3.

published by the company within 25 days after the date on which the business rescue practitioner was appointed.

A moratorium on payments must be declared to creditors. This has far reaching effects on creditors, financial institutions, shareholders and employees.

Unlike the American Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection, South African Business Rescue protects the rights of employees, but it will still have a significant effect on employees and staff morale. Those employed by the company when it goes into business rescue have their jobs secured – and on the same terms and conditions.

Airline workers in the USA have

SAA Asset values are well short of its liabilities.

“The practitioner may also remove any person who formed part of the pre-existing management of the company from office or appoint a person as part of the management of a company. In some instances, the practitioner will need to obtain the approval of the court for an appointment.”

no such protection. Which is why in the USA, Chapter 11 bankruptcy is almost a rite of passage for airlines seeking to rid themselves of excess staff and onerous supplier agreements.

In South Africa there is nonetheless a temptation to consider business rescue an

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Pravin Gordhan would close SAA down rather than allow it to go into business rescue.

equivalent process and thus useful for airline turnarounds. It should however be noted that they are dissimilar processes, albeit intended to achieve similar outcomes. During the USA’s Chapter 11 process, the business and creditors come up with a plan for the majority of the creditors. The main difference is that in the South African Business Rescue process, an independent practitioner takes over the running of the business – whereas in the US the company still maintains control.

Secondly, in the US, the creditors need not agree on the proposed outcomes since the court can impose them, whereas in South Africa

IF SAA IS IN DEFAULT ON ONE LOAN, THIS WILL CAUSE A DEFAULT IN ALL THE FINANCE/LEASING AGREEMENTS. the creditors (or other stakeholders) have a much greater say in the outcome. Further, in the USA the companies seek the protection from the courts while in South Africa the creditors (or other stakeholders) seek the intervention of the court.

South African business rescue thus results in negotiated settlements between the business and its creditors. In contrast, American Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection allows a court to override contracts without the agreements of all parties. In effect, an airline in trouble in the USA can use the uncertainty of the courts’ ruling as a negotiating tactic. Furthermore, during the American process, the business is protected from creditors and the recalling of loans.

It need be noted that business rescue has a poor success rate.

There is international evidence that only 5% of business rescue cases are successful. Whilst South African studies are still underway to determine the success rate of business rescue, there are estimates that this rate is somewhere between 10% – 12%. The failure of 1time airline under business rescue is a case in point.

So business rescue in SA is substantially different from American Chapter 11 protection and there are huge problems with trying to apply business rescue to SAA. This is one of the reasons

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Pravin Gordhan, as the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, has threatened to close the airline down rather than allow it to go into business rescue. One of the key problems is a booby trap of a bomb embedded in the airline’s aircraft leases.

A memo, dated November 6, 2015, was sent to the SAA Board of Directors by the then Acting CEO, Thuli Mpshe. A key component of the memo relates to SAA’s commitment and exposure to Airbus for Pre-Delivery payments (PDPs) for the then new Airbus A330300s. This was ultimately resolved with the delivery of the aircraft in 2017. However, SAA attempted to supress the memo as it brought to light some extremely important consequences of any compromise with creditors. This would include any compromise effected by business rescue proceedings.

The key condition refers to SAA defaulting on any of its leases or other loans …. “if a specified amount (typically $10m) of Financial Indebtedness is not paid by SAA after being declared due, repayment of the debt may be accelerated.” So all the debt could become due at once – and that would be an estimated R64 billion or so for aircraft leases.

And that’s not all. The memo goes on to note; “almost all of the finance/leasing agreements are subject to a Cross Default clause so that, if SAA is in default on one loan document/financial indebtedness, this will cause a default in all the finance/leasing agreements.”

It is difficult to estimate the likely amount having to be immediately repaid should such cross default clauses be called in by lenders. However, two figures should be borne in mind: 1. The 30 billion SAA owes banks 2. Add to that the settlement cost of aircraft leases. Rough estimates as to the amounts owing on these leases is as follows: Note that this includes the four A350-900s on short term leases currently being delivered. It disregards the return value of the aircraft or the ability to on-lease them elsewhere. In the case of the A340, this is virtually nil but the A330s (and A350s) should be reasonably easy to return or on-lease.

