Seminar hosted in Bay to hone in on aircraft safety
SA continues to uphold a good track record in commercial aircraft safety, with the last accident involving a domestic airline occurring 38 years ago.
Most accidents and incidents have involved private or light aircraft and are attributed to pilot or human error.
This was revealed at a General Aviation Accident Reduction Seminar hosted by the SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) in the city yesterday.
The seminar, the second overall and a first in Gqeberha, centred on the responsibilities of pilots and aviation professionals in maintaining air safety.
SACAA senior general aviation manager Neil de Lange said the Civil Aviation Authority had embarked on a safety strategy to maintain a reduction in general aviation accidents and incidents.
De Lange said key to the strategy was to substantially reduce accidents in the less regulated general aviation sector over the next five years, with SACCA recording 17 serious or fatal accidents in SA in the 2023/2024 financial year, including in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
On June 25 2022, a light aircraft crash claimed the lives of two trainee pilots from Algoa Flying Club. Oyit Ajack and Bhadresh Kadiwar died when the plane crashed near Nanaga.
Ajack, the pilot in command of the Sling 2 aircraft, had been on a two-hour night flight to Kenton-on-Sea to build up his night hours.
SACCA sent two accident and incident investigation division investigators to the scene after the crash.
General aviation includes flight training, aerial whip operations like crop spraying, photography and game counting, and other non-commercial or non-military flight-related activities.
De Lange said the general aviation safety strategy, initiated in 2019, also aimed to spotlight the role of airport management companies, flight schools and the traveller in ensuring safety.
“One of the deliverables of the strategy, among many, is the General Aviation Accident Reduction Seminar to [enable] instructors to [adequately] equip students beyond their training.
“The SA accident rate is not dissimilar to the rest of the world. We’re doing a little better than some and worse than others.” He highlighted the importance of pilots relying on the softer skills gained to recognise factors influencing their decision-making in the cockpit.
“These could be airworthiness, engine and mechanical, weather-related, or many other factors which influence the cockpit environment,” he said.
Progress Flight Academy student pilots Peter Ngunjiri, 18, from Kenya, and Nahl Lusangi, 23, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, welcomed yesterday’s seminar.
“This foundation will help us go further in our careers, which we hope will be long and flourishing, and promote a stronger mental model,” Ngunjiri said.
Lusangi, with an older Boeing captain brother, said: “Unfortunately, we must learn from past accidents.
“Being able to learn and be reminded about situational and safety awareness … is important because it could save not only your life, but others in the airspace.”