As the airline industry slowly returns to a ‘new normal’, Johannesburg based carrier CemAir is thriving. The airline is pushing ahead, into the gaps in the market left by the departure of competitors such as SA Express and Mango, and the slow restart of SAA. CemAir CFO Dr Laura vanRead More →
Recreational pilots may be forgiven for sometimes thinking that airline pilots have a boring job, flying the same routes, day in and day out, to strict procedures, while maximising fuel efficiency to keep the bean-counters happy. HOWEVER, EVEN WITH AIRLINE FLYING, there are opportunities for pilots to have a bitRead More →
A RECENT SPATE OF SPECTACULAR JET engine failures reminds us that the development of aircraft has not been so much about aerodynamic advances, but rather, it has been driven by engine development. And the biggest and most fascinating battle amongst the airline manufacturers is not between Airbus and Boeing, butRead More →
Aug’21 – SOUTH AFRICA IS THE MOST AMAZING LAND OF CONTRASTS. There are the obvious terrible contrasts: specifically that we have the highest Gini coefficient of inequality in the world. The ANC government has failed dismally to uplift the poor, so the old African truism; “The rich get richer, whileRead More →
The most anticipated version of the phenomenally successful Sling series is the Sling High Wing. The High Wing – or just Sling HW – was first proposed as a high wing version of the Sling 2 at the same time as founder Mike Blyth started work on the original SlingRead More →
https://www.capetalk.co.za/podcasts/144/afternoon-drive-with-john-maytham/533882/saa-pilots-reach-deal https://omny.fm/shows/the-john-maytham-show/saa-pilots-reach-dealRead More →
As a general aviation magazine SAA arguably gets more than its fair share of attention in our reports. But the hard truth is that this airline has cost the South African taxpayer around R50 billion in the past 20 years. Hundreds of billions may be wasted by corrupt local authoritiesRead More →
One of the more spectacular crashes was that of Helios Airways Flight 522 Boeing 737 which flew on with a dead cockpit crew until it crashed into a Greek mountainside. The root problem was a breakdown in communication in the cockpit. THE HELIOS 522 CRASH is a good example ofRead More →
The free market is a wonderful thing. It prices in all the joys and the pains of aircraft ownership. You can buy a hassle free but fundamentally unchallenging Cherokee 6 or Cessna 206 – or for much the same money – you can have a real blast – fly aRead More →
One of the unexpected pleasures is having a fondly cherished idea booted into touch. For me one such notion was that hydrogen powered planes are not practical. Hydrogen has always just seemed like a bad idea – think of the Hindenburg disaster – and for a hundred other reasons. ONERead More →