Estimated SAA Aircraft lease exposure:

Thus, it is possible that SAA would be required to repay R64 billion in addition to the amounts due to banks in the event Business Rescue triggers cross default clauses in the aircraft leases.

A further consideration is that in the event of SAA defaulting on any of its lease agreements or loan covenants with banks, this could in turn trigger cross default loan clauses to other parastatals whose loans have been underwritten by the South African government.

Estimates in the general media have suggested that this exposure may be in the order of R300 billion.

This would not only have destroyed the airline – but bankrupted the entire country. While business rescue is a useful strategy and possibly the only one capable of forcing the government to make difficult political decisions regarding job cuts and the loss of patronage, it needs to be handled with the same care as a nuclear bomb. 

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DUBAI AIRSHOW

2019

Business in the Desert

Al Maktoum International Airport, about 40 km into the desert from the famous Dubai Marina, has grown from a basic regional airstrip in the early 1990s to become one of the world’s leading airports. Since it houses the Dubai Airshow, it is also fast becoming an epicentre of aviation industry business.

R eport : O wen H eckrath

Air Arabia and Airbus closed a deal for 120 new aircraft.

T

HE Dubai Airshow started life as Arab Air in 1986, a small civil aviation trade show at the Dubai World Trade Centre. At launch, it barely created a ripple in the aviation industry but a lot has changed since then. The past few years have seen unprecedented changes in the aviation industry and the Dubai Airshow has helped lead these changes by creating a world class trade exhibition, which showcases the latest and greatest in military, general and commercial aviation.

The 2019 Dubai Airshow was hailed as the biggest ever and a resounding success by its exhibitors, delegates and sponsors alike. By the end of a lively week of trading, the airshow had cemented its place as an epicentre of aviation business with more than 1,288 exhibitors in attendance, 161 aircraft on the event’s static display and a packed schedule of flying displays, conferences and keynote presentations. There were 84,043 trade attendees and the all-important sales announcements set records with the onsite order book reaching US$54.5 billion by close of business.

THE PROGRAMME Among those who had stands were 100 new exhibitors, including Saudi Arabia’s

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The Helicopter Company, which was also a key event sponsor. Also making its debut was EDGE, which launched shortly before the show. EDGE is a group comprising 25 local entities working in five aerospace capability clusters. Among the firms sitting under the EDGE umbrella is Al-Tariq whose CEO, Theunis Botha said the Dubai Airshow had been a great way to establish the brand’s presence in the region.

Elsewhere, a host of speciality conferences, offering industry-specific keynotes, Q&A sessions and networking opportunities attracted huge crowds of aviation professionals. Set across two days, the Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) conference took a close look into the future of traffic control. Virtual towers proved to be a particularly hot topic.

Cargo Connect, a show within the show, focused on the airfreight industry. Here, data sharing across both geographical and business boundaries was a key focus.

A growing focus on space exploration was recognised with its own conference programme. This opened with ‘Women in Space’, hosted by the UAE Space Agency and featuring speakers from the UN and Boeing, among others. The programme aimed at examining the key role that female scientists, researchers, engineers and astronauts will play in the future of the global space industry. This conference proved to be a huge draw and former astronaut, the European Space Agency’s Claudie Haigneré, commented that she found the level of engagement “very encouraging.”

THE ORDER BOOKS Dubai Airshow has seen some of the biggest deals signed in recent years.

However, sales at the show began slowly with day one having only the sale of two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, worth a reported US$585 million at list prices.

With A380 production ending in 2021 and the Boeing 777x experiencing further delays into commercial service, the focus remained on the region’s largest carrier’s fleet renewal plans. If day one was lacking in large orders, other days certainly didn’t disappoint. Airbus announced an agreement with Emirates for an additional 20 Airbus A350s. This brings the airline’s total order to 50 aircraft worth US$16 billion. Delivery is expected to begin in 2023.

Al Fursan team perform a flying display.

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Amongst the emerging technologies was the Leonardo AW609 TiltRotor.

Bizjets were well represented like this innovative HondaJet.

Emerging technologies were also well represented, like this contra-rotating prop electric E-Racer.

Exhibitors take a breather inside a Falcon AW169 on display.

Saab surprised visitors with its GlobalEye airborne early warning and control aircraft.

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More than enough displays across all aspects of aerospace to keep the visitors busy.

The air displays, which go on for hours each day, are a show highlight.

