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 →
George Tonkin – Regular readers of the magazine would have noticed a new “Heli Ops” column. In that first column, I introduced myself as the , “The Silver Fox.” I NEVER IMAGINED MYSELF as a writer and most definitely did not dream of a regular monthly column. But anyone whoRead More →
George Tonkin – “Never has so much been owed to so few by so many” – Winston Churchill speaking of the Allied airmens’ gallant efforts shortly after the Battle of Britain. ON THE EVE OF THE GREATEST air battle in history, all seemed desperate and lost in Britain with aRead More →
John Bassi – That big rock has different meanings to different people. To a Capetonian driver or pedestrian it’s an old familiar, unthreatening friend, always there, solid, and it makes Cape Town…Cape Town. Hikers get to know nooks and crannies and appreciate the grandeur, they get to understand the dangersRead More →
ULTIMAX AVIATION is a Cape Town based Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO), renowned for its top-level experience in helicopter maintenance. Founded and led by Aristide (Aris) Loumouamo in 2016, the company specialises in the maintenance of Airbus medium and heavy helicopters. These range from the AS350/H125 Squirrel to the recently importedRead More →
Some helicopters are more memorable than others. For instance, the Hughes 500 has an acute feeling of claustrophobia in its cosy cockpit, while a Squirrel almost always has a way of humbling even an experienced pilot with a wiggle of its skids on landing. THIS MONTH’S ARTICLE is about aRead More →
George Tonking – “Money lost – nothing lost; health lost – little lost; spirit lost – everything lost.” – Igor Sikorsky The key to a long career in any chosen profession is to never fall out of love with the work you do. Because, as the quote attributed to theRead More →
Since the beginning of powered flight, pilots have had one unifying dread – a dead stick landing. I’VE READ MANY ACCOUNTS of the perilous early days of United States airmail flying in the 1920s like how Charles Lindbergh would have to land his de Havilland DH-4 on a short stretchRead More →
American fighter pilot Col. Robin Olds stood by the mantra “preparedness wins the battle.” He should have known, becoming a triple ace in the Vietnam sky while flying 152 missions in Southeast Asia in an F-4 Phantom jet, a pig of a dog-fighter. IN THE GUN-TOTING MIG-INFESTED North, he sharpenedRead More →
When I first signed up to be a pilot, I dreamed of flying to exotic place where I might alight in jungle clearings or land on deserted, silvery shores. HOWEVER REALITY SOON KICKED IN, and I found myself shuttling clients to work, tracking stolen vehicles and chasing crooks in theRead More →