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 and geo-survey applications.
Also registered this month is an Air Tractor AT-504 which is a two-seat variant of the afore-mentioned AT-502B. The cockpit’s side-by-side seating configuration is ideal for training new ag pilots but is still able to fully operate as an aerial application platform.
A 1984 year of manufacture King Air C90A ZS-KXP (LJ-1069) has been registered in South Africa having previously operated in Madagascar as 5R-AGB.
A Cessna 172K, ZS-TMH closes the type-certified fixed wing register additions for August.
Helicopters
August has been a good month for helicopters, with five added to the register. Two turbine-powered Robinson R66s have been imported along with a single Robinson R44 Raven II. The other two additions are a single Bell 407 and Airbus Helicopters H125 – the two most popular turbine powered helicopter types in the South African market..
Non Type Certified
Turning to the NTCA types, we also see five new additions, including a single helicopter. One each of the Sling TSI, Savannah S and Bathawk Rs have been added. The popularity of these trio of locally-manufactured aircraft is evident with at least one of these types regularly featuring in these monthly updates.
A single Westland Helicopters manufactured Gazelle AH Mk.1 helicopter joins the large number of these helicopters already owned and operated in South Africa. In February 1967 an agreement between French manufacturer Aerospatiale and Westland allowed the production in Britain of 262 Gazelle helicopters ordered by the British Armed Forces. The AH-1 entered service with the Army in 1974 for observation and transport applications. This particular Gazelle was built in 1976 and carried the serial XX453. It had previously seen service with the Qinetiq Rotary Wing Test & Evaluation Squadron based at Boscombe Down. It was withdrawn from active duty in December 2018 and placed in storage at Fleetlands before its sale to a private owner in November 2022 and registered G-CMMF.
The last addition is a Cessna “Push-Pull” model 337, ZU-NVG (FTB3370024). This aircraft was previously registered EC-MYM and painted in period USAF livery by its owner. It is unclear who the new owner is or what its use will be, but hopefully we see it around the airshow circuit if it retains its USAF livery.
Deletions
Closing this month’s “fives” are five deletions.
The SAA A340-600 ZS-SNG (557) mentioned in last month’s column has now been cancelled from the register as exported to Germany. Another departure is the ATR 72-600 ZS-LIZ (1674). This plane departed JNB with a new Gabonese registration TR-LJZ applied and is the first plane for the newly-launched Gabonese national carrier FlyGabon that began scheduled flights in September. The airline also plans to add an Airbus A320 before year end that will be deployed on international routes including a service linking Libreville with Johannesburg.
Other cancellations include a Diamond Aircraft DA-20 Katana exported to Germany and a Bell Longranger exported to Mozambique. A Pitts Special S-2A ZU-BIL also departs our shores to its new home in Australia. This 1974 built Pitts Special was imported to South Africa as ZS-MIK in 1989 and then moved to the NTCA register in 1997.
Looking ahead
As always I close off this review by looking ahead at what aircraft have been delivered, but not recorded in the SACAA updates as yet, or that have seemingly missed in the updates supplied to SA Flyer every month.
Qatar Airways’ acquisition of a 25% stake in Airlink was one of the major news events in the local aviation. This announcement followed months of speculation as to which southern African airline Qatar Airways would invest in.
They chose wisely in partnering with Airlink as the carrier has shown continued strong growth under competent management and we are sure to see even stronger growth and perhaps the introduction of larger single aisle aircraft types in the coming months.
Meanwhile Airlink has taken delivery of another two Embraer Regional Jets that will soon feature in this column. Embraer 175 G-CLVK (17000343) arrived at OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) on 24 August. A few days later, on 3 September, Embraer 190 N421NA (19000041) landed at JNB having ferried from Marana in the USA via Goose Bay, Reykjavik, Casablanca and Accra.
Meanwhile SAA is expected to return to service another elderly Airbus A340-313 ZS-SXD (643). The plane made an hour long test flight from JNB on 9 August still painted in the original special livery promoting the country’s participation in the 2012 Olympic Games hosted in London.