Another big announcement from Airbus was a deal with budget airline Air Arabia who signed for 120 new A320 family aircraft worth US$14 billion. Airbus will begin the delivery of the 73 A320neos, 27 A321neos and 20 A321 XLRs in 2024.

As a week of top-level bartering drew to a close, it became clear that 2019’s sales would pass those previously recorded. And it wasn’t only Airbus who had good days at the show. Normally Boeing does well at airshows, but had been struggling to recover from the 737 MAX situation. That said, Boeing secured a deal with Turkish airline SunExpress for an additional 10 737 MAX 8s worth US$1.2 billion.

Further big news was the announcement by Emirates of a reduction in its 777X orders. Dubai’s flagship carrier cut its 777X orders by 30 aircraft to 126 using its substitution rights to swap the order for 30 Boeing 787-9s. Emirates will still be the launch customer for the 777X, which is now expected to enter service in 2021.

Canadian manufacturers also had bumper order books at the show. The former Bombardier, now De Havilland Aircraft, announced more orders for its Dash 8-400. Aurora, a subsidiary of Aeroflot, signed a letter of intent to purchase five Dash 8-400s and the Republic of Ghana agreed to buy six aircraft. ACIA Aero Capital Ltd also signed a conditional purchase agreement to buy three Dash 8-400s and De Havilland landed a further order for 20 Dash 8-400s from lessor Palma Holding.

Though less likely to be announced publicly, a good deal of military business was also conducted at the show. UAE purchased defensive missile systems and three Airbus A330 MRTT aerial refuelling aircraft.

THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES On Day one, Leonardo and Falcon Aviation Services presented a revolutionary rotorcraft-dedicated terminal concept, to meet the growing demands for sustainable and vertical lift mobility and greater access to urban areas. The new rotorcraft terminal uniquely combines a helipad, showroom and lounge areas into a single citybased heliport. Key to this concept were its new Leonardo tiltrotor aircraft.

The impact of both technology and space research on all aspects of industry was a high interest topic at the show. Exhibits ranging from Dubai Police’s new flying bike for hard to reach emergencies, to new products in the medivac field, through to the first commercial space flight suits from Virgin Galactic, were all on show.

THE FLYING DISPLAYS The flying display demonstrates the technical capabilities of exhibiting companies’ aircraft. The display at the Dubai Airshow 2019 included the Airbus A380 and A400M, the F-16, F/A-18, F-22 Raptor, V-22 Osprey, B-1B, Eurofighter Typhoon. There were also delightfully colourful aerobatic displays by international teams including Patrouille de France, the UK’s Red Arrows and Al Fursan from the UAE. Commenting on the show’s culmination, Michele van Akelijen, Managing Director of show organisers Tarsus F&E LLC Middle East, said: “We always strive to outperform our previous show and 2019 has gone above and beyond expectation, with so much great business being done alongside an engaging and innovative programme of conferences, exhibits and flying displays. We have already seen exhibitors rebooking for the next edition, and we look forward to seeing what the next two years of aerospace development will bring to our 2021 show.” 

The apron at Al Maktoum International Airport is becoming an epicentre of aviation business.

Visitors queue at the entrance each day.

While less public, a lot of military business was conducted.

You can get a lot closer to parts of the plane than you are typically allowed.

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FACE TO FACE WITH THE CEO: Airlink has pioneered new routes with its fleet of new Embraer E-Jets - such as to St Helena.

RODGER FOSTER

REGIONAL EXPANSION PLAN In this wide-ranging conversation, Guy Leitch talks to Airlink CEO Rodger Foster about his relationship with troubled SAA, about FlySafair, about growing his airline into Africa – and lots more.

GL: The South African market now seems to be mature - what about further expansion into Africa?

RF: We have already applied for a number of bilaterals, and now been designated to operate routes which we are considering the financial case for opening. But it’s tough; you need a foreign operator’s permit and sometimes that state’s civil aviation authority has to come and do an audit on you, to access your proficiency, despite the fact that your proficiency has already been tested by your own competent authority – and is demonstrated by the fact that you hold an air operator’s certificate. You have to go through all those hoops, and they take time.

