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Remember that , when flying low and inverted, the rudder still works the same old way, but hopefully your instructor pilot never taught you "pull stick back, plane go up".
African Pilot now ABC rated
Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa
This is the official logo of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa which is also recognised internationally. The ABC is the only officially recognised method whereby advertisers can be assured of credible circulation figures because the claimed circulation figures are independently audited. Advertisers would be wise to consider the advantages of being seen in publications that provide credible circulation statistics. For further information on advertising in African Pilot, please contact Andre at: marketing@africanpilot.co.za
EAA Airshow, Wonderboom, Tshwane - Pete van der Spek
The spirit of EAA is alive and flying. After a bit of a fiasco last year, the EAA committee, under the chairmanship of Terry Hertz, pulled out all the stops and brought us an airshow with mainly basic flying as its theme.
Organisation was first class and the media were treated well, thanks mainly to Shaun Melass who handled the media with ease. For more than a year, we have had a few basic requests such as photographic positions on the north side of the runway for airports like Wonderboom where the sun is against you for most of the day. I am happy to say that the EAA committee listened to those requests and went out of their way to help us. A big thank you from all members of the media!
As for the flying displays, the only non-propeller aircraft were the SAAF Museum Vampire, the civilian Impala, Sasol Tigers and a SAA 737-800 decked out in Star Alliance colours. The rest of the displays were propeller driven, which made me very happy. Isn't that what the EAA is all about - homebuilt, re-builds and kit built aircraft with props? Some beautiful specimens were present such as Karl Jensen's Cessna 170 and Des Nel's SAAB Safir. Then there were the RV's and Monster Pitts and a host of other aircraft, all beautifully prepared and statically displayed. Unlike last year, these aircraft were displayed right in front of the terminal building where the visitors could have a good look at them and perhaps make them want to get involved in rebuilding an aircraft. That's what the EAA is all about. It's the fellowship of aviators and encouraging and helping one another to realize a dream.
The flying displays were perhaps not as good as we have come to expect though (in my humble opinion) and the number of aircraft in the teams was down on last year. There seems to be a shortage of display pilots or is it my imagination? Perhaps this show reflected the early days of the airshow season. The pantomime that was organized by Karl Jensen was a very interesting inclusion in the programme and the consensus amongst the photographic journalists was that it made things a bit more interesting for the spectators. Having said all this about the propeller aircraft, perhaps the most awesome display was the SAA 737-800. However, that was because I got to witness the display from a position at the end of the display line, directly in line with the aircraft flying straight (and low) towards us. The aircraft was manoeuvred around the sky with skill by none other than Scully Levin. Hats off to the pilots!
There were a number of kit build companies displaying their aircraft at the airshow; their numbers seem to be growing monthly. What they offer are aircraft for the masses almost, making flying affordable to many more flying enthusiasts. Most of the models displayed were of composite construction and were beautifully finished. Again, the EAA and local fly-ins have presented great venues for the introduction of smaller light aircraft.
Well done EAA - we will be back next year.
African Pilot comments - Athol Franz
Generally speaking I concur with Pete's comments as I felt there was a marked improvement in the organisation and presentation of this year's EAA Airshow. This reflected in our magazine and paraphernalia sales, which were excellent. The introduction of several new airshow 'acts' was rather refreshing and certainly kept the spectators interested. Brian Zeederberg flew his Bucker Jungman in a 'Snoopy and the dog kennel' act that brought lots of laughter to the crowds. Speaking of crowds, EAA has not given the final gate figures to us yet, but I felt that the crowd was significantly larger than in 2005, especially on Saturday. In addition, the airfield appeared to have more visiting aircraft in every category. There was absolutely no doubt that the SAA Boeing 737-800 Star Alliance display was one of the favorites. To see a major airliner this close up in a brilliant flying display is something that appears to be almost unique to South African - congratulations to South African Airways, the crew, and Scully Levin in particular. Another excellent feature was the introduction of other sections of the Aero Club in the form of paragliders, microlights, parachutists and gyrocopters on the programme.
Unfortunately the programme appeared to stall several times with long dead spots between some displays. Although Brian Emmenis and Karl Jensen did their best to keep the entertainment rolling, this becomes rather difficult when the sky is empty and quiet. Other problems were the theft of two laptop computers from display stands as well as other personal possessions. It appears that, in each case, the exhibitors were distracted by someone asking lots of unrelated questions, whilst the accomplice(s) carried out their dirty deeds. Although there was a large security presence, I question why the many police personnel were not suitably trained for the job of enforcing the 'NO SMOKING' rule amongst parked aircraft. The problem is not so much the danger of setting fire to aircraft fuel, but that of dropping a 'stompie' in the dry cut grass. In addition, aircraft that have been filled to the brim often vent fuel as the day heats up, adding to the danger of a run away fire. EAA South Africa appears to be thriving under the leadership of Terry Hertz, who together with his committee, has brought many young persons into aviation as was clearly evidenced by the excellent marshalling on the airfield.
