Following on from our SA Flyer report in April, one of notorious plane salesman Piet van Blerk’s victims was Denise Hellman – a grandmother who bought a new Cirrus SR-22. The South African high court found in favour of Denise Hellman in an action against the aircraft’s financier. The matterRead More →
In this month’s Attitude for Altitude Column, Guy Leitch explores the consequences of the CAA’s latest attempts to raise fees from work that was and should be included in your annual licence fee: I have been writing about the CAA for sixteen years and the more time passes, the lessRead More →
THERE IS VERY GOOD NEWS for aspiring pilots. The pilot shortage is going to reach critical levels in the next few years, driving up pay and working conditions as airlines compete to attract and retain pilots. Facebook forum FlyAfrica has many senior and former pilots. A recent discussion is insightful:Read More →
March 2023 – LOOKING AT THE ADVERTISEMENTS for planes for sale is worrying. It’s not just the usual crop of aircraft from people wanting to trade up. There is a far greater proportion of pilots selling everything: their planes, headsets and hangars. In other words, they are done with flying.Read 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 →
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 →
Jim Davis – What have a missionary with a bucket and a fisherman with a Bonanza, got to do with the future of military drone technology? THIS IS A FASCINATING STORY. It started with me spotting the name Ray Hart in my logbook and thinking; ‘this is a feel-good flyingRead More →
Guy Leitch – Who wudda thought it? According to ICAO, the biggest crisis facing the airline industry today is not the sky-high price of fuel – or the problems of actually getting it to the airports when gas pipelines are being blown up and tankers get caught in storms. AVIATION’SRead More →
Guy Leitch – As the global aviation industry bounces back surprisingly strongly from the Covid calamity, it was inevitable that the system would start breaking under the pressure of lost skills. A LARGE PART OF THE SURPRISE may have been that the crisis first occurred in the lower skilled employeesRead More →