You also have to get a general handling agent; sometimes the general sales agent can also do that. In South Africa we are spoilt for choice. But when we want to go into some states, there is only one handler and it happens to be that state’s national carrier, who is also your competitor. So now you have to negotiate with someone who has a monopoly and is fond of extortion. They can charge you US1,500 a pop for ground handling. But when they want to come into South Africa, they pay maybe R1,000 for a turnaround. You look at the difference and

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know that there is no way you can make money going into their domain. But they can come and eat your lunch.

The net result is that the Yamoussoukro Declarations and the Single African Air Traffic Market (SAATM) are a complete fallacy. There is a historical problem: because SA played a key role in the African Union, the past Chairperson; Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma had to lead by example. So South Africa liberalised and offered fifth freedom traffic rights to anybody who wished to get access to SA via another market – or directly. We basically just gave away the family jewels.

The whole idea of Yamoussoukro and SAATM is reciprocity. If you get access to a market, then somebody else gets access to your market on an equal basis. And then its open skies, and the free market forces will prevail. Ultimately there should be no more bilaterals. But it is not like that in Africa – there are 54 states with 54 sets of bilateral regulations, air services regulations and different acts and technical standards. Even though they are all aligned with ICAO, they are all different; because they came along at different eras in ICAO development. And then there are the different regulators. The moment you have that porridge mix, you have to find out which set of regulations you

must comply with: which bilaterals, which competition regulations etc.

Can you give us an example?

Rwandair can get access to SA markets directly, as well as through Fifth Freedom rights. For example, they can fly from Kigali to Harare on the third and Fourth Freedom traffic rights agreed between the states of Rwanda and Zimbabwe. But they can also get access to the markets between Zimbabwe and SA using Fifth Freedom rights. And they can do them freely. Airlink is already designated to fly Harare - Cape Town, but now we have a subsidised competitor. We have a similar problem with Namibia in that they would not let us carry passengers from Windhoek to St Helena.

What happened with you and the FlySafair takeover?

That was blocked by the Competition Board. The board’s primary concern was that Airlink has a relationship with SAA and Safair and SAA are competitors. They see Safair as a market disruptor and they don’t want that disruptor to be tamed by the dominant carrier. They saw Airlink as the conduit for SAA to constrain Safair. We denied that, because it was never part of our strategy to bring Safair under the control of

What would the resultant structure have been – who would have owned what?

Had the deal gone ahead, Safair would have been a subsidiary of Airlink and the Safair shareholders would be minority shareholder in Airlink. The reason it didn’t work out is that deals get fatigued. And the fatigue was a result of the delay caused by the Competition’s Commission ruling against the deal. The appeal took too long and the appetite had gone as the parties had moved on.

It says a lot about Safair – that it must have been struggling in that its owners and directors were prepared to give their bouncing young baby away.

I think Safair was still in its early days, with a difficult start due to Comair’s objections. It has done fantastically well since then. We were bitterly disappointed that we were not able to do that deal. The efficiencies of scale would have been great.

Would the Safair brand have disappeared?

I don’t think so. FlySafair is a very good brand. It is well received by the travelling public because they have focused on the right things. Primarily: reliability and on time performance.

They have been the leading OTP performer – except in the last few months where Airlink has pipped them, and that’s by ACSA measurements – not ours. They have endeared themselves to the travelling public by offering a high value proposition and quite frankly run rings around their competitors. We see FlySafair as a good Low Cost Carrier brand and Airlink as niche regional operator. So we would not have abandoned the FlySafair brand.

But it might have given you a good alternative to use if SAA folds? It would have provided a way out.

Yes, I suppose we could have used their booking system to draw inventory through from another system like Amadeus, which is what our plan was.

Could it still happen if you untangle yourself from SAA? That would be the difficult bit. As we well know, SAA has not been in good health and the market forces are dynamic and volatile. The encroachment in the sub-regional markets by Turkish and the Gulf Three has meant that SAA has had its lunch eaten. That is detrimental to us in the long term. And it means that because of the franchise system, we cannot talk directly to Emirates – we have to talk to SAA and then they talk to Emirates.

Yet we need to talk to Emirates because a lot of our customers come in to say the Okavango from the likes of Emirates and Qatar and so on. We need to have access to those customers, otherwise we will lose them to a competitor. We have to shift our thinking, which is what we have been doing for the past two and a half years.