EAA could not have had better weather on the two days, even though the weatherman predicted the possibility of light rain on Sunday - Wonderboom had two very hot, summer-like days. EAA and Wonderboom are to be commended on the overall cleanliness of the airfield due to the strategic placing of litter bins that were regularly emptied. In addition, municipal workers were on hand to ensure that trash that was carelessly dropped by spectators was picked up and removed. The meals and refreshments that were provided to members of the media in the VIP marquee were delicious - thank you for your hospitality EAA.
Oracle prize - two tickets to Oshkosh 2006
Kevin Jones and his wife, Wendy, won the valuable Oracle prize worth R36K for a trip with Neil Bowden's Air Adventure Tours to EAA Oshkosh in July this year. Three finalists were notified of the draw that took place at EAA Wonderboom on Saturday afternoon. Kevin, a pilot who flies single engine, four seat types, flew up especially from Durban in order to be present at the draw. Second and third prizes went to Andrew Hite and Paul Morton who were awarded beautifully framed pictures of Sean D. Tucker's Oracle Challenger amongst other items. African Pilot would like to thank Oracle for sponsoring the partnership promotion that proved to be so successful this year. Kevin and Wendy will enjoy this trip together with more than 70 South African visitors who will be camping on the Oshkosh Airfield. For those persons who have not yet made up your minds to travel to Oshkosh, you are almost too late, because you will require a USA visa, which can take some time to obtain. My suggestion is that you make a decision before it is too late: the basic cost is R14 450 including airfares, taxes, transfers camping fees etc. You have not lived as an aviator if you have not visited EAA Oshkosh at least once in your lifetime. Contact Neil at Cell: 084 674 5674 or E-mail: neil1@telkomsa.net Website: www.airadventure.co.za
Bultfontein fly-in: Saturday 13 May
The organisers have extended an invitation to all pilots and their friends to fly in to Bultfontein in the Free State. Unfortunately African Pilot will not be attending this event due to our commitment to the Cirrus fly-in to Rustenburg on the same day.
Contact: Piet Vermaak 082 571 3422 E-mail: avermaak@absamail.co.za
SASOL Rand Airport Airshow - Sunday 14 May
The Sasol Rand Airport Airshow in Germiston on SUNDAY 14 May is set to be unique with the inaugural 'Acro Racing' air racing, major participation by the South African Air Force and the cream of South Africa's aerobatic and skydiving teams confirmed.
The 'Jozi Airshow', hosted by Rand Airport together with Sasol, is lining up loads of side-attractions, including a post event, karaoke party at Sky Raider's function centre and providing family-priced entry, at R30 for adults and R20 for children for the full day's activities.
Conceived by a group of South Africa's top aerobatic pilots, and similar to the internationally renowned Red Bull air races, Acro Racing features up to nine pilots flying around a course of five 12 metre high inflatable pylons, sponsored by the Control Instruments Group, Henley Air, Academy Brushware and Air Show South Africa (ASSA).
The Zlin 50, Pitts Special and Extra 300 aces will have to perform aerobatic manoeuvres at each turning point; the pilot completing the course in the shortest time will be declared the winner. Henley Air will also sponsor a similar show featuring helicopters, called 'Helo-Racing', at the Sasol Rand Airport Airshow.
A major incentive to attend, this the second 2006 event in ASSA's 'Sasol WesBank Airtainment Tour', will be to witness the thrill and spectacle of the SAAF Cheetah fighter, Silver Falcons' display team, Golden Eagles' parachutists and the mighty Oryx helicopter. The SA Police Service Air Wing task force is sure to add spice when they do a mock hostage / hijack rescue demonstration.
The Sunday spectacular, commencing at 10h30, boasts no fewer than 28 aerobatic and novelty attractions such as the Truck-Top landing by Scully Levin, a race between Brad Bennett's Mazda Zoom-Zoom and a Mazda RX8, inverted ribbon cutting, microlights, and the 'Reach for a Dream' 'bombing'. The three Sasol Tiger L29 jets will be flying the Sasol flag in the air and the WesBank Sasol delight skydivers. On the ground the Sasol Playground, Sasol racing and rally car display and Sasol delight mobile shops will add to the value of a true family outing.
