Born in the Lowveld of South Africa, Julian apparently started his love of aircraft before he could walk. If he was not talking about aircraft, he was either building them or drawing them. During his compulsory military training, while training on gliders, he helped start the Defense Force Gliding Club at Tempe, Bloemfontain. He moved to Durban and worked in numerous fields of Finance, Real Estate and Construction.
Shortly after the birth of his son, he attained his Private Pilots License.
After moving to in Port Elizabeth, he attained his twin rating.
Julian has written numerous articles for SAflyer and FlightCom magazine since 2012, also while doing reporting on flying events and aircraft.
Presently he is a director in a Metal Recycling and Demolition company, and writes articles and posts for SAFlyer and FlightCom magazines on FaceBook and their Web pages.
January 2023 – RAY WATTS The amendments for January 2023 are exciting for our airline industry. FLYSAFAIR HAS REGISTERED two Boeing 737-800s this month. One Airbus A320 has been returned to SAA from storage in Ljubljana and another Boeing 737-800 is coming back onto the register. This one is strangeRead More →
GERHARD VAN EEDEN – THE OWNER OF MADIBA BAY SCHOOL OF FLIGHT IN PORT ELIZABETH. “It’s not going to last. You know that, right?” “Yes, well I guess we’ll see.” That was how conversations went when I arrived in Port Elizabeth with our first Sling in December of 2012. WELL,Read More →
RAY WATTS – NOVEMBER/DECEMBER COMPLIMATION NOVEMBER 2022 – This month’s amendments show a whole variety of aircraft movements. ON THE TCA SIDE there are seven new registrations – four fixed wing, two helicopters and a glider. Very interesting is the Airbus A340-600 ZS-MFC. This one is twenty years old andRead More →
THE FAA HAS PUBLISHED draft rules for all new makes and models offering point-to-point air taxi services outside the traditional aeronautical ecosystem. This has been a daunting regulatory challenge for the administration, adding entirely new types of traditional fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. This change will only be the first bitRead More →
PETER GARRISON – I once wrote an article about a high-time Bonanza pilot who tried to return to the runway after a loss of power after takeoff. As too commonly happens in such cases, he stalled and crashed. MUCH OF MY DISCUSSION centred on a paper about “turnbacks,” as theseRead More →
Guy Leitch – It has been a surprisingly full year in aviation. Both in the humble corridors of general aviation and at the airline industry level. General Aviation’s Winners and Losers. Big winners have been general aviation aircraft owners. One of the surprises for me has been the huge increaseRead More →
DECEMBER 2022 – GUY LEITCH ADVERTISING REVENUES ARE THE LIFEBLOOD. Publications such as this and post-Covid, have been slow to recover. This has accelerated the natural move away from print and into the digital-only space. There have been unexpected benefits – most notably the circulation of SA Flyer has increasedRead More →
Hugh Pryor – Part One. Some of my friends say that I am a slow reader and a late developer. Maybe they are right, but I find that when I read something, I tend to remember it better than some of the high-speed readers of my acquaintance do, and when,Read More →
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT On 29 Nov 2018, Cessna U206D, ZS-DIV, operating as a VFR private flight from Nelspruit to Wonderboom crashed at 1503Z. No flight plan was filed. Aircraft registration: ZS-DIV Date and time of accident: 29 November 2018, 1503Z Type of aircraft: Cessna U206D Type of operation: Private (PartRead More →
Christo Erasmus – A PERSONAL HISTORY In 1949 an Ercoupe, the 415-E model, with the serial number 4975 was born. I’m not exactly sure how she got into South Africa, but she started her life as ZS-BSJ as early as 1950. As with all Ercoupes of the time, she hadRead More →
