The great ‘vaccinate or not to vaccinate’ debate

As more and more South Africans are vaccinated against this dreadful COVID-19, the debate rages on. On almost all social media platforms we read, `experts’ for and other `experts’ against the vaccination process. Well, my story is that I had my first Pfizer vaccination on 31 May, then in July I contracted COVID, but I was only sick for two days. Some six weeks after my recovery, I had my second Pfizer vaccination, which was a lot more painful than the first. My fiancée Christine had not had a vaccination at the time I contracted COVID and then she caught it from me. She was very sick for about ten days, but fortunately, recovered completely. What I have learned from this is that in reality that most of us will catch COVID in one way or another, whilst many have possibly had the virus, but have not shown any serious symptoms. In my humble opinion being vaccinated should be mandatory.

Now that air travel is resuming all over the world, it has become abundantly clear that if one wishes to travel, it will be mandatory for one to be fully vaccinated. At the same time airlines all over the world are insisting that their staff are vaccinated because they are at the forefront of inter personnel contact and therefore at the most risk for contracting the virus. Whilst US President Biden announced this past month that the United States of America would open its doors to fully vaccinated travellers, unfortunately the United Kingdom has kept South Africa on its so called `red list.’ However, having learned about the chaos, length of queues and time it takes to get out of Heathrow due to staff shortages, I think I will stay here and enjoy the sunshine! Meanwhile, most of Europe has already opened up for South African visitors.

What is going on at Lanseria International Airport?

For many years, the requirement for ALL tenants, operators, regular visitors and customers of aviation companies at Lanseria International Airport has been to undertake not one, but now two courses on separate days at the Lanseria Training Centre. Naturally over the years, I have attended the Awareness Part 109 Training Course (AVSEC) as well as the Airport Vehicle Operators’ Permit (AVOP) courses many times. However, the content of these courses is seriously outdated and has not been refreshed over the years.

My question is: ‘Why do the Lanseria authorities insist on everyone attending these ridiculous courses?

My research has shown that Lanseria is the only airport in South Africa that insists that these costly and time-wasting courses are attended before permits are granted. I regularly visit OR Tambo International Airport to visit clients in the General Aviation section and no such requirement is necessary.

The same applies to Cape Town International Airport where there is also no such requirement. None of the other General Aviation airports in Gauteng or anywhere else in South Africa require access permits. I am told that this is a SACAA requirement. If this is the case, why do the other ACSA international airports not have the same requirement? Is this simply a `money making’ exercise?

The large airside gates at Lanseria that were installed nearly two years ago are yet to be commissioned. I have been told that when these gates are working, then the necessity for all these courses and access to the General Aviation side of the airport will fall away.

We will see!

Lanseria International Airport needs to take a long hard look at its business model. With the introduction of regular domestic passenger flight flights before the pandemic, the airport managed thousands of passengers with up to 40 flights per day that generated a good cash flow. This meant that the General Aviation (GA) businesses, an important component of the airport became seriously neglected due to very high rents for hangars, absurd landing fees and more for GA aircraft which has resulted in many GA companies leaving the airport for other airports or setting themselves up in far less expensive business premises.

Lanseria has always had BIG plans, which I have supported, as I thought Lanseria could become the alternative to OR Tambo, but the pandemic has drastically reduced the airport’s income stream and presently there are many large hangars that are standing empty.

Let us see if Lanseria’s management will start to take its business seriously and start delivering quality services to its customers.

Upturn in local and regional aviation events

Within this edition of African Pilot we have featured several South African fly-in events as well as aviation sporting features. Now that the dreaded pandemic appears to be abating and South Africa has been lowered to lockdown level two, those of us who enjoy aviation events have been getting out to a number of aviation events mainly over weekends.

Fortunately, the ever-concerning accident rate appears to have reduced dramatically, hopefully because most pilots are ensuring overall safety is a top priority in their lives. In addition, the increased level of flying has prepared pilots better for local and regional aviation events.

Aviation calendar

Every edition of African Pilot contains an accurate calendar of aviation events. At this time of the year, I start with the preparation of the next year’s aviation calendar, so if you have an event that you would like to have placed on the calendar, please send this to me, even if the date is provisional at this stage. African Pilot is the only aviation media that regularly publishes an accurate aviation events’ calendar within the monthly magazine, APAnews and editor@africanpilot.co.za the website. E-mail:

Now that summer is here, the traditional thunderstorms within the central region of South Africa start occurring on a regular basis. Please take care with the planning of your flight, even if it is just around the patch.