Besides the Tigers, regular airshow performers will all work towards providing non-stop 'Airtainment' for the public: the Flying Lions Harvards, Mark Beckley's 'Huffing-Puffin' Boeing Stearman, Albatrosses, Pierre Gouws' L39 jet , Control Instrument Pitts, Mazda Zlin 50s, Chipmunks, Ravin, Harvard Sukhoi combination and the incredible Glen Dell Red Bull Extra 300 extreme show. For more information and ticket sales for the Sasol Rand Airport 'Jozi' Airshow contact Rand Airport on (011) 827 8884 or visit www.sasolracing.co.za.
For media accreditation for the airshow, please contact Anton Kruger at (011) 827 8884.
E-mail: anton@randairport.co.za
Changes within ASSA administration
With immediate effect, the details for the ASSA office/admin have changed. As advised at the AGM in March, the workload has increased tremendously and there is a need for additional assistance regarding the daily admin.
Kerrilee (Lee) Holmes has been kind enough to take over most of the day-to-day admin - E-mail, telephone etc listed below. We wish her well with this task. Many of you will already know Lee as she has a fixed-wing licence and previously worked at Rand Airport. She is now based at the offices of Wise Media in Randburg.
Anne Pickard will still be on the Board as Secretary and will continue to attend to the daily financial issues.
ASSA information: Telephone: (011) 326 1550 Fax: (011) 326 1552
E-mail:airshowsa@icon.co.za Lee E-mail: leeholmes@icon.co.za
Brian Emmenis & Capital Sounds
Shamefully, some person started another thread on AVCOM with the intent of discrediting Brian Emmenis again. Fortunately many people came to Brian's rescue with positive remarks, which clearly he deserves. Brian is an enthusiastic, professional broadcaster who also undertakes many other assignments outside of aviation. In addition, we have always found Brian to be courteous and friendly with a wealth of aviation information. I have travelled extensively to airshows in other parts of the world and, quite frankly, have not yet met or heard any commentator who manages to entertain spectators to the same level of sheer excitement as Brian does regularly. However, if anyone feels they can do the job better than Brian, I am sure that he will not have a personal issue with credible competition.
Rand Airport Safety Forum: Language assessment programme
Over the past 18 months, the Rand Airport Safety Forum has been meeting on a monthly basis to discuss specific matters pertaining to flight safety at Rand Airport. The meeting comprises representatives of all the actively involved flight schools at Rand Airport, the Chief ATC, the Airport Manager and a CAA Flight Safety delegate. Numerous relevant safety issues have been addressed and resolved over the period, and a smaller working committee has undertaken an exciting new safety challenge.
Since the advent of the new South Africa and the subsequent African Renaissance ambit, South Africa has become a haven for foreign student flight training. The aftermath of September 11, 2001 furthermore made for a flourishing local training industry with the USA being apprehensive about foreign students. Rand Airport has been no exception and numerous schools have attracted a vast number of foreign students, notably from the rest of Africa and the Middle East. It quickly became apparent that the language issue was of a far greater safety concern than the pilots' actual flying skills and a number of Radio Telephony (RT) related safety incidents were lodged with Rand's ATC.
It was decided by the forum that an investigation into resolving the problem be addressed by a smaller working committee. A specialist language company, Language Worx was approached and immediately expressed interest in the project. Ricardo Afonso, Chief ATC at Rand Airport, André Coetzee of Henley Air and Ms. Ava Venter of Language Worx drafted an initial document that addressed pertinent, basic linguistic phraseology, along with simple flying related diagrams and theory. From the outset it was noted that the individual student's language, rather than aviation skills, had to be assessed. Based on the individual's performance, a formal recommendation is made when weighted against a three tier matrix, ranging from immediate further English classes to a clean bill of health should the outcome be favourable.
The intention of the assessment is by no means to scare off precious, prospective students, but rather to encourage better RT at all South African (and African) airports. Furthermore, it can be argued that certain Afrikaans and even English speaking students can benefit from this project by enhancing their command of the English language, whether in spoken, written or comprehension form.
The final document has been approved and accepted by the CAA and is presented under a CAA Part 141 curriculum of one of the flight schools. The entire assessment process is conducted by Language Worx and a formal report is generated for every student. The cost per student is R650 (exc. VAT) and takes approximately two hours to complete on a one-to-one basis.
