Several African air arms have recently been modernising their transport fleets through acquisitions or reactivating idle fleets. Two visitors to South Africa are indicative of this. Lanseria saw two new notable arrivals in military transport aircraft during August: a Chinese manufactured Shaanxi Y-8F-200 of the Jeshi la Anga la WananchiRead More →
Namibian airline, Westair, made its inaugural flight into Cape Town on Friday 4 October 2019. The airline will be offering 7 flights a week for 4 days a week from Eros Airport in Windhoek, stopping at Oranjemund on the way to Cape Town. Cape Town is the first international destinationRead More →
Most of the time, flying helicopters is pretty mundane. I cruise overhead, busy with a particular project or task and watch people commute to work, from my little cockpit office. You see, helicopter pilots are normal people too, you know! We have jobs, homes and families, gardens, pets and allRead More →
Twenty two thousand flying hours. Think for a moment, of how much in terms of training, exercising, and operational flying it would allow for. Now consider this: That’s how many funded hours have been cut from the South African Air Force’s budget compared to a decade ago. Ten years ago,Read More →
Boeing has created a new safety committee to oversee both design and manufacturing in a move the company said reaffirms its “longstanding commitment to aerospace safety and the safety of its products and services.” Called the Aerospace Safety Committee (ASC), this permanent office will be headed by retired Admiral EdmundRead More →
‘There is no such thing as a stupid question’ is a statement I often make while talking to the public about flying, or when briefing students during a simulator session or an elementary training flight at Lanseria. Well, I lied. There is no shortage of stupid questions – but everythingRead More →
The pleasure – albeit transient – of owning a brand spanking new aircraft has become exponentially more expensive and thus out of the reach of many. The benefit of this for South Africa’s thankfully still deep repository of skills in aviation maintenance is a thriving industry refurbishing old aircraft. ITRead More →
With the increasing worldwide need for airline-focused training to address the looming shortage of pilots, the Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) is gaining popularity. One of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to address this ICAO initiative is via the extensive use of professional, authentic flight simulators. French simulator company AlsimRead More →
Back in 1989, when the small Swiss plane maker Pilatus announced the PC-12 as its single engine King Air competitor, there was much disparaging the idea that senior business execs – with company money to burn on fuel – would trust their lives to a single engine turboprop. Turns outRead More →
