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 →
Speed and small sexy bodies may be cute for supercars – but they can be a lethal cocktail for inexperienced pilots. Beech had this problem with the V-tail Bonanza, Piper with its Malibu and Cirrus with the SR-22. The good es is that in time, all these problems were solved.NonRead 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 →
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 →
Tecnam has introduced the new P2012 STOL dedicated to Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) operations. TECNAM SAYS THE P2012 STOL is the only twin piston with STOL capabilities compliant to the latest certification amendments. It offers a 3680 kg / 8113 lb Maximum Gross Weight, while guaranteeing a modernRead More →
RAY WATTS – September 2022 This month, although not quite as exciting as last month, nevertheless contains a few delicious items. FIRST OF ALL, there is an Embraer 145 added to the register which was seen operating in Russia with her South African registration, ZS-ABB, applied in the last month.Read More →
(TEXT- Guy Leitch, IMAGES – Garth Calitz and Andre Venter) A WONDERFUL LITTLE PLANE! The humble Ercoupe must be one of the most under-rated planes ever. The reason ‘real pilots’ love to heap scorn at it is because it was designed to be as easy to fly as driving aRead More →
Redundancy ends with the pilot Peter Garrison – Although SS1 was a novel design with an untried type of motor and was venturing into inhospitable territory last visited by the X-15 almost 50 years earlier, the privately funded programme progressed with speed and smoothness that were a credit to RutanRead More →
Ray Watts – August 2022. There are some exciting additions to the register this month. AIRLINK HAS REGISTERED two Embraer 195s ZS-YDA & YDB. These aircraft are only three years old and come from Denmark. These two have the advantage over Airlinks 190s in that they have 32 more seatsRead More →