The carrier’s first winglet-equipped Airbus A320, ZS-SZF operated its first revenue flight between OR Tambo Airport and King Shaka Airport in Durban on 3 September. The jet has been painted in a Star Alliance livery that will please the local spotters.
Pilatus PC-24, ZS-NID (535) arrived on delivery to South Africa on 5 September. The jet routed from Buochs on 30 August routing via Budapest, Hurghada, Djibouti and Kigali before landing at Lanseria International Airport.
A geosurvey configured Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, ZS-CXD, was ferried to Perth from South Africa between 12 and 20 August. This epic ferry taking 70 flying hours was done with 12 stops via East Africa, the Middle East, India and Indonesia. It is expected the plane will again revert to its Australian registry.
Finally, a Beechcraft 400A Beechjet, ZS-MJD (RK-18), was seen at Wonderboom during August being parted out. This 1991 model jet was registered in South Africa in December 2014 but now will end up as scrap metal after all the saleable parts have been stripped.
In closing I want to mention an interesting article published in August by Swiss CH-Aviation that confirms my suspicion, as mentioned in last month’s Register Review, that several of the long- and ultra-long-range corporate jets recently added to the register are done so to side-step sanctions by their Russian owners. In the article it is revealed that the Bombardier Global Express 6000 ZS-CLO (9438), registered in July this year (and mentioned in this column last month), is operated by Udan Aviation, a company incorporated in January of this year with a single Director.
CH-Aviation further reports that the plane completed a test flight on 10 August from Dubai World Central Airport and subsequently flew to Malé in the Maldives four days later and onwards to Russia on 15 August. It has apparently since been based out of Russia, operating flights within Asia and the Middle East.
NEW REGISTRATIONS
ZS-Registrations
Registration Registration Date Aircraft Manufacture Aircraft Model Serial Number
ZS-XKB 2024/08/01 Air Tractor Inc. AT-502B 502B-3390
ZS-TMH 2024/08/23 Cessna Aircraft Company 172K 17258497
ZS-KXP 2024/08/19 Beechcraft Corporation C90A LJ-1069
ZS-FGK 2024/08/13 Boeing 737-800 38874
ZS-AGA 2024/08/26 Air Tractor Inc. AT-504 504-4051
ZT-Registrations (Helicopters)
Registration Registration Date Aircraft Manufacture Aircraft Model Serial Number
ZT-REC 2024/08/01 Airbus Helicopters AS 350 B3 9629
ZT-HPJ 2024/07/26 Robinson Helicopter Company R66 1385
ZT-HWB 2024/08/26 Robinson Helicopter Company R66 1381
ZT-RJF 2024/08/21 Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd. 407 56406
ZT-HNW 2024/08/19 Robinson Helicopter Company R44 14733
ZU-Registrations (NTCA)
Registration Registration Date Aircraft Manufacture Aircraft Model Serial Number
ZU-NVG 2024/0824 Reims Aviation FTB337GA FTB337 0024
ZU-JBH 2024/08/16 Micro Aviation SA Bathawk R 0131
ZU-JBI 2024/08/23 Savannah Aircraft Africa Savannah S 23-03-54-0943
ZU-ROI 2024/08/21 Westland Helicopters Ltd. Gazelle AH Mk.1 1454
ZU-SGK 2024/08/21 Sling Aircraft (Pty) Ltd. Sling 4 TSI 570S
EXPORTED
ZS-Registrations
Registration De-Registration Date Aircraft Manufacturer Aircraft Model Serial Number Country of Export
ZS-NYW 2024/07/31 Diamond Aircraft Industrie DA-20-A1 Katana 10186 Germany
ZS-SNG 2024/07/30 Airbus Industrie A340-642 557 Germany
ZS-RMB 2024/08/15 Bell Helicopter Company 206L-4 52163 Mozambique
ZS-LIZ 2024/08/22 ATR- Gie Avions de Transport Regional ATR 72-212A 1674 Gabon
ZU-Registrations
Registration De-Registration Date Aircraft Manufacturer Aircraft Model Serial Number Country of Export
ZU-BIL 2024/08/12 Pitts Aviation Enterprises S-2A 2094 Australia