And now we are ready, but we don’t want to move away to the detriment of SAA. I think that the next big war we are going to see in the airline industry is over ownership of airports. We have already seen Kenyan lose its CEO over its failed attempt to take over Jomo Kenyatta Airport. Airports are thoroughly in IATA’s sights for being cosy monopolies that are fleecing passengers. Operating

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SAA. After all, SAA has just a 3.5% shareholding in Airlink, so we didn’t get that rationale, but they persisted.

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e r th o f t bes ear! e Y th All New

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Airlink has already established a good regional operation - as with this service to Vilanculos from OR Tambo.

What happened to Margate?

We used to operate Margate on behalf of the Hibiscus local authority, but when we stopped flying to Margate, we handed it back to the local authority. We did the honourable thing and donated the infrastructure we had built to the municipality. We even provided ground handling to our competitor for a while. And we cancelled the lease and management agreements.

two airports, Phalaborwa and Skukuza, must make you are a little vulnerable in that regard?

Skukuza is in fact owned by SanParks and we are in a public private partnership.

We put in the bid to procure that public private partnership in 2013 and it’s been operational since 2014. Anyone else could

have put in a bid – and others did. Ours was the best so it was chosen.

Skukuza has a limited number of scheduled slots available due to environmental considerations and we are using all of them. However, if an operator wants to provide a non-scheduled service, there are slots available.

How is Phalaborwa doing for you?

My sense is that it is being eclipsed

by Hoedspruit.

Yes it is. CemAir and SAX provided more capacity to Hoedspruit than was probably justified. It has been drawing in the markets that were basically around the catchment of Phalaborwa. So we have trimmed down the Phalaborwa frequencies – from three to one J-41 daily and we are doing double daily to Hoedspruit with a 98 seater EMB-190. 

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Industry Update Report: Owen Heckrath

THERE’S LIFE IN THE OLD GUPPY YET

BOEING PRESSURE BREACH The Boeing 777X was planned to fly for the first time this year with customer deliveries planned for 2021, but this date has already been moved back due to developmental problems with its GE-9X engines. Now, it appears that additional issues may add to the 777X woes and further delay deliveries.

I

N September last year, the 777X was undergoing its pressurisation testing when a failure was experienced during the final test. But according to new information reported by the Seattle Times, this failure may have been worse than it was at first estimated by onlookers. As claimed by the report, what was originally thought to be a blown-out cargo door, was actually a significant fuselage breach.

Images supplied by the Times show a breach in the fuselage just behind the wing. The failure reportedly occurred at 1.48 times the limit load, which is one percent short of FAA certification requirement minimums. A Boeing spokesperson reported that a detailed analysis of the incident had not yet been completed but the company believes it “will not have a significant impact on the aircraft’s design or indeed the preparations for its first flight.”

While Boeing will likely need to reinforce the area affected by the failure, it is considered unlikely that the company will be required to retest the aircraft as long as its analyses show that the problem has been adequately addressed.

NASA acquired its Super Guppies back in 1997. And the last Guppy aircraft still flying recently transported NASA’s Orion spacecraft from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre to Mansfield Lahm Airport (MFD) in Ohio.

T

HE 23 year old aircraft was greeted by a crowd of almost 1,500 people when it arrived at MFD. NASA Super Guppy program manager John Bakalyar commented that, “Orion and the service module will be the heaviest payload ever transported in the Super Guppy. We actually had to make some modifications to the aircraft to accommodate it, but this is exactly the kind of thing for which we like to use the Guppy – it allows us to play a small role in getting Orion to space.”

The Orion spacecraft was headed to NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, for testing. Plum Brook houses facilities such as a space simulation vacuum chamber measuring 100 feet in diameter by 122 feet high and an acoustic test chamber that can simulate the noise of a spacecraft launch up to 163 decibels.

While there, Orion will undergo thermal testing, during which NASA says the spacecraft will be subjected to temperatures ranging from minus 250 to plus 300 degrees Fahrenheit “to replicate flying in-and-out of sunlight and shadow in space.” Electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing will also be conducted.

Once testing is complete, Orion will be returned to Kennedy, no doubt in the Super Guppy again, for integration with the Space Launch System in preparation for the crewless Artemis I Moon mission. 



