African Pilot is now in fourth position in the world

Great news for South African aviation publishing. According to Feedspot at the start of 2022 African Pilot was the sixth position within the top ten aviation magazines in the world. However, in April African Pilot has been judged two places up the scale into fourth position. Africa Pilot is also the ONLY African aviation publication in the top ten English language aviation magazines in the world. The others in the top 10 are British, American, Canadian and one Australian. Thank you for all the support we are receiving from all over the world.

Helicopters and Gyrocopters

Within this edition of African Pilot our most recent helicopters feature will be found from page 94 onwards. However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, we decided not to feature any Russian Helicopters until the situation normalises and African Pilot will not be featuring any Russian aviation news.

It has been some years since we last covered the gyrocopter world of aviation, therefore this year the feature that includes all known gyrocopter type flying in South Africa starting on page 226 of this edition. Many thanks to the various gyrocopter importers, manufacturers and operators of gyrocopters who assisted with the information required to present this feature.

The harsh reality of being a South African citizen

The fact that the ANC government sided with Russia in the eastern European conflict has had ripple effects on ordinary South Africans wishing to travel to Europe and the United States. In the past it was relatively easy for me to get a Schengen visa to attend European aviation events, but this has all changed in the past few months. My Schengen visa to attend AERO Friedrichshafen 2022 was granted for just 15 days and not the usual two years. When I inquired as to why this was the case, I was politely reminded that Germany does not need visitors from Africa. Right now, trying to renew my United States 10-year visa has also become an issue, with virtually no appointment dates available until later in the year.

In the past I had two 10-year US visas and the second one was issued without having to attend an interview. It appears that the world is becoming more polarised as the Russian / Ukrainian conflict staggers into its third month, with seeming no resolution to end the war in sight.

To cap all of this we read that South Africa’s former defence minister Nosiviwe MapisaNqakula offering to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. The statement read “A formal invitation was made during a virtual meeting between Mapisa-Nqakula and IPU president Duarte Pacheco. She will be part of the ‘global legislative effort to, through dialogue, promotion of mediation and diplomacy, bring about a peaceful resolution to the current situation in Ukraine”. In addition, Mapisa-Nqakula will represent the African Geopolitical Group on the IPU task force.” When I first read this, I thought it was yet another badly timed April Fool’s joke. How these people think they can solve global problems when they cannot even run our country without all the blatant theft that ordinary South African citizens experience on a daily basis is beyond me.

The state of aviation politics in South Africa

This is a controversial topic: government officials plundering state coffers. With its various causes, horrific results and everyone’s opinion on what the appropriate punishment should be when caught red handed. Judging by social media comments, the logical punishment for those convicted should be lengthy jail time, but the question is ‘to date why have there been so few convictions?’ It seems that time and again when high ranking ANC government officials and even elected politicians are caught on camera with dishonest practices, they simply say they are sorry, make up some ridiculous excuse and pretend nothing actually happened.

The reasons for plundering are varied but, in most cases, this is simple greed brought on by ‘cadre entitlement’ and no matter how many times the president make ‘promises to the nation’ the plundering continues. By 2022 the ANC government has been in power for 28 years and can no longer apply the rhetoric that this is all the fault of the ‘apartheid government’. Look closely at yourselves and see some facts. Eskom was once a world class electricity supplier and look at what it has become now. South African Airways was once the finest African airlines and look at what it has become under BBE. The same wilful destruction of the South African economy applies to almost all State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as the flawed ANC policy of Broad Black Empowerment grips deeper into social engineering and business in general.

The same applied to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) where people that have no aviation qualifications are making decisions about the aviation industry they regulate.

The SACAA’s Mission Statement says: ‘To regulate civil aviation safety and security in support of the sustainable development of the aviation industry’. What does the regulator understand about the words support and sustainable development? One only need to look into the website of the regulator to be informed that not much development has happened since the COVID-19 lockdown two years ago. Without the correctly qualified persons at the regulator, things keep getting worse to the point where the SACAA is blaming the very stakeholders for its shortcomings. The SACAA goes further to state:

• Integrity: Maintain high ethical standards and approach issues professionally with integrity, without any bias and in a transparent manner that engenders trust amongst all our stakeholders.

• Service excellence: Service delivery ahead of customer expectations, striving to always exceed customer expectations.

• Teamwork: Working with others and taking joint accountability for the results

• Collaboration: Working together to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

I am afraid to say that although most of the above is definitely achievable, from discussions with the owners of numerous aviation businesses and accountable persons within the industry the reality is that the South African regulator falls well short of its own objectives. What can we do to change things? Do we need to request an oversight visit from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish rectification procedures?

Wonderful to have the opportunity to travel again

I am writing this editorial from AERO Friedrichshafen in Germany and it has been wonderful to meet with so many aviation professionals including the European regulator (EASA) in this part of the world. My full illustrated report on the excitement of Europe’s largest aviation exhibition will be featured within the June edition, since I will only be returning to South Africa on 1 May 2022.

Until next month and as we enter the winter months, please enjoy the many aviation scheduled events and if you are flying to these events, remember safety is not negotiable.

Sincerely, Athol