African Aerospace and Defence Expo (AAD) Guy Leitch finds out from AAD Exhibition Director, Ms Nakedi Phasha, how the buildup to this year’s biennial expo is going, and what visitors and exhibitors can expect. The 12th AAD trade exhibition and air show adopts the theme ‘Exploring New Paths, Sharing Solutions,Read More →
Prognostications Chris Martinus – President: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association – South Africa As the world trundles precipitously into 2024, fraught with wars and political and economic upheaval, it is a good time to reflect on past chaos and plot the course for general aviation in these seemingly apocalyptic times.Read More →
The SAA Takatso sale – is it still on? Guy Leitch In May 2021 the South African government announced that it had selected a preferred private sector ‘strategic equity partner’ to acquire a majority state in the then moribund state-owned South African Airways. That partner is the Takatso Consortium. TheRead More →
Guy Leitch How the FAA is Fixing Recreational Flying We often forget that South Africa still has some world class institutions that make our country a much better place than that supposed paragon of excellence – the USA. The American banking system is archaic compared to South Africa and ourRead More →
About seventeen years the airline industry is expected to produce a 17% saving in fuel burn from step-change improvements in engine and, to a lesser extent, airframe technology. Our current crop of super-efficient engines is the product of steady evolutionary development. This happened around 2010 with the advent of theRead More →
The future is here Text and detail images by by Guy Leitch The star at this year’s Aero Expo South Africa, held at Wonderboom, was the Diamond DA-62. The demo aircraft was flown out to South Africa especially for the event – showing the easy capability of this latest generationRead More →
Guy Leitch asks the question in his Attitude for Altitude column. For years I have moaned about how crappy piston aircraft engines are. They are prohibitively expensive, yet have antiquated technology and are far less efficient and reliable than modern car engines. The modern car now has mature technology engineRead More →
Is it as bad as they claim?Darren Olivier – Defence Editor Reflections on Inkwazi Inkwazi, the South African Air Force’s Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) used for VIP transport, has been reliably racking up the flying hours this year. In just the past two weeks before writing this column it flewRead More →
In 2016 musician, Michael Ferguson and commercial Pilot Felix Gosher joined forces to offer underprivileged children the opportunity to experience the joys of flight, a privilege that many of us take for granted. The initiative was inspired by a song by Michael, ‘Paper Plane’ about a young boy with aRead More →
The piston twin is making a comeback. In the 1980s, under the pressures of high maintenance and high Avgas prices, the demand for piston twins collapsed in the face of Cessna Caravan and Pilatus PC-12 turbines. But now, the value proposition of a 40-year old piston twin is once againRead More →