FlightCom Magazine

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Industry Update G arth C alitz

EMBRAER’S E195-E2 ‘PROFIT HUNTER’ Embraer, the world’s leading manufacturer of sub-150seat commercial aircraft, recently brought their flagship Embraer E195-E2 to Fireblade Aviation as part of its World Demo Tour.

T 39

HE E195-E2 performance targets are similar to its predecessor, the E195, yet it carries greater payload and burns a remarkable 25.4% less fuel. With a

FlightCom Magazine

maximum range of 2,600 nautical miles at full passenger load, 600 nm more than the E195, this is an attractive regional carrier for the emerging intra-African market.

Airlines can configure the cabin in a two-class 120 seat, or a single-class up to 146 seats option. The 31 inch pitch economy seats were surprisingly comfortable with ample leg room, but what really impressed was the significantly reduced noise levels in the cabin. Even on takeoff the PW1900G geared turbofans were quiet enough to allow passengers seated in the rear of the cabin to have a normal conversation.

Together with its siblings, the E190-E2 and the E175-E2, The E195-E2 claims the longest maintenance intervals in the single-

aisle jet category: 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit for typical E-Jet operations. This means an additional 15 days of aircraft utilisation over ten years compared to the current generation E-Jets.

Representatives of all the major airlines in Southern Africa were invited to experience the E195-E2 first-hand on a demonstration flight. As Embraer’s largest African customer, SA Airlink’s Rodger Foster was particularly interested. 

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42

FEATURE

BURGUNDY

JETS Report: Owen Heckrath

A French winemaker has got his priorities absolutely right. Michel Pont, a vintner who lives in the Burgundy region of France, grows grapes for wine and collects jet fighters. In fact, he holds the worldwide record for the largest private collection of fighter jets.

P

ONT, a former racing driver, bought 12 hectares in the heart of French wine country. The property includes a castle built in 1340. The surrounding land originally wasn’t worth much, but after clearing it, Pont set aside four hectares for vine cultivation and two to three hectares for aircraft.

Pont’s collection includes aircraft from the dawn of the jet age, like the Royal Air Force’s Meteor fighter, all the way up to the modern F-16 Fighting Falcon. He has 110 aircraft, mostly fighters but including a handful of military helicopters.

His collection is diverse and chronologically starts with the Gloster Meteor, the U.K.’s first jet fighter and the only Allied jet to serve in combat during World War II. Next oldest might be an F-86 Sabre in Luftwaffe markings, which served West Germany in the 1950s. Next is a whole bunch of fighters from the 60s and 70s, including the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter,

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FlightCom Magazine

English Electric Lightning, the rare F-100 Super Sabre and Mirage III. The collection has some uncommon finds, like the Republic F-105 Thunderchief (AKA Led Sled or Thud), one of the largest fighters ever to serve with the USAF and a workhorse of the Vietnam war. There are also several fighters from the former Soviet Union, including a Sukhoi Su-7 ‘Fitter’ ground attack aircraft and several MiG-21 ‘Fishbed’ fighters which were purchased from former Warsaw Pact countries like Poland and Hungary.

The most modern and difficult to procure fighter in Pont’s inventory is an F-16A Fighting Falcon. According to Pont, he was friends with a Belgian Air Force general and expressed an interest in acquiring a Belgian F-16. Unfortunately the U.S. typically gets quite antsy on how American-made equipment is dispensed, even by its closest allies. And for a long time the answer from the Belgium Air Force was Rows of military Jets on a wine estate.

a sympathetic “No.” Pont eventually got his F-16.

Pont’s collection has received the stamp of approval from the Guinness Book of World Records. Unfortunately, it’s getting harder than ever to amass collections of military equipment like this. Older aircraft, particularly those operated by foreign countries, are easier but more modern U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft are somewhat difficult, if not impossible for private collectors to acquire. For example, although the F/A-18C Hornet no longer flies active duty, concerns about technology transfers and parts making their way onto the international black market mean it’s hard to imagine private collectors ever getting their hands on one.

Pont’s castle at Savigny-lès-Beaune, along with his fighter jet collection, is open every day from 09h00 to 17h30 for wine tasting and jet fighter viewing – A double drool. 