Please contact Anne Pickard at (011) 827 5503 or annep@henleyair.co.za for further information.
Media releases from the SA CAA
5 May - Cessna 172 Crash in the Madikwe area
A Cessna 172 aircraft (Lanseria Flight Centre) left Lanseria Airport on Thursday 4 May 2006, around 10:10am and was reported missing on the same day. A Search and Rescue team was instituted on Thursday afternoon but the aircraft was only found on Friday morning in the Madikwe area. One person was on board and was reported 'fatal' by the Search and Rescue team. The SACAA is sending out two investigators to the site to conduct the necessary investigation.
28 April - missing Cessna Caravan
On Friday 28 April, the SACAA reported a missing CESSNA CARAVAN aircraft. At the time the aircraft was believed to have left Goma aerodrome on Friday 28 April 2006 and was headed towards Bunia aerodrome.
According to the Convention on International Civil Aviation 1944, the 'State of Registry' (RSA) is entitled to participation status from the 'State of Occurrence' (Uganda). A letter was sent to request participation status and, due to the internal procedures relating to accident investigations in Uganda, our request has not yet been granted. The investigators will leave for Uganda once the request is granted.
The SACAA has received information from its Ugandan counterparts to the effect that at 8:45am on Sunday 30 April 2006 a Cessna Caravan was identified on the Ugandan side of the border area between Uganda and the DRC. No survivors were visible. Unsuccessful attempts were made on 01 and 02 May 2006 to climb the mountain in an effort to reach the accident site and 03 May 2006 the attempt to reach the accident site was said to be going well. However, by 22h00 on the same day there were no reports from the climbing team. The report also stated that the missing aircraft was flying under a UN banner with three occupants. As per our latest reports, the occupants of the aircraft have not yet been accounted for.
On 5 May 2006 the SACAA received additional information to the effect that the search team came closer to the scene the previous day but, due to the ridges around the scene, it became impossible to reach the scene. They turned back and helicopters will be used in an attempt to get the rescuers on top of the mountain.
26 April - Convair 580 plane crash in Amnisi, DRC
The following is the update on the plane crash that took place on Wednesday 26 April 2006.
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) reported that 4 crew members, of which two were South Africans, crashed upon landing at Amisi aerodrome on the 26 April 2006. The aircraft took off from Goma aerodrome (DRC) to Amisi aerodrome where the accident occurred on the runway on landing, caught fire and all occupants were confirmed dead on site.
According to ICAO Annex 13, the 'State of Registry' is entitled to participation status from the 'State of Occurrence'. A letter was sent to request participation status and this was granted.
Two investigators from the SACAA left for the DRC around 8am on the 3 May 2006 and arrived just after midday the same day. New information received by the SACAA from the DRC aviation authorities is that four crewmembers and six passengers were fatally injured. The SACAA will publish an update when it is available
Contact: Phindiwe Gwebu - SACAA Spokesperson
Tel. (011) 545 1086 Cell: 083 635 0069 E-mail: gwebup@caa.co.za
Learn 2 Fly Academy at FALA
African Pilot was privileged to be invited to the presentation of several historically disadvantaged students to Learn 2 Fly Academy on Friday last week by Dr. Johan de Beer representing the South African Transport Education Training Authority - Aerospace Chamber. This particular TETA currently has 47 pilots training for careers in both helicopter and fixed-wing training school environments, which is more than any other aviation institution.
Having undertaken considerable research, Dr. de Beer stressed that he believed that the Learn 2 Fly Academy was one of the finest training environments anywhere in South Africa. Students were advised that if they had not gone solo after 30 hours they would have to be 'washed' from the programme because it costs R200K to train a fixed-wing pilot to a commercial level and R500K for a helicopter pilot to the same level. He also talked about the two 'pains of life' - one was the pain of success weighing only a few grams, whereas the pain of failure weighs several tons. The issue of 'self discipline' and 'passion' were addressed when welcoming the new students to the flying school based at Lanseria.
Information requested
I am trying to get hold of 2 pilots I had contact with 20 odd years ago, and was hoping you might be able to help. Both have flown for South African airlines, and are:
Paulo Mussolini (?) - not exactly sure of the spelling, and Allan Bernhard.
If you have any way of contacting them, could you please let me know?
Thanks,
Eric Fors E-mail: e.fors@nolanassociates.co.uk
Aviation humour
A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. As a man approached, she extended her hand for the ticket and he opened his trench coat and flashed at her. Without missing a beat....she said, "Sir, I need to see your ticket not your stub." | 