Young Falcons test the air at Air Force training camp
“Cold but fun - and we learnt a lot also.”
That sums up the reaction of many of the young people who took part in a passing out parade on last Saturday following a week-long training camp for the Young Falcons - the South African Air Force’s recruitment and training programme.
Hosted at the 6SAI Army Base last week, the 67 pupils from schools in 11 of the Eastern Cape’s 23 government education districts were mostly in Grades 10 and 11.
They came from as far as Sterkspruit and Qumbu, as well as Peddie and King William’s Town on Grahamstown’s doorstep, and Grahamstown itself.
They were tutored in aviation-related subjects, as well as maths and science, by top SAAF instructors, while local army personnel trained them in drills.
Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Keeton explained that the exercise was intended to open the eyes of young people to the possibility of a career in aeronautics and engineering.
“Those selected to be pilots and engineers will be absorbed by the air force,” he explained. Keeton, a former commander of Grahamstown’s First City Regiment, is now the Project Officer for the establishment of a regiment in Port St Johns.
He is attached to the infantry formation, and says those who don’t make it into the air force will be sought out for a reserve force.
Assistant Co-ordinator of the Young Falcons Camps Major Veronica Moeti said the last time such an exercise had been held in this region was in 2012.
The five Grade 12 pupils on the camp would be given fur- ther exposure to the field at the Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition in September.
Things got a bit dramatic when the Air Force top brass were flown from the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Tshwane the previous evening..
“It was a 50-knot wind,” said Captain Tshwane Masemola.
He was ground support for the PC12 which made three attempts to land at the Grahamstown airfield before diverting to Port Elizabeth.
The wind speed safety limit for PC12s to land is 30 knots.
With the full range of landing equipment and safety vehicles at hand, the crew determined Port Elizabeth the safer option and Brigadier-General Hilton Smith was driven to Grahamstown from there.
And he made it in good time for the passing out parade.
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