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

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

Adventure Air Lande Milne 012 543 3196 / Cell: 066 4727 848 l.milne@venture-sa.co.za www.ventureglobal.biz

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www.eliteaa.co.za www.hover.co.za Aircraft Finance Corporation Breytech Aviation cc Jaco Pietersen 012 567 3139 Emperor Aviation Indigo Helicopters +27 [0]82 672 2262 Willie Breytenbach Paul Sankey Gerhard Kleynhans jaco@airfincorp.co.za admin@breytech.co.za 082 497 1701 / 011 824 5683 082 927 4031 / 086 528 4234 www.airfincorp.co.za paul@emperoraviation.co.za veroeschka@indigohelicopters.co.za Bundu Aviation www.emperoraviation.co.za www.indigohelicopters.co.za Aircraft Maintenance @ Work Phillip Cronje

Opelo / Frik 083 485 2427 Enstrom/MD Helicopters IndigoSat South Africa - Aircraft Tracking 012 567 3443 info@bunduaviation.co.za Andrew Widdall Gareth Willers frik@aviationatwork.co.za_ www.bunduaviation.co.za 011 397 6260 08600 22 121 opelonke@aviationatwork.co.za aerosa@safomar.co.za sales@indigosat.co.za Celeste Sani Pak & Inflight Products www.safomar.co.za www.indigosat.co.za Aircraft Maintenance International Steve Harris Pine Pienaar 011 452 2456 Era Flug Flight Training Integrated Avionic Solutions 083 305 0605 admin@chemline.co.za Pierre Le Riche Gert van Niekerk gm@aminternational.co.za www.chemline.co.za 021 934 7431 082 831 5032 info@era-flug.com gert@iasafrica.co.za Aircraft Maintenance International Cape Aircraft Interiors www.era-flug.com www.iasafrica.co.za Wonderboom Sarel Schutte Thomas Nel 021 934 9499 Execujet Africa International Flight Clearances 082 444 7996 michael@wcaeromarine.co.za 011 516 2300 Steve Wright admin@aminternational.co.za www.zscai.co.za enquiries@execujet.co.za 076 983 1089 (24 Hrs) www.execujet.com flightops@flyifc.co.za Air Line Pilots’ Association Cape Town Flying Club www.flyifc.co.za Sonia Ferreira Beverley Combrink Federal Air 011 394 5310 021 934 0257 / 082 821 9013 Nick Lloyd-Roberts Investment Aircraft alpagm@iafrica.com info@capetownflyingclub.co.za 011 395 9000 Quinton Warne www.alpa.co.za www.@capetownflyingclub.co.za shuttle@fedair.com 082 806 5193

www.fedair.com aviation@lantic.net Airshift Aircraft Sales Cape Town Flight Training Centre www.investmentaircraft.com Eugene du Plessis Oraya Laemkaew Ferry Flights int.inc.

082 800 3094 021 976 7053/084 440 7922 Michael (Mick) Schittenhelm Jabiru Aircraft eugene@airshift.co.za admin@cape-town-flying.co.za 082 442 6239 Len Alford www.airshift.co.za www.cape-town-flying.co.za ferryflights@ferry-flights.com 044 876 9991 / 044 876 9993

www.ferry-flights.com info@jabiru.co.za Airvan Africa Capital Air www.jabiru.co.za Patrick Hanly Micaella Vinagre Fireblade Aviation 082 565 8864 011 827 0335 010 595 3920 Jim Davis Books airvan@border.co.za micaella@capitalairsa.com info@firebladeaviation.com Jim Davis www.airvan.co.za www.capitalairsa.com www.firebladeaviation.com 072 188 6484

jim@border.co.za Algoa Flying Club Century Avionics cc Flight Training College www.jimdavis.co.za Sharon Mugridge Carin van Zyl Cornell Morton

041 581 3274 011 701 3244 044 876 9055 Joc Air T/A The Propeller Shop info@algoafc.co.za sales@centuryavionics.co.za ftc@flighttrainning.co.za Aiden O’Mahony www.algoafc.co.za www.centuryavionics.co.za www.flighttraining.co.za 011 701 3114

jocprop@iafrica.com Alpha One Aviation Chemetall Flight Training Services Opelo Wayne Claassens Amanda Pearce Kishugu Aviation 082 301 9977 011 914 2500 011 805 9015/6 +27 13 741 6400 on@alphaoneaviation.co.za wayne.claassens@basf.com amanda@fts.co.za comms@kishugu.com www.alphaoneaviation.co.za www.chemetall.com www.fts.co.za www.kishugu.com/kishugu-aviation

