Morne Booij-Liewes We start this month with a new Air Tractor AT-502B, ZS-XKB. The manufacturer describes this model as “the world’s most popular ag plane with over 1000 of these aircraft having been manufactured since 1987. Several of these are already in service in South Africa in agricultural, firefighting andRead More →

I reckon plane vs car races are usually pointless stunts. Airshow acts have a car racing up and down the runway burning rubber throwing U-turns while a plane roars overhead and does stall turns at the ends of the runway. Like professional wrestling, the winner is chosen beforehand. This doesn’tRead More →

SA Flyer columnist John Bassi is one of the last of the one-man businesses to successfully operate a Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter. He uses his helicopter ZS-HFD, in an incredible variety of roles and has published a book called ‘Pilot in the Wild’ describing his helicopter experiences. Apart from theRead More →

Bonanza Wheels-up While Training This discussion is to promote safety and not to establish liability. CAA’s report contains padding and repetition, so in the interest of clarity, I have paraphrased extensively. Date and time                                 20 January 2017 at about 1447Z Aircraft registration                       ZS-JBE  Aircraft model                                 Beechcraft BonanzaRead More →