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BACKPAGE DIR DIRECT ECTORY ORY 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

Kzn Aviation (Pty) Ltd Melanie Jordaan 031 564 6215 mel@kznaviation.co.za www.kznaviation.co.za

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

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

Skyworx Aviation Kevin Hopper kevin@skyworx.co.za www.skyworxaviation.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

Southern Energy Company (Pty) Ltd Elke Bertram +264 8114 29958 johnnym@sec.com.na www.sec.com.na

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Charters Henry Miles 012 567 3873 charters@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 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

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Skyhorse Aviation Ryan Louw 012 809 3571 info@skyhorse.co.za www.skyhorse.co.za

FlightCom Magazine

SAA Technical (SOC) Ltd SAAT Marketing 011 978 9993 satmarketing@flysaa.com www.flysaa.com/technical SABRE Aircraft Richard Stubbs 083 655 0355 richardstubbs@mweb.co.za www.aircraftafrica.co.za SA Mooney Patrick Hanly 082 565 8864 samooney@border.co.za www.samooney.co.za Savannah Helicopters De Jager 082 444 1138 / 044 873 3288 dejager@savannahhelicopters.co.za www.savannahhelicopters.co.za Scenic Air Christa van Wyk +264 612 492 68 windhoek@scenic-air.com www.scenic-air.com Sheltam Aviation Durban Susan Ryan 083 505 4882 susanryan@sheltam.com www.sheltamaviation.com Sheltam Aviation PE Brendan Booker 082 497 6565 brendanb@sheltam.com www.sheltamaviation.com

Sky-Tech Heinz Van Staden 082 720 5210 sky-tech@telkomsa.net www.sky-tech.za.com Sling Aircraft Kim Bell-Cross 011 948 9898 sales@airplanefactory.co.za www.airplanefactory.co.za

Solenta Aviation (Pty Ltd) Paul Hurst 011 707 4000 info@solenta.com www.solenta.com

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

Status Aviation (Pty) Ltd Richard Donian 074 587 5978 / 086 673 5266 info@statusaviation.co.za www.statusaviation.co.za Superior Pilot Services Liana Jansen van Rensburg 0118050605/2247 info@superiorair.co.za www.superiorair.co.za

The Copter Shop Bill Olmsted 082 454 8555 execheli@iafrica.com www.execheli.wixsite.com/the-coptershop-sa Titan Helicopter Group 044 878 0453 info@titanhelicopters.com www.titanhelicopters.com TPSC Dennis Byrne 011 701 3210 turboprop@wol.co.za Trio Helicopters & Aviation cc CR Botha or FJ Grobbelaar 011 659 1022

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

www.trioavi.co.za

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

United Flight Support Clinton Moodley/Jonathan Wolpe 076 813 7754 / 011 788 0813 ops@unitedflightsupported.com www.unitedflightsupport.com 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 Velocity Aviation Collin Pearson 011 659 2306 / 011 659 2334 collin@velocityaviation.co.za www.velocityaviation.co.za Villa San Giovanni Luca Maiorana 012 111 8888 info@vsg.co.za www.vsg.co.za Vortx Aviation Bredell Roux 072 480 0359 info@vortx.co.za www.vortxaviation.com Wagtail Aviation Johan van Ludwig 082 452 8194 acrochem@mweb.co.za www.wagtail.co.za Wanafly Adrian Barry 082 493 9101 adrian@wanafly.net www.wanafly.co.za Windhoek Flight Training Centre Thinus Dreyer 0026 40 811284 180 pilots@flywftc.com www.flywftc.com Wings n Things Wendy Thatcher 011 701 3209 wendy@wingsnthings.co.za www.wingsnthings.co.za Witbank Flight School Andre De Villiers 083 604 1718 andredv@lantic.net www.waaflyingclub.co.za Wonderboom Airport Peet van Rensburg 012 567 1188/9 peet@wonderboomairport.co.za www.wonderboomairport.co.za

Zandspruit Bush & Aero Estate Martin Den Dunnen 082 449 8895 martin@zandspruit.co.za www.zandspruit.co.za Zebula Golf Estate & SPA Reservations 014 734 7700 reception@zebula.co.za www.zebula.co.za